Prospect Watch: Seven Hits for Hanson; Solid Second Start for MacGregor

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Altoona won 8-0, as Brandon Waddell had a solid start despite some control issues. Waddell has really struggled in Double-A, but on this night, he went six innings, allowing three hits and four walks. He had six strikeouts and a 7:1 GO/AO ratio. Waddell now has a 4.48 ERA in 12 starts for Altoona. Jared Lakind had an impressive night, throwing 2.2 scoreless innings with five strikeouts. He came on in the seventh inning in relief of Miguel Rosario, who loaded the bases with one out. Lakind stranded all three runners with a strikeout and a fly out.

The offense was led by Edwin Espinal, who had two doubles and drove in three runs. He’s now hitting .321 and should show up among the Eastern League leaders in batting any day now, as he came into the game just a handful of plate appearances short of qualifying for the batting title.

Kevin Newman had two hits and extended his hitting streak to 17 games, just seven short of the Altoona record. Harold Ramirez had two hits, two walks and scored three runs. Eric Wood hit his tenth homer and drove in two runs. Barrett Barnes had two hits and scored a run.

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Bradenton won 2-1 over Brevard County in 13 innings. The Marauders stuck out 17 times in the game, with 12 coming in the first six innings off starter Cody Ponce. On the other side, three Bradenton pitchers combined for just two strikeouts all game. JT Brubaker started and had a nice line, though it’s important to remember that Brevard County is the worst hitting team in the league. Brubaker went seven innings, allowing one run on seven hits and no walks. He had just one strikeout and a poor 5:10 GO/AO ratio. Sam Street followed him with four scoreless innings and Henry Hirsch got the win with two shutout frames.

The Marauders were down 1-0 going into the ninth. They tied the game with two outs, as Kevin Kramer scored from second on a Wyatt Mathisen double. In the 13th, Michael Suchy started the inning with a single. Elvis Escobar moved him to second with a bunt, then back-to-back singles by Tito Polo and Cole Tucker scored the game-winning run. Escobar had three hits on the night, while Polo had a pair of singles. Kramer had two walks.

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LAKEWOOD, NJ – West Virginia played the first game of their doubleheader in 90 minutes and lost 4-0. The hitters were swinging at everything early, with a lot of pop ups and quick outs from both sides. Logan Sendelbach was throwing a lot of strikes and got through the first four innings on 38 pitches, with one run allowed on a long home run to left field. In the fifth, Sendelbach lost his command and wasn’t throwing strikes, though he was helped out by a fly out to right field on the first pitch after allowing a walk and a single. That was followed immediately by a double play.

In the sixth, Sendelbach wasn’t throwing as many strikes and when he did, the ball got hit hard. That led to three runs and the 4-0 loss. Sendelbach was up in the zone a lot, mostly working with his fastball, while mixing in the occasional slider. The fastball was 87-92 MPH, while the slider was 77-80, with a couple changeups at 82 MPH mixed in. He finished with a complete game, allowing four runs on four hits and three walks over six innings, striking out two batters. He had a 9:7 GO/AO ratio, though it was mainly grounders late and fly balls early.

The Power offense had one hit and that was just barely, as Mitchell Tolman blooped one that the center fielder just missed catching. Tolman was thrown out trying to steal right afterwards. Carlos Munoz was the only other base runner with a second inning walk. Logan Hill had a nice line drive to right field that was caught. Other than that, nothing was hit hard by the Power. Ke’Bryan Hayes went 0-for-3 with a ground out, pop up and strikeout. He also threw away a routine grounder, coming up after 15 feet short on the throw.

GAME TWO– In game two on Saturday night, Dario Agrazal started and looked great early on, giving up two hits in the first five innings. One of those hits should have been an out, but center fielder Casey Hughston misplayed it into a double. In the sixth, Lakewood started the inning with a drag bunt for a single. That was followed by a chopper between first and second base, which found a hole and put runners on the corners with one out. Agrazal then gave up a loud double off the left field wall for the first run. With two men in scoring position, he got out of the inning with back-to-back strikeouts.

