Last time Ryan Castellani was featured in a Saturday Pebble Report, I claimed that he had “found his stride” after a rough beginning to the season. He had just thrown eight shutout innings, coming after two excellent starts involving just three runs over 14 innings. However, my prediction didn’t hold, as Ryan put up a few bad starts in a row, including a 32⁄3 inning clunker with eight earned runs.
Since those bad starts, however, Castellani really has found his stride. He’s allowed just 9 runs over his last 302⁄3 innings spanning five starts. Yesterday, he spun a seven-inning shutout in the first game of Hartford’s doubleheader against Portland. He allowed just three hits, walked none, and struck out six. His ERA of 4.77 doesn’t look excellent, but once again his underlying metrics (strikeout rate, walk rate, groundball rate) are all above-average for an Eastern League starting pitcher. Plus, he’s just 21 years old, putting him on track to make a major league cameo as a 22 year old.
In the second game of the doubleheader, Brendan Rodgers had a much-needed breakout game. Coming into the game, he was in a 2-for-21 slump, but he did enough damage yesterday to put that to rest. He had two doubles and a home run in five at-bats, and scored three of Hartford’s seven runs.
Top 30 Purple Row Prospects (PuRPs)
Triple-A: Salt Lake Bees 7, Albuquerque Isotopes 4
Jordan Patterson (No. 13 PuRP): 2-for-4, R, 2B, 3B
David Dahl: 1-for-4, 2B
Tom Murphy (No. 6 PuRP): 2-for-3, R, 2 2B, RBI, BB
Double-A: Game 1: Hartford Yard Goats 2, Portland Sea Dogs 0
Ryan Castellani (No. 9 PuRP): 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K
Brendan Rodgers (No. 1 PuRP): 0-for-3, BB
Omar Carrizales: 1-for-3, BB
Double-A: Game 2: Hartford Yard Goats 7, Portland Sea Dogs 1
Brendan Rodgers (No. 1 PuRP): 3-for-5, 3 R, 2 2B, HR, RBI
Brian Mundell (PuRP HM): 1-for-2, R, 2 BB
Konnor Wade: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, BB, 7 K
High-A: Lancaster JetHawks 10, Lake Elsinore Storm 7
Garrett Hampson (No. 22 PuRP): 3-for-4, R, 4 RBI
Sam Hilliard: 3-for-5, 2 R, 3B, 2 RBI
J.D. Hammer: 11⁄3 IP, BB, 2 K, Save
Low-A: Asheville Tourists 9, Hickory Crawdads 4
Riley Pint (No. 3 PuRP): 51⁄3 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
Bobby Wernes: 2-for-5, 2 R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI
Manuel Melendez: 1-for-4, R, 2B, 3 RBI, BB
Short-Season-A: Everett AquaSox 10, Boise Hawks 4
Sean Bouchard: 1-for-3, R, 2B, BB
Daniel Jipping: 1-for-4, R, 2B
Ryan Metzler: 2-for-4, R, 2B, HR, 3 RBI
Rookie: Billings Mustangs vs Grand Junction Rockies: Postponed (Rain)
DSL: DSL Mets 6, DSL Rockies 1
Steven Fana: 1-for-2, R, 2 BB
Bernnie Alaniz: 2-for-4
Helcris Olivarez: 2 IP, 2 H, 2 K
Saturday probables:
Triple-A: TBD
Double-A: TBD
High-A: Ty Culbreth
Low-A: Erick Julio
SS-A: Ryan Luna
Rookie: Lucas Gilbreath