Diamondbacks Farm Round-Up: June 3rd

Good to see the D-backs back to their winning way tonight against the Natinals, and even better to see the offense do what I expected them to do - beat up on a mediocre starter.  On the farm, there were two major blowouts that did not go in our favor, but on the whole the system put up a 3-2 record today.  Particularly nice to see was one prospect whose stock has been fast-rising having a great day:

Triple-A: Reno 4, Tacoma 18.  (33-23)  No other way to put it: Armando Galarraga was LOL-worthy on the mound.  In four innings of work, Galarraga gave up ten hits, struck out four, walked four, and hit a batter.  His home run troubles also continued back in the minors, serving up two long balls.  It all added up to ten Tacoma runs before Galarraga left the game, and Armando saw his ERA rise to a rather unsightly 11.00.  Galarraga now has an 8:9 K:BB ratio in 9 Triple-A innings with three home runs allowed.  Whatever was wrong with him in Arizona clearly followed him on his flight to Reno.  For Reno, Wily Mo Pena doubled, while Brandon Allen and Cody Ransom hit home runs, their ninth and 14th home runs, respectively.

Double-A: Mobile 11, Mississippi 5.  (31-24)  On the mound for Mobile was Wade Miley, who had an all-around "meh" evening on the mound.  He gave up four runs in five innings, though just two were earned, walking four and striking out four.  On the plus side, Miley did generate seven ground-ball outs.  The stars at the plate for the BayBears were the usual predictable bunch: A.J. Pollock went 2-6 with a double, Josh Ford went 2-4 with a home run and a walk, Jacob Elmore went 2-3 with a double and two walks, and, of course.... Your Daily Goldschmidt: the typical fireworks from Paul Goldschmidt who went 3-5 with a double and an intentional walk.

Hi-A: Visalia 1, San Jose 13.  (25-30)  A forgettable night from Derek Eitel.  Eitel went two-plus innings, though put in enough work in the third inning to surrender seven runs in that inning alone, including a grand slam to Gary Brown.  Eitel gave up a staggering 12 hits, and I really wish I could have seen the nature of those hits.  He also struck out one, hit a batter, and walked nobody before exiting.  Unfortunately, the offense didn't have it in them to make this one competitive, as Matt Davidson was the only Rawhide bat to reach base more than once with his three-hit night.

Low-A: South Bend 4, Quad Cities 0.  (29-26)  An absolutely fantastic outing from lefty David Holmberg.  Holmberg threw a two-hit complete-game shutout, only striking out three but giving up no walks, hitting no batters, and inducing 16 ground-ball outs (8 fly-ball outs).  I heard recently (courtesy of Nick Piecoro's Twitter) that Holmberg's velocity had ticked up into the 91-94 mph range in his previous start, so I was looking forward to seeing how he fared in this outing.  The results are certainly encouraging, but I'll hopefully hear again from Nick about the reports of Holmberg's velocity.  The stars at the plate were Chris Jarrett, who doubled and tripled, and Zach Walters, who went 2-4 with a double and an HBP.  Also, Mike Freeman collected a double, Ender Inciarte tripled, and Roberto Rodriguez had a three-single night.

DSL: D-backs 6, Reds 1.  (2-3)  Solid pitching tonight from the DSL-backs hurlers, beginning with 22-year-old Mauricio Soto, who gave up one run in five innings with a 5:1 K:BB ratio.  Soto now has a 1.50 ERA in 12 innings with a 13:2 K:BB.  After Soto, 19-year-old Bryan Escanio was utterly dominant, striking out nine and walking just one in four scoreless innings of relief.  At the plate, the best performance of the night came from 19-year-old second baseman Felipe Betemit who went 2-5 with a double.  17-year-old high-profile center field signing Yorman Garcia went 1-3 with a double and a walk.