That ended what was an impressive night. The home plate umpire had a tight strike zone for both teams and Agrazal didn’t get a lot of close pitches. He was still trying to work both sides of the plate effectively, even though nothing was getting called on the left hand side of the plate. He threw a lot of fastballs and his velocity was 92-95 MPH. Last year and in previous years, all reports had him sitting 87-91. In the Fall Instructional League last year, we got word that he touched 94 MPH and this spring he was consistently 92-93 MPH. The 95 mark is a new high for him (as far as we know) and he reached it a few times, but was hitting 94 consistently for much of the game. His curve was 82-83 and the only changeup I saw came in at 87 MPH. Agrazal had a 7:2 GO/AO ratio in this game.

West Virginia scored in the fifth with Logan Hill reaching on a double, getting some help from the left fielder who slipped while going after the ball. Hill moved to third base on a wild pitch, then scored on a John Bormann single. In the fourth, Tyler Filliben led off with a triple to the right-center gap, but he was left stranded.

This game went 12 innings and was lost on a wild pitch by Yunior Montero in his fourth inning of work. Six players on the Power had one hit each and Logan Hill had the only walk. They went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position.- John Dreker

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Morgantown lost 4-3 on Saturday, as a late comeback came up short. James Marvel made his fifth start and allowed one run over four innings. He gave up four hits and a walk, with five strikeouts. He was hurt by his pitch count, which was up to 76 pitches when he was removed. Neil Kozikowski  followed him and went three innings, allowing one run in each of those frames. Surprisingly, he worked through his day on just 32 pitches. Matt Frawley ended the game with two scoreless innings.

The Black Bears were down 4-0 going into the bottom of the seventh. They scored one run in the seventh on three walks and a single by third round draft pick Stephen Alemais. In the ninth, Nick King singled, then Ty Moore walked. They both scored on a two-out double from Jordan George. Will Craig then struck out to end the game. Craig finished with two hits on the night, just the second time he has had two hits in a game. He is hitting .169 in 17 games.

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Bristol lost 5-4 on Saturday night, with starter Nestor Oronel allowing four of those runs in his four innings. He took the loss, though it was reliever Adam Oller who allowed the fifth run of the night. Oronel allowed five hits, walked one and hit two batters. He has a respectable 3.52 ERA in four starts, yet he hasn’t gone longer than 4.1 innings yet.

The offense had 11 hits, with the 2-5 hitters in the lineup all having multi-hit nights. Michael de la Cruz had two hits, a double and a run scored. Adrian Valerio had two hits including his fifth double, plus he drove in a run. Raul Siri had two hits and scored a run. Jhoan Herrera had three hits, including his sixth double. He also had a run scored and an RBI. Herrera has a .352 average in 15 games.

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The GCL Pirates won 5-1 in ten innings on Saturday morning in a game in which all the runs were unearned on both sides. Second round pick Travis MacGregor made his second start and the opposing pitcher was Kyle Muller, a second round pick of the Braves this year. MacGregor was extended to three innings today and he allowed one unearned run on one hit and one walk, with one strikeout. He had a 5:2 GO/AO ratio. The run was unearned due to his own throwing error. He threw 1.1 scoreless innings in his debut on Monday, running up his pitch count due to four strikeouts and a walk. MacGregor was scheduled to go two innings in that game.

The offense was led by Mikell Granberry, who had three hits, including his third double. He also picked up an RBI. Yondry Contreras had a double, an RBI, scored two runs and recorded an outfield assist. Paul Brands had two hits. Andrew Walker, who was signed out of independent ball on Sunday, picked up his first base hit. Carl Anderson finally collected his first hit in his sixth rehab game. He still isn’t up to play nine innings in a game yet, so it created a strange line in the boxscore when Luis Benitez pinch-hit for him in the seventh. Both Benitez and Anderson were batting .063 at the time.

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The DSL Pirates lost 1-0 on Saturday, with a fine pitching performance from Roger Santana getting wasted. He threw five shutout innings, allowing two hits and two walks, while striking out four batters. Santana has a 1.42 ERA through seven starts. Kleiner Machado followed him and allowed one run over three innings for the loss. He gave up two hits, walked three and didn’t record a strikeout. Machado had a 7:2 GO/AO ratio.

The offense had some chances to score, but they went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Cristopher Perez had two hits, including his sixth double. He’s now batting .354 through 20 games. Sherten Apostel went 1-for-4 with three strikeouts. He is hitting .148 with 29 strikeouts in 80 at-bats. Larry Alcime is only hitting .125 on the season, but he has picked up hits in six of his last seven starts. In the one game without a hit, he reached on a walk.