With 2 1?2 months to play this season, the game’s top prospect may be facing a new challenge. When Wander Franco wasn’t promoted right after the Midwest League All-Star Game, I thought he might be with Bowling Green all season. Apparently the organization wanted to give him a couple more games with the Hot Rods, according to this report from Josh Tolentino. That wasn’t the only big news in the organization Sunday: Anthony Banda completes his first rehab outing for the @StoneCrabs since June 14, 218 TJ sugery:1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 K (25 pitches, 18 strikes)Fastball sitting 92-93 mph— John Vittas (@JohnVittas3) June 23, 2019 Triple-A Durham Bulls (46-29) Durham couldn’t slow down Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in an 11-4 loss to the RailRiders. Jake Cronenworth opened with another scoreless inning, but the rest of the pitching staff didn’t fare as well. After Joe McCarthy’s two-run double gave the Bulls a 4-1 lead in the fourth, the RailRiders closed the game with 10 unanswered runs. Cronenworth and Ian Gibaut were the only pitchers not charged with runs. RF Joe McCarthy: 2-for-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 K (.736)1B Nate Lowe: 2-for-4, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 K (.897)2B Nick Solak: 0-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 K (.889)SS Andrew Velazquez: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 K, 1 CS (.782)3B Kean Wong: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K (.934) RHP Jake Cronenworth: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K (0.00)RHP Aaron Slegers: 3 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 K (7.00)RHP Ian Gibaut: one-third IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K (4.15) Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (3-1) Montgomery won a slugfest against Tennessee, 9-7. In the bottom of the third, the Smokies scored five to take a 6-2 lead, but the Biscuits immediately responded with five. Kevin Padlo capped the scoring that inning with a two-run homer. Kenny Rosenberg allowed all seven runs in four innings. CF Josh Lowe: 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB (.745)SS Lucius Fox: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 SB (.698)3B Kevin Padlo: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 K (.903)2B Jermaine Palacios: 3-for-4, 3 R, 1 3B, 2 RBI, 1 SB (.545) LHP Kenny Rosenberg: 4 IP, 9 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 2 K (3.14) Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (4-3) Anthony Banda made his return to the mound in Charlotte’s 7-3 win over Lakeland. For the first time since May 31, 2018, the lefty pitched to batters in a game, and the results were good. He retired all five batters he faced. Tommy Romero piggybacked with nine strikeouts in 5 1?3 scoreless innings. Ronaldo Hernandez’s first-inning sacrifice fly started the scoring, and the Stone Crabs led by as many as seven. SS Vidal Brujan: 2-for-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 SB (.763)C Ronaldo Hernandez: 0-for-1, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SB, 1 HBP (.730 — left after HBP)CF Garrett Whitley: 3-for-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 K (.736) LHP Anthony Banda: 1 2?3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 KRHP Tommy Romero: 5 1?3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 9 K (2.01) Charlotte’s site offers this recap. Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (2-2) Bowling Green’s rally fell short in an 11-10 loss to South Bend. Through four innings, the Cubs led 9-1. The Hot Rods then scored the next seven runs. In that stretch, Roberto Alvarez and Grant Witherspoon hit RBI doubles, and Kevin Santiago homered. However, a pair of insurance runs for South Bend in the eighth proved vital. In the ninth, the potential tying run was stranded on second base. Alan Strong was charged with seven runs in two innings. SS Wander Franco: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 3B, 1 BB, 1 K (.896)3B Ford Proctor: 1-for-2, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 BB (.742)CF Grant Witherspoon: 3-for-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 K (.757)LF Jordan Qsar: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 3 K (.853)2B Kevin Santiago: 1-for-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K, 1 HBP (.652) RHP Alan Strong: 2 IP, 9 H, 7 ER, 0 BB, 2 K (3.90) Bowling Green’s site offers this recap. Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (5-5) Hudson Valley scored five unanswered runs in a 5-1 win over Aberdeen. A half inning after a solo homer gave the IronBirds the lead, Hill Alexander stole home to tie the game, and Luis Arcendo hit an RBI single to give the Renegades the lead. Greg Jones drew a bases-loaded walk in the sixth, and Alexander singled in two more. Edisson Gonzalez struck out eight and allowed a run in four innings. DH Greg Jones: 0-for-3, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 CS (.675)RF Hill Alexander: 3-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI (.899) RHP Edisson Gonzalez: 4 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K (9.00) Rookie Princeton Rays (3-3) Princeton was crushed by Burlington, 10-2. Angelo Armenta singled in both Rays runs in the fifth. Aldor Rodriguez allowed three runs — two earned — in 3 2?3 innings. SS Jelfry Marte: 1-for-5, 2 K (.519)3B Angelo Armenta: 2-for-4, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K (.885) RHP Aldor Rodriguez: 3 2?3 IP, 4 H, 3 R (2 ER), 1 BB, 2 K (4.50) CLICK HERE FOR ALL BOX SCORES Monday’s games (probables courtesy of milb.com) Durham vs. Charlotte 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)TBA vs. Ross Detwiler (1-2, 3.73) Montgomery @ Tennessee 7 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)Sam McWilliams (5-2, 2.00) vs. Cory Abbott (4-3, 3.50) Charlotte is off. Bowling Green is off. Hudson Valley is off. Princeton is off. GCL Rays @ GCL Red Sox 12 p.m. ET *Listed as TBA on milb.com Scouting the opposition Charlotte Knights (White Sox)41-33 (T-2nd in IL South)Offense: 432 R (1st) .825 OPS (1st)Pitching: 5.49 ERA (13th) 1.58 WHIP (14th)Top-30 prospects: RHP Dylan Cease (3), RHP Ian Hamilton (13), C Seby Zavala (15), RHP Spencer Adams (20), RHP Zach Thompson (28) Tennessee Smokies (Cubs)1-3 (T-4th in SL North)Offense: 283 R (6th) .669 OPS (7th)Pitching: 4.03 ERA (9th) 1.30 WHIP (6th)Top-30 prospects: SS Nico Hoerner (1), RHP Cory Abbott (8), LHP Justin Steele (9), RHP Oscar De La Cruz (21), RHP Thomas Hatch (22), 1B Jared Young (24), C Jhonny Pereda (26), RHP Keegan Thompson (29) GCL Red Sox0-0Offense: Will update next seriesPitching: Will update next seriesTop-30 prospects: Roster not yet available Daily news and links The MLB.com prospect team picked out one interesting prospect from each organization’s short-season rosters. Minor league no-hitters are coming in bunches again. A scout recently suggested to me that the #Rays might have the best position player prospect (Wander Franco) and the best pitching prospect (Brendan McKay) in the game. There’s certainly a case to be made that he’s right.— Josh Norris (@jnorris427) June 23, 2019

Mannyelk gives the Lightning a solid B+. The Bolts and Prospects How do various hockey writers think the Tampa Bay Lightning did at the draft? Taking into account Al Murray’s tendency to surprise writers by going off the board for certain picks, the general sense is that the Lightning did fine but not great. Statistician Mannyelk on twitter used his own calculation for player value (click through to his twitter to check it out) and came up with a B+ grade for the team. (26/31) T.B: B+Avg. skater age: 19.04Total value: 8164501.7 (15th)Total value in excess: 935303.8 (5th)Mean value in excess: 133614.8 (4th)Good pick %: 57.14% (11th)Tampa got pretty good value here.— manny (@mannyelk) June 23, 2019 Here’s what Forbes thought of the Lightning: Winners And Losers From The 2019 NHL Draft [Forbes] The Tampa Bay Lightning did all right, securing first and third-round picks as part of the deal that sent power forward J.T. Miller to the Vancouver Canucks while getting his $5.25 million-per-year cap hit off their books for the next four years. But it essentially cost the Toronto Maple Leafs a first-round pick to persuade the Carolina Hurricanes to take on the final year of 39-year-old Patrick Marleau’s $6.25 million-a-season contract. On J.T. Miller trade: “We knew eventually we were going to have to unload some players, and unfortunately [yesterday] was one of those days.” #NHLDraft | Julien BriseBois: