Rays prospects and minor leagues: Liberatore reportedly close to signing

On Monday, we’ll debut our 2018 draft-pick signing tracker. The Matthew Liberatore news could be official by then, and the Rays have officially signed second-rounder Tyler Frank.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (34-25)

Yonny Chirinos pitched a nice game in Durham’s 2-1 win over Rochester. In five innings of work, Chirinos allowed just a solo home run among four hits and struck out two. A half inning after the Red Wings went up 1-0, Kean Wong’s RBI triple tied the game, and Brandon Snyder’s seventh home run of the season gave the Bulls the lead in the seventh.

SS Willy Adames: 1-for-4, 3 K
2B Brandon Lowe: 2-for-4, 1 K
C Nick Ciuffo: 0-for-3, 2 K

RHP Yonny Chirinos: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
RHP Ian Gibaut: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (32-29)

After falling behind 5-0, Montgomery’s offense woke up in a 12-7 win over Chattanooga. The Biscuits got back in the game with a two-run third, but they stormed to a big lead with their seven-run fourth. They sent 10 batters to the plate, and Nick Solak’s three-run homer capped the scoring. J.D. Martin allowed six runs in 3 ¹⁄₃ innings, but three Montgomery relievers combined to only give up one run the remainder of the game.

SS Jake Cronenworth: 1-for-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K
RF Ryan Boldt: 4-for-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 3 RBI, 1 K
LF Nick Solak: 2-for-5, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI
3B Michael Brosseau: 2-for-3, 3 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 BB
2B Peter Maris: 3-for-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 K

RHP J.D. Martin: 3 ¹⁄₃ IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 4 BB, 1 K

Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (26-31)

Charlotte rallied but came up short in an 8-5 loss to Clearwater. The Stone Crabs trailed 3-0 after half an inning and eventually fell behind 8-0 before getting on the board late. Kevin Padlo’s grand slam in the ninth accounted for most of their runs. Willy Ortiz struck out seven but allowed four runs in four innings.

DH Lucius Fox: 0-for-2, 1 R, 2 BB, 1 K
RF Jesus Sanchez: 2-for-4, 1 RBI
CF Josh Lowe: 1-for-4, 2 K

RHP Willy Ortiz: 4 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 7 K

Charlotte’s site offers this recap.

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (38-21)

Bowling Green bashed five home runs in an 11-4 win over Dayton. The Hot Rods opened the game with back-to-back homers from Vidal Brujan and Taylor Walls, who each went deep for the third time this season. Devin Davis hit his first two homers of the season, and Ronaldo Hernandez hit his eighth. Riley O’Brien allowed three runs in six innings with nine strikeouts, and three Bowling Green pitchers combined to strike out 15 Dragons.

2B Vidal Brujan: 3-for-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 2 SB
SS Taylor Walls: 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 SB
DH Ronaldo Hernandez: 3-for-5, 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K
1B Devin Davis: 2-for-5, 2 R, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 1 K

RHP Riley O’Brien: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 9 K
RHP Phoenix Sanders: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K

CLICK HERE FOR ALL BOX SCORES

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

Durham @ Rochester 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Forrest Snow (2-4, 4.35) vs. TBA

Montgomery vs. Chattanooga 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Genesis Cabrera (5-3, 3.24) vs. Omar Bencomo (4-0, 2.08)

Charlotte vs. Clearwater 6:05 p.m. ET (radio stream)
TBA vs. TBA

Bowling Green @ Dayton 7 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. Hunter Greene (1-3, 6.32)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Rochester Red Wings (Minnesota)
28-28 (3rd in IL North)
Offense: 193 R (14th) .664 OPS (14th)
Pitching: 3.45 ERA (2nd) 1.27 WHIP (4th)
Top-30 prospects: LHP Stephen Gonsalves (4), IF Nick Gordon (8), RHP John Curtiss (21), OF Zack Granite (27), IF Taylor Featherston, IF Leonardo Reginatto

Chattanooga Lookouts (Minnesota)
33-28 (T-1st in SL North)
Offense: 262 R (4th) .710 OPS (6th)
Pitching: 4.09 ERA (7th) 1.42 WHIP (8th)
Top-30 prospects: 1B Brent Rooker (7), LHP Tyler Jay (10), RHP Felix Jorge (12), LHP Lewis Thorpe (16), OF LaMonte Wade (17), RHP Kohl Stewart (30)

Clearwater Threshers (Philadelphia)
27-32 (4th in FSL North)
Offense: 274 R (2nd) .725 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 4.24 ERA (11th) 1.32 WHIP (10th)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Sixto Sanchez (2), RHP Adonis Medina (4), OF Adam Haseley (5), OF Mickey Moniak (9), SS Arquimedes Gamboa (19), RHP Mauricio Llovera (30)

Dayton Dragons (Cincinnati)
29-30 (5th in MWL East)
Offense: 271 R (5th) .723 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 5.34 ERA (16th) 1.60 WHIP (16th)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Hunter Greene (2), SS Jeter Downs (11), SS Jose Garcia (12), OF Stuart Fairchild (16), OF Miles Gordon (26), LHP Packy Naughton (28)

Daily news and links

At FanGraphs, Kiley McDaniel wrote a post-draft odds and ends piece that features some notes on Rays picks.

ESPN subscribers can read Keith Law’s draft recap for the Rays.