It was an unusual week on the farm as MiLB bypassed its typical Monday offday to allow for split home-and-home series that gave each club a chance to host on either July 3 or July 4, two of the biggest gate nights in the minors.
For MadFriars, it was a busy week. We released our midyear Top 20 prospects udpate, brought you live coverage from an ugly night in Lake Elsinore. Subscribers got an in-depth look at Homer Bush Jr. and a Q&A with Ethan Long, and we gave everyone access to a nice piece from John Conniff revisiting a few previous conversations with Jackson Merrill. As always, thanks to our subscribers whose $4.95 a month fund our travel and other costs.
El Paso Chihuahuas (Split series with Albuquerque Isotopes 3-3)
Tijuana native Tirso Ornelas continues to push to come back to San Diego. (Photo: Jorge Salgado)
Top Performers: Last week, it was Tirso Ornelas‘ world as he hit .500 with 11 hits, including a pair of home runs, a walk, and a stolen base in six games. The 24-year-old Tijuana native is making his most vigorous push in a seven-year minor league career for an major league opportunity as one of the last men standing from the 2016 international signing class. He’s gotten better at putting the ball in the air than at any time in his career, helping him to a .522 slugging percentage and .907 OPS in 286 plate appearances. With Fernando Tatis Jr. out for the foreseeable future, it’s his best chance yet. … It’s been a long time coming, but 6-foot-8 Sean Reynolds put together one of his best weeks since coming over from the Miami Marlins in the Ryan Weathers trade. He struck out seven in 4.2 innings against only one walk and two hits, as he didn’t allow a run in two appearances. For the season, he has a 6.70 ERA in 44.1 innings despite 58 strikeouts, largely because of poor control. He’s issued 31 walks, but when he’s on, his fastball/slider pairing can be a weapon.
Graham Pauley had a .524 OBP this week. (Photo: Jorge Salgado)
Top Prospects and Others of Note: Graham Pauley bounced back after a brutal June when he slashed .172/.206/.258 by getting back to a more patient approach. He went 5-for-15 with six walks in 21 plate appearances after drawing only three walks in 97 trips to the plate last month. The Padres have continued to rotate Pauley between left field and second and third base. … Kevin Plawecki, 33, and Nate Mondou, 29, continue to have strong years in Triple-A. Plawecki, who’s getting more time behind the plate with Brett Sullivan in San Diego, had a 1.423 OPS with a pair of home runs. Mondou reached base in 10 of his 20 trips to the plate while striking out just once. The minor league free agent signee has struck out at a 17.8% clip. He’s in the midst of his most productive season since reaching the upper minors in 2018. … Logan Gillaspie had a solid week, allowing just one baserunner and no runs across three one-inning appearances. The 27-year-old righty, who has already had two brief stints with the Padres this year, struck out three. He has a 2.23 ERA over his last 20.1 innings. (John Conniff)
San Antonio Missions (Defeated Corpus Christi Hooks 6-0)
Marcos Castañon had two home runs in two games. (Photo: Vashaun Newman)
Top Performers: Marcos Castañon only appeared in two games, but homered in each to give him a 1.500 OPS in his abbreviated action. Castañon is coming off a June in which he hit just .222 with a .678 OPS. The 25-year-old infielder had a .813 OPS between High-A Fort Wayne and San Antonio last year, and will look to get back on track as the summer goes on. … Austin Krob turned in another strong outing, going 5.1 scoreless innings as he struck out six against three walks. After posting a 2.45 ERA in 22 innings in May, he backed up some early in June, but he’s now allowed just three earned runs while striking out 25 over 18 innings in his last three outings. The lefty relies on a lot of movement with his sinker/slider, and it isn’t easy to square up when he is in the zone.
