D-backs Farm Rumblings Week 10: Ildemaro Vargas on a tear in Reno

Big week for Vargas – Reno Aces second baseman Ildemaro Vargas started last week on fire, collecting 11 hits, two home runs and nine RBI in his team’s first three games. While he cooled off a little bit in the later part of the week, Vargas still batted .438 (14-for-32) with five doubles and 10 RBI in seven games. He raised his season batting average from .302 to .318 in the process.

The highlight of his week came Tuesday night when he belted a grand slam off of Tacoma’s Felix Hernandez, the former Cy Young winner who is on a rehab stint from the Mariners.

Ildemaro Vargas has hit safely in 8 of his last 10 games (.378).

We think he’s All-Star worthy https://t.co/uHvtgCPf4J pic.twitter.com/ZGf1vDRboz

— Reno Aces (@Aces) June 12, 2017

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Such is baseball – Vargas wasn’t the only hot Reno hitter at the beginning of last week. The Aces exploded for 34 runs in wins over Tacoma on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Then, Thursday, the bats cooled off as the Aces managed just five hits in a 1-0, 11-inning loss to the Rainiers.

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Marathon affair – The Aces also had a 17-inning game last week, beating the Sacramento RiverCats in a game that took five hours and seven minutes to complete. Reno got two runs in the top of the 17th on an RBI-double by Oswaldo Arcia and a run-scoring groundout by Christian Walker. Jake Barrett came in to close things out by striking out the side in the bottom half of the frame. But the winnning pitcher wasn’t a pitcher at all. Catcher Willians Astudillo actually pitched the 15th and 16th innings for Reno, and did pretty well for himself, allowing just one hit. It was Astudillo’s first professional appearance on the mound.

Remember when catcher Willians Astudillo tried his hand on the mound?

Here’s photo proof🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/TEqLl5E5ge

— Reno Aces (@Aces) June 11, 2017

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Atkinson’s trek – Visalia right-hander Ryan Atkinson has been a pleasant surprise for the Rawhide this season. Last week, the 24-year-old struck out 18 in 12 innings over two starts, going 1-1. On the season, Atkinson is 5-4 with a 3.59 ERA and 78 strikeouts in 62.2 innings of work with Visalia and Kane County.

Atkinson went undrafted after a pretty solid four-year career at the University of Cincinnati, and Baseball Census had a nice piece on his professional baseball journey thus far.

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He can do it all – We’ve featured Visalia first baseman Marty Herum’s exploits on the field this year, but the man can truly do it all — like wear the team’s mascot costume.

What’s better than a Picture of @MartyHerum flying? Marty in the Tipper costume. #visaliarawhide #milb pic.twitter.com/uJctkMCkz4

— Shelley Duncan (@shelldunc) June 10, 2017

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Eveld dealing – Right-hander Tommy Eveld, a 9th-round pick last summer out of South Florida, is putting up a lot of zeroes this season at Single-A Kane County. In 21 relief appearances, Eveld has converted 13-of-13 save opportunities with 32 strikeouts and only eight walks.

More impressively, Eveld’s ERA is 0.34 and he hasn’t allowed an earned run in his last 10 appearances. Opposing hitters are batting .116 against him.

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Kane County All-Stars – We’ll let the team tell the story about who will be representing the Cougars.

#YourCougars will be represented at the 2017 #MWLASG by pitchers @dup_thereitis, @SamMcWilliams3 @teveld, @TMark29 pic.twitter.com/Lc7WSXi2jB

— Kane County Cougars (@KCCougars) June 7, 2017

Plus, outfielders @Marcus_Wilson8 and @_agrier10! Congratulations to all 6⃣ of #YourCougars on this special honor pic.twitter.com/5GEitt2Y64

— Kane County Cougars (@KCCougars) June 7, 2017

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Standings

Team	Week	Season	Notes
	5-2	40-24	1st place in Pacific Northern Division; 4.0 games ahead of Tacoma
	3-4	32-31	4th place in North Division, 4.0 games behind Chattanooga
	4-2	31-32	3rd place in North Division; 4 games behind Modesto
	3-3	34-27	2nd place in Western Division; 1 game behind Cedar Rapids

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