By Rick Mariotti
Minor Leagues Beat Writer
Chicago Sports Online
Cape Hatteras, NC – Two of Chicago’s top minor league prospects have learned something about AAA competition in the past couple of weeks: it ain’t easy.
Outfielder Hao Hang, who utterly terrorized AA pitchers early this season in Beloit, has found the going quite a bit tougher in Carolina.
After two weeks as the Flight’s starting right fielder, Hang is slashing a pretty pedestrian .241/.339/.468 with 3 home runs and 10 RBIs.
Not terrible, but also not the .359/.419/.852 with 20 homers and 39 RBIs Hang put up in his opening weeks with the AA Beloit Blue Sox.
“The pitchers here are on another level from what I was seeing in Beloit,” Hang said. “I’ll get this – I know I will – but it’s a little bit of an adjustment.”
So, too, for closer prospect Francisco Salgado, who was promoted to the Flight at the end of last week. He appeared in 3 games for Carolina, pitched 2.1 innings and went 0-2-1 with a 7.71 ERA.
Contrast that with the 1-1-3 record and 2.14 ERA he’d posted in Beloit in 17 appearances, and you realize he may need to settle in a bit before the Sox look at promoting him to the big club.
“We’re in no hurry with either of these guys,” insisted Chicago assistant GM Bill McGuffin. “I know there was all the ‘Hankering for Hang’ talk, but we need for Hao to get the experience he needs before we talk about bringing him up to the Sox.
“For now, we want him – and Francisco – to concentrate on doing well at this level and not get ahead of themselves. They’ve both got long careers in front of them – there’s no reason to rush things now.”
Eighth Week Scores
At Carolina
05/19: Carolina 6, Annapolis 1
05/20: Carolina 1, Annapolis 0
05/21: Annapolis 5, Carolina 4
At El Paso
05/23: El Paso 8, Carolina 5
05/24: Carolina 6, El Paso 1
05/25: El Paso 7, Carolina 6
Record as of May 25
W-L Record for Week 8: 3-3
Overall Record: 27-24, .529
Position in Standings: In 3rd place in the GL East Coast Division, 8 games behind Brooklyn.
Position Players of Interest
| Player | Slash Line | OPS | HR | RBI | WAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tomás Durán, 3B ** | .306/.365/.514 | .879 | 7 | 27 | 1.1 |
| Emilio Lugo, 1B | .300/.385/.639 | 1.024 | 14 | 35 | 1.4 |
| Pete McGrath, RF | .233/.293/.507 | .800 | 6 | 12 | 0.0 |
| Manuel De Los Santos, LF | .213/.279/.266 | .544 | 0 | 13 | -1.2 |
| Wally Poole, RF | .333/.392/.538 | .931 | 6 | 17 | 1.0 |
| Hao Hang, RF | .267/.389/.500 | .889 | 2 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Pitcher | ERA | W-L-SV | IP | K's | BB's | WAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hector Reyes, SP | 2.90 | 6-1 | 71.1 | 74 | 22 | 2.6 |
| Dieter Ruijghaver, RP * | 2.08 | 1-0-0 | 8.2 | 8 | 2 | 0.0 |
| David Bates, SP/RP | 5.22 | 3-1-10 | 29.1 | 30 | 16 | 0.6 |
| Francisco Salgado, CL | 7.71 | 0-2-1 | 2.1 | 4 | 1 | -0.1 |
** Promoted to Chicago on 05/19/41