Daily Farm Report: Adolis Garcia wants all the home runs

Memphis Redbirds 3, New Orleans Baby Cakes 1

Ryan Helsley (SP) - 2.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K

Junior Fernandez (RP) - 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K

Randy Arozarena (CF) - 3-4

Adolis Garcia (RF) - 1-4, HR, 3 RBI

Another day, same general storylines coming out of Memphis. Adolis Garcia launched his seventh home run in his last eight games, pushing his season total up to 23. He’s still well below average offensively, running a 79 wRC+.

Junior Fernandez is another storyline that weaves a consistent thread throughout 2019, albeit with more positive implications. Fernandez has now thrown 56 innings across Double-A and Triple-A, with 71 strikeouts and just eight earned runs allowed. He’s eligible for the Rule V Draft and needs to be added to the 40-man roster, but it looks like he’s emerged as a legitimate bullpen option.

The win improves Memphis to 43-61. The Redbirds begin a series with Oklahoma City tonight at 7:05pm CDT.

Amarillo Sod Poodles 3 @ Springfield Cardinals 1

Evan Kruczynski (SP) - 5 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 1 HR

Dylan Carlson (CF) - 1-3, HR, RBI, BB

Chris Chinea (C) - 2-4, 2 2B, K

Conner Capel (LF) - 2-3, 2B

Capel, i.e. the other guy who came over with Jhon Torres, has struggled thus far in 2019. Amidst mechanical tweaks and inconsistent play he has fallen short of living up to his physical tools, and risks being lost in the outfield shuffle. With contemporaries Carlson and Arozarena pushing past him and knocking on the door of the major leagues, Capel has underperformed to a .230/.291/.387 at Double-A. It isn’t all gloom, however. For one, Capel was rebounding in June with a .289/.360/461 resurgence at the plate prior to going on the shelf in early July. A strong second-half would partially rehab some of the lost prospect luster.

Springfield drops to 48-55. The series against Amarillo continues tonight at 7:10pm CDT.

Palm Beach 4, Dunedin Blue Jays 2

Edgar Gonzalez (SP) - 5 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 5 BB, 2 K

Patrick Dayton (RP) - 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K

Nolan Gorman (3B) - 2-4, 2B

Julio Rodriguez (C) - 2-4, 2B, RBI

Dunedin jumped out to an early 2-1 lead in the first inning but went quiet from there on out. Palm Beach rallied to notch two runs in the third and one more insurance run in the eighth en route to the victory.

Patrick Dayton is quietly having a strong season for a relief only prospect. Dayton, a 25th rounder in 2017, has appeared in 33 games for Palm Beach this year. In that span, he’s ran a 9.07 K/9, 2.47 BB/9, and 58.6% groundball rate on the way to a 2.47 ERA and 2.66 FIP. He’s been especially nails this past month, allowing only one earned run in eleven appearances since June 23. In a system thin on lefty relief arms, Dayton and his quirky widescreen delivery is a bright spot.

Palm Beach is now 46-54. The Dunedin series will continue this evening at 5:30pm CDT.

Quad Cities River Bandits 3, Peoria Chiefs 0

Michael Brettell (SP) - 7 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 HR

Imeldo Diaz (DH) - 2-4, 2B

Jonatan Machado (CF) - 1-4, 2B, K

Contact-specialist Jonatan Machado is now in his second stint at Peoria, and things have picked up right where they left off. Last year, Machado spent 23 games at Peoria and floundered to a .185/.208/.228 performance. Fast forward to today, and Machado has appeared in a minuscule eight games but is running a similarly impotent .206/.206/.265 line.

The loss drops Peoria deeper still, to 37-64 on the year. Peoria will try to get one back from Quad Cities tonight at 6:35pm CDT.

State College Spikes 5 @ Mahoning Valley Scrapper 2

Dalton Roach (SP) - 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 10 K, 2 HR

Matt Duce (C) - 3-4, HR, 3 RBI

Dariel Gomez (DH) - 1-3, 2B, RBI, K

TERRY FULLER (RF) - 1-3, BB, K

Keep an eye on Matt Duce. Duce is a left handed hitting college catcher, drafted as a senior out of Dallas Baptist in the 9th round of 2018. He OPS’d over .900 as a sophomore and a junior, then was BABIP’d death his senior year despite walking more than he struckout, and is now back to producing at the plate in his first full pro season. In his first 21 games at State College, Duce is hitting .316/.379/.468 while sharing catching duties with Carlos Soto. SSS of course, but an encouraging start.

State College is once again hit breakeven, sitting at 20-20. With Mahoning Valley in the rearview mirror, the Spikes move on to face West Virginia tonight at 6:05pm CDT.

Kingsport Mets 7, Johnson City Cardinals 2

Francisco Justo (SP) - 7 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K

Malcom Nunez (3B) - 3-3, 2 2B, RBI, BB

Chandler Redmond (2B) - 2-4, 2B, RBI, K

Malcom Nunez is doing Malcom Nunez things again! It’s certainly too early to glean anything from his Johnson City stop, being that the “stop” consists of just nine games thus far, but anything that points to his Peoria flop being an isolated incident is a win in my book. In a meager 37 PA sample, Nunez has four doubles and one home run.

Johnson City has pushed above the .500 mark to 18-17. The Cardinals next challenge will be Greeneville, with the series beginning this evening at 5:30pm CDT.

GCL Mets 6 @ GCL Cardinals 1

Anthony Green (SP) - 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K

Tyler Reichenborn (CF) - 1-4, HR, RBI, 3 K

Elehuris Montero (3B) - 0-3, K

DSL Tigers 2 @ DSL Tigers 1

Angel Cuenca (SP) - 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K

Ramon Fernandez (RP) - 3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Albert Inoa (3B) - 2-3

Sander Mora (CF) - 1-3, 2 BB

~

Friday’s Probables

MEM: Jake Woodford

SPR: Angel Rondon

PMB: TBD

PEO: TBD

SC: TBD

JC: Julio Puello