Here is an update on Schuylkill County players in Minor League Baseball action across the country:
Travis Blankenhorn
In the last week, Pottsville Area graduate Travis Blankenhorn crushed a pair of home runs – in back-to-back games – for the Rochester Red Wings against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders.
He’s now up to 17 homers on the season, leading the Nationals Triple-A affiliate. He also leads the team in RBI at 60.
During the SWB series, Blankenhorn went 5-for-15 at the plate, with 2 homers, a double, and 3 RBI. He’s raised his season batting average to .258.
Check out this moonshot against the Railriders as captured by Twitter user @bennyraywinslow:
BOMBASTIC BLAST 💫 by Travis Blankenhorn#BaseBall pic.twitter.com/RoB8SJesW0— Benny Winslow (@bennyraywinslow) August 4, 2023
Reggie Crawford
North Schuylkill grad Reggie Crawford continues to impress as he climbs his way through the San Francisco Giants organizational ladder.
Now at High-A Eugene, Crawford is strictly pitching despite showing promise as a potential two-way star. It’s clear the Giants are taking it easy with Crawford as he continues the very long recovery from Tommy John surgery.
During his most recent outing on the mound for the Eugene Emeralds, Crawford had what might be considered his best professional pitching start thus far.
Crawford pitched 2 innings in a game on Aug. 3 against the Tri-City Dust Devils. In those 2 innings, Crawford allowed a hit and an unearned run and struck out 3 of the 6 batters he retired.
The 2 innings pitched mark the longest he’s been extended into a game since an appearance for the Low-A San Jose Giants back on June 11.
Here’s video from that game against the Dust Devils, showing Crawford blowing it by batters:
Reggie Crawford struck out 3 over two innings of work of work in Thursday’s victory over Tri-City
2 IP| 1 H| 1 R| 0 BB| 3 K pic.twitter.com/hLomWFhDep— SFGProspects (@SFGProspects) August 5, 2023
Joe Nahas
Joe Nahas, a 2016 Marian Catholic grad and Frackville native, appeared in 2 games in relief last week for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate Tennessee Smokies.
In those 2 appearances, Nahas worked 3.1 innings and struck out 4 Chattanooga Lookouts batters. Nahas worked 2 innings of relief on Aug. 5, allowing 2 hits and 2 runs (1 earned) while fanning 3.
Nahas was promoted to the Smokies in July 3 from the South Bend Cubs.
