Tag Archives: Hunter Renfroe

WINKER, DRURY SWINGING IT IN ‘ZONA

Surprise-SaguarosOF Jesse Winker (BAK ’14) tore a tendon in his right wrist in July while playing for AA Pensacola, but the Reds’ #2 organizational prospect is back at it with the Arizona Fall League’s Surprise Saguros. Winker went 2-for-3 Wednesday night with a homer and a double as he paced his club to an 8-2 victory over the Peoria Javelinas.

In 53 games with the Bakersfield Blaze this past season, Winker, a 2012 compensation pick, slashed .317/.426/.580 with 13 homers in 205 ABs.

In the same game, 1B Kyle Waldrop (BAK ’13, ’14) went 3-for-5 with 2 RBI and a run scored for Surprise. DH Hunter Renfroe (LE ’14) went 1-for-5 with an RBI batting behind Waldrop and before Winker.

Brandon Drury (VIS ’14), the Diamondbacks’ #6 prospect, launched a homer in a 6-3 win for the Salt River Rafters over the Scottsdale Scorpions. This game featured an especially strong mix of elite prospects as Salt River’s top three in the batting order went like this:

OF Byron Buxton – 2-for-5, 1 R
DH Brandon Drury – 1-for-5, HR, RBI
2B Trevor Story (MOD ’13, ’14) – 2-for-4, 2B, RBI

Beyond that trio, P Mark Appel (LAN ’14) went three innings as the starter for Salt River, OF Andrew Aplin (LAN ’12, ’13) went 1-for-5 with a run scored, also for the Rafters, and Daniel Carbonell (SJ ’14) walked as a pinch-hitter for Scottsdale.

 

BACK IN BUSINESS

CLThe second half of the California League season begins tonight with a full slate of games. Four-game series run through Sunday in five Cal League cities. There were a number of roster moves over the All-Star break and the AA Pensacola Wahoos got several of the players that led the Bakersfield Blaze to the first half North division title.

Jesse Winker, Marquez Smith, Kyle Waldrop, Seth Mejias-Brean, Carlos Gonzalez, Ben Lively and Ryan Wright all got the call to AA. In turn, Bakersfield welcomes Sean Buckley, Julio Morillo, Mikey O’Brien, Jeff Gelalich and Ismael Guillon to the roster. LHP Guillon is the Reds’ #9 prospect according to MLB.com.

Lake Elsinore saw OF Hunter Renfroe and closer Trevor Gott called up to AA San Antonio. Renfroe made his AA debut last night and went 1-for-3 with a run scored.

Here are the matchups for the Thursday-Sunday four-game series that start tonight:

SAN JOSE @ VISALIA
BAKERSFIELD @ STOCKTON
HIGH DESERT @ MODESTO
INLAND EMPIRE @ RANCHO CUCAMONGA
LANCASTER @ LAKE ELSINORE

 

ROAD TRIP: VISALIA

IMG_4752Visalia sits just about dead-center of the sprawling California League, a couple of hundred miles south and east of San Jose and about 250 miles north of Lake Elsinore. Saturday night I took the trip down Hwy 99 to Recreation Park to see the Rawhide take on the Lake Elsinore Storm and it was a true California League game on the field. The weather couldn’t have been better and the park was jammed with 2,623 fans who saw a real fireworks show, early and late.

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ROAD TRIP: RANCHO CUCAMONGA

IMG_4745Saturday night I found my way down to Rancho Cucamonga for a matchup between the Quakes and the first-place Lake Elsinore Storm. A night after a Yasiel Puig bobblehead giveaway packed LoanMart Field, it was Star Wars night with after-game fireworks and 4,463 fans had the place rocking again.

I wanted to get a good look at the Dodgers’ top organizational prospect SS Corey Seager as well as Padres’ #5 prospect Hunter Renfroe. Seager is all over the Cal League offensive leaderboards, as expected, and Renfroe is having a solid year at hiA after being taken 13th overall in last year’s First-Year Player Draft.

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