Minor League Ball daily notes, May 2, 2016

****Good morning everyone and welcome to the Monday, May 2nd, edition of Minor League Ball daily notes. Here are some baseball items and news links for your edification and amusement.

****I drove up to Omaha this weekend to see the Stormchasers play the Oklahoma City Dodgers, but both the Saturday game and the Sunday makeup doubleheader were washed out by rain. It was a nice trip nonetheless and I spent much of yesterday at the Joslyn Art Museum. A disappointment baseball-wise, but not a total waste of a weekend.

****Matt Goldman at Beyond the Boxscore looks at the breakout of Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Gregory Polanco. Is his hot start for real? Signs point to yes.

****At Faketeams, Ghoji Blackburn looks at the biggest prospect duds of April. Slow starters include Cincinnati Reds prospects Tyler Stephenson and Alex Blandino, Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers, and Brewers outfielder Brett Phillips.

****Rickey Henderson and Nolan Ryan were freaks, says Grant Brisbee at SBNation.com, and the events of May 1st, 1991, proved it.

****Jason Cohen at Pinstripe Alley examines the early 2016 struggles of New York Yankees starter Luis Severino.

****At The Hardball Times, William Sapolsky crunches the numbers. Can we use the new exit velocity data to improve sabermetric predictions?

****Intense pitcher's duel in the Pacific Coast League yesterday between Reno's Braden Shipley and Albuquerque's Jeff Hoffman.