Athletics Weekly Minor League Recap: Ruiz steals six bases in five games

Esteury Ruiz is already making an impact after his demotion

The lower levels of full season ball opened up on Friday night, so we now will have a full schedule of Oakland Athletics minor league baseball for the next few months. While the lower levels provided excitement with their opening week play, it was the performance of the top bats at Triple-A Las Vegas that were the most impressive.

Las Vegas Aviators

Game Results

Record: 2-6, 5th in PCL West, 3.5 GB

Vegas has struggled out the game, taking only two of the six games this week as they fell to 2-6. They notched their first win of the season on Wednesday, riding behind home runs from Tyler Soderstrom, Drew Lugbauer, and Carlos Perez to topple Sugar Land. They didn’t get back into the win column until Sunday, when Max Muncy broke through with his first Triple-A home run.

Season stats

• Logan Davidson - 3 G, 7 PA, 0 HR, 0 BB, 5 K, .000/.000/.000
• Jordan Diaz - 7 G, 32 PA, 0 HR, 2 BB, 8 K, .200/.250/.233
• Joey Estes - 9 ⅓ IP, 9.64 ERA, 3 BB, 11 K, 6 HR
• Brett Harris - 7 G, 28 PA, 0 HR, 3 BB, 11 K, .292/.393/.417
• Max Muncy - 7 G, 28 PA, 1 HR, 0 BB, 4 K, 2 SB, .360/.429/.600
• Esteury Ruiz - 5 G, 25 PA, 0 HR, 5 BB, 5 K, 6 SB, .368/.520/.474
• Max Schuemann - 6 G, 29 PA, 0 HR, 5 BB, 8 K, 1 SB, .174/.310/.174
• Tyler Soderstrom - 7 G, 30 PA, 3 HR, 2 BB, 8 K, .148/.233/.519

Notable Performers

There were certainly questions asked about Max Muncy’s ability to handle Triple-A pitching, especially after his dreadful spring, but so far he has been Las Vegas’s most productive hitter. There has certainly been an element of good fortune with batted balls, but it’s that he is making contact as a high rate that is the most encouraging sign. He has four strikeouts in 28 plate appearances this year and a whiff rate of 21.7%, both good numbers. Brett Harris led the team with hits last week with six, but it was Esteury Ruiz who came down and really set the table. Ruiz reached base in more than half of his appearances, certainly hoping to prove to the A’s that he is doing what they as of him. Ruiz drew as many walks as he had strikeouts and in five games swiped six bases to take the PCL lead. Tyler Soderstrom has also had a great start at the plate though his numbers don’t fully show how he has been. His three home runs are of course impressive, but it’s the consistency with which he has hit the ball hard that is encouraging that his numbers will turn around a bit. He leads the team with batted balls over 100 mph with ten. On the other end of the scale it was another struggle for Joey Estes. He struck out seven batters in 5 ¹⁄₃ innings and so far his walk rate is good, but he gave up three more home runs in his past start and has given up six of the teams 14 allowed home runs this season.

Midland Rockhounds

Midland’s pitching staff excelled in their debut weekend, allowing three total runs across three games to sweep the Rockhounds. A two run third inning from opening night starter Brady Basso contributed most of those runs, and over the final 24 innings pitched the team combined to allow only one. Gunnar Hoglund pitched deep into that opening night game, going 4 ²⁄₃ innings scoreless though he did allow three walks. Offensively Jacob Wilson had a tough first game, striking out twice, but had five hits in the next two games. He wasn’t the best performer from the offense, however, as Colby Thomas had two home runs and five hits in 12 at bats. His Saturday night 4-5 perormance with a home run was the best on the team and provided the bulk of his production. Cooper Bowman also had a home run for the team.

Denzel Clarke hasn’t seen the field since last June and it is clear there are still cobwebs to shake off as he struck out nine times and had no hits in 13 plate appearances. Clarke struck out three times in each game. Daniel Susac also had a rough week at the plate with two singles and four strikeouts. JT Ginn made his season debut on Saturday, and he pitched well allowing only four hits and one runs over five innings. The focus for Ginn above all else is just staying healthy for any length of time and he is off on the right foot for 2023. Ryan Cusick is another player looking for a bounce back season and he couldn’t have impressed much more than he did on Sunday. Cusick didn’t allow a hit across four scoreless innings and struck out six Hooks batters.

Lansing Lugnuts

James Gonzalez played a fantastic opening day for Lansing, and they needed every bit of that production from him to shut down Dayton and eke out a 1-0 win. Gonzalez pitched five dominating innings, striking out six batters and allowing only one runner on a base hit. Gonzalez needed only 51 pitches to do all of this, though it wasn’t until after he left that he finally got run support. Will Simpson reached base with a walk to lead off and finally scored the game’s only run on a Cameron Masterman double. Reliever Mitch Myers held down the fort with five strikeouts over three scoreless innings and Colton Johnson made his first appearance since 2021 to close out the game in the ninth inning. Lansing wouldn’t get another win out of the weekend, though they did get a couple of good performances from prospects. Henry Bolte had quite a few strikeouts in his first week, but on Saturday had a huge day with multiple hard hit balls including a home run and a double. Masterman had five hits on the week and four of those were doubles as he led the team in OPS.

Outside of those two players the Lugnuts really didn’t have many productive bats, though Will Simpson was on base frequently. Simpson led the team by far with six walks and he got on base in half of his 14 plate appearances. Jacob Watters started Sunday’s game and it was a bit of a struggle for him to get outs. Watters allowed seven baserunners across four innings on the mound, but managed to hold Dayton to two runs.

Stockton Ports

Stockton went 1-2 on opening weekend as well, managing to steal one on Saturday evening behind a big game from Myles Naylor. 2013 13th round pick Will Johnston had a bit of an effectively wild day on the mound, walking four batters in 4 ²⁄₃ innings but allowing no runs due to not allowing a hit and striking out eight batters. With this production from him the Stockton lineup didn’t need to due much. The top of the lineup produced every run in the game, with Nate Nankil coming up with a two run double in the first inning to score Naylor and Cole Conn to give Stockton a lead. In the fifth inning Conn again had a hit, and this time Naylor put good wood on it, hitting a two-run home run over the left field wall. That trio had all of the first week production, Nankil being the most impressive. Nankil had a 1.778 OPS in the opening week and drove in six of Stockton’s ten runs scored. Conn stayed busy on the bases by going 7-11 with two doubles. Then there was Naylor, who rarely had opportunities to do damage as he drew five walks on opening week. Ryan Lasko went 1-9 at the plate and struck out four times in ten plate appearances.

Roster Moves:

4/4 - Las Vegas Aviators activated LHP Easton Lucas

4/4 - Las Vegas Aviators transferred RF Stephen Piscotty to the Development List

4/4 - Las Vegas Aviators placed RHP Gerardo Reyes on the 7-day injured list

4/6 - Alex Speas traded from CWS, Zach Jackson designated for assignment

4/8 - Alex Speas assigned to Las Vegas Aviators