• Speaking of managers, Dayton Moore announced prior to the final game of the season that Ned Yost would be back for the 2019 season. I’m sure some people won’t like that, but whatever. I think it’s a prudent move, especially if the next manager truly is in the organization right now, which I believe to be true. The 2019 Royals, no matter what you’re hoping for after that strong finish, are not likely to be good, but there is a brighter future ahead than what anyone likely saw at this time last year when there was just so much uncertainty around the team. Yost staying to absorb some of those losses and to help get the initial growing pains out of the way makes a lot of sense for the Royals and shows that Yost has the best interest of his successor in mind. That’s another reason why I believe the manager is in house. It sure seems like Yost cares enough about whoever’s fate. Personally, I think Pedro Grifol is the guy. I know a lot have speculated Dale Sveum and Vance Wilson, and I can’t argue with them, but I’ve heard whispers too often that Grifol is the next man in charge for me to shy away from making that prediction now (and on Twitter a few days ago, I guess I’m pretty transparent). And I think it’d be a good fit as he’s bilingual and mixes the analytics with the scouting extremely well. He seems to have a good relationship with Moore and the team obviously knows him well. Plus, it’s pretty clear the Royals, and maybe Yost specifically, have fought to keep him around even when he lost his job as hitting coach. Take it for what it’s worth. That’s my two cents.
• The sample is small for everything Adalberto Mondesi did in 2018, but the trend is somewhat interesting to me. There’s been some talk on the interwebs about how he’s laying off pitches better than before and all that, and this is just an extension of that. Prior to the break, he hit .250/.270/.444, which showed good power, but not nearly enough in the way of getting on base to show off his wheels. And he had a .306 BABIP, so without diving too deep into the back end numbers, he wasn’t especially unlucky. After walking twice in 74 plate appearances before the break, he walked nine times in 217 after. No, that’s still not good. But going from a 2.7 percent rate to a 4.2 percent rate is noteworthy to me. But even moreso, he began coming on strong on August 25th when he really started playing basically every day, and in his final 30 games, he walked seven times in 135 plate appearances. Nope, still not special, but 5.2 percent is much, much closer to acceptable. He hit .312/.351/.624 in that time with 10 home runs and 16 steals and a .354 BABIP, which honestly isn’t outrageous given his speed. He’s never going to walk a ton, but with his pop and his ability to add extra bases after the fact, he doesn’t need to have a 10 percent walk rate to be a star (though it’d be nice). I think he’s on the right track. I’m curious to see how things go in 2019, especially if he doesn’t get off to a hot start, but he’s one of the most exciting storylines of 2019.
• I’ve thought a lot about how pitching and roles are changing in baseball thanks in large part to the Rays sort of having to go on the fly with their opener strategy. And I know I’ve talked a little bit about how the Royals might go about that. As it stands right now, making the silly assumption of health, the Royals have four guys who will enter the season in the rotation – Danny Duffy, Jakob Junis, Brad Keller and Ian Kennedy – and then have a fifth starter spot that’ll be open for some competition among Jorge Lopez, Heath Fillmyer, Trevor Oaks, Scott Barlow and maybe even a couple other guys like Foster Griffin or Scott Blewett if they’re added to the roster. So the Royals aren’t likely to be too innovative given what they have, but they could really benefit from using the opener for a couple of their pitchers. Junis stands out to me as a guy who would really benefit from getting to start his day with the fifth or sixth place hitter and only face the top four or five twice in a game. His third time through the order penalty isn’t crazy stiff, but his .306/.353/.529 is bad enough that it’s worth him not having to get there. Keller and Duffy didn’t really have any noteworthy third time through the order splits (in fact Keller still held opponents below a .700 OPS the third time), but Ian Kennedy struggled actually the second time through the order last season, and maybe if the hitters getting a second look at him are the 6-7-8 hitters and in the fifth or sixth inning, that would be helpful to him. It seems unlikely like I said, but I could see Richard Lovelady, Jerry Vasto, Tim Hill, Scott Barlow and Jorge Lopez all as guys who could be really good in that opening role. The lefties for their ability to get through a lefty heavy top of the order and the righties as guys who might be better in two or three inning stints. I imagine that time will come for the Royals once Yost leaves, but he’s surprised us before, so you never know.
• Someone mentioned on Twitter that it would be interesting to see what the Royals have actually lost in the Rule 5 draft in response to my article about what the Royals have gained over the years. Not surprisingly, the answer is that they haven’t lost much. Best I can tell, they’ve lost 15 players over the years with 11 of them seeing big league team. Such great names as Aurelio Monteagudo, Dick Colpaert and Ryan Baerlocher adorn the list of those gone to other teams, and the best they’ve lost is probably Victor Santos who went to the Pirates in the 2005 draft, but that was after five years in the big leagues posting a 4.99 ERA in 423 innings. So I guess he wasn’t really the best after the draft, but he was the best overall, I suppose. Rodney Myers was taken in that same draft by the Cubs and he actually put together some big league seasons, so that’s a plus for him. I guess the moral of this story is that the Royals have certainly gotten way more than they’ve given in the Rule 5 draft throughout their history and that’s a pretty good thing.

