This Week(end) in the Minor Leagues (7/15-7/21)
All of full-season Minor League Baseball had an abridged week with the All-Star Break happening last week, resulting in a 3-game set of games happening over this past weekend. That said, the Dominican Summer League and Florida Complex League each had a regular schedule.
AAA Scranton/Wilkes Barre
The RailRiders went 2-1 in the shortened series at Buffalo (AAA Blue Jays), winning the latter of the two games after a loss in extras on Friday.
On Friday, SWB was no-hit through 6 innings by Bowden Francis and Nick Fraze until Agustin Ramirez singled in the top of the 7th. All told, SWB only recorded 3 hits and 2 BB in the 10 inning game. Edgar Barclay threw 5 innings of 2-hit, 3-walk ball, striking out 4, and Jack Neely, Scott Effross and Ron Marinaccio each threw 1 perfect inning in relief. Victor Gonzalez allowed 1 hit in 1 IP, while Duane Underwood Jr. allowed the game-winning run on a sac bun to advance the ghost runner to 2B, then a wild pitch allowed the ghost runner to score from 3rd.
Will Warren made the start on Saturday, throwing in 5 innings of work and allowed 1 earned run (plus 2 unearned) on 5 hits, with 2 walks and 9 K. Art Warren, Yerry De Los Santos, Alex Mauricio, Anthony Misiewicz and Phil Bickford combined to allow only 1 walk in the next 6 inning. The RailRiders offense blew up the Bisons bullpen in the 11th inning, as they scored 5 runs to win the game in extras. In his AAA debut, J.C. Escarra went 4-for-5 with a double and an RBI and did not record a strikeout. Old friend James Kaprelian (Yankees 2015 1st round; traded to OAK with Dustin Fowler and Jorge Mateo for Sonny Gray) started the game for Buffalo.
The week ahead: Scranton/W-B hosts the Woo-Sox (AAA Red Sox) this week, with a doubleheader on Weds. (Game 1 has a 5:05 PM first pitch)
AA Somerset
Somerset hosted the Altoona Curve (AA Pirates) and swept them in the shortened 3-game set.
Trystan Vrieling threw a gem on Friday, throwing 6 innings of 1-hit, 3-walk ball, while also recording 3 strikeouts. Carlos Gomez, McKinley Moore and Eric Reyzelman each threw an inning in relief, while all three did not allow any hits or runs, limiting Altoona to 1 hit. Rafael Flores went 3-for-4 and drove in Spencer Jones for the go-ahead run.
While Saturday wasn’t a shutout, the pitching staff threw another stellar game. Bailey Dees allowed a home run in the 4th to Sammy Siani, and that was the only run scored by Altoona. Danny Watson and Luis Velasquez combined for 3 innings and allowed a hit and a walk. The trio combined for 10 K, with Dees recording 5 of the 10. An RBI ground out by Anthony Seigler in the 5th scored Elijah Dunham, who singled, then advanced to 3B on a Grant Richardson double. The man of the weekend, Rafael Flores, walked it off on an RBI single to score Tyler Hardman.
High-A Hudson Valley
Hudson Valley won 2-of-3 against the Rome Emperors (High-A Braves), losing on Saturday (Rascal & Rosie’s wedding, of all games!)
Friday was the highlight game of the weekend out of all Yankees affiliates, as the ‘Gades threw a combined no-hitter, sealed off by a walk-off home run by Roc Riggio. Kyle Carr threw his best career game to date, rebounding from a rough 6 ER, 3 IP outing on July 10th, ultimately only allowing 3 walks with 3 strikeouts. Trent Sellers threw perfect 3 innings of relief, recording 3 strikeouts. Hueston Morrill recorded the win after 1 inning of relief, allowing only 1 walk with 1 strikeout.
Los Fenómenos Enmascarados del Valle de Hudson comenzo el partido… hang on…
The Renegades took the field as the Fenómenos Enmascarados del Valle de Hudson (lit. Masked Phenomenon of the Valley of Hudson) on a Copa day to cap off the weekend in a matinee start with Cam Schlittler on the bump. Schlittler threw in 5 innings of work and allowed 1 run (earned) on 3 hits and 4 walks, while striking out 5. The bullpen of Yorlin Calderon, Harrison Cohen and Joel Valdez combined for 4 innings of relief and only allowed 2 innings and 2 walks (charged to Calderon), each reliever recorded 2 strikeouts.
The week ahead: The Renegades make the trip south to Wilmington, DE (High-A Nationals) to play the Blue Rocks.
Low-A Tampa
The Tarpons went into the shortened series against the Bradenton Marauders (Low-A Pirates) with a 2-game winning streak from the previous series in Dunedin and a 3-game winning streak in the season series versus Bradenton.
Rehabbing starting pitcher Chase Hampton toed the slab on Friday night, and threw 3-⅔ perfect innings until he hit his assigned pitch limit of 45 pitches. Aaron Nixon came on in relief and got out the 3rd out of the 4th on one pitch. Luis Serna came in to pitch in the 5th inning with the perfect game intact, but walked Axiel Plaz after a 3-1 groundout. The game was then suspended in the bottom of the 5th with a rain/lightning delay to be resumed Saturday afternoon.
Ocean Gabonia got the “start” on Saturday’s resumption of play, and broke up the no-hitter on a bloop fly ball to left field in the top of the 7th inning by Esmerlyn Valdez. Osiel Rodriguez pitched the last 3 innings and broke up the shut-out on a solo home run to right field by Shalin Polanco. Tampa didn’t score until the 8th inning where Roderick Arias drove in George Lombard Jr on a sac fly to left field. Dylan Jasso won the game in extras on a walk off fielder’s choice/throwing error by Bradenton SS Javier Rivas, scoring Josue Gonzalez.
