News:
While not minor league news, the Guardians have designated RHP Zach Plesac for assignment.
The question is: Assuming he falls to the Yankees (not guaranteed), is there room for him? The Yankees have Gerrit Cole, Luis Severino, and Nestor Cortes locked into the rotation with Domingo German and Clarke Schmidt at the bottom of the rotation. Factoring in the return of Carlos Rodon (assuming it happens), you do find yourself with a bit of a rotation logjam. That said, you can never have enough pitching depth and Plesac can just as easily take the spot that was recently vacated by Ryan Weber due to an arm injury.
Plesac has not been a particularly healthy or good pitcher. In five starts this season, he owns an unpleasant 7.59 ERA (though it comes with a 4.51 FIP) in 21.1 innings. His strikeout rate is a meager 13.3% and the only time he has shown the ability to strikeout hitters was during the 2020 COVID season (27.7%). His career 102 ERA+ is bolstered by his 2019-2020 seasons. From 2021-2023, it is 86.
The cost to acquire him shouldn’t be high. After all, Cleveland had to designate him for assignment because nobody wanted to trade for him. He could slip through waivers, which would allow teams to save a little money by signing him for a prorated league minimum. I will never say no to adding pitching depth and he does have a Matt Blake connection. That said, I wouldn’t expect miracles. He is purely a depth option who could find himself on the waiver wire multiple times before all is said and done.
Scranton (27-30) (Lost to Lehigh Valley, 8-7)
RF Estevan Florial: 2-for-5, 2B (9), RS, K
Florial has a 13-game hitting streak and a 25-game on-base streak.
DH Oswald Peraza: 0-for-3, BB, HBP, K
His hitting streak is snapped, but he does reach base a pair of times.
CF Elijah Dunham: 2-for-5, RS, K
3B Andres Chaparro: 1-for-5, RBI, RS, K
Chaparro is earning some hits (he has at least one hit in 11 of his last 12 games) but hasn’t been fully in the zone. He hasn’t homered in 14 games.
LF Franchy Cordero: 2-for-3, 3B (1), 2 RBI, RS, BB
C Rodolfo Duran: 1-for-4, 2B (11), RBI, RS
Duran continues to show off his pop.
1B Billy McKinney: 0-for-4, K
2B Jamie Westbrook: 1-for-3, HR (7), RBI, RS, HBP
SS Jesus Bastidas: 1-for-3, HR (7), RBI, RS, BB, 2 K
Bastidas has three home runs in his last six games.
LHP Tanner Tully: 4.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, HR
RHP Aaron McGarity: 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
RHP Colten Brewer: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
RHP Greg Weissert: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
RHP Deivi Garcia: (L, 1-1) 1.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, HR
Is it almost time to just throw in the towel?
Somerset (29-21) (Defeated Portland, 5-4, in ten innings)
SS Trey Sweeney: 1-for-5, HR (4), RBI, RS
.227/.360/.343 in 211 PA (8 doubles, 4 HR, 18 RBI, 31 R, 34 BB (16.1%), 46 K (21.8%), 8-for-11 SB)
LF Jasson Dominguez: 1-for-4, RBI, RS, BB
.211/.374/.398 in 206 PA (4 doubles, 1 triple, 8 HR, 29 RBI, 36 R, 42 BB (20.4%), 50 K (24.3%), 12-for-15 SB). I find it rather interesting that Dominguez has only four doubles. He hit 32 in his first 176 professional games. It could just be noise.
DH Austin Wells: 3-for-5, RBI
.270/.365/.560 in 115 PA. This is his second 3-hit effort for Somerset (8 multi-hit games)
3B Tyler Hardman: 0-for-4, SF, RBI, K
PR Max Burt: 0-for-0, RS
1B T.J. Rumfield: 2-for-4, RBI, BB
Rumfield walked it off with his RBI single in the 10th. He is now hitting .240/.333/.419 in 243 PA with 18 BB (7.4%) and 21 strikeouts (8.6%). The BABIP remains low at .236.
2B Caleb Durbin: 1-for-4
Between here and Hudson Valley: .303/.414/.388 in 181 PA (8 doubles, 1 triple, 1 HR, 14 RBI, 33 R, 21 BB (11.6%), 11 K (6%), 26-for-30 SB). His K% for Somerset is 2.4%.