pic.twitter.com/FyYoI36S5J— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) June 23, 2019 And My NHL Trade Rumors...Pointed out that the JT Miller trade was all for the sake of a certain player: NHL Trade Analysis: Patrick Marleau and J.T. Miller Traded in Salary Dumps [My NHL Trade Rumors] Vancouver gains a player who can help them immediately while Tampa Bay climbs slowly out of their salary cap-induced hell. Between this and the Ryan Callahan LTIR designation, Tampa Bay gets closer to re-signing Brayden Point. Speaking of the team’s cap, times they are a-changing. We’ll be keeping an eye out for news in the next few days. Speaking as a fan of the player, it will be sad to lose Anton Stralman, he’s such a smart analyst of the game and always worth watching in interviews. A number of teams reached out to pending UFA RHD Anton Stralman today. His agent Marc Levine says next step is to iron out the interview schedule.— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) June 23, 2019 In with the new. Throw all of our new #Bolts a follow! / @foote_nolan @hugloa2001 @max_cajkovic88 @m_crozier44 @schmiemannq @mckade_webster #NHLDraft | #GoBolts— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) June 23, 2019 Puck 77 profiled our first-round pick: Tampa Bay Lightning: Who Is Nolan Foote? [Puck 77] Skating is obviously the biggest need for him in his development, because if he doesn’t get better on his edges to enable him to stop and start with the puck, then he will never make the NHL. But if he works on it, and gets considerably better, while fine tuning his already established two-way game, he projects as a middle 6 winger, with PK time, and maybe even PP time if needed by the team. He is still 3 to 4 years out from making an NHL impact, at least at the moment, but he does show some promise. And this accolade for Hedman is worth noting: Tampa Bay Lightning Steals The Show At The NHL Awards [Puck 77] Despite coming up short in the Norris voting, Hedman was still given one accolade. He was named to the second team all-star roster, meaning the league thought of him as a top 4 defenseman league wide last year. Another very deserving award/accolade given to a great defenseman. Without Hedman, the Lightning would be lost on the backend, and that will continue as long as he is at 100% with the Lightning. Non-news can sometimes be news when it means there’s a gap in the lineup at goal: Tampa Bay Lightning picks up a goalie, but he’s not in Crunch’s future [Syracuse.com] But Mazanec is signed to play overseas next year. Tampa Bay general manager Julien BriseBois said Saturday that Mazanec was included in the swap only to keep Vancouver from going over the contract limit. He said Mazanec is not in the organization’s plans moving forward. “Every day of the year, you’re looking for ways to improve your team.”#NHLDraft | Julien BriseBois: pic.twitter.com/oIctuWDduo— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) June 23, 2019 The Game NHL’s cap crunch is being felt more acutely than ever [Sportsnet] Welcome to the National Parity League, where the impact of a hard salary cap is being felt more acutely than ever. It fuelled virtually all of the player movement we saw here in Vancouver and may yet produce another trade or two in the week ahead. Will Seattle expansion help the salary cap? One hopes. But here at least, is news about new hires: No new GM yet, but a key hockey operations pickup by NHL Seattle should help make that call [Seattle Times] “Analytics isn’t just a department for us, it’s a way of life,’’ Leiweke said as he sat with Mandrycky and Bruckheimer on Saturday morning at a restaurant in the Sheraton Wall Centre Hotel, where some of their GM conversations from Friday had taken place. “The world is changing. It’s an informed approach. And Alex (Mandrycky) will play a part in our GM decision. We’re feeling good about fresh eyes on this.’’ Hockey Hall of Fame will announce their honourees on Tuesday. Hailey Wickenheiser is a lock. How about Lecavalier? Alfredsson? Zubov? Joseph? Mogilny?— John Shannon (@JSportsnet) June 23, 2019 The Other Game The Rays’ Montreal Plan: A peek behind the curtain [Tampa Bay Times, paid content] Plot or ploy? A look inside the Rays’ thought process as they consider splitting their home schedule between Tampa Bay and Montreal.

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