Springfield wins in extra innings, while the rest of the farm lose 1-run games. I said last time that I would make up for no scouting reports on opposing players, so click on to read further about some interesting players competing against our guys tonight.
- Andrew Brown hit a solo HR and finished the night 2-4
- Bryan Anderson was 2-3 with a double. Anderson is trying to fight off the slow start in his 4th season at Memphis
- Matt Carpenter was 1-4 with 1 RBI
- Pete Kozma went 0-2 with a walk. He has a .474 OPS in 110 at bats and 25 K‘s compared to 8 walks. It’s sad to see a guy who was rushed and is clearly overmatched in the PCL blocked by another SS prospect a league below him. Ryan Jackson may be called up to Memphis in a couple months, which would allow Kozma to be sent back down should the Cardinals choose that route. It’s hard to gauge what they plan to do with him at this point.
- Adam Ottavino had an odd line. He pitched 6.2 innings, gave up 13 hits, 4 runs, and struck out 6. He didn’t walk anybody, but he hit 2 guys. 4 of the 13 hits he gave up went for extra bases. His 2.25 ERA on the year has been skewed by his .222 BABIP and 88.4 LOB% (prior to today’s game). However, he is pitching fairly well coming off of a labrum tear last season.
Baseball America Top 15 – Los Angeles Dodgers
1. Dee Gordon (SS, 4/22/1988) went 2-4 on the night. Son of Flash Gordon, Dee didn’t start getting serious about baseball until his senior year in high school. He has the potential for 4 plus tools, but his best assets are his speed and range. Over the past 2 seasons between low-A and AA, he’s stolen 126 bases. He’s been aggressively promoted based on how well he’s responded to each level that he’s competed. He has very little power, but he has the potential to be a .300 hitter at the ML level with average patience, which would give the Dodgers a flashy leadoff hitter. He was ranked 26th by BA on their Top 100 list for 2011.
7. Scott Elbert (LHP, 8/13/1985) got the save with a line of 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, and 2 K. Elbert had a few stints with the Dodgers in 2009 and ended up making their postseason roster, but fell off in 2010 with awful control. He has a 93-94 mph fastball, a slider that sits in the high-80’s as his out pitch, and a decent changeup that he rarely uses. If he improves his command, he could have a future in the bigs that goes beyond a LOOGY.
10. Trayvon Robinson (OF, 9/1/1987) was 2-4 and hit a solo HR and double. Robinson has significantly improved his patience at the plate over his minor-league career to the point where he walked 73 times last year in 434 at bats. Outside of his improved patience, he has plus speed and the ability to be a .300 hitter in the majors with above average power at CF. He’s blocked by Kemp, but he could be ready to make the jump by the end of the year as he has a very impressive slash line of .336/.397/.609 early this season.
- Tommy Pham led off and hit 2-4 with a double, walk, and stolen base
- Matt Adams continues to show impressive power with a HR that puts his total on the year in double digits
- Alan Ahmady was 2-4 with a walk
- Ryan Jackson went hitless in 5 at bats and has cooled off a bit after a hot start, but still has shown very good patience at the plate.
- In his 2nd appearance at the plate, Jermaine Curtis got the winning RBI in the 11th on a line drive to RF
- Deryk Hooker gave up 3 runs and 7 hits in 5 IP. He struck out 4 and gave up 1 walk
- Richard Castillo got the win by pitching a perfect inning in the 11th
Baseball America Top 15 – Los Angeles Angels
1. Mike Trout (OF, 8/7/1991) was 2-4 with a solo HR and walk. You either know Trout or you should learn about him ASAP. Some see him as the top prospect in baseball, but Bryce Harper and Trout are joined at the hip as the top 2 prospects in baseball. Trout is a five-tool talent who shows incredible speed (ranked 80 on the scale by BA), plus defense with a good arm, average power, and the ability to hit for a high average. He could be starting for the Angels in 2012 but will spend the first half of 2011 in AA honing his skills. His weakest tool is his power, but his speed alone will add more doubles and triples to stack his stat line.
