Rays prospects and minor leagues: Schnell homers in 1st AB

It’s difficult to describe how well Colin Poche has been pitching this season. Between two Double-A affiliates and now Triple-A Durham, he’s allowed just 15 hits in 39 ¹⁄₃ innings. He has a 56 percent strikeout rate. How is that even possible?

Triple-A Durham Bulls (40-31)

Andrew Moore and Colin Poche combined to shut down Indianapolis in a 6-1 Durham win. Indianapolis scored first in the first inning, but that would be the only run Moore allowed in six innings. Poche struck out five in three perfect innings of relief to wrap up the win. The Bulls took the lead in the second on Brandon Lowe’s two-run homer, his second straight game with a home run.

RF Justin Williams: 1-for-5, 1 R, 1 K
LF Brandon Lowe: 2-for-3, 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K
C Nick Ciuffo: 1-for-2, 1 2B, 1 RBI
CF Jeremy Hazelbaker: 2-for-4, 1 BB, 2 K
1B Brandon Snyder: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 BB, 2 K
DH Ji-Man Choi: 1-for-3, 1 R, 2 BB

RHP Andrew Moore: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
LHP Colin Poche: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (0-2)

Montgomery fell behind early and couldn’t catch up in an 8-2 loss to Birmingham. Dalton Moats opened and allowed two runs in the first, and Zach Lee followed with two runs allowed in five innings. Dalton Kelly homered for the second straight game.

RF Ryan Boldt: 0-for-4, 1 BB, 2 K
2B Nick Solak: 1-for-2, 3 BB, 2 SB
SS Jake Cronenworth: 2-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 K
LF Dalton Kelly: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K

RHP Zach Lee: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K
LHP Matt Krook: 1 ²⁄₃ IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 K

Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (1-1)

A pitchers’ duel ended in a 2-1 loss to Palm Beach in 10 innings. Neither team scored until the 10th inning when Jake Fraley broke the scoreless deadlock with a two-out single. However, in the bottom half of the inning, Ivan Pelaez allowed hits to both batters he faced. After Zack Mozingo opened with three scoreless innings, Kenny Rosenberg was outstanding, striking out 10 in six scoreless frames.

SS Lucius Fox: 1-for-5, 1 2B, 1 K
RF Jesus Sanchez: 0-for-4, 2 K
3B Jermaine Palacios: 1-for-3, 1 CS
CF Jake Fraley: 2-for-4, 1 BB, 2 K

LHP Kenny Rosenberg: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 10 K

Charlotte’s site offers this recap.

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (2-0)

Bowling Green won its 13th in a row with a 4-1 triumph over Lake County. For the seventh time in eight starts this season, Josh Fleming allowed one or fewer runs, only getting charged with an unearned run in six innings. He also set a career high with seven strikeouts. The Hot Rods fell behind 1-0, but they finished with four unanswered runs, including the go-ahead score on a fielder’s choice in the fifth inning.

DH Vidal Brujan: 1-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 K
SS Taylor Walls: 0-for-4, 1 K
C Ronaldo Hernandez: 1-for-4, 1 K

LHP Josh Fleming: 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R (0 ER), 3 BB, 7 K

Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (5-3)

Hudson Valley was outhit 11-5, but it held on to beat Vermont by a 6-5 score. The Renegades had three of their hits in the third inning when they scored all five of their runs. Erik Ostberg capped the scoring with a two-out, two-run single. Michael Mercado was charged with five runs — four earned — in 4 ¹⁄₃ innings, but Simon Rosenblum-Larson was great in relief, striking out seven in 2 ²⁄₃ scoreless innings.

CF Tanner Dodson: 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 RBI
SS Tyler Frank: 0-for-2, 1 R, 2 BB, 1 SB

RHP Michael Mercado: 4 ¹⁄₃ IP, 7 H, 5 R (4 ER), 1 BB, 2 K
RHP Simon Rosenblum-Larson: 2 ²⁄₃ IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K

Rookie Princeton Rays (1-3)

Joe Peguero pitched Princeton to its first win of the season, a 4-3 victory over Danville. After struggling with Princeton last season, Peguero’s 2018 debut was very good. In five innings, he struck out seven and allowed just a run on two hits and a walk. The game was decided in the eighth inning when Osmy Gregorio — acquired from Seattle to complete the Mike Marjama trade — hit his first home run as a member of the organization.

