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another amazing job by Adam Scott. He struck out the 5 men he retired in his 1 2/3 innings today. But he also walked 6. Only hit one today. His totals for 2 starts are a hard to match:

3 1/3 innings 3 hits 7 runs 3 earned 8 walks 6 hit batters 5 strikeouts. ERA 16.20 WHIP 5.06.
korea here he comes.

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Columbus Clippers 2, Charlotte Knights 8

Box Score · Clippers fall to 3-5

Adam Scott’s pitching line Saturday was one of the strangest I’ve seen in a while. You’d think when someone walks six batters in less than two innings, he’d have been raked over the coals, but he only gave up one run because all five of his outs recorded were strikeouts.

His final line: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 6 BB, 5 K.

I doubt Scott stays in the starting rotation for long. I think he’s only there now out of necessity, but if Gavin Williams earns a quick promotion to Triple-A, Scott would easily be the odd man out.

Touki Tousant and Caleb Barager combined for a rock solid 4.1 innings of relief and the Clippers looked like they might end up winning a low-scoring affair. That was, until Phillip Diehl got blown up for three runs in 0.2 innings. Every other bullpen member allowed at least one run the rest of the way and the Clippers never recovered.

Offensively, Richie Palacios did exactly what you ask a leadoff hitter to do... get on base. He went 1-for-2 with three walks, although he also got caught stealing once. Bo Naylor walked twice, Zack Collins went 2-5, Bryan Rocchio doubled and David Fry blasted a home run.
Akron RubberDucks 2, Erie SeaWolves 3 (F/11)

Box Score · RubberDucks fall to 1-2

The Akron pitching staff did not give an earned run the entire game, but the RubberDucks still lost 3-2 in 11 innings.

No one from Akron had an extra-base hit. Raynel Delgado reached base twice with a single and a walk. He also stole a base.

Lake County Captains 2, Dayton Dragons 7

Box Score · Captains fall to 2-1

Lake County struggled on offense and defense to lose its first game of the season. Yordys Valdez was the only Captain to reach base safely twice with a pair of walks. Jake Fox and Isaiah Greene added a steal each.

The highlight of the game for the Captains was the season debut of Rodney Boone, who tossed 4.1 scoreless innings with six strikeouts, one hit allowed, and two walks. Boone struggled at High-A last season after he was promoted from Lynchburg so this is a great sign for his development.

The lowlight of the game was six unearned runs allowed by reliever Elvis Jerez in 0.2 innings of work, which put the game out of reach.
Lynchburg Hillcats 7, Fredericksburg Nationals 4

Box Score · Hillcats improve to 1-1

A day after I was surprised that he was batting in the No. 9 spot in the order, Nate Furman was rightfully bumped to the leadoff position for Lynchburg.

Furman promptly repaid the faith Lynchburg’s coaching staff had in him by going 1-3 with a double and a pair of walks.

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Tanner Bibee, RHP, Guardians: The Guardians have turned Bibee from the command-and-control pitcher he was at Cal State Fullerton to a command-and-control pitcher who now sits 95 and touches 98. That’s what he did in his outing on Friday as he dominated Triple-A Charlotte with his 95 mph fastball, 83-84 mph slider, slower mid-70s curveball and low-80s changeup. Bibee allowed four hits while striking out seven in five scoreless innings. He threw strikes on 70.5% of his 78 pitches.

Plesac will need more good starts to protect his role in the rotation.

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Baseball America first weekly HOT SHEET

8. Brayan Rocchio, SS, Guardians
Team: Triple-A Columbus (International)
Age: 22

Why He’s Here: .314/.400/.457 (11-for-35), 5 R, 5 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 2 RBIs, 5 BB, 5 SO, 3-for-3 SB

The Scoop: Rocchio is a Top 100 prospect who reached Triple-A last year as a 21-year-old, though he hit just .234/.298/.387 in 33 games there. That’s not a big concern—he was the age equivalent of a 2022 college draft pick—and he’s showing this year why he’s such a highly regarded prospect with his mix of barrel control from both sides of the plate, glove work and outstanding instincts for the game. With Amed Rosario at shortstop, Andres Gimenez at second base and Jose Ramirez at third, the Guardians aren’t in any rush to bring Rocchio up at the moment, so he could be in for a lengthy stint with Triple-A Columbus.

17. Bo Naylor, C, Guardians
Team: Triple-A Columbus (International)
Age: 23

Why He’s Here: .276/.488/.586 (9-for-29), 5 R, 3 2B, 2 HR, 9 RBIs, 11 BB, 8 SO

The Scoop: Naylor has picked up where he left off offensively in 2022, as he’s drawn a ton of walks while demonstrating his power. But more importantly, Naylor also has shown improvement defensively. Naylor’s throwing has been more consistent so far, something that was an issue at times last year. His pop times to second base have ranged from 1.88 to 2.05 seconds, but it’s his accuracy that has significantly improved. His lone throwing error came when his throw was on-line to third base, but hit the runner as he slid into the bag.

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Rocchio kept at it last night with 2 singles, 2 walks and his 4th steal.

Naylor went only 1-6 but the hit was his 3rd home run, a grand slam, giving hm 13 RBI.

Richie Palacios went 3-5 with 5 RBI on his 2nd homer, 4th double and a sac fly
[Oscar could lose his job to Palacios]

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Great night for Bibee and Williams.

Bibee 2nd start for Columbus: 6 innings 1 hit 2 walks 8 strikeouts. Total in 2 games: 11 5 0 0 3 15 0.00 ERA


Williams 2nd start for Akron: 5 innings 5 innings 4 hits 1 run 1 walk 3 strikeouts. Total in 2 games: 9 1/3 innings 6 hits 1 run 3 walks 12 strikeouts 0.83 ERA

BA noted its surprise that Bibee debuted a level ahead of Williams, but he's doing even better at the higher level.
He'll be here soon!

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16 runs for the Clippers.

Freeman 5-6 3 rbi homer 2 doubles 2 singles 341 1031 OPS
Rocchio 3 hits 5 rbi double 2 singles 375 946 OPS
Naylor 3 walks avg only 220 but with all his walks and plenty of XB hits 220 933 OPS

for Akron:
Halpin single, walk 250 732 OPS not bad at all for a 20 year old
Martinez 0-4 250 avg 708 OPS
Lavastida continues to not do anything He's at 087

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Still no sighting of our top pitching draft pick Justin Campbell who is supposed to be pretty exciting, but he joins No. 1 draft choice OF DeLauter, No. 1 pitching prospect Daniel Eslpino and No. 1 position prospect George Valera with his annual serious hand injury and Jose Tena roughly no. 12 prospect who have all disappeared

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today's prospect report features, not surprisingly:

Tanner Bibee, RHP, Guardians: Cleveland might have this whole pitching thing figured out. In 2021, it popped Bibee in the fifth round out of Cal State Fullerton. Then the Guardians sent him to their laboratory. Now, he's a monster. Bibee broke out in 2022, when he struck out 167 and walked just 27 over 132.2 innings. This year, his stuff has taken even more of a jump. He touched 100 mph on Thursday night, when he punched out eight over six one-hit innings in Columbus' dismantling of Worcester.

Tyler Freeman, 2B, Guardians: Freeman's prospect status has fluctuated in recent years, largely based around questions about the potential impact in his bat and whether he'd stick up the middle. He made his big league debut in 2022 and didn't show much in the way of pop. On Thursday, though, he found the power switch. Still just 23, Freeman collected the second five-hit game of his career (the first came on May 15, 2021), smacked two doubles and a home run and finished a triple shy of the cycle.