He was not widely heralded, or even widely known, coming into the season, but this right handed relief pitcher for Kane County could be attracting some attention by the end of the season. Through 15.2 innings for Boise (7.2) and Kane County (8.0), this guy has yet to allow a run. Over that span he has given up just nine hits and four walks while striking out fifteen, but none of those of runners have scored.
With just one month left in the minor league season, it is conceivable that Hamann could complete a scoreless season. If you are looking for something to root for this August, Michael Hamann and his quest for zeroes might be a good choice.
Scores From The Weekend
Iowa – Friday – The Cubs tried to rally back, but came up short in a 10-6 loss. Saturday – The Cubs were shut out in this one, 5-0. Sunday – A ninth inning rally did not go far enough as the Cubs lost 4-3.
Tennessee – Friday – Tennessee rallied back in the middle innings, but lost 9-8. Saturday – The Smokies scored early in this 6-3 win. Sunday – They made it interesting with three in the ninth, but Tennessee lost the game 8-5.
Daytona – Friday – Despite being out hit by seven, the Cubs won this one 4-2. Saturday – Shutting out a Cardinals affiliate is always fun. Daytona won it 6-0. Sunday – Three wins in three days, all over a Cardinals team. The final in this win was 2-1.
Kane County – Friday – The Cougars earned a road win by a score of 4-1. Saturday – But they followed that up with a 4-1 road loss. Sunday – Kane County finished the weekend on a high note, though, by picking up a 6-3 win.
Boise – Friday – Boise scored six times in the third on the way to a 9-1 win. Saturday – In a game that was close all the way, the Hawks lost 3-1. Sunday – This was another tight one, but Boise came out winners by a final of 3-1.
Arizona – Friday – Arizona gave up a lot of offense in this 13-4 loss. Saturday – Two big innings carried the Cubs to a 7-1 win. Sunday – The AZL Cubs were blown out again, 12-3.
Performances of Note
[Iowa] New Cub Justin Grimm was shelled in his first start with his new team, but I would not read anything into that. Bad starts happen. Grimm remains a guy with back of the rotation potential, but he could really stand to tune up a third pitch.
[Iowa] Chang-Yong Lim has sprinted up the farm system, never stopping for more than 5 innings at any one level, and has now allowed 2 hits and struck out 2 in 2 innings for Iowa. I would not be surprised to see him added to the Chicago bullpen one day soon.
[Iowa] Speaking of Iowa relievers, Marcus Hatley could be in line for a September promotion. He has been pitching very well lately. With 12 strikeouts in 10.1 innings and a WHIP under 1.000 for the month of July, he seems to be having no trouble with the Pacific Coast League these days.
[Tennessee] After going long twice on Sunday, Javier Baez finished the three weekend games with the following: 2 home runs, 3 hits, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts. The home runs are good and the walks are nice, but those strikeouts have got to come down again.
[Tennessee] Kyle Hendricks fanned 6 in 7 innings in the Saturday win. Zach Rosscup again pitched well in relief in that game.
[Tennessee] Rubi Silva doubled, tripled and homered for the Smokies as part of his six hit weekend. For the month of July the outfielder is hitting .304/.313/.522. If the Cubs could convince him to take a walk more than once a week (he has 11 for the year) we would likely be talking about Silva as much as we do Alcantara.
[Daytona] The Saturday shutout opened with 5 innings from Eduardo Figueroa (6 H, 2 BB, 5 K). Zach Cates threw the next inning (1 H) and Jeffry Antigua finished off the final 3 frames (1 H, 1 BB, 3 K).
[Daytona] The best pitching of the weekend likely came on Sunday, though. New Cub C.J. Edwards fanned 8 in just 5 innings of work. Lendy Castillo struck out 3 more in his 3 innings on the hill, and Austin Reed finished off the game for his 3rd save.
[Daytona] Dustin Geiger is on a tear right now. He piled up 6 hits over the weekend, including a 3 for 4 performance on Saturday, and has an OPS of .908 over his last ten games. For July that number is a very nice .887. Keep in mind that the Florida State League is a pitcher friendly league.
[Kane County] Felix Pena struck out 7 in 6 innings for the Cougars on Friday. Andrew McKirahan, Stephen Perasklis, and Michael Hamann did not allow anyone to score over the final three.
[Kane County] Dan Vogelbach raised his home run counter to 15 this weekend. Over the three games he also drew 4 walks and failed to strike out even once. Over his last ten games he has walked 9 times against 4 strikeouts and is hitting .394/.500/.545. I could see him being fitted for a Daytona uniform in the near future.
[Kane County] In 129 plate appearances since the All-Star break, second baseman Gioskar Amaya has hit .333/.439/.524. It took him a little longer than I expected to solve Midwest League pitching, but it looks like he may have found they key.
[Boise] Rob Zastryzny gave up the only run on Friday, but he also struck out 3 in 2 innings of work. An army of relievers combined to strike out 9 more over the rest of the win.
[Boise] Trey Masek kept his own perfect Boise ERA going with 2 innings of no-hit ball on Saturday.
[Boise] Dillon Maples is starting to pitch with both consistency and success for the Hawks. He struck out 5 and walked no one in his 5 innings of work on Sunday. Corbin Hoffner was once again excellent in relief of Maples.
[Boise] Two of the three hits from Kris Bryant this weekend were home runs. Three of his four total hits with Boise have gone for extra bases.
[Arizona] The pitching was excellent for Arizona on Saturday, and much of that credit goes to Anthony Prieto (4 IP, 3 K) and Trevor Graham (2 IP, 4 K).
[Arizona] Jeffrey Baez is back with Arizona now, and over the weekend he added 7 more hits onto his resume.
Other News
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NEWSLETTER
Ladies and Gentlemen, Michael Hamann.
