OKC Dodgers

The OKC Dodgers had a great series this past week at Reno going 4-2 against the Aces and increased their 1st place standing in the Pacific Coast East up to 4 games. Zach McKinstry got called up in the middle of the Saturday night game, Jake Lamb continues to crush the ball, Jason Martin is quietly having a great year, Marshall Kasowski continues to roll and Jacob Amaya lived up to the billing in his first AAA Series.

OKC is back home this week for a 6 game series with Round Rock

Mitch White: White has had 2 starts back with OKC and hasn’t allowed a run in his 11.2 innings. He also hasn’t walked a batter and has struck out 4. Hopefully he gets moved back up very shortly.

Jake Lamb: Jake Lamb leads OKC in home runs with 15, RBIs with 48, avg. at .297 and OPS at .969. He hit 2 home runs in the game on Saturday night, then hit another home run on Sunday, and he is now hitting .396 in June. He is simply having an amazing year and is surely pushing towards promotion if he keeps up this kind of work.

Jacob Amaya: Wow this Guy! Amaya hit a grand slam for his first hit in AAA, which isn’t surprising because he’s always had a flair for the dramatic, come up clutch and he’s always had the “it” factor.

Justin Bruihl: Unfortunately, Bruihl is back with OKC, but is making the most of it. On Sunday he K’d 3 & threw up a 0 in his 1.2 innings of work. He had the good slider working in on the hands & to the backdoor of the Reno hitters. He paired that with well-located fastballs, & hasn’t given up a run in his last 2 outings.

Jason Martin: Martin had a home run and a ground-rule double with the bases loaded in Saturday’s game, and, at that time, was hitting .298 and his OPS was .942. Martin is from the LA area and trying to make his dreams come true.

Aaron Ochsenbein: Congratulations to Aaron Ochesenbein for getting promoted to AAA this past week. In AA Tulsa he only allowed runs in 2 performances this year and 1 was coming off the IL. He features a great splitter, fastball, and slider. Can’t wait to see him pitch in OKC, now he’s just 1 step away!

Jon Duplantier: Duplantier is a big relief pitcher that brings MLB experience to the Dodgers and has had a good year. I had a chance to talk to the Katy Texas native and he is an incredible person and fits the Dodgers culture so well. He also has one of the best breaking balls in the org. as well and definitely has big-league stuff that he’s trying to put back together after spending so much time on the IL last year.

AA Tulsa Drillers

The Drillers had a huge series with Wichita this past week who came into OneOk in first place and left in 3rd. Gavin Stone had a big outing, Bobby Miller was good again. John Rooney had a good outing, Guillermo Zuniga is 7 for 7 in save opportunities, Andy Pages is heating up, James Outman is maybe the best player in the Minor Leagues, Ryan Ward keeps hitting well, Clayton Beeter was nasty in his last start, and Leonel Valera was clutch. As much as that sounds, it just scratches the surface as to how well the Drillers played this past week.

James Outman: Outman might be the best player in all of the Minor Leagues. He leads the Drillers in Avg. at .288, Runs Scored at 52, hits at 67, doubles at 16, home runs at 14, RBIs at 39, Bases on balls at 35 and is 2nd in stolen bases. Wow!

Leonel Valera: With the recent promotion of Jacob Amaya, Leonel Valera has taken the “most days” reigns at shortstop for Tulsa and has been killing it. He had the game-winning Saturday nights game and made a game-saving highlight-reel catch Sunday, so it was only fitting that he also scored the game-winning in the extra-innings win too. He is hitting .356 with an OPS of .863 since joining the Drillers.

John Rooney: Rooney had a great outing Thursday night as he went 3, K’d 4 & walked none. Rooney has the big slider that he locates very well, & I especially enjoy watching it tie Right-handed hitters in knots when he throws it to the back foot. He is also a Proud Hofstra baseball Alum.

Gus Varland: Since moving to the bullpen, Gus Varland has been smokin’ hot. He struck out the side in his 1 inning of work for on Sunday, and has given up just 1 earned run in his 5 outings in June. He has an avg. against of .150, a WHIP of 0.88, & an ERA of 1.59.

Jordan Leasure: Leasure picked up his first save as a Driller on Saturday, and it kept Tulsa in 1st place. Leasure has not allowed an earned run in his last 8 outings and has a batting average against of just .208.

