Rays prospects and minor leagues: Haley hits for cycle in Biscuits rout

Right-handed pitcher Wikelman Ramirez has had an interesting season. For Princeton, he allowed 27 runs in 33 ¹⁄₃ innings. Back in the Gulf Coast League, he’s allowed one hit in 11 ²⁄₃ innings. The Rays signed him for $250,000 in 2016.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (69-61)

Durham fell apart in a rain-shortened loss to Gwinnett, 8-5. Had the rain started an inning earlier, the Bulls could have won, 5-0, but they allowed eight runs in the seventh, including four with two outs. Jose De Leon struck out six in four scoreless innings, but Anthony Banda and Peter Fairbanks were unable to hold the lead.

2B Joey Wendle: 0-for-3, 1 BB, 1 K
1B Nate Lowe: 1-for-4, 1 K (.935)
LF Emilio Bonifacio: 2-for-3, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB, 1 CS (.825)

RHP Jose De Leon: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K (3.65)
LHP Anthony Banda: 2 ¹⁄₃ IP, 2 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K (6.56)
RHP Peter Fairbanks: two-thirds IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 2 K (5.54)

Durham’s site offers this recap.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (41-20)

Montgomery crushed Chattanooga, 17-6. A batter after Josh Lowe homered in the second, Jim Haley hit an inside-the-park home run and hit for the cycle. David Rodriguez also went deep in the second, and Grant Kay did in the third. It was Kay’s first home run since July 13, 2017. Paul Campbell allowed six runs in 4 ²⁄₃ innings.

2B Lucius Fox: 2-for-6, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 K (.685)
SS Vidal Brujan: 3-for-6, 2 R, 1 K, 1 CS (.717)
CF Josh Lowe: 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K (.773)
LF Brett Sullivan: 3-for-6, 2 R, 1 SB (.765)
DH Carl Chester: 4-for-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 CS (.780)
3B Jim Haley: 4-for-6, 3 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 4 RBI (.791)
1B Grant Kay: 4-for-6, 2 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 K (.778)
C David Rodriguez: 2-for-5, 2 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI (.677)

RHP Paul Campbell: 4 ²⁄₃ IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 3 K (3.46)

Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (43-20)

Charlotte shut out Clearwater, 3-0. Once again, Tommy Romero dominated, this time striking out five and walking none in six innings before Alex Valverde and Simon Rosenblum-Larson finished the shutout. Joey Roach doubled in the first run of the game in the second, and Garrett Whitley later homered to add insurance.

SS Wander Franco: 1-for-3, 1 RBI (.858)
DH Moises Gomez: 0-for-4, 4 K (.686)
RF Niko Hulsizer: 0-for-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K (.618)
CF Garrett Whitley: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K (.762)

RHP Tommy Romero: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K (1.89)

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (37-23)

Bowling Green came back to beat Lake County, 3-2. Against his old club, Ruben Cardenas did all the damage. His RBI single in the third gave the Hot Rods a 1-0 lead, but the Captains eventually took the lead. With two outs in the ninth, he capped a rally with a two-run single to return the lead to the Hot Rods. Alan Strong allowed two runs in six innings.

CF Ruben Cardenas: 2-for-5, 3 RBI, 2 K (.798)
DH Grant Witherspoon: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 BB (.729)
SS Osmy Gregorio: 3-for-5, 1 R, 1 3B, 1 SB (.569)

RHP Alan Strong: 6 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K (2.97)

Bowling Green’s site offers this recap.

Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (37-27)

Hudson Valley rolled to a 12-5 win over Tri-City. The top three hitters in the lineup — Greg Jones, Garrett Hiott, and Hill Alexander — combined to reach base 10 times and score five runs. Hiott and Alexander also drove in three and two runs, respectively. Evan McKendry allowed a run in four innings.

SS Greg Jones: 2-for-4, 3 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 2 SB, 1 HBP (.855)
CF Garrett Hiott: 2-for-5, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB (.761)
RF Hill Alexander: 2-for-5, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB (.790)
3B Nick Sogard: 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 SB (.656)

RHP Evan McKendry: 4 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K (1.31)

Rookie Princeton Rays (29-34)

Princeton didn’t have enough offense in its Game 1, 1-0 loss to Greeneville. The only run of the game came on a solo home run, and the Rays only had four hits. Seth Johnson had the best outing of his pro career so far, striking out five in two perfect innings.

The Rays’ offense was much more active in an 11-0 win in Game 2. Jhosner Vargas finally got them on the board Friday with an RBI single in the second, and they were also aided by Reds mistakes, like when two runs scored on a strikeout due to a throwing error in the five-run third. Vargas capped that rally with another RBI hit. Stanly Sabino and Vincent Byrd combined to strike out 12 in seven innings.

