Daily Farm Report – 4/3/2008 – Opening Day
Posted on April 3rd, 2008 by roarke in Brian Barton, Daily Farm Reports, Kyle McClellan, Rico WashingtonBefore we get to Opening Day for the minor leagues, I’d like to give a belated congratulations to Brian Barton, Uncle Rico, and Kyle McClellan. All three enjoyed a measure of success in their major league debuts, with Barton singling in his first at bat, Uncle Rico getting an RBI double in his second at bat, and Kyle McClellan mowing through the heart of Colorado’s linup in successive days (he did give up a run on Wednesday, but a little bad luck was involved there). I was a little surprised that LaRussa went back to McClellan on Wednesday, while keeping Reyes unused in the bullpen (Reyes was used on Thursday with great success, striking out the side). It is nice to see that LaRussa is trusting McClellan with important situations, though. The highlight of the season for me so far was the smile on Barton’s face after getting his first major league hit.
The minor league teams went 1-2 with a rainout on Opening Day. Details after the jump.
Memphis 3, Oklahoma 4 (10 innings)
- Colby had a nice start to his last season in the minor leagues, going 3-5 with a double, a run scored and a stolen base.
- Big Joe Mather‘s Spring success has carried over as he went 2-4 with a double, triple, run scored and a walk.
- Josh Phelps went 2-5 with an RBI.
- Amaury Marti hit a two run homer, but struck out three times in going 1-5.
- Mike Parisi struggled, allowing 3 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks over 4.2 innings. He struck out a pair.
- Hugo Castellanos only gave up one hit in his 1.1 ip.
- Jason Motte struck out three in two scoreless innings.
- Ron Flores struck out both batters that he faced.
- Note that Kevin Mench was held to an 0-5 night with an rbi and Jarrod Saltalamaccia went 1-4 with a double off of Motte and a run scored.
Frisco 6, Springfield 3
- Shane Robinson provided the bulk of the offense as he went 3-3 with an RBI, a run scored, and a stolen base.
- Jon Jay went 1-3 with a walk.
- Tyler Green went 1-4 with a run scored and 3 strikeouts. Ouch.
- PJ Walters gave up 3 runs, 2 earned, over 5 innings, while striking out 5. He also gave up 8 hits and did not issue a walk.
- Nick Webber had a terrible night, giving up 2 runs on 2 hits, a walk, and a hit batsman in his only inning.
- Rob Zimmerman was the bright spot on the mound, striking out 3 in his two perfect innings.
- Jon Mikrut struck out the side in his inning, but he also gave up a run on 2 hits.
Jupiter 4, Palm Beach 5
- Our precocious outfielders started the season off on the right foot, with Tommy Pham going 2-4 with 2 doubles, 2 runs, and 2 rbi (and 2 strikeouts) and Daryl Jones going 3-4 with a stolen base.
- Steve Hill went 2-4 with an rbi out of the DH spot.
- Brandon Buckman went 2-3 with an rbi and also cost the team a run when he was struck by a batted ball while running the bases.
- Donovan Solano went 2-4 with a double and a run scored.
- Daniel Descalso went 1-3 with an rbi and a run scored.
- Tyler Herron got the start and struck out 4 in 4 innings, but gave up 3 runs on 6 hits and a walk.
- Josh Dew picked up the victory, getting 2 strikeouts while giving up 2 hits in his 1.2 innings.
- Kenny Maiques grabbed the save, pitching a scoreless 9th. He walked a pair, although one was intentional.
- Note that Jeremy Hermida of the Florida Marlins batted cleanup for Jupiter on a rehab assignment. He was held to a 1-4 night with a double off of Herron. He also drove in a run and scored a run.
Wisconsin at Quad Cities: Rained Out
We’ll have to wait at least another day for the debut of the Quad Cities squad.
Entries (RSS)
Dear Daryl,
Please don’t taunt us. You must keep hitting well for the rest of the season.
Thank you,
AZ
It would seem that Tyler Greene has been taking hitting tips from Amaury Marti.
