Minor League Ball Gameday, Wednesday, April 19th, 2017

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the Minor League Ball Gameday discussion thread for Wednesday, April 19th, 2017. Onward, excelsior!

****Today’s Minor League Scoreboard

****Today’s MLB scoreboard

****Beyond the Boxscore’s excellent daily MLB summary

****Yesterday’s Highlights can be seen in the Tuesday discussion thread.

****At NCAA.com, our own Wayne Cavadi looks at the Strikeout Kings of college baseball.

YESTERDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS

****Cincinnati Reds rookie Cody Reed thew another shutout inning of relief yesterday against the Baltimore Orioles, giving him a 0.00 ERA in eight bullpen innings, giving up four walks, but with zero hits allowed and eight strikeouts. He is scheduled to start Saturday’s game against Jake Arrieta and the Chicago Cubs.

****Milwaukee Brewers outfield prospect Lewis Brinson went 4-for-6 for Triple-A Colorado Springs yesterday, driving in five. He is now hitting .357/.379/.679 on the season.

****Los Angeles Dodgers outfield prospect Alex Verdugo went 2-for-3 for Triple-A Oklahoma City against Nashville, giving him a slash line of .390/.409/.585 through 11 games.

****One of my favorite young pitching prospects is Tristan McKenzie in the Cleveland Indians system. He threw five shutout innings for High-A Lynchburg yesterday, fanning eight, and now has a 1.72 ERA over three starts with a sharp 18/4 K/BB. And he’s only 19.

****New York Mets prospect Amed Rosario went 2-for-5 for Triple-A Las Vegas yesterday. He’s now hitting .362/.392/.362 on the season. . .17-for-47 but with zero extra base hits.

****Kansas City Royals outfielder Jorge Bonifacio went 3-for-6 for Triple-A Omaha. He’s now hitting .286/.375/.595 with three homers, six walks, and seven strikeouts in 42 at-bats and looks like he’s maintaining the power surge that started last year.

RECOMMENDED READING

****At Beyond the Boxscore, Steven Martano makes the case for the “120-inning reliever” pointing to Joe Kelly and Ross Striping as possible candidates for the role.

***Everybody is talking about Eric Thames of the Milwaukee Brewers, at least at Fangraphs. Carson Cistulli has some audio commentary. Jeff Sullivan has the “scariest Eric Thames stat.” I meant to have my own take on Thames posted today but I am behind schedule and hope to get it up tomorrow. Thanks for your patience.