Here are your fresh and stale prospects for this week. I wonder how they feel being prospects for a first place team.
Matt Klinker
We've seen Matt on this list before, but he's been better than ever. He's second in the league in strikeouts at the moment, and is currently sporting a 1.86 ERA in Carolina. So far this season, he's only had one start where he's given up more than 2 earned runs, and in his last 3 starts, has 19 innings pitched with 1 earned run and 17 strikeouts. He needs to be in Louisville, yesterday.
Luis Terrero
We have a very interesting player on our hands down in Louisville. Terrero is a former top prospect, and current journeyman outfielder, but is tearing up AAA pitching right now. He turns 30 tomorrow, but in his last 10 games, he has a line of .361/.361/.750. The lack of walks is a little disturbing, but 4 HR and 12 RBI in a week and a half are pretty impressive. If the current bench problems in Cincy don't work themselves out, this guy could end up as a valuable bench bat down the stretch to a pennant.
Jake Kahaulelio
The Carolina second baseman might be the hottest hitter in the minors right now. The former 20th round pick out of ORU has a .442/.500/.791 in his last 10 games, with 3 of his last 4 HR have come in that time period. He could be an interesting player to watch.
Neftali Soto
Seriously? Yep. Despite having a much better year than last year to this point, Soto's hitting .190/.239/.262 in his last 10 games, and is only hitting .167 with RISP so far this year. That's not the way to win Dusty's heart.
Jon Adkins
Despite being one of the only Reds organization guys on Twitter, the Bats closer has 4 blown saves on the year, and hasn't been pitching well lately. He's given up 3 runs in each of his last 2 outings, a total of 6 runs in 1 2/3 innings.
Justin Lehr
The Lehrjet was in contention for a rotation spot before the season started, but we're a long way from that now. He's given up 5 runs in each of his last 2 outings, and is sporting a 6.57 ERA so far this year. It's tough to believe that Klinker couldn't do a better job with those innings.
A recap of the weekend's games after the jump.
- Louisville lost their series to Rochester over the weekend, with a few high-octane and exciting games thrown in. They lost Friday 13-4, in Aroldis Chapman's worst start of the season. Chapmania gave up 8 runs in 3 1/3 innings, walked 3, and struck out 5. The Bats bounced back on Saturday with a 12-9 slugfest win, with Yonder Alonso stealing the show with a 4-for-5 night with 6 RBI. Zack Cozart and Chris Burke had 3 hits each as well. Matt Maloney had a great start on Sunday, but the Bats lost 4-3. Maloney went 5 shutout innings, only giving up 3 hits, until Ben Jukich gave up 4 in the 7th to lose it. Yonder had two more hits in this one, and Chris Valaika did too. Up next: Louisville finishes their series with Rochester at 7:05. No starter listed for the Bats.
- After a horrendous beginning to their season, Carolina is starting to get hot, winning all three of their games over the weekend. On Friday, they beat Tennessee 10-9, with their insurance run in the 9th essential to withstand the 2 runs the Smokies answered with in the bottom of the inning. Dave Sappelt had 4 hits to lead the offense, and Jake Kahaulelio had 2 hits and drove in 4 runs. Travis Webb gave up 2 runs in 5 innings in his start. In other news, what does Matt Klinker have to do to get promoted? He pitched 7 shutout innings on Saturday, only giving up 3 hits. Joe Krebs pitched 2 perfect innings to close out the 2-0 win. Eric Eymann had three doubles, and Sean Henry went 2-for-4. The Mudcats won in dramatic fashion on Sunday after blowing a 6-5 lead in the 9th by scoring 2 runs of their own to a 8-7 walkoff win. Dave Sappelt drove in the winning runs with his second hit of the ballgame. The story of this one was Daryl Thompson, who left the game in the 5th, reportedly pointing to his shoulder. Let's hope it's not too serious, it'd be a damn shame if Daryl had another serious injury right after he's started having success after his last one. Up next: Tom Cochran takes the hill against Jacksonville at 7:15.
- Lynchburg wasn't so lucky, losing all 3 games to Winston-Salem, 6-3, 7-5, and 6-4. Mark Serrano gave up 2 ER in his 5 innings on Friday, with Josh Fellhauer's 3 hits fueling the offense. Devin Mesoraco hit his 8th HR of the year on Saturday, and Scott Carroll had a good start on Sunday, only giving up 2 runs in 6 innings before his bullpen blew it. Up next: Curtis Partch takes on Wilmington at 6:05.
- Dayton lost 2 of 3 over the weekend to split their series with the Great Lakes Loons. They lost 5-1 on Friday. Alex Oliveras had 3 of the Dragons' 7 hits, and Justin Walker gave up 5 runs in his start. After scoring in the top of the 14th on Saturday, they gave up 2 runs in the bottom to lose 4-3. Andrew Means had 3 hits for the offense, and Jacob Johnson pitched a good game, giving up 2 runs in 6. Donnie Joseph needs a promotion too. He went 2 innings of relief in this one, only giving up 1 hit, and striking out the other 6 hitters he faced. Mercy. The Dragons came back on Sunday and won 6-2. Mariekson Gregorius and Frank Pfister had multi-hit games, and Pedro Villarreal had a quality start, giving up 2 runs in 6 innings while striking out 6. Up next: Dragons are off Monday.