“Hey mang, just close your eyes and swing AS HARD AS YOU CAN. With one hand tied behind your back. Blindfolded. While milking a goat.”
i saw amauri marti at the loading dock last friday. it’s a new bar on the east side. he was pounding the burgers and fries. i tried to compete with him but he was swallowing them whole and raw!
I keep waiting for Jones to fall off.
atta boy donovan….
Pleasepleaseplease Daryl. Listen to the smart robut! You too, Tommy. And tell them to move you back to the infield.
How about Steve Hill, the man just keeps hitting like a Lumberjack.
For some reason, when I think “Steve Hill”, I think “Mike Sweeney.” That’s a good thing, right?
great starts for pham and jones. i really hope these two can keep it up. can you imagine an outfield of rasmus in center, ankiel in right, and then a dynamic talent like pham or jones in left?
fewgood -
no possibility that barton’s that dynamic talent??
he could be (i kind of forgot about him actually), but i still don’t think he has the speed of a guy like daryl jones. either way, he would still get plenty of playing time if you are starting an all lefty outfield. joe mather could be one heck of a back-up outfielder as well.
i really like the outfield depth we have right now. ankiel, duncan, barton, schumaker in the majors; rasmus and mather in memphis; jay in springfield; and pham and jones (hopefully) at palm beach.
just throwing in my 2 cents on the new look, very nice
Skip Schumaker in the minors:
2001 .695 OPS
2002 .694
2003 .675
2004 .808
2005 .732
2006 .730
And so far, what, about .730 in the Show? Ack. All while being one, two, or three years old for his leagues. Skip’s a fine 5th outfielder, but even with his plus defense, Mr. March has no business starting full-time for a decent major league team–especially the Cards, who have some MLB outfield depth, and Baseball’s Best Prospect waiting in the wings….
Great to see Pham, Jones, and Solano with multi-hit games. All 3 of them just 20 years old, and playing in the Florida State League; it’ll be a big plus for the Redbird organization if even *one* of these guys is successful at that level in 2008.
Oh, and the new look is great!
I like Pham and Jones Big time. Almost as much as I love those big juicy burgers over at the Loading Dock. Those things are sloppy though, sometimes you’ll end up with them all over your face and back. Apparently Amaury Marti is going to be doing some tv and radio commercials for them. I’ll post links when I get them.
Is it still too soon (open wound) to mention how good a Pro Debut Porcello had as a 19 yr old in High A?
5 IP 1H
Or are we going to start referring to him as R### P######?
someone from saberscouting.com was there last night and they have a report (including video) on the game. they said he could be pitching in the big leagues right now.
Gordon Beckham was profiled in the Atlanta paper today:
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/uga/stories/2008/04/04/gabeckham_0404.html
As has been mentioned before, he’s a classic draft choice for the Braves but he may not fall that far given how he has played so far this year. Has it truly “clicked” for him or is his performance so far this year just a fluke – hard to tell. I watched him last year and he appeared to be a solid college player, but I never would have guessed he’d produce like he has this season. FWIW, he is a first-class person who would be a credit to any organization.
speaking of porcello, people think pete kozma is a disappointment, but what about last year’s 3rd overall pick josh vitters of the cubs? after a blazing 6-51 start to his pro career last summer, he failed to make a full season roster this year and is staying in extended spring training.
Vitters is just mind blowing…when I saw him at the Aflac game in the fall of 2006 he was as polished and ready as any HS’er I have ever seen with the bat.
You didnt know if he was going to hit for a ton of power or add a great deal of athleticism to the mix…but he was going to hit with that advanced approach.
Just cant get my head around his struggles.
You guys do know that those “hamburgers” that Marti is eating are actually the flesh from his defeated foes. He is the Highlander. He gains strength from defeating others in battle (we call it baseball).
Actually, they are real “hamburgers”. And he can really put em down. I heard from a friend that was at the loading dock that Amaury ate so many burgers and fries that he had to get his stomach pumped! That’s alot of burgers and fries. I guess it’s worth it for the protein but he needs to be careful that he doesn’t bite off more than he can chew and end up gagging.