Minor League Ball Gameday - Monday, April 20th

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Minor League Ball Gameday. Today is a day for people nationwide who share similar interests with Tim Lincecum and Chris Perez to remember the career of relief pitcher Jung Bong who made 48 career MLB appearances for the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds. A few bits of news to pass along to everyone, the Minor League Ball Gameday Stat Update will be debuting Saturday, May 2nd. For the first time we will be adding a companion piece to the Stat Update, similar what Baseball America does with their Hot Sheet. The first edition will take a look at the prospects who have put up the best performances to start the season. Each additional edition will cover the two-ish weeks between updates. The pool of players we will be from those that are being tracked daily in the spreadsheet. I haven't come up with a catchy name for it just yet, so stay tuned for that.

Please take one last look at the spreadsheet primer if you aren't familiar with it before getting down to all the goodies. Beginning tomorrow, the primer will be available in the first tab on the spreadsheet. Just like every day, we have today's schedule with probable starters, the Duels of the Day, and the always-updating injury list after the preface.

On the bottom of the spreadsheet there are seven tabs. The first tab is the current days schedule, probable starters for the day, and the injury list. Match ups highlighted in yellow are the Duels of the Day (DotD), and there is an affiliation key next to each league to help you keep track of which Minor League teams are linked to which Major League teams. The second tab is the next day's schedule with probable starters, potential DotD's and the affiliation keys.

The third and fourth tabs are the Top 175 prospects, broken up by pitchers and hitters. This is where you can follow along and see how each player fared the previous day. Any players that are currently injured will be in red with the date and type of injury in the Notes section. Suspended players are in orange. The fifth tab is all the players John mentioned as being "in the picture" of the Top 175. Again, this is split up between pitchers and hitters, and also includes each players ranking for their respective teams.

The sixth tab will house the players John tabbed as sleepers or with a high ceiling alert. Each grouping is separated to distinguish between the sleepers and high ceiling alert players. As with the "In The Picture" tab, both groups are split between pitchers and hitters and includes team ranks.

The last tab will be the IFA's, or international free agents. Only players who received a signing bonus of at least $500,000 beginning with the 2012-13 signing period will be tracked. This section is also split up depending on signing bonus amounts - the seven figure, $1M+ bonuses and players who received between $500,000 and $999.999. This section includes the bonus amount, what year they signed, and their ranking within their organization.

Once the season gets underway, we will add in more sections that include more players. 50 more players will be added in May to the "Helium Tank" section, and the 2015 amateur draft in June will have its own section with another 42 players. Another 25 "deep sleepers" will be added to the craziness once the short season leagues kick off in June under the "Tempurpedic" section.

With the help of one of our own, Kicker31, the Minor League Ball Gameday has come a long way. He has been instrumental in helping create the Gameday spreadsheet with a knowledge of Excel that absolutely blows my mind.

Now that we have all that out of the way, click the link below for the Gameday spreadsheet which will open in a separate tab in your browser.

The Top 175 Prospects, Sleepers, and IFA's

Today's Schedule

MLB American League

Away	Home	Time (ET)	Away Probable Starter	Home Probable Starter
Oakland	Los Angeles	10:05 PM	Graveman, Kendall (1-1, 7.27)	Shoemaker, Matt (2-0, 4.38)
Houston	Seattle	10:10 PM	Wojciechowski, Asher (0-1, 4.50)	Iwakuma, Hisashi (0-1, 6.55)

MLB National League

Away	Home	Time (ET)	Away Probable Starter	Home Probable Starter
Cincinnati	Milwaukee	7:20 PM	DeSclafani, Anthony (1-0, 1.38)	Peralta, Wily (0-1, 4.50)

AAA International League

Away	Home	Time (ET)	Away Probable Starter	Home Probable Starter
Cincinnati	Milwaukee	7:20 PM	DeSclafani, Anthony (1-0, 1.38)	Peralta, Wily (0-1, 4.50)

