It’s signing day, hit the other posts for that intel, but congrats to new Future Redbirds Zach Cox and Matt Swagerty. In other news:
Tommy Pham has hit the DL. Pham had a red hot preseason and began to finally hit the ball better in Springfield after being promoted from Palm Beach. He OPS’ed .966 in Springfield but that was supported by a .422 BABIP. I would love to see Pham come back strong for the last week of the season, but so far this season has been a excellent step forward.
Trey Hearne and his 6.72 FIP in Springfield this year have been moved to the bullpen. Scott McGregor takes his place in the rotation.
Memphis 6, Colorado Springs 5 (16 innings)
- Nate Robertson started for the Redbirds and gave up 5 runs in 5 innings.
- Reyel Pinto, Eduardo Sanchez, Josh Kinney, Fernando Salas, Oneli Perez and Rich Rundles got through the next 11 shutout innings. Fernando Salas struck out 5 of the 6 batters he faced.Eduardo Sanchez inherited a bases loaded situation and got out of it.
- Ruben Gotay and Dan Descalso had 3 hits.
- Amaury Cazana had the walk off HR to win the game for a total of 4 hits on the night.
- Kevin Howard and Bryan Anderson had HR.
- Joe Mather had the old
and a HALF with 6 Ks.
- Scott McGregor pitched 6 shutout innings scattering 5 hits striking out 5 and walking 1.
- Trey Hearne then pitched in relief giving up a solo HR.
- Jason Buursma and Ramon Delgado were the other relief pitchers.
- Nick Derba had a double and a solo HR.
- Aaron Luna a double, two singles and a walk.
- Pete Kozma also had a solo HR.
- Matt Carpenter and Andrew Brown each had a double and a single.
- Richard Castillo took the loss with 6 runs (4 earned) and 7 hits over 6 innings.
- Joel Pichardo finished off the game with 3 runs over 2 innings allowing 5 hits.
- D’Marcus was 3-5 with 3 singles.
- Raco had a double, a single and a stolen base.
- Shelby Miller pitched 5 perfect innings before allowing his first hit in the allowing a hit in the 6th inning. He finished up with 7 innings, striking out 11 (11!) and walking only 2. He only allowed 2 hits, one was a long HR.
- Nick Greenwood pitched the final two shutout innings with 1 K and 1 walk.
- Edgar Lara was 2-4 with a 3 run double and a 1 run double.
- Robert Stock, Raniel Rosario and Ivan Castro all had doubles.
Johnson City was postponed.
Entries (RSS)
Frick! Another HBP sidelines Tommy Pham. Dude has the worst luck.
who’s glad the cardinals didn’t trade miler? i sure as heck am..dude is a awesome talent..
+1,000,000
Mcgregor is only 23 — thought he was older.
McGregor looks like he’s 18. Very young face.
I can’t ever remember a player getting progressively worse the way Richard Castillo has.
Seems to be Castillos last year in the organization you have to think.Is he still young for his league?
still extremely young at 20 y.o. But he pitched in the FSL all of last year and even a little bit the year before.
I may be wrong on this but if a guy hasn’t had success in a league for a few years maybe just move him up to see if the change in scenery and coaching staff helps him any. Pham didn’t do well until he moved up to Springfield. I can’t hurt to move Castillo up to see if Dennis Martinez can help him in a way that the Palm Beach pitching coach cant. Same with Jones 2 bad years in Springfield probably doesn’t help his development any so why not move him up a level to better competition and see if a new set of eyes can coach him better. Not much to lose other than maybe upsetting a few players who feel they are more deserving of a promotion.
Didn’t he already have a change in the coaching staff? I thought there was a shakeup in the farm teams’ management this off season.
He may not have what it takes, period, sad to say.
Which person are you refering too? Not sure if yoru talking about Jones or Castillo. Castillo and Martinez are both Venezulen I believe so I think Castillo at least needs some time in Springfield before we cut him loose. Working with a fellow countryman may help some. Not sure if Pop Warner was Springfields coach last year or not? I know that Quad Cities coach is new but thats all I know for sure.
I think Martinez was the pitching coach at Palm Beach last year and that didn’t seem to help much.
Pham was having a terrific season in PB when he was promoted. He had a .347 wOBA, by far a career high, as well as a career-best walk rate (14.7%) while his 20.7% K rate was close to a career low. Even his batting average, .262, was a career best (aided by a .337 BABIP).
It’s hard to tell when a guy is in such a tough hitting environment, but Pham made big strikes in PB in 2010. Even his 2009 season showed improvements in his LD%.
He had his big breakout in a much better hitting environment in Springfield, which is why it’s worth noting that Jones is in that environment now. Moving him up to Memphis would put him in a tougher park for hitters. You need to dominate the TL before you’re ready for the PCL.
I thought the PCL was as much a hitters league as the Texas League is. I don’t have any confidence in Jones at all just saying a change in scenery is needed before we totally give up on him and going to Memphis accomplishes that.
I think it depends on where you are in the PCL. It’s a big league. But I believe the higher elevation parks (Alberquerque, Colorado Springs, Salt Lake, Reno, Las Vegas, Tacoma, etc) are what inflate the league’s reputation.
I could be wrong though. But I can’t imagine the ball jumps particularly well in Memphis, Iowa City, Omaha, or Nashville which is the Redbirds’ division.
I may be wrong but I always heard that Memphis is a great hitters park.
No, it’s the opposite. Memphis has a park factor of 0.96, in which 1 would be an average run-scoring environment in that league. It’s in the bottom third of the PCL. (There’s quite a range: New Orleans is 0.91, while Albuquerque is at the top with 1.18.)
Springfield is 1.06, making it the best scoring environment in the TL. The home run factor is 1.22, which means it’s insanely easy to hit it out, compared to other TL parks.
On the flip side, Palm Beach is rated 0.93 for scoring and 0.82 for home runs.
QC is closer to normal: 0.98 for scoring, 0.99 for homers.
There is no minor league ballpark in Iowa City, it is in Des Moines (Iowa Cubs). I would call it a “fair” park like Busch III. The ball carries fairly well after May, but obviously it is not a high elevation area.
meh….Iowa is Iowa… ;-)
Tacoma is virtually at sea level….no more than 500 feet above. It also has a 425 foot center field fence that is nearly 30 feet high. exactly 2 home runs in the 50 year history have cleared center field. I would not put Tacoma and Cheney Stadium in the hitters park category at all.
ya got me.
I know virtually nothing about Tacoma. Anyway, the point still stands.
AS others have stated. Pham did do well at Palm Beach this year. Reduced his K rate/upped his walk rate. Those are important underlyers to success (usually shows improved pitch recognition).
We need a new designation for a guy who strikes out 6 times in a game. Maybe golden sombrero with oak leaf clusters?
Maybe a golden propeller hat since you’d have to blow that game for it to happen?
I wonder if Joe Mather has read the speculation that he will lose his spot on the 40 man? A 1 1/2 golden sombrero? Holy Judas.
I was just reading the details of Cox’s contract and it said that he was signed for four years and that each year that he is not in the major leagues it uses an option. What is this option? Does it mean that he will be arbitration eligible in fewer years without serving time in the majors?
Joey Bombs proves once again 6 is a serious numba, sigh
rec’d?