CBN POW, Week XIX: Abraham Toro
3B Abraham Toro (Longueuil, Que.) had a week to remember for the double-A Corpus Christi Hooks. Photo: Jayne Hansen
By George Farelli
Canadian Baseball Network
Just over a year ago Abraham Toro was at extended spring training in the Houston Astros system.
Some people in Astros development weren’t sure if Toro could play.
Like a lot of other cases amazing things happen when Canadian youngster get the chance to play regularly,
Toro is already with the double-A Corpus Christi Hooks, is crushing the ball and off to a good start, at age 21.
Scouts say Toro’s power is legit and he has power from both sides, as well as his glove being outstanding at third base too, Toro was selected in the fifth round in 2016 draft by Houston scout Jim Stevenson (Leaside, Ont.) from Seminole State College in Oklahoma.
Toro (Longueuil, Que.) led all Canuck hitters batting .500 (9-for-18) with a homer and six RBIs to win Canadian Baseball Network minor League Player of the Week for Week XIX.
How the week that was was for Toro:
_ Playing third and batting seventh, he doubled and knocked in a run in a 2-1 Corpus Christi victory over the Tulsa Drillers before 4,651 fans at Whataburger Field. Toro doubled to right for his seventh of the year scoring the Hooks first run.
_ Hitting sixth and batting third, he singled in a 7-0 loss to the Springfield Cardinals before 5,126 at Whataburger Field.
_ Hitting clean up and playing third, he doubled and singled in a 5-2 win against Spingfield before 5,459 at Whataburger Field. Toro doubled to right in the first facing Genesis Cabrera and singled to right field in the seventh against Roel Ramirez.
_ Playing third and hitting fourth, he hit a solo homer and singled as the Hooks knocked off Springfield 6-1 before 3,703 fans at Whataburger Field. Toro homered to right field off Anthony Shew, his second of the season with the Hooks and he singled in the third off Shew on a ground ball to short.
_ Batting clean-up and hitting third, he had three hits, with a pair of doubles and two RBIs in a 10-6 win over the Tulsa Drillers in front of 4,038 fans at ONEOK Field. Toro hit a run-scoring double to right in the first facing Justin DeFratus, singled to right facing Andre Scrubb in the sixth and doubled to centre off Nolan Long in the eighth giving him 10 on the season.
Combined -- with 82 games for the class-A Buies Creek Astros and 34 with Corpus Christi -- Toro has hit 30 doubles, three triples, 16 homers and knocked in 72 runs. He has a .797 OPS in 117 games.
Toro also won Week X when he was at Buies Creek.
Top Offensive Weeks
Player Class Team AB R H HR RBI AVG
Abraham Toro - AA Corpus Christi 18 2 9 1 6 .500
Adam Hall - A Aberdeen 13 3 6 - 2 .462
F. Hernandez - Rkie DSL Cardinals 18 6 7 - 4 .389
Tristan Pompey - A Jupiter 19 4 7 - 4 .368
Vlad Guerrero - AAA Buffalo 25 7 9 4 5 .360
Otto Lopez - A Vancouver 21 6 7 - 3 .333
Noah Naylor - Rk AZL Indians 15 - 5 - 1 .333
J.D. Williams - A Dayton 12 3 4 - 2 .333
Jacob Robson - AAA Toledo 28 6 9 - - .321
Brett Siddall - A Stockton 19 1 6 - 2 .316
Tyler O’Neill - AAA Memphis 13 3 4 - 2 .308
Larry Balkwill - IND Windy City 15 2 5 1 4 .333
Maxx Tissenbaum - IND Quebec 20 2 6 - 3 .300
Sebastien Boucher - IND Ottawa 24 1 7 - 1 .292
(Minimum 10 ABs)
Top Pitching performances
ROWAN WICK RHP - AAA EL PASO CHIHUAHUAS
APP IP H R ER BB K W-L SV WHIP WK ERA
2 2.1 1 - - - 2 - 2 0.48 0.00
It may seem repetitive based on his performance in recent weeks, but there’s no denying that Rowan Wick is pitching at a very high level. This week he made two more excellent relief appearances for El Paso, the first on Aug. 11 in a 2-1 win over Sacramento Railcats. He pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings without allowing a hit while striking out two Railcats batters, to earn the save. On Aug. 12 in a 4-1 victory also over Sacramento, he threw one scoreless inning allowing one base hit, and garnered his second save of the week. These two outings improved his record with the Chihuahuas, in 15 AAA Pacific Coast League relief appearances, to 2-0 with five saves and a 2.00 ERA.
