DotF: Austin goes deep twice on final day of the minor league regular season

SS Gleyber Torres has started swinging a bat as he works his way back from Tommy John surgery. Matt Kardos shared Gleyber’s Instagram story. Torres is wearing a brace on his left arm, which is to be expected less than three months out from surgery, and it seems everything with his rehab is going well so far. Good news.

Triple-A Scranton (4-3 loss to Lehigh Valley) their regular season is over … they went 86-55 and won the division … their best-of-five first round postseason series with Lehigh Valley (Phillies) begins Wednesday … RHP Domingo German and RHP Chance Adams are lined up to start the first two games of the series, though the rotation hasn’t been officially announced yet

• CF Jake Cave: 1-5, 1 K — finishes the year at .305/.350/.542 with 26 doubles, 20 homers, 6.4% walks, and 26.3% strikeouts in 103 games between Trenton and Scranton … the 20 homers tie 1B Mike Ford for the farm system lead
• RF Billy McKinney: 1-5, 1 K — he got off to a pretty slow start this season if you remember, yet he finishes at .277/.336/.483 with 29 doubles, 16 home runs, 7.8% walks, and 18.8% strikeouts in 124 games between Trenton and Scranton
• 3B Miguel Andujar: 0-4, 1 K — finishes his breakout season at .314/.352/.498 with 36 doubles, 16 home runs, 5.5% walks, and 13.6% strikeouts in 125 games between Trenton and Tampa … the 16 homers are a career high, and he led the system in doubles (36) and hits (151)
• DH Tyler Austin: 2-4, 2 R, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K — hit one of the home runs against former big leaguer Henderson Alvarez … his ten days since being sent down are up tomorrow, so I think we’ll see him in Baltimore
• RHP Jose Pena: 2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 1 Balk, 1 HB, 1/0 GB/FB — 31 of 57 pitches were strikes (54%) … up from Tampa to soak up some innings on the final day of the season
• LHP Joe Mantiply: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 5/0 GB/FB — 19 of 32 pitches were strikes (59%) … had a 2.83 ERA with a 62/18 K/BB in 67 do-it-all innings

Double-A Trenton (3-2 win over Reading) their regular season is over … they went 92-48 and won the division … the 92 wins tie the franchise record … their best-of-five first round postseason series with Binghamton (Mets) begins Wednesday … RHP Dillon Tate will be on the mound in the opener

• RF Jeff Hendrix: 2-4, 1 K, 1 SB — finishes the year at .292/.410/.348 in 99 games between Tampa and Trenton
• 2B Nick Solak: 0-4 — last year’s second rounder finishes his first full pro season at .297/.383/.452 with 26 doubles, 12 homers, 14 steals in 19 attempts, 11.7% walks, and 18.6% strikeouts in 130 games between Tampa and Trenton
• DH Garrett Cooper: 2-4, 2 R, 2 K — missed the last two days with an illness … not sure how much longer he’ll remain here on his rehab assignment
• LF Zack Zehner: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K
• SS Abi Avelino: 1-3, 1 3B, 2 RBI
• CF Rashad Crawford: 0-3, 2 K — the fourth piece in last year’s Aroldis Chapman trade finishes the year at .210/.263/.306 in 106 games, all with Trenton … he’s definitely not getting picked in the Rule 5 Draft this offseason, so I imagine he’ll be right back at Trenton next year … Crawford is really tooled up, but he’s still quite raw, even at 23
• RHP Raynel Espinal: 3.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 4/2 GB/FB — 40 of 59 pitches were strikes (68%) … 25-year-old makes the spot start in the regular season finale and finishes the year with an 93/15 K/BB in 74 innings
• RHP Cody Carroll: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1/0 GB/FB — 18 of 27 pitches were strikes (67%) … bullpen sleeper prospect finishes the year with a 2.54 ERA and an 89/30 K/BB in 67.1 innings … few too many walks, otherwise all good

High-A Tampa‘s regular season ended yesterday. Their best-of-three first round postseason series with Dunedin (Blue Jays) begins tomorrow.

