Life on the Farm: Diamondbacks Minor League Weekly Report

2 of 5

Jun 13, 2015; San Francisco, CA, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Allen Webster (27) prepares to bump gloves with outfielder A.J. Pollock (11) before going into the dugout against the San Francisco Giants at the end of the fifth inning at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

Reno Aces, AAA

The Aces sit in 4th place in the PCL Northern Division at 26-37 after going 1-5 last week. This week was especially poor as the bats were generally cold to pair with the season long pitching troubles. Of the big three hitters on the team, only Danny Dorn had a good week going 9-18 with one home run, three runs, and six RBI. Peter O’Brien went 6-26 with three runs, one home run, and three RBI (all on his one homer yesterday). Nick Evans went 5-21 with four runs and five RBI.

In fact, the best hitting performance of the week came from Danny Worth (our favorite minor league hitter-pitcher), who scored once on five hits yesterday. He continues to impress at the AAA level. He is 29 years old and had rather unsuccessful stops in the majors a few times, but he was once a solid prospect in the Tigers’ system. Maybe he has developed some additional skills like some of the other late bloomers out there.

More from Venom Strikes

A quick history lesson…the Baltimore Orioles once selected a 23-year old infielder in the Rule 5 draft (for those who don’t know, the Rule 5 draft takes place at the Winter Meetings and lets teams select players from other organizations who are not on the 40-man roster within 3 years or age 23, which every happens later) whom they played a little before he went off and played with the Rays, Royals, and Pirates that season. That player was 23-year old Jose Bautista. Bautista played some over the next few years for the Pirates before exploding into the player we know today with the Blue Jays.

Why do I bring him up? He was widely considered a marginal player with power, but an inability to make consistent contact until something clicked. It clicked to the tune of 54 home runs and 124 RBI. He was 29 when that happened. So, with the three-headed monster of poor hitters in Aaron Hill, Nick Ahmed, and Chris Owings manning the middle infield, if the Diamondbacks are in the thick of things and have a chance at a playoff berth, and Worth is still hitting at the clip he is, does the team consider giving him a try? Maybe he is a late bloomer…

In pitching news, Jake Barrett went 5 innings over three relief appearances. He gave up zero runs on five hits, zero walks, and three strikeouts. Most notably though, none of the appearances were a save situation.