AAA Pacific Coast League

Away	Home	Time (ET)	Away Probable Starter	Home Probable Starter
Colorado Springs	Nashville	8:05 PM	To Be Determined	Zito, Barry (0-0, 6.10)
El Paso	Tacoma	9:05 PM	Northcraft, Aaron (1-1, 12.15)	Elias, Roenis (1-0, 8.44)
New Orleans	Omaha	7:35 PM	Nicolino, Justin (0-0, 1.69)	Brooks, Aaron (0-1, 4.50)
Oklahoma City	Iowa	1:08 PM	Baker, Scott (0-1, 1.80)	Loux, Barret (0-1, 3.12)
Memphis	Round Rock	8:05 PM	Gonzales, Marco (0-0, 5.40)	Ranaudo, Anthony (1-0, 0.00)
Sacramento	Salt Lake	8:35 PM	Lara, Braulio (0-1, 3.72)	Heaney, Andrew (1-0, 4.70)
Fresno	Las Vegas	10:05 PM	To Be Determined	Bowman, Matt (0-2, 9.90)
Albuquerque	Reno	9:35 PM	Gray, Jon (0-1, 9.00)	Ray, Robbie (0-1, 4.15)
Oklahoma City	Iowa	Game 2	Owens, Rudy (0-1, 1.80)	Pimentel, Carlos (0-1, 12.27)

AA Eastern League

Away	Home	Time (ET)	Away Probable Starter	Home Probable Starter
Colorado Springs	Nashville	8:05 PM	To Be Determined	Zito, Barry (0-0, 6.10)
El Paso	Tacoma	9:05 PM	Northcraft, Aaron (1-1, 12.15)	Elias, Roenis (1-0, 8.44)
New Orleans	Omaha	7:35 PM	Nicolino, Justin (0-0, 1.69)	Brooks, Aaron (0-1, 4.50)
Oklahoma City	Iowa	1:08 PM	Baker, Scott (0-1, 1.80)	Loux, Barret (0-1, 3.12)
Memphis	Round Rock	8:05 PM	Gonzales, Marco (0-0, 5.40)	Ranaudo, Anthony (1-0, 0.00)
Sacramento	Salt Lake	8:35 PM	Lara, Braulio (0-1, 3.72)	Heaney, Andrew (1-0, 4.70)
Fresno	Las Vegas	10:05 PM	To Be Determined	Bowman, Matt (0-2, 9.90)
Albuquerque	Reno	9:35 PM	Gray, Jon (0-1, 9.00)	Ray, Robbie (0-1, 4.15)
Oklahoma City	Iowa	Game 2	Owens, Rudy (0-1, 1.80)	Pimentel, Carlos (0-1, 12.27)

AA Southern League

Away	Home	Time (ET)	Away Probable Starter	Home Probable Starter
Jacksonville	Biloxi	7:05 PM	Williams, Trevor (0-0, 0.75)	Suter, Brent (1-0, 0.00)
Pensacola	Birmingham	8:05 PM	Stephenson, Robert (0-1, 4.76)	Montas, Frankie (0-0, 1.69)
Mobile	Montgomery	8:05 PM	Blair, Aaron (1-0, 4.50)	To Be Determined
Tennessee	Jackson	8:05 PM	Batista, Frank (1-0, 1.50)	Siverio, Misael (0-0, 0.00)
Chattanooga	Mississippi	8:00 PM	Baxendale, D.J. (2-0, 0.00)	To Be Determined

AA Texas League

Away	Home	Time (ET)	Away Probable Starter	Home Probable Starter
Frisco	NW Arkansas	8:05 PM	Asher, Alec (0-0, 4.00)	Almonte, Miguel (0-1, 10.80)
Tulsa	Corpus Christi	8:05 PM	Anderson, Chris (2-0, 1.64)	West, Aaron (0-1, 1.80)
Springfield	San Antonio	8:05 PM	Petree, Nick (0-1, 6.23)	Hancock, Justin (1-1, 3.60)
Midland	Arkansas	6:30 PM	Lamb, Chris (0-1, 13.50)	McGowin, Kyle (1-0, 9.00)
Midland	Arkansas	Game 2	Neal, Zach (1-0, 4.22)	To Be Determined

A+ California League

Away	Home	Time (ET)	Away Probable Starter	Home Probable Starter
Visalia	Modesto	10:05 PM	Godley, Zack (2-0, 2.45)	To Be Determined
Bakersfield	Stockton	10:10 PM	Yarbrough, Ryan (0-1, 2.70)	Covey, Dylan (1-1, 4.82)
Lancaster	Rancho Cucamonga	10:05 PM	Frias, Edison (2-0, 0.00)	Richy, John (2-0, 0.82)
Inland Empire	San Jose	9:30 PM	Alcantara, Victor (1-1, 3.27)	Vander Tuig, Nick (1-0, 0.00)
Lake Elsinore	High Desert	9:35 PM	To Be Determined	To Be Determined

