Dbacks Minor League Round-Up 5/8: Meet Will Harris

As everyone knows by now he's no longer in the minors, so let's talk a little about who Will Harris is. He was drafted in the 9th round of the 2006 draft out of LSU by Colorado. His early years in the Rockies' system were extremely successful with a K/BB of 4.67 in rookie ball, 5.23 in A ball and 3.50 in High A ball. He was ranked in most Colorado Top 10 prospect lists by that point. Unfortunately, in 2009 his elbow gave out and he underwent a complicated surgery that included both Tommy John and microfracture that would not only keep him out of baseball for two years but possibly meant never pitching again. Yet back he came in 2011 with an uneven year in High A, but then another stellar season in AA and AAA in 2012 earned him the call to the big leagues in Colorado. His 20-game audition did not go so well with an 8.02 ERA and 27 hits allowed in 17 innings, but he did strike out 19. He was waived by Colorado at the beginning of the 2013 season and Oakland claimed him, only to waive him three days later when Arizona claimed him and assigned him to AAA Reno. He has pitched well in Reno. Even though he has a somewhat unseemly ERA of 4.63 he has struck out a whopping 23 batters in 11 innings. He primarily employs a low to mid-90s fastball and a hammer curve that's his strikeout pitch. He has size (6-4, 225), he's a hard thrower and he still has a very good chance to be an effective reliever who should not be quickly dismissed, just yet.

Around the minors Reno earned a rare win with another good outing from Zeke Spruill, some shaky relief, and an 8th inning offensive rally. Mobile got a victory even though many Dbacks fans paying attention caught their collective breaths when Archie Bradley left the game with an apparent knee-injury from sliding into second. But all is well and his removal was strictly precautionary. Visalia's offense continued to get it done on the way to a 9-4 win over High Desert. And South Bend got a pitching gem from Daniel Watts en route to a 3-0 win. Yes, that's a clean sweep of all four teams in action.

Snake Stars
3 Stars: Daniel Watts, South Bend 8 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 5 K, 0 ER, W (5-0)
2 Stars: Jon Griffin, Mobile 3 for 3, 1 BB, 1 DBL, 4 RBI
1 Star: Chris Owings, Reno 2 for 5, 1 R, 1 DBL, 3 RBI
0 Stars: Nick Ahmed, Mobile 0 for 4, Hitting .163

Triple A: Reno 7 Omaha 5. Zeke Spruill delivered more of the same with another steady performance going 7 innings, allowing 3 runs (2 earned) on 7 hits and 2 walks while striking out 3. His ERA is still just 1.42 combined for AA and AAA. The bullpen was less productive as Eury De La Rosa surrendered 2 runs in the 8th inning to tie the game at 5-5. The offense bailed him out in the bottom of the 8th when Adam Eaton walked with the bases loaded and Chris Owings followed with an RBI single. Eaton went 1 for 3 with a walk and a double. Owings went 2 for 5. Matt Davidson had a double and a triple but also committed his 8th error. Alfredo Marte went 3 for 4 and Kila Ka'aihue hit his 7th home. On a side note, the Dbacks signed 34-year-old free agent outfielder Juan Rivera and assigned him to Reno. He played for the Dodgers the last two years.

Double A: Mobile 5 @ Chattanooga 4. Archie Bradley started and was dominating through 2 innings with 4 strikeouts and 1 hit allowed. But he slid hard into second base trying to break up a double-play in the 3rd and injured his knee. Apparently it's not serious and he was seen walking around pain-free after the game. He tweeted it was not serious and would be making his next start. Michael Bolsinger took over for Bradley in the 3rd inning and was adding his own zeros until allowing 2 runs in the 6th. Eric Smith served up 2 solo home runs in the 8th to make it close, but Kevin Munson came on and got the save. Jon Griffin got his cold bat heated up some with a perfect 3 for 3 night and 4 RBI. Keon Broxton went 2 for 4 in his 3rd game back from the DL.

High A: Visalia 9 High Desert 4.The Visalia bats continued to roar with a 9-run outburst that came mostly from long balls. Michael Perez hit a 3-run homer, his 5th, Matt Helm hit a 2-run homer, and Ryan Court hit a solo shot. Starter Kyle Schepel had another quality effort, going 6 strong innings allowing 2 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks. Jake Barrett pitched another scoreless inning, making it 11 out of 12 appearances in which he hasn't allowed a run. Sean Jamieson had a nice night at the dish going 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI, though he did commit 2 errors at shortstop. Gerson Montilla and Tom Belza each chipped in a pair of singles.

Low A: South Bend 3 @ Lake County 0. Daniel Watts tossed a gem as he posted 8 shutout innings on 4 hits and 1 walk with 5 Ks. RJ Hively struck out the side in the 9th for his 8th save. Breland Almadova went 2 for 4 with an RBI double, Fidel Pena went 2 for 4 with a double, and Brandon Drury chipped in an RBI double. South Bend stands atop the Midwest League Eastern Division at 20-9.