7/2/10 Minor League Report – Vargas Vying for a Promotion

AAA – Claudio Vargas took a huge step toward joining the Dodgers on Friday as he threw 6 innings of 2 hit ball.  He didn’t walk a batter and struck out 8.  Vargas was removed after just 69 pitches, so you gotta think that the Dodgers were saving his arm in case they want to bring him up relatively soon.  In fact, after tonight’s bullpen game, his promotion may come sooner than rather than later.  Vargas was followed by 4 relievers, and besides newcomer Jesus Colome (who allowed 3 runs), everyone did well.  On offense, Xavier Paul continued his strong season with 2 hits in 4 at bats and a couple of RBI’s.  Russell Mitchell and Jay Gibbons also went 2 for 4 on this night.

AA – Chris Withrow labored through 5.2 innings, throwing 113 pitches in the process, but overall he had a pretty decent game.  Even though he picked up the loss and gave up 7 hits, Withrow only allowed 2 runs and struck out 8.  Withrow also doubled in the game and is actually hitting .300 for the season.  Overall, however, the Lookout offense was pretty dismal on this night as they only had 6 hits in the game.  Andrew Lambo went 2 for 4 and Jerry Sands went 1 for 3.

High A – Starter Will Savage got lit up at home in his second Hi-A start as he allowed 11 hits and 7 runs in 5.2 innings.  Robert Boothe also struggled in relief by allowed 3 runs in just two-thirds of an inning.  The only pitching bright spot belonged to Kyle Smit who threw another scoreless inning.  On offense, Alfredo Silverio had yet another multi-hit game as he went 3 for 5 with a double.  Silverio’s average is now up to .250, which is pretty good considering that he hit .208 in April and .125 in May.  Scott Van Slyke  also went 2 for 4, and Matt Wallach hit his 6th homer of the year.

A – Great Lakes pounded out 21 hits on Friday in their 13 to 3 win over Dayton.  Of the 9 hitters in the Loons lineup, two had 0 hits, two had 2 hits, three had 3 hits, and two had 4 hits.  The 4 hit games belonged to Blake Smith and Jeremy Wise, and both players also had homers in the game.  Smith’s night was especially memorable because he picked up 6 RBI’s in the game.  Mario Songco and Jaime Ortiz also hit homers in this game and both were part of the 3 hit club.  Josh Wall continued his resurgence with 7 more strong innings.  In those 7 innings, Wall only allowed 4 hits, 1 walk and 3 runs.  He also struck out 10 more batters giving him 91 K’s for the season (which continues to be the most in the Dodgers minor league system).  Reliever Jordan Roberts also contributed with 2 hitless innings.

Rookie Ogden – Carlos Frias improved dramatically from his first 2 starts of the season, but he still wasn’t great as he allowed 4 hits, 2 walks, and 3 runs over 4.2 innings.  He did strike out 6, however, so that’s good news.  Another pitcher who threw on this night was Pete Budkevics, who is a name most people probably won’t recognize because he wasn’t drafted, but instead was signed as a non-drafted free agent.  Budkevics was actually very successful in his professional debut as he struck out 3 and only allowed 1 hit in 2 innings of work.  In the end, the Raptors lost this game because the offense didn’t get the job as they scored just 1 run.  The only extra base hit for Ogden came from Casio Grider who doubled and went 3 for 5 overall.  Jake Lemmerman and Bobby Coyle both went 2 for 5.

Rookie Arizona – It was a unique day in baseball as Yimi started the game for the Arizona Dodgers, and Yimy finished the game for the Arizona Dodgers.  Yimi Garcia was the starting pitcher and while he allowed just 4 hits in 4 innings, he allowed 2 runs and didn’t strike out a batter.  After Bolivar Media and Beyker Fructuoso, who have both been demoted from the Ogden Raptors, struggled in middle relief, 2010 27th round pick Yimy Rodriguez threw a scoreless inning.  At the end of the day, the offense wasn’t able to make up for the mediocre pitching in this 7 to 4 loss.  The only multi-hit game belonged to Bladimir Franco who doubled, singled, and picked up and RBI.  4th round pick James Baldwin continues to struggle as he went 0 for 3 with 3 K’s and saw his season average drop to .048.

DSL – Off day

Albuquerque Isotopes Box Score

Chattanooga Lookouts Box Score

Inland Empire 66ers Box Score

Great Lakes Loons Box Score

Ogden Raptors Box Score

Arizona Dodgers Box Score

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