A+ Carolina League

Away	Home	Time (ET)	Away Probable Starter	Home Probable Starter
Frederick	Lynchburg	6:30 PM	Horacek, Mitch (1-1, 1.50)	To Be Determined
Myrtle Beach	Salem	7:05 PM	Skulina, Tyler (0-1, 1.80)	McAvoy, Kevin (0-1, 1.80)
Carolina	Winston-Salem	7:00 PM	Brosius, Tyler (0-0, 5.40)	Bucciferro, Tony (0-0, 1.59)
Potomac	Wilmington	6:35 PM	Pivetta, Nick (0-1, 0.90)	Junis, Jake (1-1, 5.40)

A+ Florida State League

Away	Home	Time (ET)	Away Probable Starter	Home Probable Starter
Fort Myers	Palm Beach	6:35 PM	Westphal, Luke (0-1, 4.15)	To Be Determined
Lakeland	Brevard County	6:35 PM	Maciel, Jonathan (0-1, 7.20)	Wang, Wei-Chung (1-1, 9.82)
Tampa	Clearwater	7:00 PM	To Be Determined	Whitehead, David (1-0, 0.75)
Charlotte	Bradenton	6:30 PM	To Be Determined	Gonzalez, Felipe (0-1, 3.27)
Dunedin	Daytona	7:05 PM	To Be Determined	Travieso, Nick (1-1, 2.19)
Jupiter	St. Lucie	6:30 PM	To Be Determined	Diaz, Miller (0-0, 0.00)

A Midwest League

Away	Home	Time (ET)	Away Probable Starter	Home Probable Starter
Beloit	Clinton	7:30 PM	Graves, Brett (0-0, 4.50)	Missaki, Daniel (0-1, 5.25)
Fort Wayne	West Michigan	12:00 PM	Montas, Ernesto (1-0, 1.80)	Perez, Fernando (0-1, 0.00)
Dayton	Lansing	12:05 PM	Mahle, Tyler (1-0, 0.77)	De Jong, Chase (0-0, 1.86)
Cedar Rapids	Burlington	12:30 PM	Wilson, Jared (1-0, 2.84)	Bolaski, Michael (0-1, 4.00)
Lake County	Bowling Green	11:35 AM	Brady, Sean (1-0, 1.50)	Franco, Enderson (0-1, 3.60)
Great Lakes	South Bend	7:05 PM	Gonzalez, Victor (0-0, 1.80)	Williams, Ryan (0-0, 1.13)
Wisconsin	Peoria	1:00 PM	Diaz, Victor (0-1, 3.86)	Pearce, Matt (1-0, 0.00)
Kane County	Quad Cities	8:00 PM	Miller, Jared (1-1, 5.00)	Comer, Kevin (2-0, 2.00)
Lake County	Bowling Green	10:30 AM	Milbrath, Jordan (0-1, 11.57)	Pike, Chris (1-0, 0.00)
Wisconsin	Peoria	Game 2	Sneed, Cy (0-0, 0.00)	Anderson, Will (1-0, 1.29)

A South Atlantic League

Away	Home	Time (ET)	Away Probable Starter	Home Probable Starter
Delmarva	Hagerstown	6:05 PM	Parry, Bennett (0-0, 3.38)	Williams, Austen (1-1, 0.93)
Greenville	Lexington	7:05 PM	Kopech, Michael (0-1, 7.36)	Fernandez, Pedro (1-0, 1.08)
Charleston	Augusta	7:05 PM	Hebert, Chaz (1-1, 0.87)	Coonrod, Samuel (0-0, 0.00)
West Virginia	Kannapolis	7:05 PM	Sever, John (1-0, 0.00)	Martinez, Luis (0-0, 2.25)
Rome	Savannah	7:05 PM	Grosser, Alec (0-0, 0.00)	Arias, Martires (1-0, 3.60)
Lakewood	Greensboro	7:00 PM	Garcia, Elniery (1-0, 0.00)	To Be Determined
Hickory	Asheville	7:05 PM	Martin, Brett (0-0, 9.00)	Polanco, Carlos (0-1, 5.40)

