Most of you by now have heard that Brett Wallace has been called up to Springfield. Allen Craig hits the DL with lower back pain. Quad Cities is sliding out of the MWL Western Division race, while Springfield was tied for first in the TL North going into tonight, and in need of a powerful bat to replace Craig in the lineup. I think Wallace fits that bill. Yet another aggressive promotion.
Jon Jay also hit the 7 day DL. He’s had a shoulder problem that has dogged him since last year.
Derrick Goold revisits Baseball America’s Top 30 Cardinals, something he was pretty key in putting together and will be again in 2009. He is looking for some feedback, so be sure to drop by and give him your input. I would have to think Brett Wallace, Daryl Jones, Lance Lynn, Nico Vasquez, Fernando Salas, and Francisco Samuel should all have spots and that ranking, and maybe Ryde Rodriguez and Jon Edwards to name a couple more.
BA reports the Cardinals are in the right in the gooey center regarding how much each team spent on signing bonuses for its players selected in the top 10 rounds. They spent $4,893,000. That team across the state unbelievably spent over $10M, which leads the MLB. (Subscription required)
Ramon Delgado was named the NYPL “pitcher of the week”. Reynier Gonzalez received the same honor for the Appy League.
Only one win tonight in the system.
- Brian Barden had a rough game hitting lead off. He went 0 1-5 with with a good ol’ Golden Sombrero.
- David Freese went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBI.
- Josh Phelps went 2-for-3 with a double. Less doubles, more homers. Come on Josh, get with it.
- Bryan Anderson and Cody Haerther doubled.
- Tyler Greene went 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base.
- Jess Todd Will Destroy Us All allowed two earned runs on 6 hits and a walk with 6 K’s. He allowed two doubles and a homer.
- Mark Worrell pitched a scoreless frame. He allowed a walk and struck out one.
- Kelvin Jimenez still stinks. Film at 11.
- Brendan Ryan went 0-5 with 3 K. I think his days as a Cardinal could be numbered.
- Daryl Jones went 2-for-5 with a stolen base. When prospect-niks do their rankings at the beginning of the year, where will Jones be on their lists? How many believers has he made this season? I don’t know, but he’s made a believer out of me.
- Jose Martinez went 2-for-3 with a walk.
- Mark Shorey went 4-for-5 with a double. Shorey’s hitting .308 but has benefited by a .400 BABIP. He strikes out in a quarter in his plate appearances and his power numbers are a little down this season.
- Andrew Brown went 2-for-5 with a double.
- Donovan Solano doubled but struck out three times.
- Brandon Yarbrough doubled and allowed three stolen bases in five attempts.
- Brad Furnish was betrayed by his defense. Springfield had five errors, four when he was in the game. He allowed six runs on six hits and two walks, but wasn’t charged with an earned run. He struck out three. He also picked off two batters.
- Josh Dew threw two innings of no hit ball with two K’s and two HBP.
Palm Beach was off.
- This lineup is pretty “myeh” without the awesome power of the Walrus. I like Pham, Edwards and Rivera. Pham and Edwards went 0-fer.
- Francisco Rivera went 2-for-4.
- Jonathan Stambaugh allowed two ER on five hits and a walk over three innings.
- Kenny Maiques allowed two ER on two hits and two walks with one K in 1.1. It was a parade of “myeh” relievers after that.
NL All Stars 4, AL All Stars 3
- Frederick Parejo homered.
- Colt Sedbrook and Charles Cutler both went 0-2. Cutler did draw a key walk in the 9th.
- Arquimedes Nieto threw one inning, allowed one hit and struck out one.
- Adam “Don’t Fear the” Reifer was credited with the W. He worked a scoreless frame, allowing one hit and fanned two.
- Nico Vasquez went 2-for-4 with a walk. I sat here for ten minutes trying to figure out a cool pregame story about Nico, but apparently I’m not Hardcore Legend.
- Jack Cawley went 2-for-5 with a double and a triple. It’s unusual to see a catcher triple.
- Edgar Lara went 2-for-5 with a double. Lara’s 16 for his last 38 at bats with 5 XBH.
- Rickey Noland went 2-for-4 with a HR.
- Luis Mateo went 3-for-5 with a SB.
- Scott McGregor allowed no runs on five hits and no walks with five K’s. His name is fun to say in bad Scottish accent. He’s allowed just one run in 27 innings.
- Jose Mateo allowed no runs on one hit and struck out two.
Entries (RSS)
luis mateo has been pretty impressive this year. i don’t think he is a guy that will have a lot of power, but he has hit for average and is stealing a lot of bases. could be an interesting guy for the future.
Jess Todd could fill a very important role in the bullpen next year out of Spring Training allowing McClellan to join the rotation if they go that route.
Brian Barden went 1 for 5 with an RBI. Golden Sombrero intact.
When Nico Vasquez woke up this morning, he realized for the first time that the carpet he ordered does not match the curtains he has in his condo in Johnson City. This was the first time Nico wished he could be promoted like the other Cardinals prospects. When he arrived at the ballpark, he told his manager of his dilemma. Confused, the manager replied “Why not just go buy new curtains? I’m sure they have them at Bed, Bath and Beyond.”
Nico stared at him for a moment, cracked his neck and replied, “Skip, you callin’ Nico a chick?”
Nico then ‘bounced’ for batting practice.