BPKC Hitter of the Day: Nathan Eaton 3-5, 2R, 3b, HR, 2 RBI, SB (16)

BPKC Pitcher of the Day: Scott Barlow 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 0-2 GO-FO, 47p/27k

Augusta GreenJackets 5, Lexington Legends 1

The Legends bats were mostly silent during their afternoon contest with Augusta. The only run on the day came via Brewer Hicklen’s 17th home run of the season. It wasn’t enough as Augusta scored a run off starter Daniel Lynch in his three innings before getting four runs off reliever Janser Lara in the fourth inning. Despite that run allowed, Lynch was quite dominant, working quickly and pounding the zone while getting swings and misses in his three innings that featured six strikeouts.

Daniel Lynch: 3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 2-1 GO-FO, 32p/22k
Kyle Isbel: 2-4, 2 K
Brewer Hicklen: 1-3, HR

Wilmington Blue Rocks 6, Lynchburg Hillcats 5

The Rocks piled up six runs in the first four innings to take a 6-1 lead and managed to hang on late for the win, keeping their postseason hopes alive. Starting pitcher Ofreidy Gomez was on the ropes much of the night with 10 hits given up in six frames, but he allowed just one run with eight strikeouts. He earned the win thanks to the offensive effort in the second and fourth innings. The second featured a triple by Vance Vizcaino that scored two and brought him in one hitter later. Vizcaino was part of the scoring in the fourth inning also, singling and scoring to get that two-run inning going. Relievers Julio Pinto and Andrew Beckwith gave up a couple of runs each but Bryan Brickhouse closed things down to secure the save. The win pushes Wilmington within four games of Lynchburg with six games to go on the season.

Emmanuel Rivera: 2-4, R, 2b
Rudy Martin: 2-5, 2b, RBI
Ofreidy Gomez: 6 IP, 10 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 2-5 GO-FO, 100p/64k

Game 1 – NW Arkansas Naturals 12, Tulsa Drillers 4
Game 2 – Tulsa Drillers 1, NW Arkansas Naturals 0

Starter Foster Griffin gave up three home runs in just two-plus innings but it didn’t matter as the Naturals offense kept hitting on the way to a win. NW Arkansas hitters chased #7 Dodgers prospect Mitchell White after just three innings of his own, connecting on six hits, walking twice and scoring seven runs in that time. Tied 3-3 in the fourth, the Naturals strung together five hits, including four for extra bases. First baseman Samir Duenez completed the scoring with a two-run home run to put the Naturals up 9-3. Lefty Cristian Castillo followed Griffin with 3.1 innings with seven strikeouts to earn the win. A first-inning solo home run off Luis Lugo and a shutout tossed by three different Drillers pitchers may have put the final nail into the Naturals season in the second game.