7. Garrett Richards (RHP, 5/27/1988) started and pitched 6.2 innings giving up 4’s across the board and 2 HR’s. He has a sinking fastball that sits 92-93 and touches 96 mph. His secondary pitch is a mid-80’s slider that he compliments with a 12-to-6 curveball and an average changeup. He throws across his body with a three-quarters arm slot that adds deception, but it also puts strain on his shoulder and may impact his ability to go late into games. That fact alone may make his future in the bullpen.
- Rainel Rosario was 2-4 with a walk
- Xavier Scruggs and Domnit Bolivar were both 1-4 with a double. Scruggs added a walk and RBI
- Shelby Miller was once again Shelby Miller, as he struck out 7 in 7 innings, gave up 5 hits, 2 runs, and only 1 walk. He leads the Florida State League by 10 strikeouts
Baseball America Top 15 – New York Mets
2. Wilmer Flores (SS, 8/6/1991) was 1-4 with a double. He has quick wrists, which has led to his low K totals at a young age, but he’s yet to develop the patience that the Mets hope to see in the future. He’s shown the ability to hit for power, as he had 50 extra-base hits last year. However, his defense is a huge concern with his below-average speed and lack of a quick first step. Personally, I don’t see why they ranked him as their 2nd best prospect, based upon the fact that he has no clear position and is so raw in his patience at the plate.
3. Cesar Puello (OF, 4/1/1991) led off and went 1-5 with 2 RBI’s. Signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2007, Puello shows the potential to have 5 tools. He has yet to display the raw power that he possesses, but he’s already shown his speed with 45 stolen bases last season. He projects as a corner outfielder with a plus arm and above average range, 20 HR power, and good patience.
- Oscar Taveras was 2-4 with a walk
- Greg Garcia led off and hit 2-4 with a walk
- Patrick Elkins had a double and 2 walks
- Chris Edmondson added a solo HR
- Nick Longmire was 0-5 and continues to struggle early this season
- Trevor Rosenthal proved he was human, giving up 4 runs, 5 hits, and 2 walks in 3 IP. He struck out 4
- Boone Whiting continues to impress in the bullpen, as he struck out 5 in 3 IP and gave up 1 run
Baseball America Top 15 Prospects – Milwaukee Brewers
13. Matt Miller (RHP, 1/30/1989) was very wild today, walking 7 batters in 4 innings. That wildness was effective, as he only gave up 1 hit and 1 run. Miller has a relatively straight fastball that sits in the low-to-mid 90’s and can touch 97. His slider has the potential to be an above average pitch in the majors, and he mixes in an average changeup, as well. The writer for BA states that he has the ceiling as a middle-of-the-rotation starter, but I think he looks more destined for the bullpen.
Entries (RSS)
To defend Adam Ottavino he made some bad pitches but that last run 3 guys simply missed a pop up that got caught up in the 35mph swirling wind. He then got the next 2 but then gave up a bloop hit that bounded between the 2b and CF. His slider is dynamite this year. He is now able to throw it at different speeds and on any count. As i said earlier i think his control issues this year is he hasn’t quite got his mechanics back yet plus he’s still recovering from the labrum tear. In 35 innings this year he has 19 walks and 35 k’s. He’s also producing ground balls. Last year in 9 starts and 47 innings before being called up he had only walked 12 people and struck out 43. on the year.
I think clearly he is the best pitcher at Memphis and has the best stuff, just has to get his control back. Today may have been a good step.
Andrew doesn’t exaggerate the wind. Day games in Albuquerque in May can be an adventure on balls in the air. Up where we live, near Santa Fe, it wasn’t “gusting” 35 mph; it was blowing pretty well continuously at somewhere around that. Add the fact that the Albuquerque park (probably the nicest I’ve ever seen in the minors, btw, although I’ve never been to Memphis) is oriented so the prevailing wind blows almost straight out, but not quite, and I’m sure glad I don’t have to play outfield there.
