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LEXINGTON:
Cody Reed, drafted by the Royals in last year's 2nd round, has struggled in his first full pro season. Thursday at Augusta was no different, with 4 innings and 7 runs (4 earned). The Legends offense had a couple of big games as a team. Frank Swhindel had another big weekend, with three two-hit games. Youngster (seriously, 1995? We're all so old!) Alfredo Escalara-Maldonado had a 4-hit game on Friday and two more hits on Saturday. The center fielder is now at .230/.273./.372 for the season, which isn't amazing, but a 4-hit game will always get a mention here.
WILMINGTON:
The Blue Rocks dropped 3 out of 4 to Potomac this weekend, but Christian Binford had another fantastic game Thursday, pitching 7 innings with 1 run, 7 Ks, and no walks. This high-strikeout, low-walk performance is on par with the rest of Binford's 2014 so far.
Bubba Starling this weekend: 2 singles, a grand slam, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts.
Hunter Dozier this weekend: 3 singles, 2 doubles, a homer, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts. He's sitting at .299/.404/.422 this year.
Raul Mondesi also had a trio of 2-hit games, which is a much more positive note than the last time we checked in on him.
Sean Manaea sputtered a bit, giving up 3 earned runs in 4.2 innings. He walked 4 and struck out 5.
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS:
Chelsor Cuthbert collected six hits over the weekend, but all were singles. JC Sulbaran pitched well on Friday, with 6.1 innings of 1-run ball.
OMAHA:
John Lamb had another perfectly serviceable start, going 6 innings and yielding one run.
Spencer Patton had another great outing in relief, striking out 3 in 1.2 hitless innings. He's got 12 saves on the season, if you're into that kind of thing.
Justin Maxwell had a nice weekend, with hits every day including a home run on Thursday. Whit Merrifield tripled in his triple-A debut.
Bruce Chen got shelled in a rehab appearance on Sunday.
The big story for the Chasers was Matt Fields, who had a big night Friday, to say the least: he hit a pair of homers including a grand slam. He has nine dingers on the season, and his big weekend had more people than usual asking me if he was going to get the call. He is having a good season, to be sure, though his splits seem to indicate he's benefiting somehow from Wener Park's hitter friendliness. He also has 66 strikeouts already, against just 13 walks. Fields is one of the good guys,with an interesting story, and fans could do worse than to pull for him.