By Scott Barancik, Editor

Here are your minor-league highlights for the week of August 12-18, 2019:

Manea

Manea

Hitter of the Week: Scott Manea (Astros)
C Scott Manea (Astros/High-A/Fayetteville Woodpeckers) hit .286 (4-for-14) with 3 HRs, 3 RBIs, and 7 walks last week, good enough for a .524 on-base percentage. The highlight was a 2-HR game on August 17. Manea has just one error in 445.1 innings behind the plate this season.

Gold

Gold

Pitcher of the Week: Brandon Gold (Rockies)

P Brandon Gold (Rockies/AA/Hartford Yard Goats) narrowly edged out Mariners prospect Sam Delaplane for this week’s award. The 24-year-old righty went 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA across 2 starts, yielding 13 hits and just one walk over 15 combined innings while striking out 12. Gold’s 8-inning outing on August 18 was his longest of the year. For the season, he is 10-5 with a 3.57 ERA.

Mazel tov

  • It was a fun week for Padres prospect Tyler Benson. On August 16, the left fielder made his pro pitching debut in a 19-1 laugher, yielding 5 earned runs in two-thirds of an inning to rack up a nifty 67.50 ERA. A day later, San Diego promoted Benson to the wonderfully-named Amarillo Sod Poodles (AA). And on August 18, his Double-A debut, Benson hit the first home run of his 3-year minor league career. Later, Benson celebrated on Twitter: “Only took me two and a half years but finally on the board,” he wrote. Click here to see a video of his home run.
  • P Dean Kremer, ranked the Orioles’ #8 prospect by MLB.com, was promoted to Triple-A on August 16 after going 9-4 with a 2.98 ERA in Double-A. Although he lost his Triple-A debut the next day, the young Israeli-American’s ascension is to be celebrated. At just 23, Kremer is 3.3 years younger than the average pitcher in the International League (AAA) and thus off to a fast start.
  • We didn’t notice it before, but C Jakob Goldfarb* (White Sox/Rookie/AZL White Sox) hit grand-slam HRs in two straight games earlier this month (August 3 and 7).

Other highlights

  • RF Rhett Wiseman (Nationals/AA/Harrisburg Senators) hit .333 (4-for-12) with 2 doubles, 2 RBIs, and a .429 OBP.
  • 2B Zane Gurwitz (Angels/High-A/Inland Empire 66ers) hit .300 (6-for-20) with a home run, 4 RBIs, and a .333 OBP.
  • C Ryan Gold (Blue Jays/A/Lansing Lugnuts) hit .375 (6-for-16) with 2 HRs, a double, triple, 5 RBIs, and a .412 OBP.
  • C CJ Stubbs* (Astros/A/Quad Cities River Bandits) hit .333 (3-for-9) with a home run, 5 RBIs, and a .455 OBP in his first three games at the Single-A level.
  • OF David Vinsky* (Cardinals/A-short-season/State College Spikes) hit .360 (9-for-25) with a double, 2 RBIs, 2 stolen bases, and a .467 OBP. The 21-year-old rookie has hit .342 in his past 10 games.
  • C Hunter Bishop* (Giants/A-short-season/Salem-Keizer Volcanoes) homered twice last week. Although the rookie is hitting just .216 across two levels this season, Bishop’s prolific walking — 37 walks in 102 at-bats — has bumped his on-base percentage to .426.
  • P Sam Delaplane (Mariners/Double-A/Arkansas Travelers) continued his domination of the Texas League, pitching 4.2 near-perfect innings across 3 games. The 24-year-old righty yielded only one base runner — a hit batter — while striking out 9. Delaplane’s 15.74 strikeouts per 9 innings ranks #1 among all minor-league pitchers with at least 50 innings tossed.
  • P Jake Fishman (Blue Jays/AA/New Hampshire Fisher Cats) pitched 3.1 scoreless innings across 2 games, yielding a hit and a walk while striking out 3 and earning his 3rd save.
  • P Scott Effross (Cubs/High-A/Myrtle Beach Pelicans) pitched 2 scoreless innings on August 15, yielding one hit and no walks while striking out 2.
  • P Jake Miednik (Indians/A/Lake County Captains) pitched 3 scoreless innings across 2 games, yielding a hit and 2 walks while striking out 2 to earn his 2nd save.
  • P Alex Segal* (Braves/Rookie Advanced/Danville Braves) earned his first pro save on August 16, yielding no hits and one walk while striking out 3.
  • P Greg Leban* (Braves/Rookie Advanced/Danville Braves) pitched 2 scoreless innings on August 16, yielding no hits and a walk while striking out one to earn his 2nd win.
  • P Josh Wolf* (Mets/Rookie/GCL Mets) pitched 2 scoreless innings on August 17, yielding 2 hits and no walks while striking out one.

Transactions

  • LF Tyler Benson (Padres) was promoted from the Fort Wayne TinCaps (A) to the Amarillo Sod Poodles (AA) on August 17.
  • P Dean Kremer (Orioles) was promoted from the Bowie Baysox (AA) to the Norfolk Tides (AAA) on August 16.
  • P Robert Stock (Padres) was sent on a rehab assignment to the El Paso Chihuahuas (AAA) on August 16.
  • C CJ Stubbs* (Astros) was promoted from the Tri-City ValleyCats (A-short-season) to the Quad Cities River Bandits (A) on August 15.
  • 2B Ty Kelly (Angels/AAA/Salt Lake Bees) was reinstated to the active roster on August 14.
  • Rowdy Tellez (Blue Jays) was recalled by Toronto on August 13.
  • P Keith Weisenberg (Giants) was reassigned from the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes (A-short-season) to the August GreenJackets (A) on August 12.

Free agents

  • Players believed to be seeking employment include Danny Valencia and RC Orlan.
  • We had been holding out hope that P Brad Goldberg was still in the game, but the former White Sox and Diamondbacks prospect told Jewish Baseball News that he has retired.

Injured list

* Players marked with an asterisk were drafted in 2019.

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.

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