Minor League Ball Gameday: Wednesday, May 21

Hey folks, and welcome back to the Gameday. I apologize for the lack of Gameday yesterday, but hopefully that gave everyone a chance to check out the MOD's for the mock draft coming up next weekend. They can always be found in the FanPost section, but sometimes you have to dig a little to find your team. Now, back to the baseball.

The big news of the day actually was not even baseball related. Dodgers AAA catcher Miguel Olivo and 2B Alex Guerrero got into an argument in the seventh inning against Salt Lake, the Angels AAA affiliate, during a pitching change. Previously in the game a runner stole second base and reached safely because Guerrero missed the tag. This was what got Olivo heated according to Guerrero's super-agent, Scott Boras. After the inning ended, Olivo and Guerrero continued the argument in the dugout before things got physical. Olivo began channeling his inner Mike Tyson, and reportedly bit off part of Guerrero's ear. He was rushed to the hospital and underwent plastic surgery to repair the ear. Sources are saying that due to the injury, Guerrero could miss up to five weeks.

As far as the action that went down ON the field instead of the dugouts, a few prospects had excellent games, led by Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras. The man they call OT was 4-5 with his 13th double of the year, three singles, two runs batted in and he scored once. After a non-descript, under-the-radar start, Taveras is now hitting 304/354/509 on the year with six home runs, a .375 wOBA and 122 wRC+. Royals third baseman Hunter Dozier had an outstanding game that old Billy Beane would drool over. He was 3-3 with two walks in his five plate appearances, racking up three singles, scoring twice and driving in one. Dozier has not shown the power from his debut season where he hit 30 doubles and seven homers, only hitting four doubles and two home runs so far this year with a .319 slugging percentage. His slash line is only 246/371/319, but his plate discipline has been solid, working 25 walks to 37 punch outs. Yankees third baseman Eric Jagielo also turned in a great performance before being replaced half way through the game. He was 2-2 with his 10th bomb and eighth double of the year. He also made his ninth error of the year booting a grounder. Jags is now hitting a stout 256/339/500 in the Florida State League with 31 RBI and 23 runs scored, a 143 wRC+ and .384 wOBA.

Javier Baez is showing signs of life again, going 2-4 with a pair of doubles, his third and fourth of the season. Looking for a silver lining, in Baez's last five games he's 7-19 with a homer, three doubles, and three RBI. Even better, he's only struck out twice and walked once with a 368/381/684 slash line (Super SSS people...). Clint Coulter was also solid, knocking a pair of doubles as well as a single, and he walked once. He scored twice, drove in four and also struck out once. The Brewers Low A catcher now has nine doubles, eight homers, and 35 RBI with a 295/424/561 slash line. He's also walked 26 times to just 29 punch outs, is the owner of a .446 wOBA and 175 wRC+.

Other position players with games of note include Corey Seager (2-4, 2B, 3 RBI), JP Crawford (3-5), Blake Swihart (2-4, HR, RBI, R), Hak-Ju Lee (2-4, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R), Alex Guerrero (2-3, missing ear chunk), Micah Johnson (2-3, 2B, RBI, BB, R), Jace Peterson (2-5, 2 2B, R), Franmil Reyes (2-3, R, BB). A few Sleeper Alerts! bear mentioning as well like LeVon Washington (2-4, 2B, BB, RBI, SB, R), Seth Mejias-Brean (2-4, HR, RBI, R), Joey Curletta (1-3, 2B, 2 BB, R), Niko Goodrum (1-3, 3B, BB, SB, 2 RBI, R), and Manuel Margot (1-4, HR, RBI, R).

Looking at the pitching performances from last night, Kohl Stewart was impressive without receiving a decision. He tossed six innings of one run ball, walking once with four hits allowed and three punch outs. He induced 10 ground outs to only three fly outs, and his ERA is now sitting at a tasty 2.21 with an equally delicious 0.93 WHIP. Remember this is his first full season out of high school and he's rocking it in the Midwest League. Trevor Bauer brought his funky everything back up to Cleveland and had a solid game, even is he was a bit homer-prone. He allowed a pair of long balls in six frames, one to Torii Hunter and another to Alex Avila. They were both solo shots and accounted for all the runs scored off Bauer, with five others getting a hit and three walks were allowed. He struck out five, worked nine ground outs to three fly outs and picked up his first win in the bigs this year.