Incidentally, Trayvon Robinson looked very good on Saturday. He may be the player we hope Chambers and DJ turn into.
I’m going by exactly what the announcers were saying in the game and at that specific time in the game.
Is there any cause for concern with Shelby Miller’s right/lefthanded splits? This year he has given up 17 hits in 15 innings with a .288 avg. against to lefties. Righties on the other hand have 10 hits in 20 innings for a .145 avg. against. For what its worth, he has a more pronounced fly ball to ground out ratio against lefties compared to righties. I know this sample size is small, but did he show such tendencies last year? Could this be an indication that his changeup is lagging behind?
No worriess…but I think you are onto something with parts of his pitch development lagging.
I actually think this is what they are focussing on in High A. From what I understand they are asking him to put a little more tilt on his curveball from a 12-6 to a 1-7 break and develop his change-up. I havent seen him in a while but his fastball had a hard arm-side boring action. Pitchers need a variety of action on their pitches, so his fastball runs arm side and they are working to get his curve to run glove side. Once the mix comes together the difference in his split will drop.
I suspect he is such a good athelete that some of this stuff will just click for him one day.
No clue but listening to the game today he the opposing announcer mentioned a few seperate times that he was really throwing the ball well inside. I’m happy that he was throwing the fastball inside.
@Andrew I attended the springfield game tonight.. Matt Adams is either a free swinger, or he swings at the first pitch he sees in the zone. I only remember him taking 6 pitches. Ryan Jackson just doesnt seem to be centering the ball well and is really struggling. Tommy Pham is really solid in center defensively. And hooker really did not impress me at all. He does not seem to have any projection to him at all..
In other news mike trout is a absolute man-beast. The kid crushed a homer to dead center in the first at bat of the game and then later nearly beat out a solidly hit groundout to second.. I want him to be a cardinal now!
I saw Hooker pitch once last year for Quad Cities and came away with the exact same impression.
Amazing Jackson is only hitting .283 now after his 447 torrid start. Even with his 3-for-4- the other day he is just 11 for his last 66 .167. Anyone notice how odd his L vs R splits look? Tommy Pham looks to love himself some Texas league with 31 extra base hits in just 226 At bats and if you look at his OPS per level it looks odd too.
recent article I read gave the reason for the splits…they found out he couldn’t see well and got him special contacts. he has a condition where the cornea of his eye is shaped like a football instead of a sphere. the contacts corrected it and now he can see again. I hope that accounts for his OPS line being so bad, then recovering.
What you’re talking about is classic, severe astigmatism (my wife has the same problem). It’ll be a thing to watch (so to speak). In my wife’s case the axis of the astigmatism (which direction the football is “pointing”) changes relatively rapidly, which makes her vision hard to correct. If he has the same problem, this will take constant scrutiny and possibly frequent prescription changes.
On a positive note Ottavino gave up no BB’s tonight. I don’t think he got deep enuff in the counts to walk that many.
I was suprised to see that Cleto was used in relief. Were they merely stretching him out at Palm Beach or is there some other reason not to continue if he can still be a starter?
He’ll start on Friday — he was available out of the pen until then. Springfield’s pen is absolutely abysmal.
Matt Adams is becoming unreal. I believe that puts him with 7 homers in the last 11 games.
Texas League Players with 90+ ABs:
Adams ranks #6 in OPS, #2 in homers, #4 in RBIs, #7 in BA.
Last 10 games for Adams: .324/.357/.973/1.330 with 6 homers and 14 RBIs over 37 ABs.
Also nice to see Shelby keep on doing his thing. I hope he was using his secondary pitches like the coaches want him to because they have been saying that is the only bar right now to him being promoted.
Anyone have a scouting report on Nick Greenwood? I know he is the throw-in we got in the Ludwick trade. Currently he has only given up one run (0.57 ERA) over 15.2 IP at AA, which is nice to see.