Jecksson Flores: 4-7, 2R, 2 2b, 6 RBI
Samir Duenez: 2-7, HR, 3 RBI, BB
Andres Machado: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 1-1 GO-FO, 20p/13k

Game 1 – Colorado Springs Sky Sox 3, Omaha Storm Chasers 2
Game 2 – Colorado Springs Sky Sox 7, Omaha Storm Chasers 0

Ian Kennedy didn’t fool many during his first rehab start for Omaha. After three scoreless innings, the Royals starter gave up a run on a double and single before walking a hitter and leaving for reliever Sam Selman. The lefty promptly gave up two hits that allowed both runners to come in to put Omaha down 3-1. The Chasers answered with a run in the bottom of the fourth but could get no closer in the loss. There was very little offense for Omaha in the second game while Trevor Oaks rough second half continued. The right-hander gave up seven runs in just four innings, ballooning his second-half ERA to 5.02. The Chasers had just four hits in seven innings as Bubba Derby shut them down for seven innings.

Nicky Lopez: 1-7
Frank Schwindel: 2-7, 2b
Donnie Dewees: 2-5, R, BB, SB

Idaho Falls Chukars 15, Ogden Raptors 6

The Chukars offense tore up the Ogden pitching staff on Wednesday night as they combined four 19 hits and 15 runs. Six different Chukars hitters had multi-hit games including Bubba Starling who went two for three with a pair of doubles in his first rehab game. Also in the mix was Nathan Eaton with a three-hit day that left him a double short of the cycle. Starter C.J. Eldred got the win despite six runs given up in his six innings.

Bubba Starling: 2-3, 2R, 2-2b, 2 RBI
Reed Rohlman: 2-6, 2R, RBI
Kyle Kasser: 4-6, R, 2b, 3 RBI

Bluefield Blue Jays 9, Burlington Royals 3

Burlington’s Marlin Willis struggled again in his three innings, giving up six runs on four hits and four walks in another Royals loss. Those runs were plenty to hand Burlington a defeat as the offense struggled to get much going on their end with just five hits and a pair of walks.

Matt Morales: 1-4, HR, 2 RBI
Isaiah Henry: 1-4, SB
Kyle Hinton: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 1-1 GO-FO, 25p/18k