Austin Krob had a solid week. (Photo: San Antonio Missions)
Top Prospects and Others of Note: Connor Hollis, 29, reached base at a .538 clip in 12 plate appearances to accompany a pair of doubles. The Texas native is back with the Missions for his third year and continues to play all over the field, appearing in six different positions. … Robbie Tenerowicz, who has been a good contributor for the Missions since joining the Padres organization, posted a .267/.421/.667 line as he blasted two home runs in four games. In 48 games with San Antonio, the 29-year-old has a team-best .771 OPS. … Juan Zabala got in three games and had four singles as the Missions continue to try to give Brandon Valenzuela more rest from catching every day in the Texas heat. … Robby Snelling scattered five hits across five scoreless innings while striking out seven against two walks to pick up a win. After a stellar debut season, Snelling’s ERA this year has jumped to 6.14 in 66 innings as he’s dealt with a drop in fastball velocity and a loopier breaking ball. … Miguel Cienfuegos, who has already pitched for Fort Wayne and El Paso this year, did well in his first start for San Antonio. The 27-year-old trilingual Canadian lefty went five innings and only allowed one earned run against five punchouts and no walks. … Jared Kollar continued to do what he has done nearly every week: throw at least five innings and give his team a chance to win. This week, he won, giving up two runs in his start. The 25-year-old undrafted free agent from Rutgers has gone at least five innings in five of his last six starts and leads the Missions with 70.1 innings pitched. … Reliever Ethan Routzahn, the only Missions pitcher who appeared in two games, only allowed one hit in two innings. He has been one of the more effective Missions relievers this year, with a 2.16 ERA in 33.1 innings. (John Conniff)
Fort Wayne TinCaps (Lost to Lansing Lugnuts 2-4)
Henry Baez has dominated for almost two months. (Photo: Jeff Nycz)
Players of the Week: Homer Bush Jr. got off to a great start to July as the speedy center fielder had nine hits in the six-game series with two doubles, four walks, and four stolen bases. For the week, he hit .391/.482/.478. The 22-year-old has an organization leading 40 stolen bases. Bush scored seven of the club’s 24 runs on the week. … While a pair of unearned runs gave him the loss in his outing, Henry Baez did not allow an earned run over five innings and struck out a career-high ten batters without allowing a walk. After a rough start to the year, the 21-year-old has now gone five straight starts without allowing more than one earned run, dropping his ERA from 4.58 to 3.18. That’s good for third in the Midwest League and his 72 strikeouts lead the team and rank 10th on the circuit.
Anthony Vilar has provided leadership and production for the TinCaps. (Photo: Jeff Nycz)
Top Prospects and Others of Note: Top prospect Ethan Salas, doubled both Tuesday and Wednesday, collecting extra-base hits in back-to-back games for the first time in nearly two months. The 18-year-old didn’t play the rest of the week as he’s already matched his game total from last year. … Romeo Sanabria just continues to hit. In five games, Sanabria went 8-for-18 with five walks. raising his OPS since joining Fort Wayne to .383. Sanabria hasn’t homered yet in 14 games and has just four doubles for the TinCaps, but is hitting .327. … Anthony Vilar led the team with eight RBI in the series. He had 11 hits, including a double, triple, and two home runs. The 25-year-old catcher hit .346/.393/.692 on the week and now has a team-best 37 RBI on the year. He also ranks second in the league by throwing out 39% of baserunners.
Enmanuel Pinales bounced back this week. (Photo: Jeff Nycz)
Jagger Haynes turned in his sixth quality start in his last seven starts dating back to May 15. The 21-year-old lefty did not have the same command that he had been showing over the last month. Still, he gutted through six innings, allowing one earned run and striking out seven. After his first start, Haynes had an ERA of 108.00. His strong run has cut it to just 3.98. … Dylan Lesko had another start to forget. The top prospect allowed six runs over five-plus innings. Lesko was relatively stable until the first four runners of the sixth inning reached base, and all came around to score after he was removed. At 60.2 innings, Lesko is set to double the 33 official frames he threw last year. … With the unusual schedule, Braden Nett pitched the last three innings on Saturday. He allowed one run while striking out four. The 22-year-old power pitcher is slowly building his innings after missing a month on the IL. … Coming off the worst start of his career, Enmanuel Pinales, spun a gem. He threw a six-inning shutout, allowing only two hits and striking out five. It was his fifth quality start of the year and eighth time allowing two or fewer runs. The 23-year-old, who started throwing stateside last year, has been turning heads all year. Even after giving up six earned runs in three innings last week, Pinales still ranks sixth in the MWL with a 3.55 ERA. … Another flame-thrower, Bradgley Rodriguez, tossed three shutout innings on the week. He allowed one hit but did not strike out a batter. … Jackson Smeltz continued his return from Tommy John with a pair of fantastic outings. He threw two innings on both Sunday and Thursday. He allowed two baserunners, no runs, and struck out seven in the four innings. He has 12 strikeouts in seven innings for Fort Wayne and has yet to allow a run. (Ben Davey)
Lake Elsinore Storm (Lost to Inland Empire 66ers, 2-4)
Leo De Vries has showed good speed in his professional debut. (Photo: Jerry Espinoza)
Top Performers: Super-prospect Leo De Vries had his best week of the season, displaying the type of talent that has led to the considerable hype that has followed him thus far in his career. In five games, the 17-year-old went 10-for-25 with two doubles, three homers, seven RBI, four walks, and a pair of stolen bases. He made headlines by homering from both sides of the plate on Friday The monster series raised De Vries’ season wRC+ to 103, meaning his offensive production has been slightly above the league average. De Vries continues to make strides defensively and has cut down the strikeouts as the season has progressed. … After entering as a piggyback reliever behind Ian Koenig Friday, righty Miguel Mendez pitched his best game of the season. The 22-year-old tossed a season-high six innings and allowed just one run on two hits. He walked two and struck out eight. The hard-throwing righty has struggled with command this season, however, his live arm makes him someone to watch down the stretch.
