Andy Pages showed off his big arm, Kenneth Betancourt came up clutch, Ismael Alcantara can fly, Hurt was unhittable, Lockart was great, Nastrini was nasty, Cantleberry continues to dazzle and Biddison continues to rake. There was a lot of great action Thursday night in the Dodgers system and we’ve got all the highlights covered.
AAA OKC Dodgers
I’m not gonna beat around the bush, the OKC game was a clunker. The AAA affiliates could only muster 5 hits while giving up 15 on their way to losing to Round Rock, the AAA affiliates of the Rangers 12-1 in front of 4768 fans at Bricktown ballpark in downtown OKC.
Although the game wasn’t pretty, Michael Grove was a bright spot for OKC. He went 3.2 innings and gave up just 1 run, struck out 4, and walked just 2. Grove has a batting average against this month of just .118 and his WHIP this month is 0.40. In the last 2 months, he has had 14 K’s to just 2 walks.
Drew Avans extended his on-base streak to 47 games & he did it with style by hitting his 9th triple of the year which leads the league. He’s hitting .287 with an OPS of .820 with 26 stolen bases! I’ve been shouting it from the rooftop that he is a heckuva player!
AA Tulsa Drillers
The Drillers won another exciting game getting some great pitching and clutch hitting to take down Midland, the AA affiliates of the A’s, 3-1 at beautiful OneOk field in front of 4108 fans.
Lael Lockhart Jr. had a great outing for Tulsa going 5, giving up just 1 run, and striking out 7. Lockhart has 88 k’s on the year to just 22 walks to pair with an ERA of just 3.20. Great job Lael keep up the great work!
Watch this cannon from Andy Pages! There are many reasons he is so highly ranked and here’s one of the big ones! Check this out!
It should come as no surprise that Kenneth Betancourt’s first hit as a Driller was a clutch base hit that gave Tulsa the lead. Check it out for yourself!
Check out Ismael Alcantara’s first hit with Tulsa. Honestly, that opened my eyes because I didn’t realize he had that much speed. He can fly!
Justin Yurchak gave Tulsa some insurance with home run #6 on the year. Yurchak has his average all the way up to .273 after hitting .381 in July and .364 so far in August. His OPS is 1.318 this month and it was .988 in July.
When Kyle Hurt throws like he did last night, the only words of advice I have for hitters is “good luck”! He went 4, K’d 9, walked just 1, & gave up no runs. His fastball hit 97 multiple times, his breaking ball was at 80, the slider was 87, & the change was 87-88. He got the save for the Drillers Wow!
High A Great Lakes
The Loons only needed 2 runs as 3 different pitchers combined to shut out the Peoria Chiefs, the High Affiliates of the Cardinals, 2-0 at Dow Diamond in front of 3894 fans.
Nick Nastrini had a dominant performance for the Loons going 6 and giving up no runs. He gave up just 2 hits and had 9 K’s to just 2 walks. He was 95-96 on the fastball! Here is every pitch of his 1st inning!
Jorbit Vivas had 2 hits for the Loons which makes his 5th multi-hit game this month and is hitting .306 so far in August with an OPS of .857.
Eddys Leonard had 2 hits and an RBI for Great Lakes and has hits in 8 of his last 10 games, and 14 of his last 16.
Cole Duensing threw a scoreless 2 innings for the Loons and had 3 strikeouts and no walks and gave up just 1 hit. Duensing has gone scoreless in 3 outings in a row.
Jacob Cantleberry picked up his 2nd save of the year for the Loons and has given up just 2 earned runs in his 11.1 innings of work since being re-activated on July 1st. During that span, he has 16 strikeouts to just 2 walks and has given up just 4 hits.
Single A Rancho Cucamonga
Rancho exploded for 13 hits and 11 runs to beat Lake Elsinore, the Single-A affiliates of the Padres, 11-5 Thursday night in California League action.
Jake Vogel had 2 hits, 2 RBIs, and a stolen base last night for Rancho. He has hits in 6 of the 8 games in August and has 2 doubles, a triple and 12 total bases during this month.
Luis Rodriguez had 2 hits and was on base 3 times last night for Rancho and scored twice as well. Rodriguez is a 19-year-old out of Venezuela that has been in the organization since 2019.
2022 Draft pick, Taylor Young had 2 hits & 3 RBIs for Rancho. Young put up video game numbers at Louisiana Tech hitting .364 his Senior year with an on-base % of .468 & an OPS of .972. He had 23 doubles, 4 triples, 12 home runs, and 51 RBIs in his last year as a Bulldog.
Kelvin Bautista is a very talented left-hander out of the DR who put up a 0 last night and has gone scoreless in 5 of his last 6. Check out the backdoor slider!
I think you’re gonna like what you see in this video with Joan Valdez. His last pitch fell completely off the table and he carries himself with very good confidence. He got the last out last night and his ERA on the year is 3.82 and he has recorded 55 K’s in 39 innings.