Masahiro Tanaka saw his streak of 30 consecutive wins come to an end against of all teams, the Cubbies. The Northsiders tagged Tanaka for eight hits, four runs (three earned), and even coaxed a walk from him. Tanaka struck out seven, induced eight ground outs to three flyouts, and was his usual efficient self, throwing 63 strikes to 25 balls. He was too hittable though and took the loss bringing him to 6-1 on the season, with a 2.39 ERA and 0.97 WHIP. Phillies southpaw Jesse Biddle did his part for AA Reading last night, but his bullpen couldn't hold the lead and he wound up with a no decision. He tossed six innings with two runs, two walks and eight hits allowed, three punch outs, and he hit a batter. Gabe Jacobo took him deep, and he worked four ground outs to four fly outs. Biddle is still 3-4 on the season with a 3.18 ERA now and 1.27 WHIP.

The Top 150 Prospects and Sleeper Alerts!

In an effort to streamline the look of the Gameday, I'm trying something new. Instead of bogging down the article with tables, I will link to a Google Drive spreadsheet for all the stats from the previous day. On the bottom there are tabs for the Top 150 Hitters (Top 150 H), Pitchers (Top 150 P), the Duels of the Day (DotD) and Sleeper Alerts! Check it out by clicking the link above and let me know what you think.

Probable Starters

AAA - IL

• Suk-min Yoon - BAL vs Charlie Leesman - CWS

AAA - PCL

AA - EL

• Joseph Colon - CLE vs Nick Kingham - PIT
• Warwick Saupold - DET vs Jake Pettit - BAL
• Scott Copeland - TOR vs Mike Nesseth - PHI
• TBD - NYM vs Keith Couch - BOS GAME 1
• Kelvin Marte - SF vs Pat Dean - MIN
• Matthew Bowman - NYM vs TBD - BOS GAME 2
• Paolo Espino - WAS vs Caleb Cotham - NYY

AA - SL

• Tyler Olson - SEA vs Jose Urena - MIA
• Tyler Cravy - MIL vs Jared Mortensen - TB
• Nick McCully - CWS vs Daniel Corcino - CIN
• Bradin Hagens - AZ vs Joel Pineiro - CHC
• Williams Perez - ATL vs Nick Struck - LAD

• Daniel Winkler - COL vs Edwar Cabrera - TEX
• Odrisamer Despaigne - SD vs Sam Selman - KC
• Thomas Shirley - HOU vs TBD - LAA
• Sam Gaviglio - STL vs Andrew Werner - OAK

A+ - CAL

• Julio Urias - LAD vs TBD - LAA
• Dylan Unsworth - SEA vs Bryan Rodriguez - SD
• Kyle Westwood - HOU vs Drew Cisco - CIN
• Tim Atherton - OAK vs Joe Biagini - SF
• TBD - AZ vs TBD - COL

A+ - CAR

• TBD - CLE vs Sean Manaea - KC GAME 1
• Wes Parsons - ATL vs TBD - WAS GAME 2
• Andrew Faulkner - TEX vs Joe Van Meter - BAL
• Tony Bucciferro - CWS vs TBD - BOS GAME 1
• TBD - CLE vs Daniel Stumpf - KC GAME 2
• Jarrett Miller - ATL vs TBD - WAS GAME 1
• TBD - CWS vs TBD - BOS GAME 2

A+ - FSL

• Jeff Ames - TB vs Jake Thompson - DET *****Co DotD*****
• David Hurlbut - MIN vs Daniel Norris - TOR
• Tyler Ihrig - CHC vs Jason Creasy - PIT
• Austin Brice - MIA vs Miguel Sulbaran - NYY
• Jorge Lopez - MIL vs Joe Cuda - STL
• Ethan Stewart - PHI vs Domingo Tapia - NYM

