The farm went a perfect 4-0, as Memphis and Quad Cities combined to score a total of 18 runs.
- James Rapoport led off and went 3-5 with 1 RBI
- Matt Carpenter smacked 2 doubles and collected 4 RBI’s, finishing 3-4 with a walk
- Ramon Vazquez hit 2-5 with 2 RBI’s in the DH spot
- Pete Kozma hit 9th and was 1-3 with a walk and RBI
- P.J. Walters gave up 10 hits, 7 runs, and 3 walks in 5 IP
- Shane Peterson had a HR and 4 RBI’s against his former team
Baseball America Top 10 – Oakland Athletics
5. Jemile Weeks (2B, 1/26/1987) led off and went 2-5. Brother of Rickie Weeks, Jemile is also a 2nd baseman who was drafted out of the 1st round in the 2008 draft. Also like his brother, he has trouble staying healthy. He’s a switch-hitter who hits well on both sides of the plate. He has very good bat speed and shows plus power as a 2nd baseman. He also displays good speed on the bases, which will allow him to be a very effective leadoff hitter in the majors. I feel like I just described Rickie.
- Niko Vasquez and Jose Garcia both hit solo shots
- Tommy Pham led off and went 1-4 with 3 K’s
- Ryan Jackson hit his 11th double on the year and finished 1-3
- Matt Adams will eventually get tired of running out all these extra-base hits, but tonight he settled for a double. He also committed his 5th fielding error at 1st base.
- Michael Blazek had a solid line only giving up 1 run, 7 hits, and 1 walk in 6 innings. 8 of the 10 outs recorded in the field were on the ground.
- Kevin Thomas, Sam Freeman, and Jesse Simpson each pitched a scoreless inning of relief
Baseball America Top 15 – Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of California of the United States of America
1. Mike Trout (see scouting report in 5/9 DFR) recorded two doubles and finished 3-5. No stolen bases
11. Trevor Reckling (LHP, 5/22/1989) struck out 8 in 7 innings of work. He gave up 6 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk, and 2 home runs. Reckling started 23 games in the Texas League as a 19-year old in 2009 finishing with a 2.93 ERA, 106 K’s, and 75 walks. He was pushed even further in 2010 in the PCL, but was hammered to the tune of an 8.53 ERA, 11 HR’s in 70 IP, and wild control. The poor performance may have been the result of diminished velocity on his fastball that hit 88-90 mph; the wild control the result of an odd herky-jerky delivery. Outside of his fastball, he shows two versions of a slider that are described by BA as a “sweepy mid-70’s slider to lefties and a harder low-80’s offering with tilt to righties.” He has the potential for three average or better pitches, but needs to gain better control at the mound to hope to advance with any success.
- Zack Cox returned to the lineup and hit 2-5 with 1 RBI
- Adam Melker also went 2-5 with 2 RBI’s
- D’Marcus Ingram, Xavier Scruggs, Rainel Rosario, and Travis Tartamella each added a single
- Ingram stole 2 bases
- John Gast gave up 1 run in 7 innings of work. He gave up 4 hits, 2 walks, 1 run, and threw a wild pitch
- Chase Reid struck out 2 and gave up 2 hits in 1.1 IP
- Chase Utley hit 1-4 in his first rehab appearance of the year
Baseball America Top 15 – Philadelphia Phillies
2. Jonathan Singleton (1B/OF, 9/18/1991) was 1-3 with a walk and K. He has a simple and compact swing and projects to have plus power. The Phillies are trying him out in a corner outfield spot for the obvious fact that he’s blocked at first in the majors by Howard. Although his swing can tend to get long and he’s yet to display the power in his early debut in the Texas League, he’s still young for the league and is already showing good patience at the plate.
6. Sebastian Valle (C, 7/24/1990) hit 2-4 with a double. Valle plays solid defense with improving arm strength, throwing out 33% of basestealers last season. He has the potential for good power but has displayed little patience at the plate and tends to be pull-happy. He’s also a free swinger, which has led to high K totals, but he’s hitting the ball well this year, despite only walking once in 89 at bats.
7. Jiwan James (OF, 4/11/1989) led off and finished 1-4. James is a switch-hitter who hits much better from the left side. He doesn’t use his lower half in his swing, has poor pitch recognition, and projects to have little power, but he is a very good athlete who has plus speed. His speed helps to give him a lot of range in the outfield, and with a solid arm he has the potential to play plus defense. He also has the ability to hit for a relatively high average, especially with his speed.
