Rays prospects and minor leagues: Charleston closes May with sweep

With one month in the books, I was looking over May splits to highlight some individuals, and something stood out. After the lost season, it’s clear the Rays are exercising caution with their pitchers. Of the 72 pitchers who have appeared in the minors this season, only Drew Strotman has averaged over five innings per appearance.

John Doxakis was probably the organization’s pitcher of the month. He had a 33:3 K:BB ratio in 22 innings and was only charged with two runs. As a college pitcher selected early in the draft, he’s probably ready to move up to High A.

Shane Baz also stood out with 35 strikeouts and just two walks in 22 ²⁄₃ innings. That’s obviously a career-best walk rate.

It’s not surprising that Josh Lowe tied for the organizational lead with seven home runs in the month, but he was tied with ... Vidal Brujan? Brujan is in the midst of a breakout season, stealing bases efficiently, playing all over the diamond, and showing increased power.

At 1.004, Lowe leads the organization in OPS among players who qualify for rate-stat leaderboards. Jonathan Aranda is right behind him at 1.003.

Greg Jones has four home runs and seven steals in 11 games.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (17-7, 2nd out of 7)

Nearly 4 years after draft, Rasmussen makes organizational debut
Enns leads shutout with dominant start
Ryan, Honeywell lead 2nd straight shutout
Franco, Quiroz homer in rout
Bulls crush Jumbo Shrimp
Durham unable to finish sweep

Wander Franco: 6-for-21, 5 R, 2 2B, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 3 BB, 0 K, 2-for-3 SB (.851)
Vidal Brujan: 6-for-20, 3 R, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 4 BB, 3 K, 2-for-2 SB (.992)
Josh Lowe: 7-for-22, 5 R, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 2 BB, 4 K (1.004)
Kevin Padlo: 4-for-22, 2 R, 2 BB, 6 K (.770)

Ryan Sherriff: 1 ²⁄₃ IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Joe Ryan: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K (4.57)
Brent Honeywell: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K (0.00)
Drew Strotman: 5 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K (2.45)

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (8-15, 4th out of 4)

Biscuits drop 3rd straight 1-run game
Carrera leads shutout of Mississippi
Biscuits fall in back-and-forth game
Baz strikes out 10 in loss
Biscuits fall 1-0 in 10 innings
Myers sharp again in narrow loss

Moises Gomez: 4-for-24, 2 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 8 K (.587)
Cal Stevenson: 5-for-18, 6 R, 3 2B, 3 RBI, 7 BB, 4 K, 1-for-1 SB (.702)
Seaver Whalen: 4-for-18, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 K (.833)

Shane Baz: 5 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 10 K (3.57)
Tobias Myers: 9 ²⁄₃ IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 13 K (2.81)
Michael Plassmeyer: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K (5.49)

High-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (14-10, T-1st out of 7)

Hot Rods lose late lead
Bowling Green falls short in slugfest
Big innings cost Hot Rods
Bowling Green loses rain-shortened slugfest
Hunt homers twice in blowout win
Trio of homers help Hot Rods

Greg Jones: 8-for-22, 6 R, 1 2B, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 4 BB, 10 K, 4-for-4 SB (1.072)
Blake Hunt: 7-for-17, 6 R, 2 2B, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 2 BB, 4 K (.935)
Pedro Martinez: 4-for-18, 4 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 4 BB, 8 K, 2-for-2 SB (.593)
Ruben Cardenas: 6-for-20, 6 R, 1 2B, 3 HR, 4 RBI, 2 BB, 5 K (1.000)

Jacob Lopez: 4 ¹⁄₃ IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K (4.32)
Jayden Murray: 10 IP, 3 H, 4 R (3 ER), 4 BB, 8 K (1.19)
Mikey York: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K (8.64)

Low-A Charleston RiverDogs (15-9, T-1st out of 4)

