Minor League Ball Gameday, Friday, April 21st, 2017

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the Minor League Ball Gameday discussion thread for Friday, April 21st, 2017. I have more rookie profiles in the pipeline but am busy with childcare at the moment. I will get the profiles finished this evening; thank you for your patience. In the meantime, let’s get the Gameday started.

****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 Thursday discussion thread.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM YESTERDAY

****Seven shutout innings yesterday from Atlanta Braves pitching prospect Lucas Sims, giving him a 2.70 ERA over three starts for Triple-A Gwinnett with an 18/5 K/BB in 16.2 innings. I know it seems like he has been around forever, but he is still only 22 years old. Don’t overlook him.

****One of my favorite pitching prospects is Franklin Perez in the Houston Astros system. Only 19 years old, he threw five shutout innings in this third start for High-A Buies Creek yesterday, giving him a 0.00 ERA in 14.1 innings with a 14/3 K/BB. Reports indicate he touched 98 MPH and his off-speed stuff has advanced tremendously over the last two seasons.

****If you like strikeouts, you’ll love what San Diego Padres pitching prospect Dinelson Lamet did yesterday: 13 whiffs in 5.1 innings for Triple-A El Paso against Tacoma. He now has a 0.69 ERA in 13 innings with a 19/7 K/BB.

****Oakland Athletics prospect Franklin Barreto went 4-for-4 yesterday for Triple-A Nashville, raising his season line to .340/.403/.547 in 53 at-bats.

RECOMMENDED READING

****Nice article at Milb.com today about San Francisco Giants prospect Christian Arroyo, currently destroying Triple-A pitching.

****Carson Cistulli’s Fangraphs “Fringe Five” prospects is always worth the read.