Stars of the Day: May 19
Tommy Hunter's Texas Leauge debut was a stunner as the big righty taken by the Rangers as their fifth and final first round selection in the 2007 draft held San Antonio to a run on five hits and no walks, striking out four in seven innings as the RoughRiders posted a 4-1 victory over San Antonio.
Hunter enjoyed the support of Frisco's two-headed monster as Chris Davis (.323 / .372 / .587) smacked his 10th homer of the year in a 3-4 outing and Max Ramirez (.377 / .450 / .658) homered for the ninth time this season and walked in four trips.
Bakersfield eeked out a 10-9 victory over Lancaster as Johnny Whittlman (.296 / .402 / .465) bounded towards the.300 / .400 / .500 line I'm expecting him to ultimately post for the Blaze with a 4-5 outing that included a pair of doubles. Whittleman is hitting .395 over his last 10 games. The suddenly red hot David Stoneburner (.214 / .250 / .405) homered twice in five trips to drive in four.
In Clinton, Fabio Castillo (3.03 ERA) made his first start of the year and held Beloit to one unearned run on three hits and no walks in five frames, punching out three, but the L-Kings bullpen gave up six runs, including three in the ninth and Clinton lost 6-5.
You want to see an exciting young starting pitcher? You can't go wrong picking which Clinton game to go to these days: Neftali Feliz, Kennil Gomez, Derek Holland, Fabio Castillo and Blake Beavan. Yeesh.
Renny Osuna (.368 / .443 / .556) continued to blister MWL pitching with a 2-3 outing that included a homer and two walks. Osuna is hitting .548 with two homers, two triples, five doubles, five walks and two K's in his last 10 games (42 at-bats).
Jonathan Greene (.268 / .381 / .449) seems to have completely emerged from his early-season woes after going 3-4 with a walk and driving in wo. The former catcher turned third baseman is hitting .400 / .511 / .657 over his last ten games.
Finally, Oklahoma wiped the floor with New Orleans as 4-A (.333 / .467 / .697) homered twice and walked twice in a 2-3 outing, driving in three and scoring four times. Taylor Teagarden (.283 / .431 / .413) smacked his first Triple-A homer and Travis Metcalf went 3-4 with a double in his fourth game back from a hamstring injury that has had him on the shelf all year.
So what's Whittleman's likely positional destination, if he keeps hitting? It's a foregone conclusion at LSB that he can't handle 3B (an opinion backed up by his error stats).
The Clinton rotation is entertaining, now that Castillo looks to be starting. Font, Main and Ramirez...are they in Spokane, or will they require some Bakersfield promotion(s)? I think Feliz is ready for A+ this summer if he maintains, and Kennil has been steady, steady, steady.
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I still believe that Whittleman is the Rangers' 3b of the future.
When Neil Ramirez, Man and Font are ready to move up, I expect Kennil and Holland to move on up. I would not be surprised if Neftali's MWL career is already over.
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