Road to Blake Street Newsletter #3 - Week of 4/19 to 4/24
This season is flying by, kind of like how the ball has been flying off of Carlos Perez’s bat!
What a week it was! A lot to cover, a lot of great performances and the top prospects are starting to heat up!!! Crab a bag of crackers and let’s munch and read.
Albuquerque Isotopes - Series Record: 2-4. Overall Record: 7-11
The big story for the Isotopes is that Colton Welker and Julian Fernandez both got to spend a day with the big league club. In Welker’s case, the traveling might have thrown him out of rhythm this week. Otherwise, the club dropped the series to the Round Rock Express. Fortunately, there were still positives to be had. First and foremost, our guy Wynton Bernard continued his hot start to the season down in the desert. Speaking of our guys, Taylor Snyder and Frank Duncan, more or less, got back on track this week. The rest of the bats sputtered a bit this week with Elehuris Montero and Ryan Vilade producing sparingly, though the team’s primary catchers Brian Serven and Carlos Perez each hit two long balls. Ryan Feltner continued balling out and keeps building his case to get a call up the second there’s an injury in the MLB rotation. Sorry, Ryan, knock on wood that doesn’t happen. The Topes are coming back home to face off with the Sacramento River Cats and some of the up and coming Giants.
Friends of the Pod (previous series stats)
Wynton Bernard - 1.333 OPS, 1 triple, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 2 R, .273 BA
Taylor Snyder - .796 OPS, 1 double, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 SB, .182 BA
Frank Duncan - 1 start, 5 IP, 4 R(3 ER), 4 K, 2.00 WHIP, 5.40 ERA
Top Prospects:
#4 Elehuris Montero - .490 OPS, 6 hits, 1 RBI, 1 SB, .231 BA
#9 Ryan Vilade - .600 OPS, 1 double, 1 RBI, 1 SB, 3BB to 1K, .200 BA
#21 Ryan Feltner - 1 start, 5 IP, 1 ER, 10 K, 1.00 WHIP, 1.80 ERA
#23 Colton Welker - 5 AB, .286 OPS, 2 BB, 0.000 BA
Fire Performance:
Brian Serven - 1.125 OPS, 6 hits, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 4 R, .375 BA
Carlos Perez - .933 OPS, 6 hits, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 2 R, .300 BA
Dillon Overton - starts, 12 IP, 4 ER, 9 K, 0.67 WHIP, 3.00 ERA
Hartford Yard Goats - Series Record: 3-3. Overall Record: 7-8
Hartford recorded the first shutout of any Rockies affiliate in game one of the series against the Patriots of Somerset (Yankees affiliate). Kauffmann was absolutely electric, recording 6 scoreless innings with 9K and ZERO HITS!!!! Pint, Kennedy and Hollowell locked up the final 3 innings. Hartford almost pulled off a 5 run come back win in the second game of the series behind a stellar relief appearance by Michael Baird (3 IP, 7K, 0 R) but ended up falling short. We also so a 2 inning appearance by our mans Dugan Darnell (3K, 0R). A big positive this week was the bounceback of Michael Toglia after a rough first two weeks. He homered and recorded two more XBH, en route to a .942 OPS. Unfortunately, the Yard Goats dropped 2 of the final 3 games with a dynamic Somerset lineup featuring MLB top prospect Anthony Volpe and former MLB standout Derek Dietrich starting to take off. The Yard Goats are due west as they meet the Harrisburg Senators for 6.
Friends of the Pod:
#26 Noah Davis - 1 start, 4.2 IP, 3 ER, 8 K, 1.5 WHIP, 5.79 ERA
#28 Karl Kauffman - 2 starts, 11 IP, 8 ER, 13K, 1.364 WHIP, 6.55 ERA
(1st start - 6IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 3 BB, 9 K – 77 pitches!!)
