On a cloudy Wednesday night, Clyde and I headed over to Waterfront Park to watch the Baltimore's AA affiliate, the Bowie Baysox, take on the Yankees AA affiliate, the Trenton Thunder. Contrary to The Weather Channel's beliefs, the rain held off and we were able to get the entire game in.
For the first time in my 30+ trips to Waterfront Park, the wind was blowing out. If you haven't read our Trenton Thunder write-ups before, you should know that strong winds blowing off the Delaware River usually keep the baseball in the yard. This coupled with rather deep dimensions makes it quite a struggle to hit homeruns.
Bowie:
Mike Costanzo, 3B - The former Phillies prospect had a solid night going 1-4 with a double and a strikeout. He also hit two long fly balls to left field, which may have been homeruns in some stadiums. Unfortunately the 25 year old third baseman will need to make more contact if he wants to see the majors; he struck out 159 times in 483 at-bats last year.
Unfortunately, Costanzo was the only notable player on the Baysox. They only managed 3 hits all night. Aside from Jake Arrieta and Brandon Erbe who pitched on previous days, Bowie had literally no prospects on their team.
Trenton:
WIlkin De la Rosa, P - This was my third time seeing de la Rosa pitch this season, and it was easily his most impressive start. In 6 innings he let up 2 hits, walked two, and punched out 8 batters, while allowing no runs and picking up the win. He generated a lot of groundballs as evidenced by his 5:3 groundout to airout ratio. There were a few times where he dialed his fastball up into the mid-90's and completely overpowered batters. His breaking ball and changeup both looked sharp as well.
Jesus Montero, C - The 19 year old made his first ever appearance in AA, after annihilating A+. He went 1-4 with a walk and an RBI on the night, singling his second time up, absolutely rocketing a ball between the shortstop and third baseman. Montero made a few nice blocks behind the plate, and played a bunt perfectly, but his throws to second were both slow and inaccurate, at 6'5 there are some concerns whether or not he can stay at catcher down the road. He was stuck out by Robert Valido, a shortstop who pitched an inning for whatever reason, with the bases loaded, other than that he had a great debut, especially when you consider most of his competition is 3 or 4 years older.
Colin Curtis, OF - Curtis who is a fringe prospect, hit a long homerun to right-centerfield his first time up. He went 1-3 with the homerun, RBI, and a strikeout before having to leave the game after being hit by a pitch.
Edwar Gonzalez, OF - He went 2-4 with a triple, 3 RBI, and a run. He also hit a long flyball to right field that would be gone in most ball parks.
Kanekoa Texeira, P - Texeira pitched 3 shutout innings, giving up 1 hit, striking out 2, walking none and getting the save. All of his outs (strikeouts aside) came via the groundball.
Trenton won 8-0
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