The Cardinals picked up Evan Maclane from the AAA squad for the Arizona Dimonbacks. He will help out at Memphis in the starting rotation. He’s not what I would call a prospect, but he will help the innings crunch at Memphis. Maybe Kat Maekawa won’t have to start any more. Here’s an old scouting report on Maclane from when he was in the Mets organization.
Evan throws 4 pitches; Fastball, Slider, Changeup and Curveball. His best pitch is his Changeup. It usually sits in the upper 70‘s and is his out pitch. His curveball has improved since entering the pro ranks and is now also an out pitch for him. Generally it gets into the mid-70‘s. He uses his fastball at many different speeds but consistently gets it into the upper 80‘s. He uses this pitch to show hitters and set up his breaking pitches. With added speed it could become more of an out pitch and less of a show pitch. The 2004 season saw Maclane develop a slider which reaches 80-82mph.
I guess the added speed didn’t come around. Overall, he’s a soft-tossing lefty who looks like he topped out at AAA.
At the beginning of the year, I was lauding the Memphis Redbirds’ all homegrown rotation, but the injuries at the big club has split up that rotation.
All four teams were in action and a double dip for Quad Cities.
- Memphis faced old friend John Gall and old foe, Brandon Backe.
- Memphis’s “ace” Brad Thompson started and gave up 4 runs over 5.2 innings.
- Then came the lefties, Royce Ring and Charlie Manning. Manning took the loss on an unearned run on Casey Rowlett’s error.
- Jon Jay, LF CFwas 2-5.
- Allen Craig, 3B LF hit a HR.
- Mather, RF and Freese, 3B had a hit each.
- Casey Rowlett, 2B was 2-2 from the 9th spot…whaaaa? (edited to add: because he came in on a double switch) But, his error in the eighth was a rough one.
- Ryan Kulik started for the first time in AA, and it did not go well. He gave up 7 hits and 1 walk over 3 innings.
- Eddie Degerman took the loss officially with 3 runs over 2 innings.
- Elvis Hernandez has left the building (look! An Elvis joke!) with 3 runs over 2 innings.
- Daryl Jones, Brett Wallace, Steve Hill, DH, and Daniel Descalso all had two hits.
- Daryl Jones had a stolen base. But, Brett Wallace had a throwing error.
- Mark Diapoules started the game and went 3 innings giving up 2 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks. Not the best of outings.
- Thomas Eager and Sam Freeman both had 2 no hit innings.
- A Scott Gorgen sighting as he went 2 innings giving up 1 run.
- Adam Reifer took the loss in the top of the 10th.
- Adron Chambers, LF went 2-3 with a triple.
- Peter Kozma, SS was 1-3 with 2 walks.
- Colt Sedbrook, 2B was 2-3 with two runs scored.
Quad Cities 4, Wisconsin 2 (7 innings)
- Arquimedes Nieto started and went 3 innings giving up 1 run with 5 strikeouts to 0 walks. That’s what I like to see.
- Adam Veres pitched the next 3 innings and gave up 1 run, but he had 2 walks to only 1 strikeout.
- Casey Mulligan got the save.
- Brett Lilley, 2B was 2-3 with 2 RBIs.
- Niko Vasquez, SS was 1-3. If I put Kozma in the DFR, I have to put Niko in as well. It is just fair.
- Easy Ryder Rodriquez was 1-3 with an RBI.
Quad Cities 17, Wisconsin 7 (7 innings)
- The Quad Cities bats broke out in the second game.
- Charles Cutler, C went 3-4 with a HR, 5 RBIs and a walk.
- Domnit Bolivar, 3B went 3-5 with 3 runs scored.
- Niko Vasquez was 1-4 with a walk. He also committed an error, his sixth. But, who’s counting?
- Jon Edwards, LF was 1-3 with 2 walks and 3 runs.
- Brian Buck, CF was 2-3 with 2 RBIs.
- Hector Cardenas had a rocky 3.2 innings, but because of the errors (Edwards, Bolivar, Vasquez) he only had 2 earned runs.
- Kevin Thomas pitched 3.1 innings and gave up 0 runs with 3 Ks.
Entries (RSS)
Can we put up one of those workplace safety signs that says “Days without an error from kozma or vasquez: 1″ and just update it daily?
the thompson-backe faceoff is probably the least interesting minor league matchup of the day.
And perhaps our grand plan is just to corner the market on soft-tossing lefties. Maclane sounds like the kind of guy who would win two games a year, both against the cards.
Joe Mauer was in the line up against Palm Beach, fyi.
Kat Maekawa got hurt thats why they brought in MacLane, He isn’t very good and probably won’t last long in Memphis. Good to see Jay with a couple knocks but he played CF not LF thats were Craig played while Freese was at 3rd, Shane Robinson still out with the calf injury.
Casey Rowlett had an interesting game, comes in on a double switch in the 6th, singles and scores in the 7th, makes the error to give up the lead in 8th then doubles to lead off the 9th then makes the first out of the inning at 3rd after getting caught in a rundown.
Descalso with his 2 triples tonight and now up to 4 on the year and pushes his hit streak to 10 games and has a hit in every game but one, and counting his 9 games at the end of last year he is 37-for-101 .366, with six doubles, five triples and a pair of HR’s and has a hit in 23 of 25 games since arriving at Double-A.
Thanks Memphis25, I have fixed my mistakes.
Thanks for the report, Jeff–and the amazing Descalso AA numbers, Memphis25!
Daryl Jones not only singled, doubled, walked (he now has a 8/6 BB/K ratio), and stole his 4th base without being nabbed…he also gunned down a guy at the plate. I could really take D.J. seriously as a prospect if only BA or Goldstein had listed him in their top 100. ;)
Is that 3-5 the beginning of a Bolivar Breakout? Here’s hoping.
(spoken in menacing Alan Rickman voice through walkie talkie) “Welcome to the Redbirds, Mr. Maclane.”
Hopefully Kozma keeps hitting, starts fielding, and ends the year in AA.
I think we should start referring to Ryde Rodriguez using some variation of a Red Rider BB gun reference.
@tom s. … seems like it might be at 0 more than any other number.
Any insight from anyone who has seen one/some of these errors? I’d be interested in seeing if some are because they are possibly getting to balls that some SS wouldn’t be able to get to and then forcing the play.
Jonathan Edwards was in left field for QC? I’ve read repeatedly that Edwards has an absolute cannon attached to his right shoulder, and now he’s in left?
Next thing you know, we’ll be seeing Colby Rasmus in left field, or some such.
Does Hill’s D not play at 1B? It sounds like no one thinks his D will play in the OF in the majors and even less so at C. It seems like some playing time at 1B might increase his trade value even though that’s not his path to the majors with us. Maybe this has already been brought up before and I missed it, so sorry if this rehashes an already beat to death discussion.
Kulik may not have done as well as you liked, but seemed to me after the first inning he got the jitters out. What should be the determing factor in his first outing in AAA as to it being a good game or a bad one ? New catcher, new league, new surroundings, new teammates. The organization doesn’t care if he gave up those many runs. What they care about is how he adjusted and how he handeled it.
I am not really sure what everyone expects from these young players, perfect outings everytime, perfect at bats every time. That’s not how the game goes. The key is consistancy, and that takes awhile, the season is just beginning.
If these guys got it right everytime out, they would be in STL. There is a lot of learning to do, and that is what A, AA and AAA is for.
Heck teh guys in STL don’t always get it right either.
it’s a one-sentence blurb on a single outing, not the latest sickels evaluation of his long-term skills. 7 hits in three innings is not a good start. kulik may yet be a good pitcher.
the dogs bark and the caravan moves on.