Top Prospects and Others of Note: While De Vries was red-hot at the plate, another teenage Storm infielder was even hotter. Rosman Verdugo pounded Inland Empire pitching, slashing .529/.591/1.059 for a blistering OPS of 1.650. Verdugo connected on a pair of homers and three doubles. If you want to find a flaw in Verdugo’s production, he did struggle defensively, making three errors in a blowout loss to the 66ers on Wednesday. The 19-year-old has looked considerably stronger at the plate this season but he will need to continue to make more frequent contact in order to let his power play. … Outfielder Braedon Karpathios reached base at a .458 clip, drawing six walks in five games. He had a pair of doubles and produced a solid .908 OPS. The 21-year-old outfielder ranks second in the Cal League with an 18.4% walk rate. … Catcher/outfielder Jacob Campbell had a nice week at the plate, hitting .316/.417/.368. The 24-year-old former undrafted free agent has played in the outfield, adjusting on the fly after playing behind the plate in college. In 40 games for the Storm, Campbell has produced a terrific wRC+ of 121. … While the Storm pitching staff has struggled to prevent runs this season. Isaiah Lowe has had no such issues. The righty pitched Saturday and did not allow a run in five innings. He walked two and struck out seven. Since June 1, Lowe has pitched to a sparkling 1.55 ERA in 34.2 innings. During that span, he’s walked nine and struck out 42. Lowe could be in line for a promotion to Fort Wayne before the season concludes. (Kevin Charity)
ACL Guardians 12, ACL Padres 11 (10 innings)
The Padres were 1-4 on the week
Lamar King keeps on hitting in the desert. (Photo: Jerry Espinoza)
Key Stats: DH Lamar King Jr. 3-for-5, 2B, 3B, HBP, 3 RBI; RF Kashon Conliffe 0-for-2, 3 BB, 2 SB (15); RHP Kleiber Olmedo 3 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 K, 3 BB, 2 WP; LHP Igor Gil 2 IP, 2 H, 2 K, BB; LHP Ruben Salinas 2 IP, 4 H, 4 R (3 ER), K, BB
Prospect Watch and Top Performers: In a nearly four hour slugfest on a 111 degree night, the two clubs combined for 12 runs after the seventh inning. Lamar King Jr. who had sat for three straight games, came back with a huge night, coming up a homer short of the cycle and driving in three. The 20-year-old has yet to go deep this year, but has put together a solid .289/.402/.400 line as he continues to work back from offseason shoulder surgery. He’ll still look to get some innings at first base before the season is done. … Colton Vincent had two more hits Monday, capping a stellar week. The 24-year-old switch hitter went 11-for-20 with four doubles on the week, pushing his season line to .347/.420/.484 in the desert. … Spence Coffman was held hitless Monday for just the second time in 19 games. The 20-year-old, who has transitioned nicely to the outfield this year, is hitting .325 on the season. … It was a rough week for the pitching staff, but righty Aldo Leija picked up the lone win with three scoreless frames. The 20-year-old has struck out 23 across 15.2 innings on the year.