Low-A Charleston (8-2 loss to Augusta) their regular season is over … they went 78-61 and won the second half division title … their best-of-three first round postseason series with Greenville (Red Sox) begins Wednesday

• SS Diego Castillo: 1-5 — personal favorite hit .263/.302/.315 with 6.1% walks and 10.0% strikeouts as a 19-year-old in 118 games with Charleston
• DH Brandon Wagner: 0-4, 2 K — finishes the year with a .277/.380/.392 batting line in 110 games with Charleston
• RF Isiah Gilliam: 2-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K — ends the season with a stout .275/.356/.467 batting line with 33 doubles, 15 homers, 10.8% walks, and 21.7% strikeouts in 125 games, all with Charleston
• 3B Dermis Garcia: 1-4, 1 RBI — finishes the season at .244/.357/.542 with 17 homers, 14.3% walks, and 30.5% strikeouts in 63 games between Pulaski and Charleston … the 17 home runs are second most in the system behind Cave and Ford even though Garcia didn’t begin playing for an affiliate until late-June
• 2B Oswaldo Cabrera: 1-4, 1 E (throwing) — ends the season at .252/.304/.321 in 112 games between Charleston and Staten Island
• RHP Nick Green: 5.2 IP, 10 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 2 WP, 1 HB, 11/3 GB/FB — 61 of 87 pitches were strikes (70%) … came over in the Carlos Beltran trade last year, and finishes this season with a 4.49 ERA and a 112/39 K/BB in 126.1 innings … he also had a strong 66.1% ground ball rate

Short Season Staten Island (10-9 win over Aberdeen) they scored five runs in the top of the ninth to win … their regular season doesn’t end until Thursday, but they did clinch a postseason spot with the win today … their magic number to clinch the division title is three

• SS Wilkerman Garcia: 1-5, 1 E (fielding)
• RF Timmy Robinson: 1-5, 2 K
• RHP Jio Orozco: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 1 WP, 2/0 GB/FB, 1 E (pickoff) — 18 of 37 pitches were strikes (49%) … brutal finish to an otherwise solid regular season … the 20-year-old had a 3.50 ERA with a 111/65 K/BB in 118.1 total innings this year … he came over from the Mariners in the Ben Gamel trade last year

Rookie Pulaski (2-0 win over Bluefield) they rebounded to win the best-of-three first round postseason series two games to one after dropping the opener … they’ll play either Elizabethton (Twins) or Greeneville (Astros) in the best-of-three Appalachian League Championship Series, which begins Wednesday … Elizabethton and Greeneville will play a winner-take-all Game Three in their series tomorrow

• CF Frederick Cuevas & SS Eduardo Torrealba: both 0-4 — Cuevas struck out once, Torrealba thrice
• 1B Eric Wagaman: 2-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 K — went 4-for-10 with two doubles in the three games
• 3B Ricky Surum: 2-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 CS
• 2B Jesus Bastidas: 1-3, 1 RBI
• LHP Dalton Lehnen: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 5/3 GB/FB — this year’s sixth rounder had a 4.05 ERA and a 43/9 K/BB in 33.1 innings during the regular season
• RHP Garrett Whitlock: 3 IP, zeroes, 4 K, 5/0 GB/FB — hard to do much better than that … this year’s 18th rounder has a 26/0 K/BB in 17.1 pro innings between the regular season and postseason

Rookie GCL Yanks East (7-5 loss to GCL Nationals) they trail the best-of-three GCL Championship Series one game to none

• SS Jose Devers: 0-5, 1 K
• CF Robert Javier: 1-4, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 K
• RF Canaan Smith: 2-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 E (throwing) — 4-for-7 with a home run and two walks in two postseason games so far
• 1B Nelson Alvarez: 2-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 CS, 1 E (fielding) — hit .181/.339/.208 during the regular season, and is now 3-for-7 with a home run in two postseason games
• RHP Wellington Diaz: 2.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 1 WP, 7/0 GB/FB
• RHP Carlos Rodriguez: 3.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 2 WP, 3/1 GB/FB — couldn’t stop the bleeding after Diaz’s short start

Rookie GCL Yanks West‘s season is over. They did not qualify for the postseason.