Quad Cities is rained out which means they’ll play a double header tomorrow. They’re season has been severely disrupted by weather as this will be their 4th double header of the young season.
Jackson stars in Springfield again and Joe Kelly puts on an impressive display in Palm Beach. The farm system goes 1-for-3 in tonight’s DFR.
- Matt Carpenter went 2-for-4 as he continues to drag his OPS out of the doldrums. He’s getting on base at a .375 clip but with a terrible .289 SLG his season is still off to a slow start.
- Pete Kozma was 0-for-3 and is sporting a .424 OPS. Beyond me not being terribly impressed with Kozma as a player, the club has moved him aggressively up through the minors.
- Joe Gannon was 1-for-3 with a HR.
- Adam Ottavino had a good outing going 6 innings allowing just 2 ER. He was tagged for 5 hits and walked 3 while striking out 5. This is a fine performance for a Memphis pitcher but it’s not one that instills confidence in me that he’s ready for another shot at the bigs. With a 19:10 K:BB ratio, the control just isn’t there despite the excellent strikeout rate.
Springfield 6, Tulsa 7 (11 innings)
- Ryan Jackson continues to be the story of the Springfield squad. I look forward to seeing him again this year and trying to identify the tweaks he’s made in his swing. He went 1-for-3 with 3 walks to boost his season line to around a 1.000 OPS.
- Matt Adams was 2-for-6 with a double and a home run. Another player from QC last year that I’ll be taking a closer look at later in the year. He’s hitting well considering the jump he made.
- Jose Garcia went 3-for-4 with a double and a walk.
- A rough outing for Michael Blazek who lasted 5.2 innings but allowed 5 runs on 4 hits and an ugly 5 walks. He struck out 5.
- Nick Greenwood came on in the 6th to strand two baserunners and pitch a scoreless 7th allowing 1 hit.
- Jose Rada followed up with 2 innings of shutout ball allowing one hit.
- Casey Mulligan took the blown save allowing 1 run in the 11th after pitching a scoreless 10th. That’s Mulligan’s second blown save of the year and first loss.
- Raniel Rosario was 1-for-3 with a walk.
- Zach Cox was 0-for-4.
- Xavier Scruggs went 2-for-3 with a double and a triple.
- Joe Kelly was excellent on the night with 8 strikeouts in 6.1 innings against just 1 walk. He allowed 1 run scattering 7 hits during the outing. Kelly was a bit wild (2 HBP, 1 WP) but he held Jupiter close by only allowing one extra base hit. Add to that his traditionally strong groundout rates (6-of-8 in this game) and Kelly hasn’t missed a step in Palm Beach.
Entries (RSS)
Watched some of the Memphis game, Ottavino’s game was better than his line, He gave up 2 hits until the 6th. One was a double was was a HR to the Texas League Triple Crown winner last year. The second run he gave up was after 2 hits in the 6th and a Freddie Bynum error which should have been called on Nick Stavinoa (Joe Gannon) who just dropped the ball made the inning alot tougher. Ottavino was taken out the next inning after a double and and error by Bynum who bobbled the ball after a sac bunt by the opposition. Ottavino seems to lose his release point some from the stretch. He has a plus slider that he can get over for strikes when needed and it’s also a very good strikeout pitch. I believe his arm is healed as during a 3rd inning rally by Omaho the announcer mentioned that the last 3 pitches of the inning were all 96 mph fastballs with movement to it. His control is always the same thing, when he loses his release point he usually falls off the mound rather than finishs square. His delievery is still free and easy and seems to be throwing effortlessly. After watching today he’s still very much a prospect in my eyes.
His loss of release point from the stretch isn’t backed up by results. His BAA and his K/BB are all significantly better with runners on base.
Ottavino pitched well last year in the minors. If his shoulder holds up, I think he will help this team at some point.
I’m a huge Ottavino fan, I’m mentioning what I saw today not sure about the otherall trends. He labored and had a few issues throwing strikes off the stretch. He did very well against Omaha’s Top Prospects.
In this case Ottavino walked 2 of his 3 batters with men on first base.
to me, otto has closer in his future
I don’t like this he has the arm endurance to hold onto his high velocity throughout a game. Can’t just put those type of arms in the closers role. Not only that he may try to hump up and throw harder and mess up his mechanics.
He has 2 pitches and mediocre control. He’s a reliever.
