Theme of the dayPitching, pitching and more pitching: This is meant to be the week of fireworks across the United States, and in baseball, fireworks are most closely associated with offense -- and lots of it. Except no one told some prominent pitchers across the Minor Leagues on Tuesday. No.

Theme of the dayDingers on dingers in Reno: There was no topping the absolute slugfest that took place at Greater Nevada Field. The 14-4 Aces win featured nine homers in total, and Reno's Kevin Cron and Salt Lake's Jabari Blash provided three apiece. In other words, 15.4 percent of all

Theme of the dayFirst-rounders first: First-round Draft picks dominated the Minor League news landscape Sunday -- for good and for bad. Start with the positive. Tigers 2016 first-rounder Matt Manning fired seven scoreless innings for Class A West Michigan in the longest outing of his young career. Angels 2017 first-rounder

Cole Irvin admits it's not an easy task to have his full repertoire working each start, but he felt it all come together last week with Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The No. 23 Phillies prospect was named the International League's Pitcher of the Week from June 4-10 after picking up two victories

Theme of the dayOpposite ends of the Draft: With rounds 3-10 of the 2018 First-Year Player Draft being held Tuesday, the Minor Leagues presented a nice reminder that good talent can come from anywhere. Royce Lewis, the top overall pick in last year's Draft, hit a grand slam for Class A

Following Michel Baez's scoreless gem on May 23, his pitching coach warned that he could produce more brilliant results once he got more innings under his belt. On Tuesday night, the Padres' fifth-ranked prospect made Pete Zamora look prescient.Baez took a perfect game into the fifth, yielded one hit and faced

After a sparkling debut last year, the 2018 season has produced a mixed bag of results for Michel Baez. But on Wednesday, he took a big step forward.Baseball's No. 39 overall prospect put together his longest outing of the season with six shutout innings as Class A Advanced Lake Elsinore

LAKE ELSINORE, Calif. -- Edwin Rodriguez has seen a few things in baseball. He had an eight-year playing career, with parts of three seasons in the Majors. He's been a scout. He's managed at every level of affiliated ball, including the big leagues, and in the World Baseball Classic.And yet

Michel Baez sure has a thing for splashy first impressions.The 6-foot-8 right-hander blanked Lake County on two hits with nine whiffs in five innings in his full-season debut last July 4. Making his first Class A Advanced start Monday, he topped that.Baez, who signed with San Diego in December 2016

With his club in last place and saddled with the worst record in the league at the end of the first half, Class A Fort Wayne manager Anthony Contreras kept his eyes on the big picture.But even he might have had a hard time predicting a berth in the Midwest

Fort Wayne's Michel Baez gets a wistful look in his eyes when he thinks back on his native Cuba, and the family, friends and neighbors that he hasn't seen in about two years.He can't text or email them because of internet issues on the Caribbean island. He worries that bringing

D-backs 1B/3B/OF Christian Walker, Triple-A Reno: 3-for-4, 2 2B, RBI, 2 R, BB -- There's been little stopping the D-backs' No. 27 prospect at the plate in 2017. The 26-year-old slugger extended his Minor League lead in extra-base hits with his 63rd and 64th of the season Monday in a 9-4

Angels RHP Jake Jewell, Double-A Mobile: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, 87 pitches, 48 strikes -- The Angels' No. 23 prospect notched his first career shutout Monday with a 2-0 win over Mississippi in the opener of a doubleheader. It also marked the first time