Diamondbacks Farm Round-Up 6/5: "Guess Who's Baaack?!" Edition

In the spirit of SnakeBytes edition titles, I've decided to start naming my Farm Round-Ups with cheeky titles.  Today's title is honoring what I'm going to officially declare the glamorous and triumphant return of one Jarrod Parker to his pre-Tommy John dominant ways.  Read the stat-line for yourself, it's worth getting excited for.

Snakelet of the Day:

Jarrod Parker (Double-A): 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 6 K, 4:3 GO:AO

Triple-A: Reno 2, Salt Lake 3.  (34-24)  Kevin Mulvey was effective through seven contact-heavy innings of work, giving up just one run on four hits, a walk, and a strikeout.  Newly-acquired Yhency Brazoban gave up two runs in the eighth inning to give the game away to the Bees.  The usual array of bats had good outings, with Brandon Allen, Cole Gillespie, and Wily Mo Pena all hitting doubles, and my vote for Reno mid-season MVP, Collin Cowgill, going 3-4 with a double of his own.

Cowgill seems to be incapable of doing anything but hit often, and hit for power.  With his three-hit night and 12th double of the season, his line on the year is now up to a staggering .355/.421/.585, a 1.007 OPS, to go with 17 stolen bases in 19 attempts and an incredibly impressive 32:25 K:BB ratio.  Clamor for Pena to be promoted to the big leagues all you want, but my two cents says that Cowgill is the better player.  In an increasingly-deep system, I've recently moved Cowgill up to #14 on my ever-changing list.  (Though, speaking of being ever-changing, it'll change again after the draft, moving Cowgill down.)

Double-A: Mobile 4, Huntsville 0.  (33-24)  Yeah, Jarrod Parker was awesome again.  That makes two straight scoreless outings, each with five innings pitched and six strikeouts with no walks.  Perhaps an early-July promotion to Triple-A could serve as a final minor-league tune-up before joining the big-league bullpen in late August or September, setting Parker up for a chance to win a big-league rotation slot out of Spring Training in 2012.  Regardless of what promotion schedule the team decides to put him on, it's become much easier to remain optimistic about the future of the top prospect in the system than it was when he had a 33:23 K:BB ratio though 43 innings of work two starts ago.  Offensively, the charge was led by doubles from Marc Krauss and Jacob Elmore, and a nice day from (Your Daily Goldschmidt:) Paul Goldschmidt, who went 2-3 with a walk and a strikeout, but no extra-base hits.

Hi-A: Visalia 0, Modesto 5.  (25-31)  The story of the day at Visalia is former Rockies second-round pick Chad Bettis, who two-hit the Rawhide today in eight innings of work before giving way to the sub-1 ERA of Coty Woods.  On the mound for Visalia was Trevor Harden, who threw seven innings while striking out one and walking one.  Unfortunately, Harden gave up two home runs and five runs before exiting, and the game was well out of reach for the Rawhide.  Yonata Ortega struck out the side in a perfect ninth inning of work.

Low-A: South Bend 9, Quad Cities 1.  (30-27)  Continuing his run of strong outings, Patrick Schuster gave up just one run in seven innings of work while striking out four and walking one, lowering his ERA with the SilverHawks this year to an impressive 3.14.  South Bend was just as dominant at the plate, too, collecting eleven hits, three walks, and three HBPs on the night.  Leading the way were Yazy Arbelo, who whacked a double and a homer in four at-bats, Zach Walters, who went 2-3 with a triple and a HBP, Roberto Ortiz, who went 2-4 with a triple, and Roberto Rodriguez, who reached base four times on a single, two walks, and a HBP.

DSL: The DSL-backs were off today, but return to action tomorrow.