Alberto Gonzalez (pictured) was the latest New Balance Baseball Future Stars Series powered by Program 15 alum to have started his second professional season this past week.
Gonzalez, who stood out on the mound at the inaugural International Week event held in Sugar Land, Texas in 2017, was sent to the Rookie-level Billings Mustangs on June 13. He subsequently made his season debut on Saturday, spinning a scoreless ninth inning in a 4-3 loss to Idaho Falls.
Sean Guilbe also made his season debut for Tri-City, putting together back-to-back games with a hit in his first two contests of the season at the Short Season-A level.
Mateo Gil was assigned to the Rookie-level Johnson City Cardinals on Friday after getting his feet wet in two games in the Florida State League to start off his second professional season, but their season doesn’t begin until Tuesday night.
Bo Naylor had a huge stretch for the Lake County Captains, raising his average a whopping 33 points over an eleven-day stretch that included a seven-game hitting streak, two multi-hit games and two homers.
Damon Casetta-Stubbs took advantage of his third team assignment of the year, but not before putting together his last outing with West Virginia last Tuesday in which he spun six shutout innings and struck out seven batters en route to his third professional win. He debuted for the Everett Aquasox on Sunday night and picked up right where he left off; he allowed just one run on two walks and three hits while striking out six batters in a no-decision against Tri-City.
Dominic Pipkin picked up his fourth pro win on Wednesday in relief for Lakewood, and has now strung together two straight scoreless outings in which he’s been spotless over his last six innings of work.
Lastly, Joel Ibarra recorded his first multi-hit game as a professional on June 7 for the Dodgers DSL “Bautista” team, going 3-for-4 with two RBI, despite being the youngest player on the team at just 16 years old. An international signing, Ibarra impressed at the 2018 International Week event; he went 3-for-5 at the plate, stole a base and retired three of the four batters he faced as a pitcher in Game 2. He’s the first participant in the second installment of the International Week series to have played professional baseball.
All stats are accurate as of June 16, 2019:
Grayson Rodriguez, Orioles, Delmarva (A-): 6-1, 2.42 ERA, 10 GS, 72 K, 15 BB, 52 IP
Noah “Bo” Naylor, Indians, Lake County (A-): 50 GP, .233, 4 HR, 26 RBI
Dominic Pipkin, Phillies, Lakewood (A-): 3-1, 3.29 ERA, 12 GP, 6 GS, 27 K, 20 BB, 38 IP
Damon Casetta-Stubbs, Mariners, Modesto (A+): 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 GP, 0 GS, 3 K, 2 BB, 2 1/3 IP + West Virginia (A-) 3-5, 7.11 ERA, 10 GP, 10 GS, 30 K, 12 BB, 38 1/3 IP + Everett (SS-A) 0-0, 1.80 ERA, 1 GP, 1 GS, 2 BB, 6 K
Mateo Gil, Cardinals, Palm Beach (A+): 2 GP, .000, 0 HR, 0 RBI + Johnson City (R): 0 GP
Sean Guilbe, Padres, Tri-City (SS-A): 2 GP, .250, 0 HR, 0 RBI
Alberto Gonzalez, Reds, Billings (R): 1 GP, 0 GS, 0.00 ERA, 1.0 IP, 0 BB, 1 K.
Joel Ibarra, Dodgers, Dominican Summer League (R): 7 GP, .261, 0 HR, 5 RBI
Yeancarlos Lleras and Xavier Valentin are all either in extended spring training or expected to be assigned to short-season teams. None of the 2019 MLB Draft selections have been assigned to pro teams yet, although Daniel Espino, Kyren Paris and Wendell Marrero have all signed their pro contracts and should be playing soon.