Duels of the Day

April 19

Rank (Ovr)	Name	Pos	Team	Level	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	GO	FO	ERA	WHIP	HR Allowed	Notes
63 (138)	Edwin Diaz	RHP	SEA	A+	2.2	3	4	4	3	2	2	3	2.63	0.80	0	33 S, 29 B, HBP, PICKOFF, ND (1-0)
SA!	Luis Ysla	LHP	SF	A+	1.1	4	4	4	4	2	1	0	8.53	2.53	0	21 S, 25 B, PICKOFF, ND (0-1)
Rank (Ovr)	Name	Pos	Team	Level	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	GO	FO	ERA	WHIP	HR Allowed	Notes
-	Rob Whalen	RHP	NYM	A+	5	3	1	0	1	3	11	2	1.64	1.18	0	2 HBP, E (1 - F), ND (0-1)
-	Ryan Eades	RHP	MIN	A+	6	6	1	1	1	3	4	6	0.75	1.17	1 - Michael Conforto	HBP, ND (1-0)
Rank (Ovr)	Name	Pos	Team	Level	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	GO	FO	ERA	WHIP	HR Allowed	Notes
-	Felix Jorge	RHP	MIN	A	5	5	1	1	2	9	1	2	0.75	0.92	0	58 S, 24 B, ND (1-0)
48 (97)	Sean Newcomb	LHP	LAA	A	6	2	1	1	1	5	9	2	1.69	0.88	0	53 S, 26 B, ND (1-0)

April 20

RHP Mike Foltynewicz (ATL - AAA) vs RHP Mike Wright (BAL - AAA)

Arguably the crown jewel of Atlanta's offseason prospect haul, Mike Foltynewicz has struck out 12 in his first 8.2 frames, but has also walked six and allowed eight hits. The fireballer's 100+ mph fastballs have led to a pretty 2.06 ERA, but it is offset by an unsightly 1.62 WHIP. Mike Wright has been riding a nice velocity spike up into the high 90's to start the year, topping out at 99 mph. He posted a 2.79 ERA over 9.2 innings with nine punch outs to just two walks to kick off 2015. The 6'6 righty struggled last year in his first crack at AAA, but is likely to improve upon those numbers with the increase in velocity. Let the Battle of the 99 mph Mike's commence!

RHP Jon Gray (COL - AAA) vs LHP Robbie Ray (AZ - AAA)

Jon Gray, the 27th ranked overall prospect, brings his electric repertoire to the Pacific Coast League where the going has been much tougher. He's generating ground balls by the bushel (4.67 GO:AO ratio), but he's also allowed a run per inning with five walks and 12 hits allowed. Surprise, surprise, he's also running up a ridiculous 44.9% strand rate and a .393 BABIP, so don't be too alarmed by the surface results. Robbie Ray is making his second trip through AAA, but this time in the PCL as opposed to the International League last year. His control has abandoned him early on, walking as many as he's struck out, nine, in 8.2 innings.

RHP Robert Stephenson (CIN - AA) vs RHP Frankie Montas (CWS - AA)

Yet another pair of flamethrowers, each pitcher in this match up can run their heat into the high 90's. Robert Stephenson, the 21st ranked prospect affectionately known to me as Bob Steve, struck out seven to just two walks in his first start, but allowed three runs over 5.2 innings of work and was tagged with the loss. Francellis/Frankie Montas is slated to make his third career AA start, but it should be hard to top his second one. In his 2015 debut, the 74th ranked pitching prospect threw 5.1 hitless frames with eight punch outs to just two walks.

LHP Ryan Yarbrough (SEA - A+) vs RHP Dylan Covey (OAK - A+)

Now we get into the sleeper territory. Ryan Yarbrough checked in as the #11 prospect in the Mariners system and has gotten off to a good start to the year in the California League. The 6'5 lefty with a low 90's heater has struck out five to just two walks, seven hits, and three earnies in 10 innings so far this year. Yarbrough could wind up as one of the bigger steals of the 2014 draft, inking his contract for a miniscule $40,000 bonus in the fourth round. Dylan Covey has struggled to find his bearings in the Cal, allowing five runs in his first two starts covering 9.1 innings. He's only struck out five batters with four walks and eight base knocks allowed. Covey's low 90's fastball and plus hook worked in Low A, but has yet to translate to the offensively charged conditions on the west coast.

RHP Tyler Mahle (CIN - A) vs RHP Chase De Jong (TOR - A)

A 2014 sleeper pick by John, Tyler Mahle pitched as well as you can expect in the Pioneer League, a league with environments similar to the California and Pacific Coast Leagues that skew heavily in favor of offense. He was second in the league in ERA by showing excellent control and advanced pitchability. Things haven't changed much with the jump to the full season Midwest League as he's only allowed one run in his first 11.2 innings of work. Over that span he's issued just two free passes while striking out seven and allowing nine hits. De Jong is making his second trip through the Midwest League and is also noted for having great control. So far the control has been as advertised, but the inconsistent stuff has been downright nasty, striking out 14 in 9.2 innings with only three walks and seven hits.