Report from Albuquerque:
Shane Robinson made a fantastic play in center, ranging far to his right, skirting along the curving track at the base of the hill in center, then diving to catch the ball above head level from a dead run. Sweet. He still looks like an oompa-loompa, however.
Not much of note on offense. Phelps can rake and so can Freese.
Props to Worrell for taking over for Todd in the 7th with runners on the corners and no outs and preventing any inherited runners from scoring (shallow fly, infield pop and K). Jess owes you a beer, Mark.
Boo Jimenez. He entered a 3-2 game that was still Todd’s to win and gave up a dinger on the first pitch. At least he sucked quickly. He gave up another run that inning to earn the loss.
Todd was, well, not that impressive in terms of his stuff, but great in terms of results. I must admit I’m not good at recognizing pitches or reading break, but I just didn’t see why he was as effective as he was. He seems to have 3 pitches: a FB that comes in around 87-89 (I saw one 90), what I think is a hard slider that clocks around 83-86 and a curve that’s in the 79-81 range. I don’t know whether he’s a Greg Maddux in the making or a Bud Smith. Time will tell. I tracked him on the first 3 innings (cs = called strike; ss = swining strike; f = foul; ft = foul tip bo/bi = ball outside/inside; bh/l = ball high/low):
1st inning:
Andino: 85 bi – 87 bh – 85 bi – 86 bi
Murphy: 85 bl – 86 bo/h – 88 bo (conference at the mound) – 85 cs – 86 ss – 88 bo – ft (K, plus caught stealing, DP)
Bozied: 89 bl – 87 cs – 81 bl – 87 f – HR
McPherson: 85 bl – 88 cs – 86 bl/i – 86 bl – 90 ground out
2nd inning:
Ryan: 86 bh – 85 cs – Double, RF line
Miller: 79 cs – 81 ss – 83 ss – K
Hoover: 86 cs – 86 b?! (umpire warning to the dugout) – 86 ft – 81 ss – K
Beattie: 85 f – 80 bloop to 3B (badly fooled)
3rd inning:
DeLaCruz: 84 cs – 86 ss – 86 bo – 84 – K
Andino: 84 cs – 86 f – 84 bl – 81 dirt – ?? f – 80 f – 86 bo – 84 f – ?? shot to CF, great catch
Murphy: 89 b – 86 f – 80 bh/o – ground out to 2B
my sources tell me that Curt Smith has been promoted
adding to HL…..Barden had a double
Wow…Nico’s real first name is Ernest. I like Niko better, however you want to spell it.
punditmoi — That second pitch is probably his cut fastball rather than his slider (which is probably what you called the curveball — they’re all breaking pitches anyway). That was supposed to be the big addition that Todd made this year and a significant part of his success. Whether that’s true or not. . . I don’t know. I’m gonna have to download some video of his starts in the near future now that he’s at Memphis.
They only call him Ernest because every super hero has to have an alias
Nice to see Freddy Parejo pop one in the All-Star game! I’m looking forward to watching the kid patrol center field for Quad Cities next year–at the tender age of 18.
Just an aside: glancing at Richard Castillo’s splits (courtesy of minorleaguesplits.com), the 18-year-old is allowing roughly a .500 slg% when the bases are empty…and .270 when someone is on base. That’s .270 *slugging*, not batting avg.. Clearly, the 18-year-old knows how to “pitch in a pinch,” as Christy Mathewson used to say. Verrrry impressive.
Hey, HL! Pretty good story, but I doubt there is a Bed, Bath and Beyond in the tri-cities area. It’s redneck mountain country over there. :)
Seals,
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=johnson+city+tn,+bed+bath+and+beyond&fb=1&safe=on&cid=119365602899221928&li=lmd&z=14&t=m
Yep there is one.
azru, thanks. That makes sense on the cutter vs. slider. I need an instructional video on recognizing pitches, so I can id these things.
Lookin forward to seeing the Walrus here in Spfld. Hopefully his bat will give them that push they need to get to the playoffs.
Does Curt Smith make the top 100? How about Colt Sedbrook?
BA AAA best tools:
Boggs “best pitching prospect” in PCL, Perez “best reliever.”
Figures. I thought about checking first, but that just doesn’t happen on the Internet. :)
Ok i grew up in Johnson City, its not that bad…the surrounding area I can’t say the same for but JC has picked it up over the last 5 to 10 years. Its a good environment for young talent because there is not a whole lot of places to get in trouble and the pitiful night life means Nico can get plenty of sleep.
Nico doesn’t sleep at night. He fights crime.
Are we going to force him to have to use the theme from Batman as his walkup music?
I think Tony “Arni” Cruz should be mention in the top 30. Before he injuried his wrist around a month ago, he was in the top 10 in RBI and Doubles in High A ball. His average was on the rise, he was hitting over 300 during June and July before he got hurt. All that while switching to a new position catcher. I saw a few games while I was in Palm Beach in early July and everything he hit, he hit hard to all fields. He also called a few good games behind the plate. I also think Daryl Jones should be pretty high on the list. He was good at the plate and was a really good and smart baserunner. I think he is going to be a very good left fielder. I also thought Solano was a very smooth shortstop and a smart player.
its about time someone recognized boggs…he is better than most people think..
Smith or Sedbrook top 100? They most likely won’t even make the Cardinals top 30!