Cow Tipping: May 10th Angels Minor League Report - Nate Smith is back

Affiliate Teams (from AAA to Rookie):

Orem Owls, DSL and ARZ Angels won’t start playing until June.

Note: I won't be showing the "duds" for the rookie leagues unless they are top prospects or top draft picks. A lot of the guys in the rookie leagues are young and adjusting to pro ball. Many of them never make it past rookie ball, and even the truly gifted ones can have bad weeks, months, etc.

* Player is in the top 10 on the Halos Heaven top prospects list

Burlington Bees
Burlington, Iowa
Level = A, Midwest League

Studs:

Brennan Morgan (C, 24), Morgan was drafted in the 24th round of 2016 with no fanfare. He had a decent year in Orem last season (.277/.376/.419) and now with the Bees he’s batting .306 over his last 10 games with a .386 OBP in 2017. Nobody tell him that catchers in this organization aren’t supposed hit - m’kay?

Samil De Los Santos (RHP, 23), This guy has been lights out this year. 10 IP, ZERO runs, 2 walks, and only 3 hits allowed along with 12 Ks. He has a 0.00 ERA, .094 BAA, and 0.50 WHIP. Those numbers won’t stick but they are super impressive in the early going.

Duds:

Jahmai Jones* (OF, 19), Sorry Jahmai fans, but he’s had a rough time this year. The kid is only 19 so we can cut him some slack though. Over his last 10 games he’s only hitting .167 with 9Ks. He has a .184 AVG on the year with 3 homeruns and 5 stolen bases.

Others:

Roberto Baldoquin (SS, 22), Baldoquin is hitting .294 over his last 10 games. His overall season average is .261 and he has a 27% K rate.

Joe Gatto (RHP, 21), Gatto is so far, much improved from his 7.03 ERA in 2016. He still holds a 1.52 WHIP which is 37 points lower than last season and has a decent 3.74 ERA through 5 games. Gatto was a second round pick back in 2014.

Andrew Vinson (RHP, 23), Vinson gave up 5 ER in 3.2 innings in his last start. He has a 7.06 ERA this year with a 1.62 WHIP. Three of his 5 starts this year have been pretty good so there his hope. In those 3 games he gave up 4 ER in 15 IP with 10K. In his other 2 starts he’s given up 14 ER in 6.2 innings. Ouch.

Inland Empire 66ers
San Bernardino, CA
Level = A+, California League

Studs:

[Moving up - May 8th] Nathan Bates (RHP, 23), Bates pitched one inning so far and struck out 2 while allowing no runs. In his last 10 overall appearances he has a 1.88 ERA with 20Ks in 14.1 IP.

[Moving up - April 29th] Jesus Castillo - April 29 (RHP, 21), The dude from the Joe Smith trade has been working out well so far. In his 2 IE starts he threw 9.1 innings and allowed just 2 ER (both homers). He also struck out 9. He has a combined 2.22 ERA this season in 6 starts with 31 Ks and 5 walks in 28.1 innings.

[Moving up - April 24th] Jordan Serena (3B, 24), Serena is hitting .360 since joining the 66ers. He has hit in 5 of his 6 game there with 2 triples and 2 doubles.

Ty Barkell (RHP, 24), was just sent to extended spring training, but in his 6.1 IP he has allowed just 3 hits and zero runs while striking out 6.

Jaime Barria* (RHP, 20), Barria is having a pretty good season overall and had just one rough outing in 7 starts. He has a 2.72 ERA this year with a .207 BAA and 0.96 WHIP. In his last two starts he has gone 13 innings with only 2 runs allowed, 5 hits, 2 walks, and 10 Ks.

Others:

[Moving up - April 28th] Troy Montgomery (OF, 22), He’s only hitting .216 since joining the 66ers but with a .310 OBP. He has struck out 12 times in 37 AB.

Matt Thaiss* (1B, 21), is hitting .282 over his last 10 games and .250 on the year. He has a .356 OBP this season with 4 homeruns so far.

Taylor Ward* (C,23), Ward is finally playing this year and is hitting .235 in his first 4 games. Two of his 4 hits have been doubles.

Mobile BayBears
Mobile, Alabama
Level = AA, Southern League

Super Stud:

Forresst Allday (OF, 26), Allday, just turned 26 and he has been on a AA tear. He is 18 for his last 33 which is a .545 AVG and he also has 5 walks and a homerun. He now has a .453 OBP on the season.