Bradley strikes out 10 in win
Brecht leads shutout of Fayetteville
Doxakis dominant again
RiverDogs rally for comeback win
Charleston scores 7 unanswered in win
RiverDogs crush Woodpeckers to complete sweep

Alika Williams: 4-for-15, 3 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 4 RBI, 2 BB, 0 K, 1-for-1 SB (.588)
Nick Schnell: 2-for-19, 5 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 4 BB, 5 K, 1-for-1 SB (.641)
Heriberto Hernandez: 2-for-14, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 7 BB, 8 K (.897)
Abiezel Ramirez: 5-for-11, 7 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 5 BB, 4 K, 2-for-2 SB (.899)

Cole Wilcox: 5 IP, 3 H, 3 R (2 ER), 1 BB, 5 K (2.05)
Seth Johnson: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K (4.63)
Taj Bradley: 9 IP, 6 H, 2 R (1 ER), 3 BB, 14 K (4.12)
John Doxakis: 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K (0.82)
Andrew Gross: 6 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K (1.65)

This week’s games

Durham

Tuesday, June 1 vs. Norfolk 6:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Wednesday, June 2 vs. Norfolk 6:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Thursday, June 3 vs. Norfolk 6:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Friday, June 4 vs. Norfolk 6:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Saturday, June 5 vs. Norfolk 6:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Sunday, June 6 vs. Norfolk 5:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)

Montgomery

Tuesday, June 1 vs. Biloxi 7:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Wednesday, June 2 vs. Biloxi 7:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Thursday, June 3 vs. Biloxi 7:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Friday, June 4 vs. Biloxi 7:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Saturday, June 5 vs. Biloxi 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Sunday, June 6 vs. Biloxi 4:33 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)

Bowling Green

Tuesday, June 1 vs. Rome 7:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Wednesday, June 2 vs. Rome 7:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Thursday, June 3 vs. Rome 7:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Friday, June 4 vs. Rome 7:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Saturday, June 5 vs. Rome 7:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Sunday, June 6 vs. Rome 6:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)

Charleston

Tuesday, June 1 @ Augusta 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Wednesday, June 2 @ Augusta 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Thursday, June 3 @ Augusta 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Friday, June 4 @ Augusta 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Saturday, June 5 @ Augusta 6:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Sunday, June 6 @ Augusta 2:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)

Scouting the opposition

Norfolk Tides (Baltimore)
8-15 (T-6th out of 7)
Offense: 99 R (15th out of 20) .713 OPS (13th out of 20)
Pitching: 5.39 ERA (16th out of 20) 1.50 WHIP (15th out of 20)
Top-30 prospects: OF Yusniel Diaz (7), RHP Dean Kremer (9), RHP Kyle Bradish (12), 2B Jahmai Jones (17), LHP Zac Lowther (19), LHP Alex Wells (20)

Biloxi Shuckers (Milwaukee)
10-14 (3rd out of 4)
Offense: 107 R (4th out of 8) .685 OPS (3rd out of 8)
Pitching: 5.00 ERA (8th out of 8) 1.45 WHIP (8th out of 8)
Top-30 prospects: SS Brice Turang (1), LHP Ethan Small (5), OF Tristen Lutz (23)

Rome Braves
14-10 (T-1st out of 7)
Offense: 108 R (5th out of 12) .669 OPS (8th out of 12)
Pitching: 3.32 ERA (3rd out of 12) 1.41 WHIP (9th out of 12)
Top-30 prospects: LHP Jared Shuster (9), OF Michael Harris (11), RHP Bryce Elder (16), 1B Bryce Ball (18), OF Jesse Franklin (24), RHP Kasey Kalich (25), C Logan Brown (28), SS Beau Philip (29)

Augusta GreenJackets (Atlanta)
10-14 (4th out of 4)
Offense: 106 R (9th out of 12) .665 OPS (8th out of 12)
Pitching: 4.79 ERA (10th out of 12) 1.44 WHIP (8th out of 12)
Top-30 prospects: SS Vaughn Grissom (22), OF Stephen Paolini (30)