Dbacks MiLB Round-Up 5/13: Bradley Dominates Some More

Okay, so in case there were any doubts about Bradley's ability before he was promoted to AA Mobile, those doubts have pretty much been erased. Bradley was overwhelming once again with 6 shutout innings, 2 hits, 3 walks and 9 strikeouts. How much longer does he stay in AA? Should they just move him to Reno and see how he handles a really tough audience? His control still isn't perfect but it's darn near good enough. I'm just fine with him walking 3 if he's only going to allow 2 hits and strike out 9. I'm trying to think of another minor league pitcher who is pitching as well as he is. The Braves' Alex Wood is close but he's two years older and doesn't have the same K rate. Bradley leads all of minor league baseball in strikeouts with 62 in 42 innings, and the walks are acceptable at 19 in 42 innings for a K/BB of 4.15. And the overall K rate is a ridiculous 37%. There's more than one organization out there that would be looking at debuting Bradley in the major leagues this year if he was in their organization. If things aren't going as planned come July and Bradley continues to do what he's doing, I'm not going to say that won't happen this year for the Diamondbacks.

Around the horn, guess what happened to Reno...right, they lost. This time it was Zeke Spruill taking the beating as he had his first bad outing of the season. Mobile won behind Bradley's gem even though the defense tried to lose it. The Visalia offense disappeared in a 4-1 loss in which they managed just 3 hits. And the good Jesse Darrah showed up for South Bend in a 6-2 win.

Snake Stars
3 Stars: Archie Bradley, Mobile 6 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 9 K, 0 ER, W (2-0)
2 Stars: Jesse Darrah, South Bend 5.1 IP, 5 H, 3 BB, 9 K, 1 ER, W (3-2)
1 Star: Kevin Munson, Mobile 1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K, 0 ER, S (5)
0 Stars: Zeke Spruill, Reno 5 IP, 7 H, 2 BB, 2 K, 6 ER, L (1-1)

Triple A: Reno 4 Iowa 6.Zeke Spruill had his worst outing to date as he allowed 6 earned runs in 5+ innings on 7 hits and 2 walks. It wasn't a total disaster because he had a shutout going into the 6th inning when it all came undone. The offense tried to overcome the bad inning with 12 hits and 2 walks. But they could only muster 4 runs because they hit into a whopping 5 double plays. Kila Ka'aihue had a perfect night going 2 for 2 with 2 walks, a double and an RBI. Chris Owings had 2 more hits as his average sits at .343. Matt Davidson went 1 for 4 with a double and an RBI. Davidson hasn't been getting much buzz but he has posted an OPS of 1.057 so far in May with 8 doubles, 2 triples, a homer and 8 RBI. He's quietly having a very good month.

Double A: Mobile 3 Jacksonville 2. Archie Bradley was pretty much unhittable again with 6 more shutout innings and 9 strikeouts. An error by Garret Webber in the 7th inning led to 2 unearned runs that cut the deficit to 1. But Kevin Munson came on in the 9th and pitched a perfect inning with 2 strikeouts to get the save and give Bradley the win. Brent Clevlen paced a marginal offense with 2 hits, a double and an RBI.

High A: Visalia 1 @ Inland Empire 4.The Visalia offense was totally shut down as they mustered just 3 hits in their 4-1 loss. Adam Eaton started at DH for the 3rd consecutive game and went 0 for 2 with 2 walks and a stolen base. Eaton has not had a hit in 3 games with Visalia. Kyle Schepel started and pitched in and around trouble throughout with 3 runs allowed on 8 hits and 2 walks in 5 innings of work.

Low A: South Bend 6 West Michigan 2.Erratic Jesse Darrah showed up with his good stuff last night allowing 2 runs (1 earned) in 5 + innings with 9 strikeouts. When Darrah is good he can be very, very good. And when he's bad, he can be very, very bad. Any kind of consistency would earn Darrah some serious attention as a legitimate prospect. But the up and down nature of his starts keeps him lingering on the fringe. Alex Glenn went 2 for 4 with 2 RBI to lead the offense. Breland Almadova went 2 for 3 with a walk, a triple, and an RBI. The bullpen did its job to get Darrah the win with 3.2 innings of scoreless relief, allowing just 1 hit.