Dbacks MiLB Round-Up 8/20: Haniger on Comeback Trail

Since arriving to the Dbacks in the Gerardo Parra trade outfielder Mitch Haniger has been on the injury shelf with an arm injury. He has started playing games for the AZL rookie team this week and last night hit a grand slam to sort of announce he's just about ready to get back to the Southern League. It remains to be seen if Haniger has another step forward in him to show he's got a future with the Diamondbacks. He's 23 and the rest of this season plus maybe the Arizona Fall League should set him up for a big make-or-break year next season. He does a little bit of everything and sometimes those kinds of guys don't do anything sexy to get noticed but they're just good all-around ballplayers who can make some noise in the big leagues, not unlike what A.J. Pollock did.

Snake Stars
3 Stars: Scott Schultz, Hillsboro 7 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 ER
2 Stars: Andy Marte, Reno 3 for 4, 1 R, 2 DBL, 1 RBI
1 Star: Garrett Webber, Reno 3 for 4, 2 R, 1 DBL, 1 RBI
0 Stars: Andrew Velazquez, South Bend 0 for 5, 3 K

AAA: Reno 11 Iowa 4. The offense blew open a 5-4 game with 6 runs in the 8th inning that featured home runs by Brett Jackson and Zach Borenstein, and doubles by Garrett Webber and Mike Jacobs. Brett Hagins went 5 innings allowing 4 unearned runs off a Nick Ahmed error. Andy Marte and Garrett Webber each went 3 for 4 with a double to earn some snake stars.

AA: Mobile 2 Mississippi 6. Clayton Richard got bumped around for 4 runs in the first 3 innings then settled down and got through 7 without further damage. The offense didn't help with just 2 runs on 8 hits. Tom Belza had 3 of those hits and Dustin Martin had 2.

A+: Visalia 5 Rancho Cucamonga 4. The Rawhide made what would appear to be a spectacular rally in the bottom of the 9th but the game was really handed to them on a silver platter. Breland Almadova led off the 9th with a single but 2 errors by Rancho second baseman Brandon Dixon sandwiched around 2 strikeouts set the stage for a wild pitch, a walk and an infield single and thus the walk-off win. John Omahen was steady on the mound allowing 4 runs (3 earned) on 9 hits over 7 innings with 6 strikeouts. Daniel Gibson pitched the 9th to get his 4th win. Kevin Medrano had 2 hits and 2 RBI and Ronnie Freeman hit his 3rd home run.

A: South Bend 3 Dayton 5. Blake Perry wasn't so good and was lucky it wasn't worse as he allowed 4 runs on 9 hits and 6 walks over 5.2 innings. The Silver Hawks scattered 9 hits with 2 by Joe Munoz and a home run by Jamie Westbrook, his 7th.

A-: Hillsboro 2 Spokane 1. The Hops went 17 innings on Sunday and had to go 14 innings last night before getting the walk-off win on a Jordan Parr RBI double. Scott Schultz was very good surrendering 1 run over 7 innings. Once again the bullpen was terrific with 7 shutout innings on 1 hit with 5 strikeouts. Rob Wort pitched the 14th to earn the win. Elvin Soto hit a solo home run in the 8th inning that tied the game at 1-1 to set up the marathon.

R: Missoula 1 @ Billings 8. Not much of interest in this game other than Cody Reed started and allowed 3 runs over 3 innings though he did strike out 6. Tyler Bolton let in 5 more over the next 4 innings and 5 singles by the offense wasn't quite enough.

AZL: Dbacks 11 Athletics 1. Anfernee Benitez was good as usual starting the game with 4 shutout innings. Graham Godfrey added 3 more goose eggs and that earned him the win. Mitch Haniger and Chris Owings did the bulk of the offensive damage with a grand slam from Haniger and 2 RBI from Owings who singled, walked twice and stole 2 bases. Marcus Wilson was 2 for 3 with a double and 2 RBI.