Farmers Only Farmer's Market: The Unusual Suspects

Yeah, we could probably go another week and just put Yonder Alonso, or Todd Frazier, or Devin Mesoraco here.  Those guys are still raking, as they have been all season. In fact, Yonder has a 10 game hitting streak right now that you might not have heard about.  But for today's edition of the Farmer's Market, we're going to look at a few lesser known guys. 

I'll tell you one thing, when picking the 3 freshest prospects of the week is as difficult as a task as it is this week, we're in good shape.  In fact, honorable mention goes to Juan Duran, who didn't crack this week's list, despite hitting .313/.405/.500 in his last 10 games.  Anyone think he may be putting it all together?  On to the list.

Danny Dorn

Dornie started slowly this year, but has been gangbusters lately.  Primarily playing first base for the Bats, Dorn is hitting .371/.450/.486 in his last 10 games, and has 4 straight multi-hit games.  He's no stranger to Bats fans, but can he muster up a big-league call in his 3rd year at AAA?

Brad Boxberger

Boxy's line so far this season: 17 2/3 innings in 14 games, 1.53 ERA, and batters are hitting .167 against him.  31 strikeouts to 9 walks.  Not exactly what anyone was expecting when he was drafted, but we may have the right handed Billy Bray here.  Stay tuned.

Stephen Hunt

Hunt was originally sent to Bakersfield from Billings when another player went on the disabled list, and was only expected to be there for about a week.  He's played in 19 games since being promoted and has collected a hit in 19 of them.  Read that last sentence again.  He's on a 19 game hitting streak.  He's hitting .459/.524/.730 with 3 homers and 23 RBI, and has struck out only 9 times in 74 AB.  He PITCHED A SHUTOUT INNING on Saturday.  This could be a really interesting story.  STEVE HUNT!

Donnie Joseph

Uh oh, DoJo.  In 15 games pitched, Donnie Joe's ERA is at 8.80.  His strikeouts and walks are pretty decent for that span, but that's a ton of runs.  He's gonna need to turn it around quickly to stick on most prospect radars.

Kris Negron

Tough to admit that I'm eating crow on this one, but he hasn't been good.  He's hitting .146 in his last 10 games, and isn't really challenging for playing time, as guys like Valaika, Cozart, and Brent Clevlen are performing better at the positions that he plays.  Step it up, Kristopher.

Billy Hamilton

He was on here a few weeks ago after he inexplicably stopped hitting, and hasn't started since then.  In the last 10 games, he's hitting .122, which is 5 for his last 41.  18 strikeouts to 3 walks in that span.  There may be problem.

On to the games after the jump...

• Louisville won two of three games against Buffalo over the weekend.  They began the series with a huge 15-7 win on Friday.  Devin Mesoraco was the top performer, going 4-for-5 with 2 doubles, and Juan Francisco, Todd Frazier, and Jeremy Hermida all homered for the good guys.  Kris Negron also went 2-for-5 and drove in 4 runs.  Matt Maloney gave up 6 runs in 8 innings of work.  The Bats also won on Saturday with a 8-3 win behind the D-Train.  Dontrelle Willis went 5 1/3 innings and gave up 2 runs to earn his 3rd win of the season.  5 Bats players recorded multiple hit games, and Devin Mesoraco hit his 5th homer of the year and drove in 4 runs.  They fell 4-3 on Sunday despite a good start by Scott Carroll.  Carroll gave up 1 run in 6 innings and struck out 4.  Zack Cozart, Yonder Alonso, and Daniel Dorn all had two hits each.  Up next: Chad Reineke takes the mound at 11:05 this morning, as the Bats try to lock up the series win.  
• Carolina lost two of three games against Birmingham over the weekend.  On Friday, they lost 5-4.  Dallas Buck got the start, and gave up 5 runs in 5 1/3 innings.  Cody Puckett drove in 3 of the Mudcats' 4 runs.  They got manhandled on Saturday 8-0, despite a really good start by Matt Klinker.  Klinker gave up 2 unearned runs in 6 innings pitched, and struck out 3 with no walks.  Donnie Joseph wasn't as lucky, giving up 5 runs in his inning of work to put the game out of reach.  Felix Perez and Miguel Rojas had two hits each.  They were able to bounce back and win 7-3 on Sunday.  Daryl Thompson started and went 5 1/3 innings, giving up 2 runs with 6 strikeouts.  Felix Perez and Mike Costanzo had two hits each.  Up next: Kyle McCulloch will take the mound as the Mudcats take on Mobile at 8:05.
• Bakersfield also went 1-2 on the weekend.  They won 7-3 on Friday behind a 15-hit offensive barrage.  Eric Campbell went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI, and 5 other Blaze players also had multi-hit games.  Lance Janke started and gave up 3 runs in 6 innings, and Clayton Shunick pitched 3 no-hit innings to preserve the win (and earn an inexplicable save).  On Saturday, the Blaze lost 11-2 to Modesto, mostly due to a rough start by Josh Ravin.  No standout performances on offense, as the Blaze only mustered up 3 extra-base hits, but outfielder Stephen Hunt pitched the best inning of the night, walking one and striking out one in a no-hit inning.  The only other pitcher to not give up any runs?  Another outfielder, Wellinton Ramirez.  Sunday's game was exactly twice as bad, as the Blaze lost 22-2 to Modesto.  Eric Campbell and Josh Fellhauer had two hits each, and Brodie Greene hit his first homer of the year.  Unfortunately, the pitching.  Pedro Villarreal gave up 10 runs (9 earned) in his 3 1/3 inning start, and it was a pretty routine ass-kicking until the Nuts scored 10 in the 9th, 9 of those runs coming off of Ruben Medina.  This was his first outing since getting demoted from Carolina.  Yikes.  Up next: The Blaze try to keep Modesto under 20 runs tonight at 10:30.  Starting pitcher to be determined.
• Dayton split their weekend.  They lost 2-1 in 10 innings on Friday to Fort Wayne.  Daniel Renken pitched well, giving up 1 run in 6, and Jason Braun pitched 3 shutout innings of relief.  The offense didn't get the memo, however, and only mustered up 1 extra base hit.  They won 7-2 on Saturday, behind a solid performance by Josh Smith.  Smith gave up 1 run and struck out 5 in 5 innings to lower his ERA to 1.91 on the season.  Devin Lohman was 2-for-4 with a homer.  Their game on Sunday was rained out.  Up next: The Dragons have an off day today.