Minors Report for 6/25/10 (Jesus Montero; Rumolo Sanchez; Brandon Laird; Zolio Almonte)

Minor Leagues Report — By Tom K on June 25, 2010 9:33 pm

Scranton:

Jesus Montero went 3-for-5 with two doubles and three RBI while Rumolo Sanchez pitched seven scoreless innings as Scranton crushed Rochester, 9-0.

Sanchez only allowed one hit, while walking only one and striking out eight. Sanchez is now 4-6 with a 4.36 ERA on the season (74.1 IP, 65 H, 43 BB, 64 K, 6 HR). Obviously, the walks are his biggest problem.

Montero raised his average to .243 with his big night. He has 17 doubles, three triples, and four home runs in 235 at-bats.

Reegie Corona went 2-for-4 with his second triple of the season, while Eduardo Nunez contributed a walk and a stolen base…but went 0-for-4 on the night. Corona has 11 hits in his last six games. —————————————————————————————————————————————- Trenton:

Andrew Brackman made a decent debut, and Brandon Laird hit his 19th home run of the season…but it wasn’t enough as Trenton took a 6-2 defeat. Brackman lasted five innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on eight hits. He walked one and struck out five. Of his 15 outs, five were by strikeout, eight were by ground-out, and two were by flyout. As was the case in Tampa, if he keeps generating the ground balls and holding down the walks, he’s going to be just fine.

Laird also scored two runs. I would think that at some point, they are going to have little choice but to promote him. He’s been amazing. ————————————————————————————————————————————— Tampa:

Zolio Almonte has suddenly become a walking machine, going 2-for-2 with two more walks but the bullpen imploded as Tampa lost, 5-3. Almonte drew 21 walks in 227 at-bats for Tampa (not bad)…but now has four in two games since his promotion to Tampa.

George Kontos pitched in his third game since his injury, pitching three scoreless innings this time out. He allowed two hits and two walks while striking out two.

JB Cox allowed two runs in two-thirds of an inning and sits with an ERA of 14.54 in four games. ——————————————————————————————————————————————— Charleston:

Josh Romanski pitched a strong 5.1 innings, but Charleston’s bats didn’t show up in a 3-1 loss. Romanski (23, LHP) allowing one run on two hits. He walked three and struck out eight. Since being placed on the Charleston roster, Romanski is 1-2 with a 4.33 ERA in five starts (27 IP, 29 H, 6 BB, 24 K).

Kyle Higashioka hit his second home run in two days (fourth overall) in the loss. ——————————————————————————————————————————————- GCL Yankees:

Gary Sanchez his his second home run of the early season (four games), but the Yankees’ bullpen let the team down in a 4-3 loss.

Manuel Banuelos made his second start, and this time pitched three scoreless innings. He allowed one hit, walked two and struck out four. Once he proves he is fully recovered, he’ll likely be on the Charleston or Tampa roster. He was dominant in 108 innings for Charleston last year, so i will assume a healthy Banuelos will be on the Tampa roster at some point.

Tags: Andrew Brackman, Brandon Laird, Eduardo Nunez, Gary Sanchez, George Kontos, Jesus Montero, Joba Chamberlain, Josh Romanski, Kyle Higashioka, Manuel Banuelos, Phil Hughes