Rays prospects and minor leagues: FCL Rays fall in championship

Last week, I was deciding between writing about Tommy Romero and Shane Sasaki. Romero was designated for assignment, and then Baseball America wrote about Sasaki.

Neither BA nor MLB.com have Sasaki on their recently updated top 30s for the organization, and it’s a little surprising. He was a third-round pick and is performing very well, batting .319/.397/.481 with 42 steals in 46 attempts. He is in Low A and turned 22 last month, so maybe it’s time to see him at a higher level.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (68-55, T-1st out of 10)

Bulls drop opener to Sounds
Durham crushed by Nashville
McKay exits win with injury
Bulls fall in slugfest
Durham edged by Nashville
Bradley returns to form in series finale

Curtis Mead: 4-for-12, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 BB, 6 K (.863)
Jonathan Aranda: 5-for-21, 5 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 2 BB, 7 K (.919)
Xavier Edwards: 3-for-20, 3 R, 1 2B, 2 BB, 5 K, 1-for-1 SB (.712)
Rene Pinto: 4-for-17, 1 R, 3 2B, 5 RBI, 4 K (.837)
Miles Mastrobuoni: 8-for-21, 4 R, 3 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 3 K, 1-for-1 SB (.821)

Nick Anderson: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Yonny Chirinos: 3 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
Taj Bradley: 8 IP, 10 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 6 K (4.80)

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (32-19, 1st out of 4)

Montgomery rallies with 7 unanswered runs
Biscuits crush Blue Wahoos to open doubleheader
Biscuits shut out by Blue Wahoos to close doubleheader
Montgomery drops another to Pensacola
Biscuits allow 4 unanswered runs in loss
Manzardo leads late rally

Kyle Manzardo: 6-for-20, 3 R, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 3 K, 0-for-1 SB (1.052)
Greg Jones: 4-for-20, 5 R, 1 2B, 3 BB, 10 K, 3-for-3 SB (.712)
Osleivis Basabe: 7-for-19, 3 R, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 2 K, 2-for-2 SB (.846)
Kameron Misner: 3-for-18, 5 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 4 BB, 4 K, 1-for-1 SB (.833)
Brett Wisely: 7-for-21, 5 R, 3 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K, 2-for-2 SB (.826)

Mason Montgomery: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (3.51)
Chris Gau: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K (2.37)
Sean Hunley: 5 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K (3.39)

High-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (31-22, clinched playoff berth)

Wiles sharp in Hot Rods’ win
Bowling Green edged by Rome
Hot Rods rally for win
Hot Rods’ 9th-inning rally falls short
Molina strikes out 7 in strong outing
Hot Rods take series behind Hernandez’s homers

Mason Auer: 4-for-17, 3 R, 1 3B, 2 RBI, 5 BB, 3 K, 1-for-1 SB (.827)
Heriberto Hernandez: 6-for-17, 4 R, 1 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 4 BB, 5 K (.880)
Alika Williams: 2-for-12, 3 R, 3 RBI, 8 BB, 1-for-3 SB (.743)

Conor Dryer: 9 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K (3.30)
Anthony Molina: 5 ¹⁄₃ IP, 1 H, 2 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 7 K (2.75)
Nathan Wiles: 9 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K (4.52)

Low-A Charleston RiverDogs (34-20, 1st out of 6)

Bitsko makes Low-A debut
RiverDogs wastes Peoples’ strong start
Wilcox returns to Charleston
Home runs back Goss
RiverDogs edge Woodpeckers
RiverDogs edged by Woodpeckers

Carson Williams: 5-for-21, 6 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 4 BB, 10 K, 2-for-2 SB (.819)
Willy Vasquez: 7-for-16, 5 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 2 BB, 6 K, 1-for-1 SB (.740)
Brock Jones: 4-for-14, 4 R, 3 2B, 3 RBI, 5 BB, 6 K, 5-for-5 SB (.974)
Junior Caminero: 6-for-20, 2 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 3 K, 2-for-2 SB (.735)
Ryan Spikes: 1-for-21, 1 BB, 10 K, 1-for-1 SB (.726)

Cole Wilcox: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K (0.00)
JJ Goss: 6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K (4.21)
Alexander Ayala: 6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K (5.19)

Florida Complex League Rays (39-16)

Cermak homers again in win
Barnhart makes long-awaited pro debut in regular-season finale
FCL Rays rally to advance to championship
Early deficit too much for FCL Rays
FCL Rays even series
FCL Rays fall in decisive Game 3

Carlos Colmenarez: 1-for-18, 2 R, 1 RBI, 6 BB, 8 K, 1-for-2 SB (.760)
Xavier Isaac: 5-for-21, 2 R, 2 2B, 4 RBI, 6 BB, 5 K, 1-for-1 SB (.654)
Chandler Simpson: 7-for-25, 6 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 2 RBI, 4 BB, 3 K, 1-for-2 SB (.952)

Stats are from Baseball Reference.

This week’s games

Durham

Tuesday, Aug. 30 @ Charlotte 6:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Wednesday, Aug. 31 @ Charlotte 6:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Thursday, Sept. 1 @ Charlotte 12:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Friday, Sept. 2 @ Charlotte 7:04 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Saturday, Sept. 3 @ Charlotte 5:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Sunday, Sept. 4 @ Charlotte 5:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)

Montgomery

Tuesday, Aug. 30 vs. Birmingham 7:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Wednesday, Aug. 31 vs. Birmingham 7:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Thursday, Sept. 1 vs. Birmingham 7:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Friday, Sept. 2 vs. Birmingham 7:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Saturday, Sept. 3 vs. Birmingham 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Sunday, Sept. 4 vs. Birmingham 4:33 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)

Bowling Green

Tuesday, Aug. 30 @ Asheville 6:35 p.m. ET
Wednesday, Aug. 31 @ Asheville 5:05 p.m. ET DOUBLEHEADER
Thursday, Sept. 1 @ Asheville 6:35 p.m. ET
Friday, Sept. 2 @ Asheville 6:35 p.m. ET
Saturday, Sept. 3 @ Asheville 6:05 p.m. ET
Sunday, Sept. 4 @ Asheville 6:05 p.m. ET

Charleston

Tuesday, Aug. 30 vs. Myrtle Beach 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Wednesday, Aug. 31 vs. Myrtle Beach 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Thursday, Sept. 1 vs. Myrtle Beach 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Friday, Sept. 2 vs. Myrtle Beach 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Saturday, Sept. 3 vs. Myrtle Beach 6:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)
Sunday, Sept. 4 vs. Myrtle Beach 5:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV)

Florida Complex League Rays

The season is over.

Scouting the opposition

Will return next week