NEWSLETTER
It is much too early to start drawing conclusions from minor league statistics. It is probably too early to be looking at them at all, but what’s the fun in that? Just promise me you won’t start panicking. Promise? Good.
This is not the start to the year Gleyber Torres was hoping for. Through his first 6 games and 27 plate appearances (about a quarter of the way to the 100 PA threshold I look for), Torres has not been making a lot of consistent hard contact. Or contact of any kind, for that matter. His 11 strikeouts translate into an early season rate of 40.7%, and his one extra base hit gives him an ISO of just .042. His over all line reads .083/.185/.125.
On the good side, he has already drawn three walks, so his walk rate is already a respectable 11.1%.
[adinserter block=”1″]While this certainly isn’t the start we were looking for, it is not necessarily a surprising start. Strikeouts were part of his game in South Bend, and they are certainly a factor in the early going in Myrtle Beach.
On the whole, though, this is probably a good thing. It is not uncommon for players to need to struggle, and sometimes struggle badly, before they break out and go on a run of sustained success. Torres really was not challenged significantly in Low A last season; being challenged in Myrtle Beach this season could be exactly what he needs to help highlight what he needs to work on. He’ll start making adjustments, and in a couple of weeks we could be looking at a very different stat line. We have seen that pattern time after time across all levels of the minors.
Besides, 27 plate appearances is too small of a sample size to worry about anyway.
Triple A: Iowa Cubs
Iowa 9, New Orleans 5
Iowa has a potentially potent offense of their own. We should see more scores like this from the I-Cubs this year.
Double A: Tennessee Smokies
Tennessee 7, Birmingham 3
The Smokies pitched eight shutout innings in this one.
High A: Myrtle Beach Pelicans
Winton-Salem 4, Myrtle Beach 2
This was a tough loss, as the Pelicans took a tie game into the ninth after keeping Winston-Salem off the scoreboard for seven straight innings.
Low A: South Bend Cubs
South Bend 6, Bowling Green 5
That’s a series sweep and their fourth win in a row.
Other Notes
