By Scott Barancik, Editor

Here are your minor-league highlights from the week of May 21-27, 2018:

Barash

Jewish Baseball News Hitter of the Week: Michael Barash

C Michael Barash (Angels/AA) hit .471 (8-for-17) last week with 3 doubles, 3 RBIs, 6 walks and a .583 on-base percentage. This is his second straight Hitter of the Week award.

Kremer

Jewish Baseball News Pitcher of the Week: Dean Kremer

• P Dean Kremer* (Dodgers/High-A) struggled in a May 22 start, but the dual U.S.-Israeli citizen returned with a phenomenal win on May 27, pitching 6 no-hit innings while striking out 10 and walking just one. His relievers sustained the no-hitter until yielding a home run with two outs in the 9th inning (see article). Had they held on, it would have been the first no-hitter in Rancho Cucamonga Quakes history.

Mazel tov

• Former college pitcher Jason Bell is the new manager of Tri-City ValleyCats, the short-season team of the Houston Astros. At 27, he is among the youngest managers in minor-league baseball.
• Richard Stock, a former Cleveland Indians prospect and the brother of San Diego Padres prospect Robert Stock, recently finished his degree at Nebraska University and won its English department’s fiction award. He is working on a semi-autobiographical novel about a baseball player; check out his blog here.
• Speaking of Robert Stock, MiLB.com says he’s on the cusp of reaching the Major Leagues.
• Former San Francisco Giants prospect Adam Sonabend is working in the front office of the Atlanta Braves, where he serves as an advance scouting trainee.

Other highlights

• C Nick Rickles (Phillies/AAA) hit .364 (4-for-11) with 2 HRs, 4 RBIs and a .417 OBP last week.
• After 2 weeks on the disabled list, C Garrett Stubbs (Astros/AAA) returned to hit .375 (3-for-8) with a home run, 2 RBIs and a .500 OBP.
• 1B Rowdy Tellez (Blue Jays/AAA) hit .290 (9-for-31) with a homer, stolen base, 9 RBIs and a .353 OBP.
• 1B Cody Decker (Diamondbacks/AAA) hit .200 (2-for-10) with a homer, double and 4 RBIs. Thanks to 4 walks and 2 HBPs, he had a .444 on-base percentage.
• RF Rhett Wiseman (Nationals/High-A) went 3-for-4 on May 21 with 2 HRs and 3 RBIs. It was the second multi-homer game this month for Wiseman, who leads all Jewish minor leaguers with 9 HRs.
• C Mitchell Kranson (Angels/High-A) hit .300 (3-for-10) with a double and an RBI.
• In his first week of the 2018 season, 2B Zane Gurwitz (Angels/A) hit .316 (6-for-19) with a triple, 2 RBIs and 2 walks.
• P Jeremy Bleich* (Athletics/AAA) pitched 5 shutout innings over 2 games, yielding 3 hits and a walk while striking out 6. After recording a 3.97 ERA in April, Bleich has a 0.84 ERA in May.
• P Scott Effross (Cubs/AA) was perfect in three one-inning relief appearances, yielding zero hits or walks while striking out 4 and earning his first save of the season.
• P Jake Fishman (Blue Jays/High-A) pitched three shutout innings over 3 games, yielding just one hit and no walks while striking out 5. He has a 0.87 ERA in May.
• P Matthew Gorst (Red Sox/High-A) pitched 2.2 shutout innings across 2 games, yielding one hit and 2 walks while striking out 2 and earning his sixth save in six chances, tops among Jewish minor leaguers.
• P Sam Delaplane (Mariners/A) pitched 4 innings of one-run ball over 3 games, yielding 2 hits and 2 walks while striking out 8. The 2017 draftee is averaging 14.9 strikeouts per 9 innings.
• P Jordan Scheftz (Indians/A) made his 2018 debut on May 27, striking out the lone batter he faced.

Transactions

• C Mitchell Kranson (Angels/High-A) came off the disabled list on May 23.
• C Garrett Stubbs (Astros/AAA) came off the disabled list on May 23.
• SS Scotty Burcham* (Rockies/AA) came off the disabled list on May 22.
• 2B Zane Gurwitz (Angels/A) was assigned to the franchise’s Single-A club on May 22.
• P Ryan Sherriff (Cardinals/AAA) entered the disabled list on May 18.

Free agents

• Former major- and minor-leaguers believed to be seeking employment include Scott Feldman, Elliott Barzilli, Dalton Blumenfeld, Mike Meyers*, Troy Neiman*, Maxx Tissenbaum and Jeremy Wolf.
• Ike Davis*, a former major leaguer who tried to reinvent himself as a pitcher in 2017, is rumored to have retired, but this is unconfirmed.

Disabled list

• P Ryan Sherriff (Cardinals/AAA), since May 18.
• 2B Adam Walton (Diamondbacks/High-A), since May 14.
• P Craig Breslow (Blue Jays/AA), since May 2.
• P Zack Weiss (Reds/AAA), since early May.
• P Mitchell Osnowitz (Cardinals/High-A), since April 9.
• P R C Orlan* (Indians/AA).
• P Rob Kaminsky (Indians/AA), since April 5.

Note to readers: Minor-League Monday does not include stats for all current Jewish minor-leaguers. Click here for a complete list of players, and then click on a player’s name to be taken to his stat page.

Members of Team Israel’s 2017 squad are marked with an asterisk.

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