Justin Henry has hit .483 in his first ten games with the Mud Hens since joining the club after hitting .260 with Erie. Charlie Furbush took his second straight loss to Pawtucket since his promotion. Furbush gave up seven hits, including four home runs, that lead to seven earned runs in his four innings of work. He was followed by Josh Rainwater who put together three solid innings before giving way to two more horrible innings from Fu-Te Ni. Toledo used the longball for their 8-5 over Pawtucket on July 28. Casper Wells went deep in the second inning and Jeff Frazier hit homers in the third and fifth. Andy Oliver wasn’t sharp but picked up the win.

Erie SeaWolves (43-63)
July 26 vs. Altoona, L 2-11 (WP: R. Aguero; LP: B. Brown)
July 27 vs. Altoona, W 2-0 (WP: C. Hamilton; LP: D. Hankins)
July 28 vs. Altoona, L 3-6 (WP: J. Wilson; LP: T. Weber; SV: T. Boleska)

Erie Pitching was cruising along on July 26 until Altoona put up a nine spot in the eighth inning. Starter Brooks Brown and reliever Luis Marte were tagged for all nine. Pitching was on display a day later as a scoreless game entered the bottom of the 13th inning. One swing of the bat from the mighty Cale Iorg sent the Erie fans home happy with a long 2-0 victory. Brayan Villarreal was impressive in his second start since a promotion from Lakeland. Altoona hitters managed just four hits and struck out eight times during Villarreal’s seven and two thirds innings.

(more after the jump)

Lakeland Flying Tigers (14-18 2nd Half Record)
July 27 @ Bradenton, L 1-3 (WP: D. Moreno; LP: J. Voss; SV: N. Krol)
July 28 vs. Bradenton, W 7-6 (WP: D. Gentzler; LP: D. Moreno; SV: J. Gayhart)

Gustavo Nunez had two of the Flying Tigers five hits but also committed one of their two errors on July 27. Lakeland got back on the winning track a day later thanks to a six run seventh inning highlighted by Bryan Holaday’s grand slam. Holaday is off to an impressive start to his professional career with a .377 batting average and seven extra base hits in his first 15 games since leading TCU to the College World Series.

West Michigan Whitecaps (10-21 2nd Half Record)
July 26 vs. Beloit, L 2-8 (WP: M. Munoz; LP: V. Larez)
July 28 @ Lake County, W 16-14 (WP: J. Pratt; LP: R. Morris)

July 28 was a tough night to be a pitcher, at least the Whitecaps hurlers had a victory to celebrate at the end of the night. Tony Plagman and Rob Brantly had three hits a piece while Jamie Johnson, Jeff Rowland, Wade Gaynor, and Clay Jones each drove in a pair of runs. Jordan Pratt was credited with the win; he was the only pitcher on either side to not surrender a run.

Connecticut Tigers (20-17)
July 26 @ Lowell, W 3-2 (WP: J. Carreno; LP: T. Wilson; SV: L. Hoch)
July 28 @ Staten Island, L 0-1 (WP: M. O’Brien; LP: B. Smith; SV: C. Whitley)

Connecticut pitchers combined to walk nine batters in a 3-2 win over Lowell. A home run in the top of the ninth inning from Ryan Enos was the difference in the game. Brennan Smith threw a complete game and allowed only one run but took the loss when four Staten Island pitchers combined for a shutout.

GCL Tigers (15-18)
July 26 vs. GCL Braves, L 0-2 (WP: D. Jurik; LP: S. Crnkovich; SV: N. Russ)
July 27 @ GCL Braves, W 6-4 (WP: K. Ryan; LP: W. Perez; SV: B. Rondon)
July 28 vs. GCL Yankees, L 1-8 (WP: B. Gerritse; LP: J. Barfield)

A pair of doubles off the bat of Edwin Gomez was about as good as it got for the GCL Tigers in their 2-0 to the Braves. He tripled and drove in two the next day to help the Tigers beat the Braves. Bruce Rondon struck out two to get the save and lower his ERA to 1.32. The GCL Yankees took advantage of Jeff Barfield, Ramon Lebron, and Ariel Medina on July 28 but Patrick Leyland and Steven Moya managed two hits apiece.

