MINOR LEAGUE NEWS

Jose Berrios took a no-hitter into the seventh inning Tuesday night before eventually leaving his outing at Triple-A with one hit allowed in seven innings. "He's really worked hard in his bullpens," Red Wings pitching coach Stu Cliburn said. "We've kind of cut back on the number of pitches he throws in his side work, and that's seemed to help out… We've got to understand this kid is still only 21 years old and actually should be a college senior. Hopefully, if he gets the call again, he'll be more prepared than the first time." Berrios is certainly making a push for the big leagues over his last three outings. In those 22 innings Berrios has struck out 22 batters while allowing a mere six hits. On the whole he has made 11 starts at Triple-A this season with a 7-3 record, 2.62 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 73 strikeouts over 68.2 innings. Meanwhile Kyle Gibson is 1-5 with a 5.12 ERA, Tyler Duffey is 3-6 with a 5.59 ERA and Tommy Milone is 0-2 with a 5.33 ERA. But hey, who needs Berrios, right?

 

Aaron Judge was ranked as the 76th best prospect in baseball according to Baseball America coming into the year. He was ranked even higher by Baseball Prospectus (18th) and MLB.com (31st). He stands 6’7” and weighs in at 285 lbs. He’s obviously a massive individual. The 24 year old slugger hit .255 with 20 homers and 72 RBI last season. He’s also struck out 144 times in 124 games with a .777 OPS. This season his production has improved as he’s hitting .266 with a .842 OPS. He’s also blasted 16 homers in 74 games at Triple-A. He’s been on absolute fire of late with a .389 batting average and seven homers his last 10 games with folks clamoring for his immediate call up. Some thoughts.

1 – Seven homers in 10 games is amazing. However, that means he hit just nine homers his first 64 games.

2 – Judge has hit .389 his last 10 games. However, that means he hit just .248 over his first 64 games.

3 – It might be an anomaly of a small sample size, but in 21 day games this season he’s hit .198/.290/.395. Last season in nine day games he hit .194/.256/.222. What’s going on there?

4 – Where will he play with the Yankees? This is the biggest issue with Judge.

Carlos Beltran hurt his leg and immediately, like within minutes, the questions about adding Judge off waivers came in fast and furious on Twitter. Beltran tweaked his hamstring Tuesday night. He had an MRI. There is no significant damage to his hammy and he is being listed as day-to-day. If he can’t go in the short run the assumption is that ARod would play daily at designated hitter after recently basically being told he would play only versus lefties at designated hitter. That would leave Beltran’s spot in the lineup in the outfield to Aaron Hicks and Rob Refsnyder. There is no indication that Judge will be receiving a call up. In fact, a report at ESPN said that GM Brian Cashman was merely “lukewarm” at the potential of an immediate call up of Judge. Sounds like manager Joe Girardi wouldn’t mind if Judge was called up. "I think if you felt you can get a jolt from anyone, you would ask for it," Girardi said. "Cash would do something about it. I know [Judge] is swinging the bat well. I know who is swinging the bat well all the time, but that is not my call. We need something.” For now, that “something” is not Aaron Judge.

 

Nick Williams is one of the better outfield prospects in all of baseball. In fact, Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus ranked him as the 27th and 25th best prospect in baseball regardless of position. Last season in 119 games at Double-A he hit .303 with 17 homers, 13 steals and a .845 OPS. This season in 67 games at Triple-A has he has hit seven homers, has stolen five bases, has hit .285 with a .789 OPS. He’s on track to make an appearance in the big leagues this season with his ample talent. Well, maybe not.

Williams was benched Tuesday for failing to hustle Monday. This isn’t a one-off either. Williams was also benched for two games earlier this month for --- not hustling. It’s not clear as of this writing if Williams will be back in the lineup Wednesday night for the IronPigs or if this benching will also cost him multiple games like the first one. “It’s all part of the development with Nick,” IronPigs manager Dave Brundage said. “Whether he’s in the lineup or not, we’ll make sure we get something out of it.” For his part, though it’s a bit hard to take him seriously given the fact this is the second time this season he’s been benched for not hustling, Williams says he’s working on it. “I don’t ever think that I’m bigger than the game or better than anyone and think I don’t have to do things the right way.” Williams is a very nice talent, and it’s not like the Phillies couldn’t use an injection of talent, but until they can trust Williams to play the game correctly his talent alone doesn’t sound likely to get him to the big leagues.

DFS DIAMONDS

*The following list of players are guys that Ray recommends as daily plays.

CATCHER: Righties have lit up Logan Verrett with a .293/.407/.511 slash line. Wilson Ramos has hit .455 with a homer, five RBI and four runs his last five games.

FIRST BASE: In the month of June Billy Butler has hit .318/.367/.477. He’s also lit up Jake Peavy over the years to the tune of a .444/.500/.722 slash line in 40 plate appearances.

SECOND BASE: Brian Dozier has four homers and seven RBI his last three games. Over the last week he’s hit .417 and six times in nine games he’s had at least two hits. He’s hit .364 with two homers against James Shields, aka Mr. Home Run (seven in five starts).     

THIRD BASE: David Freese lights up lefties this season (.340/.407/.547). He faces Wade Miley who has been out of action since June 12th due to a shoulder issue, and Miler has allowed 17 runs his last 20.2 innings. He’s just not good. #InstantAnalysis

SHORTSTOP: Eduardo Nunez has crushed the White Sox in his career (.352/.404/.637 over 33 games). He’s crushed it on the road this season (.333/.344/.483). He’s blasted James Shields with a .435/.480/.739 slash line with two homers and three steals over 25 plate appearances.
  
OUTFIELD: George Springer has seven hits in 15 at-bats against Jered Weaver with a homer. Weaver has allowed a whopper of 19 homers in 89.1 innings this season and Springer is on pace for nearly 35 homers this season.  

OUTFIELD: Matt Kemp has 10 RBI his last 10 games. He’s driven in 20 runners in 24 games while batting .333 in June. He’s also gone .360-2-7 in 25 at-bats against Yovani Gallardo.  

OUTFIELD: Matt Holliday has two homers in three games and four homers in eight outings. He’s driven in11 runs his last nine games. Edinson Volquez has allowed 16 hits and 17 runs his last 7.1 innings. Seriously. In five June starts Volquez had a 8.88 ERA and 1.66 WHIP. Righties have hit .295 against him. Holliday is batting .324 with two homers against Edinson (34 ABs).

 

Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday, 7 PM EDT and Friday on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 7 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).