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Detroit Tigers Farm Report Week 3 Recap: JHen powers the Mud Hens

By Roger Castillo |
Detroit Tigers infielder Justyn-Henry Malloy fields ground balls during spring training at TigerTown
Detroit Tigers infielder Justyn-Henry Malloy fields ground balls during spring training at TigerTown / Kirthmon F. Dozier / USA TODAY NETWORK
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While the Detroit Tigers offense may be struggling, the Toledo Mud Hens offense continues to be hot.

In this week's recap, we look at the hitting tear Justyn-Henry Malloy is on in Toledo, Erie's struggles in Richmond continue, the Whitecaps last home stand for the month of April and Lakeland celebrates another winning week against St. Lucie.

Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens (14-6) Run Diff: +31 0.5 back in IL West

When it comes to the offense these days involving the Detroit Tigers, look no further than the Toledo Mud Hens, who are third in the International League in runs scored with 128. Leading the charge is Justyn-Henry Malloy, who is tied for the IL lead in batting average with Hudson Haskin of Norfolk (Baltimore) with .391

For the week against Columbus, he went 9-for-22 with a pair of home runs and drove in 5. His slash line was an arcade like .409/.519/.773 with a wRC+ of 226

Ryan Kreidler, who has been seeing regular time at second base since he was sent down, hit three home runs against Columbus, driving in 10. It appears that Kreidler has been working on his swing since being sent down

Getting more at bats has appeared to help Kreidler, who has shown the ability to play multiple positions at the major league level, but just needs to hit on a consistent basis.

On pitching side, Alex Faedo, who was supposed to start on Saturday, was scratched from the start. No word on what happen, but something to keep an eye on. Right-hander Ashton Goudeau had his best start of the season, fanning eight in five innings of work, allowing one run on four hits. Toledo comes home to play the Syracuse Mets starting on Tuesday.

Double-A Erie SeaWolves (7-8) Run Diff: -30 2 GB in EL Southwest

The SeaWolves managed to take just two games in the six games against the Richmond Flying Squirrels, a team that have historically struggled against on the road. One hitter, however, did not struggle against Richmond and that is Colt Keith, who went 13-for-24 for the week, finishing the week with an impressive .542/.593/.875 slash line. He is fourth in the Eastern League in batting average at .356. That week earned him the Eastern League Player of the Week, the second straight SeaWolf player to take home that honor. He continues to be the most consistent and productive hitter in the Tigers system early on.

Wenceel Perez, fresh off his rehab assignment in Lakeland, along with Mario Feliciano, both had good weeks at the plate. Perez will be with Erie for the time being, manning second base. Feliciano hit .643 for the week (9-for-14) and after his adventures in left field so far, the bat made up for it.

Wilmer Flores pitched much better in his second start of the week against Richmond. While the swing and miss stuff wasn't there, he was able to toss four innings of scoreless ball on Sunday, allowing just two hits.

The rest of starters faired alright. Ty Madden pitched four innings, allowing just four hits and both runs he gave up were given up on some sloppy play by Erie in the first inning of his start on Friday. Sawyer Gipson-Long pitched five strong innings, allowing just a home run.

For Dylan Smith, his first inning was rather "holy".

He cruised until the third, where he ran into some trouble and allowed four runs. He did, however, strike out six. Next up for Erie, they host the Portland Sea Dogs.

High-A West Michigan Whitecaps (9-6) Run Diff: +7 0.5 back in ML East

Infielder Danny Serretti continues his hitting streak as he has now extended it to 10 games. He finished 6-for-15 for the week as the Whitecaps split the series with Dayton.

Former University of Toledo standout Chris Meyers had a big week as well, hitting .455/.538/1.091 with two home runs and four RBIs. Despite the .190 average for the week, Jace Jung showed some pop, hitting his first home run of the season to one of the deepest parts of LMCU Ballpark and had a pair of doubles.

On the pitching side of things, Keider Montero and Carlos Pena both had strong outings, as Montero struck out eight in just four innings of work. Pena allowed his first earned run of the season, but was able to keep Dayton off balance with a steady mix of quick pitches and spotting his fastball well.

The Whitecaps start a two-week road trip on Tuesday to Ceder Rapids, then head to Beloit before coming home to take on the Lansing Lugnuts on May 9th.

Low-A Lakeland Flying Tigers (8-7) Run Diff: -5 2 GB FSL West

The Flying Tigers were on MILB.TV this week as they went on the road and played the St. Lucie Mets, taking the series win four games to two.

After a rough first start of the season against Bradenton, 19-year-old lefty Edgardo Ibarra tossed four scoreless innings to open the series. Dillon Dingler, who was on a rehab assignment after hitting the IL with a torn right knee meniscus, hit a towering home run and in three games, finished 3-for-10. Infield prospect Cristian Santana (#9 on MLB Pipeline) continues to struggle at the plate, going 0-for-16.

Outfielder Lazaro Benitez, who came back to Lakeland earlier in the week, finished 8-for-20. He and infielder Luke Gold were the only Flying Tigers hitting on a consistent basis throughout the series. The Flying Tigers start a home series with Palm Beach on Tuesday.

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