MadFriars Week in Review: August 20 through August 26

El Paso Chihuahuas (Lost at Oklahoma City Baseball Club, 1-5)

Top Performers: Gabe Mosser, 28, turned in El Paso’s lone quality start, throwing seven one-run innings. The former 27th-round draft pick from Shippensburg State, a Division II school in Pennsylvania, leads the Chihuahuas in innings pitched with 108 and is one of only three players who have made double-digit starts in the Sun City this season. … Tirso Ornelas, 24, continues to build on a strong season, collecting seven hits including a pair of doubles in six games. The left fielder added four walks to yield an .822 OPS. On the season, he leads El Paso with 202 total bases, 52 bases ahead of Nate Mondou, his nearest challenger. Ornelas ranks eighth in the Pacific Coast League with a .900 OPS and his .310 batting average is good for fourth.

Top Prospects and Others of Note:  Eguy Rosario, 24, had a nice bounce back after a short slump, posting an .863 OPS. The infielder collected a double and home run and is now slugging .536 in 72 games for El Paso. … Although he only got in a game after coming off of the Development List, catcher Chandler Seagle, made the most of it. While the 28-year-old’s plus glove has kept him in the organization, he came through with three hits, two of them doubles. It was particularly impressive because he hadn’t seen game action since August 4. … Nabil Crismatt, 29, had one of his best starts of the season, throwing five and two-thirds innings of shutout baseball. Crismatt, 29, has made nine starts for the Chihuahuas and has a 6.27 ERA in 37.1 innings. That lands right between his results for Round Rock and Oklahoma City earlier in the season. … Lefthander Paul Fry, 32, appeared in two games, throwing three and one-third shutout innings, allowing only one hit. The lefty, who logged 188 big league games between 2018 and 2022, has recorded 50 strikeouts in 64.2 innings in his first season in the Padres organization. … Tom Cosgrove, 28, made four appearances, pitching three innings. He only gave up two hits, but also allowed three walks against three strikeouts. He’s allowed just one earned run since being activated with El Paso last month. … Reliever Ethan Routzahn, 26,  got the sole win of the week in an inning and a third of shutout relief on Friday night. The sidewinding righty opened the year in Fort Wayne, but spent most of the season impressing in San Antonio. (John Conniff)

San Antonio Missions (Lost at Frisco RoughRiders 2-4)

Top Performers: Romeo Sanabria, 22, continued his scorching start at Double-A, reaching base 17 times in six games for a .444/.607/.500 slash line. Although it’s hard to ding anyone with an 1.107 OPS, we are sure Sanabria would have liked more than one extra-base hit for week, A .607 on-base percentage will serve as a nice consolation prize. Our 2023 ACL player of the year, Sanabria has continued to produce at three levels this year. Through his first 70 Texas League plate appearances, he is hitting .400. … Austin Krob got his first win since July 4, allowing just two unearned runs over six and two-thirds innings. While the lefty has had an up-and-down year, he’s performed better than his 4-10 record. In five starts this month, he has a 2.39 ERA across 26.1 innings. It’s his second month with a sub-2.50 ERA on the year.

Top Prospects and Others of Note: The Missions hit well on the road in Frisco, with six batters posting an OPS of .800 or better. Cole Cummings, 26, had three extra-base hits, including a homer and a team-leading seven RBI in the Dallas suburbs, for a .801 OPS. … Robert Perez Jr., 24, drew four walks, second only to Sanabria’s nine, and delivered seven hits for a 1.074 OPS. … Connor Hollis and Marcos Castañon matched Cummings and Perez with seven hits each and posted a .941 and .804 OPS, respectively. … Joshua Mears, 23, produced the most remarkable – and perhaps predictable – line of the week. The outfielder put six balls in play. Two of them went for homers and another was a loud double, good for a .733 slugging percentage. A pair of walks helped him to a solid .353 on-base percentage. He also struck out in nine of his 17 plate appearances. … Bradgley Rodriguez, 20, made a pair of multi-inning appearances, throwing three and one-third scoreless innings while striking out three against one walk. After starting the year in Lake Elsinore, he has a 2.67 ERA with 64 strikeouts against 28 walks in 54 innings across three levels in his first season stateside. … Lefty Jason Blanchard, 27, continued to impress, working around three walks to deliver two and two-thirds scoreless innings. Blanchard has posted a 3.59 ERA in a team-high 52.2 relief innings for the Missions. A ninth round out of Lamar University in 2019, Blanchard been particularly effective at home this year, holding the opposition to a .549 OPS. He been a a little more hittable on the road, allowing a .745 OPS. (John Conniff)

Fort Wayne TinCaps (Lost at Peoria Chiefs 2-4)

Players of the Week: Ethan Salas went 7-for-20 with three doubles and a walk for a line of .350/.381/.500 to extend his on-base streak to 17 straight games. For August, Salas has a .775 OPS. It will be the first time since April that Salas finishes a month with an OPS over .600.  With two weeks left in the regular season, the Padres’ top prospect is looking to finish the season strong while more than doubling his catching workload from last year. … Isaiah Lowe threw six shutout innings in his strongest outing since joining the TinCaps.  He scattered five base runners while striking out six as he went deeper into a game than he had in two months. Between Lake Elsinore and Fort Wayne, the 21-year-old has 103 strikeouts and a 3.05 ERA over 91.1 innings. His walk rate has doubled since the promotion, but that is common after a promotion to a new level.