He has 3 pitches and can stay at 94-95 for 7 innings. He has his fastball that runs, he has a good get me over slider that he can throw for a strike and he has a put out slider.
Next time I see him and he happens to be showcasing a third pitch that is at least major league average and lowers his BB/9 under 5 than I might change my mind.
Until then he’s a reliever in my eyes.
You’re awfully generous about that second pitch. It’s slop in my book.
Do you have Milb.tv? I watch Memphis on there for the last few years, Ottavino has a very good slider? Not sure what your talking about here.
Yes, I have milb.tv.
The “get me over slider” is not a pitch that he can “throw for a strike” consistently and it’s not a “good” pitch.
In his cameo in the big leagues this was not the case. That said it was a small sample, and info from his MiLB work is more pertinent. I still think reliever long term though.
http://gashousegraphs.com/2010/06/28/ottavino-the-reliever/
Really liked seeing the walks by Jackson.
Matt Adams with more power! Definitely good to see him continuing to build on that.
How come Stavinoha changed his name to Gannon?
Am I the only one who doesn’t get the Joe Gannon reference?
Future Redbirds called Jon Rodriguez playing for Quad Cities Bill Kirk. Its a new game here at FR. Guess the real name behind fake names slipped into the reports.
yea…..fun
Am I missing something — did I botch a line?
The farm continues to lose a lot of close games. one trend I have noticed is that much of the time they will out hit the opponent even in defeat. Seems to be a lack of clutch hitting. Imjuries to guys like Hill, Taveras, Robinson, and Brown and Hamilton’s callup have hurt offensive production. The pitching, however, has been very impressive.
Nope. I’m with you.
Matt Carpenter is getting well adjusted to AAA pitching. He’s a quick study.
Jackson and Adams are having no problems hitting AA pitchers. Jackson could flip flop with Kozma by June.
I wonder whether such a step would lead to a Koz retirement. Not sure whether that would be a good thing or a bad thing.
No reason to rush Jackson. Theriot is signed thru next year. Kozma did hit well in spring training so give him some time. If Jackson does pass him I would try Kozma at 2nd base where the organization is weak. Of course, if Jackson is ready by next year they could always put Theriot at second. Speaking of second based, does anyone else wonder why Packy Elkins is at QC over Bergman?
Theriot is not signed through next year.
Isn’t Bergman still in EST? I think Packy is just keeping 2b warm till Starlin Rodriquez is off the DL.
“No reason to rush Jackson. Theriot is signed thru next year.”
That may be the lamest excuse for delaying the arrival of a defensively major league ready 23 year old shortstop to the major leagues I have ever read.
Even if Theriot were signed through another season(which he isn’t), why would that ever be an effective roadblock for someone like Ryan Jackson?
And I’m not even going to touch the absurdity of thinking that Kozma should be in his way.
Kozma isn’t going to retire even if he’s replaced at Memphis. He will be a MLB utility player for many years IMO.
What have you seen, Andrew, that would leave you to believe kozma can hit enough, or field well enough at more than one position, o allow him to become a long-term UT in the majors?
Because I haven’t seen it
Kozma’s glove will play at the middle infield positions. Compare his minor league defensive stats to Brendan Ryan’s minor league stats or Ryan Jackson’s and they compare favorably. Whether he’ll hit enough is a legit question.
He looked alot better in Spring Training than I expected. You ahve to remember the whole Memphis team is struggling until last week Kozma was having as good a hitting season as Carpenter. Honestly he should still be in AA but they wanted Jackson to have a shot at AA pitching. I think he will be ok/
Comparing Kozma to Carpenter at this point in the season isn’t high praise. Not to mention that Carpenter’s skillset is vastly different from Kozma’s — your comparisons aren’t making much sense to me.
The guy is trying to say what has Kozma done this year to tell me that he may be a utiltiy player, I told the other guy that if we are judging how someone may do long term based on this year Carpenter is doing just as bad as Kozma.
ok…let me rephrase…what has kozma done, in his entire career, that leads you to believe he will be a legit major league utilty player….he cannot hit, and has entirely too many errors in the field
he has been bad to terrible for 3 years…and i don’t see that changing…ever
I was saying that the organizations vision for him has changed from starting SS to utility player I believe as they actually mentioned that this spring as justification for having him play some second.
A player must still show the ability to hit from time to time even if his role is confined to utility middle infielder. No team is going to carry a backup SS/2B on their major league roster for more than a couple of months if he can’t at least hit Mendoza at the major league level.
