PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

Prospect Of The Day

How often does a power-hitting first baseman hit for the cycle twice in one season? How often does any hitter? The major league record for most career instances of hitting for the cycle is three, making what Colorado Springs first baseman Joe Koshansky’s (Rockies) has done all the more impressive. The 26-year-old lefthanded slugger, Colorado’s sixth-round pick out of Virginia in 2004, hit for his second cycle of the PCL season yesterday in the Sky Sox’ 21-5 rout of Tucson. The damage: 4-for-5 with a home run (26), a double (32), a triple (three), five runs scored and three RBIs. Koshansky also drew a walk.

Koshansky, who also hit for the cycle on May 24, is batting .295/.374/.594 through 387 at-bats on the season, and he leads the PCL with 102 RBIs and 61 extra-base hits. Not coincidentally, both of his cycles have come at home, in Colorado Springs’ Security Service Field.

Prospect Nuggets

Two Triple-A starts, two double-digit strikeout games. Las Vegas RHP James McDonald (Dodgers) whiffed 10 Tacoma batters, and walked only one, in the 51s’ 6-5 loss. He gave up two runs, one on a solo homer, on four hits in six innings. All eight outs in play were recorded via fly balls, and his ground-to-fly out ratio after two Triple-A starts stands at 3-to-13. Both of his starts have been on the road . . . Salt Lake SS Brandon Wood (Angels) was 2-for-4 with a double (19), a run scored and a strikeout. He ranks fourth in the league with a .606 slugging . . . Las Vegas CF Xavier Paul (Dodgers), 23, cracked two solo home runs (nine) in going 2-for-5 at Tacoma. The Dodgers’ fourth-round pick out of Slidell (La.) High in 2003 has quietly put together a solid season, batting .303/.361/.454 in 390 at-bats, with 22 doubles and 17 steals in 22 attempts . . . Portland CF Will Venable (Padres), former all-Ivy guard for Princeton’s basketball team, went 2-for-6 yesterday with a home run (14) and two RBIs. Things seem to have fallen into place for the 25-year-old, lefthanded-hitting Venable, as he’s now batting .306/.378/.496 in his first Triple-A season.

What To Watch For Today

Omaha RHP Carlos Rosa (Roayls), 23, returns to action for the second time since missing nearly four weeks with arm soreness. He faces Albuquerque at home. Rosa was bombed for four runs on four hits in one inning (28 pitches) of his first start back, on Aug. 9, though two of the three outs recorded were strikeouts.

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

Prospect Of The Day

Syracuse right fielder Travis Snider (Blue Jays), the IL’s youngest player, belted his first Triple-A home run yesterday, a two-run shot to deep right field off Rochester’s Philip Humber. The game otherwise belonged to the Red Wings, as they won 11-3. But as for Snider, who is just 20 years old, he went 2-for-4 with a double (two) and two RBIs. He’s batting .400/.400/.733 through 15 at-bats with the Chiefs.

Prospect Nuggets

Rochester RHP Philip Humber (Twins) notched his third big strikeout game in his past four starts, fanning 11 Syracuse batters in 7 1/3 innings and walking only one. He allowed three runs, including Snider’s two-run bomb, on eight hits. It’s been a season of night and day for the 25-year-old Humber, who went 4-7, 5.92 in 79 first-half innings, intermittently losing his rotation spot. But in five starts since returning to the rotation on July 23, he’s gone 4-0, 3.16 with 36 strikeouts, eight walks and four home runs allowed in 31 1/3 innings . . . Syracuse LHP Brett Cecil (Blue Jays) struggled through his third Triple-A start, allowing three runs on six hits in four innings to Rochester. He struck out five and walked four, and he fell to 1-2, 7.94 with the Chiefs . . . Struggles seem to be a thing of the past for Rochester CF Jason Pridie (Twins), who continued his ridiculous hot streak by going 3-for-6 yesterday with a double (18), a run scored and an RBI. He tied Joe Thurston for the league lead in hits (138), and he’s up to .469/.527/.612 in 49 August at-bats.

What To Watch For Today

Durham LHP David Price (Rays), the first overall pick in 2007, makes his Triple-A debut at home against Norfolk.