Victor Acosta finally got his promotion. The outfielder is now in Advanced-A, and looking to keep a solid season going. Acosta was hitting .285 in Full-A, and had a career-best 20 doubles and three triples, as well as eight home runs. His 37 RBI and 34 runs scored were close to career-highs as well.
Now in Salem, Acosta is 4-for-17 (.235) in five games. He’s added three doubles to his total, giving him 23 on the year. The 22-year-old also has three RBI, giving him a now-career-best 40 on the season.
Acosta doesn’t put up crazy numbers in any one category, so he’s not given as much attention. The right-handed hitter definitely deserves more love.
Michael Osinski is destroying Advanced-A pitching at the moment. The third baseman was hitting .267 on July 18. That number has risen to .317 after a stretch that saw him get a hit in five-of-six games. Three of those games were multi-hit outings, two of which were three-hit days.
Combined between Full-A and Advanced-A, Osinski has a .305/.368/383 slash line. The 22-year-old right-handed hitter also has 11 doubles and two home runs, as well as one triple on the year. He’s driven in 37 runs in 66 games, while scoring 32 more, and stealing four bases in five attempts.
Just like Acosta, Osinski isn’t getting nearly the attention he deserves.
Roldani Baldwin has been slumping pretty hard lately. The last few days have been encouraging for the catcher however. Baldwin has seen his average drop to .238 but has three hits in his last two games. The 22-year-old also recently blasted his seventh home run of the year.
Bobby Dalbec is also currently mired in a slump – his first one in an extremely long time. The third baseman is down to a .255 average after a week that produced just one hit for him. His stat line is still absurd however, as 27 doubles and 23 home runs are paired with 79 RBI and 55 runs scored.
Tanner Houck continues to be lights out on the mound. The Red Sox number three prospect is enjoying perhaps his best stretch in the minors.
Houck made two starts this week, throwing 12 innings total without giving up an earned run. He’s struck out 15 while most-importantly only walking one. Walks have been a major problem for the 22-year-old this year (55 in 96 innings), but this is an extremely encouraging stretch.
In the start that preceded these two, the right-hander allowed five runs in six innings, but limited the walks to just two. His start before that was a seven inning outing that saw Houck allow just one earned run and walk two.
Houck now has a 4.50 ERA on the season, and with the way things are going, I would bank on that continuing to shrink.
Darwinzon Hernandez is down to a 3.99 ERA after two more outings this week. The first saw him throw five strong innings, allowing just one earned run. His Tuesday outing was much more troublesome however, as the 21-year-old allowed three earned runs in five innings, walking six batters.
It was still another great week for the left-hander though. Hernandez has dropped his ERA significantly over his last few starts, and is really starting to come into his own.