Rays prospects and minor leagues: Fox collects 1st Triple-A hit

I’m not sure if Lucius Fox’s promotion to Durham is temporary while Jake Cronenworth is sidelined or a longterm move, but I’d lean toward the latter. His performance with Montgomery wasn’t great — he batted just .224 — but like with Jesus Sanchez, 100 or so games at a level may be enough for them to feel he’s ready for the next level.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (58-40)

Durham was topped by Toledo, 8-5. The Mud Hens scored three in the first, but the Bulls tied the game in the seventh. Toledo immediately answered with three in the bottom half of the inning to take the lead for good. Aaron Slegers was charged with four runs in 6 ¹⁄₃ innings.

3B Matt Duffy: 4-for-5, 1 R
LF Joe McCarthy: 0-for-4, 1 BB, 2 K (.795)
RF Jesus Sanchez: 1-for-4, 1 2B (.798)
SS Lucius Fox: 1-for-4, 2 R, 1 3B, 3 RBI, 2 K (.800)

RHP Aaron Slegers: 6 ¹⁄₃ IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 8 K (6.45)
RHP Ian Gibaut: 5 BF, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 0 K (3.48)

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (17-10)

Taylor Walls’ first Double-A home run wasn’t enough in Montgomery’s 6-4 loss to Jackson. He reached base four times, had two extra-base hits, and stole a base, but the rest of the Biscuits only had four hits. Matt Krook opened with 1 ¹⁄₃ scoreless innings, and Riley O’Brien allowed two runs in in 3 ²⁄₃ innings.

2B Vidal Brujan: 1-for-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 SB (.781)
SS Taylor Walls: 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 SB (.727)
CF Josh Lowe: 1-for-5, 1 2B, 3 K (.758)

LHP Matt Krook: 1 ¹⁄₃ IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K (3.79)
RHP Riley O’Brien: 3 ²⁄₃ IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K (3.93)

Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (22-6)

Charlotte’s six, first-inning runs weren’t enough in a 9-8 loss to St. Lucie. Wander Franco and Ronaldo Hernandez’s back-to-back RBI doubles started the scoring, and Hernandez later stole home on a double steal. The Mets tied the game at six, but the Stone Crabs went back in front on back-to-back homers by Kaleo Johnson and Moises Gomez. St. Lucie then scored the next three runs to take its first lead. Michael Plassmeyer had a rare rough outing, getting charged with six runs — four earned — in 3 ¹⁄₃ innings.

SS Wander Franco: 1-for-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K (1.015)
C Ronaldo Hernandez: 1-for-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 SB (.726)
LF Moises Gomez: 1-for-3, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB (.661)
CF Garrett Whitley: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 CS (.738)
1B Kaleo Johnson: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K (.642)

LHP Michael Plassmeyer: 3 ¹⁄₃ IP, 8 H, 6 R (4 ER), 2 BB, 0 K (2.74)

Charlotte’s site offers this recap.

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (17-9)

Bowling Green was shut out by Kane County, 6-0. The Hot Rods were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners on base. Miller Hogan was charged with three runs in four innings.

C Chris Betts: 2-for-4, 1 K (.763)

RHP Miller Hogan: 4 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K (3.48)

Bowling Green’s site offers this recap.

Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (17-14)

Hudson Valley was edged by Brooklyn, 3-1, in Game 1 of their doubleheader. Jacson McGowan’s two-run homer accounted for all of the Renegades’ offense. Edisson Gonzalez had another nice start, striking out six and allowing two runs in 5 ²⁄₃ innings.

The Renegades split the doubleheader with a walk-off 7-6 win. The Cyclones scored six in the third to erase Hudson Valley’s 3-0 lead, but the Renegades scored four unanswered runs. In the seventh, Luis Trevino’s RBI single tied the game, and after a wild pitch and intentional walk to load the bases, Mason Mallard delivered the winning hit. John Doxakis was charged with a run in 2 ¹⁄₃ innings.