Studs:

Eric Karch (RHP, 25), Karch allowed a rare run on April 30th, but has a 0.92 ERA in 19.2 IP with a 1.02 WHIP.

Zach Gibbons (OF, 23), Gibbons is batting .368 his last 10 games with 1 homerun, stolen base 4 walks, and only 2 Ks. He has a .398 OBP so far this year.

Duds:

Luis Tejada (1B, 24), Batting .182 in his last 10 games with 9 Ks.

Tyler Carpenter (RHP, 25), Gave up 8 runs and 11 hits in his 3.2 inning start on May 9th.

Others:

David Fletcher (SS, 22), Fletch is back! Fletcher came back from the DL on 5/6 and is 3 for 16 with 5 walks and 2 stolen bases in 4 games.

Michael Hermosillo (CF, 22), struggling a bit in early going after his call-up and is batting only .152 in his last 10 games.

Grayson Long* (RHP, 22), Long has allowed 5 ER in his last 10 IP. However, he has a .207 BAA and 0.94 WHIP so far for the BayBears.

Jake Jewell (RHP, 23), Jewell has a scoreless outing on May 7th which a huge improvement from his May 1st start when he gave up 7 runs in just 3 innings of work.

Salt Lake Bees
Salt Lake City, Utah
Level = AAA, Pacific Coast League

Studs:

Ramon Flores (OF, 25), is batting .387 over his last 10 games with 1 homerun, 8 walks, and 7 RBIs. Flores is another former Brewers org dude that the Angels signed as a free agent last off season.

Matt Williams (SS, 27) is hitting .382 over his last 10 games and has raised his season average to .338 with a .416 OBP. He currently has a 6 game hitting streak.

Carlos Perez (C, 26), Perez has hit in 11 of his 12 PCL games and is batting .270 over his last 10 with a .319 AVG and .370 OBP in Salt Lake.

Dustin Ackley (2B, 29), is hitting .306 over his last 10 games with a homerun and 7 RBIs. He’s been mostly DH with a few games at 1B this year.

Sherman Johnson (2B, 26), Started the season slow but has been ramping it over. Over his last 10 games he’s hitting .303 but he’s also struck out 10 times to just 2 walks. Johnson has 6 stolen bases this year in 6 attempts.

Nate Smith* (LHP, 25), the fact that Smith is back is a good sign for the Angels big league rotation. His rehab in Arizona must have gone well because in his first start back he gave up just 1 hit, 0 walks, 0 runs, and struck out 4 in 5.2 innings.

Eduardo Paredes (RHP, 22), this youngster may be the next big bullpen piece to come out of Salt Lake. He’s made 3 appearances since getting the call up and in 6 innings has allowed no runs, 1 walk, and 4 hits while striking out 4.

Troy Scribner (RHP, 25), Scribner gave up 2 runs in his last appearance and is now 4.0 this season with a 3.76 ERA, 1.33 WHIP and .245 BAA which are pretty decent numbers in the PCL.

Duds:

Rey Navarro (SS, 27), went from an 8 game hitting streak in the last report to batting just .189 in his last 10 games. Baseball can humble you quickly!

Kaleb Cowart (3B, 24), Cowart is another dude that went from on fire to just batting .188 over his last 10 games. He has 9 walks though to go with his 9 Ks. His walk to K ratio is WAY up this year and he has a .396 OBP.

Nolan Fontana (SS, 25), is hitting .192 over his last 10 games with 8 Ks. He does have 2 homers though and has walked 9 times.

Alex Blackford (RHP, 26), he got hammered in his last start and lasted 4.1 innings while giving up 6 runs and striking out only 1. Then he went on the 7-day DL with a sprained ankle.

Manny Banuelos (LHP, 26), has been pretty terrible. Gave up 16 ER in his last 3 starts over 11.1 innings. He also issues 12 walks and allowed 16 hits in those games.

Vicente Campos (RHP, 24), isn’t going to be giving the Angels help any time soon. He has a 14.39 ERA in his 2 Salt Lake starts and a .444 BAA.

Others:

Eric Young Jr. (OF, 31), Went from super stud in the last report to almost a dud this time around. He’s batting .211 over his last 10 games but also has 5 walks, 2 homeruns, and 2 stolen bases.

[Moving up] Luis Diaz (RHP, 25), Diaz moved up from Mobile on 4/25 and got his first win as a Bee. AAA has been a bit rough on his and he has a 7.07 ERA in 3 games with a .397 BAA.