JORDAN BALAZOVIC RHP - A CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS
APP IP H R ER BB K W-L SV WHIP WK ERA
1 5.0 2 2 2 1 6 1-0 - 0.60 3.60
Jordan Balazovic is now active in only his third season as a professional and the Twins prospect continues to pitch very well for Cedar Rapids. On Aug. 11 in a 9-6 win over Quad Cities River Bandits he pitched five innings, gave up two base hits and two earned runs while striking out six Bandit batters to earn his sixth win of the season thus far. This latest outing improved his record with the Kernels in eleven Midwest
League starts, to 6-3 with a 4.13 ERA.
WILL McAFFER RHP - A VANCOUVER CANADIANS
APP IP H R ER BB K W-L SV WHIP WK ERA
2 2.2 2 3 1 3 1 2-0 - 2.27 4.09
It’s always gratifying to highlight the progress of Rookies in this space and this week Will McAffer, a 25th round pick by the Blue Jays in the 2018 Draft, and playing in his hometown with the Canadians, had some excellent results. He made two solid relief appearances, the first of which was on Aug. 10 in a 10-7 victory over Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, when he pitched 1 1/3 innings gave up one hit and one earned run while striking out one Volcano batter to pick up the win. On Aug. 13th in another victory 3-1 over Salem-Keizer, he threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings, to earn his second win of the week. These results improved his overall record with Vancouver in 16 Northwest League relief appearances, to 5-2 with a 5.14 ERA.
Canadian Baseball Network Players of the Week
Week 1 _ OF Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, BC) Memphis (Cards) and Josh Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) San Antonio (Padres).
Week II _ RHP Jordan Romano (Markham, Ont.) New Hampshire (Blue Jays).
Week III _ RHP Mike Soroka (Calgary, Alta.) Gwinett (Braves).
Week IV _ RHP Brock Dykxhoorn (Goderich, Ont.) Corpus Christi (Astros).
Week V _ 3B Vladimir Guerrero (Montreal, Que.) New Hampshire (Jays).
Week VI _ RP Phillippe Aumont (Hull, Que.) Toledo (Tigers)
Week VII _ 3B Vladimir Guerrero (Montreal, Que.) New Hampshire (Jays).
Week VIII _ RHP Curtis Taylor (Coquitlam, BC) Montgomery (Rays)
Week IX _ RHP Cal Quantrill (Port Hope, Ont.) San Antonio (Padres)
Week X _ 3B Abraham Toro-Hernandez (Longueuil, Que,) Buise Creek (Astros) and 2B Charles Leblanc (Lavall, Que.) Down East Wood (Rangers).
Week XI _ C Andrew Yerzy (Toronto, Ont.) Hillsboro (Diamondbacks).
Week XII _ LHP Evan Grills (Whitby, Ont.) Hartford (Rockies).
Week XIII _ OF Ben Pelletier (Varennes, Que.) Williamsport (Philies)
Week XIV _ OF Tanner Kirwer (Sherwood Park, Alta.) Vancouver (Blue Jays)
Week XV _ INF Daniel Pinero (Toronto, Ont.) Lakeland (Tigers)
Week XVI _ OF Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, BC) Memphis (Cards)
Week XVII _ OF Tristan Pompey (Mississauga, Ont.) Greensboro (Marlins)
Week XVIII _ RHP RJ Freure (Burlington, Ont.) Tri Cities (Astros)
Week XIX _ 3B Abraham Toro (Longueuil, Que,) Corpus Christi (Astros).