All season long I’ve basically just focused on the Jackson Generals because the Generals have good prospects and almost no other Mariners Minor League Affiliate does. Sure, there’s interesting guys here and there, but the top four prospects were in Jackson. Well, half of the big four has just moved up to the Northwest and now are literally and figuratively just outside reaching Seattle.
Yesterday the Rainiers did nothing to discount the fact that they need more talent if they’re going to accumulate meaningless wins. T-Town lost by a score of 9-0 to the Reno Aces after Jarrett Grube gave up 6 ER in 5 innings and Chance Ruffin allowed 3 ER in 1.2 innings.
Grube is not a prospect (now 0-4 with a 9.34 ERA) but Ruffin once was and is an interesting case. Relief pitchers are rarely ever a “big get” in a trade but at least Ruffin looked like he’d be a solid, well-above-average reliever at some point. That point is not now.
Chance has now pitched 37.1 innings and allowed 44 hits, 38 ER, with 32 K and 26 BB. As long as we’ve been calling for Danny Hultzen to get promoted, we should have been calling for Ruffin to get demoted in order to work some things out because it is definitely not working in AAA.
Vinnie Catricala was 2-for-4 yesterday, his fourth multi-hit game in the last seven, and he’s raised his line to .228/.277/.342 on the year. Blake Beavan makes his second start for the Rainiers this season tonight at 7:05 PM and you can expect Nick Franklin to make his AAA debut.
More important is today’s poll on the Rainiers website:
What is your favorite flavor of Tim’s Cascade Potato Chips?
Jalapeno
Salt and Vinegar
Mango Habanero
Dill Pickle
This can’t really be a serious question. What kind of satanist votes for anything other than Jalapeno?