Saw a first hand report that had him throwing 93 MPH recently. That was harder than I thought he threw and good news if true. He’s also a groundball machine.
I have not seen Trout play, but what is the deal with this guy? The 1st thing that reports tend to emphasize is his speed. Can speed as a prospect’s top tool really translate to ML star in this era? If so, it must be intense quickness
The ability to hit plus speed is the key. But he also has power too. The complete package.
his speed is absolutely insane. ive never seen someone run as fast as him on a baseball field. he was out by half a step last night on a sharp grounder to second…
How wild was the Wisconsin pithing? Yu Castillo walked three times. That’s a season of BB’s for Yu.
good observation!
Seems like Ottavino was determined not to walk anyone no matter how much he got hit. Actually, that is encouraging to me. It shows he is trying to improve on his weaknesses and hopefully he’ll find the happy medium.
Andrew Brown has an OPS above 1.000 now. If he stays healthy I think he can keep up. Can he find a position is a better question.
I think the reason scout’s talk about Trout’s speed so much, PJ, is at least partly ’cause it’s kind of shocking from a thick-bodied white kid—and also because Trout uses that speed so well (74-for-93 stealing in 200 professional games). The teenager also figures to be a .300 MLB hitter with at *least* 20-25 home run power, 80-90 walks, and above average defense in centerfield. Think Carl Crawford in CF, with a stronger arm, and better patience and power.
And speaking of outfield arms, Oscar Taveras gunned down another runner yesterday; that’s 3 in just 13 games. Looks like a future Redbird rightfielder to me. :)
So are most scouts projected better power…another plus tool?
Trout is not going to have plus power. I consider hitters kinda fall into 3 camps…non-hitters, OBP/home run guys, and AVG/dbl guys. Big power hitters that get pitched around are the OBP/home run types their slugging percentage comes from HRs and the OBP comes from walks. Then there are the Batting Average/Double guys where their OBP is a result of putting a lot of balls in play and their sluggin percentage are built on double and triples. Trout looks like the prototype High Average/Doubles hitter.
he easily could develop some power.. most people forget that hes only 19. hes 6’1, if he put on 10-15 lbs of muscle he wouldnt lose any speed. as of now he could be a 15 hr guy so as he matures he will definitely gain power.
RE: Bryan Anderson…has there ever been another guy who reached Triple A by age 20 and was still there four years later?
Speaking of catchers, how long before Audry Perez replaces Derba at Springfield?
Either Robert Stock has a serious injury, or he’s in EST secretly working on his pitching.
I heard a pitching rumor…source was iffy though.
Perez would be more likely to replace Cuttler than Derba. Derba can catch, Cutler not so much. The situation is complicated by Hill due back the end of May.
I agree when he was hurt it wasn’t really talked about supposedly it was a knee injury. He’s been seen in EST and is on his way back to QC soon I believe. It would be a crime if he took any playing time from Stanley or Castillo. If they want him to catch this year he needs to go to Batavia and show that he can hit and then he can catch in QC next year.
Speaking of catchers….who would we consider the top catching prospect in the system right now?
We seem to have a lot of decent guys, but no one that screams “YADI’S REPLACEMENT”
Stanley/Perez? Someone else?
Probably Tony Cruz if Yadi leaves after 2012. Not worried. We can “buy” A Laird or someone suitable pretty cheaply. Dont forget, Yadi only averaged a .650 OPS his first 3 seasons.
FWIW—Project Prospect recently ranked Shelby as the #6 prospect in the majors. That’s the highest I have ever seen anyone go on him (so far :))
Only my two cents, but I think P.Prospect is a bit pitcher-heavy on their recent top 25; there just isn’t any way that 11 of the top 20 overall prospects are *ever* pitchers. The attrition rate is just too high.
That said, I could certainly see Shelby as a top 15-20 guy. He’s just gotta show his arm can hold up to 30 innings a month, for a whole season.
