Grove was great, Avans extends streak, Stone was dominant, Lockhart debuted, Ramos went big fly, the 2022 draft shines, and Garcia stays hot. There was a lot of great action Saturday evening in the Dodgers Minor League system and we’ve got the highlights covered.
AAA OKC
OKC lost a tough fought 5-4 game to Salt Lakes Saturday night on a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth by the Bees, the AAA affiliate of the Angels.
Michael Grove had a good outing for OKC going 5 and giving up 2, striking out 7, and walking none. His fastball was 95.7, his slider was 86.4 and his curveball was 80. Groves’s ERA in July was just 2.70 and his WHIP last month was just 0.90, so he has been throwing very well.
Drew Avans got a hit in his first at-bat tonight to extend his on-base streak to 43 games. Longest in 3 years in the PCL.
Ryan Noda hit home run #18 on the year at 105.6 mph and 442 very happy feet. Noda is hitting .294 with an OPS of .845 so far in August and is 6 for his last 11 with 2 home runs, a double, 7 RBIs, 4 runs scored, and 13 total bases during that span. Stat Stuffer!
Edwin Rios hit a 103.9 mph double which was his 4th double since joining OKC. He also has hits in 5 games in a row!
Here’s every pitch of Heath Hembree’s outing. His fastball ranged from 93.6 to 95.8, his slider was 83.1 to 85.4, & his 1 curveball was 81.1. Hembree has 10 years MLB experience, & was released on June 26th by the Pirates when the Dodgers signed him to a Minor League contract.
Justin Hagenmen threw a scoreless inning and has gone scoreless in 3 in a row and 5 of his last 6.
AA Tulsa Drillers
Tulsa was outhit 11-6 but won the only stat that matters and that is the scoreboard as the Drillers took down the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, the AA affiliates of the Royals, 9-2.
After giving up a hit & a walk, Gavin Stone struck out the side to get through the 1st inning scoreless. He went 4 innings, struck out 7, walked just 2, & gave up no runs. Stone entered last night as one of the best pitchers in the Minors with an ERA of 1.41, a WHIP of 1.12, & he now has 124 K’s on the year in 93.1 innings to just 34 walks.
Here is the very 1st AA inning for Lael Lockhart Jr. Lockhart was back home of sorts as he pitched his last year in College just up the road at Arkansas which is just up the road from Arvest Park.
Justin Yurchak hit his 5th home run of 2022 and 2nd in his last 3 games. Yurchak hit .381 in July with an OPS of .988 and is hitting .375 with an OPS of 1.420 so far in August. Keep Rakin’ Justin!
After getting a 2 inning save last night, Abiatal Avelino hit his 3rd home run in his first at-bat. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that before! Avelino has hits in every game he has played in August & has a 4-game hit streak where he is 6-13 with 2 homers, & a double.
Buddy Reed has shown the clutch gene so far during his stint with Tulsa. He hit a home run in his first at-bat with the club and also has hits in 5 of his 7 games with Tulsa and is 7/22 with 2 home runs, a double, and 8 runs scored since being promoted to AA.
High A Great Lakes
Great Lakes got down 3-0 in the bottom of the first inning and didn’t score until the 8th inning and lost 6-3 to the Lake County Captains, the High A affiliates of the Cleveland Guardians.
Jose Ramos hit his 17th home run of the year and 3rd so far in August for the Loons to pull them back with 5-3. Ramos also 5 RBIs in the 4 games this month.
Jorbit Vivas had 2 hits for the Loons and he now has multi-hit games in 3 of the 6 games he has played in August.
Low A Rancho Cucamonga
Rancho had some great offensive performances by several quakes, including another 2022 draft pick, and pounded out 13 hits and 9 runs to beat Inland Empire, the Low A affiliates of the Angels, 9-4 in front of 4275 entertained fans at Loan Mart Field.
2021 Draft pick, Peter Heubeck, was on point again last night for the Quakes. He threw 2.1 innings, struck out 4, walked none, and gave up no runs. He has not allowed a run since May, which spans 5 outings and 11 innings, and has 15 k’s to just 3 walks during that span.
2022 Draft pick, Kyle Nevin, had 2 hits, an RBI, & 3 total bases last night for Rancho. Nevin was drafted in the 11th round out of Baylor & hit .296 in college with an on-base percentage of .348. I saw Nevin many times while he was at Baylor, & I’m glad he’s on my side now!
Yunior Garcia had another huge night for the Quakes going 3 for 5 with 2 RBIs. He is hitting .583 so far in August with 3 home runs a double and 17 total bases.
2022 Draft pick, Dalton Rushing, went 3 for 4 last night for the Quakes and is hitting .714 since joining the club. Rushing is a catcher that was drafted in the 2nd Round out of Louisville.
21-year-old, LHP out of Venezuela, Christian Suarez had a good outing for the Quakes going 2 innings and racking up 3 k’s. He has 61 strikeouts in 48 innings pitched on the year, so he has “swing and miss” stuff, and is very effective when that stuff is in the zone.
2021 Draft pick, Madison Jeffrey, has an avg. against in August of .091. It was .000 in April, .179 in May, .139 in June, & .217 in July. He has explosive stuff and showed it last night striking out 2 of the 3 outs last night in his scoreless outing.
