Minor League Ball Gameday, Monday, April 24th, 2017

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the Minor League Ball Gameday discussion thread for Monday, April 24th, 2017. Let’s get down to business.

****Today’s Minor League Scoreboard

****Today’s MLB scoreboard

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

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

SELECTED YESTERDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS

****Young New York Mets outfielder Michael Conforto looks locked in: he went 3-for-4 with a homer yesterday and is now hitting .361/.432/.722 through 36 at-bats for the Mets.

****Another product of the Houston Astros secret Latin American pitching cloning facility: Jorge Alcala, RHP, Quad Cities Bandits: eight strikeouts in six innings, five hits, two runs, one walk, has given up just eight hits in 15.2 innings so far.

****Toronto Blue Jays third base prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr went 2-for-3 for Low-A Lansing yesterday, giving him a .309/.441/.491 line through 55 at-bats, with a notably excellent 12/8 BB/K. His range factor at third base is a mere 1.50, but he hasn’t made an error yet. It will be interesting to read the scouting reports on his glove once they start to come in. I don’t think there’s any real doubt about the hitting.

****Texas Rangers prospect Clayton Blackburn made his first start for Triple-A Round Rock since coming over from the Giants system. It went well: five shutout innings for the Iowa Cubs, two hits, one walk, four strikeouts.

RECOMMENDED READING

****Travis Sawchik at Fangraphs is not a fan of the new generation of MLB ballparks, feeling that, in their own way, they are just as flawed as the cookie-cutter designs from the early 70s.