MCB Prospect Recap: Brantly and Castellanos Pound the Ball in the MWL

Here at MCB, we’ve thrown together a list of ten Detroit Tigers prospects that we’re going to follow and keep you updated on throughout the year. This isn’t meant to supplant your favorite prospect list, it’s merely meant as a collection of some of the top names that we hear about most often.

Andy Oliver‘s return to the minor leagues this week didn’t go very well. He didn’t walk anybody (something he had struggled with in his two major league starts), but he did allow two home runs (something else he struggled with in Detroit), and didn’t make it through the fourth inning.

This week’s start could possibly be classified as Jacob Turner‘s worst of the year. It’s not that this outing was all that bad, it’s hust that he’s been phenomenal all year. It was only the second time that Turner had allowed more than three earned runs in a game this season.

It was more of the same from Casey Crosby this week. Tons of strikeouts and tons of walks. For the most part he’s avoided getting into trouble in spite of the walks, but he got touched up a little bit this week.

Detroit’s bullpen seems to be back on track, but I would have to think that Chance Ruffin would be on the short list of call up candidates if/when another rough patch arises. He only got into the ball game once this week, but it was a perfect inning of work.

Drew Smyly has been lights out since returning from the disabled list a couple of weeks ago. His ERA is just 2.00 in his three starts (18 innings) since being re-activated.

Yikes. This week wasn’t kind to Bryan Holaday. His 0-12 batting line dropped his OPS to only .568.

It was another incredible week for Francisco Martinez. He’s been red hot since the beginning of May, and it looks like that trend is continuing well into June.

Daniel Fields just isn’t having a very good year at the plate. He’s still walking a fair amount, but he’s not getting many hits while still striking out a ton. His .331 BABIP doesn’t suggest that he’s getting unlucky on balls in play either.

Nick Castellanos has been making up for a lackluster April by killing the ball in May and June. It wasn’t any different this week, as he had nine hits (four doubles).

Rob Brantly has been teeing off on Midwest League pitching all season. He’s been named to the MWL All-Star game, and he was one of the hottest hitters in West Michigan in the month of may. He also recently participated in a Q&A session with our own James R. Chipman.

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