Minor League Review: Prospects and One Unlikely Hero

Druw Jones, Slade Caldwell, Cristian Mena, and other prospects had a good week, but so did Rule 5 pick Drake Osborn

Quick Round Up

Here’s the tl;dr version: Reno, Hillsboro, and Visalia all won their series this past week. Amarillo went 1-2. Stars of the week included Cristian Mena, Spencer Giesting, Druw Jones, Yassel Soler, Adrian De Leon, and Ryan Waldschmidt. Waldschmidt checked in at #20 on Baseball America’s list of hottest prospects over the last week. Gavin Conticello picked up his first AA home run. Trey Mancini did not appear after getting plunked in the seventh inning on Friday.

Seven Numbers

0.84, which is Cristian Mena’s ERA after two starts. He’s struck out nine in 10.2 innings and has a WHIP of 1.031. He did not allow a run against a Las Vegas team that is tied for the PCL lead in scoring, and has topped ten runs in three of nine games.

41, which is the number of runs scored by Reno in their 4-2 series victory over Tacoma. It’s also the number of Drake Osborn, who was a surprise star of the week. More on him below.

30, which is the number of runs scored by the Visalia Rawhide in their three game sweep of Inland Empire. Adrian De Leon drove in ten runs, twice as many as anyone else in the California League thus far. Yassel Soler went 7-for-14 with a home run. Slade Caldwell picked up just one hit, but he walked six times and scored four runs, stealing two bases. Caldwell’s six walks are two more than anyone else in the California League.

0, which is the number of walks given up on opening night by Visalia pitchers Lorenzo Encarnacion and Casey Anderson. The California League as a whole saw 114 walks over the weekend; the Rawhide drew 21 of those and allowed just eight. With 114 walks equating to 4.75 walks per team, per game, Rawhide pitching showed greater control even in subsequent games. Encarnacion, who missed all of last season due to injury, walked 4.1 per nine innings in 2023. Anderson walked 6.8 per nine across two levels in 2023 and walked 4.8 per nine in 89 innings with the Rawhide last season.

5, which is the number of runs Druw Jones scored in his first three games with the Hops. He singled three times and walked three times, and stole a base, but the ninth inning Sunday was his finest moment. Having fallen behind in the top of the frame, Jones led off for the home side and drew (Druw?) a walk that required multiple foul balls to stay alive. He scored the tying run on a double from Cristofer Torin, who later scored on a wild pitch to end the game. Five is also the number of times Demetrio Crisantes reached base in the series, with four walks and one hit. Unfortunately, his 57-game on-base streak came to an end on Friday, as we was rung up looking twice on 3-2 pitches that were borderline at best. Furthermore, five is the number of strikeouts and shutout innings Spencer Giesting worked on Sunday.

3, which is the number of home runs Avery Short gave up in 0.2 innings of work on Saturday. There was also a pitch driven deep to the wall in left-center which Jack Hurley caught while slamming into the wall, wisely flipping the ball to Kristian Robinson to throw it in to prevent the runner on first from advancing. Hurley stayed down for quite a while, but remained in the game. It was, however, the final pitch of Short’s ignominious outing. He will have better days.

16, which is the number of errors committed in the course of the week. Some were harmless, such as Ricardo Yan throwing a pickoff attempt away. Others may have decided the game, such as a pair of errors on one play by Jose Fernandez and Tommy Troy on Friday night, and a failure to properly field a bunt by Tommy Henry, also on Friday night. Those errors each led to multiple runs in games lost by a single run. A certain number of errors are expected at lower levels, but keep in mind that Reno played twice as many games this week as anyone else.

Unheralded Player of the Week

Benjamin Chambers/Delaware News Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

This section will look at a non-prospect who performed particularly well.

First on the list, Aces catcher Drake Osborn.

It was not shocking that the Diamondbacks made a selection in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft. They do so practically every season. It was surprising that the pick was Osborn, who had been mostly unimpressive in the Mets’ system after being a 19th round draft pick. In addition, given that the Diamondbacks had not protected Christian Cerda from the minor league Rule 5 draft, this signaled that the organization might have valued acquiring Osborn more than keeping Cerda, who is definitely the better-regarded prospect.

