Minor League Recap 5/8/2022 + Prospect Notes: Corbin Carrol Has Second Multi-HR Game of the Weekend

Diamondbacks affiliates won three out of four games played on Sunday, and easily could have won all four if not for bullpen explosion in Hillsboro.

Prospect Notes + Performances

Through 24 games and 120 plate appearances with AA Amarillo, Corbin Carroll has a .326/.458/.695 slash line, good for a 181 wRC+ and .467 wOBA. Carroll was on fire over the weekend, with back-to-back two-homerun games, bringing his season total to nine home runs. Meanwhile Carroll has stolen eight bases with only one caught stealing. Carroll’s walk rate is down about five percent from his even better 2021 season, but considering his strikeout rate is just .1 percent higher, I’m not too concerned. Carroll really doesn’t have much left to prove in AA.

Meanwhile in Visalia, Jordan Lawler is having a great season so far, hitting .301/.443/.542 in 104 plate appearances, with a nice power/speed combo of 6 homeruns and 15 stolen bases (and has only been caught stealing twice). Coincedentally, both Carroll and Lawler have been hit by pitches five times this season

Saturday May 8th, 2022

Reno Aces 6 Round Rock Express 5

Dan Straily pitched 3.0 innings and allowed four runs on six hits and three walks, while striking out three. Three out of the four runs allowed came via solo homer in third, and a two-run homer in the fourth. Edwin Uceta pitched two scoreless innings, with no hits or walks allowed, though he did hit two batters and uncorked a wild pitch. Ryan Meisinger followed with two scoreless innings of his own, with just a hit allowed. Jacob Webb pitched the eighth and allowed a run on a pair of hits. Miguel Aguiler allowed a hit in a scoreless ninth inning.

The Aces got on board with a run in the first inning. Jake Hager walked, Jake McCarthy singled, and Hager scored thanks to a balk. In the bottom of the second, the Aces added four more runs after Buddy Kennedy led off with a walk, and then a pair of singles by Braden Bishop and Dominic Miroglio loaded the bases. A sacrifice fly by Camden Duzenack scored Buddy Kennedy to make it 2-0. Yonny Hernandez walked, and then a bases clearing double scored Bishop, Miroglio, and Hernandez to make the score 5-0. The Express managed to tie the game back up at 5-5, but the Aces would score a run in the bottom of the seventh to pull ahead. Camden Duzenack led off with a single, stole second, and scored thanks to a single by Hager and error by the Round Rock third baseman.

Amarillo Sod Poodles 18 Midland RockHounds 9

Usually, I lead with the pitching, but the offense was quite noteworthy in this game. Every single Amarillo batter had at least two hits, and Corbin Carroll, Blaze Alexander, and Dominic Fletcher each had two home runs. Corbin Carroll led off the game with a homerun, which was quickly followed by singles from Eduardo Diaz and Leandro Cedeno, and then a three-run homer by Dominic Fletcher to put Amarillo up 4-0 before a single out was made. Carroll hit his second homerun of the game in the second to make the score 5-0.

Midland made the score 5-2 in the top of the third, thanks to a two-run homer of their own, but Amarillo responded with a nine run inning, that included a three-run, bases-clearing double by Drew Stankiewicz, a grand slam by Dominic Fletcher, and then a solo shot by Blaze Alexander that made it back-to-back homeruns to put Amarillo up 14-2.

Midland then answered back with a three-run homer and a solo shot to make the score 14-6, but Blaze Alexander hit a two-run homerun, his second of the game in the bottom of the fifth, to make the score 16-6. Amarillo tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the seventh, after Jorge Barrosa hit a ground-rule double, advanced on a balk, and scored on a Jancarlos Cintron double that followed immediately after. Cintron would then score on a Drew Stankiewicz single to make the score 18-6.

Slade Cecconi was solid through the first four innings, but a rough fifth inning made his final line look much worse. Cecconi went 5.0 innings and allowed six runs on five hits, a HBP, a wild pitch, and two walks, while striking out five. Cecconi was hurt by the long ball, with three home runs allowed. Jeff Bain pitched a scoreless sixth inning, and Blake Workman pitched a scoreless seventh inning. Ty Tice pitched the eighth and allowed three runs on four hits and walk. Like Cecconi, Tice was hurt by the long ball, with two home runs allowed. Keegan Curtis pitched a scoreless ninth.

Hillsboro Hops 5 Eugene Emeralds 10 F/8]

This was a game that Hops arguably should have won, as they lead 4-0 going into the sixth, and then 4-3 going into the seventh inning, but Eugene scored seven runs to pull ahead 10-4. Luke Albright had another great outing, pitching five scoreless with just two hits and three walks allowed, while striking out seven. Jackson Goddard would have a rough inning in the sixth, with three unearned runs scoring, thanks to an error by Ryan Bliss and a passed ball by Adrian Del Castillo, capped off with a three-run homer. Bobby Ay had even rougher outing, as he was unable to get a single out. Ay allowed four runs on two hits, a walk, and a hit by pitch, though Kyle Backhus allowed two of those runs to score when he relieved Ay. Backhus went ²⁄₃ of an inning, with three runs allowed on three hits and a walk. Andrew Saalfrank struck out the one batter he faced. After a 30-minute rain delay, the game was called before going into the bottom of the eighth.

The Hops had struck first in the bottom of the second inning, after Tristin English hit a one out single, and advanced to second thanks to a fielding error. Caleb Roberts walked, and then Elian Miranda was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Cam Coursey grounded out, scoring English. The Hops scored three runs in the top of the fourth. Adrian Del Castillo walked, Tristin then hit by a pitch AGAIN, forcing in a run. Jose Curpa was then walked, forcing in another run. AJ Vukovich singled, scoring another run, and extending his hitting streak to nine games. The Hops scored another run in the top of the eighth, after Caleb Roberts walked, advanced to second and third on a pair of wild pitches, and then scored on a Cam Coursey ground out.

Visalia Rawhide 5 Inland Empire 66ers 2

Liam Norris had a very solid start, going 4.1 hitless innings, and allowing just a run on four walks, and a wild pitch, while striking out eight. The lone run came after Norris was relieved by Listher Sosa with one on and one out, who then allowed the inherited runner to score. Sosa was solid enough as well, going 2.2 scoreless innings, with just two hits allowed, with a strikeout. Jean Marcelino pitched the eighth, and allowed one run on a hit, a hit by pitch, and two wild pitches. Christian Montes De Oca allowed a hit and struck out two in a scoreless ninth inning.

The Rawhide scored first in the top of the second inning, after Oscar Santos walked, then balked to second, and scored on a Junior Franco single. Franco would then score on a Channy Ortiz triple. In the top of the third, another run would cross the plate, after Wilderd Patino doubled, advanced to third on a fly out, and scored on a J.J. D’Orazio double. In top of the fourth, Sheng-Ping Chen walked, and scored on a Jordan Lawler double. Lawler knocked in another run in the top of the eighth with a solo homer to right center field.