- Oscar Taveras went a perfect 3-3 before being replaced by Nick Longmire
- Cody Stanley hit cleanup and finished 4-5 with a double
- Jonathan Rodriguez was 2-3 with a 3-run blast
- Patrick Elkins was 2-3 with a walk and RBI
- Seth Blair was wild, throwing 2 wild pitches and walking 5 batters, but he only gave up 1 run on 3 hits and struck out 5
Baseball America Top 15 – Seattle Mariners
4. Taijuan Walker (RHP, 8/13/1992) was hit pretty hard in just 2.1 innings of work. He gave up 5 hits, 3 runs, 3 walks, and struck out 4. Drafted as a supplemental pick in the 1st round of the 2010 draft, Walker was a two-sport star in high school. He hit 91-95 mph with his fastball in high school but started to sit at 95 and top out at 98 with heavy sink when pitching in instructional league. He has a 12-to-6 curveball that has the potential to be a potential plus pitch, and he also has a changeup that he’s working on this season. He’s relatively new to pitching, so the Mariners are still fine tuning his mechanics and working out his control issues.
Entries (RSS)
I hope Taveras is OK. Anyone know why he was pulled?
He was pulled due to injury according to the QC Times Beat writer. He was taken out after a double to him so dont know if he hurt himself running for the ball or throwing the ball back into the field. Not clue.
I just realized that Robert Stock has not been playing this year. What did i miss on him?
my guess is he is in EST becoming a pitcherl
We could only wish.
as if on cue, Stock shows up tonight as catcher for QC.
It’s crazy they haven’t moved him to the mound yet. It’s getting later and later for him to ever have a career as a pitcher, and it’s pretty clear at this point he’s a bust as a catcher. They need to move him NOW to give him a chance, or else they’re just being stubborn.
Someone who wa sat the same said Taveras being pulled was more precautionary. Stock hurt his knee I guess……didn’t hear about it till long after the fact.
Thanks for the update Andrew.
I’m starting to feel bi polar following Oscar Taveras’ exploits. He hits like The Natural when playing but then gets pulled every few games or so. Hopefully this one is precautionary because it’s starting to look like we may have something very special here.
Totally trivial note: Yunier Castillo had a walk, his 6th of the season. He’s now matched his previous season high. Castillo is infamous for playing the entire 2009 season for JC without taking a single base on balls.
I’ve heard rumors that stock is pitching in EST
Stock was catching in EST and returning to QC.
What’s the deal with Blair? I thought he was supposed to be a “safe” pick, a college guy with experience. He hasn’t impressed yet – anyone seen him live this season?
He hasn’t given up a lot of hits and his K rate is good. He just is having some wildness streaks. What we don’t know is if they are messing with his mechanics and it’s taking him a while to get them down, whether it is mental, or whether there is something really wrong.
I wonder if they are working with him on developing a 2-seam FB. That might explain some of the control issues, if that is indeed the case.
And supposedly (at least last game) he was throwing balls low and in the dirt.
Lets hope but I wouldn’t be too sure of that. I just think he has very poor fastball command and tries to overthrown. The game I watched it was uncanny he couldn’t come close to getting a fastball over but he threw strikes with his breaking pitches at will.
Would Bill Mueller be a good comp for Zack Cox?
If he turned out that great, i would be happy. 3rd/2nd with a .291/.373/.425 line.
That was what we drafted him for I guess. I’d be ecstatic if he produced that in the majors. I don’t think he’ll put up quite those numbers, though. I’d be happy with .270/.345/.400.
Right now, Bill Mueller looks more like a comp for Matt Carpenter—not a lot of pop, but very good batting average, and exceptional OBP.
By the way, in 30 games, Carpenter has committed just one error, and started ten(!) double plays. Both those numbers are pretty remarkable.
Hope Oscar’s alright….
We really are rich in young third basemen and will eventually have to decide which one we want to keep as the starter. Freese has the major league track record but can’t stay in the lineup. Cox has the draft pedigree but isn’t impressing so far. Carpenter gets my vote as the 3b of the future. Thanks for pointing out the double plays. Except for home run power he seems to have the total package.
