Dbacks Minor League Round-Up 6/1: Hagens Pitching Well

Mobile's Bradin Hagens is yet another second tier pitching prospect who has been pitching well of late. He doesn't get included with our upper tier pitching prospects but he's doing the job at the right level for his age. He just turned 24. He's carrying a sub-3.00 ERA in AA. He's got a terrific GO/AO ratio of 1.64, and a H/9 under 9.0. The K/BB ratio is the one peripheral that stands out to keep him out of the serious conversations for a future top job. He's really only had one bad start s far this year and keeps his team in every game. Last night he went 6 innings allowing 1 run on 4 hits with 2 walks and 6 strikeouts. His strikeouts are starting to tick up as he has 16 in his last 17 innings. It's hard to see him grinding through the dearth of pitching prospects in this system but he may be a trade chip at some point for an organization more in need of some B prospect pitching.

Snake Stars
3 Stars: Bradin Hagens 6 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 6 K, 1 ER, W (6-3)
2 Stars: Kyle Winkler, South Bend 6 IP, 2 H, 0 BB, 6 K, 0 ER, W (1-0)
1 Star: Matt Davidson, Reno 2 for 3, 1 BB, 2 R, 2 DBL, 3 RBI
0 Stars: Robert Coe, Visalia 4.1 IP, 11 H, 3 BB, 1 K, 10 ER, L (0-2)

Triple A: Reno 6 Tucson 8. The shortage of starting pitching in Reno is starting to show as Willy Paredes was given his second start and he got roughed up yet again. The offense battled to earn a 6-6 tie in the 7th led by 2 doubles from Matt Davidson and a 2-run homer by Tuffy Gosewisch. Evan Marshall pitched a scoreless 9th but got smacked around for a couple of runs in the 10th for the loss.

Double A: Mobile 2 Chattanooga 1. Another fine start by Bradin Hagens plus 3 terrific relief innings in high leverage situations earned the Bay Bears the 1-run victory. Hagens continues to keep his team in every game he pitches and improved to 6-3. Eric Smith threw a perfect 7th, Alexis Lara added a perfect 8th, and Kevin Munson closed with a perfect 9th with 2 strikeouts. Munson is really coming on of late with a 1.86 ERA is in his last 10 games with 17 strikeouts in 9.2 innings. Nick Ahmed doubled in a run in the 5th, and Nick Evans provided a run-scoring single in the 6th for the difference-maker.

High A: Visalia 3 @ Lancaster 12. The Rawhide got mutilated again in the bandbox of Lancaster, which rates only behind High Desert as one of the worst stadiums for pitching. I actually feel bad assigning zero stars to any pitcher having to deal with that environment. The only disappointment is Visalia being unable to do the same thing on offense. Gerson Montilla went 2 for 5 with a double and an RBI, Evan Marzilli had 2 hits with a double, and Tom Belza added 3 singles.

Low A: South Bend 7 @ Bowling Green 0. Kyle Winkler was demoted from Visalia where he was getting hit pretty hard, and he relished in the lower level competition with 6 shutout innings on 2 hits, no walks and 6 strikeouts. South Bend is running away with the Midwest League's Eastern Division with a 36-17 record and a 5.5 game lead. The offense continues to shine as Brandon Drury had another big game with a double, a homer and 3 RBI. Rudy Flores went 3 for 4 with a 2-run homer and is off to a torrid start since coming off the DL. Socrates Brito went 3 for 5 with a double, a triple and an RBI.