For the last several spring trainings, Farm Director John Vuch has been kind enough to pass along some notes from the minor league action that happens in relative obscurity down in Florida. While the major league camp gets the most focus, this is your small window of insight into the group of players that are still toiling away chasing their dreams.

Welcome back the Vuch Reports.

The players are split into working groups (WG) right now that have little if any relation to where a player will wind up in the system. It’s just a scrimmage – no tea leaves to read here.

WG#2 9, WG#1 5
Group 1

• PJ Walters was tagged for 6 runs (5 earned) over 4 innings of work. He allowed 8 hits and one walk while striking out 4. I wonder how much patience the organization has left for Walters. It’s not that he’s doing anything “wrong” to my knowledge but more that he seems to have hit a ceiling. Despite pitching reasonably well for the Memphis Redbirds, he seems the protypical “quad A” player. With pitchers like Lynn jumping past him, are Walters days with the org numbered? I feel like 2011 might be a really critical year for PJ.
• Kevin Thomas struck out 3 in two shutout innings of work. He allowed 1 hit.
• Tyler Norrick needed just 8 pitches to complete an inning striking out 1.
• Andrew Brown was 2-for-2 with a double and a walk.
• Donovan Solano was 2-for-3 with a double and a triple.
• Charile Cutler’s day included a 3 run home run.

Group 2:

• Shelby Miller allowed 2 hits and 1 walk in 2 shutout innings of work. He struck out 2.
• Matt Frevert tossed a scoreless 1 hit inning.
• Despite walking 4 more batters than Group 1 pitchers, Group 2 pitches managed to limit the damage to 5 runs. The allowed 11 hits compared to WG#1′s 14 hits.
• Edgar Lara was 3-for-4.
• Frederick Parejo and Zach Cox both went deep. Parejo also doubled.
• Former Hawaii SS Greg Garcia was 2-for-2 with a double.

WG#3 2, WG#4 0 (10 Innings)
Group 3:

• Seth Blair retired 6 batters in a row striking out 2.
• Blair’s Arizona State teammate Jordan Swagerty went 2 innings allowing 2 hits and striking out 2.
• Scott Bittle (shoulder injury) pitched 1 inning allowing 1 walk and 1 strikeout.
• Jonathan Rodriguez picked up both the RBIs from the game with a bases loaded single on a two strike count.
• Michael Swinson and Oscar Taveras were the duo scoring on that single.

Group 4:

• Houston Summers allowed both runs during his 2 innings of work. He allowed 3 hits, 1 HBP and struck out 1.
• Justin Edwards struck out 3 over 2 perfect innings.
• Limited offense for group 4 that picked up 4 singles and a Colin Walsh double.

Thanks again to Farm Director John Vuch and his staff who compile the info for these reports during spring training. Baseball is back!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 16th, 2011 at 7:30 pm and is filed under Daily Farm Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.