TWitM: Sam Ruta is Army strong

The undrafted free agent has impressed in his pro debut.

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 (19-24, 7 games back)

The Storm Chasers split their six-game series against Columbus, but that leaves them just half a game out of last place in the Western Division. Cam Devanney continued his torrid hitting this year, hitting not one, but two grand slams this week. That gave him 11 RBI for the week to go with six hits and five walks. His 32 RBI are tied for fifth-most in the International League and he is tenth in the league in OPS at .950.

John Rave continued to hit, going 8-for-21 (.381) with his 7th home run, seven walks, and three steals. Tyler Gentry had three multi-hit games this week, going 8-for-21 (.381) with four doubles. Nick Loftin hit his fourth home run and drew nine more walks to give him 39 for the year, second-most in all of the minors. Nelson Velázquez hit three home runs and went 6-for-19 (.316). Nick Pratto continues to struggle, but he did hit first two home runs of the season and he has a massive split, hitting .300 at home, but .140 on the road. MJ Melendez hit a walk-off home run on Friday, and had 7 RBI for the week.

Thomas Hatch gave up two solo home runs in six innings to earn his second win of the year. Stephen Nogosek gave the Storm Chasers four shutout innings in relief, and has yet to give up a run in 6 ²⁄₃ innings for the year. Trevor Richards pitched 3 ¹⁄₃ innings without giving up a run this week. Jacob Wallace gave up just one hit and one run in four innings.

The big transactional news this week was that Jac Caglianone was promoted from Double-A to Triple-A Omaha. Joey Wiemer and Harold Castro each landed on the Injured List, and the Storm Chasers brought up infielders Colton Becker and Jordan Groshans, and pitchers Ethan Bosacker and Nate Ackenhausen to fill out the roster.

Double-A Northwest Arkansas Naturals (20-19, 2 games back)

The Naturals won Sunday to snap a four-game losing streak to the Tulsa Drillers. Jac Caglianone had three multi-hit games to go 8-for-24 (.333) this week with six RBI to give him 43 for the year, most in the minors. Carter Jensen went 5-for-22 (.227) with nine walks. Justin Johnson hit his first home run of the season, and hit 4-for-11 (.364) for the week. Javier Vaz drew six walks and stole three bases. Sam Ruta, an undrafted free agent out of Army, went 6-for-13 (.462) with two doubles and a two-homer game on Sunday, the first two home runs of his professional career.

Ryan Ramsey recovered from a five-run start on Tuesday to give the Naturals 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball to improve to 3-0 on Sunday. Brandon Johnson gave up an unearned run in 3 ²⁄₃ innings to get the loss Friday, but he lowered his ERA to 0.93 for the week. Nicholas Regalado tossed three shutout innings on Thursday. Reliever Chazz Martinez gave up just one run in 4 ¹⁄₃ innings with five strikeouts to bring his ERA down to 1.66.

High-A Quad Cities River Bandits (24-14, first place)

Quad Cities split the series with Dayton, needing two walk-off wins, including a five-run ninth-inning rally on Wednesday. Callan Moss hit 8-for-24 (.333) with a home run and 8 RBI, giving him 31 on the year, second-most in the Midwest League. Erick Torres went 9-for-29 (.310) with his first two home runs of the year. Omar Hernandez went 3-for-11 (.273) with 4 RBI, one of which was a game-winning walk-off hit. Chris Brito launched his first home run of the year.

Hunter Patteson gave up just two earned runs and five hits in 11 ²⁄₃ innings to bring his ERA to 1.55, third-lowest in the league. Frank Mozzicato gave up one hit and one run in five innings, and leaves High-A with a 1.24 ERA, earning a promotion to the Naturals. AJ Causey had two shutout innings to pick up a win on Wednesday in relief, then picked up another win on Sunday with four strikeouts in two innings, while giving up two runs.

Low-A Columbia Fireflies (22-17, first place)

The Fireflies split their series with Augusta to keep a hold on first place. Josi Novas went off and hit three home runs to give him six for the year. Asbel Gonzalez had four more steals to give him 35 on the year, second-most in the minors. Derlin Figueroa went 11-for-23 (.478) with a double and three walks.

Ramon Ramirez hit two home runs on Saturday, including the walk-off to win the game. He went 6-for-19 (.316) with three home runs on the week and he leads the Carolina League in RBI with 33 and is now tied for the home run lead with eight.

18-year-old David Shields made his A-ball debut on Wednesday with four shutout innings and five strikeouts. Yunior Marte tossed six shutout innings to improve to 3-0 on the year with a 2.87 ERA. Josh Hansell gave up three hits and one run in five innings with five strikeouts on Saturday. Hiro Wyatt gave up just two runs in five innings with six strikeouts on Thursday.