MINOR LEAGUE NUMBERS

Dylan Bundy is having his innings and pitches managed very closely by the Orioles who hope to have Bundy strong late in the year so that he can contribute down the stretch. Through three starts, lasting only nine innings, he’s struck out nine and walked two. There’s still a debate about if his cutter will come back after Tommy John surgery, but Bundy still polished enough to be an extremely successful big league starter even if his best pitch never regains its former elite status.

Byron Buxton has appeared in 16 games at Double-A. He’s hitting .210 with two homers, three steals and seven runs/RBIs. He’s also got 15 punchouts. He could be up in the second half for the Twins, but he’ll need to produce after his lost 2014 season due to injury.

Mikael Franco is pushing for a call up to the bigs. Cody Asche is batting .306 with a .358 OBP through 18 games with the Phillies, so it’s not like Franco has to be called up to play the hot corner. Still, Franco is batting .338 with a .901 OPS over 18 games at Triple-A as he’s also driven in 11 runs. At the same time, despite the success, Franco has only one homer and has struck out 19 times in 80 at-bats, a terrible ratio. A call up is coming for Franco, but it might be a while.

Joey Gallo has appeared in three games. He’ produced four hits. He’s dealt with an ankle issue in the early going. He might get a September call up.

Jon Gray has sucked eggs at Triple-A early on. He’s appeared in four tames allowing a massive 32 hits in 17.2 innings. Read that again. Crazy. He’s also walking 4.08 batters per nine innings leading to a 2.26 WHIP. Ugly. And he will be pitching for the Rockies when he is called up.

Francisco Lindor has appeared in 18 games batting .284. He’s swiped six bags in eight attempts and is getting on base at a .360 clip. A call up could come as soon as May, but realize Lindor’s game is much more about his glove than his bat at this point of his development. Lindor production is likely to be something like… Erick Aybar at the top end. The top.  

Noah Syndergaard has appeared in three games at Triple-A with a 2.45 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 16 strikeouts in 14.2 innings. He will make starts for the Mets this season, with solid depth in the rotation – and Dillon Gee coming off his great game (see Daily Notes) – there’s just no place for Noah right now.

CATCHER NEWS

What are the Reds doing? They are being stupid. What astute analysis right? I speak of the situation with Devin Mesoraco. His hip is jacked up. He hasn’t started a game since April 11th. Since then he’s pinch hit three times. He’s out of the lineup yet against Tuesday. So three at-bats over more than two weeks. Uh Reds, there is this thing called the DL. There’s no end in sight for this situation either – we just don’t know when Mesoraco will return to starting. #Idiots

Jon Morosi is reporting that the Mariners have had internal discussions about whether to pursue Jarrod Saltalamacchia. The Mariners currently have Mike Zunino and Jesus Sucre, and obviously they aren’t content with that duo. As for Salty, he was designated for assignment on Monday so the Marlins have 10 days to try and find a trading partner before losing him (if no team were to claim him he would become a free agent and able to sign for a prorated amount of the league minimum. The Marlins would still own him nearly $21 million over the next two years). J.T. Realmuto will be the man for the Marlins behind the dish. He could be a solid second catcher in mixed leagues, but he has an issue with trying to pull everything.

 

Give the video section of the site a look and check out my Big 3, April 28th report where I talk about Collin McHugh, George Springer and Fernando Rodney.