DotF: Higashioka goes deep in Scranton’s win

Got some notes to pass along:

• Josh Norris (no subs. req’d) has a really good article on C Donny Sands’ conversion to catcher. Turns out Sands is not catching much in GCL games because he has regular 5am workouts with the team’s catching instructors. “The first time I threw out a guy — we had worked out at five in the morning on footwork, footwork, footwork — and the first time, it just clicked. That’s when I started feeling like, ‘This is starting to pay off,'” he said. Pretty cool.
• LHP Justus Sheffield was officially added to the High-A Tampa roster following today’s game, the team announced. I’m guessing that means he’s going to make his first start tomorrow. Sheffield was part of the Andrew Miller trade this past weekend.
• In case you missed it earlier, LHP Jacob Lindgren will have Tommy John surgery on Friday, so we probably won’t see him again until 2018. Also, RHP Conor Mullee is still have issues with his hand and is heading to see a doctor.

Triple-A Scranton (7-0 win over Lehigh Valley)

• CF Jake Cave: 1-5, 1 RBI, 3 K
• LF Clint Frazier: 1-5, 1 R, 1 K — gets his first hit in his second game in the organization
• DH Aaron Judge: 2-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 K — 3-for-8 with two doubles in his two games back from the knee injury
• 1B Ike Davis: 0-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
• RF Tyler Austin: 3-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB — I wrote about him earlier today
• C Kyle Higashioka: 1-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB — he’s hit five homers in his last nine Triple-A games
• LHP Dietrich Enns: 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 1 WP, 3/5 GB/FB — 49 of 86 pitches were strikes (57%), plus he picked a runner off first … exactly half of his 20 starts this season have been scoreless, which is pretty nuts
• RHP Kirby Yates: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 WP, 2/2 GB/FB — 16 of 21 pitches were strikes (76%)
• RHP Gio Gallegos: 1 IP, zeroes, 1 K, 2/0 GB/FB — eleven pitches, nine strikes
• RHP Jonathan Holder: 1 IP, zeroes, 2 K — eleven pitches, eight strikes … 74/7 K/BB in 51 innings

Double-A Trenton (4-1 loss to Hartford)

• SS Tyler Wade: 0-5, 1 K
• CF Dustin Fowler: 1-4, 1 K — hitting streak is up to 15 games
• DH Miguel Andujar: 0-1, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP — 28 walks in 101 games this year after 29 walks in 130 games last year
• RF Billy McKinney: 1-4, 1 K — 5-for-21 (.238) since the trade
• 2B Abi Avelino: 0-4, 3 K, 1 E (fielding)
• RHP Ronald Herrera: 5.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 WP, 2/5 GB/FB — 60 of 89 pitches were strikes (67%)
• RHP J.P. Feyereisen: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HB, 0/1 GB/FB — 19 of 34 pitches were strikes (56%) … first game since coming over in the Andrew Miller trade

High-A Tampa (2-1 win over Lakeland)

• 2B Jorge Mateo: 3-5, 2 R, 1 H, 1 RBI — Josh Norris has video of the opposite field bomb
• CF Rashad Crawford: 2-5, 1 K
• SS Gleyber Torres: 1-5, 1 R, 3 K
• RF Jeff Hendrix: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 2 SB — 8-for-30 (.267) during his little seven-game hitting streak
• LF Trey Amburgey: 0-5, 4 K — oof
• 3B Thairo Estrada: 0-2, 2 BB, 1 SB
• LHP Josh Rogers: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 1 HB, 6/6 GB/FB — 60 of 82 pitches were strikes (73%) … 91/19 K/BB in 113.2 innings for last year’s 11th rounder

Low-A Charleston (8-4 loss to Kannapolis)

• CF Ricardo Ferreira: 0-5, 2 K
• SS Hoy Jun Park: 2-4, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
• RF Jhalan Jackson: 0-1, 1 BB, 1 K — left the game after striking out looking in the third … the recap doesn’t say he was ejected for arguing, so I’m not sure what that’s about
• 1B Chris Gittens: 2-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K — 17th dinger of the season ties Austin for the most in the system
• C Luis Torrens: 0-5, 3 K
  
• 3B Mandy Alvarez: 1-5, 1 R, 1 2B
• LF Alex Palma: 0-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K
• 2B Gosuke Katoh: 0-2, 2 BB, 2 K
• RHP Anyelo Gomez: 0.2 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 WP, 0/1 GB/FB — 25 of 42 pitches were strikes (60%) … yikes
• RHP Cody Carroll: 4.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 2/4 GB/FB — 54 of 86 pitches were strikes (63%) … very nice long relief work

Short Season Staten Island (4-1 win over Williamsport)

• CF Carlos Vidal: 0-3, 2 BB, 1 CS — four walks and no strikeouts in his last three games
• 2B Nick Solak: 2-5, 2 R, 2 K, 1 SB — only the third multi-strikeout game in 36 pro games for this year’s second round
• 3B Drew Bridges: 3-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI — 18-for-42 (.429) in his last eleven games
• SS Angel Aguilar: 0-4, 1 K
• RHP Austin DeCarr: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 3/5 GB/FB — 41 of 62 pitches were strikes (66%) … 13/2 K/BB in his last 10.2 innings after 8/9 K/BB in his first 13.2 innings
• RHP Josh Roeder: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1/1 GB/FB — 20 of 32 pitches were strikes (63%) … 29/4 K/BB in 26 innings for last year’s 21st rounder

Rookie Pulaski had a scheduled off-day.

Rookie GCL Yanks East (12-2 win over GCL Yanks West) going to combine the two teams into one update

• SS Diego Castillo: 2-4, 1 K, 2 E (fielding, throwing)
• 3B Nelson Gomez: 0-4, 2 K, 1 E (fielding) — huge power, but a 27.1% strikeout rate and a 4.5% walk rate is pretty bad
• C Donny Sands: 1-4
• 1B Miguel Flames: 2-4 — 12-for-27 (.444) with three walks and two strikeouts in his last nine games
• CF Terrance Robertson: 1-3, 3 R, 2 BB, 1 K — 18/18 K/BB in 22 games this season after a 39/7 K/BB in 38 games here last season
• DH Erick Mendez: 3-5, 2 R, 2 2B, 4 RBI — .293/.363/.489 for the 20-year-old
• 1B Ryan Krill: 2-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SB — first game of the season for last year’s ninth rounder, so I have to assume he was injured
• LHP Anderson Severino: 4.1 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 5/3 GB/FB
• RHP Rony Garcia: 5.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 7/3 GB/FB — the 18-year-old had a 39/9 K/BB in 43 innings in the Dominican Summer League this year … this was his first GCL game