Dbacks Minor League Round-Up 8/1: Mateo Makes First Mound Appearance

Those of you who follow along with the minor leagues like I do will recall Wagner Mateo as a high dollar Dominican signee, I believe in the $300,000 range. The Dbacks signed him after the Cardinals rescinded their offer of something north of $1 million when they discovered he had some kind of eyesight problem. Mateo never lived up to expectations as a hitter for the Dbacks as they tried him at just about every level and he finished his minor league hitting career with a .230 average and 11 homers in 700+ at bats. Now they have decided to give Mateo a shot as a pitcher due to his strong arm and he made his first professional appearance as one for the AZL Dbacks last night. He pitched one inning allowing 1 run on 0 hits and 1 walk. He got the first batter on a grounder to third. He hit the second batter who promptly stole second and third. Then got 2 more groundouts that scored the runner but ended the inning. A reasonably good start for a player's first time on the mound. We'll see where it goes from here.

Snake Stars
3 Stars: Fidel Pena, South Bend 3 for 4, 1 R, 1 DBL, 2 RBI, SB (14)
2 Stars: Ben Eckels, Hillsboro 6 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 3 K, 2 ER, W (3-5)
1 Star: Robet Coe, South Bend 6 IP, 6 H, 1 BB, 1 K, 2 R, 1 ER
0 Stars: Kyle Schepel, South Bend 1.2 IP, 10 H, 0 BB, 0 K, 8 ER, L (4-2)

Triple A: Reno 2 @ Oklahoma City 3. Tyler Skaggs started and while he had a bumpy third inning, he had a good overall outing. He gave up 3 runs (2 earned) on 6 hits and a walk while striking out 6 over 6 innings. The extent of the offense was a 2-run homer by Ed Easley in the 6th inning. Juan Rivera stayed red hot with 3 hits (all singles) and a walk.

Double A: Mobile 0 @ Pensacola 2. Braden Hagins had a decent start allowing 1 run on 7 hits over 5 innings. But the offense was non-existent getting shut out on 4 hits.They were also 0 for 2 in base stealing attempts.

High A: Visalia 2 @ San Jose 4. Daniel Watts didn't pitch as poorly as he did in his first 2 starts at the High A level but it was still sub-standard. I guess baby steps are better than no steps. He didn't get out of the 5th inning before allowing 3 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks while striking out 7. Jon Griffin drove in both runs on a sac fly and a single. Gerson Montilla and Sean Jamieson each added 2 hits to the effort.

Low A: Game 1. South Bend 3 Lansing 2. Robert Coe had a nice start giving up 2 runs (1 earned) on 6 hits and a walk over 6 innings. The scheduled 7-inning game went an extra frame and the Silver Hawks won it in walk-off style when Fidel Pena singled home the game winner. Henry Garcia got the win pitching by pitching a scoreless 8th. Fidel Pena went 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI. Andrew Velazquez went 2 for 3 and stole his 6th base.

Low A: Game 2. South Bend 6 Lansing 12. Game 2 of the doubleheader didn't go nearly as well when Kyle Schepel got tattooed for 8 runs in the first 2 innings. The offense managed to score 5 meaningless runs in the bottom of the 7th to make it seem like a more competitive game than it was. Socrates Brito had 2 hits including a double.

Short Season A: Hillsboro 4 @ Vancouver 3. Ben Eckels had another solid start allowing 2 runs over 6 innings on 5 hits and 2 walks while striking out 3. George Roberts led the offense going 3 for 5 with an RBI and Ryan Gebhardt added a pair of hits. Daniel Gibson allowed an unearned run in the 9th but still earned his 3rd save.

Rookie: Missoula - Rained Out

AZL Rookie: Dbacks 3 @ Giants 4. A bumpy start for Anfernee Benitez allowing 3 runs on 5 hits and 5 walks in 3+ innings. Jake Lamb continued his rehab here in Phoenix going 2 for 4 with a double. Justin Williams drove in 2 runs giving him 25 in his first 26 games.