It has been nearly a month since I last did one of these. Between the draft and other planned things, I simply haven’t gotten it done. With the start of the rookie season and the second half for Dayton/Bakersfield/Pensacola (Louisville doesn’t play halves) it felt like the right week to bring it back into play.
Louisville Bats: 30-49 overall, 309 runs scored, 362 runs allowed.
The Bats are riding their longest winning streak of the year right now at 8 games and it is the only winning streak of the year longer than 2 games for the last place team (18 games back). Clearly playing their best baseball all season, the bats for the Bats have started to come around some. Neftali Soto is currently on the DL, but was hitting .308/.325/.513 in June before heading to the DL two weeks ago. Felix Perez has also turned things up a notch in June with a .323/.370/.473 line in June with 8 doubles and 2 home runs. Dioner Navarro has hit .412/.492/.549 in June with 9 walks and 7 strikeouts over 15 games. Cody Puckett is on an 8 game hitting streak and has hit .429/.545/.629 over his last 10 games. Paul Janish came off of the DL 12 games ago for the Bats and has hit .262/.392/.524 on the month. Joey Gathright has hit .301/.352/.336 since signing with the Reds 28 games ago. The pitching has also had some better performances. Chad Reineke has a 3.73 ERA in 31.1 innings during June. Pedro Villarreal has a 3.86 ERA in 56 innings stretching back to his promotion in early May. Nick Christiani has a 0.61 ERA since May 24th for the Bats. Donnie Joseph was promoted to the Bats June 10th and has thrown 7.1 innings and racked up 2 saves and has yet to allow a run.
Pensacola Blue Wahoos: 37-37 overall (3-2 2nd half), 283 runs scored, 291 runs allowed.
The Blue Wahoos finished up the 1st half with a 34-35 record and have gotten off to a 3-2 start in the second half. New addition Beau Mills has hit .500/.583/1.083 in his first three games with 7 RBI and 2 HR. Didi Gregorius has been setting the table in June with a .321/.391/.410 line to go with 9 walks and 8 strikeouts. Daniel Corcino threw the first 8 innings of a combined no hitter on June 16th and for the entire month of June he has a 3.15 ERA in 29 innings. JC Sulbaran has a 3.68 ERA in 22 innings so far in June over his 4 starts. Kyle Lotzkar has a 3.86 ERA in 21 June innings with 8 walks and 28 strikeouts. Tony Cingrani has a 2.95 ERA in 4 June starts with 7 walks and 23 strikeouts. Mark Serrano has yet to allow a run in 12.1 June innings with 3 walks and 13 strikeouts. Since being moved to the bullpen Curtis Partch has a 1.54 ERA in 23.1 innings with 7 walks and 21 strikeouts for the AA squad and hasn’t allowed a run in June. Drew Hayes has a 1.80 ERA in 10 June innings after having a solid May as well. Wilkin De La Rosa has a 1.04 ERA in 8.2 innings in June with 2 walks and 13 strikeouts.
Bakersfield Blaze: 44-31 overall (3-2 2nd half), 401 runs scored, 335 runs allowed.
The Blaze finished the first half in first place and will be in the playoffs after the regular season is over. They have gotten off to a 3-2 start so far in the second half. Steve Selsky has spent 5 games in Bakersfield since a promotion and has hit .381/.480/.857 in his short time with the team. Billy Hamilton is on a 10 game hitting streak and after struggling some in May has rebounded in a big way in June with a .364/.505/.442 line to go with 34 steals (6 CS). For as good as that has been, Tucker Barnhart has had an even better June with a .397/.462/.655 line in the month with 3 home runs (1 home run coming into June). Kurtis Muller has been back with the Blaze for a week now and has hit .318/.360/.591 since being called back to the Blaze. Travis Mattair has been hot of late, hitting .316/.395/.579 over his last 10 games for the Blaze. Theo Bowe has hit .347/.427/.417 in June with 17 steals (6 CS) as he continues to just tear up the league since being promoted from Dayton. Chad Rogers continues to be an anchor on the pitching staff with a 2.35 ERA over his last 10 starts stretching over 57.1 innings. Josh Smith has been on a roll since April ended. In his 10 starts since he has posted a 2.55 ERA with 15 walks and 55 strikeouts in 60 innings.
Dayton Dragons: 30-44 overall (0-4 2nd half), 297 runs scored, 372 runs allowed.
The Dragons finished out the first half at 30-40 and have had an 0-4 start to the 2nd half of the season. Kyle Waldrop has had a strong June with a .319/.365/.449 line so far with 8 walks and 11 strikeouts. Juan Silva has had arguably the best June of anyone in the system with a .370/.514/.593 line with 15 walks and 13 strikeouts. Juan Perez is hitting .313/.403/.328 on the month. He is getting on base and drawing walks but hasn’t hit for much power in June. Sean Buckley has hit for a .284/.360/.478 line so far on the month. Junior Arias had some big struggled in April and May, but has rebounded in June with a .286/.314/.510 line so far through 12 games in June. Radhames Quezada has made four starts this month with a 2.45 in 22 innings. The bullpen has had some good standouts this month as well. James Allen has made 6 appearances with a 0.96 ERA over 9.1 innings. Carlos Contreras has posted a 2.25 ERA over 8 innings on the month with 2 walks and 8 strikeouts. El’Hajj Muhammad has walked 8 and struck out 7 in June but has allowed just 1 earned run in 8.1 innings so far in June. Cole Green has thrown 11.1 innings without an earned run so far.
Billings Mustangs: 6-2 overall, 41 runs scored, 35 runs allowed.
With only 8 games so far, I will begin doing write ups in the next installment of the Team Progress Report.
AZL Reds: 1-4 overall, 37 runs scored, 41 runs allowed.
Same as with Billings, I will begin writing about this team in the next installment.