Down On The Farm: Heath Rollins Latest Prospect To Win Honor

Durham 11, Ottawa 3. Two hits and two wild pitches led to a run in the first inning, but Jeff Niemann settled down and did not allow a run over the next 4 frames. Still, while Niemann was good, he was not dominating. He failed to record a 1-2-3 inning and allowed 5 hits and 2 walks along with the 2 wild pitches in those 5 innings. Justin Ruggiano is starting to heat up at the plate. He hit his 3rd home run in the past 4 games and 4th in the past 7. He now has 7 on the year and is hitting .290. Joel Guzman added his 7th home run. He hit 15 last year between Las Vegas and Durham.

Huntsville 19, Montgomery 4. James Houser gave up 6 runs on 9 hits and was pulled after 3 innings. As a team the Biscuits gave up 21 hits. Evan Longoria may be breaking out of his recent slump as he homered for the second straight game. He went 2-4 and is now back over .300 (.304). Jason Pridie added his 3rd home run and Reid rignac went 1-4.

Vero Beach 6, St. Lucie 4. Garrett Groce was 2-6 with 2 doubles and is now 6-15 in 4 games since his return from the DL. Jake McGee gave up 7 hits and 2 runs over 5 innings. He did not walk a batter as he struck out 5.

Columbus 8, Charleston 7. Woods Fines got knocked around for 11 hits and 7 runs in 4 innings. Nevin Ashley hit his 4th home run.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• Heath Rollins was named the SAL pitcher-of-the-week. Rollins is the second member of the Columbus staff to win the award. Wade Townsend won the award in April.

Down On The Farm: Another Pitcher-Of-The-Week Award For Durham

Ottawa 2, Durham 0. JP Howell fell to 3-5 after giving up 2 runs (1 earned) in 7 innings on 4 hits and 1 walk. Ben Zobrist’s bat is finally waking up. He had 2 hits in 4 at bats and has multi-hit games in 4 of the last 7 to raise his average to .246.

Montgomery 3, Huntsville 0. Chris Mason continues to dominate the AA Southern League. Last night he threw 7 shutout innings to lower his ERA to 2.39 and raise his record to 7-1. He allowed 5 hits and struck out 7 while walking none. Evan Longoria broke a 3-26 slump with 3 hits in 4 at bats and his 11th home run. He now has 40 RBI in 50 games this season. Reid Brignac was 0-3 with a walk.

St. Lucie 6, Vero Beach 5. Matt Walker gave up 3 runs in 5.2 innings. Rhyne Hughes has 3 hits and is now hitting .335.

Charleston 9, Columbus 1. Wade Townsend gave up 6 runs (5 earned) in 5 innings. He allowed 5 hits and 4 walks and struck out 4. His fell to 3-4 with a 3.48 ERA.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• For the 4th time this season already a Durham Bulls pitcher has been named IL pitcher-of-the-week. This time it is Mitch Talbot. Andy Sonnanstine and Jason Hammel (twice) have also won the award. Talbot entered the week with a 2-5 record and an 8.21 ERA. During the week he went 2-0 and pitched 14 innings with 6 hits and 5 walks. He allowed 1 run and struck out 10.
• Kevin Gengler of Tampa Bay’s Tomorrow has secured an interview with Lewis Heath Rollins (He goes by his middle name…Sorry Heath). We know we gave you these numbers yesterday, but it is worth repeating because we barely believe them ourselves…In his last 8 starts, Rollins has thrown 50 innings, with 24 hits, 10 walks and 49 strike outs. He has also only allowed 1 earned over that stretch for an ERA of 0.18.

Down On The Farm: Jason Hammel Makes Case For Rays Open Rotation Slot

Durham 8, Ottawa 0. Bulls pitchers run their scoreless streak to 19 consecutive innings. Yesterday, Jason Hammel pitched a complete game 5-hit shutout. He struck out 6 and walked none to lower his ERA to 2.85. Justin Ruggiano hit a home run for the second consecutive game and now has 6. Ben Zobrist added his second.

Huntsville 12, Montgomery 3. Chris Seddon allowed 5 runs in 5 innings giving up 8 hits and 4 walks. Seddon added 3 wild pitches as he struggled with his control. His ERA is now 4.98. Reid Brignac was 1-4 and Evan Longoria went 0-4 and is now hitting below .300 (.289). Jason Pridie went 3-4 and is hitting .302. He added his 12th stolen base.