SS Wander Franco: 0-for-4
3B Osmy Gregorio: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K
C Roberto Alvarez: 2-for-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI

RHP Joe Peguero: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K

Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (1-3)

Behind Nick Schnell homering in his first professional at-bat, the GCL Rays topped the GCL Orioles, 8-3, to earn their first win of the season. The 32nd-overall pick opened his pro career with a two-run homer, and Kaleo Johnson later followed with his first pro dinger in the seven-run second inning. Starter Fraylin Santos struck out five in five scoreless innings.

SS Jelfry Marte: 0-for-3, 1 R, 2 K, 1 SB, 1 HBP
CF Nick Schnell: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K
1B Russ Olive: 3-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 K
DH Kaleo Johnson: 1-for-5, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 3 K
3B Luis Leon: 2-for-3, 1 R, 2 BB

RHP Fraylin Santos: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K

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Saturday’s games (probables courtesy of milb.com)

Durham @ Indianapolis 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Chih-Wei Hu (2-6, 4.93) vs. J.T. Brubaker (4-2, 3.35)

Montgomery vs. Birmingham 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
J.D. Martin (4-8, 5.35) vs. Dane Dunning (5-2, 2.78)

Charlotte @ Palm Beach 5:30 p.m. ET (radio stream)
Brock Burke (2-5, 4.36) vs. Ian Oxnevad (3-5, 5.37)

Bowling Green vs. Lake County 7:35 p.m. ET (radio stream)
TBA vs. Juan Hillman (0-8, 6.18)

Hudson Valley vs. Vermont 7:05 p.m. ET
TBA vs. Adam Reuss (0-0, 0.00)

Princeton vs. Danville 7 p.m. ET (radio stream)
TBA vs. TBA

GCL Rays @ GCL Orioles 10 a.m. ET

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Indianapolis Indians (Pittsburgh)
39-32 (2nd in IL West)
Offense: 310 R (3rd) .769 OPS (1st)
Pitching: 3.75 ERA (7th) 1.41 WHIP (14th)
Top-30 prospects: SS Kevin Newman (5), RHP Nick Kingham (8), 2B Kevin Kramer (12), OF Jordan Luplow (13), 2B Max Moroff (16), RHP Dovydas Neverauskas (17), LHP Brandon Waddell (19), RHP Clay Holmes (21), RHP Tyler Eppler (29), OF Daniel Nava

Birmingham Barons (White Sox)
2-0 (T-1st in SL North)
Offense: 302 R (7th) .728 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 4.67 ERA (10th) 1.43 WHIP (10th)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Alec Hansen (3), RHP Dane Dunning (5), C Zack Collins (6), RHP Dylan Cease (10), RHP A.J. Puckett (15), OF Alex Call (21), LHP Ian Clarkin (22), LHP Bernardo Flores (26), OF Tito Polo (27), OF Ryan Brett

Palm Beach Cardinals
1-1 (T-2nd in FSL South)
Offense: 277 R (8th) .704 OPS (6th)
Pitching: 3.57 ERA (4th) 1.26 WHIP (3rd)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Junior Fernandez (21), OF Dylan Carlson (24)

Lake County Captains (Cleveland)
0-2 (T-6th in MWL East)
Offense: 293 R (13th) .705 OPS (7th)
Pitching: 4.42 ERA (15th) 1.37 WHIP (9th)
Top-30 prospects: 3B Nolan Jones (4), OF Will Benson (10), OF Oscar Gonzalez (20), IF Ernie Clement (24)

Vermont Lake Monsters (Oakland)
5-3 (1st in NYPL Stedler)
Offense: 27 R (7th) .672 OPS (6th)
Pitching: 2.77 ERA (3rd) 1.27 WHIP (7th)
Top-30 prospects: 2B Marcos Brito (28), OF Jameson Hannah, SS Jeremy Eierman

Danville Braves
2-2 (2nd in AL East)
Offense: 7 R (7th) .608 OPS (6th)
Pitching: 2.25 ERA (5th) 1.15 WHIP (3rd)
Top-30 prospects: 1B Greyson Jenista

GCL Orioles
0-4 (4th in GCL South)
Offense: 8 R (15th) .593 OPS (13th)
Pitching: 10.08 ERA (17th) 1.80 WHIP (15th)
Top-30 prospects: OF Lamar Sparks (25)

Daily news and links

MLB.com tweaked its top-100 prospects list.

Writing for Montgomery, Peyton Wesner talked to Zach Lee about his return to the Southern League.