Rays prospects and minor leagues: Prospects post strong July performances

In July, the Rays received strong performances from three of their top-30 prospects. Kyle Manzardo led all hitters who played most of the month with a 1.180 OPS, and his .750 slugging percentage led the organization. Jonathan Aranda was right behind with a 1.163 OPS. Junior Caminero led the organization with a .426 average and .500 on-base percentage.

JJ Goss fell out of the top 30 at some point this season, but he delivered a great July. He had a 1.73 ERA and 30 strikeouts with just four walks in 26 innings. Minor league veteran Kevin Herget had another good month, leading the organization with 27 ²⁄₃ innings, and his ERA was 2.28. Mason Montgomery moved up another level and is off to a decent start in Double A. He had 28 strikeouts in 23 July innings.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (54-45, T-1st out of 10)

Rough start sinks Durham
Bulls crush IronPigs
Durham beats Plassmeyer, IronPigs
Durham beats Sanchez, IronPigs
Gray’s home runs not enough
Bulls drop finale despite Patino’s 4 perfect innings

Xavier Edwards: 5-for-22, 3 R, 3 RBI, 3 BB, 2 K (.751)
Jonathan Aranda: 6-for-21, 3 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 2 BB, 6 K (.947)
Miles Mastrobuoni: 4-for-21, 3 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 8 K, 1-for-1 SB (.774)

Nick Anderson: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
JT Chargois: 2 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 0 K
Taj Bradley: 2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K (3.86)
Tommy Romero: 4 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K (3.94)

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (15-12, 2nd out of 4)

Montgomery drops opener to Biloxi
Biscuits edge Shuckers on Hulsizer’s walk-off single
Mercado’s scoreless start not enough
Biscuits rally comes up short
Montgomery scores 6 in the 10th to win
Walk-off grand slam sinks Biscuits

Greg Jones: 1-for-6, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K (.702)
Osleivis Basabe: 4-for-25, 1 R, 2 2B, 1 RBI, 3 BB, 1 K (.731)
Kameron Misner: 7-for-27, 6 R, 1 2B, 3 HR, 4 RBI, 3 BB, 4 K, 1-for-1 SB (.827)
Brett Wisely: 5-for-22, 5 R, 3 RBI, 3 BB, 2 K, 2-for-3 SB (.780)

Mason Montgomery: 9 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 8 BB, 9 K (2.08)
Joe LaSorsa: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K (3.21)
Michael Mercado: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K (5.37)

High-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (18-11, clinched playoff berth)

Hernandez homer leads Hot Rods rally
Workman, Bowling Green beat Greenville
Hot Rods waste Brecht’s 5 scoreless innings
Hernandez’s homers lead rout of Drive
Bowling Green shuts out Greenville in 7-inning game
Hot Rods edged in finale

Kyle Manzardo: 5-for-10, 3 R, 2 2B, 2 HR, 1 BB, 3 K (1.044)
Mason Auer: 6-for-22, 3 R, 5 RBI, 2 BB, 3 K, 5-for-5 SB (.767)
Heriberto Hernandez: 5-for-20, 5 R, 4 HR, 9 RBI, 2 BB, 7 K (.799)
Alika Williams: 2-for-22, 2 R, 4 RBI, 1 BB, 4 K (.723)

Ben Brecht: 5 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K (1.42)
Conor Dryer: 5 ²⁄₃ IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K (2.45)
Anthony Molina: 5 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K (3.52)

Low-A Charleston RiverDogs (17-12, T-2nd out of 6)

Jimenez sharp in RiverDogs rout
Down East turns tables on Charleston
Goss turns in another solid start
RiverDogs cruise past Wood Ducks
Charleston scores 6 unanswered runs in 10-inning win
RiverDogs win another

Carson Williams: 3-for-21, 1 2B, 1 3B, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 3 K (.837)
Willy Vasquez: 8-for-22, 5 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 3 RBI, 7 K, 3-for-4 SB (.679)
Ryan Spikes: 4-for-21, 4 R, 1 2B, 1 BB, 9 K, 1-for-1 SB (.705)

