Following the Winston-Salem Dash's performance this season, I'd been wondering which prospect was going to hit a homer first: Blake Rutherford or Gavin Sheets.
Rutherford won, as he hoisted one out by the slimmest of margins at BB&T Ballpark on Saturday.
.@flo_rider95: KKKKKKKK@ACAD_27 and @BlakeRuth2: 💣
— Winston-Salem Dash (@WSDashBaseball) May 6, 2018
Here were all the highlights from the Dash's 6-2 win over @bcreekastros... pic.twitter.com/Zrp3hPcKSG
While it took Rutherford a month to tally in that category, it's hard to quibble with the rest of his production, or at least the direction of it. He's hitting .352/.378/.495 with 10 extra-base hits in 22 games, after coming up with just five extra-base hits -- all doubles -- in 30 games in Kannapolis last year. Ideally the homers will start showing up with more frequency, especially since Winston-Salem is a fairly friendly place for hitting them.
It'd behoove Sheets to join the party, because he's a first-base-only prospect who is hitting .276/.417/.356 over 108 plate appearances. He knows the strike zone (19 walks, 14 strikeouts), but that hasn't yet translated into driving the pitches he swings at.
Charlotte 1, Columbus 0
- Charlie Tilson went 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Casey Gillaspie, 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Eddy Alvarez was 3-for-4 with a double and a strikeout.
- T.J. House threw seven innings of one-hit ball, in case you were wondering.
Tennessee 3, Birmingham 1
- Jameson Fisher walked once and struck out thrice.
- Eloy Jimenez had two singles and two strikeouts.
- Seby Zavala was 0-for-2 with two walks and a strikeout.
- Matt Rose, 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
- Zack Collins drew a bases-loaded walk as a pinch hitter.
- Jordan Guerrero: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 1 WP
Winston-Salem 6, Buies Creek 2
- Joel Booker went 1-for-5 with three strikeouts.
- Luis Alexander Basabe had a rare rough night: 0-for-4, three strikeouts.
- Micker Adolfo was 1-for-3 with a double, walk and strikeout.
- Gavin Sheets went 1-for-3 with a walk.
- Alex Call was 1-for-3 with a homer.
- Blake Rutherford replaced him and homered in his only PA.
- Yeyson Yrizarri was 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Ti'Quan Forbes, 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Bernardo Flores: 7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, 1 HR
Kannapolis 7, Hagerstown 3
- Justin Yurchak went 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Evan Skoug, 1-for-4 with a homer and two strikeouts.
- Michael Hickman was 2-for-4 with a strikeout.
- John Parke is still Kannapolis' best starter: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K.
- Tyler Johnson: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K
