Class AAA Buffalo 3B Zach Lutz returned to the lineup this weekend, going 5-for-13, after missing about two months with a hamstring and finger injury.
He has dealt with a myriad of foot injuries since turning pro in 2009, including missing two months in AA Binghamton last season due to a stress fracture in his left foot.
Lutz is batting .327/.407/.500 in 52 at-bats with six doubles, a homer and six RBI.
“My parents helped me get through a lot of stuff the last couple of years,” he told the Buffalo News. “It’s been the same thing going on and on again and to finally get through all my feet injuries was great and then for something like this to happen it’s like, ‘Oh, we’re back to square one again.’
“A lot of times I’d say, ‘I can’t deal with this anymore, all I want to do is play baseball,’ and all I would do is sit the bench, watch the team play, but I wanted to try and help the team win. They would tell me not to get down and that God has a plan for everything.”
The Bisons got some bad news when CF Kirk Nieuwenhuis was put on the seven-day DL with a left shoulder strain.
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Low Class A Savannah has won five straight games, 17 of its last 21 and is 5 ½ games ahead of the Greenville Drive with seven games remaining and the South Atlantic League’s South Division title.
The Sand Gnats placed six players on the All-Star team: OF Cory Vaughn, IF Robbie Shields and Ps Gregory Peavy, Taylor Whitenton, Chase Huchingson and Josh Edgin.
SS Wilfredo Tovar, 19, has a personal season-best 11-game hitting streak, going 16-for-37 (.432), raising his average from .185 to .228 during the streak.
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Below is a scouting report compiled by Baseball America on Mets first-round pick Brandon Nimmo, a high school outfielder from Cheyenne, Wyo.
“Simply getting drafted out of Wyoming is an accomplishment in itself—the state does not have high school baseball and has produced just two draft picks the past decade.
With a lean, 6-foot-3 frame with projection remaining, he’s a good athlete and one of the best sprinters in the state. He tore his right ACL playing football during his junior year in 2009 and spent most of last summer playing with a brace on his knee.
He’s an above-average runner when he’s healthy, which helps him on the basepaths and in center field, and there’s more to his game than just speed. Nimmo has a pretty, efficient lefthanded swing. He’s short to the ball and has outstanding barrel awareness, consistently squaring balls up and shooting line drives to all fields. He has a good eye at the plate and should be an above-average hitter. As he gets stronger, he could add loft to his swing to turn doubles into home runs.
Nimmo worked out for teams in Arizona this spring and had some tendinitis in his knee. His American Legion team started playing in mid-April and their schedule goes right up to the signing deadline, and he has an Arkansas commitment to fall back on.”
AROUND THE MINORS: Buffalo OF Val Pascucci is batting .302 (31-for-102) in his last 31 games and leads the team with 42 RBI. … Binghamton RHP Jeurys Familia struck out a season-high 11 batters Sunday against Trenton, allowing four runs in 6 2/3 innings in a no-decision. … Binghamton 2B Reese Havens hit his first homer this past week and is hitting .245/.317/.396 with five walks and 17 strikeouts in 53 at-bats. … His double-play partner SS Jordany Valdespin is 11-for-32 with three homers and four steals in his last nine games, pushing his average to .270/.317/.439.