Selected in the second round of the 2007 amateur draft by the Tigers, Danny Worth has shown in spurts throughout his short career, that he could be a major league talent. Only the second Pepperdine Wave drafted on the first day, Worth is second all time in Pepperdine history in doubles in a career. As a freshman in 2005, worth took the field as the starting shortstop, hitting .306 with 16 doubles and 34 RBIs. Going into his last season, Worth was slated as a pre-season all american, and he didnt dissapoint. The Junior hit .320 with 7 HRs 108 RBIs and had 59 doubles. With a lack of depth at nearly every infield position, the Tigers pulled the trigger on Worth in the third round.

The Professional Career

Seeing a weakness defensively in the system, Tigers management decided to ship Worth directly to Lakeland once signing in 2007, to give them a defensively superior infielder. Little did management know, he would respond well offensively as well. In 48 games, the 21 year old shortstop hit .251/.325//363, with 43 hits in 51 games. He also reached base via the walk 18 times. By the end of the season, Worth had proven that he was ready for a promotion. When the Tigers called up utlility infielder Mike Hollimon to AAA Toledo, Worth got the perfect oppurtunity in a playoff hunt with the AA Erie Seawolves.

In five games with Erie, who was in the hunt for the Southern Division in 2007, Worth had 4 RBIs in 5 critical games. For a young player, he was surely moving up the latter quickly. He knew it was happening so quickly too.

“That raucous celebration in the clubhouse after we won was the first time I experienced anything like that.With Erie, we were playing for first place and playing for a ring. In Lakeland, we were way under .500 and didn’t have that great of a team.”

After finishing in Erie in 2007, The Tigers saw that Worth was ready for full time competition at the AA level. In 79 games he hit .254/.331/.386 with 32 walks, 18 doubles and 59 strikeouts.  Though he struggled a bit at the plate, his defense ways continued at short. In 79 games, Worth only commited 18 errors. Those numbers should be impressive enough to see him don the Mudhen jersey in 2009.

Scouting

Before the 2008 season, Worth’s gutty play and defensive ability opened up the eyes of many scouts. Worth, who was named the #8 prospect in the organization by Baseball America last season, is a solid defensive shortstop, who has the ability to play at that position in the big leagues. His arm has been labeled as average, but many believe his quick release makes up for any lack of arm strength. Worth has been labeled by many media outlets as the best defensive infielder in the system. Erie Manager Tom Brookens believes that Worth has everything it takes to be a major league shortstop.

“I don’t see any real major holes, he’s got a quick bat. I think the more he plays in pro ball, he’s going to swing the bat better every year. I don’t have any concerns about what he’s going to do defensively. One of the things he’ll have to show is whether he can be a consistent hitter, though I feel good about that.”

Labeled as a gap-to-gap hitter, one of the major questions looming over Worth’s career is if he will be able to put up any power as he progresses. The youngster is yet to put up any type of power numbers throughout his career, but what management likes about Worth is his ability to excel in pressure situations.

“He went straight to Lakeland and handled himself very well—that is not easy to do,” Detroit assistant general manager Al Avila said. “He went to Erie in a pressure situation and excelled.”

Major League Outlook

With Cale Iorg being considered the top shortstop prospect in the organization, it might be hard for Worth to stick it out as an everyday starter. With Adam Everett only under contract for one year, as well as Ramon Santiago, a lot of things can happen. The Tigers main focus this off-season was to target someone at short that was top notch defensively. If Worth can continue to improve his swing, then he will be a top candidate for the job in 2010. Especially if Iorg isn’t ready yet.