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

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.