Yankees MILB 4/20: Ben Rice Homers in 4th Straight Game

News:

Nothing new.

Scranton (13-6) (Defeated Lehigh Valley, 5-2)

CF Brandon Lockridge1-for-4, 2 RBI, 2 K
SS Caleb Durbin0-for-3, RS, BB
In 210 career games, Durbin has a 98/79 BB/K. Starts by position: SS: 6 (7 total games); 2B: 6; 3B: 2; LF: 2 (3 total games); CF: 1
RF Everson Pereira1-for-3, 2B (3), RS, CS (2), BB, K
Pereira continues to swat extra-base hits and his career SLG is over .500 (.505). He will require consistent MLB at-bats to see how his game translates. I am not sure if the Yankees will be the team that offers him that.
DH T.J. Rumfield0-for-4, RBI, K
1B Carlos Narvaez2-for-3, SF, RBI
.218/.400/.327 in 75 PA (3 doubles, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 15 BB, 16 K)
C Luis Torrens1-for-3, 2B (2), BB, K
Torrens’ first game since 4/12.
LF Jose Rojas0-for-3, RS, BB
3B Jordan Groshans0-for-2, RS, BB, K
2B Josh VanMeter2-for-2, 2B (3), RBI, RS, SB (1), CS (1), BB
VanMeter is doing his job as a depth piece (10-for-38, 3 doubles, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 8 R)

RHP Cody Poteet (W,1-0): 6.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
I assume we will see Poteet again at some point this season. He throws his 4-seam fastball just hard enough to keep hitters honest.
LHP Oddanier Mosqueda1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
10.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 HR, 4 BB, 14 K. 
RHP Yerry De Los Santos1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 HR, 0 BB, 1 K


Somerset (6-8) (Lost to Hartford, 10-7)

CF Spencer Jones: 2-for-4, RS, SB (1), BB, K
Your reminder that Jones stole 43 bases in 55 attempts (78.2%) in 2023. You hope he puts the entire puzzle together because he is a unicorn. He is now 5-for-17 with three walks.
C Ben Rice: 2-for-4, HR (5), 2 RBI, 3 RS, BB, K
Rice has homered in four straight games (this is also his 4th straight multi-hit game (9-for-17)). Your reminder that he hit .327/.401/.648 with 16 HR in 48 games at this level in 2023. He now has 21 HR in 61 games here. The Yankees likely kept him here to get reps behind the plate. However, the bat will make or break Ben Rice and should be the focus. Get him to Triple-A.
DH Elijah Dunham: 2-for-5, HR (2), 3 RBI, RS
9-for-31 (2 doubles, 1 triple, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 4 R)
3B Ben Cowles: 2-for-5, 3B (2), RS, 2 K
Cowles is hitting .347 with an annoying .999 OPS. This is his 5th multi-hit game (14th game played)
1B J.C. Escarra0-for-4, HBP, 2 K
RF Jared Wegner: 1-for-4, BB, K
LF Grant Richardson1-for-5, SB (3), CS (1), K
2B Aaron Palensky1-for-4, K
SS Alexander Vargas2-for-4, RS, SB (1), CS (1)
Vargas earns his first two Double-A hits.

RHP Blane Abeyta:(L, 0-3)  6 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 HR, 0 BB, 3 K
RHP Luis Velasquez2.2 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 HR, 2 BB, 2 K
LHP Ryan Anderson0.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K


Hudson Valley (9-4) (Defeated Aberdeen, 4-3)

2B Roc Riggio1-for-4, HR (1), 2 RBI, RS, 2 K
Riggio’s first professional home run. He hit 18 homers in 59 games for Oklahoma State in 2023.
SS Jared Serna: 1-for-3, 2B (1), SF, RBI, K
.146/.296/.317 in 54 PA. On the encouraging side: 7 K (12.96%) and his BABIP is .114. His numbers should start to tick up.
RF Jace Avina0-for-1, 3 BB, K
He is only 20, so we’ll see how he does in his first exposure to High-A pitching. 
3B Jesus Rodriguez0-for-4, 2 K
C Omar Martinez2-for-3, HR (3), RBI, RS, BB, K
.316/.409/.605 in 44 PA (1 triple, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 5 R, 6 BB, 9 K). 
DH Garrett Martin0-for-1, 3 BB, K
.250/.386/.417 in 45 PA
1B Josh Moylan0-for-2, 2 BB
CF Nelson Medina0-for-3
LF Kyle Battle1-for-2, 2B (1), 2 RS, SB (1), BB
Battle hasn’t been able to get into any groove, but he is 30-for-34 stealing bases in his career.

LHP Kyle Carr4 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 HR, 3 BB, 2 K
So far, command and control have issues for Carr. He owns a 3.72 ERA in 9.2 IP (8 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 1 HR, 11 BB, 5 K)
LHP Ben Shields: 3.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K
11.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 HR, 1 BB, 14 K. This is a good start to the 25-year-old’s career.
RHP Luis Arejula: (W, 1-1) 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K


Tampa (4-10) (Lost a tough one to St. Lucie, 9-8)

DH George Lombard Jr.: 2-for-5, 2B (2), 4 RBI, RS, BB, K
Lombard Jr. sets a personal best for RBI in a game. He reached base three times tonight after reaching base six times on Thursday. Crazy. There is plenty for the 18-year-old to work on but how can you not be encouraged by the start to his career?
2B Enmanuel Tejeda2-for-6, RBI, K
Tejeda is hitting .309 (17-for-55) with a pair of doubles and 9 RBI.  
SS Roderick Arias2-for-5, 2B (4), CS (3), BB, K
Six of Arias’ ten hits have gone for extra bases. 
1B-3B Dylan Jasso1-for-2, 2B (3), 2 RS, 2 BB, HBP
3B-1B Coby Morales0-for-4, RS, SB (3), BB, 2 K
CF Willy Montero2-for-4, SF, 2 RBI, 2 RS, 2 SB (4)
While he isn’t in the Lombard/Arias category, Montero is an up-the-middle prospect with talent.
RF Daury Arias1-for-3, RS, SB (2), 2 BB, K
C Edinson Duran: 1-for-4, RS, HBP, 2 K
LF Dayro Perez1-for-5, 2 SB (3), 3 K

RHP Josh Grosz:  5 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 HR, 1 BB, 6 K
One of Grosz’s sinkers reached 96.3 MPH (70% of his pitches were sinkers). This is his most encouraging start thus far this year.
RHP Cade Austin2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K
RHP Art Warren: (L, 0-1) 0.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
Essentially, there is a “rehab goal” for Warren right now and they were unlikely to sway from that regardless of the game situation.


FCL (0-0)

The season starts on 5/4.


DSL (0-0)

It will be a while before their season starts!