Wednesday Boxscores

• The rotation in the final 67 games is especially intriguing to me. Barring a trade or injury, Danny Duffy is going to get 13-14 more starts. Barring another injury, Jakob Junis is going to get 13-14 more starts. Both of them are pretty important if the Royals really do plan to look competitive as soon as 2020 (which I still think is too soon). The rest is fluid to me and very interesting. Brad Keller has shown quite a bit as a starter, but his last two starts pretty much highlighted every reason why people who were skeptical about him were skeptical about him. Then there’s Burch Smith, who I don’t think is even a big leaguer, if we’re being honest. And then there’s Ian Kennedy, who is owed a lot of money, but that money has been spent. There’s no reason not to get a look at some pitchers down the stretch, even if it means a temporary sojourn to the bullpen for him. You guys know that I’m a Trevor Oaks fan, even though his couple of starts haven’t gone well. I’d like to see what he can do in 8-10 starts down the stretch. Eric Skoglund just had a successful rehab start in Surprise, so it looks like he might be back soon. I’m very curious to see if the progress he made early in the year is sustainable. If/when Scott Barlow is healthy, I’d love to see him make some starts as well. And honestly, even if the Royals have to back off Duffy for a start here and there to get a look at some other guys, I’m more than okay with it. The hope is obviously that a couple of the guys from this draft are up and at the top of the rotation by 2021 or so, but there’ll need to be others to fill in. It’ll be good to find out now (and next season) who can be part of that.
• For your weekly Adalberto Mondesi update, remember back to the series in Milwaukee when he first started looking like a big league hitter? Well, since and including that series, he’s hitting .294/.308/.549. Yes, it’s 52 plate appearances. That’s not a lot. Yes he’s walked just once. That’s way too few. Yes, he’s got a .343 BABIP, which actually might not be that high for a guy with his speed, but it’s still high on the surface. But it is so nice to see him have some big league success finally. Even his overall numbers show something. He’s got a .194 ISO, so he’s clearly hitting for power. He has roughly half the extra base hits of Alcides Escobar in about 20 percent of the plate appearances. He’s still swinging at way too many bad pitches and he’s still really struggling with breaking balls, but that’s likely going to plague him for at least awhile. It’s probably why he isn’t likely to be a star, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be a key cog on the next good Royals team. He’s flashed exciting defense as well, so if he’s able to maintain a moderately high average and show off the type of ISO he’s shown off to this point, the Royals are in very good shape with him moving forward. They have 67 games left, and he needs to play at least 62 of them, with at least 90 percent of them coming at shortstop. I’m not confident that’ll happen, but you never know.
• The Dodgers trade of Manny Machado is great news for the Royals in their efforts to move Mike Moustakas and maybe even Whit Merrifield. Since the Dodgers weren’t in on either and some teams like the Phillies, Yankees and Braves were in on Moose and maybe Merrifield too, along with Machado, it bodes well for the Royals chances of getting a better return on at least Moose and maybe makes Merrifield even more desirable. On the Moose front, I’m still skeptical that he’ll bring back much, but when teams get desperate, they do some crazy things. Plus I’ve been wondering if offering certain prospects for one player in a deal that doesn’t get completed makes those prospects more likely to go in a different deal. It’s sort of like loosening the lid on the jar. Once the GM has decided they’re willing to move on from a prospect, is it easier to pry that prospect away? I really don’t know the answer, but I find it interesting to consider anyway. My guess is Moose ends up in either Philadelphia or New York, but the National League is so crazy that I could see the Cardinals, Rockies and maybe even the Diamondbacks getting involved. And that’s before injuries could factor in, though there’s less than two weeks before the deadline, so that time is running short. As for Merrifield, I think the Red Sox, Indians, Mariners, A’s, Phillies, Brewers, Rockies and maybe even the Nationals make sense for him as both short-term and long-term plays. It’ll be an interesting couple weeks and it’s made more interesting by the Dodgers splash this week.
• I’m starting to look ahead to the 2019 season, and while it’ll likely be more of the same for this team, I imagine we’ll see some small one-year deals signed similar to the ones for Jon Jay and Lucas Duda. There are obviously in-house options for pretty much every position, but I could see a scenario where the Royals go shopping for a first baseman, third baseman and center fielder next year. If they don’t end up trading Merrifield, he could be an option in center field if they end up going with Nicky Lopez and Mondesi up the middle, but if they do, maybe they go get Jay one more time to play center for a little bit or Cameron Maybin, who they were rumored to be interested in this year. At third, they have some options if they decide Hunter Dozier and Cheslor Cuthbert can’t cut it. Chase Headley, Pablo Sandoval or Luis Valbuena could all be a short term fit with an eye on trading for more prospects at the deadline. And at first, they should almost definitely go with someone in the organization just to give a shot to someone like Frank Schwindel, but maybe Duda gets a reprieve or they go with Matt Adams. I guess the point isn’t so much the names, but rather starting to think about where the Royals might be looking for short-term veteran fits, and those are the places that pop into my head.

Sure, we survived this kind of nonsense before—looking at you, 2004-2006 Royals—but coming off a five-year period that featured a World Series title, an American League pennant, and three years of contention, this is tough to take.

It would be a little easier to take if we could see steps being taken for the future. By that, I mean seeing the building blocks for the next good Royals team. For the most part, those guys are in distant locales like Lexington and Wilmington. I get that, and there is no good reason to rush any of those players. However, the Royals have committed two major sins so far this year at the big-league level: they are bad at baseball, and as an entertainment concern, well…they’re kind of boring.

Yes, boring: the offense is 14th in the league in home runs, eighth in stolen bases (but with only 38, they average one every other game), and 13th in on-base percentage. They do put the ball in play (fewest strikeouts!) but seldom successfully, as evidenced by their .239 team batting average, good for 11th in the AL. And let’s not forget the second-most double plays in the league—at 75, they are averaging nearly one per game.

On the pitching side, despite working in spacious Kauffman Stadium, the Royals have allowed the most home runs in the league (well, at least that’s exciting for other teams). They have picked up the fewest strikeouts. And they have issued the fourth-most walks in the league, a deadly combination when you give up all those home runs. You might think, “Well, at least the ball is in play a lot,” but when you look up the Royals’ defensive efficiency on the Baseball Prospectus site and realize it is the second-worst in the league (thanks, Baltimore!), you realize that’s not good news. In recent years, you got excited when a Royals opponent put the ball in play, because there was an excellent chance one of the defenders would make a highlight-reel catch. By and large, that’s not happening this year. In fact, by that standard, they’re not even making catches an average team would make.

