Dbacks Minor League Round-Up 6/19: Ahmed Coming to Life

I'm not sure it's possible to maintain a full time baseball position job and hit any worse than SS prospect Nick Ahmed did in April and May to start the season. In both months he posted an OPS of less than .400 which is hard to do playing every day. His batting average for April was .163 and it was even worse in May at .113. He had a grand total of 2 extra base hits in the first 2 months. We could try and blame some of it on an alarmingly low BABIP of .206 in April and an unheard of .127 in May. But his line drive rates were extremely low and his K rate was in the high 20s. So that only explains some it. In any case, putting all that aside, as Ahmed himself has obviously done, he's got his bat back on track and is having a very good June. He's hitting .305 with 9 extra base hits out of 18, 11 RBI and an OPS of .852. As one of the pieces in the Justin Upton trade it was thought that Ahmed was a nice middle infield prospect who had a chance to reach the majors in a couple of years. But after that ugly start to the year the shine is off and Ahmed will have to earn his way back into the hearts of the Dbacks faithful. He's at least made a good step in that direction this month.

Snake Stars
3 Stars: Chris Owings, Reno 4 for 5, 3 R, 2 DBL, 3 RBI
2 Stars: Nick Ahmed, Mobile 3 for 5, 2 R, 1 TPL, 1 HR (2), 4 RBI
1 Star: Tyler Skaggs, Reno 6 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, 8 K, 1 ER, W (5-5)
0 Stars: Wagner Mateo, Hillsboro 0 for 4, 2 K (3 for 21 this season)

Triple A: Reno 11 San Jose 5. J.J. Putz started the game in his first rehab stint and allowed 1 run on 2 hits. Tyler Skaggs followed and was very good going 6 innings allowing just 1 run on 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out 8 to even his record at 5-5. He did take 110 pitches to get through those 6 innings. Once again the star of the show was Chris Owings who went a cool 4 for 5 with 2 doubles, 3 runs scored and 3 RBI. His average is up to .357 and climbing. Aaron Hill is also rehabbing and went 1 for 4 with a double and 2 RBI. Mike Jacobs continues to rake going 2 for 3 and hitting his 8th homer, a 3-run shot in the 7th.

Double A: Mobile 8 Jackson 6. The BayBears offense got it done late with 4 runs in the last 2 innings to eke out an 8-6 win. The big blow came on a 2-RBI triple by Nick Ahmed who went 3 for 5 and also hit his 2nd homer of the year. Bradin Hagens started and was cruising until the 5th inning when he allowed a single, 2 doubles, another single and a home run all with 2 outs. The bullpen tossed three scoreless innings to give the offense a chance which they took full advantage of. Garrett Webber went 3 for 5 with 2 runs scored. Kevin Munson pitched a perfect 9th with a strikeout to earn his 13th save.

High A: Visalia - All Star Break

Low A: South Bend - All Star Break

Short Season A: Hillsboro 2 Eugene 1. Ben Eckels was effectively wild in his 2nd start allowing just one run on a solo home run over 5+ innings. He did walk 5 but surrendered just 2 hits and struck out 5 to earn the victory. Karl Triana added 2.2 scoreless innings while striking out 3. Yoimer Camacho pitched a nervous but scoreless 9th for his 1st save. The offense was fairly anemic again with just 6 hits. Randy McCurry had 2 of those hits including a double and 2 RBI.