Injuries

Team	Player	Duration	Injury	Injury Date
STL	RF Randal Grichuk	15 Day DL	Lower Back Strain	4/17/2015
LAD	RHP Jose De Leon	7 Day DL	Mild Groin Strain	4/16/2015
BOS	CF Rusney Castillo	7 Day DL	Shoulder Injury	4/14/2015
KC	SS Raul Mondesi	7 Day DL	Back Strain	4/12/2015
STL	RHP Jack Flaherty	7 Day DL	Undisclosed Right Arm Injury	4/10/2015
TEX	LF Ryan Rua	15 Day DL	Sprained Right Ankle/Right Heel Fracture	4/10/2015
CLE	3B Giovanny Urshela	7 Day DL	Stiff Lower Back	4/6/2015
CLE	CF Tyler Naquin	7 Day DL	Broken Left Hand	4/6/2015
COL	LHP Tyler Anderson	7 Day DL	Left Elbow Stress Fracture	4/6/2015
HOU	RHP Vince Velasquez	7 Day DL	Lat Strain	4/6/2015
OAK	3B Renato Nunez	7 Day DL	?	4/6/2015
PHI	LHP Yoel Mecias	7 Day DL	?	4/6/2015
STL	RHP Luke Weaver	7 Day DL	Build Arm Strength	4/6/2015
SF	RHP Clayton Blackburn	7 Day DL	Minor Shoulder Discomfort	4/6/2015
SF	RHP Ray Black	7 Day DL	Lat Strain	4/6/2015
SEA	LHP Danny Hultzen	7 Day DL	Left Shoulder Surgery Recovery	4/6/2015
SEA	OF Austin Cousino	7 Day DL	?	4/6/2015
TB	LHP Enny Romero	7 Day DL	Back Strain	4/6/2015
TOR	C Max Pentecost	7 Day DL	Offseason Arthroscopic Shoulder Surgery	4/6/2015
TOR	CF Anthony Alford	7 Day DL	?	4/6/2015
KC	LHP Sean Manaea	7 Day DL	Abdominal Strain	4/6/2015
COL	LHP Kyle Freeland	7 Day DL	Left Shoulder Fatigue	4/6/2015
TEX	3B Joey Gallo	7 Day DL	Left Ankle Surgery	4/3/2015
TOR	RHP Ryan Borucki	7 Day DL	Right Elbow Surgery	4/3/2015
PHI	SS JP Crawford	7 Day DL	Left Oblique Strain	3/26/2015
BAL	RHP Hunter Harvey	7 Day DL	Fractured Right Leg	3/22/2015
CHC	RHP Pierce Johnson	7 Day DL	Lat Strain	March 2015
OAK	1B Rangel Ravelo	60 Day DL	Offseason Wrist Surgery	3/13/2015
OAK	3B Matt Chapman	7 Day DL	Sprained Left Knee	Spring 2015
ATL	LHP Max Fried	60 Day DL	Left Elbow - TJS	8/15/2014
TOR	RHP Jeff Hoffman	7 Day DL	Right Elbow - TJS	May 2014
WAS	RHP Erick Fedde	7 Day DL	Right Elbow - TJS	May 2014
SF	RHP Derek Law	7 Day DL	Right Elbow - TJS	May 2014
PIT	Jameson Taillon	7 Day DL	Right Elbow - TJS	April 2014
OAK	RHP Raul Alcantara	7 Day DL	Right Elbow - TJS	April 2014
TB	SS Jake Hager	Season	Knee Surgery	4/9/2015
NYY	RHP Ty Hensley	Season	Right Elbow - TJS	3/31/2015
NYY	RHP Domingo German	Season	Right Elbow - TJS	3/30/2015
MIN	LHP Lewis Thorpe	Season	Left Elbow - TJS	3/28/2015
NYY	C Luis Torrens	Season	Torn Right Labrum	3/4/2015
HOU	RHP Kyle Smith	Season	Right Elbow - TJS	Spring 2015

Stat Updates -

Coming May 2nd!

Previous Gameday Threads -

Sunday, April 19th

Saturday, April 18th

Friday, April 17th