Usually the AA scoreboard is chocked full of big performances to report, but rainouts and lackluster results from some of the top prospects leave us a little skimpy in our search for the AA top performer. Gerardo Parra, Jaime Hoffmann, and Michael Taylor each rapped two hits and scored twice. John Still hit his third dinger, as did Shawn Bowman, and A’s OF prospect Corey Brown hit his first and drove in three. On the hill, Scott Elbert continues to have a nice comeback season as he tossed five solid innings and Brad Lincoln, also a top comeback candidate, struck out eight in five innings.
Cyle Hankerd’s bat is as hot as anyone’s right now as he added three doubles, scored twice and added two RBI to his totals. Hankerd is hitting a robust .471 with three HR, 10 RBI and five doubles in his last 10 games. Hankerd broke into professional baseball with a huge debut season at short season, but has since seen his performance drop off gradually over the next two seasons. He turned things around considerably in the Hawaiian Winter League, though, as he hit .316 with 5 HR and a league leading 30 RBI. Hankerd has a little more athleticism than he has been given credit for as he has played several games for Mobile in centerfield this season. He has a strong arm and profiles as a right fielder down the road. It should be noted that he is repeating a level this season, which may be cause to slightly mitigate optimism generated from his hot start, but he should get a crack at AAA Reno this season, which will give us a better indicator of where he is at developmentally. Hankerd does not have enough talent to displace Justin Upton or Chris Young with the D’Backs and all signs point to Gerardo Parra earning the third OF spot that will eventually be vacated by Eric Byrnes.
AA Player of the Day—CYLE HANKERD
Other Notable Performances
Hitting:
- Shawn Bowman—1-3 HR(3) 2 RBI BB
- Jon Still—1-4 HR(3) 2 RBI
- Jaime Hoffmann—2-4 2R BB
- Gabe Martinez—1-4 HR(3) 4 RBI BB
- Brad Harman—2-4 2 RBI 3B 2R BB
- Michael Taylor—2-5 3B 2R
- Collin DeLome—2-4 2B 2R
- Mark Ori—3-4 2 RBI R
- Luis Durango—3-4 2R SB(15)
- Chris Carter—2-4 2 2B RBI
- Scott Sizemore—2-4 2B R 3 RBI BB
- Gerardo Parra—2-3 2R BB
- Cyle Hankerd—3-4 3 2B 2R 2 RBI
Pitching:
- Brad Lincoln—5 IP 3H BB 8K
- Polin Trinidad—4 IP 3H 3K SV(1)
- Scott Elbert—5 IP 4H UER 2 BB 6K
- Brad Mills—7 IP 6H ER 5K W (1-1)
- Randy Boone—5 IP 6H 2 ER BB 5K W (3-0)
