Stars of the Day: May 12
Out of nowhere, Junior Mayberry (.370 / .404 / .722) is suddenly looking like the prospect the Rangers have hoped he'd become since selecting him in the first round of the 2005 amateur draft with a plan to rebuild his "aluminum bat" swing.
Yesterday's 2-4 outing that included his third homer of the year in Oklahoma's 7-6 victory over Fresno brought Mayberry up to 54 Triple-A at-bats. After striking out at a 25% clip at each and every stop along the way, he's below 10%. Though he has only two walks to his credit, I find myself shocked that his contact rate has improved so much.
In Bakersfield, Julio Borbon (.325 / .372 / .429) ran his hitting streak to 17 games by going 2-4 with his 13th double of the year in support of starter Evan Reed (3-1; 5.59) who struck out eight while holding High Desert to a run on five hits in six innings of work.
Craig Gentry is having a nice year for the RoughRiders, but I don't think the Rangers are going to allow him to stand in Borbon's way for much longer.
Jose Vallejo (.280 / .329 / .427) seems to be getting back on track after enduring a horrible start to the month. With his fifth homer of the year in a 1-4 outing yesterday, he's 6-43 since May Baskets were handed out.
I continue to like what I'm seeing from Johnny Whittleman (.277 / .405 / .454) lately after seeing the third baseman go 1-3 with a walk. He's hitting .316 / .500 / .447 in 38 May at-bats.
Frisco lost to Midland by a 4-1 count after traversing southern Texas to get from Corpus to the Permian Basin on Sunday. Michael Schlact came within one out of a quality start.
Chris Davis (.326 / .367 / .565) went 1-3 with...a WALK. ("There. You happy now? Mind too much if I go back to driving 500 footers into the atmosphere?")
Clinton starter Kennil Gomez (6-0; 2.31) worked his way around two LumberKings errors to hold Beloit to two runs, one earned, on three hits and and three walks, punching out seven in five innings of work. A struggling Jonathan Greene (.225 / .333 / .402) went deep, doubled and took one for the team in a 2-3 outing to propel the 25-8 L-Kings to a 6-5 victory.
Engel Beltre (.277 / .300 / .403), who has been pulled from a game at least once this year when swinging at the first pitch, went 2-5 with a double.