Kozma doesn’t really get on base much, so all of his value would be concentrated in his glove. Which really hasn’t been that great either.
How can you be considered a UTL player by the organization and only play one position. If the Cards viewed Kozma as a UTL player I think they might start playing him at other positions. He has stayed at SS as of now.
Encouraging to see Joe Kelly’s performance continue into the new season. He was starting to do some good things last year, and seems to be building on it. Now that we’ve got some pitching merchandise on our minor league shelves, how ’bout some middle infield prospects. Is this Jackson offensive outburst an aberration??? If not, maybe we’ve got something going there, too. Still early, I guess.
The 2011 draft looks to be one of the worst for position prospects outside Anthony Rendon, in quite a while(at least thats what I’ve read from a few guys like Kevin Goldstein and Keith Law anyway). It doesn’t make sense to reach for a bat that doesn’t project to be in your draft position if there are much more talented pitching prospects on hand. And with a draft that is supposed to be over filling with high quality high school arms, it makes even less sense.
Who cares if the Cardinals have a major strength at starting and relief pitching in their system at this moment? What are the odds of more than one or two ever amounting to anything at the major league level? 10, 20%
The attrition rates for arms are atrocious in the minor leagues. Which means there is never an amount that can be called too much, when it comes to pitching.
If the best player available is a high school arm that profiles as a middle to front end of the rotation arm at the major league level, than you take him. You don’t reach for lesser talents simply to fill a need in your system. Pete Kozma 2.0 is not something the Cardinals should be risking. Especially since the Cardinals can’t afford to make many mistakes if Pujols signs his mega deal in the offseason.
I’d never advocate “reaching” for anyone, either. So, I’d agree with your points.
Pitching is no doubt the best part about this class but the position players aren’t weak by any means. Alot more people are mentioning the Cardinals and high schoolers Josh Bell which I would be estatic with. He is very worth of a 22 pick as is Blake Swighart at Catcher but I doubt he falls to us. Josh Bell would give us someone with natural power that we haven’t had since….well since we wished we had in Austin Wilson. Josh Bell will be a power hitting corner outfield switch hitter that our system needs.
I would agree Josh Bell looks to a very good pick @ 22. I am also intrigued by Derek Fisher.
I’ a little intrigued by Jason esposito with the first pick, but It sees there isn’t much of a consensus on where he would be picked at. However, it looks right now the position players worth of being picked over some of the first round pitchers is rather slim.
Not a lot of star power there.
I’d think I would be a little disappointed if he were the Cardinals pick. Doesn’t scream “best player available” to me at #22.
I’ a little intrigued by Jason esposito with the first pick, but It sees there isn’t much of a consensus on where he would be picked at. However, it looks right now the position players worth picking over some of the first round pitchers is rather slim.
Does Mahtook have too much helium to last til 1-22? He’s sandwiched between Swihart and Bell in the most recent BA ranking. Seems like he’s done better than any of the top college prospects with the bat change.
I really don’t know how Mahtook is even in the discussion for the first round this season. I mean if it were a repeat of last seasons draft, which didn’t really have a lot of star power outside of the top three or four, than he would fit.
But this draft is way too deep for the likes of Mahtook to be going that early. I mean he’s a great athlete, but thats about it.
Though of course there are always teams that prefer to risk less money on more advanced college talent(and wow has that done wonders for the Cardinals over the past decade/sarc)than risk more money on higher ceiling high school guys. So Mahtook could certainly be in the discussion for 15-25.
Mahtook is said to be a toolshed but stranglely raw for a college player. He seems to “hack away” and alot of people think that his college success won’t translate into professional success. He probably goes first round but to a team looking for a slot signing. Maybe Milwaukee with there second pick in the frist round because they have 2 first round picks.
I think Josh Bell will probably be gone by the time the Cardinals pick first.
Doesn’t seem to have any signability problems attached to his name, is an allstar caliber talent, and the possibility that he sticks in center isn’t low enough to where a team is going to have to be forced to dump him in right or left as soon as he’s drafted. So whats not to like for a team picking before the Cards?
Almost every Mock I’ve seen him has him going 22-27 and everyone projects that he is moved to RF. He has a UT commit so he will want good money. General consensus is that he’s going to outgrow CF soon, here is one such mock.
http://www.mlbbonusbaby.com/2011/4/22/2117961/my-preliminary-2011-mock-draft