Sandy Gaston: 3 IP, 0 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 4 K (4.68)
JJ Goss: 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R (0 ER), 1 BB, 4 K (4.39)
Ben Peoples: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K (3.46)

Florida Complex League Rays (30-9, 1st out of 6)

FCL Rays shut out FCL Twins
Rehabbers back up Bitsko in win
FCL Rays torment FCL Pirates with more rehabbers
FCL Rays edge FCL Braves
FCL Rays crush FCL Braves

Carlos Colmenarez: 5-for-15, 6 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 3 K, 3-for-3 SB (.818)
Junior Caminero: 4-for-14, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K, 1-for-1 SB (.879)
Edwin Barragan: 5-for-13, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K, 1-for-2 SB (.666)

Yonny Chirinos: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Brendan McKay: 1 ²⁄₃ IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
Kikito Severino: 7 ²⁄₃ IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K (0.93)

Stats are from Baseball Reference.

This week’s games

Durham

Tuesday, Aug. 2 @ Worcester 6:45 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Wednesday, Aug. 3 @ Worcester 12:15 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Thursday, Aug. 4 @ Worcester 6:45 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Friday, Aug. 5 @ Worcester 6:45 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Saturday, Aug. 6 @ Worcester 4:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Sunday, Aug. 7 @ Worcester 1:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)

Montgomery

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

Bowling Green

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

Charleston

Tuesday, Aug. 2 @ Columbia 7:05 p.m. ET
Wednesday, Aug. 3 @ Columbia 7:05 p.m. ET
Thursday, Aug. 4 @ Columbia 7:05 p.m. ET
Friday, Aug. 5 @ Columbia 7:05 p.m. ET
Saturday, Aug. 6 @ Columbia 6:05 p.m. ET
Sunday, Aug. 7 @ Columbia 5:05 p.m. ET

Florida Complex League Rays

Tuesday, Aug. 2 @ FCL Red Sox 12 p.m. ET
Thursday, Aug. 4 @ FCL Orioles 12 p.m. ET
Friday, Aug. 5 @ FCL Braves 6 p.m. ET
Saturday, Aug. 6 vs. FCL Braves 10 a.m. ET
Monday, Aug. 8 vs. FCL Orioles 12 p.m. ET

Scouting the opposition

Worcester Red Sox
51-48 (T-5th out of 10)
Offense: 489 R (10th out of 20) .760 OPS (8th out of 20)
Pitching: 4.28 ERA (7th out of 20) 1.32 WHIP (5th out of 20)
Top-30 prospects: 1B Triston Casas (3), LHP Chris Murphy (7), 2B Jeter Downs (9), LHP Jay Groome (13), RHP Connor Seabold (17), C Connor Wong (30)

Pensacola Blue Wahoos (Miami)
14-13 (clinched playoff berth)
Offense: 422 R (8th out of 8) .711 OPS (8th out of 8)
Pitching: 4.24 ERA (1st out of 8) 1.30 WHIP (1st out of 8)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Eury Perez (1), RHP Zack McCambley (12), LHP Josh Simpson (18), SS Jose Devers (20), OF Griffin Conine (27), C Paul McIntosh (28)

Greensboro Grasshoppers (Pittsburgh)
15-14 (T-3rd out of 6)
Offense: 493 R (5th out of 12) .766 OPS (4th out of 12)
Pitching: 5.65 ERA (10th out of 12) 1.54 WHIP (10th out of 12)
Top-30 prospects: C Endy Rodriguez (7), RHP Jared Jones (8), C Abrahan Gutierrez (23), OF Hudson Head (25)

Columbia Fireflies (Kansas City)
17-12 (T-2nd out of 6)
Offense: 392 R (12th out of 12) .632 OPS (12th out of 12)
Pitching: 5.19 ERA (11th out of 12) 1.57 WHIP (11th out of 12)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Ben Kudrna (4), LHP Frank Mozzicato (5), C Carter Jensen (15), RHP Ben Hernandez (18), RHP Shane Panzini (27)