Columbus 3, Savannah 2 (14 inn). Josh Butler gave up 2 runs on 7 hits and 1 walk in 7 innings. His ERA is now 2.41.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• When we saw that The Hardball Times had a post titled “Ten hitting prospects worth knowing about” we went eh and shrugged our shoulders. We assumed there would be a Devil Ray or two on there. Likely we would find the usual suspects like Evan Longoria and/or Reid Brignac. And quite frankly it just isn’t that exciting anymore. They are on all of these lists. But to our surprise neither made the list but another Rays prospect did…Desmond Jennings. Now they got our attention. We knew his bio and have seen the stats, but we really didn’t know much about him.

Jennings is positioned to lead the next generation of Rays outfield prospects. The former three-sport star is going to draw Carl Crawford comparisons, but he already is showing more patience at the plate than Crawford ever has by walking in 11% of his plate appearances. Jennings is a good contact hitter but is not just slapping the ball on the ground and using his speed to get on base; 16% of his batted balls are line drives and he already has a dozen extra-base hits. Jennings likes to run; he is 21-for-30 in stolen base attempts this year.

• Two consecutive seasons with the Durham Bulls’ pitching coach, Xavier Hernandez, has paid big dividends for Andy Sonnanstine.
• On Sunday, Mitch Talbot pitched 8 shutout innings with 2 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 5.
• On Sunday Columbus pitcher Lewis Rollins picked up his 6th straight win as he worked 6 innings and allowed only 1 hit, no walks and 1 unearned run. He struck out 5. The only run allowed came after the Catfish committed 3 errors in the 5thinning. In his last 8 starts, Rollins has thrown 50 innings, with 24 hits, 10 walks and 49 strike outs. He has also only allowed 1 earned over that stretch for a ridiculous ERA of 0.18. His ERA on the year is not quite as good at 1.04.

Down On The Farm: Heath Rollins Finally Allows A Run

Durham 4, Syracuse 2. After 5 consecutive losses, Jason Hammel got back on the winning track with 7 innings of 1-run ball. Hammel has been plagued by a lack of run support recently, but took matters into his own hands last night. His ERA on the season is now 3.30 despite a 2-5 record. He also 55 strikeouts in 57.1 innings. Ben Zobrist had only his 2nd 2-hit game since his demotion to Durham. He is hitting .206. Jon Switzer pitched 1.2 innings and gave up 1 run in his rehab appearance. Switzer is currently on the 60-day DL.

Lakeland 4, Vero Beach 3. Mike Wlodarczyk went 5.2 innings and gave up 2 runs (1 earned) on 5 hits and 3 walks.

Columbus 4, Charleston 2. Heath Rollins streak of 6 consecutive starts without allowing an earned run came to an end when gave up 1 run in 6 innings. His ERA actually increased to 1.16 on the season. He also has 61 strikeouts and only 14 walks in 54.1 innings.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

• Heath Rollins streak of consecutive innings without allowing an earned run ended at 43 with 2 outs in the 5th innings. Over that stretch, Rollins allowed 2 unearned runs. Since his 1st start of the season when allowed 4 runs in 4.1 innings, Rollins has started 8 games and allowed 5 runs (3 earned) in 48.1 inings (0.56 ERA), with 27 hits, 12 walks and 52 strike outs. Rollins, an 11th round pick last year out of Winthrop University, should probably have his bags packed.

Down On The Farm: Lewis Rollins Now On The Prospect Radar

Pawtucket 7, Durham 4. Jason Hammel numbers are starting to look very pedestrian. He has had a shaky outing giving up 6 runs in 4.2 innings. He allowed 5 hits and 4 walks. After a very strong start to the season Hammel’sallowed 57 base runners in 50 innings with a 3.58 ERA. Ben Zobrist homered to leave off the game. Shawn Riggans picked up his 4th home run.

West Tenn 2, Montgomery 0. Jonathon Barratt struck out 4 in 4 innings and allowed only 1 run. Jason Pridie has been hot recently and picked up 2 of the Biscuits 3 hits. Pridie has multiple hits in 7 of his past 9 games and owns a 13-game hitting streak to raise his average to .299. Evan Longoria sat out with a bruised elbow after being hit by a pitch the night before.

Vero Beach 5, Daytona 1. Wade Davis struck out 7 in 5.2 innings. He allowed 1 run on 6 hits and 2 walks.

Columbus 5, Savannah 2. Add Lewis Rollins to the already crowded slate of Rays minor league pitchers that are having great seasons. Rollins struck out 9 and walked none in 6 shutout innings. He gave up only 2 hits, both coming with 1 out in the 1st inning. After those hits he retired 18 of 19, with 1 batter reaching on an error and another reaching on a 3rd strike wild pitch. Rollins, an 11th round pick last year, now has a 1.12 ERA in 8 starts with 55 strikeouts and 13 walks in 48.1 innings. His 55 strikeouts is tied for first in the SALy.