Cam Bedrosian Again Leads Farm System in K's

Bedrosian briefly fell out of the top spot after Drew Rucinski's last start, but reclaimed the lead by striking out the side in a one-inning appearance on Tuesday.  He's looking flat-out dominant, so I expect a promotion any day now.

According to pitch F/X, Bedrosian was throwing a cutter to good effect in the Arizona Fall League, giving hitters a third offering to worry about on top of the plus fastball and slider.  No one is doubting his stuff at this point.

Teammate Sherman Johnson turned around his slow April last week, hitting .350/.480/.450 over the past seven days.  He made some fine plays at the keystone against San Jose last week, and already possess the reputation as a solid third baseman.  He's 0 for 3 in stolen base attempts this year, dinging the lingering, wishful comp to Chone Figgins, but he could provide many of our old favorite's defensive and onbase contributions in the supersub role.

Burlington's Mark Shannon enjoyed a memorable week, hitting .333/.360/.542 with an HR and a pair of doubles. He also picked up the win in Burlington's 18 inning marathon yesterday, pitching three full innings. He coughed up a pair of runs on five hits, so isn't in the running for the ERA title, but also struck out two and remained in the strike zone just enough to make it work. He faced 15 batters in total, so probably threw around 60 or so pitches.

No doubt he's packing five pounds of ice on his left shoulder this morning. Heal up, Mark. I still think you may wind up the best hitter out of our 2013 draft.

Fellow Bees outfielder Ranyelmy Mendoza hit .286/.333/.619 last week with a pair of dingers, both against lefties. His season line is now .270/.391/.486.

Holy crap. Mendoza's still 19. Honesty, I hadn't realized that we had any 19 year old outfielders in full season ball until I called up his B-Ref page. Mendoza's flown under the radar due to lackluster rookie ball numbers, but the 6'2", 175 pound right fielder might be coming into his own. He's one to watch.

Kyle McGowin threw his third consecutive gem, fanning five in seven innings of a scoreless start against a mostly righty San Jose line-up. He hasn't given up more than a run in an outing yet, fueling hopes for a breakout from an actual, legitimate starting pitching prospect. His k-rate isn't very exciting -- in fact, it's downright sad against lefties --  but the results are there. More on him soon. Other gems: Tyler DeLoach threw six innings of one-run ball, striking out six for Inland Empire; Drew Rucinski earned his second win of the season with a solid outing. He'll take the hill again for Arkansas today.  Again, more on him soon.