Rays prospects and minor leagues: Franco, McClanahan impress in full-season debuts

I hate to do this so soon during the season, but the next few days will have abbreviated posts since I’ll be posting on the road. The standard recaps will return after that.

A new feature people have been requesting for a while is some season stats alongside the daily lines. Moving forward, a player’s OPS for the season and pitcher’s ERA for the season will be in parenthesis. However, since this is new, I may occasionally forget.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (0-1)

Durham came up short in a slugfest, falling to Charlotte by a 12-11 score. Andrew Velazquez led off the season with a homer, and Nate Lowe’s two-run dinger two batters later gave the Bulls a 3-0 lead. However, a 9-2 spurt by the Knights in the third and fourth innings turned a 4-0 deficit into a 9-6 lead. After Durham pulled within one in the fifth, Charlotte scored three more in the sixth. Jake Faria allowed five runs in 2 ²⁄₃ innings.

1B Nate Lowe: 2-for-6, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 K (1.166)
LF Nick Solak: 1-for-4, 1 BB, 1 K (.650)
CF Andrew Velazquez: 4-for-6, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 5 RBI (2.000)
2B Kean Wong: 2-for-4, 2 R, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 SB (1.167)
3B Mike Brosseau: 3-for-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI (1.400)
SS Jake Cronenworth: 3-for-5, 3 R, 3 2B (1.800)

RHP Jake Faria: 2 ²⁄₃ IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 3 K (16.88)

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (1-0)

Miles Mastrobuoni’s homer lifted Montgomery to a 6-3 win over Chattanooga. The Biscuits trailed 3-1 entering the sixth inning, but after Brendan McKay hit an RBI double, Mastrobuoni’s two-run homer gave them the lead for good. Phoenix Sanders opened with two scoreless innings, and Arturo Reyes followed with three runs allowed in three innings. The Lookouts struck out 15 times.

SS Lucius Fox: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 SB, 1 CS (.933)
CF Josh Lowe: 2-for-4, 1 2B, 1 BB, 2 K (1.350)
RF Jesus Sanchez: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 BB (.650)
DH Brendan McKay: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K (.750)
2B Miles Mastrobuoni: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB (1.833)

RHP Phoenix Sanders: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K (0.00)
RHP Arturo Reyes: 3 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K (9.00)

Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (0-1)

Charlotte allowed eight unanswered runs in an 11-3 loss to Fort Myers. In the sixth, Vidal Brujan drove in two with a double to tie the game, but the Miracle responded with four in the bottom half of the inning and eventually ran away with the game. Riley O’Brien struck out eight but allowed three runs in 4 ²⁄₃ innings.

2B Vidal Brujan: 4-for-5, 1 2B, 2 RBI (1.800)
CF Garrett Whitley: 0-for-4, 1 BB, 3 K (.200)
LF Moises Gomez: 1-for-5, 2 K (.400)
C Ronaldo Hernandez: 0-for-5, 3 K (.000)
SS Tyler Frank: 0-for-3, 1 BB (.250)
RF Carl Chester: 4-for-4, 2 R (2.000)
3B Zach Rutherford: 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K (1.750)

RHP Riley O’Brien: 4 ²⁄₃ IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 8 K (5.79)
RHP Tanner Dodson: 1 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K (27.00)

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (1-0)

Shane McClanahan pitched Bowling Green to a 3-2 win over Dayton. In his longest start as a pro, the lefty struck out a career-high nine in five scoreless innings, giving up just three hits and a walk. As expected, in his full-season debut, Wander Franco was a factor in the Hot Rods’ offense, reaching base three times and scoring twice.

SS Wander Franco: 1-for-3, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 BB (1.267)
2B Ford Proctor: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 BB (1.100)
1B Kaleo Johnson: 3-for-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI (1.400)

LHP Shane McClanahan: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K (0.00)
RHP Easton McGee: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K (0.00)

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

Durham @ Charlotte 7:04 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Andrew Moore (0-0, -.--) vs. Jordan Guerrero (0-0, -.--)

Montgomery @ Chattanooga 7:15 p.m. ET (radio stream)
TBA vs. TBA

Charlotte @ Fort Myers 6:30 p.m. ET (radio stream)
Tommy Romero (0-0, -.--) vs. Jhoan Duran (0-0, -.--)

Bowling Green @ Dayton 7 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Joe Ryan (0-0, -.--) v. Jacob Heatherly (0-0, -.--)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Charlotte Knights (White Sox)
1-0 (T-1st in IL South)
Offense: Will update next series
Pitching: Will update next series
Top-30 prospects: RHP Dylan Cease (3), C Zack Collins (12), RHP Ian Hamilton (13), C Seby Zavala (15), RHP Nick Burdi (18), RHP Jordan Stephens (19), RHP Spencer Adams (20), RHP Zach Thompson (28)

Chattanooga Lookouts (Cincinnati)
0-1 (5th in SL North)
Offense: Will update next series
Pitching: Will update next series
Top-30 prospects: OF Taylor Trammell (3), RHP Tony Santillan (5), C Tyler Stephenson (6), OF Jose Siri (9), OF T.J. Friedl (12), SS Alfredo Rodriguez (22), 1B Ibandel Isabel (24), LHP Scott Moss (25), RHP Ryan Hendrix (28), RHP Joel Kuhnel (30)

Fort Myers Miracle (Minnesota)
1-0 (T-1st in FSL South)
Offense: Will update next series
Pitching: Will update next series
Top-30 prospects: SS Royce Lewis (1), OF Trevor Larnach (5), RHP Jhoan Duran (7), C Ryan Jeffers (9), IF Jose Miranda (13), OF Akil Baddoo (19), C Ben Rortvedt (22), 2B Michael Helman (27), OF Aaron Whitefield (28)

Dayton Dragons (Cincinnati)
0-1 (T-5th in MWL East)
Offense: Will update next series
Pitching: Will update next series
Top-30 prospects: OF Mike Siani (8), OF Mariel Bautista (13), RHP Lyon Richardson (14), RHP James Marinan (16), 3B Juan Martinez (19), LHP Jacob Heatherly (20), OF Bren Spillane (27), 2B Jonathan Willems (29)

Daily news and links

MiLB.com continued its season preview with an affiliate to watch for each organization and 10 promotions to look forward to.

Baseball America helpfully made one page with all of its season-preview content.