Dbacks Minor League Round-Up 7/24: Meo Learning Relief

As if you hadn't heard earlier, the organization made the decision to turn Anthony Meo into a full-time reliever, thinking he had the solid fastball/slider repertoire to become a good one. He was sent down from Mobile back to Visalia to embark on that endeavor and I'm hear to say that initially the results are looking positive. His first few outings were a little bump, and only a little, not like he was getting rocked for crooked numbers. But he's really starting to put it together of late with no runs allowed in his last 5 outings covering 5 innings with 6 strikeouts, 1 walk and 4 hits. They're starting to push him into progressively higher leverage situations as well. He's still got a somewhat long row to hoe but early results are positive.

Snake Stars
3 Stars: Jake Mayers, Missoula 4 for 5, 2 R, 2 DBL, 3 RBI
2 Stars: Jose Martinez, Hillsboro 6 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 5 K, 1 ER
1 Star: Joe Munoz, Missoula 2 for 4, 1 R, 1 DBL, 1 TPL,
0 Stars: Kyle Winkler, South Bend 4 IP, 9 H, 2 BB, 5 K, 7 R, 5 ER

Triple A: Reno 4 @ Las Vegas 11. The miserable Reno season continues as starter Nate Adcock gave up 7 runs in 3+ innings. The bullpen allowed 4 more and that was much too much for the offense to overcome. Juan Rivera followed up his 4-hit night yesterday with 3 more last night. Tuffy Gosewisch added 3 hits and 2 RBI.

Double A: Mobile 4 @ Birmingham 6. Some bullpen failures from some good bullpen pitchers turned what looked like a win into a loss. Willy Paredes allowed 2 runs in the 8th to blow the first save. And after the game extended into the 11th and Mobile scored once to take the lead, Jake Barrett allowed a walk-off 2-run homer in the bottom of the 11th. It ruined a very good start for Bo Schultz who allowed just 1 run through 7 innings. Ender Inciarte had 3 hits including a double and his 32nd stolen base to pace the offense. Three other BayBears had two hits including Nick Ahmed, Justin Greene and Nick Evans.

High A: Visalia 7 Stockton 5. The Rawhide scored 6 times in the 1st inning and were never headed after that. Keith Hessler earned the win with 5 decent innings letting in 2 earned runs. Kevin Medrano and Tom Belza each had a pair of singles.

Low A: South Bend 5 Lake County 7. Kyle Winkler got roughed up allowing 7 runs (5 earned) over 4 innings. Fidel Pena led the offense with 2 hits including a double and 1 RBI.

Short Season A: Hillsboro 1 @ Salem-Keizer 4. The offense was MIA as it failed to support a good start by Jose Martinez who allowed 1 run over 6 innings. The offense had just 6 hits with 2 coming from Elvin Soto, and George Roberts hitting his 1st home run.

Rookie: Missoula 9 Great Falls 5. The offense was firing for effect as jake Mayers led the way with 4 hits. Chuck Taylor went 3 for 5, and Joe Munoz added a double and a triple. Check Taylor was 3 for 5 with 2 RBI. Daniel Palka is red hot and contributed 2 more hits himself. Palka is 19 for his last 38 with 5 doubles, 3 home runs and a .937 OPS. Blayne Wheeler was good enough as the starter allowing 3 runs on 8 hits with 9 strikeouts.