Club Check: Quad Cities River Bandits
Posted on August 6th, 2009 by azruavatar in Quad Cities River BanditsThe River Bandits are middle of the pack in the Midwest League’s Western Division. They’re playing .447 baseball to date and are 5 games out of first place. Perhaps with the recent roster moves to add some talent from the short season clubs Quad Cities can make a push toward the top. With some new talent like Ryde Rodriguez and Eric Fornataro, QC is slowly making themselves more appealing for another scouting road trip as well. . .
They Call Me Jane – Chris Swauger and Charles Cutler, whose names I always get mixed up, lead the QC offense with a .879 and .865 OPS respectively. Cutler who plays catcher is the more interesting bat due to position but at 22 neither are exactly young for the league. (Both players were recently promoted to Palm Beach.)
Of Mirror Death Rays and Fleets – Arquimedes Nieto leads the team in strikeouts largely due to having pitched the most innings. Striking out just under 8 batters per 9 isn’t bad but neither is it awe inspiring. Beware the lesson of Richard Castillo when falling in love with low level pitchers in the Cardinals’ system. (Shelby Miller, hurry, we need you!)
What Have You Done For Me A Long Time Ago – Frederick Parejo is hitting .306 in his last 10 games including 3 extra base hits and 5 walks against 3 Ks but his season line is ugly. At .231/.309/.340, the recent surge for the 19 year old still has a ways to go.
Strikeout or Score – Gary Daley has the venerable distinction of being #2 to Nieto’s strikeout leader. He also has an ERA over 7.50.
But Can He Deliver a Fiery Sermon – Jon Edwards, long touted as having great power potential, is reaching the end of that age/projection mental rationalization. He’s now 21 posting the same .649 OPS as Parejo.
Legally Blind Squirrels And Acorns – Osvaldo Morales leads QC with 35 walks in 361 ABs but also has 119 punchouts to his name. That should help explain why he’s hitting .216 on the season.
Not As Painful As Rick Porcello – Guess who is number two in OPS for the Midwest League? Give up? Kyle Russell. The fourth round draft pick in 2007 who did not sign with the Cardinals only to join the Dodgers the following season, leads the league with 23 HRs and is second with a .908 OPS. In a league that depresses offense, Russell continues to hit. It’s not all roses for the swing happy outfielder though as he also leads the league in strikeouts with an absurd 140Ks (31% of PAs).
Hit It With Your Purse, Shirley – The QC offense ranks firmly in the bottom third of the league, a full 95 points of OPS behind the league leaders, at .675.
Pitch To Contact – QC is nearly 200 strikeouts behind the league leaders at 762. Needs more Gary Daley.
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Had to needle us with the Russell crap?? He is Russel Branyan pre-2009.
I’m not sure the Cardinals were wrong here. Those strikeouts are crazy high. That said, he’s still producing.
Not mentione in the article but Neito and Morales also have both been promoted to Palm Beach.
If you want to take solace in it, I read on some Dodgers forum or blog that they really don’t think Russell will produce at the higher levels.
Az-
I think he would have been an add-on for one of the trades if we had signed him. He is like one of the interesting but flawed players that Luhnow finds and Tony would hate.
I am not knocking Luhnow in anyway on this. He built a lot of depth with players of this ilk–but I gotta say I like the strategy of the last draft quite a bit more than most of the previous ones.
I could be wrong, but didn’t russell sign for the Dodgers for less than what the cards offered?
Yes — considerably less.
Russel is old for the league right?…he wont cut in in AA
If Russell really has 140 Ks in early August, in the Midwest Leauge, where he enjoys as age advantage, he has holes in his swing and needs to improve his approach. 140 Ks. In the Midwest. Wow.
It’s time to challenge Daley with a promotion. To Taco Time.
I saw Russell play when QC played the Loons and he looked impressive. Hit the ball hard, but he does have a long swing.
So what did the Cards end up offering Russell? I heard lots of speculation ranging from $450K to over a $ million but nothing that sounded like anyone really knew. So what’s the scoop Az?
Alex Castellanos was promoted to Palm Beach yesterday, so QC loses another one of their hot hitters.