It was just one week, but Osborn went a long way towards changing perceptions.

He’s not young by any means; he’ll turn 27 in July. Thanks to the pandemic, he played five seasons of college ball: four at Texas A&M Corpus Christi, and one at Louisiana-Lafayette. He barely played as a freshman, but followed up that season with an excellent summer in the Texas Collegiate League, where he slashed .324/.423/.469. He followed that with an excellent sophomore season, with an .832 OPS. But he struggled in the Northwoods League, saw his performance and his playing time drop off as a junior, and had his senior season interrupted after 56 plate appearances.

But he came back in 2021 and played well, in a more competitive conference. In fact, he had a career year, slashing .337/.415/.491 and walking more than he struck out. The Mets drafted him in the 19th round. He signed for $30,000 and sent to the complex, where he struggled to a .519 OPS. He improved during his time in their system, and performed decently, primarily in a backup role, at AA Binghamton last year.

He singled and doubled in his AAA debut, but went 0-for-5 in his first two games of the recently completed series. Then Sunday came around, and all he did was go 4-for-5 with two of his hits being doubles. That ties his career high for hits but falls just short of his career high for total bases, for he had a three hit, two home run game for Brooklyn in 2023.

He takes professional at-bats. He makes pitchers work. He’s a veteran presence who seems to be fine defensively despite being on the small side. He’s hit the ball hard; in his debut he hit one at 108.1 MPH, and two of his hits yesterday were likewise hard-hit balls, although not to that level.

Osborn also excelled at football in high school, and in the classroom. He earned entry into the National Honor Society in high school, and has degrees from both of his college stops. He’s athletic, seemingly intelligent, and could be just the type of player the Diamondbacks need to help shepherd their young pitching into the major leagues. It’s a long shot, but if he has many more days like Sunday, he’ll get there himself.

A Warm Welcome (or Welcome Back) to…

In addition to Lorenzo Encarnacion’s return from injury, Ricardo Yan also returned from last season’s arm injury to throw four scoreless innings on Sunday. He didn’t give up a hit, but more importantly, didn’t walk anyone. Cristian Mena already has two starts, but he was shut down after July 25th last year.

Slade Caldwell made his professional debut, the only batter to do so thus far. Pitchers Daniel Eagen and John West made their debuts in Hillsboro. Both struggled a bit, results wise, but the stuff looked good.

Making a debut at a new level were Grayson Hitt, Alexander Benua, Yerald Nin, and Jose Alpuria (A); Demetrio Crisantes, Ryan Waldschmidt, Druw Jones, Jansel Luis, Cristofer Torin, Ben McLaughlin, and Anderdson Rojas (A+); Alfred Morillo, Landon Sims, Tommy Troy, and Jack Hurley (AA); Juan Morillo, Drake Osborn, and Kevin Graham (AAA).

Injuries

Pitcher Vitico Valdez was placed on the full-season IL. Jake Fitzgibbons, Jefferson Pena and Kenny Castillo will open the year on the IL. A.J. Vukovich was added to the IL with an undisclosed injury. Trey Mancini may well miss time as he hasn’t played since getting hit by a pitch on Friday. In addition to Hurley (mentioned above) Cristofer Torin went down during Saturday’s game and was down for a while, but remained in the game. Both of them played Sunday with no ill effects, so hopefully that was nothing. Also, Ivan Melendez is out with an oblique strain.

Next Up

The Aces go on the road to Salt Lake City to face a Bees team which has already given up 77 runs on the young season. Reno has the distinction of opening the new Ballpark at America First Square, which some in the area hope will help Salt Lake City lure a major league team. Jorge Barrosa will likely be the first batter in the new park. (By the way, did you know that Mike Lansing was at the plate for the first pitch in both Rockies and Diamondbacks history? Now you do!) The Sod Poodles will have their home opener against Cardinals’ affiliate Springfield. The Hops go on the road to Everett, which boasts perhaps the oddest stadium remaining in the minor leagues. And the Rawhide visit San Jose, who will still be looking to get their first win.