I had to clear my lead as erik scooped my Wager Mateo scoop. And by scoop I mean “reading twitter.”
Memphis and Quad Cities were off today.
- Ryan Kulik started the game and gave up 8 hits and only 1 earned run (2 total). How’d he do that? 0 walks and 4 strikeouts.
- Sam Freeman pitched the next 2 innings and walked 3 and struck out 1.
- Marco Gonzalez did the same in 1.1 innings.
- Pete Kozma, SS, Chicken Fried Steve Hill, DH, Mark Hamilton, 1B, James Rapoport, CF all had a hit and a walk each. That was it for the offense.
- Diaper Dandy Richard Castillo was the hard luck loser for Palm Beach. He gave up 1 run over 7 innings, giving up 6 hits and 1 walk. He struck out 3. 10 of his outs were via the air vs. 7 on the ground.
- Bad Blake King showed up, but it wasn’t the walks that doomed him, it was 4 hits and 4 runs. He struck out 2 and didn’t walk any.
- Adron Chambers, CF, Mr. Player of the Week went 2-3 with a double and a SB and a caught stealing. He was also hit by a pitch.
- Sugar 2 Shane Peterson, RF went 2-4 with a double.
- Blake Murphy, C also had a double but was 1-4 in throwing out runners.
Batavia 6, Williamsport Crazy Hobos 5
- Eric Fornataro started and gave up all 5 hits over 4 innings.
- Josh Squatrito pitched 1 shutout inning with 1 hit and 1 k.
- Scott Schneider pitched 3 perfect innings and struck out 3.
- Santo Maertz struck out 1 in the 9th and vultured the win as the Muckdawgs won the game in the bottom of the ninth.
- Jairo Martinez, LF went 3-3 with a double, an RBI and a walk.
- Matt Carpenter, 3B went 2-5 and scored the winning run on a passed ball.
- X-man Xaiver Scruggs went 2-4 and had a SB.

Entries (RSS)
If the state of Arkansas had no minor league teams, would Springfield ever play a game?
I cant help but to be pleased with Kozmas progress. Hes shown the ability to adapt at every stop so far in his career. He does not have the gaudy numbers by he has been improving which is what i look for in a prospect. Keep in mind that had he gone to college, he would have just finished up his sophomore year and hes now getting the hang of AA pitching. Just to compare here how some other high school hitting infielders that were drafted near Kozma are fairing:
Matt Dominguez (12th overall) Advanved A
AVG: .250 HR:4 OPS:647 SO: 47 BB: 15
Kevin Ahrens (16th Overall) Advanced A
AVG; .217 HR: 2 OPS: .567 SO: 42 BB:16
Pete Kozma (18th Overall) Advanced A/AA
AVG: .266 HR: 2 OPS: 692 SO: 50 BB:25
Dominguez is a third basemen and i could be wrong, but i dont think Ahrens is projected to stay at short, though he was drafted as one. Going by his progression comparing him to others drafted around him I think Pete is doing fine.
Oh wait i seemed to have forgotten one :)
Rick Porcello (27th Overall) MLB
AVG: .400 OPS: .800
Steve Hill as a DH? at home? hmmm….
I thought DHs were used only in ball parks of Am. League affliates.
Is Crazy Hobos really theire mascot?
If so… awesome.
ArRedbird, that is only for the Majors and I think AAA but in certain levels of the minors they use the DH all the time and some of them use it if even one affiliate is from the American League. The DH rule is very rarely implemented the same way it seems.
gobirds,
They are the Crosscutters:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/51/Williamsport_Crosscutters_Logo.PNG
One giant lumberjack with a log and a bat taking on a tiny Cardinal
That dude has CRAZY eyes!
In AA the DH is used when one of the teams is American League. No DH when both are National League. Arkansas is AA Angels. Springfield plays 3 teams that no DH is used.
Congrats on the FanGraphs gig, Erik! Great first post.
Hugo and Jeffery
Thanks for explaining the AA DH rule
So what’s the scoop on Mateo?
http://www.futureredbirds.net/2009/06/22/monday-prospect-stew/
Eric used to have a fangraphs blog about the cards that was in my RSS feed for ages after he quit posting on it. I have always been hoping he would revive it.
Another line to add to Kyle’s point above, Justin Jackson, who many people, including me, liked as a shortstop in that draft is doing this at high A:
.243/.361/.308, 0HR, 31BB:60K
hmmm…maybe luhnow and company really do know what they are doing
Bad Blake King…where does this come from? I was at the game and watched Blake King pitch and he looked great to me. The first inning he faced 3 batters…no hits… 1 strike out…no walks….the second inning he got 2 quick outs and then there was a broken bat that flew at him and he got out of the way and the ball dropped in the infield for a registered base hit….then Blake tried to pick off the runner at first and the throw was low and the first baseman couldn’t dig it out…then there was little blooper in the infield between second and first that nobody caught….registered a single and a run scored…then there was a “hit and run” and the short stop left his position too early and the ball went right where he should have been..registered a hit and a run scored….there was a solid hit (the only one of the inning)….then there was a hit to the third baseman and he committed an error and an un-earned run scored…..then Blake struck out the next guy. He was throwing strikes and hitting 94mph and had no walks. He didn’t fall apart with what happened in the game and he finished with a strike out which showed poise to me. You should report the positive and the negative for these players ( Blake’s ERA jumped all the way up to 1.76 and he has 57 strikeouts in 41 innings…. and 30 walks with a record of 5-0)…so give him a break.