While most of the excitement about our future catching prospects following this year's draft have centered around 1st-round pick Stryker Trahan and his exploits to date, the guy who is playing most like a future Major League catcher is Missoula's Michael Perez. In his first 100 at bats (his 1st real professional season) he's got a triple slash of .314/.357/.598 with 5 home runs and 26 RBI. But more important is his defensive exploits. He has only 2 errors in 25 games, has thrown out 16 of 28 base stealers, and has zero passed balls. He's sure looking like the total package at catcher so far. The one sore point that sticks out is his K rate is kind of ugly right now at almost 30%. I don't want to get ahead of myself here, but just about the time Miguero's contract is starting to wear thin, this is a kid who could be arriving on the scene, and maybe ahead of one Stryker Trahan.
Snake Stars
3 Stars: William Castillo, AZL 4 for 4, 1 BB, 3 R, 1 TPL, 5 RBI, 2 SB
2 Stars: Shaun Cooper, Yakima 3 for 5, 2 R, 1 DBL, 1 TPL, 1 HR (4), 4 RBI
1 Star: Michael Perez, Missoula 2 for 3, 2 R, 1 HR (5), 3 RBI
0 Stars: Kevin Munson, Mobile 1/3 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 1 K, 5 ER, BS, L (3-4)
Game summaries after the jump.
Triple A: Reno 17 Col. Springs 9. It's nice when your starting pitcher can give up 8 runs (5 earned) in 5 innings and get the win. That's what Charles Brewer did as the offense posted two monster innings in the 1st and the 5th, with 6 and 8 respectively. Brewer wasn't very good but another Josh Bell error cost him 3 runs. The E-Dynamic Duo each had 3 hits and combined for 5 runs scored at the top of the order, and they each stole a base. The bottom of the order was pretty good too with A.J. Pollock getting 3 hits and 2 RBI, and Konrad Schmidt had a perfect night going 2 for 2 with 2 walks, a double and 3 RBI. Tyler Bortnick was on hand for the first time and entered the game late going 0 for 1 with a walk.
Double A: Mobile 6 @ Mississippi 9. The Bay Bears have lost 6 of their last 7 now and while the offense finally did their part the bullpen (i.e. Kevin Munson) was really bad. Matt Davidson got things going in the 1st with a 3-run homer, his first since July 4th. They scored 2 more in the 7th featuring an RBI double by Chris Owings to take a 6-4 lead. But then Munson came on and threw up all over the place, allowing 5 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks in the 7th. Owings had 2 hits, Rossmel Perez had a couple of singles, and Ryan Strieby hit his first home for Mobile, a solo shot. Alfredo Marte has cooled off lately going 1 for his last 19.
High A: Visalia 2 Stockton 3. Starter Taylor Siemens pitched a pretty good game but the offense couldn't do enough to earn him a payoff. He completed 6.2 innings with 3 runs allowed on 8 hits and a walk with 11 strikeouts. Andrew Chafin pitched an inning-and-a-third of hitless ball with 1 walk and 1 strikeout. That's 2 good relief outings in a row for him. Baby steps. Raywilly Gomez had 3 hits with a double and an RBI and Jonathan Griffin had a pair of doubles.
Low A: South Bend 1 @ Fort Wayne 5. J.R. Bradley did not have a very good night with 4 runs allowed on 7 hits and 3 walks in 4 innings of work. That was way more than the offense could overcome even though they had 9 hits and 5 walks as they stranded 13 base runners. Eric Groff and Niko Gallego led the way with 2 singles apiece.
Short Season A: Yakima 10 Boise 8. This one went to the offense in a back-and-forth shootout featuring a 2-run 8th and a 2-run 9th for the 2-run victory. (kind of rolls off the tongue doesn't it?) Cody Wheeler started and was removed after 2 innings having allowed 2 runs. He had a really long 1st inning and he's on some fairly strict pitch counts so hopefully it's nothing more than that. Shaun Cooper had a monster day at the plate falling just a single shy of the cycle and notching 4 RBI. Kevin Medrano also had 3 hits as the offense clubbed 16 hits on the night.
Rookie: Missoula 5 @ Orem 2. The Osprey scored 3 in the 1st and 2 in the 2nd and some good pitching made it stand up. Ross Gerdeman tossed 6 solid innings allowing just 1 run on 5 hits and 2 walks with 5 strikeouts. The offense collected 13 hits with each of the top six hitters getting 2 hits each. Michael Perez led the way with his 5th home run and 3 RBI.
AZL Rookie: Dbacks 15 Padres 7. This one was close for a while tied 5-5 through 5-1/2 innings. But then the Padres pitchers got wild and the Dbacks made them pay scoring 10 runs in the 6th and 8th innings. The offense collected 12 hits and 16 walks in the game. 2B William Castillo went 4 for 4 with a triple and 5 RBI to lead the charge. Trahan went 1 for 3 with 2 more walks. He's sporting a ridiculous BB rate of 25% and a K rate of less than 19%. Luis Hernandez had a very good start allowing 2 runs on 2 hits and a walk with 7 strikeouts.