Venditte returns to the mound in GCL win

Some notes before we get to the games:

Keith Law (subs. req’d) has some quick observations on OF Slade Heathcott and OF Tyler Austin after a recent visit. He said Austin looked “awful, with a very slow bat and indifferent approach, as if he were either exhausted or dealing with a nagging injury” while Heathcott is “producing a less consistent path and sometimes letting his front leg go ‘soft’ (turning outwards through contact)” compared to the Arizona Fall League last season.
Baseball America (subs. req’d) had the Yankees among five system who had a first half to forget. That’s largely because Austin, Heathcott, OF Mason Williams, and 2B Angelo Gumbs have had poor years. LHP Manny Banuelos being hurt, RHP Brett Marshall being awful, and RHP Jose Campos being just okay didn’t help either.
RHP Kelvin Perez was released from Triple-A Scranton, reports Mike Ashmore. Both RHP Shane Greene (blister) and C Francisco Arcia (unknown) were placed on the Double-A Trenton DL as well.

Triple-A Scranton (6-3 win over Rochester)

SS Derek Jeter: 0-2, 1 R, 1 BB — had a little more on him earlier
C J.R. Murphy: 3-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 BB — had been in a little 8-for-36 slump (.222)
DH Randy Ruiz: 1-4, 2 RBI, 1 K
RF Thomas Neal: 2-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 K — had been in a 3-for-29 rut (.103)
3B Josh Bell: 2-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI — have to think he’s going to love his roster spot with 3B David Adams on the way back down
RHP Chris Bootcheck: 5 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 4/4 GB/FB — 61 of 94 pitches were strikes (65%)
RHP Chase Whitley: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 0-1 GB/FB — 17 of 29 pitches were strikes (59%) … finishes off a night in which the pitching staff had a 12/0 K/BB

Double-A Trenton (10-6 win over Reading)

CF Slade Heathcott: 2-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 CS — 13 hits in his last 32 at-bats (.406)
2B Jose Pirela: 2-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 2 SB
SS Carmen Angelini: 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI — .205/.319/.359 here but still .271/.332/.433 overall this year because he was so good before the promotion
RHP Zach Nuding: 6.2 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 3/8 GB/FB — 57 of 89 pitches were strikes (64%) … three straight starts of at least five runs allowed
RHP Danny Burawa: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 2/0 GB/FB — nine of 16 pitches were strikes (56%)
RHP Tommy Kahnle: 1 IP, zeroes, 1/1 GB/FB — seven of nine pitches were strikes … seven of his last nine appearances have been hitless

High-A Tampa (4-3 loss to Brevard County, walk-off style)

CF Taylor Dugas: 1-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB
LF Ben Gamel: 2-4
3B Peter O’Brien: 0-4, 1 R — seven hits in his last 36 at-bats (.269)
C Gary Sanchez: 1-4, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 2 K — two of his last three hits are doubles
2B Rob Refsnyder: 1-4
RHP Bryan Mitchell: 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 2 WP, 8/2 GB/FB — no idea why he was suspended, but he’s back already

Low-A Charleston had a scheduled off-day.

Short Season Staten Island (7-6 win over Connecticut, walk-off style)

CF Michael O’Neill: 2-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 K — 28 strikeouts and five walks in 19 pro games
3B Eric Jagielo: 1-3, 1R, 2 BB, 1 K
1B Bubba Jones: 3-4, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB — walk-off single
LHP Caleb Smith: 4 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 2/5 GB/FB
RHP Nick Rumbelow: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 WP, 0/1 GB/FB — Clip’d the win

Rookie GCL Yanks1 (7-5 win over GCL Pirates in ten innings)

DH Tyler Wade: 1-5, 2 R, 2 K
SS Abi Avelino: 1-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 SB, 1 E (fielding)
2B Gosuke Katoh: 1-4, 1 R, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 2 E (throwing) — 10-for-33 (.303) with a double, two triples, three homers, six walks, and seven strikeouts in ten pro games
RHP Hayden Sharp: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 2 HB, 12/3 GB/FB

Rookie GCL Yanks2 (7-5 win over GCL Tigers)

LF Nathan Mikolas: 1-4, 1 RBI, 1 K
SS Thairo Estrada: 2-4, 1 R — nine hits in his last 15 at-bats (.600)
LHP Omar Luis: 2.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 3/1 GB/FB — second appearance for the $4M southpaw
SwP Pat Venditte: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 0/1 GB/FB — first game action since last April due to a torn labrum in his right shoulder … I don’t know if he did the whole switch pitching thing in this game, but I assume so since he was pitching lefty in the World Baseball Classic … what else would they have been waiting for?