CF Jeisson Rosario: 0-for-4, 3 K
RF Aaron Palensky: 1-for-3, 2B (2), RS, BB
C Mickey Gasper: 1-for-4, RS
RHP Richard Fitts: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
4.73 ERA (51.1 IP, 56 H, 27 R, 27 ER, 7 HR, 13 BB, 55 K). His last three starts: 2.00 ERA (18 IP, 18 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 19 K)
RHP Justin Wilson: 1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
RHP Zac Houston: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K
RHP Tanner Myatt (W, 2-0): 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
I like it when Myatt has clean innings. Season: 3.68 ERA (22 IP, 13 H, 9 R, 9 ER, 1 HR, 18 BB, 24 K)
Hudson Valley (29-22) (Shut down Aberdeen, 9-0. Their pitching is on fire – today, the offense kept pace)
CF Spencer Jones: 3-for-4, 2B (17), BB, CS (5)
Jones has four doubles in his last five games. An old adage stated that current doubles are future home runs. I don’t know how much truth that holds, but we all know that Jones has a lot of power to tap into.
SS Alexander Vargas: 0-for-3, SF, RBI, BB, K
DH Josh Breaux: 2-for-5, 2B (1), RS
Breaux is 9-for-31 during his rehab stint.
C Antonio Gomez: 3-for-4, 2B (8), HR (2), RBI, 4 RS, BB
Gomez is on a modest 5-game hitting streak (8-for-17). This is his first career 4-run game.
RF Anthony Garcia: 2-for-4, HR (3), 3 RBI, 2 RS, K
LF Kyle Battle: 0-for-1
1B Spencer Henson: 1-for-3, 2B (9), RS, BB, K
2B Ben Cowles: 0-for-4, 2 K
LF-RF Grant Richardson: 1-for-4, 2B (3), RBI, 2 K
3B Eduardo Torrealba: 1-for-3, RS, BB
RHP Drew Thorpe: (W, 4-1) 8 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K
You don’t see many pitchers (MLB or minors!) complete eight innings nowadays. Season: 3.31 ERA (51.2 IP, 43 H, 23 R, 19 ER, 4 HR, 20 BB, 59 K).
RHP Carlos Gomez: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K
Tampa (21-30) (Lost to Bradenton, 6-2. A boring afternoon offensively, as they had five hits and didn’t draw any walks)
SS Jared Serna: 0-for-4, 2 K
I don’t think the recent spike in K% is alarming – I do think it is normalizing. He struck out 15% of the time in the Complex League last year and 34.1% of the time in his small taste of this level. This year, his rate is now 16%. We’ll see if he can keep it around that level.
CF Daury Arias: 0-for-4, K
C Agustin Ramirez: 0-for-4, K
Ramirez has 30 walks (18.1%) and 29 strikeouts (17.5%) in 166 PA.
DH Anthony Hall: 1-for-4, CS (3)
6-game hitting streak (8-for-24; .333)
2B Brenny Escanio: 0-for-3, 2 K
RF Nelson Medina: 2-for-3, RS
.290/.390/.468 in 146 PA (8 doubles, 1 triple, 4 HR, 22 RBI, 18 R, 7-for-8 SB, 20 BB (13.7%), 45 K (30.8%))
3B Jesus Rodriguez: 1-for-3, RBI
.272/.343/.352 in 141 PA. He is 8-for-16 in June.
1B Omar Martinez: 0-for-3, 2 K
LF Tayler Aguilar: 1-for-3, HR (3), RBI, RS, K
RHP Baron Stuart: (L, 1-3) 3.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, HR
RHP Ocean Gabonia: 1.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, HR
RHP Alex Bustamante: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K
RHP Adam Stone: 0.2 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
Stone’s second career appearance.
RHP Shane Gray: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K
4.26 ERA (25.1 IP, 21 H, 13 R, 12 ER, 3 HR, 9 BB, 31 K). Last year’s 16th-round pick allowed 9 of those 13 runs in his first five appearances this year. He has a 1.29 ERA between May and June.