Richmond 24-19 (4-2 WTD)
A nice week for the boys at Richmond. They still lead their division by 4 games and they are doing it mostly with pitching. Their offense is actually solid, but they have the fewest HRs in the league and the third lowest SLG. They do lead the league with 52 SB and have only been caught 13 times which is very impressive as a team. Their ERA is now second in the league, dropped from 1st (to be expected with the loss of Reyes) and they have only allowed 17 homers so far this season. This team has a lot of veteran and young talent and I think that they will keep up their lead until they are pilfered a bit more by Atlanta.
Mississippi 16-29 (3-4 WTD)
The M-Braves played a little above their head this week as they played some teams with similar records as themselves. They still have the worst record in the league, but now they are tied with Tennessee for the worst record! The big news was the acquisition of Reid Gorecki who had a couple of huge games and helped solidify the lineup even more. (They are now 4th in the league in Runs Scored). Tommy Hanson got hammered in his second start in AA which isn't really alarming as the Southern League is considered very difficult. I wouldn't be surprised to see this team sitting around .500 at the end of the season.
Myrtle Beach 26-17 (3-4 WTD)
Wow 4 losses on the week for the Pelicans. They only has 2 in the two weeks before that this month. Right now they lead their division by 5.5 games and are cruising comfortably for the time being. Their pitching took a bit of a hit with the loss of Tommy Hanson and Deunte Heath took a lump this week, but they still have the return of Gorkys Hernandez to look forward to. Tyler Flowers is probably the coldest regular on any farm team right now and they really need his offense. Their offense still sits among the league leaders in most categories and the pitching staff has the lowest ERA in the league. Expect them to get a boost from Cole Rohrbough in about a month.
Rome 13-30 (0-6)
This team is really bad right now. They are 3-13 on the month and are on a 7 game losing streak. They have the worst record in the league (tied with Lexington). For a team with so much of our young talent it baffles me. The pitching staff, which is supposed to be good, have been pretty decent. They are right in the middle of the pack in most categories. The offense, however, is incredibly bad ranking dead last in nearly every conceivable list. Cody Johnson leads all minor leaguers in strike outs and has something like 66 in 42 games. That just doesn't cut it.
HOTLIST!!!!
- Jason Heyward - Heyward is currently on an 11 game hitting streak where he is hitting .386 with 5 doubles and 2 HR.This comes right after a cold streak he had that saw him accumulate half of his season strike outs in about a week and half. I like to see him making adjustments.
- Brnadon Jones - Brandon went 9-21 this week with 5 doubles and a HR to bring his season AVG up to .284. Jones has long been one of my favorite farmhands but I fear he has become trade bait. He is a bit streaky but always has had some pretty consistent season ending numbers. I like his broad (albeit mostly average) skillset.
- Scott Thorman - Good ol' Scotty went 7-22 on the week but had 6 XBH (4 2B and 2 HR) to continue his torrid May. He already has 4 times more doubles than April and infinity more HRs (3 in May vs. 0 in April). His OPS for the month is 1.062.
- Reid Gorecki - Gorecki is hitting like Jason Perry did when he first showed up in Mississippi. He went 10-22 on the week with 2 doubles and 2 HR. Gorecki has been around for a while like Perry, but I think he has more of a chance to help out in the majors at some point than Perry. I don't consider either one a prospect per se but journeyman sluggers could be useful at some point. I doubt it though. Gorecki was also just put on the DL tonight after being named Southern League hitter of the week.
- Cole Rohrbough - Rohrbough made one appearance this week (tonight actually) and he did it in relief but he went 4 innings allowing 3 hits and striking out 6. He makes the list just because I'm glad to see him pitching. I don't expect him to be in Rome for long really. They are probably going to stretch his arm out a little and if he keeps up his pace from last season he could rise as high as AA this year I think. That curveball of his is nasty.
Honorable Mentions:
J. Perry, Mississippi; C. Morton, Richmond; C. Vines, Myrtle Beach; T. Redmond, Mississippi; B. Canizares, Richmond