Willie MacIver - .944 OPS, 1 double, 2 homers, 3 RBI, 1 SB, .222 BA
Hunter Stovall - 5 AB, .167 OPS, 1 BB, 1 SB
Coco Montes - .714 OPS, 1 double, .278 BA
Dugan Darnell - 2G, 2.2 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 2 BB, 3 K, 1.875 WHIP, 0.00 ERA
Nick Bush - 1 start, 4IP, 4K, 1.500 WHIP, 4.5 ERA
Top Prospects:
#6 Ezequiel Tovar - .930 OPS, 1 double, 2 homers, 4 RBI, 1 SB, .292 BA
#7 Brenton Doyle - .689 OPS, 1 double, 4 RBI, 1 SB, .333 BA
#8 Michael Toglia - .942 OPS, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 6 R, .304 BA
#19 Aaron Schunk - .300 OPS, 1 RBI, 1 SB, .150 BA
Fire Performance:
Jameson Hannah - 1.392 OPS, 2 doubles, 8 hits, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 3 R, .500 BA
Riley Pint - 3 IP, 5 K, 0.33 WHIP, 0.00 ERA
Michael Baird - 6 IP, 10 K, 0.50 WHIP, 3.00 ERA
Spokane Indians - Weekly Record: 4-2 - Overall Record: 7-8
Spokane rebounded after a 4 game skid last week to win 5 out of their last 7. In six games against Hillsboro, the Indians took the series behind strong pitching performances. In the second game of the series, Spokane did their best Yard Goat impression and recorded a shutout behind a Ruff outing (6IP, 6K, 4H, 0BB, 0R) while Taggart recorded his first professional save (3 outs, 3 strikeouts). Mike Ruff, Will Ethridge, and Joe Rock all added a W to their season lines in strong starts.
Friends of the Pod:
Grant Lavigne - .838 OPS, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 SB, 4BB to 3K, .250 BA
Shelby Lackey - 3 G, 3 IP, 1 S, 1 ER, 2K, 2.33 WHIP, 3.00 ERA
Joe Rock - 1 start, 6 IP, 1ER, 3H, 2BB, 7K, 0.833 WHIP, 1.50 ERA
Luke Taggart - 2 G, 3 IP, 2 S, 0 R, 4K, 0.667 WHIP, 0.00 ERA
Top Prospects
#1 Zac Veen - 1.313 OPS, 3 doubles, 1 homer, 3 RBI, 4 R, .474 BA
#2 Drew Romo - .985 OPS, 1 homer, 5 RBI, 4 R, 2BB to 1K, .400 BA
Fire Performance
Colin Simpson - 1.500 OPS, 1 HR, 3 2B, 4 RBI, 4 R, .455 BA
Mike Ruff - 1 start, 6 IP, 6 K, 0.67 WHIP, 0.00 ERA
Will Ethridge - 1 start, 7 IP, 5 K, 3 ER, 0.86 WHIP, 3.86 ERA
Fresno Grizzlies - Weekly Record: 1-5 - Overall Record: 7-8
This turned into a rough week for the Grizzlies against the Padres affiliate Lake Elsinore Storm. Most notably, the bats fell silent, scoring 2 runs or less in 3 of the games. Two of the top pitching prospects in Fresno, Evan Shawver and Victor Juarez, turned in impressive starts but neither game was won. Fortunately, we got to see Benny Montgomery’s second pro home run and we also saw another excellent week from Adael Amador who is really making a case for himself as an elite prospect in the early going. The Grizzlies will head north to Stockton for 6, looking to bounce back.
Friends of the Pod:
Zach Kokoska - .237 OPS, 1 R, 1 SB, .083 BA
Top Prospects:
#3 Benny Montgomery - .790 OPS, 1 triple, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 1 SB, .263 BA
#10 Adael Amador - .897 OPS, 1 double, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 SB, 6BB to 2 K, .263 BA
#14 Warming Bernabel - .628 OPS, 1 double, 2 RBI, 1 SB, .250 BA
#16 Yanquiel Fernandez - .578 OPS, 1 double, 2 RBI, .222 BA
#20 Hunter Goodman - .675 OPS, 1 double, 2 R, 1 SB, .235 BA
#24 Juan Guerrero - .761 OPS, 1 double, 1 tripel, 4 RBI, .267 BA
Fire Performance:
Braxton Fulford - .866 OPS, 7 hits, 1 double, 1 SB, .389 BA
Evan Shawver - 6 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 K, 0 R
Victor Juarez - 5 IP, 1 R, 1.00 WHIP, 3 K
Friends of the pod on the IL
Chris McMahon
Sam Weatherly - starting his recovery now, will be on a mound in the near future!
Blake Goldsberry
Go listen to the latest “Road to Blake Street…Banter” podcast. Will be live on Monday, at 9pm Eastern! Listen to our conversation with Jordan Pacheco as we talk coaching an his time with the Rockies!
KDub does a great job covering the minors over at Purple Row, each week he gives a nice rundown. Check out his week 3 here.