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Hunter Greene struck out 10 batters for Chattanooga while infielders Alejo Lopez and Jose Garcia continued to rake for the Lookouts, Yoel Yanqui hit two homers, Brian Rey remained hotter than the sun for Dayton, and Carson Rudd picked up 6 strikeouts in his first career start for Daytona.
The Louisville Bats lost 5-4. Box Score
- Mark Payton went 2-5 with a double and a run scored.
- Max Schrock went 1-4.
- Cheslor Cuthbert went 1-3 with a walk and an RBI.
- Nicky Delmonico went 1-4 with a solo home run (2).
- Alfredo Rodriguez went 3-4.
- TJ Friedl went 2-4 with a 2-run home run (1).
- Braden Shipley threw 1.1 shutout innings with a walk and 2 strikeouts.
- Brad Brach threw a perfect inning with 3 strikeouts.
Game Notes
Louisville lost on a walk-off solo home run to lead off the bottom of the 9th inning.
After going hitless in the previous two games, Alfredo Rodriguez put together a 3-hit day and raised his line on the year to .344/.447/.531.
Ashton Gougeau struggled with his control at times on the day, walking 5 batters in 4.2 innings where he allowed 3 earned runs.
The Chattanooga Lookouts won 5-1. Box Score
- Alejo Lopez went 2-5.
- Jose Garcia went 3-4 with a double and a run scored.
- Yoel Yanqui went 2-4 with 2 home runs (3) and 3 RBI.
- TJ Hopkins went 2-4 with a run scored.
- Lorenzo Cedrola went 2-4 with a 2-run home run (1).
- Hunter Greene threw 6.0 shutout innings on 3 hits, 2 walks, and he struck out 10.
- Ryan Lillie threw a perfect inning with a strikeout.
- Alexis Diaz threw a perfect inning with 3 strikeouts.
Game Notes
Hunter Greene likely had the best start of his career on Sunday evening in Montgomery. Two of the three hits he allowed were infield singles. He struck out 10 batters. And he threw 89 pitches with 63 strikes. Here’s the crazy things – Greene struggled with his control in the first few innings of the game before really settling in and cruising. He topped out at 103 MPH according to the Montgomery broadcaster. Greene lowered his ERA to 1.69 and now has allowed 8 hits and 3 walks in 16.0 innings with 25 strikeouts.
Alejo Lopez extended his hitting streak to 12 games – one for every game that’s been played this season. He’s now hitting .423/.483/.519 and has 22 hits with just 4 strikeouts on the season.
Jose Garcia made an error in the game on a routine ground ball where he seemed to get ahead of himself thinking about turning the double play and knocked the ball into the outfield grass. He helped make up for it at the plate as he picked up three hits, including his 10th extra-base hit of the season. He’s now hitting .354/.418/.750 through 12 games and has 6 walks with 12 strikeouts.
Alexis Diaz now has 9 strikeouts in 4.2 innings pitched.
The Dayton Dragons lost 3-1. Box Score
- Brian Rey went 3-4 with a double and an RBI.
- Mariel Bautista went 1-3 with a double.
- Eduardo Salazar allowed 2 earned runs in 5.0 innings on 5 hits, a walk, and he struck out 4 batters.
- Sam Hellinger threw 2.0 shutout innings with a walk and a strikeout.
- Karsen Lindell threw 1.1 shutout innings with a walk and 2 strikeouts.
Game Notes
Brian Rey might be a cheat code. After another big day at the plate he is hitting .450/.442/1.,025 with 10 extra-base hits in 10 games, 16 RBI, and just 2 strikeouts on the year.
The Dragons offense outside of Brian Rey went 1-24 with 1 walk, 1 hit by pitch, and 9 strikeouts. Tough day at the plate for Dayton.
Eduardo Salazar struggled in the 4th inning, but had a strong outing aside from that frame. His ERA jumped up to 3.00 on the season through 3 starts and 15.0 innings. The 4 strikeouts was a season high after fanning 3 in each of his first two starts.
The Daytona Tortugas lost 2-1. Box Score
- Tyler Callihan went 1-4.
- Gus Steiger went 1-3.
