This Week in the Minors: The second half begins

Carter Jensen hits his first Triple-A home run.

This Week in the Minors is our weekly look at notable performances from all over the system, from big-name prospects and less-heralded guys alike. The mission is to answer this simple question: “Who had a good week?”

Triple-A Omaha Storm Chasers (2-4, 3 games back)

The Storm Chasers began the second half by dropping four of six to Indianapolis. They went on an offensive barrage with a 17-run outburst on Thursday that saw home runs for Joey Wiemer, MJ Melendez, Dairon Blanco, Cavan Biggio, and the first Triple-A dinger for Carter Jensen. But then the bats went into hiding with three runs over the next three games.

Blanco homered twice for the week, going 8-for-17 (.471). Melendez was 6-for-21 (.286) overall with two doubles, a triple, and a home run. Biggio was 4-for-14 (.286) for the week. Wiemer homered twice this week to give him eight for the year. Michael Massey homered in his first game on rehab assignment and went 5-for-12 (.417) overall.

The pitching staff is stretched thin with Eric Cerantola, Ryan Hendrix, and Jacob Wallace all placed on the Injured List this week. Rich Hill picked up the win in the blowout, going six innings with two runs and eight strikeouts. Stephen Nogosek gave up just one run in 3 ²⁄₃ innings with six strikeouts in two outings. Jonathan Bowlan had three strikeouts in two shutout innings. Andrew Hoffmann earned a win, pitching 3 ¹⁄₃ innings shutout innings in two games. Ben Sears struck out four of the nine hitters he faced in his Triple-A debut, giving up just one unearned run.

Double-A Northwest Arkansas Naturals (3-3, 1 game back)

The Naturals split their first six games of the second half against Corpus Christi. Sam Ruta was 5-for-17 (.294) as was Jordan Groshans. Rudy Martin was 6-for-15 (.400) with four walks and two steals, giving him 24 in 36 games, third-most in the Texas League. Jack Pineda went 7-for-21 (.333) with a steal. Javier Vaz had five walks and no strikeouts for the week, giving him a 6.6 percent strikeout rate, lowest in the league. Justin Johnson hit two homers and drove in five for the week. Gavin Cross returned from the Injured List and homered in his first game back.

Shane Panzini improved to 2-0 on Tuesday with five innings and two runs allowed. Hunter Owen tossed five shutout innings on Wednesday, followed by three shutout innings by Hunter Patteson and a shutout inning from Chazz Martinez. Martinez picked up his third save of the year on Friday. Ryan Ramsey allowed just one run in three innings of relief, but was tagged with a loss on Thursday. Steven Zobac allowed just one run over four innings with three strikeouts and no walks. Ben Kudrna gave up three runs in 5 1/3 innings with six strikeouts, but picked up his sixth loss of the year on Saturday.

In addition to Zobac and Patteson returning from injury, the Naturals activated pitcher Cruz Noriega and received pitcher Beck Way from Triple-A. Pitcher Asa Lacy was also placed on the full-season injured list – he hasn’t pitched since 2022.

High-A Quad Cities River Bandits (6-3, first place)

The River Bandits are beginning the second half like they ended the first half – in first place. Bryan Gonzalez was 4-for-16 (.250) with his third home run of the year. Callan Moss was 6-for-18 with a home run and eight walks. Derlin Figueroa went 6-for-19 (.316) with five walks and three steals. In his first game with the River Bandits after a promotion from Low-A, catcher Dionmy Salon drove in five runs with a two-hit night. Sam Kulasginam was 9-for-22 (.409) with his first pro home run.

Josh Hansell tossed five scoreless innings with just one hit allowed to lower his ERA to 2.57. Logan Martin improved to 7-3 with five scoreless innings on Thursday, backed by two-inning scoreless stints by Tommy Molsky and Zachary Cawyer. Drew Beam allowed just one run over five innings with five strikeouts and no walks. Reliever A.J. Causey picked up his league-leading eighth win of the year on Saturday, and also picked up his fourth save.

Low-A Columbia Fireflies (2-7, 5 games back)

The Fireflies snapped a five-game losing streak, but still lost four of six to Myrtle Beach. Brennon McNair hit a walk-off home run on Thursday, his eighth homer of the year. Outfielder Henry Ramos went on a tear, hitting 8-for-19 (.421) with three steals and his first home run of the year. Catcher Hyungchan Um also hit his first home run of the year.

Hiro Wyatt retired 15 of the 17 batters he faced, allowing just one hit in five scoreless innings. Jordan Woods struck out six in four innings with just two hits and one run in a hard-luck loss on Wednesday. David Shields gave up one run in 3 ¹⁄₃ innings to bring his ERA to 2.43. Emmanuel Reyes struck out four in three innings of relief with one run allowed. Mason Miller struck out three in three innings, allowing one run. Yimi Presinal struck out 7 of 16 batters he faced in four innings with just one run allowed.