Top Prospects and Others of Note:  Braden Nett set a new career high with 10 strikeouts  as he allowed one run on four hits over six strong innings. After an injury plagued first few months of the season, Nett has hit his stride. Over five August starts, the 22-year-old has a 2.10 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 25.2 innings. Nett, who offers one of the system’s deepest arsenals, is part of an incredibly strong 2022 undrafted free agent class. …  After a tough start to end last week, Jagger Haynes, got back to his winning ways. Haynes went six strong innings, allowing two runs on four hits, walking one and striking out seven. With the start, the 21-year-old southpaw crossed the 100-innings threshold for the year. In his first healthy season, he’s averaged more than a strikeout per inning and held opponents to a .217 average. …. Enmanuel Pinales allowed one earned run over five innings, striking out seven.  After giving up 14 earned runs in three starts through his first rough stretch of the year, the breakout performer has bounced back to surrender just one earned run over his last two starts.  The 23-year-old has a 3.73 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 99 innings. … After spending nearly two months on the IL Tyler Robertson was activated last week only to re-aggravate the wrist in his first game back. After another down week, he came back ready to go in Peoria. In four games, Robertson went 7-for-19 with two stolen bases. The athletic outfielder is trying to recapture the .927 OPS he had after a late season promotion to Fort Wayne last year. … After a tough start to begin his tenure with Fort Wayne, Rosman Verdugo picked up the pace at the end of the week.  Over the last three games went 3-for-12, with a double, home run, and five runs scored.  The 19-year-old currently has a .606 OPS with the TinCaps, but had a .981 OPS over his final month in Lake Elsinore prior to his promotion. … Wyatt Hoffman started three games for the TinCaps and came off the bench in the other two. He went 6-for-18 with three doubles and his first High-A home run. In 16 games since being promoted, Wyatt is hitting .275/.356/.475. (Ben Davey)

Lake Elsinore Storm (Won at Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, 5-1)

Top Performers: The Storm enjoyed another fruitful series against the Quakes, as they took five of six against their San Bernardino County neighbors. The Storm finished the 2024 regular season with a 20-10 record against the Quakes, who they potentially could match up against in the playoffs. With two weeks left, Visalia has a two-game lead over Rancho for a spot to face the Storm in the Cal League playoffs. … 2024 11th-rounder Sean Barnett had an excellent pro debut. The former Wingate University outfielder and pitcher hit .318/.375/.591 with six runs, a double, a triple, and a homer in his first five professional games. His .966 OPS led the team. In his final year of college, the 21-year-old finished one off the Division II lead with 26 homers in 59 games. … 19-year-old Maikel Miralles made his third start of the season his best one yet. Miralles completed five innings for the second straight outing, allowing just three hits. He walked one and struck out five. The Venezuela native started the season in the desert and moved to Lake Elsinore in late June. He started his Storm career in the bullpen before transitioning to the rotation recently. In his last two starts, Miralles has allowed just one earned run. 

Top Prospects and Others of Note: Outfielder Braedon Karpathios cooled off a bit in the series but still managed to deliver a .791 OPS, including five walks. While Leo De Vries has appropriately received most of the headlines for the Storm this season, one could argue that Karpathios has been the team MVP, especially down the stretch. Since July 1, the 21-year-old outfielder is hitting .300/.445/.487 with a hefty 20.9% walk rate. Karpathios will be heading into next season with a lot of momentum, thanks to his strong finish. … The catcher position did damage for the Storm as both Oswaldo Linares and Brendan Durfee performed well. Linares only batted in two games, but he went 5-for-9 with a homer and a pair of RBI. In four games, Durfee delivered a .936 OPS with a pair of doubles and three RBI. In 13 games for the Storm, the former UC Santa Barbara backstop has a solid .925 OPS. … Lamar King had another nice week, connecting on a homer and three RBI. After not homering in three seasons in the complex league, the 20-year-old King has gone deep twice in 17 games with the Storm while posting a solid .779 OPS. … Miguel Mendez turned in another solid start on Saturday night, pitching five shutout innings. He allowed three hits and three walks. Mendez possesses high-octane stuff but he’s struggled with command at times. In each of his last two outings, he has not allowed a run. However, he has walked six batters in 9.2 innings. He’s helped avoid damage by striking out 12 batters in that stretch. Overall, Mendez has a 3.77 ERA in a career-high 71.2 innings. (Kevin Charity)