1B Jacson McGowan (1): 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI (.701)
SS Nick Sogard (2): 2-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB (.688)

RHP Edisson Gonzalez (1): 5 ²⁄₃ IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K (3.82)
LHP John Doxakis (2): 2 ¹⁄₃ IP, 0 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K (3.38)

Rookie Princeton Rays (14-15)

Princeton rolled to an 8-2 win over Kingsport. The Rays led 7-0 through four innings. Luis Leon hit a solo home run in the first. They scored three in the second and two in the third, and in the fourth, Leon hit an RBI single. With the early run support, Taj Bradley had a great start, striking out six in five scoreless innings.

CF Nick Schnell: 0-for-4, 1 BB (.721)
DH Luis Leon: 3-for-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI (.939)
3B Gionti Turner: 3-for-3, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 SB, 1 HBP (.891)

RHP Taj Bradley: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K (3.24)

Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (10-9)

The GCL Rays were off.

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

Durham @ Indianapolis 7:15 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. Alex McRae (6-6, 5.03)

Montgomery vs. Jackson 7:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. TBA

Charlotte vs. Dunedin 6:30 p.m. ET (radio stream)
TBA vs. TBA

Bowling Green @ Kane County 7:30 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. Adrian Del Moral (1-1, 2.40)

Hudson Valley vs. Brooklyn 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. TBA

Princeton vs. Kingsport 6:30 p.m. ET (radio stream)
TBA vs. Nate Peden (0-1, 5.16)

GCL Rays vs. GCL Braves 10 a.m. DOUBLEHEADER

Both games will be seven innings.

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Indianapolis Indians (Pittsburgh)
48-48 (2nd in IL West)
Offense: 434 R (14th) .750 OPS (13th)
Pitching: 4.88 ERA (7th) 1.44 WHIP (6th)
Top-30 prospects: 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes (1), RHP Mitch Keller (2), SS Cole Tucker (4), 2B Kevin Kramer (8), 1B Will Craig (11), OF Jason Martin (20), RHP JT Brubaker (22)

Jackson Generals (Arizona)
15-9 (2nd in SL North)
Offense: 432 R (1st) .727 OPS (1st)
Pitching: 3.52 ERA (5th) 1.28 WHIP (5th)
Top-30 prospects: SS Jazz Chisholm (1), C Daulton Varsho (3), 1B Pavin Smith (17), 3B Drew Ellis (21), C Dominic Miroglio (23), RHP Emilio Vargas (25)

Dunedin Blue Jays
18-11
Offense: 452 R (1st) .720 OPS (1st)
Pitching: 3.18 ERA (3rd) 1.21 WHIP (2nd)
Top-30 prospects: C Alejandro Kirk (6), OF Ryan Noda (14), OF Cal Stevenson (16), RHP Joey Murray (28)

Kane County Cougars (Arizona)
18-8 (T-1st in MWL West)
Offense: 416 R (4th) .698 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 2.79 ERA (1st) 1.19 WHIP (2nd)
Top-30 prospects: SS Geraldo Perdomo (5), OF Alek Thomas (8), SS Blaze Alexander (10), RHP Matt Tabor (14), RHP Ryan Weiss (18), 3B Buddy Kennedy (19), RHP Jackson Goddard (28), OF Dominic Fletcher

Brooklyn Cyclones (Mets)
18-13 (1st in NYPL McNamara)
Offense: 118 R (11th) .649 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 3.35 ERA (7th) 1.11 WHIP (2nd)
Top-30 prospects: None

Kingsport Mets
14-15 (3rd in AL West)
Offense: 125 R (8th) .693 OPS (7th)
Pitching: 4.20 ERA (5th) 1.36 WHIP (5th)
Top-30 prospects: C Francisco Alvarez (12), RHP Junior Santos (25), 3B Brett Baty

GCL Braves
7-9 (4th in GCL South)
Offense: 68 R (16th) .617 OPS (15th)
Pitching: 4.30 ERA (12th) 1.48 WHIP (12th)
Top-30 prospects: OF Michael Harris

Daily news and links

At Baseball America, Ben Badler reported that MLB wants to implement an international draft as soon as possible.

On a recent podcast, the MLB.com prospect team discussed something that’s discussed here every time Brendan McKay has a good start.