Sorry there was no Prospect Watch yesterday. There were two other planned articles that I thought deserved to keep on the top, so I just didn’t get around to it. Today we are coming back strong though thanks to some strong performances down on the farm.
What Amir Garrett has been doing for the last 18 starts has been incredible. He’s taken himself from a raw, but talented arm to a dominant starting pitcher. Last night he fired a 7.0 inning complete game shutout with a walk and and a career high 12 strikeouts. That puts his last 18 starts with this line: 97.0 IP, 65 hits, 30 walks, 94 strikeouts and a 2.41 ERA. Over his last four starts he’s allowed 2 runs in 23.1 innings with just three walks and 31 strikeouts. In the last three starts he’s thrown 17.0 shutout innings with just seven hits allowed. The only other player I’ve seen improve so much, so quickly was Michael Lorenzen from last year to this year.
The guy who caught the start from Garrett was making his first appearance for Dayton. 19-year-old Chadwick Tromp just came up from Arizona and in catching a great game, he also went 2-3 and scored a run. He’s had 99 at bats this season and is hitting .343. Not bad. Not bad at all.
Phillip Ervin extended his hitting streak to five games, getting hits in both games that were completed on Wednesday. He’s 8-18 over that span with two doubles. The hitting streak followed a 2-20 stretch over the previous five games.
While the game technically isn’t completed because it was suspended due to a power outage in the top of the ninth inning, Jon Moscot finished his part of the game, tossing 6.0 innings with no walks and six strikeouts while allowing just two runs. He has now allowed just three runs over his last three starts that account for 19.0 innings with four walks and 15 strikeouts.
David Holmberg threw the first 5.2 innings of the Louisville Bats 14 inning win on Wednesday night, allowing just two runs. Over his last 10 starts with the Bats he’s tossed 65.3 innings with a 3.03 ERA with 19 walks and 36 strikeouts. The most impressive thing is, he hasn’t allowed a single home run in that span. He did allow three in his start for the Reds in that stretch, but for Louisville he hasn’t allowed a home run since May. That’s a very impressive run.
Bakersfield fell last night, but Marquez Smith did his part, reaching base three times, homering and driving in two runs. The corner infielder now has 26 home runs on the season and eleventy billion RBI. Ok, he only has 118 RBI, which is slightly less than eleventy billion. Smith has to be a lock for organizational hitter of the year. He’s put together just an incredible season.