A few notes on some players who are rising and falling on my Dbacks Top Prospect List. Riser - LHP Taylor Siemens, Visalia. This 6-5 lefty out of California Baptist is starting to make some noise with his consistently improving outings this year, in spite of pitching in a hitter's league. He has a 2.16 ERA in his last 5 starts covering 33.2 innings with 38 Ks. He's looking like a Mobile rotation member for next year. Faller - RHP J.R. Bradley. Bradley got pummeled tonight and he's just not putting together enough quality performances. He's in his 3rd professional season and even though he's still only 20 he's not showing any signs of improvement. And his miserable K-rate implies his stuff just isn't that good. Riser - Keon Broxton. A couple of months ago he'd have been on the Faller list. But he had a really good July and outside of a really poor April, his repeat season at Visalia can now be considered at least a medium step forward. He has 8 homers and 22 RBI hitting out of the 7th spot over the last 2 months and most importantly has his K-rate down to the 20% range over that period. I'm predicting he gets a shot in Mobile next year. Faller - Tyler Linton. Once considered a good prospect, he'll be running out of chances before long. He's still young and should get a chance in South Bend next year but a .675 OPS for Missoula in his second season there is not giving anyone the warm and fuzzies.
Snake Stars
3 Stars: Adam Eaton, Reno 4 for 5, 1 R, 1 DBL, 1 HR (6), 2 RBI
2 Stars: Taylor Siemens, Visalia 7 IP, 4 H, 0 BB, 8 K, 3 R, 0 ER, W (3-4)
1 Star: Yazy Arbelo, Visalia 2 for 3, 2 BB, 3 R, 2 HR (14), 5 RBI
0 Stars: J.R. Bradley 3 IP, 12 H, 1 BB, 1 K, 2 HR, 7 R, 6 ER
Game summaries after the jump.
Triple A: Reno 9 Sacramento 7. Reno had this one pretty well in hand until Sam Demel made it interesting in the 8th. Charles Brewer pitched well enough with the offense providing plenty of support. He allowed 3 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks over 5.1 innings with 5 strikeouts. Adam Eaton had a big day going 4 for 5 with a double and his 6th home run. Josh Bell added a 2-run homer as part of his 3-hit night out of the DH spot. And A.J. Pollock had a couple of hits including a double. Jonathan Alabaladejo pitched 2 innings for his 19th save.
High A: Visalia 11 Lancaster 4. The Rawhide offense was terrific behind a stellar outing from LHP Taylor Siemens who is having a bit of a breakout stretch in Visalia. He pitched 7 strong innings allowing just 3 unearned runs on 6 hits and no walks while striking out 8. Yazy Arbelo and Keon Broxton did the bulk of the offensive damage via the long ball. Arbelo hit his 13th and 14th home runs in just 122 ABs for Visalia while collecting 5 RBI for the night. Broxton clubbed a 3-run shot in the 3rd, his 3rd home run in his last 4 games.
Low A: South Bend 8 @ Lansing 9. J.R. Bradley was pretty awful as he dug a huge hole for the offense to climb out of. And climb out of it they did scoring 5 runs in the 5th and 3 in the 7th to tie the game at 8. But Lansing scored the tie-breaker in the 7th and their bullpen made it stand up. Tom Belza went 2 for 5 with a 2-run homer and 4 RBI to lead the comeback. Chris Ellison had 3 hits with a triple and an RBI.
Rookie: Missoula 4 Helena 5. Starter Jared Ray gave up 4 runs in the 1st inning before settling down to pitch well the rest of the way. The offense battled back with a 3-run 8th behind a bases-loaded 2-run single by Michael Perez, but they couldn't quite notch the tying run. The Osprey only managed 6 hits with 2 coming from Ty Linton, both singles.
AZL Rookie: Dbacks 5 Giants 4. The Giants came bearing presents when they gifted a 4-run 8th inning to the Dbacks to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The Dbacks trailed 4-1 entering the 8th and after a single and 2 strikeouts the fun began. A William Castillo single and a Jose Munoz walk loaded the bases for Stryker Trahan. And you can guess what happened next. No, not a grand slam. A game-ending ground ball to the second baseman who threw it away allowing all three runners to score. Alex Glenn then gave the team the lead with a run-scoring single. Will Locante pitched the 9th for the save and the gift game was complete. Alex Glenn had 2 hits including the game-winner and 2 RBI. Andrew Potter pitched a solid 5.2 innings of 1-run relief to earn the win.