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Dbacks Minors in the Playoffs: Kane County Eliminated

By Guillermo Salcido

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The Minor League Playoffs have started for the Arizona Diamondbacks affiliates. While the Hillsboro Hops were successful in the first round and will play in the Northwest League Championship, the Kane County Cougars were eliminated in swift fashion. The Cougars lost two straight games to the Peoria Chiefs in a Best-of-Three series. let’s take a look back at some future Dbacks.

Kane County was the best team in the second half of the Midwest League, having a record of 48-22. Overall, they had the 2nd best record (84-54), behind the Quad Cities River Bandits. The Cougars offense was nonexistent, scoring three runs combined in both contests. In each game, the Cougars lost by one run, so pitching performed admirably.

Game 1 went down to the wire as the 1-1 game headed into the 9th inning. The Cougars handed the ball over to 2015 5th round pick Ryan Burr, out of Arizona State. In the regular season with Kane County, Burr struck out 28 hitters in 19.2 innings. Unfortunately for the former Sun Devil, his command was shaken and he walked three in the 9th, allowing the game winning run to the Chiefs in the process. 20-year old Victor Reyes had the only multi-hit performance, going 2-for-3 with an RBI.

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Game 2 was the Cougars jump out to an early 1-0 lead, but the Chiefs responded in just as quick a fashion, scoring two runs in the next inning. Peoria tacked on another run in the 6th, while Kane County tried to fight back with a run of their own in the 7th. The game finished 3-2 in the Chiefs favor. 2013 8th round pick Brad Keller was tagged with the loss.

Wei-Chieh Huang, the 21-year old Taiwanese right hander, was the highest rated prospect on the club. The international signing had an impressive season that earned him a spot in the 2015 Futures Game in Cincinnati. Stryker Trahan, the 1st round pick (26th overall) of the 2012 MLB Draft, struggled mightily and was sent to Kane County to work things out. Trahan led the Cougars in homeruns, but still hit for a low average.

Dawel Lugo, a 20-year old Dominican shortstop, was acquired from Toronto in the trade that sent Cliff Pennington to the Blue Jays. Lugo went 27-for-81 (.333) with the Cougars, after hitting .336 with Toronto’s Single-A affiliate. Lugo has the potential to be quite a steal of an acquisition.

Many of the players that comprised this Kane County Cougars team figure to appeared with Visalia, if not Mobile next season. Here’s a quick stat dump of the highest prospects, as well as other notable performances.

Top 30 Prospects

  • Wei-Chieh Huang (10) RHP
    • 7-3, 2.00 ERA, 68 K
  • Stryker Trahan (16) C
    • .236 AVG, 11 HR, 42 RBI
  • Dawel Lugo (17) SS
    • .333 AVG, 0 HR, 3 RBI
  • Victor Reyes (23) OF
    • .311 AVG, 2 HR, 59 RBI
  • Ryan Burr (24) RHP
    • 1-0, 0.46 ERA, 28 K
  • Jose Martinez (27) RHP
    • 1-1, 3.31 ERA, 27 K
  • Colin Bray (30) OF
    • .308 AVG, 3 HR, 52 RBI

Notable Players

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