So yeah, boring. None of this is news if you’ve spent much time watching the Royals this year. But I had to make my case.

Now, how do the Royals solve this? Like I said, they don’t have a raft of top prospects to call up from Omaha. That’s not going to change even when they trade off assets before July 31; if Kelvin Herrera didn’t bring back major-league ready talent, Lucas Duda is unlikely to do so (no offense to Duda). Maybe Mike Moustakas will, but I wouldn’t count on it. Still, there are a few personnel moves the Royals could make that would at least make following the team a little more interesting, even if they do nothing to stop the losing. Thinking about the future and trying to figure out which players might stick in the majors is about the only way Royals fans are going to be entertained the rest of this season.

The Royals actually did a couple of these things over the last week, bringing Adalberto Mondesi and Rosell Herrera to the majors. They also made the right call by keeping Hunter Dozier in the majors when Duda came off the disabled list, dispatching Paulo Orlando to Omaha. Applause for both of those moves. On the other hand, they sent Scott Barlow and Ramon Torres down, and those are probably mistakes.

See, there is a lot of veteran dead weight on this team. Some of it, due to massive contracts, is probably unmovable. Of course, here I refer to Ian Kennedy and the $16 million he is owed this year. Oh, and the $16.5 million he’ll get next year. And the year after that. Sigh.

Anyway, there are lots of other options to clear off the roster. Players like Abraham Almonte, Drew Butera, Ryan Goins, Justin Grimm, Jason Hammel, and Brandon Maurer (along with the aforementioned Orlando) offer little upside. Alcides Escobar really doesn’t, either, but I can’t imagine the Royals cutting him loose, so let’s not worry about that for now. The good news is the Royals have very little money or development time invested in these players. Trade ‘em for lottery tickets, or just release ‘em.

Because there are actually some options at Omaha to replace these players. Relievers Josh Staumont and Richard Lovelady have had success there, and Barlow pitched decently in limited time in Kansas City. We’ve seen a little of Cam Gallagher at the major-league level and he seems like a passable backup catcher. Frank Schwindel and Ryan O’Hearn might deserve a look in the majors. Torres probably won’t ever hit in the majors…but I’d rather find out about him than watch Goins not hit in the majors.

Then there’s the Mondesi/Escobar situation. Most of the players I just mentioned probably aren’t part of the next good Royals team, but this is the time to find out. But with all the hype he’s had, it would be nice if Mondesi turned out to be part of that team. Let the kid play shortstop as often as possible. I actually approve of the Royals trying Escobar at some other positions if it means Mondesi plays more frequently. Escobar chasing down fly balls has the potential to be entertaining. At least it’s different. And that’s what the Royals and their fans need now. Because if you can’t be good (and none of these moves will make this team good in the short-term), you can at least be entertaining.

BPKC Hitter of the Day: Nicky Lopez 4-5, 2R, 2b, RBI, BB

BPKC Pitcher of the Day: Yunior Marte 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 2-3 GO-FO, 40p/30k 

Rome Braves 4, Lexington Legends 1

Lexington starter Carlos Hernandez gave his teammates a quality start, tying a career high with seven innings completed for just the second time in his brief two-year career. The right-hander was hit a little harder than he had been the last two times out, giving up five hits including a solo home run in the fourth that accounted for the second run against him. Despite the five hits, Hernandez did an outstanding job of attacking the zone with 70 strikes on 97 pitches thrown. The Legends scored their only run in the third inning on a fielder’s choice following a leadoff double by Marten Gasparini. The Braves starter Odalvi Javier controlled the Lexington offense with ten strikeouts and just two hits allowed in six innings before their bullpen finished off the Legends over the final three innings.

