Weekly Minor League Update - May 25 - May 31st

Clicking on any of the player links will take you to http://firstinning.com an excellent site with easy to read advanced statistics for the current season.

Several notable prospects have finally shown up on rosters. Jamie Ortiz is now playing 1st/DH for Inland Empire. Geison Aguasviva is now pitching for the Great Lake Loons and won the first game he appeared in today. Allen Cole St. Clair also made his first appearance of the year today. The 7th round pick in 2008 out of Rice will be watched closely to see if he can regain the top quality stuff he had at Rice once upon a time.

The week was highlighted by excellent pitching performances by Redding, Elbert, and Withrow.

Click on the jump for a weekly rundown on the details.

AAA - Albuquerque Isotopes:

Scott Strickland - once upon a time Strickland was a good major league setup man posting a range of ERA+ of 99 - 187 in six major league seasons, but his last full season in the majors was 2003. He was one of the multitude of NRI's that Ned signed this winter and I've kept my eye on him. He struggled in April but in May has simply been outstanding. In ten appearances he has pitched eight innings with only one walk and 17 strikeouts. He has struck out the side four times in those ten appearances.

James McDonald -Continues to have trouble finding the plate.

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Blake DeWitt--Bit of an off week for Blake headed into Sunday. Only one XBH and one walk as he saw his average dip to .268 and his wOBA to .370 but on Sunday against one of the best pitching prospects (Neftali Feliz) he delivered a double and triple to help lead the Isotopes to a Sunday victory. If Blake's hamstring gets worse expect Blake to get the call.

Xavier Paul--on the DL, fighting a staph infection.Heard he was released from the hospital.

AJ Ellis - promoted to the majors but probably very shot lived.

Jason Repko - had a hit in every game this week until Saturday which snapped his 16 game hitting streak. To bad every hit this week was a single. His OPS is now sitting at .939.

Chin Lung-Hu - Hit his first two home runs of the year on back to back games but that was not enough to move his anemic slug % above .300.

Jamie Hoffman -made what might be the defensive play of the year tonight for the Dodgers.

Charlie Haeger-

Dee Brown -continues to mash with nine hits (3 XBH) in his last sixteen at bats.

Hector Luna - Luna and Brown are one/two in OPS in the PCL with Fox/Gamel promoted to the major leagues. Hit two more home runs today giving him 11 for the season.

Kensley Jansen - some of you saw him playing for the Netherlands in the WBC this past spring. He has been promoted to AAA from A+ when Ellis was promoted to the Dodgers. Normally that would have gone to Lucas May but he just went on the DL.

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AA - Chattanooga Lookouts:

Joshua Bell-- Best everyday hitter on the Lookouts, showing power and patience. Did nothing notable this week but has been solid week in and week out.

Andrew Lambo--Just 2 for his last nineteen. Not much power, not much patience, not much average.

Jesus Castillo--Four straight solid starts now by Jesus with 21/3 K/BB. With an FIP of 3.96 he's doing the job. He tends to get lost in the shuffle but don't forget about him. He's pitched as good or better then Lindblom has in the month of May.

Josh Lindblom- For the first time in his professional career he walked more then he struck out on Friday as he got bombed giving up five earned runs in only four innings. His FIP is 3.04 compared to his 4.78 ERA so he's doing good work, just not getting the rewards.

Lucas May was coming on like gangbusters, hitting over .500 for the month of May when he got hurt on May 19th and went on the DL. I need to find more info but I think his season is done.

Scott Elbert--May have pitched the best game of his career on Friday night as he tossed a one hitter with three walks and nine strikeouts in six innings. As good as that was game was, it was only the 2nd best pitching performance of the week.

Francisco Felix--

Tony Abreu--he's playing, up to 74 at bats without an injury. Not hitting much yet.

Brent Leach--

Victor Garate-

Travis Schlichting--had a two inning save on Friday and then was promoted on Sunday to the major leagues.

Eduardo Perez--With two weeks of AA under his belt not much to show yet..

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A+ - Inland Empire 66ers Team Statistics

Scott Van Slyke--MLB-Scott Van Slyke--back to back home runs on May 30, 31st as he tries to get back on track after a tepid May. Still has an OPS over 900 good for 10th in the league.

Trayvon Robinson--

Pedro Baez-

Steven Caseres--

Steve Johnson--after a great start to his season his last two starts have left alot to be desired. On May 25th he only lasted 3 innings even though he only gave up one earned run. On May 31st he was simply crushed to the tune of eight earned runs in only four innings. He still leads the California league in strikeouts but has only struck out one batter in each of his last two starts.

Chris Withrow--Lot of competition for pitching performance of the week with Withrows performance on May 27th being one of the prime contenders. Walks have been a problem for him all year but in this game he struck out 10 with ZERO walks in only five innings of work. But for all that he only gets 3rd place.

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A - Great Lake Loons Team Statistics

Jaime Pedroza--.186 average for Jaime in his last ten games as the Loons are piling up strikeouts at an alarming rate.

Dee Gordon--.175 average in his last 10 games. As hot as the Loon offense was in late April they are that cold in late May.

Kyle Russell--the big start of Russell is starting to fade or he getting bored. 18 strikeouts and only six walks in his last 10 games. Still hitting home runs but little else during this stretch.

Tony Delmonico--following the same trend as the rest of his teammates, Tony hit only .146 in his last 10 games.

Austin Gallagher--his .676 OPS has to be one of the biggest disappointments of the season.

Alfredo Silverio--

Ethan Martin--Ever since Silverwidow compared Martin's start to Kershaw's his control has gone to hell in a handbasket with 15 walks to 13 strikeouts in 15 2/3 innings.

Michael Redding-- he rebounded from his last start in which he lasted only 1.1 inning to have the best pitching peformance of the week. He struck out 11 with zero walks in six shutout innings of work. Easily the best game of his young professional career.