RF Diego Infante (1): 0-for-3, 2 K
RF Diego Infante (2): 2-for-3, 3 R, 1 2B, 2 BB, 1 SB (.852)
C Dawson Dimon (2): 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K (.768)

RHP Seth Johnson (1): 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K (5.14)
LHP Stanly Sabino (2): 4 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K (3.38)
RHP Vincent Byrd (2): 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K (3.24)

Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (23-25)

The GCL Rays earned a 3-1 win over the GCL Braves. Victor Munoz threw four scoreless innings, and after Joe Gobillot allowed the Braves’ runs in 1 ²⁄₃ innings, Wikelman Ramirez retired all 10 batters he faced. Julio Meza singled in the Rays’ first run in the fifth and drove in an insurance run in the ninth.

SS Jake Cronenworth: 1-for-5, 1 R, 1 K
CF Shane Sasaki: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 K (.457)
C Julio Meza: 3-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K (.580)

RHP Victor Munoz: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K (3.57)
RHP Wikelman Ramirez: 3 ¹⁄₃ IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K (0.00)

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

Durham vs. Gwinnett 6:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. Ian Anderson (1-1, 5.63)

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

Charlotte vs. Clearwater 6 p.m. ET (radio stream)
Tobias Myers (7-1, 2.47) vs. Jack Perkins (0-3, 6.19)

Bowling Green vs. South Bend 7:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. TBA

Hudson Valley vs. Tri-City 6:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. Kyle Serrano (0-4, 9.00)

Princeton @ Greeneville 6:30 p.m. ET (radio stream)
TBA vs. TBA

GCL Rays vs. GCL Braves 10 a.m.

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Gwinnett Stripers (Atlanta)
75-54 (1st in IL South)
Offense: 720 R (2nd) .808 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 4.18 ERA (1st) 1.33 WHIP (1st)
Top-30 prospects: OF Cristian Pache (1), RHP Ian Anderson (2), OF Drew Waters (3), RHP Kyle Wright (4), RHP Bryse Wilson (6), LHP Tucker Davidson (10), RHP Patrick Weigel (13), RHP Huascar Ynoa (19), RHP Chad Sobotka (22)

Chattanooga Lookouts (Cincinnati)
20-40
Offense: 562 R (3rd) .716 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 4.51 ERA (10th) 1.42 WHIP (10th)
Top-30 prospects: 3B Jonathan India (3), RHP Tony Santillan (5), C Tyler Stephenson (6), OF Stuart Fairchild (10), OF T.J. Friedl (12), LHP Packy Naughton (24), RHP Ryan Hendrix (27), 1B Ibandel Isabel (29), C Nick Ciuffo

Clearwater Threshers (Philadelphia)
28-36
Offense: 475 R (8th) .675 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 3.56 ERA (7th) 1.26 WHIP (7th)
Top-30 prospects: C Rafael Marchan (6), LHP Zach Warren (17), C Rodolfo Duran (20), 2B Daniel Brito (21), OF Jhailyn Ortiz (22), RHP Kyle Glogoski (26), OF Matt Vierling (27)

South Bend Cubs
34-26 (2nd in MWL East)
Offense: 532 R (10th) .697 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 3.53 ERA (6th) 1.27 WHIP (6th)
Top-30 prospects: OF Cole Roederer (4), OF Brennen Davis (5), 2B Chase Strumpf (7), OF Nelson Velazquez (13), RHP Jose Albertos (15), RHP Riley Thompson (20)

Tri-City ValleyCats (Houston)
25-38 (4th in NYPL Stedler)
Offense: 230 R (13th) .625 OPS (12th)
Pitching: 4.22 ERA (14th) 1.42 WHIP (14th)
Top-30 prospects: SS Luis Santana (17), OF Jordan Brewer (20), RHP Jayson Schroeder (19), RHP Manny Ramirez (28), C Korey Lee

Greeneville Reds
25-37
Offense: 263 R (10th) .669 OPS (9th)
Pitching: 4.82 ERA (10th) 1.34 WHIP (3rd)
Top-30 prospects: SS Rece Hinds (13), 2B Tyler Callihan (16), OF Danny Lantigua (26), OF Allan Cerda (30)

GCL Braves
17-29
Offense: 173 R (17th) .639 OPS (17th)
Pitching: 4.27 ERA (12th) 1.43 WHIP (13th)
Top-30 prospects: None

Daily news and links

Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper wrote a number of stories on the rules changes in the Atlantic League.