Everyone has been calling Kyle Bellamy a possible fast mover through the system. It came as a bit of a surprise when the reliever started the year in Low-A Kannapolis, but after just four appearances with the Intimidators he has been promoted to High-A Winston-Salem.
Bellamy, recently ranked as our 18th best prospect, is the first major promotion of the season. The first minor league transaction of the season came when Santo Luis was claimed off waivers by Boston, Justin Cassel was demoted to Birmingham to take his spot and Scott Elarton was moved from extended spring training to Charlotte.
In his four appearances this year with Kannapolis, Bellamy pitched five innings, gave up one run, struck out six, walked three and gave up two hits. He had a good groundball rate (1.67 GO/AO) and a 1.80 ERA, more or less what you would expect from the former All-American.
Bellamy made 17 appearances for Kannapolis last year and had a sickening 30:2 K:BB ratio to go with a 1.42 ERA in 19 innings. Considering he was a dominant reliever for Miami in the ACC, Bellamy was expected to cruise through the low minors and he’s doing just that so far.
The most encouraging part about his numbers to start this year are his numbers against lefties. The righty retired all five lefties he faced and had two strikeouts. His scouting report says he can get lefties out with his frisbee slider, but it would need to get better to get professional left-handers out. It’s obviously a tiny sample size, but it’s a good early indication that Bellamy can be more than a righty specialist. Lefties hit just .125 off him last year.
Reliever Leroy Hunt was placed on the 7-day disabled list. From the press release:
Hunt suffered an
injury in Thursday night’s ten-inning 7-6 win over the Potomac
Nationals. He started the tenth inning, but was removed from the game
after walking the only batter he faced. Hunt was 0-0 with a 9.00 in
four
appearances prior to the injury.
Hunt was called an under-the-radar sleeper by White Sox amateur scouting director Doug Laumann. Unfortunately, we didn’t see that translate on the field in Hunt’s first four outings of the year. The 22-year-old walked six in his three innings of work, though he did have four strikeouts. Hunt’s arm got looked at by the trainer before he got pulled after his injury so we’ll go with some sort of arm injury for now, but we don’t know anything more than that.
The Dash’s roster is still only at 24 after catcher Logan Johnson was placed on the 7-day DL with a finger injury. Kannapolis also sits at 24 so both teams have an opening. We’ll keep you updated if and when the roster spot is filled.