Rays prospects and minor leagues: Baz sharp again for Hot Rods

It’s only 20 innings, but what might be the biggest factor driving Shane Baz’s success right now is a drastically reduced walk rate. In 76 pro innings prior to this season, his walk rate was 12.3%. This season, it’s just 6.7%.

The Chris Archer trade could pay off for the Rays.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (29-19)

A nine-run inning sunk Durham in a 12-4 loss to Charlotte. Christian Arroyo’s RBI single in the top of the sixth gave the Bulls a 3-1 lead, but it wouldn’t last. In the bottom half of the inning, the Knights hit three home runs and piled up nine runs to go ahead for good. Jake Cronenworth opened with a scoreless inning, and Jake Faria allowed a run in 1 ²⁄₃ innings.

LF Nick Solak: 0-for-4, 1 K (.856)
1B Nate Lowe: 2-for-4, 1 R (.822)
DH Brendan McKay: 0-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 K (.000)
3B Kean Wong: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K (.904)
2B Mike Brosseau: 1-for-2, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 HBP (.999)
SS Christian Arroyo: 3-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI (.940)

RHP Jake Cronenworth: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K (0.00)
RHP Jake Faria: 1 ²⁄₃ IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K (6.35)

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (29-20)

Montgomery was crushed by Jackson, 8-1. Thanks to Josh Lowe’s home run in the third, the game was tied at one, but the Generals scored five in the fifth. Josh Fleming allowed six runs — five earned — in five innings.

CF Josh Lowe: 3-for-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K (.773)
RF Jesus Sanchez: 1-for-5, 1 K (.753)
SS Lucius Fox: 1-for-3, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB (.632)
1B Dalton Kelly: 2-for-3, 2 BB (.795)

LHP Josh Fleming: 5 IP, 8 H, 6 R (5 ER), 1 BB, 4 K (3.35)

Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (26-24)

Charlotte collapsed late in a 7-4 loss to Palm Beach. In the seventh, the Stone Crabs broke a 2-2 tie on a Jim Haley RBI single and Thomas Milone sacrifice fly. They called on Mikey York to save the game, but all six Cardinals he faced reached base, and they finished the inning with five runs. No Charlotte pitcher threw longer than Jack Labosky’s 2 ²⁄₃ innings.

DH Ronaldo Hernandez: 1-for-5, 1 R (.685)
RF Moises Gomez: 2-for-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K (.686)
LF Garrett Whitley: 2-for-4, 1 3B, 1 K (.742)
2B Jake Palomaki: 3-for-3, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 SB (1.528)

RHP Jack Labosky: 2 ²⁄₃ IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (2.31)

Charlotte’s site offers this recap.

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (30-20)

Shane Baz earned his first win in the organization in Bowling Green’s 3-1 win over Dayton. As he has been in most of his outings, the righty was dominant, and he pitched his best start yet Sunday. He tied a career high with nine strikeouts in five scoreless innings, and he gave up just two singles and a walk. Roberto Alvarez started the scoring with an RBI single in the fourth, and Osmy Gregorio and Ford Proctor later added sacrifice flies.

SS Wander Franco: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B (.867)
3B Kaleo Johnson: 4-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B (.758)
1B Seaver Whalen: 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 BB (1.181)

RHP Shane Baz: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K (1.80)

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

Durham @ Charlotte 2:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. Jordan Guerrero (2-4, 6.91)

Montgomery is off.

Charlotte is off.

Bowling Green vs. Dayton 1:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Matthew Liberatore (1-0, 0.90) vs. Lyon Richardson (0-4, 4.58)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Charlotte Knights (White Sox)
27-20 (3rd in IL South)
Offense: 271 R (1st) .840 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 5.87 ERA (14th) 1.68 WHIP (14th)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Dylan Cease (3), C Zack Collins (12), RHP Ian Hamilton (13), C Seby Zavala (15), RHP Jordan Stephens (19), RHP Spencer Adams (20), OF Joel Booker (27), RHP Zach Thompson (28)

Dayton Dragons (Cincinnati)
15-35 (8th in MWL East)
Offense: 174 R (15th) .627 OPS (15th)
Pitching: 4.96 ERA (16th) 1.55 WHIP (16th)
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)

Daily news and links

MiLB.com covered Wander Franco’s latest hot streak.

If you want to know which draft prospects are related to former major leaguers and other well-known people, MLB.com has you covered.

I kept forgetting to link to this, but FanGraphs’ Kiley McDaniel had some good thoughts on the Carter Stewart saga.