Salt Lake Bees
The Good: Trevor Bell continues to pitch well, giving up just one run in five innings of work on Friday, lowering his ERA to 2.04. Peter Bourjos who has been hitting 7th in the lineup of late, had three knocks from that spot over the weekend. Corey Aldridge is hitting .313 with six home runs (hit his sixth on Sunday) and has driven in 27 runs this season for the Bees. With Michael Ryan up with the big league club and able to play 1B and the outfield, one has to wonder what Robb Quinlan is doing on the big league roster. Quinlan hit .219 with no extra base hits through eight games with the Bees earlier in the season. What makes a manager believe he can hit big league pitching if he cannot hit Triple-A pitching? Aldridge or someone like Trevor Bell or Rich Thompson should take his spot on the Angels big league roster. The Angels need a long man since Palmer is hurt.
The Bad: Mark Trumbo (.288) is 2 for his last 16 and has just two extra base hits in his last ten games.
Noteworthy: Reliever Rich Thompson has yet to allow an earned run in 15.0 IP this season. He has only allowed 9 hits and 6 BBs, while striking out 13 for the season.
Arkansas Travelers
The Good: Michael Kohn continues to be the talk of the Travelers ball club. The reliever sports a 0.66 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, opponents are batting just .178 against him and he’s fanned 19 batters in 13.2 innings. Kohn is the Angels best reliever in the system and was ranked at #10 in our AngelsWin.com Top 50 Prospects List coming into the season. Another reliever to keep an eye on is Ryan Aldridge, who also boasts a nice ERA (0.87), has struck out 14 batters in 10.1 innings and opponents are hitting just .143 against him this season. Aldridge comes equipped with a low to mid 90’s moving fastball and a nasty swing-and-miss slider. In four games with the Travelers, SS Hainley Statia is hitting .417 with a solid 3 BB to 1 K rate.
The Bad: Andrew Romine (.290) is just 1 for his last 19 at the plate and has just one extra base hit in his last ten games.
Noteworthy: Travelers 2B Ryan Mount went on the DL with a strained hip flexor.
Rancho Cucamonga Quakes
The Good: Dillon Baird clubbed his sixth home run of the season on Saturday. The third basemen sports a solid .527 slugging pct. Gabe Jacobo continued his hot hitting over the weekend with two multi-hit games. The first basemen is hitting .405 in last 10 games.
The Bad: The pitching staff. Will Smith gave up seven runs on ten hits in Sunday’s contest. M. Correa gave up six runs on ten hits on Friday, lifting his ERA to 6.75.
Noteworthy: Southpaw relievers Andrew Taylor (1.62 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, 16.2 IP, 19 K) and Robert Fish (1.32 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 13.2 IP, 23 K) both have a solid WHIP, ERA and Strikeout ratio for the Quakes and could be moved along quickly to shore up a weak Angels bullpen in Anaheim.
Cedar Rapids Kernels
The Good: Mike Trout (.358) had a fantastic weekend going 6-13 with two walks, two home runs (4) and three stolen bases (18). Orangel Arenas (2.25) pitched seven shutout innings on Friday, Tyler Skaggs gave up his first run(s) in three weeks on Saturday (5 IP, 3 ER) and Garret Richards (3.83) was completely dominant on Sunday, going a full nine innings, giving up just one run on four hits, striking out 10.
The Bad: (INF) Ivan Contreras went 0-5 on Saturday, striking out four times. Jon Bachanov has given up four runs in his last two innings of relief work, raising his ERA to 4.61.
Noteworthy: SS Jon Karcich who was drafted in last years’ amateur draft in the 7th round, made his professional debut on Sunday, going 0-1 with two runs, four walks and a stolen base. The Kernels did most of their damage on Sunday against Brewers #1 pick in 2009, Eric Arnett.
Prospect of the Weekend: Mike Trout, OF Cedar Rapids Kernels
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