April 20 Minor League Report: Zach Borenstein Cycles

Feb 26, 2014; Tempe, AZ, USA; Los Angeles Angels outfielder

poses for a portrait during photo day at Tempe Diablo Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

On a light day in the minor leagues, the biggest news was that Los Angeles Angels’ Double-A outfielder Zach Borenstein hit for the cycle. As our batter of the day, Borenstein went 4/5 on the day, driving in four runs and even adding a walk. Congrats, Zach!

The Chicago White Sox’ Tim Anderson (High-A Winston-Salem Dash) had a big day, going 3/5 with a home run, two runs scored and thee RBI. The Dodgers’ Alex Guerrero is hitting .440 after going 3/5 with a double for the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate in Albuquerque. In other Triple-A action, Phillies’ Maikel Franco (Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs) is starting to turn his slow start around by going 3/5 with a double, two runs and two RBI.

Catcher Austin Hedges (Double-A San Antonio Missions) hit his first home run of the season, going 4/5.

As for the pitchers, Andrew Heaney earns the pitcher of the day award. On the mound for Double-A Jacksonville (MIA), Heaney threw seven innings of one-run, three-hit ball, striking out nine batters. Let’s not forget Christian Friedrichs who, though he didn’t have the strikeout stuff the way that Heaney did, was stellar on Sunday, taking a perfect game into the seventh inning and finishing with an outstanding final line (7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K).

There weren’t too many outings worthy of superlatives yesterday but Cleveland’s 21-year-old hurler Shawn Morimando threw six strong innings for the Carolina Mudcats (6 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 5 K) while Adam Conley (Triple-A New Orleans Zephyrs – MIA) had a very strong outing (7 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K). Trevor May (Triple-A Rochester Red Wings – MIN) was also excellent, going six scoreless innings with just one hit and one walk while striking out four.

If you like pitching, you probably should have been in Tacoma as the Rainiers battled the Sacramento River Cats. Sacramento starter, Sean Murphy, went seven shutout innings, giving up just three hits and two walks with four strikeouts while his opponent, Tacoma’s Jordan Pries, allowed just one hit and two walks in six innings of work with two strikeouts.

Sean Manaea was rocked in just two innings of work for K.C.’s High-A affiliate in Wilmington, giving up seven runs on seven hits.

My line of the day goes to Jacksonville Suns (MIA) catcher J.T. Realmuto who went 3/5 with two runs and two RBI. The reason that it’s the line of the day is that he stole three bases(!) . . . as a catcher!