Ahh, the perils of pitching prospects. One prominent name on our list closes in on breaking into the bigs, while another seems to be fading down the stretch this season...
Colorado Springs: Honestly, I'd rather have it work out that Ubaldo Jimenez is the prospect that is breaking out. He is the complete package and he's starting to dominate AAA as he did AA earlier in the year. Last night he went seven innings allowed just two hits and three walks and struck out seven. Ryan Spilborghs, Jeff Baker and Chris Iannetta all had multiple hit games to back U-ball up for the victory.
Tulsa: Juan Morillo, on the other hand, is faltering a bit of late. Last night he allowed seven runs on seven hits and and five walks in just four innings of work. The bright side was the offense, with Troy Tulowitzki, Ian Stewart, Christian Colonel and Jud Thigpen all having multiple hit games. Stewart and Tulo both doubled, as did Joe Koshansky.
Modesto Samuel Deduno, like Morillo, is also suffering from control issues of late, but single A is more forgiving as Deduno actually held the damage of his seven walk appearance to just three runs. He also K'd seven in five innings and allowed five hits. Chris Frey went three for four.
Asheville: Alan Johnson is now 10-4 on the season, but I'm really not sure how he got to that point as none of his numbers seem to indicate he'd have that kind of success. Some of it has to be luck, last night for instance the Tourists scored four runs in the second on consecutive two out, two run hits by Dexter Fowler and EY Jr, but were pretty much shut down by Hagerstown pitchers otherwise.
Tri-City: The Dust Devils have won eight of their last ten, and have been scoring a lot of runs in the process. This streak coincides nicely with the time that Jeff Kindel joined the team (Tri-City is actually 9-3 in the twelve games since he joined). Kindel went three for four last night with two doubles and four RBI in the ten to two win.
Casper: Casper lost six to two in the final game of their first half. One of the biggest highlights of the half has to be the conversion of Pedro Strop to pitcher from infielder. Strop struck out the side in his only inning, he now has a 19/2 K/BB ratio in 12 IP and he has a miniscule .083 WHIP. He and Brandon Hynick have been the team's biggest revelations on the mound, I'd say. Sandy Nin dropped to 0-3 in his rehab assignment.