5/22 AAA Minor League Report

Posted by Jeremy on May 23, 2009 under Minor League Ball today | Be the First to Comment

Several of the usual prospects make this list and, as players from the AAA ranks keep getting recalled to their major league clubs, the list of true prospects to report about gets smaller and smaller.  Andrew McCutchen hit his 2nd HR of the season and Brandon Wood hit #10.  Today’s top performances, however, were on the mound.  Red Sox pitcher Charlie Zink tossed eight quality innings allowing a run on three hits for his 3rd win.  Padres righty, Will Inman struck out nine over 5.2 innings but today’s competition boils down to two American League pitching prospects.

Vin Mazzaro had another dominant performance tossing eight innings of one-hit ball, striking out six in a no-decision.  Mazzaro has now allowed just one run over his last 23 innings of work and has held opponents to a .207 BAA–quite a feat considering the tough pitching atmosphere in the PCL.  In the International League, Baltimore Orioles righty David Hernandez surrendered three unearned runs, all in the 8th inning, in 7.1 IP on just three hits, no walks and 14 strikeouts.  Hernandez has followed up last year’s breakout season by continuing his dominance at Norfolk, going 3-1 with a 2.91 ERA and 60 K’s in just 43.1 IP.  Last year, Hernandez paced the Orioles organization with 166 K’s.  His fastball sits between 90-92 MPH, hitting 94 on occasion.  Hernandez has a deceptive delivery and hides the ball well from hitters.  In addition to his fastball, he has a decent slider and changeup that he has improved the command of this season.  Ultimately, Hernandez profiles as a mid-rotation starter within an organization that has a considerable amount of near major league ready pitching depth.  Don’t be surprised if the O’s bring him along at some point this season, though it may be in the bullpen.

AAA Player of the Day—DAVID HERNANDEZ

Other Notable Performances

Hitting:

• Michael Brantley—2-5 2R RBI
• Fernando Martinez—2-5 2 RBI
• Drew Stubbs—1-2 2 BB SB(15)
• Andrew McCutchen—1-5 HR(2) RBI
• Matt Wieters—2-4 2B R RBI
• Carlos Gonzalez—2-4 2 RBI
• Aaron Cunningham—2-6 2B R
• Cliff Pennington—3-3 2B BB SB(16)
• Freddy Sandoval—2-5 R SB(11)
• Brandon Wood—2-4 HR(10) RBI
• Allen Craig—2-4 2B R RBI
• Bryan Anderson—2-4 2B R RBI
• Michael Saunders—2-3 R BB
• Joe Koshansky—1-4 HR8) RBI 2R BB SB(2)

Pitching:

• Will Inman—5.2 IP 6H 2 ER 2 BB 9K
• Vin Mazzaro—8 IP H BB 6K
• David Hernandez—7.1 IP 3H 3 UER 14K
• Matt Maloney—7 IP 6H UER BB 3K
• Charlie Zink—8 IP 3H ER 2 BB 3K W (3-4)