Minor League Ball Gameday, Friday, April 7th

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the Minor League Ball Gameday discussion thread for Friday, April 7th, 2017. Let’s get right to it.

****Today’s Minor League Scoreboard

****Today’s MLB scoreboard

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

NOTABLE MINOR LEAGUE PERFORMANCES FROM 4/6/2017

****Los Angeles Dodgers prospect and Oklahoma City first baseman Cody Bellinger opens the season with a three-hit night against the Iowa Cubs.

****Chicago White Sox prospect and Charlotte infielder Yoan Moncada also racked up three hits, going 3-for-6 with a walk and two runs scored against Norfolk.

****Superb outing from Tampa Bay Rays prospect Brent Honeywell, who fanned 12 in six innings of work for the Montgomery Biscuits against Biloxi.

****Atlanta Braves pitching prospect Luiz Gohara fanned seven over five shutout innings for the Florida Fire Frogs against Daytona. Ben Badler at Baseball America has an eyewitness report, with Gohara hitting 99 MPH.

****Strong outing from Yankees prospect Jordan Montgomery for High-A Tampa, five shutout innings with eight strikeouts against Lakeland.

****White Sox catching prospect Zack Collins goes 3-for-4 with two doubles for High-A Winston-Salem against Buies Creek in Carolina League play.

****Check yesterday’s Gameday thread for further highlights.

RECOMMENDED READING

****Joe Posnanski at MLB.com asks how 21 teams passed on Mike Trout in the first round of the 2009 draft.

****Baseball America reports that two top prospects for the 2017 MLB Draft, high school right-handers Hunter Ruth and Joe Perez, are down with injuries. Ruth needs Tommy John surgery, clouding the draft status of the Gainesville, Florida prep, while Perez, out of Southwest Ranches, Florida, is dealing with a sore shoulder.

***My favorite article of the day is Joe Sheehan’s article at Fangraphs called “When Statheads Age.” I am of his generation of writers and feel exactly the same way he does, scrambling (and not always succeeding) to stay current.