Louisville split a double header that included a long home run from Ronnie Dawson, Mike Minor got lit up like the 4th of July on his rehab start in Chattanooga, Matt McLain homered for the second straight day, Matt Lloyd hit a grand slam, and Tanner Cooper set a career high in strikeouts in his first start of the year for Daytona.
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The Louisville Bats split a double header.
Game 1: 5-4 win. Box Score
- Alejo Lopez went 1-4 with a walk and an RBI.
- Cristian Santana went 3-5 with an RBI.
- Ronnie Dawson went 2-3 with a walk, double, home run (2), and 2 RBI.
- Trey Amburgey went 1-4 with a double and a run.
- Chris Okey went 1-4 with a run.
- Miguel Hernandez went 1-4 with a run scored.
- Connor Overton threw 4.0 shutout innings on 2 hits and he had 4 strikeouts.
- Diomar Lopez was charged with an unearned run in 2.0 hitless innings with a walk and 2 strikeouts.
Game 2: 4-1 loss. Box Score
- TJ Friedl went 0-2 with 2 walks and a run.
- Jake Bauers went 2-4 with a double and an RBI.
- Michael De Leon went 1-3.
- Randy Wynne allowed 3 earned in 5.2 innings with a walk and 7 strikeouts.
- Michael Byrne threw 1.1 shutout innings.
- Eddy Demurias threw a shutout inning with a strikeout.
Gameday Notes
Game one began on Tuesday but was suspended by rain in the 6th inning after the Bats took the lead earlier in the inning. Ronnie Dawson put himself atop of the home run distance leaderboard in the farm system with a 443-foot blast to dead center in the game on Tuesday night.
The Bats managed just three hits in game two and didn’t get on the board until the 9th inning. Randy Wynne didn’t strike out a single batter in his first start of the year in 5.0 innings. He picked up seven on Wednesday night.
The Chattanooga Lookouts lost 9-6. Box Score
- Mike Minor (rehab) allowed 6 runs in 1.2 innings on 5 hits, 1 HBP, 1BB, and 1K.
- Matt McLain went 1-3 with a walk and a solo home run (2).
- Quincy McAfee went 1-4 with a run.
- TJ Hopkins went 1-3 with a walk and a run.
- Matt Lloyd went 1-4 with a grand slam (1).
- Andy Fisher allowed a run in 2.1 innings with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts.
- Vin Timpanelli threw 2.0 shutout innings with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts.
- Ryan Nutof threw 2.0 shutout innings with 2 strikeouts.
Game Notes
Mike Minor allowed 6 earned runs in the 1st inning of his rehab start. He came back out for the 2nd inning and got two outs before reaching his pitch count (45) and being removed from the game. The lefty was sitting in the 88-89 MPH range and touched 90 with his fastball in his first game of the year (spring training or otherwise).
Matt McLain’s second homer of the season was an opposite field shot to right center. It was his second homer in as many days.
The Dayton Dragons were postponed.
Game Notes
Double header on Thursday afternoon at 4pm ET. Both games will be 7-inning contests.
Fun, or not fun fact depending on how you want to look at it: The entire Midwest League was postponed by rain on the day.
The Daytona Tortugas lost 4-3 in 10. Box Score
- Austin Hendrick went 1-3 with a double, 2 walks, and a run.
- Justice Thompson went 1-4 with a walk.
- Hayden Jones went 1-5 with a run.
- Sebastian Almonte went 1-4 with a walk, steal, and a run.
- Gus Steiger went 1-4 with a steal and an RBI.
- Reyny Reyes went 1-4 with 2 steals and an RBI.
- Tanner Cooper was charged with an unearned run in 4.0 innings with 1 walks and he had 7 strikeouts.
- Javi Rivera allowed two runs in 4.0 innings with 1 walk and 6 strikeouts.
Game Notes
Tanner Cooper set a career high with 7 strikeouts, beating the 6 that he had back in July of 2019 when he was with the Greeneville Reds.
Austin Hendrick’s double was 107 MPH off of the bat and went 413 feet, but somehow remained in the ballpark.
Top 25 Prospects Rundown
4/14 Game Preview
| Team | Record | Time (ET) | Probable | Box Score | Listen | Watch |
| Louisville | 2-6 | 7:35pm | Ashcraft | Here | Here | Here |
| Chattanooga | 2-2 | 7:15pm | Salazar | Here | Here | Here |
| Dayton | 2-2 | 4:00pm | Proctor/TBA | Here | Here | Here |
| Daytona | 2-3 | 6:30pm | Benschoter | Here | Here | N/A |
Added strength for Mclain showing up early on.
Learned how to use it and turn on Pitches better.
when played well at end of his college season before drafted.
Why was high on him at draft time.
Hope keeps it up not Guaranteed early yet.
Nice that Hendrick got the elephant off his back.
Ronnie Dawson looks very polished so far. He might move ahead of Friedl by seasons end, on the organizational depth charts.
Not sure about Dawson/Friedl, though I like what Dawson has done. His strikeout numbers are quite a bit higher than Freidl’s over his career. But he is definitely an athlete.
If strikeouts were hits, Austin Hendrick would be hitting 0.643 this year.
Last year he would have hit 0.478 is K’s were hits.
To put those K rates into perspective, at that same level (low A) Drew Stubs was 28% and Juan Francisco was 31%
Hendrick didn’t get to play in 2020, and was thrown into pro ball having most recently played competitively as a junior in high school. Also missed time with injury last year. We should be looking for improvements this year, but I’m still reserving being too judgmental of his performance until later this year when he’s had some more time. He’s still only 20.
To be fair Drew Stubbs had three year as a Texas Longhorn which was very similar to rookie ball or Low A competition at times and Juan started platying pro ball at 16.
Would definitely want to know whether or not the scout who recommended Minor is still with the organization this morning.
There was a Reds scout in Chattanooga last night. He was on the phone after Minor exited the game. Can’t imagine it was a good conversation with whoever he was chatting with.
Don’t think it is time to remove sharp objects around the house, Can remember Disco getting absolutely lit up on a rehab assignment in Dayton 8 hits, 8 earned runs , 3 home runs in 23 pitches. It ended up working out OK in the end for him.
Let the process work out.
ditto on that. There have been lots of minor league rehab starts that didn’t go well for major leaguers. But saying that I think they would be foolish to bring him up to majors without having him to 2 or 3 more rehab starts.
That outing by Disco was in 2017 when he was so injured that he was only able to make 3 appearances all season.
In his next 3 major league seasons following that injury, he only averaged 16 starts per year and his ERA in those next 3 seasons was:
4.93
3.89
7.22
So, I’m not sure Disco is the best example of a guy “working out OK in the end”?
Minor will need more rehab time , maybe 2 or 3 more starts to watch him out
Hopefully round 2 goes better for Graham Ashcraft than his first outing did.
I don’t think McLain’s time in Chattanooga will be very long.
I can’t wait to see Jose Barrero’s name appear on these as rehab assignment, because it’ll mean we’re close to seeing him for the Reds. He should replace Moose as soon as he is eligible.
The hamate issue may really hold Barrero back offensively this season. That injury seems to sap baseball players hitting for a while after they return. And the Reds have some nice prosects coming up behind at SS. Is it possible to get Wally Pipp-ed at SS without even starting a MLB game?
To be fair Drew Stubbs had three year as a Texas Longhorn which was very similar to rookie ball or Low A competition at times and Juan started platying pro ball at 16.
7-7.5 million? Surely that money could have been used more productively. Maybe it gets better.