*Top Hitter of the Day*

• Will Benson, DH – Lake County Captains – Cleveland Indians – – 2-5, 2 HR (11,12), 2R, 4RBi, 2K – – Benson’s two home runs last night helped pull him into a tie for the Midwest League home run lead with Great Lakes left fielder Niko Hulsizer, who’s gotten his fair share of pub here at the site lately. Benson’s first homer, a two-out, three-run shot to right field, scoring left fielder Hosea Nelson and shortstop Tyler Freeman, was the heart of a five-run fifth inning for the Captains. Benson struck out to end the sixth, but capped off his night with a leadoff homer in the ninth, giving Lake County a 7-1 lead. Captains reliever Kyle Marman entered the game in seventh, struck out five and gave up an earned run in the bottom of the ninth on a shortstop Otto Lopez homer, but Lake County walked away with a 7-2 victory, and now sit only two games back in the loss column (29-18), and within one game of the MWL lead held by Great Lakes (29-16). This was Benson’s second multi-homer game of the season. The first was his monumental four-homer, eight RBi game against South Bend on April 18. 

California League: 

• Anfernee Grier, CF – Visalia Rawhide – Arizona Diamondbacks –– 2-3, HR (3), 2B, R, 3RBi, SB (7) –
• Carlos Herrera, SS – Lancaster Jethawks – Colorado Rockies –– 3-4, 2B, 2R, RBi, K –
• Luis Castro, 1B – Lancaster Jethawks – Colorado Rockies –– 3-4, 2B, 3R, RBi, K –
• Sean Bouchard, LF – Lancaster Jethawks – Colorado Rockies –– 3-4, 2 2B, R, 3RBi, K– Lancaster’s 3-4-5 hitter’s Bouchard, Castro and Herrera, combined for nine of the JetHawks 14 hits and scored six of their eight runs, taking down Rancho Cucamonga by a score of 8-2. The rail-thin Herrera logged his second three-hit performance in his last three games, and Castro raised his on-base percentage to .408, which ranks second in the Cal League only to Lake Elsinore (SD) catcher Luis Campusano (.418). 

Carolina League: 

• Enmanuel Valdez, 3B – Fayetteville Woodpeckers – Houston Astros – – 1-3, HR (1), R, RBi, BB, 2K – 
• Gabriel Mejia, CF – Lynchburg Hillcats – Cleveland Indians – – 3-4, 2R, 2RBi, BB, SB (2) – 
• Oscar Gonzalez, DH – Lynchburg Hillcats – Cleveland Indians –– 2-4, 2RBi, SB (5) – 
• Diosbel Arias, 1B – Down East Wood Ducks – Texas Rangers – – 2-4, 2B, RBi, BB, K – 
• Joantgel Segovia, LF – Carolina Mudcats – Milwaukee Brewers – – 2-5, 2B, R, 3RBi, BB, 2K – – The Brewers unranked prospect logged another two hits last night, and is making a case to become a much deserved 2019 Carolina League All-Star selection. The 6’1″- 195 lb. righty ranks fifth in the league with 51 hits and is currently riding a 20 game on-base streak dating back to April 29. 
• Willy Yahn, 2B – Frederick Keys – Baltimore Orioles – – 2-5, HR (5), R, 3RBi, K – 
• Jarren Duran, CF – Salem Red Sox – Boston Red Sox – – 4-4. 2R, BB – – How much more can this kid do before Boston takes notice, and promotes him to Double-A? Duran has been nothing short of a machine this year, tacking on another four hits last night, adding to his overall minor league lead (73). 

Florida State League: 

• Ronaldo Hernandez, C – Charlotte Stone Crabs – Tampa Bay Rays – – 1-3, HR (4), R, 2RBi – 
• Alejandro Kirk, C – Dunedin Blue Jays – Toronto Blue Jays – – 2-4, 2B, R, 2RBi – – Since his promotion to HiA on May 4, the Mexico native has reached base in all but one of the Dunedin’s games (May 21; where he went 0-for-3 with a strikeout). He’s batting a combined .319, has drawn 25 walks and has nearly as many doubles (13) as he does strikeouts (14) so far this season. 
• Quinn Brodey, RF – St. Lucie Mets – New York Mets – – 4-4, R, RBi, SB (7) – – After going 5-for-54 (.093) in his previous 15 games, Brodey has reeled off eight hits in his last three contests. 
• Trevor Larnach, RF – Fort Myers Miracle – Minnesota Twins – – 2-3, 2 2B, R, 2BB, K – 

Midwest League: 

• Jake Brodt, 1B – Lansing Lugnuts – Toronto Blue Jays – – 3-3, HR (5), R, RBi – 
• Grant Witherspoon, LF – Bowling Green Hot Rods – Tampa Bay Rays – – 4-5, R, 2RBi – 
• Leandro Cedeno, LF – Peoria Chiefs – St. Louis Cardinals – – 3-4, HR (3), 2B, 2R, 2RBi – – Cedeno’s one out, solo blast in the top of the seventh broke a 1-1 tie, and the 6’2″- 195 Venezuela native added an RBi double in the ninth (scoring first baseman Brady Whalen) to lead Peoria to a 4-1 win over Cedar Rapids. 
• Jeremy Pena, SS – Quad Cities River Bandits – Houston Astros – – 2-4, HR (4), 3R, 3RBi, K – – Houston’s #25 ranked prospect is more than keeping pace with a few of the higher profile shortstops in the Midwest League. With most of the attention being given to Tampa Bay’s Wander Franco and Indian’s #3 overall ranked Tyler Freeman, Pena, a third round draft choice in 2018 out of the University of Maine, is holding his own batting .282 with four home runs, 13 stolen bases and 26 RBi. 

South Atlantic League: 

• Michael Gigliotti, CF – Lexington Legends – Kansas City Royals – – 3-5, 2B, 3R, K – 
• Miguel Aparicio, CF – Hickory Crawdads – Texas Rangers – – 3-5, HR (2), 3B, 2R, 5RBi – 
• Greg Cullen, DH – Rome Braves – Atlanta Braves – – 2-5, HR (3), 2R, 2RBi, 2K – – The former Niagara University draftee (2018) is currently riding a 20-game on-base streak and has collected two or more hits in five of his last nine games. Cullen, a 2018 Organizational All-Star also ranks second among full-time South Atlantic Leaguers this season in on-base percentage (.417) behind only teammate Trey Harris (.444). 
• Shervyen Newton, 3B – Columbia Fireflies – New York Mets – – 2-3, HR (1), 2B, R, RBi, BB, K – – Newton, the Mets #4 overall prospect, has struggled all season long and headed into Thursday’s contest with only one multi-hit game this season (April 30 versus Delmarva). However, the Netherlands native has showed signs of breaking through posting his second consecutive two-hit performance, highlighted by his first homer of the season and fifth double in last night’s 6-2 victory over Greenville. 
• Adam Hall, SS – Delmarva Shorebirds – Baltimore Orioles – – 2-4, 3B, 2R, 2RBi, BB, K – 
• Ji-Hwan Bae, DH – Greensboro Grasshoppers – Pittsburgh Pirates – – 4-5, 2B, 2R, 2RBi, K, SB (3) – 
• Josh Stowers, CF – Charleston RiverDogs – New York Yankees – – 3-5, HR (5), R, 2RBi, 2K – – Stowers cranked his fourth homer in as many games last night, a solo blast in the top of the ninth, but it didn’t factor into the game outcome, as Asheville scored an 11-6 victory over the RiverDogs. 
• Terrin Vavra, SS – Asheville Tourists – Colorado Rockies – – 2-4, 2 2B, 2R, RBi, BB –