MJ Melendez: 1-4, 3K
Carlos Hernandez: 7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, 3-5 GO-FO, 97p/70k
Marten Gasparini: 2-3, R, 2b

Potomac Nationals 6, Wilmington Blue Rocks 5 

The Rocks were given eight free passes Wednesday night but they couldn’t do enough with them to secure a win over Potomac. The Nationals starter Joan Baez gave six of those free passes away in his 4.1 innings, but the Rocks were unable to cash any of those free passes in, scoring their only run with a DJ Burt single in front of a Khalil Lee triple. Wilmington starter Ofreidy Gomez fell behind after allowing three runs in six innings on five hits, including a first inning two-run home run. That deficit lasted until the eighth when the Rocks scored three runs to tie things up, the big hit coming via Gabe Cancel’s two-run double. Potomac took the lead back in the eighth before Wilmington tied it again in their half of the ninth only to see a sacrifice fly walk things off for Potomac.

Khalil Lee: 3-4, R, 3b, 2 RBI, BB
D.J. Burt: 2-4, 2R, 3b, BB, SB (10)
Gabe Cancel: 1-2, 2b, 2 RBI, 3 BB

NW Arkansas Naturals 7, Frisco RoughRiders 6 – F/10

The Nationals fell behind early but received outstanding bullpen work which provided the offense time to catch up and eventually take a win away from Frisco. Starter Emilio Ogando surrendered two home runs and six total runs in just four innings of work before handing the game over. Those six runs stood up until the ninth inning when the Naturals evened the game up with a sac fly by Alex Liddi that brought home Erick Mejia. In extras, NW Arkansas worked around the free baserunner while Nicky Lopez doubled home Mejia to secure their fifth consecutive series win, a NW Arkansas record.

Erick Mejia: 2-3, 3R, SB (12)
Elier Hernandez: 3-5, R, 2-2b, RBI
Donnie Dewees: 1-6, SB (6)

Omaha Storm Chasers 5, New Orleans Baby Cakes 4

A pitching duel for six innings saw both starters pitching an early gem with a bunch of zeroes on the board. Those zeroes lasted until the bottom of the sixth when Omaha’s Humberto Arteaga doubled and scored to give the Chasers a 1-0 lead. Unfortunately, that lead didn’t last long as Scott Barlow struggled to finish off his start, giving up a pair of singles to start the seventh before an intentional walk loaded the bases with one out. A mound visit didn’t settle Barlow down as the right-hander gave up a wall-scraping grand slam just over the 310-foot mark in left field to put the Baby Cakes up 4-1. The Chasers would answer though with a four-run frame of their own two innings later with an RBI groundout by Aldaberto Mondesi, a two-run single by Frank Schwindel and an RBI single by Cam Gallagher that scored Schwindel. Reliever Brandon Maurer would run into some trouble in the ninth, loading the bases but getting the final strikeout to secure the win.

Adalberto Mondesi: 0-4,RBI, K
Cam Gallagher: 2-4, 2b, RBI
Scott Barlow: 7 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, HR, 10-4 GO-FO, 95p/62k

BPKC Hitter of the Day: Kort Peterson 3-4 2R, HR, SB (1), CS (1)

BPKC Pitcher of the Day: Scott Barlow 4.2 IP 3 H 1 R 1 ER 1 BB 5 K 5-2 GO-FO 63p/45k

Charleston RiverDogs 3 Lexington Legends 2

The Legends offensive struggles in Charleston continued from their two shutout weekend losses, scoring two runs while going just 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position. The Legends had just five hits in this one spread around by just three players. Catcher Sebastian Rivero led the way with two doubles, an RBI and a run scored while also throwing out an attempted base stealer. Starter Garrett Davila allowed just two runs, yielding six hits and a walk in his six innings of work getting a no-decision despite his solid effort. The game remained tied until the ninth when closer Tyler Zuber gave up three consecutive singles to allow the Yankees Low-A club to walk off with a win.

Brewer Hicklen: 2-4 2b, RBI, SB (2)
Sebastian Rivero: 2-4 R, 2-2b, RBI
Nick Pratto: 0-4 K

Wilmington Blue Rocks 5 Potomac Nationals 3

The Rocks Arnaldo Hernandez gave them his second quality start of the season, which combined with some stellar bullpen work was enough to defeat the Nats. Over six innings of work, he scattered six hits and walk, giving up just two runs (1 ER) before yielding to the pen. Returnees from last year’s club, D.J. Burt and Kort Peterson, each reached base multiple times with the two of them scoring all five of the Rocks runs. With three walks and a single Burt raised his on-base percentage to .500, scoring three runs in the process, but it was Peterson’s fourth home run of the year that gave Wilmington the lead back in the sixth. Closer Bryan Brickhouse worked the final inning and one-third for his fifth save, recording two strikeouts in the process.

