Chavez Young was picked in the 39th round in 2016 and is providing great hitting from the top of the lineup in Bluefield. He hit .500 over the weekend to bump his average up to .325. New Hampshire and Lansing had 14 hits on Sunday, Bluefield had 12. Dunedin had only nine but that was enough for a win. Buffalo and Vancouver's hitters were off their game. Andy Ravel and Sean Reid-Foley were the best of Sunday's pitchers.
Buffalo
Buffalo lost all three games over the weekend to continue their slide. The hitters take the blame, the Bisons scored two runs with 15 hits over all three games. The only hitter with a hit in all three games was Rowdy Tellez who totaled four hits in three games.
The poor hitting spoiled two good starts from Cesar Valdez and Luis Santos.
New Hampshire
New Hampshire, on the other hand, have some hot bats. They racked up 18 hits on Friday and 14 hits on Sunday. Lourdes Gurriel, freshly promoted to AA is off to a hot start. He was 4-11 with three doubles in three games. Richard Urena was 5-18 over four games. Danny Jansen was an on base machine going 4-9 with four walks. Tim Lopes and Harold Ramirez each had six hits. On Sunday Gunnar Heidt hit his eleventh home run and drove in four runs.
On the pitching side Francisco Rios had a good start, one earned run conceded on six hits over six innings. Sean Reid-Foley gave up three runs in six innings on Sunday but he pitched well. He only allowed four hits and three of those scored. One was a home run and in another inning the first two hitters singled and doubled. They both came around to score on outs. Carlos Ramirez pitched two shutout innings on Sunday, one hit and two strikeouts.
Dunedin
When your lineup includes Anthony Alford, Bo Bichette, Vlad Guerrero and Max Pentecost you expect runs. The Jays did score 20 runs in three games but it all wasn't down to the big four. Alford went 2-9 and was limited to three at-bats per game. Bichette was 4-12, Guerrero 3-11 with three walks. Pentecost played two games and was 4-9.
Cavan Biggio was 5-9 in two games. Michael De La Cruz also had five hits in two games. Conor Panas had five hits in three games.
Josh DeGraaf had another good start. He gave up an unearned run in the first and then cruised until the sixth when he gave up two more as he tired. Jordan Romano had a start to forget on Friday.
Lansing
Lansing have been trying to compensate for the loss of Bo and Vladdy. They played a couple of close games on Friday and Saturday and were in another on Sunday when they scored nine runs in the eighth inning. All eyes are on Edward Olivares, he had three hits over three games including his team leading 15th home run. Hot and cold Josh Palacios was hot again, going 5-12 with two walks and two doubles. Rodrigo Orozco had a hit in each game, while Javier Hernandez had three hits including a home run in two games.
Yennsy Diaz and Andy Ravel pitched well, Osman Gutierrez was average at best.
Vancouver
The C's won on Friday and then lost two in a row with an off weekend from both the offense and defense. Dalton Rodriguez did not have a good start and Juan Nunez pitched OK but took the loss. The C's used six pitchers in their win. Zach Logue, ninth round pick, pitched the first two innings and had five strikeouts.
Reggie Pruitt is showing signs of life. He was the only hitter to hit in all three weekend games. Pruitt had two hits in two of the games and was 5-13 overall. Pruitt is hitting .270 in July and thats progress for the 20 year old. Logan Warmoth was 4-6 on Friday but didn't play on the weekend. Kevin Vicuna picked up four hits in three games Brandon Polizzi had three hits on Friday, none on Saturday and sat-out Sunday. Riley Adamshad two hits on Friday and followed that with two 0-4's.
Bluefield
Bluefield were pounded 11-0 on Friday, Joel Espinal was taken to the woodshed. The Jays bounced back with 6-1 and 8-7 wins. The best pitching of the weekend came from Alvaro Galindo who pitched five shutout innings.
Chavez Young is on fire, he was 7-14 over the weekend and is now hitting .325. Chavez was a 39th round pick last season out of Georgia and is still 19 years old. Young is striking out 30% of the time and has only four walks so he is hacking. Hopefully he learns to be a bit more selective. Ryan Noda had a rare, "oh-for" on Friday but bounced back with a hit and two walks on Saturday and three hits on Sunday. Kevin Smith and Yorman Rodriguez each had a pair of multi-hit games. Those four hitters plus Ryan Gold are all hitting over .300.
GCL Blue Jays
The GCL Jays had started well going 10-3 but they lost both games to the Phillies scoring just two runs. There was a lot of rotation in the lineups between games so the hit totals were low. Dominic Abbadessa played in both and had three hits. In case you missed it, the Jays signed Brandon Grudzielanek, a 22 year old nephew of Mark. He picked up two hits in his first game on Saturday and then headed for Bluefield.
Three Stars
Third Star - Kevin Smith
Second Star - Gunnar Heidt
First Star - Chavez Young
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