
Toronto Blue Jays prospects Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette have been promoted to High-A Dunedin. (Photo by Craig Wieczorkiewicz/The Midwest League Traveler)
Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. have played their last game as members of the Lansing Lugnuts, as the highly-touted Toronto Blue Jays prospects learned Thursday they will move up to High-A Dunedin after they play in Sunday’s All-Star Futures Game.
Hyped because of talent and lineage, the two sons of former MLB All-Stars didn’t disappoint in the Midwest League, and in fact took it by storm.
Bichette leaves the MWL as the league leader in batting average (.384), on-base percentage (.448), slugging percentage (.623), hits (109), doubles (32), total bases (177) and runs scored (60). The 19-year-old shortstop was named the Midwest League player of the month for June and was batting .400 as recently as June 28. He hit 10 homers, drove in 51 runs, and stole 12 bases in 70 games with the Lugnuts.
Guerrero batted .316 with seven homers, 21 doubles and 45 RBI in 71 games. The 18-year-old third baseman posted a .409 on-base percentage and a .480 slugging percentage. He homered in his last two Midwest League games.
Chiefs pitch back-to-back shutouts
The Peoria Chiefs pitched back-to-back shutouts against the Beloit Snappers to complete a three-game sweep at Dozer Park. Chiefs pitchers allowed only one run in 27 innings in the series, which ended Thursday.
The Chiefs have pitched six shutouts this season, with RHP Mike O’Reilly starting four of them (including Wednesday’s shutout). LHP Ian Oxnevad started Thursday’s shutout. The Chiefs haven’t allowed a run in their last 21 innings, and O’Reilly personally has an active scoreless streak of 17.2 innings.
Captains lead MWL in HRs
Hat tip to Captains broadcaster Andrew Luftglass for noting Lake County’s 95 home runs are already more than last year’s league leader hit all season. The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers hit 92 homers to lead the MWL in 2016, and the Captains led the MWL with 93 homers in 2015. Four teams hit over 100 homers in 2014, led by Lake County with 119.
I looked back at the past 12 years of Midwest League statistics and found that the Clinton LumberKings hit the most in a single season during that period, 134 in 2010. The MWL record of 155 home runs in a season was set in 1961 by the Waterloo Hawks, who didn’t have a single future major-leaguer play for them that year.
Whitley’s long bomb
Hot Rods outfielders Joshua Lowe and Garrett Whitley homered in Bowling Green’s 2-1 win over the Dayton Dragons on Thursday. Whitley’s dinger was particularly notable, as it traveled an estimated 460 feet to set a new record for longest home run hit at nine-year-old Bowling Green Ballpark.