Jose Hernandez: Hernandez is just a great pitcher. The lefty out of the DR has a WHIP of 1.08, his ERA is at 2.60 and he was the saves leader in the Midwest League when he got promoted. His fastball hit 99 on Saturday night with his secondary at 86.

Gavin Stone: Wow! He struck out the side twice in his last performance on Saturday, struck out 11, & walked just 2 in 5 innings. He was hitting 97 with the fastball and watch the change-up in the first 2 clips in the posted video.

Alec Gamboa: An Atta Boy definitely deserved by LHP Alec Gamboa on Friday evening. Gamboa went 3.2 innings and gave up no runs and had 5 K’s. His breaking stuff was on point. Watch for yourself in the video posted!

Jeren Kendall: Get On, Get Over, Get In! When Jeren Kendall is getting on base, he’s a disruption! He walked, stole 2nd, stole 3rd, then scored on a balk when the pitcher stepped off the rubber 3 times trying to hold him on. That’s a MiLB rule. That was fun to watch and you can see it for yourself!

Clayton Beeter: Wanna see what Big League secondaries look like? Watch the video! Clayton Beeter has some of the best stuff in the org. & it was on display tonight. He went 3, gave up 0, & K’d 6. Beeter has 37 K’s in his last 21.2 innings & hasn’t allowed a run in his last 2 starts.

Devin Mann: Devin Mann hit his 8th home run on Thursday and it was a 3-run shot that gave the Drillers a 4-0 lead against Wichita who was 1st place at the time. Mann is having a great year hitting. 263 with an OPS of .260.

Ryan Ward: Ryan Ward had 3 hits in the 2nd game on Thursday to extend his streak to 7 games at the time. During that streak, he was 11/26 and was tied for the organizational lead in homers at 14, and at the time was tied for the team lead in RBIs with 38, and 2nd on the team in Avg. at .271.

Andy Pages: Pages 10th Home Run on Thursday was an absolute blast! At that time he had his average up to .260 and his OPS up to .867, had a 3-game hit streak, and had hit safely in 6 of his last 7 games, a stretch in which he is 9 for 25 with 2 home runs, 7 RBI, and 25 total bases.

Guillermo Zuniga: Guillermo Zuniga is one of the Drillers I had the chance to interview today and he came in and put the lights out on Wichita tonight. Zuniga leads the Drillers in appearances and is now 7 for 7 in save opportunities.

High A Great Lakes: 

Great Lakes had another great week as they took 5 of the 6 games from Wisconsin and are now just 0.5 games back from Dayton. Each team that leads their division at the halfway mark gets an automatic birth to the playoffs so this is a huge week for the Loons. They are at Fort Wayne for a 6 game series this week.

The Loon’s offense keeps using the big part of the field, Diego Cartaya is out of his mind hotter, Alex DeJesus hit for the cycle, Cole Percival is must-watch TV when he closes games, and Jorbit Vivas is a really, really good left-handed hitter. Kyle Hurt threw a no-hitter, Lael Lockhart Jr. was great his last time out, Cole Duensing has been dominant, Braydon Fisher has been his equal, Jeff Belge is back and looking good and Kendall Williams’s split-finger is still tumbling off the table.

Alex DeJesus Cycle: DeJesus hit for the cycle on Thursday and has had a hit in every game since. He’s 9 for this last 19 with 6 RBI and 16 total bases.

Diego Cartaya: Cartaya has had a huge night for Great Lakes on Saturday with 3 hits, and a double that gave the Loons the lead in the bottom of the 8th, 2 RBI, & 6 total bases. His average is all the way up to .356 since being promoted, which leads the team, & his OPS is right at 1.100.

Johnny DeLuca: DeLuca had a big home run on Saturday night, then had a huge go-ahead double that gave the Loons a big 3-2 lead on Sunday. The Loons are trying to catch Dayton for 1st place for the 1st half. Each Division winner of each half of the season makes the playoffs.

Lael Lockhart Jr. : Great outing for Lael Lockhart Jr. on Friday as he & Kyle Hurt combined for a shutout. Lockhart went 5, K’d 6, walked just 1. His younger bro just made the 5A Finals, his Hogs are in the CWS & he threw a 0 in his last outing. Life is good in the Lockhart family I’d say.

