AAA Charlotte Knights
The Knights pitching staff has had its struggles this season, but Dylan Axelrod has been a bright spot for the club. He is 2-1 in five starts and has only surrendered 23 hits in 31 innings of work. Axelrod has only allowed three earned runs all season and holds an impressive 0.87 ERA. In his one start last week, Dylan went six innings, struck out nine and allowed one unearned run on a fielding error. Axelrods name may sound more familiar than other prospects because he has seen glimpses of action for the White Sox this season. He appeared in three games with one start and holds a 3.52 ERA in the big leagues.
Charlotte catcher Josh Phegley continues to look for answers in the second week of May. After coming off a productive April, Phegley has had a great deal of trouble finding his swing this month. Last week, he went just 3-for-24 (.125), and in four of the six games, he was hitless. Phegleys recent slump has caused his once jaw-dropping average to flutter just above .300 (.303). It is still early in the season, but Phegley needs to fix his swing not only to help his shrinking average but also for a Charlotte team searching high and low for run support.
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AA Birmingham Barons
Birmingham speedster Jared Mitchell appeared to have pumped the breaks last week and his production followed. Mitchell went 4-for-24 (.166) with only one extra base hit, and two RBI. He fanned 11 times with five multiple strikeout games. Of the six times he reached base safely last week, he swiped three bags. Mitchell could be a true threat on the base paths, his only issue has been getting there, and his .233 OBP for the week tells us exactly that.
Simon Castro was deemed to have location issues coming into the season, but it appears that in his last two performances, he has been completely in control. Castro toed the rubber for one start last week and put on quite the show. He tossed seven innings, allowed one unearned run, and struck out five. Even more impressively, Castro only allowed three hits in his seven innings of work. With a methodical approach to his last two starts, Castro has silenced many analysts who were critical of his ability to locate his pitches.
Class A Winston-Salem Dash
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The Dash improved to 22-15 on Wednesday and their recent success can be largely attributed to left fielder Brady Shoemaker. In the five games he played last week, Brady went 10-for-18 (.555) with three RBIs and an OBP of .600. His recent tear catapulted his average to .356 on the season, the highest on the team and good enough for fourth in the league. Not only has Shoemaker been hot, he has delivered in the clutch, hitting .351 with runners in scoring position.
Spencer Arroyo had one start this week in Winston-Salem. He threw five and a third innings allowing one run on four hits with six Ks. Arroyo started the season slowly, allowing 13 combined runs in his first two starts but his performances have become increasingly more efficient and his ERA (5.97) is slowly beginning to level out. In his eight starts, Arroyo leads the club in strikeouts (35), and is second in innings pitched (37.2).