Bryan Brickhouse: 1.1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 3 K 0-1 GO-FO 20p/16k
Emmanuel Rivera: 1-2 3 RBI, 2 BB
Gabe Cancel: 2-4

NW Arkansas Naturals 5 Arkansas Travelers 2

The Naturals continued their stellar work from the bullpen in a series-clinching win over Arkansas on Monday. After a run in the second, Samir Duenez blasted a two-run home run in the fourth, his fifth of the season. The bullpen took over for lefty Emilio Ogando in the fifth after he gave up a couple of runs but Sam Selman stranded the tying run on base with an inning-ending flyout in that inning. From there, Selman combined with Franco Terrero and Jake Newberry to work the final four and one-third innings scoreless to lock down the win.

Samir Duenez: 1-4 HR, 3 RBI
Donnie Dewees: 2-5 R, RBI
Nick Dini: 1-3 R, 2b, 2BB

New Orleans Baby Cakes 6 Omaha Storm Chasers 4 F/10

The Royals Scott Barlow made his third start with the Chasers Monday, still on a limited pitch count between his ferrying back and forth to Kansas City and work in the bullpen. The Baby Cakes had bludgeoned the Chasers starters over the weekend, but Barlow held his own in this one, striking out five in four and two-thirds leaving with a runner on base for reliever Wily Peralta and a 3-0 lead. That lead with Peralta on the mound was quickly cut to one when he gave up a two-run home run. The Omaha offense, which had scored three runs in the first inning on a two-run double by Frank Schwindel and an RBI groundout by Paulo Orlando, went silently through the ninth, allowing New Orleans to tie it in the eighth off Peralta with a run-scoring single. The Baby Cakes took advantage of Brandon Maurer in the tenth with three runs with the free baserunner, a hit by pitch, intentional walk and a pair of singles to put the game out of reach for the Chasers.

Adalberto Mondesi: 2-5 SB (4)
Frank Schwindel: 3-4 2b, 3 RBI, BB
Hunter Dozier: 1-4 2R, BB

Monday Boxscores

Tuesday Probables 
Omaha – Kyle Lohse 0-0 11.25 ERA 2.50 WHIP
NW Arkansas – Glenn Sparkman 2-2 2.96 ERA 1.06 WHIP
Wilmington – Cristian Castillo 1-3 8.78 ERA 1.91 WHIP

BPKC Hitter of the Day Nick Dini 2-4 HR, RBI

BPKC Pitcher of the Day Bryan Brickhouse 1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 2 K 1 FO

Notes from J.J. Picollo Assistant GM of Player Personnel

To finish off this series of notes from my interview with Picollo I’ll give some tidbits that the player personnel guy gave on a few different players.

Chase Vallot – The decision to go with three catchers in Wilmington was one of the difficult ones they had to address during the spring season. They know that Vallot’s bat will be what leads him to his success and they wanted him to get it going in Wilmington. He will mix in with Meibrys Viloria and Xavier Fernandez behind the dish but they he will DH quite a bit, they want to see him get a bit more aggressive, and increase the contact rate. They’re also hoping that competition between Vallot, Viloria, and Fernandez will drive the players to improve their game in a similar fashion to what it did for Salvador Perez (improved bat) and Wil Myers (improved defense) in 2010 when they played in Wilmington together.

Josh Staumont – The right-hander was 96-102 mph in spring from the bullpen. The move to the pen is about creating small successes for the pitcher in hopes of him harnessing his arsenal.

Rudy Martin – J.J. gave a Denard Span comp to Martin, as a player that can make an impact on the bases but needs to use his mature approach. Needs to avoid muscling up, use more of a line-drive gap to gap approach. Someone to keep an eye on in Wilmington is Arnoldo Hernandez, the 22-year-old Venezuelan has long been a command/control right-hander but he was pitching 93-95 mph at times this spring, velocities the org hadn’t seen him at previously.

