Rays prospects and minor leagues: Durham avoids perfect game

For three more games this weekend, Charlotte is back in the Tampa Bay area. It’s another great chance to see Wander Franco and a pretty talented group of players.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (65-51)

Durham was crushed by Syracuse, 17-0. The Bulls didn’t have a baserunner until the eighth inning. Sam McWilliams allowed seven runs in 2 ¹⁄₃ innings.

1B Nate Lowe: 0-for-2 (.937)

RHP Sam McWilliams: 2 ¹⁄₃ IP, 9 H, 7 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (9.11)
RHP Peter Fairbanks: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K (4.70)
RHP Rocky Gale: 1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (30-16)

Montgomery lost to Birmingham, 5-1. The Biscuits trailed 2-0 after just one inning and only had four hits. Ryan Thompson allowed two runs in two-thirds of an inning.

SS Lucius Fox: 1-for-2, 1 BB, 1 SB, 1 CS, 1 HBP (.705)
2B Vidal Brujan: 0-for-2, 2 BB, 1 SB, 1 CS (.720)
3B Taylor Walls: 0-for-3, 1 BB, 1 K (.724)
CF Josh Lowe: 0-for-4, 3 K (.739)
C Brett Sullivan: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB (.777)

RHP Ryan Thompson: two-thirds IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K (4.09)
LHP Josh Fleming: 5 ¹⁄₃ IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K (3.31)

Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (34-15)

Charlotte topped Tampa, 5-4. Through five innings, the game was tied at two, but the Stone Crabs scored three in the top of the sixth. A pair of those runs scored on fielder’s choices, and Ronaldo Hernandez then drew a bases-loaded walk. Stephen Woods Jr. pitched the minimum quality start with seven strikeouts.

C Ronaldo Hernandez: 1-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K (.711)
LF Moises Gomez: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 BB, 3 K (.680)
DH Garrett Whitley: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 3 K (.727)
RF Izzy Wilson: 1-for-2, 1 2B, 3 BB, 1 K (.694)

RHP Stephen Woods Jr.: 6 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 K (2.12)

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (27-19)

Bowling Green rallied for a 9-6 win over West Michigan. The Whitecaps scored three runs — one earned — against Nathan Witt in the first inning, but Seaver Whalen doubled in two in the top of the second. Whalen tied the game with a two-run homer in the fifth and started a stretch of five straight Hot Rods runs that gave them their first lead. After Witt exited, Miller Hogan struck out six and allowed a run in six innings.

RF Ruben Cardenas: 2-for-5, 3 RBI (.817)
SS Ford Proctor: 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 BB (.775)
CF Grant Witherspoon: 3-for-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 SB (.764)
C Roberto Alvarez: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB (.654)
3B Seaver Whalen: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI (.672)

RHP Nathan Witt: 1 IP, 2 H, 3 R (1 ER), 2 BB, 1 K (4.71)
RHP Miller Hogan: 6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K (3.10)

Bowling Green’s site offers this recap.

Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (30-21)

The Renegades’ offense got off to a fast start in a 9-3 win in Game 1 of their doubleheader against Tri-City. They had five of the first six batters of the game reach base and scored five runs in the first. The ValleyCats scored twice in the top of the second, but Jacson McGowan’s two-run homer in the bottom half capped a three-run inning for Hudson Valley. Edisson Gonzalez struck out eight and allowed three runs — two earned — in six innings.

Hudson Valley edged the ValleyCats, 2-1, in Game 2 of their doubleheader. The Renegades only had three hits, and neither of their runs scored on those hits. McGowan tied the game in the second when he scored on a wild pitch, and Garrett Hiott scored on a throwing error in the third. Ben Brecht allowed a run in three innings.

2B Nick Sogard (2): 0-for-1, 1 R, 3 BB, 1 K (.677)
1B Jacson McGowan (2): 1-for-3, 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB (.770)
C Jonathan Embry (2): 3-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBI (.563)

RHP Edisson Gonzalez (1): 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R (2 ER), 0 BB, 8 K (3.18)
LHP Ben Brecht (2): 3 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K (1.35)
RHP Nathan Wiles (2): 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K (2.96)

Rookie Princeton Rays (21-27)

Princeton dropped a pitchers’ duel, 2-1, to Bluefield. Both of the Blue Jays’ runs came on solo home runs. Jayden Murray allowed one of them but struck out nine in five innings, and Trevor Brigden allowed the other in three innings with five strikeouts. Jake Guenther doubled in the Rays’ only run.

