Since it’s the time of year when I’m writing minor league prospect features, I thought I’d add another little section to my minor league coverage on Sunday nights. Luckily all the Southern League games are played early on Sunday, so about this time I can give you a rundown of what’s going on with the future prospects of your favorite teams.
The Southern League is a Double-A baseball conference consisting of a mixture of teams from the American and National leagues. It’s divided into two geographical sections, the North Division with the Jackson Generals (Seattle Mariners), the Montgomery Biscuits (Tampa Bay Rays), the Tennessee Smokies (Chicago Cubs), Birmingham Barons (Chicago White Sox) and the Chattanooga Lookouts (Minnesota Twins).
The South division consists of the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (Cincinnati Reds), Biloxi Shuckers (Milwaukee Brewers), Jacksonville Suns (Miami Marlins), Mississippi Braves (Atlanta Braves) and Mobile BayBears (Arizona Diamondbacks).
The season is split into halves before the All-Star break. If a team wins the first half of its division, then it automatically qualifies for the postseason. The second half then becomes almost an entirely new season, frankly, because each team is usually fielding about a 60-70 percent new roster from where they started in April. Whichever team wins that second half of each division becomes the other team in the North or South Championship Series. If for some reason a team wins both halves, then the team in that division with the second-best record for both halves combined takes the other playoff spot.
So where are we right now?
In the North, the Jackson Generals are running away with the the thing. With 20 games left in the first half the Generals are up by 7.5 games over the Biscuits and have the best record in the entire league, 32-18. They’ve won five straight and their pitching staff is the best in the league. They have three starters with sub 2.36 ERAs. Ryan Yarbrough is the ace of the crew at 6-1 after 10 starts and 56.2 innings pitched. He’s only walked 16 batters all seasons and given up just two home runs.
Very nice start by Ryan Yarbrough. Final line: 6IP, 3H, 1R, 2BB. #Generals (@RyanYarbrough2)
— Mariners Minors (@MiLBMariners) May 18, 2016
They’re just as impressive with nine guys batting over .257 and three over .301. Left fielder Tyler O’Neill is making an argument that he’s the best player in the league. He’s batting .315 with 14 doubles, two triples, nine home runs and 38 RBIs. His strikeouts are too high (51) and that’s going to keep his Double-A journey going for a while longer.
Third baseman Zach Shank is O’Neill’s biggest competition. He’s batting .315 too without the power numbers. He has two doubles and two triples with no home runs and 16 RBIs. What he has in his pocket is just 25 strikeouts.
In the South, the Blue Wahoos are in a much tighter race, just one game ahead of the Shuckers at 30-20. They’ve won three straight and Biloxi has won two, so this one could easily come down to the wire. Pensacola’s batting order is top-heavy too, mainly thanks to Jeff Gelalich who just got called up from High-A Daytona on May 15. The jump to Double-A also came with a jump to his average, going from .235 in Daytona to .364 over his first nine games with the Blue Wahoos.
B6 – Jeff Gelalich pinch hits for Renda and triples to right. He scores after recently-engaged Bryson Smith singles. 11-3 Wahoos. #pnjsports
— Eric Wallace (@EWall14) May 29, 2016
While Galalich has found his stroke since moving to Double-A early in the month, shortstop Calten Daal has been on fire since his first appearance in the line up. While the power isn’t there for the 22-year-old from Willemstad, Curacao, a small island in the Caribbean Sea. Daal is hitting .341 with just 13 strikeouts. He has three doubles and four RBIs.
On the hill Pensacola has two real prospects that are delivering so far. Amir Garrett is 4-3 with a 1.79 ERA and 60.1 innings pitched. He’s not given up a single home run this season. Garrett is the Reds No. 15-ranked prospect and was a 22nd round draft choice in 2011 out of St. John’s.
The aptly-named Rookie Davis is 4-1 with a 1.59 ERA in six starts and 34 innings pitched. He has given up two home runs and hit five batsmen to go with his seven walks. His time in Double-A isn’t wrapping up anytime soon, but he’s a prospect worth keeping an eye on.
