Minor League Ball Morning Report: Monday, July 9th, 2018

Hello everyone and welcome to the Minor League Ball Morning Report for Monday, July 9th, 2018. Here are some tidbits worthy of your interest as another work week begins.

***Yesterday’s Gameday discussion thread is here.

***Toronto Blue Jays rookie Ryan Borucki threw seven strong frames against the New York Yankees yesterday, fanning five with seven hits, one run, and two hits allowed. I haven’t weighed in on Borucki since he reached the majors but will change that later today.

***Pittsburgh Pirates rookie Nick Kingham was effective yesterday against the Philadelphia Phillies, allowing one run over six innings with four hits and one walk allowed, fanning five. He now has a 4.26 ERA in 44 major league innings with a 42/11 K/BB and 40 hits allowed. His main issue is a high home run rate so far but he’s throwing strikes and holding his own overall.

***I mentioned this guy on Twitter last week but in case you missed it, I’m putting a strong BUY recommendation on Cleveland Indians pitching prospect Luis Oviedo, who threw five shutout innings for Mahoning Valley in the New York-Penn League yesterday. He’s made five starts, throwing 28 innings with a 0.32 ERA and a 40/5 K/BB, with 14 hits allowed. A Venezuelan signed in 2015, he’s way ahead of the NY-P command-wise but has plus stuff to back it up, with a mid-90s fastball and a rapidly developing slider and change-up.