An addendum to the above. I just looked up Carpenter’s last 10 game stats. His OBP is .628. Does anyone else think it’s odd that he’s batting fifth in the Memphis lineup? I suppose it’s not important right now but that doesn’t seem like a good use of his ability to coax walks in front of the weaker hitters in your lineup. As someone else mentioned he seems like the ideal #2 hitter and I’d think they’d want him to get used to that role
Maybe they are putting him 5th to try to give him a sense that he needs to try to hit for a little more power rather than concentrate on just getting OBP. Just a possibility.
True – he’s always been a doubles guy at the lower levels but he only has 5 this year, and 7 XBHs in total. I guess that’s a bit of a red flag.
Give me a 3B with a .400 plus OBP and I’ll take that all day long. Perfect 2 hold hitter in my opinion right? Terry Pendleton?
Having quality prospects at 3b at the MLB level, the high minors and low minors is a luxury. The organization is starting to develop good pitching depth as well. The focus for this year’s draft should be pitching and help up the middle in my opinion.
I think our first 50 picks this year should be MI…… 50 was joking but our first few picks have to be MI’s. Let’s take a high upside guy in the first and second and then “safe picks” in the next two… or sign a shitload of guys that are 16-18 like we did with C Mart.
Actually, let’s just let Albert walk and sign Reyes to 5/75…. problem solved!
it’s a weak draft for MIF and Francisco Lindor is gonna be way overdrafted. Left-handed pitching is a weakness in our system though and this is the deepest draft for those I’ve ever seen. If Lindor falls to us, take him, I guess. But I’m not convinced in the bat and I’m not all that interested in another no-hit high school shortstop. With all the college pitchers, I bet we could make off like bandits with a high school lefty like Henry Owens or even Daniel Norris. I’m a big fan of both of those guys, especially Norris. Owens has more projection but Norris already has mid-nineties velocity and a great curve.
As Purple Haze said, not a lot of intriguing MIF guys in the top 50 this year.
I think you touched on a good solution there – the Latin free-for-all. I reckon if we make a big splash this year, we should get the best Latin MIF, and then just take the best available player (regardless of position – likely a pitcher!) in rounds 1 & 2 of the draft.
Not sold on a 5-year deal for Reyes at all. I’m not convinced he’s going to age brilliantly (despite having a good skillset in terms of ageing) because of his injury record.
Carpenter looks to have basically learnt all he can in the minors. His hitting line is massively impressive this year.
Given we’re currently running out a bunch of no-hit glove guys at 3B, I really think it’s time we made the move to get him to St Louis, even if it’s only a temporary switch. We need his bat and OBP in the lineup, and it sounds like he’s really come on as a fielder too. The 40-man really isn’t that much of an issue, we have 2 or 3 guys producing nothing who could easily be dumped (I might even suggest starting with Franklin…)
I think we should take BPA in the first few rounds and BPA is rarely a middle infielder.
Agree. This isn’t like the NFL. We need to get the best players no matter the position.
agreed as well.
I never really think that targeting a specific position is a good idea in the baseball draft. Like you said, this isn’t the NFL where that player makes an immediate impact on the ML roster. It takes years and, even then, the highest draft picks aren’t really that safe especially after like the first 10 to 15 picks or so. And those draft positions aren’t even locks by any stretch of the imagination.
Agreed. You can never have too much pitching, either. There’ll always be a place for decent arms in our cheap, home-grown bullpen.
Random question, if we don’t sign AP, we’re obviously going to have a little cash to spend going into next year? Besides the “injury” problems, which I think were just flukes, does anyone not agree that we shouldn’t go after Reyes??
Side note, I will be cheering for the big club at Wrigley tonight and tomorrow afternoon as I did last night, I’ve never seen Garcia pitch in person so I can’t wait for that tomorrow afternoon!
Lots of reasons to reconsider Reyes.
Signing Reyes will cost the cards 1 first round DP (If he end up Type A, which is likely). Not a deal breaker, but should be factored in.
As a lead off hitter, he isn’t that great at getting on base. More than .10 points lower than Theriot and Shumker.
Low OBP leadoff guys concern me.
Cardinal nation reporting taveras back to DL fir hamstring
Oops. See that it was already posted in separate thread
The last 2-3 healthy seasons, reyes’s OBP has been on par with theriot’s. He’s currently sitting ~20 points higher than the riot
Ummm not really making a strong case there.
Scratch that…40 points higher