Tim Anderson of the White Sox has been blistering the pelota down in the minors of late. Over his last 10 games the shortstop is batting .468 with three homers and 13 runs scored. Moreover, Anderson has three hits in 5-of-7 games. You really can’t hit much better than that. The run has pushed his season long mark at Triple-A up to .297 and he’s also stolen nine bags (five in his last 10 games). Jimmy Rollins continues to stink it up for the Sox in the bigs with a .236/.298/.364 line, totally identical to the garbage he posted last season. Here’s to hoping sooner, rather than later, that we will see Anderson at the big league level, though I’m not holding my breath.
Orlando Arcia is batting .299 at Triple-A with a .333 OBP. He’s only been successful on five of nine steal attempts.
Josh Bell of the Pirates is batting just .188 with one RBI his last 10 games at Triple-A. He does own a .380 OBP this season, but he still looks like he could use some seasoning.
Aaron Blair has been demoted after the beating he took Tuesday night (nine runs and only four outs). Over 21.1 innings this season Blair has a mere eight strikeouts against 12 walks. He’s simply looked incapable of getting big league hitters out consistently at this point of his young career.
Rusney Castillo is batting .275 but without a homer run and with a mere .658 OPS. He’s quickly becoming one of the worst signings in Red Sox history.
Yu Darvish has a 1.29 ERA, 0.79 WHIP and 15 strikeouts over 14 innings over four starts at Double and Triple-A. He will make another start at Double-A on Sunday though that might be the last minor league start he makes before being promoted. Get ready to activate him.
Did you catch my report on the surging Adam Duvall in the Daily Trends column?
Some hitters crushed it in April but they have struggled to maintain that early pace in May with guys like Michael Conforto, Zack Cozart, Nomar Mazara, Jordy Mercer and Colby Rasmus slowing. Check out the Week 7 Hitters Review.
Did you catch a glimpse of my report in which I broke down the top-25 starting pitchers – like Felix Hernandez, Chris Archer, Matt Harvey, Sonny Gray, Marcus Stroman and David Price – that have really struggled thus far? Can any, or all, of them turn things around?
Peter O’Brien is batting .300 with three homers his last 10 games. That run actually has dropped his average to .322 but with 12 homers and 31 RBI in just 35 games he’s absolutely been mashing the baseball (.993 OPS). He’s doing his best to force the Diamondbacks hand.
Rougned Odor has been suspended for eight games due to his involvement in the brawl he started with the Blue Jays. Seems like the Rangers are prepping for his loss as they’ve asked Jurickson Profar to play some second base down at Triple-A. Profar, who had been working exclusively as a shortstop, obviously has experience playing second base. Profar has a decent .764 OPS down at Triple-A with five homers and four steals in 35 games and could be an interesting short-term fill in if he’s called up.
Jose Peraza was demoted after spending all of five days in the big leagues as the Reds recalled Jumbo Diaz. Peraza has a bright future, and oodles of speed, but there simply isn’t any place for him to play at the moment. As for Diaz, he crushed it in the minors with 15 strikeouts in 10 frames. It’s possible that he works his way back into a high leverage situation quickly given how pathetic the Reds pen has been.
Relief pitchers with at least 10 saves, I took at them yesterday. Some interesting information in that Pitcher Piece. Speaking of bullpens…
Shawn Tolleson is out as the Rangers closer after a virtual implosion. He will be replaced by Sam Dyson. A 28 year old righty, Dyson has a total of four career saves in 133 outings. No doubt that Dyson is pitching better than Tolleson, but let’s not gloss over a few things. (1) Dyson has just 13 strikeouts in 19 innings this season leading to a 6.16 K/9 mark, way below his 7.48 career mark. (2) After walking 2.51 batters per nine last season the mark is a bit higher at 2.84 this season. (3) He profiles as another Brad Ziegler type – a guy who doesn’t put batters away with the punchout but with the grounder. Dyson owns an insanely impressive 67 percent ground ball rate for his career.
Devon Travis has hit .357 with five RBI over four games at High-A ball. Sounds like Travis, coming back from shoulder woes (including surgery), could be back by the weekend. Travis exploded on the scene last season with a .304/.361/.498 slash line over just 62 games of action as he also hit eight homers, drove in 35 runs and scored 38 times. If healthy, and it’s been a long while since he has been, there’s significant upside residing in this man’s bat, possibly enough to make a top-10 play at second the rest of the way though that is being very optimistic given the last eight months.
This is one ugly uniform.
Khris Davis hit 3 bombs on Tuesday. Tyler White is having a super May. Mallex Smith showed us some power, but can he do it again? Watch the video.
Nick Williams of the Phillies has a poor .701 OPS in Triple-A which includes an even more distressing .299 OBP. He’s hit three homers and stolen two bases in 34 contests.
Jessie Winker, the Reds 2013 Minor League Hitter of the Year and a 2012 first round draft pick, continues to languish in the minors. The .376 OBP he’s posted at Triple-A impresses, but he’s also hit just two homers, has a mere .352 SLG and is batting .194 his last 10 games to drop his batting average down to .272.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday, 7 PM EDT and Friday on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 6 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).