I’ll be in Springfield next weekend to pick up a pair of games. Hopefully the weather holds out. The farm system takes some tough losses and Matt Adams records his first professional triple of his career.
Memphis 4, Round Rock 5 (13 innings)
- Pete Kozma went 0-for-6 out of the second spot in the lineup. His OPS remains below .500 for the season.
- Nick Stavinoha was 2-for-5 with a HR and a walk. This is my second John Gall reference in as many days but Stavinoha is probably a better comparable than Mark Hamilton. Gall posted a .805 OPS in AAA over 7 seasons. That strikes me as the ceiling for Stavinoha. Hamilton’s bat might be a tick better but at a position with higher offensive requirements.
- Matt Carpenter went 1-for-5 with a walk.
- Andrew Brown was 3-for-6.
- Bryan Anderson was 1-for-4 with a double and two walks. Anderson is off to a slow start with his batting average hovering around .200 and weighing down the rest of the line.
- A messy outing for PJ Walters who goes 6 innings allowing 4 runs on 5 hits and 4 walks. He struck out 2.
- Chuckie Fick pitched 3 scoreless frames striking out 1.
- Tommy Pham was 3-for-4 with a double and a HR.
- Matt Adams was 2-for-4 with a triple and a HR. More improbable: Matt Adams triple or Brett Wallace stolen base? Adams is in better physical condition than Wallace but a triple is not something you expect to see in his nightly line.
- Eric Duncan was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.
- Michael Blazek turned in his best outing of the season striking out 8 over 5.2 innings. He walked 1 and allowed 6 hits for 4 runs (3 earned).
- Matt Frevert pitched 2 scoreless innings for the save striking out 1.
- Adam Melker was 2-for-3 with a pair of walks.
- Alan Ahmady was 2-for-4 with a walk.
- Joe Kelly had a rough outing abbreviated at just 4 innings. He allowed 8 hits, walked 2 and struck out 2. Kelly was saddled with all 4 runs (3 earned). Errors by Joe Kelly (pickoff) and Xavier Scruggs (fielding) compounded Kelly’s problems on the mound. He did still generate his typical groundball rate with 6 on the ground and 1 in the air.
- Lefty Sam Freeman pitched 2 perfect innings.
- Michael Swinson was 2-for-3 with a walk.
- Nick Longmire was 2-for-5. Longmire continues to struggle at the plate and a strikeout rate north of 25% of his PAs has a lot to do with that.
- Patrick Elkins (2B) had a perfect night at the plate with a pair of walks and a trio of singles.
- Seth Blair went just 4 innings striking out 3 and walking 1. He allowed 3 hits and 3 ER as his early season struggles continue. Blair was not a pitcher I particularly cared for in last year’s draft. An assortment of average pitches with no true out pitch, he was praised for his collection rather than one pitch, which always sends off warning signals for me. I didn’t expect the control issues he’s been struggling with thus far.
- Cale Johnson struck out 3 and walked 1 in 3 scoreless innings. He allowed 2 hits.
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Memphis turned 4 DPs, with Kozma involved in each. Have to think the glove plays, but the bat will keep him in the minors.
Hard to not get excited about Jackson in AA. He turns 23 in a couple weeks, so he’s not young for that level. But he has a .933 OPS and a .401 wOBA. The BABIP is an unsustainable .441, along with the 30% LD rate. Still, there’s a clear improvement in all his rate stats as he moves up the ladder. Something’s going right.
Question is: How long before the org flips Jackson and Kozma? Sooner? Later? Developmentally, a half-season in AA for Jackson sounds about right, but I don’t think a half-season at AAA helps Koz if he doesn’t start hitting. (And based on his previous seasons in AA, there’s no good reason to think he will.)
Is there a possibility that the Cards are tweaking Blair’s mechanics and he just isn’t accustom to it yet which is why the control issues? It just strikes me as strange that a guy with fairly good control in college just can’t seem to show any control right now. Just a thought.
RIP Kozma. Time to start working on utility skills.
Blair’s game was lightyears better than his previous two. At this point I was just worried abouthim getting Ankielitis with his control. In the game I saw he had great command of his breaking stuff but couldn’t locate his fastball. He may be trying to overthrow it to sit at a higher MPH. He’s not a mid 90′s guy he’s more of a guy that can sit comfortably at 93. Him hitting 98 during the first game of the year last year was an outlier i beleive. Overall I think he can be good because he has a few different breaking pitches and does have good command of it, he just hasn’t put it together yet.
I too am still hopeful about Blair despite the slow start. This is his first minor league season.