Monday Dish: Arencibia Takes Over HR Lead



With the Futures' Game going on yesterday in Anaheim, many of the top prospects were busy playing in the game's best exhibition showcase of the year, but there still were plenty of stars in regular season games. Here are a couple of the highlights from what happened this weekend.

J.P. Arencibia, c, Triple-A Las Vegas (Blue Jays): It would be hard to find a hitter having a better summer than Arencibia. When the weather heated up in June, Arencibia began a power tear that has now given him the minor league home run lead. Arencibia hit three more home runs this weekend, giving him 25 for the season and  17 since June 1. Playing in the high altitudes of the Pacific Coast League's Pacific South division doesn't hurt, but Arencibia's power explosion isn't a case of taking advantage of his home park or Colorado Springs–the last series he didn't homer in on the road or at home was back in the first week of June.

Paul Goldschmidt, 1b, high Class A Visalia (Diamondbacks): If we're discussing hot hitters playing in hitter-friendly leagues, Goldschmidt has to be mentioned as well. The first baseman hit two more home runs over the weekend, which puts him one behind Arencibia for the minors lead. Like Arencibia, Goldschmidt doesn't have a significant power spike at home–he's hit 13 home runs at home and 11 on the road, but it is rather surprising that he went homerless in last week's trip to High Desert, considered maybe the minors' best hitters park. But Goldschmidt made up for that by homering in Saturday and Sunday's games at home. He now has six home runs in 11 games this month.

James Gillheeney, lhp, low Class A Clinton (Mariners): Gillheeney, an eighth-round pick of the Mariners last year out of North Carolina State, doesn't blow hitters away with a plus fastball. Because of that, there are times when he can fall victim to too many home runs. But when he's hitting his spots like he was on Sunday, the lefty is simply too advanced for the Midwest League. Gillheeney allowed only one hit in seven scoreless innings, lowering his ERA to 2.92. As the game story explains, Kane County came into the game on a hot streak, but Gillheeney was good enough that the Cougars' only hope was to wait until he had hit his pitch count.



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  • The Prospects Blog is a source of frequent updates about prospects and action around the minor leagues. If you have questions or comments you can e-mail them to prospectsblog@baseballamerica.com.

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