Notes from some performances last night
While technically not a prospect because of too much time in the Major Leauges, Jason Bourgeois has been on a roll lately. Over his last seven games he is 14-32 with three doubles and a triple. In 431 plate appearances for Louisville this year he has just 36 strikeouts to go along with 29 walks and a .285/.31/.383 line while playing center field almost exclusively.
Michael Lorenzen went to the mound last night and tossed four innings of one run baseball, but that was far from the highlight of the night. He hit a 2-out grand slam, reliving the days when he was crushing the ball back in college. For those keeping track, it took Lorenzen 20.93 seconds to round the bases. He has hit .227/.346/.500 at the plate in 30 plate appearances in 2014. You can watch his grand slam below.
Another Blue Wahoo did something last night that will go down in the record books. Juan Duran hit his 13th home run last night for Pensacola, which ties him for the franchise record in a single season (Travis Mattair, 2013). He has a little more than a month left to get the record all to himself. He has hit .271/.329/.527 since June 1st.
Sean Buckley hit another home run last night in Bakersfield. After struggling to find any kind of rhythm with Dayton in the first half of the season, hitting just .185/.240/.304 in 24 games, he has taken off with the Blaze in the month that he has been with the team. He’s hitting .347/.383/.559 in the California League. The power has been on a completely different level and he has cut his strikeout rate down by nearly a third.
I was in Dayton last night to see the Dragons play. Phillip Ervin had two more hits, including a double. After a very slow start to the season, Ervin has been heating up big time over the last two months. Since June 1st, he is hitting .270/.353/.491 with 20 walks and 28 strikeouts in 185 plate appearances. The walk rate is up 40%, the strikeout rate is down 37% and his isolated power (SLG-AVG) has more than doubled.
Aristides Aquino continued his assault on Pioneer League pitching last night, going 2-3 with a double, home run, four RBI and a walk. For the season he is hitting .315/.361/.636 and is tied for the league lead in doubles and home runs. He has done damage against both righties and lefties with only a 12 point difference in OPS between the two.