- Alex McGarry went 1-3 with a walk.
- Allan Cerda went 1-4 with a solo home run (3).
- Danny Lantigua went 2-4 with a double.
- Carson Rudd allowed 2 earned runs in 4.0 innings on 3 hits and he struck out 6.
- Juan Manuel Abril threw 2.0 hitless innings with a walk and a strikeout.
- Ricky Karcher threw a perfect inning with 3 strikeouts.
- Vin Timpanelli threw 2.0 hitless innings with a walk and 3 strikeouts.
Game Notes
Carson Rudd had made three appearances out of the bullpen this season for Daytona, but stepped up to make his first career start and struck out 6 in a tough-luck loss where he allowed 2 runs in 4.0 innings. He now has just 1 walk and 12 strikeouts in his 9.0 innings pitched for the Tortugas this year.
Allan Cerda’s home run came off the bat at 109 MPH.
Vin Timpanelli kept his ERA perfect on the season (and career since this is his first season).
Top 25 Prospect Rundown
5/17 Game Preview
| Team | Record | Time (ET) | Probable | Box Score | Listen | Watch |
| Louisville | 3-8 | OFF | OFF | Here | Here | Here |
| Chattanooga | 8-4 | OFF | OFF | Here | Here | Here |
| Dayton | 8-4 | OFF | OFF | Here | Here | Here |
| Daytona | 6-6 | OFF | OFF | Here | Here | N/A |
With just 1 walk and 2 Ks in 39 PAs, I would guess without looking that he leads the league in least num of pitches seen per PA.
He’ll need to improve his discipline if he wants to succeed in upper levels. He will be exploited up there if he doesn’t change his approach.
Brian Rey that is.
Stats haven’t been updated for today’s games yet, but entering Sunday he had a 60.2% swing rate, and a contact rate of 79.2%. That swing rate was 4th highest in the system with Wilson Garcia (AA) leading the way by 9% over Lorenzo Cedrola. The contact rate is only 6th highest. Alejo Lopez entered the day with a 92% contact rate.
I’m not sure that Rey will need to change his approach or not. Approach isn’t about the numbers, exactly. He’s not walking right now. And he’s not striking out right now. We need to explore what’s happening, and the numbers we have access to aren’t really capable of telling us that. If he’s simply pounding pitches in the zone, laying off ones out of the zone – but he’s just not really missing ones in the zone when he gets them and thus has a high contact rate and a low walk rate – the approach is fine. And eventually, as long as he keeps showing pitchers that he can do damage against stuff in the zone, he’ll be pitched to a bit more carefully and the walks will rise. Taking pitches simply to take pitches isn’t a good plan.
But, as I said, we can’t really determine if that’s exactly what’s happening with the data we have access to. The Reds have that data, though – through Trackman which is in all of the minor league parks.
Thanks and yes you are right. If pitchers are pounding the zone thinking they can get swing/miss or soft contact and he just keeps surprising with hard contact, it might not be discipline at all.
He has in interesting profile, one year at Miami-Dade JUCO where he hit .400 in 200 ABs. That league is very competitive and often feeds D1 programs in Florida and other southern states.
I suppose we should defer this convo til July and see if it we should still be talking about this guy! But it’s an interesting start he’s had for sure.
This is the first time I have heard that a guy is hitting the ball too often. If he were hitting .198 I would worry. He is not.
If a guy is hitting the ball too often by making contact with out of the zone pitches, it is definitely NOT a good thing. As Doug said, we don’t have evidence he is chasing, however, since stats can’t be found on that in MiLB.
My goodness this is an example of digging hard to be negative. The young man went 3 for 4 with an extra vase hit. Has a batting average for the season of .450 so an OBP north of that. He began the day with more home runs than a couple of teams in the league. God forbid he didn’t give up a couple of those home runs to take those pitches he hit out, strikes or not. Lansing is projected to have one of the best High A pitching staffs in baseball and Brian hit them like he knew what was coming.
Maybe that’s his secret: He developed telekinetic powers and he does know what’s coming now. It would explain a lot.
Nice game from Greene, again. Could be (well, should be) headed into the top 20 in midseason MLB prospect lists.
