It was a big night out in Arizona for Donovan Antonia, who crushed his 4th home run in his 9th game of the season and he was joined on the jog-around-the-bases task force by Leonardo Balcazar and Juan Garcia in the ACL Reds 8-0 win. Down in the Dominican Republic Esmith Pineda hit his 3rd homer of the season and Ray-Jacson Chirino had five hits, including three doubles.
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ACL Reds won 8-0. Box Score
- Donovan Antonia went 2-3 with a walk, steal, home run (4), and 3 runs.
- Leonardo Balcazar went 1-1 with a walk and a 3-run home run (3).
- Deivid Alcantara went 1-4 with a double and a run.
- Wendell Marrero went 1-4 with a double, run, and an RBI.
- Malvin Valdez went 1-4 with an RBI.
- Jose Serrano went 1-2 with a double, walk, and a run.
- Juan Garcia went 1-3 with a solo home run (1).
- Jermaine Vanheyningen threw a hitless inning with 2 walks.
- Nicolo Pinazzi threw 4.2 shutout innings with 3 walks and 7 strikeouts.
- Shane Gustafson threw 2.0 shutout innings with 4 strikeouts.
- Alberto Gonzalez threw a perfect inning with 2 strikeouts.
DSL Reds lost 9-5. Box Score
- Esmith Pineda went 2-3 with a home run (3) and a walk.
- Carlos Sanchez went 1-2 with 2 walks and 2 runs.
- Diego Omana went 1-4 with a run scored.
- Ray-Jacson Chirino went 5-5 with 3 doubles, a run, and 2 RBI.
- Jonathan Batista threw 2.1 shutout innings with a strikeout.
- Nelfri Payano threw 1.1 shutout innings with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts.
6/28 Game Preview
| Team | Record | Time (ET) | Probable | Box Score | Listen | Watch |
| Louisville | 27-44 | 7:05pm | Nicolino | Here | Here | Here |
| Chattanooga | 34-35 | 7:15pm | TBA | Here | Here | Here |
| Dayton | 41-28 | 7:05pm | Farr | Here | Here | Here |
| Daytona | 30-38 | 6:30pm | Petty | Here | Here | N/A |
| AZL Reds | 11-4 | 9:00pm | TBA | Here | N/A | N/A |
| DSL Reds |
8-9 | 11:00am | TBA | Here | N/A | N/A |
Antonia following in the footsteps of General Mariekson Julius Gregorius (as well as Chad Tromp) signed out of Curacao.
Antonia just keeps on mashing! Despite having the 8th most plate appearances on the team right now he is 2nd in hits and leading in HR + RBI. Also has more walks than k’s.
Agreed Bdh. Leading the AZL in HR despite his limited amount of AB (26). Even more impressive is his 0.800 K/BB ratio.
Right now there are 5 batters in the AZL with at least 2 HR, a K/BB less than 2 and a K% less than 30%.
Donovan Antonio, Reds, 1.531 OPS, 16.7% BB%, 12.9% K%
Leonardo Balcazar, Reds, 1.078 OPS, 14.3% BB%, 26.2% K%
Moises Ballesteros, Cubs, 0.972 OPS
Thayron Liranzo, Dodgers, 0.922 OPS
Luis Castillo, Brewers, 1.153 OPS
5 players, two of which are Reds Prospects.
Add in:
Carlos Jorge, Reds, .996 OPS, 17.3% BB%, 34.6% K%
The Reds have three hitters worth watching in the AZL. I have been on the Balcazar and Jorge bandwagon for a while now. But it is time to add Donovan Antonio to the wagon. He struggled as a 17 year old in the AZL last year. But the fact that the Reds thought enough of him to bring him stateside as a 17 year old should be a testament of what the Reds thought of his bat. Now he is clearly on my radar and could be a top 20 mid-season prospect. He is without a doubt in the picture as a top 25 mid-season prospect.
If this is an indication of the player development strategy, ie controlling the strike zone, driving the ball, it looks good. What we need, Stock, is one maniacal enough to track this upward for the next six years. And I have a nomination in mind.
Sadly, they are probably 6-8 years away from the Reds and plenty of time for the organization to teach them that contact is a bad habit.
Will be interested to see if there are other promotions to go along with Cerda, Phillips, and Quintana. That certainly leaves some holes in the Dayton lineup, so they should probably get some guys from Daytona.
Has there been any word on Confidan’s return? That kid is going to be a stud but he needs to get back on the field
He’s still a few weeks away from returning if things go as planned.
Just looking at the box score it looks like Pineda was subbed out as the DH today after his 2nd at bat. Hope it wasn’t injury related.