For me, Taveras has probably supplanted Shelby as the StL numero uno prospect. His defense has been terrific in RF, and even if you “normalize” his unbelievable BABIP down to .375, he’s still an 18-year-old with a .950 OPS in the pitcher-friendly Midwest League. That’s cuckoo.
Tavaras’ stats so far are too small of a sample. shelby produced at a high level all last season while oscar has struggled. Miller is clearly the better prospect.
Oscar struggled? You must be referring to his DSL stats when he had just turned 17? Last year at the whopping age of 18, he posts an .828 OPS in short season. If all of our guys struggled like that, the system would be #1 in baseball! Sorry, KJG, I had to give you a bit of a dig there. It’s definitely too early, but I’m not going to be surprised at all if Oscar turns out better than Shelby.
struggled in comparison to shelby’s year i meant.
Oscar has struggled when?
I disagree. Shelby Miller offers results plus tremendous projectability. Shelby projects as an all star, top of the rotation pitcher. Tavarez has supplied the results so far, but has done so at a very low level league (in Johnson City) and the Quad City numbers are a small sample size. Tavarez is not projected nearly as high as Miller as of right now, according to the independent publications, and justifiably so. Currently, Tavarez is viewed as a fourth outfielder, low-level starter type. IMO these publications are off based and Tavarez should start to project as a starter, but it remains to be seen how his tools truly project, due to the mixed opinions. The opinions are not mixed on Miller, he is legit. Be patient with Tavarez. Lets see how he develops over the next couple months. The numbers will reflect how that happens.
Taveras was ranked the number 2 prospect in the Appy League last year. The publications haven’t caught on to how good he is yet. He was a lucky find or someone that developed after we signed him. If he would have signed for a 1 mil he would have automatically been taking seriously off the bat. You can bet the projection for Taveras changes after this year when more scouts and publicatiosn get a chance to see him.
Yeah I would say that Tavarez is #3 in our system at best. I think Miller and Martinez are both ahead of him. Some others could be throw in the mix as well (Cox most notably…even with his slow start)
I think Taveras will be firmly in place at number 3 at the end of this year. Luhnow has already said he has the highest ceiling out of any player in our system last year even before he began to break out at JC.
Agreed that the projections on Tavarez will change, and rightfully so. The publications had a chance to see him in the Appy League last year and still were not crazy about him. Don’t get me wrong here, I think Tavarez projects to be an MLB starter at the very least. The publications were similarly wrong (or silent) about Trevor Rosenthal. I was simply trying to point out that people who get paid to evaluate prospects for a living have not projected Tavarez to be a star (yet) while Shelby Miller is projected to be a star. Either way, no chance Tavarez is a better prospect than Shelby Miller, and Tavarez has a much longer road ahead of him too.
There is a good chance that the publications don’t pay much attention to the Appy League unless you have a “name”. Taveras was signed for 100k and wasn’t a first round pick or big name LA signing. I believe he was simply overlooked and has All Star upside.
I have to agree with Andrew. Yes Taveras only has 52 AB’s, But that is one hell of a “hot streak”. Will he continue at this pace? Of course not. But I tell you what, as the weather warms up, I’m not looking for any prolonged cold streak. Plus the kid is almost TWO years younger than Miller. I don’t know how that isn’t going to project highly.
What I can think we can all agree on, we want them BOTH to achieve greatness!
I keep reading things that indicate that in the ongoing collective bargaining negotiations there is discussion about eliminating draft choice compensation for free agents. I would presume and hope that that would not go into effect this winter (Albert) and would only go into effect for free agents after the 2012 season.
Two additional points to consider is that that issue would make a difference in the value of trading for someone like Reyes if you were not going to get two draft choices if he leaves for free agency after a trade.
Secondly, if and when that goes into effect, a system like the Cards, which has a large number of prospects, i.e. depth, while not as many studs, could have the type of trading chips for contract year players who are not going to generate free agency compensation draft choices any longer, thus not justifying prospects of the quality of Wallace/Perez, because those players would be much more likely strictly rentals for the remainder of the season after such a trade.