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Detroit Tigers Farm Report Week 2 Recap: 3 early hitting standouts

By Roger Castillo |
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These three prospects are off to good starts for the Detroit Tigers

We are in week two of the baseball season and from an offensive perspective, several players in the Tigers minor league system are off to a good start. Even with the weather that gave us a rain out among the affiliates, there was still plenty of action during the week. Let's start with Triple-A Toledo, who has one of our early hitting standouts.

Triple-A: Toledo Mud Hens (9-5), Run Diff +18

The Mud Hens returned from their first road trip of the season and took four out of five from the Reds affiliate, the Louisville Bats, with the help of our first early hitting standout, Justyn Henry-Malloy. He hit a scorching .412/.565/.706 (7-for-23) with a healthy five walks to five strikeouts.

On the season, he has a wRC+ of 185, sitting at 92.2 average exit velocity. While this seems rather nitpicky, the only number you would like to see an increase in is his ground ball percentage, which has him around 48.5%

Andre Lipcius also had a strong week, going 7-for-18 with his second home run of the season. He and Andy Ibáñez, who went 8-for-16 with a pair of home runs, both provide the Tigers a utility bat in case of injury and to see both producing early is a good sign.

On the pitching side, Tyler Holton got the call-up to Detroit, while Garrett Hill and Ryan Kreidler were sent down. Holton was a big part of the Tigers rally on Saturday, tossing three scoreless innings in relief. Brendan White allowed his first run of the season on Thursday but has held batters to just a .143 batting average this season.

Double-A: Erie SeaWolves 5-4, Run Diff -9

The sun was shining for the Erie SeaWolves home opener as I was able to get out there for the first two games of the series against the Altoona Curve. Unfortunately for Erie, it took a while before the bats could get going. The Curve, which has the oldest team in the Eastern League, kept a steady stream of breaking pitches as the SeaWolves struck out 14 times on Opening Day in Erie.

On Wednesday, right-hander Wilmer Flores got the start and lasted just 1.2 innings, allowing six runs on four hits. A few of the hardest hit balls for Altoona were on his changeup, which has been a pitch he has been working on. For him to get to the next level, that pitch needs to be much more effective.

But we did see on Wednesday was our second hitting standout of the week, Gage Workman go 3-for-4 with a pair of home runs and a triple. That was his first professional multi-home run game. For the week, he hit .444/.545/1.111 (8-for-18) and his strikeout rate, which has been his biggest challenge so far, has dropped early on, to the tune of 22.6%. Workman has been playing second to make room for Colt Keith.

Keith hit his first home run of his Double-A career on Thursday, and it came at the right time.

Sawyer Gipson-Long had a strong performance in the series finale. He was the first SeaWolves pitcher to throw five innings this season. He allowed one run on three hits and struck out nine as his slider was working. His fastball command and feel was much better than his start on Tuesday. Erie travels to Richmond, Virginia to take on the Triple-A affiliate of the Giants, the Flying Squirrels.

High-A: West Michigan Whitecaps 6-3, Run Diff +8

The Whitecaps traveled east to take on the Lansing Lugnuts, the High-A affiliate of the Oakland A's. This is where you can find the last of our hitting standouts in Roberto Campos. Campos went 6-for-20 this week, including his first High-A home run on Wednesday, and Tigers Minor League Report's Chris Brown was there to capture it.

But it's selfish to just give the award to Campos when Izaac Pacheco and Ben Malgeri both had really good weeks too. Keep in mind folks that Campos and Pacheco are under the age of 21. While Pacheco's batting average is just .207, there's more to it than just hit average. He walked more than he struck out this week and showed his power, hitting in three straight home runs.

Malgeri hit .421 against Lansing, going 8-for-19. As Chris pointed out in his live looks, he shows surprise power but struggled with sliders away from him.

On the pitching front, lefty Carlos Pena continues his scoreless streak. He has not allowed a run in seven innings of work, with 11 strikeouts to just one walk. What was impressive in his start against Lansing was he able to generate 11 swings and misses in just 3.1 innings of work.

With Lakeland being on television this week, we will have more on the Flying Tigers for you next week.

Follow me on Twitter @rogcastbaseball

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