Consider this an official petition to get Cade Smith promoted to Hudson Valley as he’s been easily the best starting pitcher on the Tarpons staff, and he reinforced that in Sunday’s start. Smith threw 5 innings and struck out 8 batters while allowing 1 hit, 1 walk and 1 run (earned).
Gabriel Barbosa would come in as a reliever in the 6th inning, but allowed 5 runs (3 earned) on 4 hits and 3 walks, while recording 1 K. All 5 runs allowed by Barbosa were recorded in the 8th inning. Tampa’s offense got off to a quick start as Jackson Castillo drove in Roderick Arias on an RBI line drive single, and Willy Montero drove in Castillo on an RBI ground ball single. Both RBI were recorded with 2 outs. Dylan Jasso recorded his league-leading 22nd double, driving in Tomas Frick and Roderick Arias in the 2nd.
The week ahead: The Tarpons host the Clearwater Threshers (Low-A Phillies), and are scheduled to play as the Malmö Oat Milkers in the Sunday matinée game.
Florida Complex League
The FCL Yankees went 3-3 this past week, winning the first two games of the week, splitting two doubleheaders, one against the FCL Blue Jays and one against the FCL Tigers.
Brando Mayea has been hitting the cover off the ball since being back from injury, going 9-for-23 (.391) in the past week, with a game @ Tigers on Saturday being the highlight of the week. He went 2-for-6 in one game, driving in 3 RBI.
Monday’s highlights include a rehab appearance by Sean Boyle, who is returning from Tommy John surgery. Boyle threw in 1-⅓ innings where he allowed 1 run (earned) on 1 hit, while recording 2 strikeouts. Joel Mendez went 2-for-2 with 2 BB and 3 RBI, while Ramiro Altagracia (subbed in for Mayea in the 8th) drove in 2 RBI as did Engelth Urena and Juan Matheus.
Tuesday’s away game was suspended in the bottom of the 1st due to rain and was completed on Thursday as part of a DH at the Yankees complex. Indigo Diaz made a rehab start on Tuesday, only throwing in ⅔ of an inning before the game was suspended. Henry Lalane “started” the resumed game on Thursday where he threw in 2-⅓ inning and allowed 1 run (earned) on 1 hit and 2 walks, while striking out 4 batters. Andrew Landry and Chris Kean threw 4 shut-out relief innings, allowing the Yankees to win 5-1. The Yankees batted around in the 6th, bringing 10 men to the plate and ultimately scored 4 runs.
Game 2 of the Thursday doubleheader was a 6-1 loss in which Danny Flatt started but allowed 4 runs (3 earned) on 4 hits and a walk in 3-⅔ innings of work. Engelth Urena was most of the offense in this game, going 2-for-3, and drove in the lone run on a solo homer to left field in the 1st inning.
The Yankees played the Tigers in one game at home on Friday, then had a doubleheader away at Tigertown; the Yankees lost 2-of-3 games. Indigo Diaz got in a few more rehab innings on Friday, this time going 2 complete innings, while allowing 1 hit and had struck out 2 batters. Friday’s game was a shut-out loss, despite the Yankees recording 5 hits, all singles.
Saturday’s away doubleheader involved more rehabbers, this time Sean Boyle throwing 1-⅓ innings and Will Brian throwing 1-⅔ innings. They combined for 6 runs (all earned) on 9 hits and 1 walk, with each rehabber recording a strikeout. Engelth Urena again provided the majority of the scoring with a 2-run HR in the 3rd inning, driving in Edgleen Perez. In the second game, the Yankees offense really broke out against some poor Tigers pitching, winning 17-5 on 16 hits. Mayea recorded 3 RBI, Matheus recorded 4 RBI, Gabriel Terrero recorded 2 RBI, Abraham Ramirez recorded 1 RBI and Santiago Gomez recorded 5 RBI. Gomez hit a 3-run HR in the 5th, part of an 8-run inning. Carlos Lagrange threw in 1-⅓ innings as the starter, allowing 1 earned run on 2 walks and no hits, while recording 2 strikeouts.
The week ahead: The FCL Yankees are currently in first place in the FCL North Division and are expected to win the division with the season ending on Friday the 25th. If they clinch the playoffs, they will play a semifinal on Saturday with a final game on Sunday.
Dominican Summer League
The DSL capped their week off with the DSL All-Star Game happening this past Sunday.
The DSL Yankees were swept in a DH against the DSL Rockies on Monday, being outscored by nearly double the runs, while the DSL Bombers lost to DSL Colorado in a single game. For the DSL Yankees, the star on Monday was Ovandy Frias, who went 3-for-3 with 2 RBI, including a solo homer. There were not many positives out of the Bombers, who went 7-for-32, although Joshawn Lampson did throw 3-⅔ hitless and scoreless innings, only allowing 3 walks while striking out one.
On Tuesday, the NYY Bombers lived up to their name with a 13-8 win over the Phillies Red, with Luis Escudero driving in 3 RBI on a home run to left field. The NYY Yankees lost again, this time to DSL Rangers Red, 4-7.
DSL had the only action in the organization on Weds. with both teams losing their respective games, however the NYY Yankees were shut-out by DSL Colorado.
Another day, another pair of DSL losses, with both teams losing to the Phillies. Bombers were shutout 8-0 to the Phillies Red and Yankees lost a close one to the Phillies White, 9-8.
On Friday, the DSL NYY Bombers were the only of the two DSL teams to complete their respective games, and they secured a win against the DSL Giants Orange with a 5-4 win.
There was no game Saturday with the All-Star Game on Sunday.