In case you missed it, on Monday a pair of Dodgers minor leaguers won awards. Payton Martin was named Midwest League pitcher of the week, and shortstop Emil Morales was Arizona Complex League player of the week, for their work from May 19-25.
Below here is how this week started on the farm.
Player of the day
Comets shortstop Alex Freeland homered twice on Tuesday, including a three-run shot with one out in the ninth inning, tying the game.
Freeland, who snapped a 17-game homerless streak on Saturday against Sacramento, now has three home runs in his last three games.
Triple-A Oklahoma City
Down four runs as late as the eighth inning, the Comets charged back. After Freeland’s game-tying shot in the ninth inning, Nick Senzel hit his second home run of the game in the 10th to complete a comeback win over the Las Vegas Aviators (A’s).
James Outman had a rough return week in Triple-A after getting optioned last week, going 3-for-20 with two doubles and a walk in five games. He matched those hit and walk totals on Tuesday alone, including a solo home run and two stolen bases.
Comets’ bullpen game saw four-run innings against both Jose Rodriguez and Noah Davis, but was otherwise a strong affair from the other five pitchers.
Part of the bullpen game was Nick Frasso, who got the fourth and fifth innings and struck out four while allowing a run. The short outing — he lasted between four and five innings in four straight starts before getting hammered for six runs in a short start last Wednesday — was presumably schedule-related, such that he’d be in line to start again on Sunday on four days rest. Or it could just be a precursor to a potential major league call-up to fill innings, as the Dodgers start a stretch of 19 games in 20 days on Friday.
Double-A Tulsa
Six runs off the Drillers bullpen in the fifth inning blew open a relatively close game in what turned out to be a rout by the Wichita Wind Surge (Twins).
Tulsa had seven hits and four walks, but were hitless in 11 at-bats with runners in scoring position.
High-A Great Lakes
Josue De Paula’s home run in the first gave the Loons the lead for good in a win over the Fort Wayne Tincaps (Padres). But he wasn’t done, reaching base four times with three hits and a walk.
De Paula, whose .407 on-base percentage ranks ninth in the Midwest League, had four home runs in 230 plate appearances (57.5 PA per homer) during his first taste of High-A last season. This year he has eight home runs in 194 plate appearances (24.25 PA per homer).
Logan Wagner, playing second base on Tuesday, also homered. Zyhir Hope tripled and third baseman Jake Gelof doubled.
Cam Day struck out four in four scoreless innings in his start. Four relievers combined for five innings allowing only an unearned run. Great Lakes pitchers struck out 12 on the night.
Low-A Rancho Cucamonga
Eduardo Quintero reached base four times in the Quakes’ road win over the Modesto Nuts (Mariners). The center fielder doubled, singled, walked twice, stole a base, scored two runs, and drove in three, the last RBI coming on a sacrifice fly.
Second baseman Elijah Hainline also reached base five times with three walks and two singles, and and scored three runs. Designated hitter Roger Lasso had three hits, including a double, and scored three times.
Hyun-Seok Jang struck out seven in his four-inning start, allowing two runs. But more importantly the 20-year-old right-hander walked zero for the first time all season, lowing his seasonal walk rate to a still-astronomical 18.2 percent.
Arizona Complex League
On Monday, Emmet Sheehan got into his first game action, 376 days after his hybrid Tommy John surgery and internal brace procedure, striking out five of his six batters faced in two perfect innings against the ACL Cubs at Sloan Park in Mesa. The right-hander induced nine swinging strikes in his 29 pitches.
Earlier in May, Sheehan threw live batting practice to then-rehabbing Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernández at both Chase Field and Dodger Stadium, and was touching 95-97 mph. Sheehan’s timetable for a potential return isn’t yet known, but getting into a game already at least suggests that being available for the Dodgers at some point in June is at least possible. Before Monday in Arizona, Sheehan’s previous last game was September 27, 2023.
Maddux Bruns, like Sheehan, faced Edman and Hernández during rehab, including at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers first-round draft pick in 2021 has been on the injured list all season with a back injury, but started a rehab assignment in Arizona on Tuesday. Bruns allowed four runs (three earned) on four hits and two walks with two strikeouts in 1⅔ innings in his first game of the year.
Transactions
Triple-A: Pitcher J.P. Feyereisen cleared waivers and was sent outright to Oklahoma City, but he declined the assignment and elected free agency.
High-A: Left-hander Maddux Bruns and corner man Kyle Nevin, each of whom have been on the injured list all season, started a rehab assignments in Arizona. Nevin played five innings at third base on Tuesday at Camelback Ranch and had three hits in four at-bats, including a double and two RBI. First baseman Easton Shelton, 19, joined the Loons directly from Arizona.
Low-A: Catcher Gio Cueto was activated off the injured list and got three hits and even stole a base. Catcher Angel Diaz was sent to the Arizona Complex League. Right-hander Domingo Geronimo, who filled in for a spot relief appearance in Double-A Tulsa and was with Great Lakes last week, was sent back to the Quakes. Right-hander Michael Vilchez was placed on the development list, and left-hander Octavio Becerra was placed on the injured list.
Welcome aboard
Old friend Drew Avans, the former Dodgers minor league outfielder who was a staple in Triple-A Oklahoma City and during major league spring training, was called up by the A’s on Tuesday and singled in his only at-bat in his major league debut, against Houston. This extended a string of now three consecutive Dodgers’ 33rd-round draft picks to reach the majors — Zach McKinstry (drafted in 2016), pitcher Brett de Geus (2017), and now Avans (2018).