Should have already been. With what he’s doing he should be in the top 5
Alfrod and Garcia continue to make things more interesting. Not to mention Greene.
Greene has to top 25 Prospect now…yeah? Since we haven’t seen a SP through as regularly as Greene does over 100 MPH…is there in concern he should or will dial it back down a tad?
Does Blandino have minors options yet? Alf-Rod could receive the chance to play SS at the big level if he continues his success in the next weeks at AAA..
Yes, Blandino has 1 option remaining.
Is it time to consider Vlad Gutierrez to replace Hoffman? Vlad seems ready with a much higher ceiling. Plus Hoffman can slide to the bullpen to let his stuff play up and could provide some length if needed. That still leaves Santillian and hopefully eventually Lorenzen as SP depth for later in the season. I could see them waiting a bit longer to get a longer look at Vlad since the minor league season is so early on, but if Hoffman continues on his current trajectory they can’t let him keep getting blown up too long and compete for the playoffs. The fifth guy has to at least give them a shot to win the game. Thoughts?
I would say Santillan is the next man up in the eyes of the organization.
I’ll be at the game Friday night. Would love to see a Tony Santillan MLB debut over the likes a Jeff Hoffman start.
I think if the next time out Hoffman can’t get you through 5 innings again that you have to start looking at it.
So which pitcher is being demoted to the minors. It isn’t. Going to be Hoffman who is out of options. They aren’t going to give up people for him then release him.
Mark Payton is the clubhouse leader right now (though I think you asked this before the set of moves were made today)
Second thought: Any chance we see Lodolo and/or Greene for the playoff push? It’s not like the Reds to push their minor leaguers, but if they aren’t going to spend the $$ to get decent help/depth, they’ve got to tap into their internal depth.
I would love to see a rotation and/or bullpen that included Vlad, Greene, Lodolo by the end of the year. I think all three of those guys could provide a real shot in the arm to a scrappy insurgency trying to make the playoffs.
Yes, I think you absolutely call them up and deploy them as needed. Give me 103 over anything being thrown by the likes of Perez/Fullmer/etc. Pitchers are so fragile, service time considerations don’t mean much to me.
I don’t know where this idea comes from that the Reds don’t push their minor leaguers, but I just struggle to see where it holds up when someone actually looks at it. The fact of the matter is that for a very long time the Reds simply haven’t had guys to push. Aside from the stupid games they were trying to play with Nick Senzel, and he was only down for so long because he broke his finger and then had the ankle injury, who else in the last decade did they not push who was actually showing in Double-A and Triple-A? When Luis Castillo was cruising in Double-A after 3 months in the organization they promoted him directly to the big leagues and never looked back. Who else is there?
More recently India, whom they could have easily justified giving some PAs in AAA, but instead directly promoted to bigs.
Mike Leake never pitched a game in the minors. Cueto and Votto were not held back to gain a year of control. Chapman was brought up for the playoffs. As AllTheHype points out India was not held back for control. I think Senzel would have been but the injury means we don’t know for sure.
AlfRod hasn’t OPS’d .700 in the minors even once until now. Is what we’re seeing to be believed??
I’ll hold off for quite a while. He’s hit well for two weeks now after struggling to hit the ball out of the infield for his entire pro career (here and in Cuba). It’s great to see what he’s doing, but let’s pump the brakes on promoting him to the big leagues talk for now.
I know it is ST but in 53 PA for 2020 and 2021 he had an OPS of .916 with in ISO of .212.
Yeah – it’s tough to truly know since there was no season. Spring training is always tough enough to know what kind of hitting stats are real and which ones aren’t. The air and elevation can play all kinds of tricks on their own. Toss in the disparity in quality of pitchers you may face, and when you face them and it’s just a big ole mess.
I’m certainly hoping for the best. It would be great if he could become a useful big league in some role. I’d personally need more data to work with before feeling comfortable on that, though.
Updated the Daytona information. It appears that after the game was over the box score was changed. At some point it was corrected to have Ricky Karcher throwing the 8th inning. It was originally assigned in the box score as a 3rd inning from Juan Manuel Abril.