Diamondbacks Minor League Report 4/19/2023

The Diamondbacks minor league affiliates combined for a 3-1 record. They got solid pitching from all four full-season affiliates, collectively allowing just five runs on the day as an organization.

Triple-A: Reno Aces 7, Salt Lake Bees 1; 7-9

Left-hander Blake Walston turned in a very interesting start, one in which he finished with more wins (1) than strikeouts (0). Despite the lack of punchouts, he held Salt Lake to one run on two hits and two walks over six innings. It was his first quality start and win with the Aces this season. Walston's fastball sat 86-90 and mixed in his other three pitches almost equally. There were definitely some glitches with the Statcast data in this game with capturing pitch velocity and exit velocity in parts of the game.

Dominic Fletcher continues to swing a hot bat, going 3-for-4 with a home run and a walk. He's recorded a hit in each of the last four games he's played in, batting .389/.476/.833 with seven hits, a double, two triples, a home run, and a walk in 21 plate appearances. He's averaging 90.8 MPH on the balls he's putting into play and two Statcast barrels.

Double-A: Amarillo Sod Poodles 5, NW Arkansas Naturals 0; 6-5

Bryce Jarvis fired five hitless innings, striking out eight and walking four on the day. 47 of the 80 pitches Jarvis threw were strikes. That pushes his scoreless streak up to 10 innings, with 16 strikeouts over his last two starts. After struggling in his first start of the year, we're seeing progress for the D-backs No. 15 prospect on the mound.

Second baseman Ryan Bliss continued to stay hot at the plate, getting two more hits to push his hitting streak to 10 games to open the season. On the year to date, he's hitting .438 with a 1.084 OPS. He was thrown out on the bases attempting to steal for the second night in a row.

Jordan Lawlar filled up the stat sheet, going 1-for-4 with a single and his sixth stolen base in as many tries. The D-backs No. 3 prospect is showing that Double-A has not been too tough a challenge out of the gate, batting .289 with three home runs and seven walks on the season.

High-A: Hillsboro Hops 0, Eugene Emeralds 1; 6-5

Wilderd Patino drew a walk in the third inning, in which Hillsboro loaded the bases with one out but could not put a ball in play to score a run. Patino has drawn 10 walks on the season already, which is fueling his .413 on-base percentage out of the leadoff spot and a big reason why he already has eight stolen bases on the season.

Ivan Melendez is off to a very slow start, going hitless in four at-bats and striking out in three of them. He has just two hits in his first 21 at-bats with nine strikeouts since coming off the injured list with a hand issue suffered during Spring Training. Arizona is betting on their No. 10 prospect to add some thump to their lineup in the future.

Low-A: Visalia Rawhide 4, Stockton Ports 3; 5-6

Druw Jones singled, walked, and scored a run. He's still having to overcome a 1-for-17 start on the season, but he's gotten six hits and drawn three walks in his last five games. That's good for a .286 average and .391 on-base percentage over that stretch.