The org is excited about Dan Tillo and were impressed by his work in spring with the lefty getting outs and forcing his way through innings limitations as he continually ran below pitch limits. Tillo’s 2017 draft mate Evan Steele dealt with an illness this offseason which caused some weight loss, he is currently working his way back to full pitch count and should be in Lexington at some point this season. Another pitcher working his way to full strength in Arizona that should be in Lexington at some point this season is hard-throwing Janser Lara.

Wilmington Blue Rocks 5 Potomac Nationals 4

The Rocks fell behind 3-1 after three innings of this one but used a four-run fourth frame to take the lead and the eventual win. Starter Ofreidy Gomez gave up three runs as he struggled with the strikezone, walking four in his four innings along with six hits allowed. The Wilmington bailed him out though with doubles by Khalil Lee, Chris DeVito, and Chase Vallot to plate those four runs. Right-hander Anthony Bender worked four innings in aid of Gomez, giving up a solo home run to Carter Kieboom but no other damage before Bryan Brickhouse worked a perfect ninth frame to secure the win.

Khalil Lee 1-3 R, 2b, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 2 K
Emmanuel Rivera 0-4 R, BB
Chris DeVito 2-4 R, 2b, RBI, BB
Anthony Bender 4 IP 4 H 1 R 1 ER 3 BB 3 K 6-4 GO-FO

Corpus Christi Hooks 8 NW Arkansas Naturals 2

Starter Scott Blewett had a good start to his first Double-A game, striking out six of the first eight hitters he would face on the evening before running into some trouble. Following his sixth strikeout, Blewett would walk a hitter before the Hooks connected on four consecutive singles to push across three 3rd inning runs. An inning later after getting two outs the righty would give up another single and hit a batter to end his night. One of the inherited runners would come across on Yunior Marte, who would allow a pair of runs himself as the Naturals couldn’t muster up much offense of their own, getting single tallies in the 2nd and 7th innings. The second run came courtesy of an Anderson Miller solo home run.

Nicky Lopez 0-2 2bb
Samir Duenez 0-4
Donnie Dewees 0-2 2bb
Anderson Miller 2-4 HR
Elier Hernandez 0-4 K
Scott Blewett 3.2 IP 6 H 4 R 4 ER 1 BB 6 K 2-1 GO-FO 86p/54k
Franco Terrero 1 IP 2 H 1 R 0 ER 0 BB 2 K 2-0 GO-FO 21p/16k

Omaha Storm Chasers 2 Colorado Springs Sky Sox 1
Colorado Springs Sky Sox 3 Omaha Storm Chasers 2

The Chasers split their Saturday doubleheader with Colorado Springs despite the offense’s continued struggles in the cold weather. The Chasers walked it off in game one with an Humberto Arteaga two-out rbi single that drove in Terrance Gore who had pinch ran for Nick Dini and stole second. Dini had played a part in both of the Chasers runs, homering in the third before singling in the seventh and being lifted for Gore. The Omaha pitching staff struggled with the zone in both games, walking 15 Sky Sox in the two games including eight in the second game. Those eight in the second game helped the Sky Sox score three runs including the eventual deciding run on Josh Staumont after he gave up a single and a walk in the fifth inning before being lifted for Richard Lovelady. The lefty couldn’t clean things up all the way, allowing one of the runners to come in which the Chasers couldn’t match on their side to drop the game by a run.

Ryan O’Hearn 3-7 2 RBI
Hunter Dozier 1-3 BB
Andres Machado 3 IP 3 H 2 R 2 ER 4 BB 5 K 2-0 Go-FO 66p/33k
Richard Lovelady 1.2 IP 0 H 0 R 1 BB 1 K 3-1 GO-FO 27p/15k
Josh Staumont 1 IP 1 H 1 R 0 ER 1 BB 2 K 1-0 GO-FO 31p/18k
Scott Barlow 4.1 IP 3 H 1 R 1 ER 5 BB 7 K 1-2 GO-FO 93p/52k