Advanced-A (Salem Red Sox)
Victor Acosta is seeing a bunch of promotions around him and he’s just sitting in Advanced-A raking. The outfielder is hitting .314 with 31 RBI and 26 runs scored. Admittedly he isn’t much of a power hitter, but he does have 24 walks compared to 26 strikeouts and can get on base.
Ryan Fitzgerald is on a four-game hitting streak and currently hitting exactly .300 on the year. The shortstop has 52 RBI and 40 runs scored, mashing 18 doubles and five triples – as well as one home run.
Garrett Benge is getting hot. The corner infielder is riding a four-game hitting streak at the moment. During those four games he has five RBI and five walks, striking out just twice. In that time he’s risen his average from .258 to .277. He also has a .381 OBP and 15 extra-base hits.
Pedro Castellanos has been up-and-down lately as his average now sits at .269. The first baseman has 19 doubles and one home run and has driven in a solid 49 runs, scoring 41 more. He has a surprising number of steals with nine. Although he’s not fast by any means, Castellanos is showing he can add to his offensive game. That’s the kind of growth you love to see from a 21-year-old.
Thad Ward gave up two runs in two innings in his last start – he did manage to strikeout five though. Still – that’s a bad start, right? That should destroy your ERA when it’s only your fifth start in Advanced-A, right? Ward has a 1.93 ERA in 23 1/3 innings with Salem.
Rio Gomez is down to a 2.03 ERA in Advanced-A. He achieved that by throwing 4 1/3 scoreless innings over two outings this week. Gomez hasn’t looked as dominant in Advanced-A as he had in Full-A but he’s absolutely still getting the job done.