Kevin Malisheski: Malisheski has been one of the most unhittable relief pitchers in the org. Hitters are hitting just .127 against the big Wauconda, Wauconda, IL native and he has thrown up 0’s his last 6 outings and 10 of his last 12. Keep your eyes on Malo, the dude is legit!

Carlos Duran: Duran was dynamic in his first start back with the Loons. He was 93-95 on the fastball, 88-89 on the changeup, and 83 on the slider. He has unique “pauses” in his motion, he carries himself with tremendous confidence & positive energy, and he has a lot of fun when he pitches.

Michael Hobbs: I’ve said it before, but Michael Hobbs might be the steal of last year’s entire draft. The 10th rounder out of St. Mary’s has gone scoreless in 3 in a row & 6 out of his last 7. This guy is good, take a look for yourself!

Ben Casparius: Ben Casparius had a good outing Sunday for Great Lakes. He threw 4 innings, had 4 K’s, walked just 1, and gave up 5 hits. 

Braydon Fisher: Fisher had the big breaking ball in his scoreless 1.2 innings on Saturday. Fisher has had a fantastic year & has his ERA down to 2.93 & his WHIP all the way down to 1.16. He’s allowed just 1 earned run in his 5 outings in June.

Cole Duensing: Cole Duensing was draining 3’s with his breaking ball to get out of a bases-loaded jam on Saturday.  Duensing hasn’t allowed an earned run in his 4 outings in June & has 9 ks, only 2 walks during that span, and hasn’t allowed an earned run in his last 8 of 9.

Cole Percival: Percival let the Big Dog Eat on Saturday when he hit 99 to end his scoreless 6th inning! Enjoy the Heat!

Jose Ramos: Ramos hit his 6th home run Friday night. At that time he had 47 RBI, was hitting .269, had an OPS of .872, had a 4-game hit streak, and had hits in 8 out of his last 9 games.

Kyle Hurt: Kyle Hurt no-hit Wisconsin for 4 innings on Friday & K’d 8. His fastball was hitting 96 consistently & his change hovered around 90. He has his ERA down to 2.93, his WHIP down to a really low 1.16, & he hasn’t allowed an earned run in his last 2 and 4 of his last 5.

Nick Nastrini: Nick Nastrini went 4.2 innings last time out and had 9 k’s & just 3 walks. Nastrini has 55 strikeouts now in 35 innings so his stuff is explosive. Here’s a look at the 4 pitch mix he had working tonight. FB 94-96, Slider 80-83, Breaking ball 78-80, Change 85-86.

Eddys Leonard: Leonard had a 2-hit night for the Loons on Thursday and had a 5-game hit streak where he is 8 for 23 with 3 RBI and 10 total bases. At that time he was 5 for his last 10 in the last 2 games.

Imanol Vargas: Vargas had 3 doubles in Thursday night’s game and, at the time, was hitting .304 in June with an OPS of .976.

Jeff Belge: Belge made his 3rd appearance Thursday night since rejoining Great Lakes, but it was his first at home at Dell Diamond. He threw up another 0 and has yet to allow a run in his 4 performances which spans 5.1 innings.

Antonio Knowles: Knowles had his 13th scoreless performance Thursday night for the Loons. Let that sink in for a sec, 13 scoreless performances. He had a good slider/sinker combo to mix with his fastball in his 1 inning of work.

Jorbit Vivas: Vivas had 2 hits Thursday night including his 5th homer of the year. Vivas is an explosive young left-handed hitter with incredible bat speed. He had a 4-game hit streak recently, and also had a streak where he had hits in 11 of 13 games, and had multiple hits in 7 of 16 games.J

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Julian Smith: The fastball/slider combo of LHP Julian Smith was on point in his last outing, which was his best outing in June going scoreless in his 1 inning. See how good his stuff was for yourself!

Low A Rancho Cucamonga

Rancho split their series with the Angels AAA Affiliate, Inland Empire 3 games a piece. Damon Keith continues to lead the team in average at .291, doubles at 13, tied for triples with 3, slugging percentage at .507, and OPS at .929. Rancho is in 2nd place in the California League behind Lake Elsinore with a 35-28 record. Rancho is at Lake Elsinore this week for a huge 6-game series with Lake Elsinore for a huge 6-game series between the first and 2nd place teams.