A - MWL

• Braden Shipley - AZ vs Kevin Ziomek - DET *****Co DotD*****
• Edwin Diaz - SEA vs Blake McKnight - STL
• Duane Underwood - CHC vs Tristan Archer - MIL
• Greg Harris - LAD vs Nick Travieso - CIN
• Walker Weickel - SD vs Robbie Aviles - CLE
• TBD - LAA vs Kevin Comer - HOU
• TBD - OAK vs Felix Jorge - MIN
• German Marquez - TB vs Alonzo Gonzalez - TOR

A - SAL

• League-wide off day

Duels of the Day

via wiki.teamfortress.com

May 19

Rank (Ovr)	Name	Pos	Team	Level	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	GO	FO	ERA	WHIP	Notes
17 (-)	Alec Asher	RHP	TEX	AA	5.2	3	3	3	3	5	1	7	4.30	1.15	63 S, 35 B, L (3-4)
11 (-)	Casey Kelly	RHP	SD	AA	6	4	0	0	0	6	8	3	0.75	1.00	WP, HBP, 56 S, 15 B, W (1-0)
Rank (Ovr)	Name	Pos	Team	Level	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	GO	FO	ERA	WHIP	Notes
11 (-)	Martin Agosta	RHP	SF	A+	1.2	7	5	5	1	1	2	1	10.55	2.44	HR (Brandon Drury), ND (1-2)
4 (95)	Aaron Blair	RHP	AZ	A+	5	8	5	5	0	5	7	3	4.61	1.17	2 HR (Elliot Blair, Mark Minicozzi), WP, HBP, ND (0-0)
Rank (Ovr)	Name	Pos	Team	Level	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	GO	FO	ERA	WHIP	Notes
11 (133)	Trey Ball	LHP	BOS	A	0.2	5	5	5	2	0	1	1	9.42	2.44	20 S, 16 B, L (1-3)
-	Johendi Jiminian	RHP	COL	A	4.2	7	3	3	4	3	4	2	3.35	1.30	43 S, 42 B, ND (5-2)

May 21

RHP Noah Syndergaard (NYM - AAA) vs RHP Chris Heston (SF - AAA)

RHP Jeff Ames (TB - A+) vs RHP Jake Thompson (DET - A+)

RHP Braden Shipley (AZ - A) vs LHP Kevin Ziomek (DET - A)

Injuries

• Dodgers 2B Alex Guerrero (7 day DL; Mike Tyson'd) - 5/20
• White Sox 1B Jose Abreu (15 day DL; left ankle tendinitis) - 5/17
• Cubs RF Jorge Soler (day-to-day; hamstring tightness) - 5/15
• Astros RHP Vince Velasquez (7 day DL; groin injury) - 5/11
• Twins CF Byron Buxton (day-to-day; left wrist sprain) - 5/9
• Diamondbacks RHP Archie Bradley (7 day DL; minor right elbow flexor strain) - 4/29
• Cubs RHP CJ Edwards (7 day DL; right shoulder tightness) - 4/24
• Orioles LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (7 day DL; left knee sprain) - 4/21
• Pirates RHP Luis Heredia (7 day DL; right shoulder discomfort) - 4/12
• Tigers 2B Devon Travis (7 day DL; right oblique strain) - 4/10
• Mariners LHP James Paxton (15 day DL; left lat strain) - 4/8
• Athletics SS Addison Russell (7 day DL; torn right hamstring) - 4/6
• Pirates CF Austin Meadows (7 day DL; right hamstring strain) - 4/3
• Orioles RHP Dylan Bundy (60 day DL; TJS recovery) - 4/3
• Rays RHP Taylor Guerrieri (7 day DL; TJS recovery) - 4/3
• Padres LHP Max Fried (7 day DL; left forearm soreness) - 4/3
• Mariners RHP Taijuan Walker (15 day DL; right shoulder impingement) - 3/21
• Rays 2B Tim Beckham (season; torn right ACL) - 3/30
• Pirates RHP Jameson Taillon (season; right elbow - TJS) - 3/23
• Tigers RHP Bruce Rondon (season; right elbow - TJS) - 3/21
• Dodgers RHP Ross Stripling (season; right elbow - TJS) - 3/14
• Twins 3B Miguel Sano (season; right elbow - TJS) - 3/12