CF Nick Schnell: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 BB, 2 K (.871)
DH Diego Infante: 0-for-1, 3 BB (.823)

RHP Jayden Murray: 5 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K (1.82)
RHP Trevor Brigden: 3 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K (3.60)

Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (18-16)

The GCL Rays are off.

CLICK HERE FOR ALL BOX SCORES

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

Durham vs. Indianapolis 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. Brandon Waddell (1-4, 8.64)

Montgomery @ Birmingham 8:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Shane McClanahan (0-0, -.--) vs. John Parke (3-2, 2.57)

Charlotte @ Tampa 6:30 p.m. ET (radio stream)
Drew Strotman (0-0, 3.00) vs. Luis Gil (1-0, 7.00)

Bowling Green @ West Michigan 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. Adam Wolf (3-9, 6.39)

Hudson Valley vs. Tri-City 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. Kyle Serrano (0-2, 6.23)

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

GCL Rays @ GCL Braves 10 a.m. DOUBLEHEADER

Both games will be seven innings.

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Indianapolis Indians (Pittsburgh)
57-58 (2nd in IL West)
Offense: 518 R (14th) .753 OPS (14th)
Pitching: 4.77 ERA (5th) 1.40 WHIP (5th)
Top-30 prospects: 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes (1), RHP Mitch Keller (2), SS Cole Tucker (4), 2B Kevin Kramer (8), RHP Luis Escobar (10), 1B Will Craig (11), OF Jason Martin (20), RHP Dario Agrazal (21), RHP JT Brubaker (22)

Birmingham Barons (White Sox)
23-20 (3rd in SL North)
Offense: 436 R (6th) .683 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 4.12 ERA (9th) 1.37 WHIP (8th)
Top-30 prospects: OF Micker Aldofo (6), OF Blake Rutherford (8), OF Luis Gonzalez (9), 1B Gavin Sheets (14), SS Laz Rivera (16), RHP Alec Hansen (17), RHP Zack Burdi (18), OF Luis Basabe (23), RHP Codi Heuer (26), OF Joel Booker (27), RHP Tyler Johnson (29), LHP Kodi Medeiros (30)

Tampa Tarpons (Yankees)
24-23 (1st in FSL North)
Offense: 442 R (6th) .655 OPS (9th)
Pitching: 3.67 ERA (10th) 1.30 WHIP (10th)
Top-30 prospects: OF Estevan Florial (1), RHP Luis Gil (4), RHP Clarke Schmidt (13), RHP Alexander Vizcaino (20), C Jason Lopez (21), RHP Frank German (23)

West Michigan Whitecaps (Detroit)
16-30 (8th in MWL East)
Offense: 441 R (13th) .646 OPS (15th)
Pitching: 4.39 ERA (14th) 1.44 WHIP (15th)
Top-30 prospects: OF Parker Meadows (7), SS Wenceel Perez (11), C Sam McMillan (27), RHP Wilkel Hernandez (30)

Tri-City ValleyCats (Houston)
22-30 (4th in NYPL Stedler)
Offense: 198 R (11th) .635 OPS (11th)
Pitching: 4.04 ERA (13th) 1.43 WHIP (14th)
Top-30 prospects: SS Luis Santana (17), OF Jordan Brewer (20), RHP Jayson Schroeder (19), RHP Manny Ramirez (28), C Korey Lee

Bluefield Blue Jays
25-23 (3rd in AL East)
Offense: 280 R (1st) .759 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 4.63 ERA (7th) 1.44 WHIP (8th)
Top-30 prospects: IF Miguel Hiraldo (10), IF Leonardo Jimenez (21)

GCL Braves
12-21 (5th in GCL South)
Offense: 125 R (17th) .643 OPS (15th)
Pitching: 4.60 ERA (17th) 1.50 WHIP (16th)
Top-30 prospects: OF Michael Harris

Daily news and links

At Baseball America, J.J. Cooper has continued tracking the effects of the new baseball in Triple A.

Joe Girardi is the new manager of the Team USA.