Six games on the docket tonight including double headers in Springfield and Palm Beach. The system puts up a respectable record of 3-3 with some interesting as well as odd stat lines.
Hitting:
- Aaron Luna went 1-for-3 w/ 1 R and 2 RBI
- Nick Stavinoha hit a 2-R HR in his 5 PA
- Tony Cruz went 2-for-5 w/ 1 RBI and 1 R, he played catcher
- Ramon Vazquez went 2-for-4 w/ 1 BB, 1 RBI, and 3 R
- Wait for it, wait for it, Pete Kozma went 4-for-4 w/ 1 BB, 1 2B, 2 RBI, and 2 R raising his BA to a robust .220
- Question for FR readers: Was Bryan Anderson‘s prospect status officially revoked when Tony Cruz was added to the AAA roster? I am afraid it was though I still hold out hope that Bryan can contribute to the major league club as a replacement level regular for 1-3 years or as a backup with a decent bat.
Pitching:
- Odd stat line of the night: 5.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 8 BB, and 2 K….come on down P.J. Walters
- Pete Parise came in and didn’t walk any in his 2.0 innings, he did give up an unearned run and had 2 K
- Jason Buursma posted zeros in his 2.0 IP
Hitting:
- Alex Castellanos went 2-for-3
- Thats it, thats all
Pitching:
- Deryk Hooker went 6.0 innings that included 6 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, and 5 K
- Sam Freeman finished it off with a scoreless inning, he walked one
Hitting:
- Alex Castellanos went 1-for-1 w/ a 2-R HR subbing in CF for Jose Garcia
- Ryan Jackson went 1-for-2 w/ 1 BB and 1 R
- Matt Adams went 2-for-4 w/ 1 2B and 2 RBI
Pitching:
- Kevin Thomas was good for 5.0 innings, he gave up 3 H, 1 R (unearned) and 1 BB while posting 3 K
- Jose Rada and Nick Greenwood got lit up in the sixth, their combined line was 1.0 IP, 5 H, 7 R, 2 BB, and 0 K
- Matthew Frevert pitching a clean inning to close it out
Hitting:
- Zack Cox went 2-for-4 w/ 1 2B, 1 R, and 2 RBI
- Rainel Rosario and Edgar Lara both went 2-for-3 , Lara had 1 RBI and 1 R
- Domnit Bolivar had 1 H in 3 AB, that one hit was a 3B, he also had 2 RBI
- Luis Mateo went 1-for-2 w/ 2 R, 1 BB, and 2 SB
Pitching:
- Interesting stat line of the night: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB, and 10 K…..your Shelby Miller
- Christopher Corrigan pitching a scoreless inning, he gave up 1 H and 1 BB
- Brett Zawacki got the save with a line of 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, and 1 K
Hitting:
- Rainel Rosario went 1-for-3 w/ 1 HR, 1 R, and 2 RBI
- Edgar Lara went 2-for-3 w/ a solo shot
- Domnit Bolivar and Travis Tartamella each doubled in 3 PA, Tartamella had 1 RBI and Bolivar had 1 R
Pitching:
- Justin Smith got the start and was meh, he gave up 4 R in 5.0 IP
- Daniel Calhoun pitched a scoreless seventh, only surrendering 1 H
Hitting:
- Cody Stanley went 2-for-4 w/ 1 BB, 1 R, and 1 RBI
- Jonathan Rodriguez went 0-for-2 w/ 3 BB and 1 R
- Starlin Rodriguez went 1-for-4 w/ 1 2B and 2 RBI
- Virgil Hill went 1-for-4 w/ 1 BB and 1 SB
Pitching:
- Seth Blair got the start and continued to struggle: 2.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 BB, and 2 K
- Justin Wright pitched 2.2 scoreless that included 1 BB and 4 K, he picked up the win
- Hector Corpas came in for the final 1.1 IP and struck out 2 for the save
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What is going on with Seth Blair?? The “safe” pick thing now sounds like a bunch of crap.
I would agree at this point in time. There were several other highly rated HS arms that they could have taken with this pick. One of them would have been the HS pitcher that the Pirates took that wanted a 1.5 m signing bonus. I believe Blair signed for 600K. Being cheap just doesn’t pay.
Safe doesn’t mean guaranteed. My guess is that he got over pitched his last year in college, and he could be injured and hiding it.
Also, the Cardinals took a highly rated HS arm a few picks later.
Allie would have been nice for sure but if we had taken Allie we wouldn’t have taken Jenkins. They were heading there bets. College guy at 46, HS at 50.
He was never a safe pick…..he was a college arm that was still projectionable.
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=7177791&topic_id=8080130
Seth Blair had about as much projection at draft time as Lance Lynn, which is to say very little. Blair’s pitches were already developed and he wasn’t expected to gain velocity. The terrible command has simply been a surprise.
Agree completely. Blair was supposed to be Lynn part deux. Jenkins was the high risk, high upside early pick to offset Blair. I expected Blair to perform well in the low minors. Palm Beach may have been an aggressive place to start him but it is supposed to be a pitchers league. I am also wondering about injury. What we are getting from Blair is not what we purportedly drafted.
Blair was known to have command difficulties. He did not pitch long into games, because of command. He hit batters. But he did have a good record at ASU, improved as a junior, and had good velocity. If he could not make it as a starter, he could be used as a hard throwing reliever.
Swagerty was known to have better command. He was called “aggressive”, which could mean he threw strikes. The concern with him was whether he was large enough to hold up as a starter.
Swagerty has been a huge surprise in the context of how advanced his secondary pitches are. That was the question (and workload) about him when he was drafted.
Are you sure your not getting them confused? We drafted Swagerty because we judged him as having the best curveball in the draft. The suprise with him as been his extra 2 pitches. He threw fastball curve/slider in college but with us he’s added a sinker and a changeup.
No; I’m not getting them confused. “Pitches” was plural. Not his secondary pitch but pitches as in everything not his fastball. His curveball was a known, the other pitches were not.
Your right his change he developed this year same with sinker. He always has had a curveball/slider. It breaks sharp and hard downward like a slider but its mainly a 12-6. He might even be throwing a cutter this year too I think.
Swagerty was known for a fine curve ball as an amateur.
Progection isn’t just about velocity, his progression was that as the link said he had the pitches but he wasn’t consistent throwing strikes with any of them. I’m encouraged by what I said with his breaking pitches during his first game of the year. But I did see the control issues coming with the lack of comman on the fastball. If he gets that down he will be fine.
Interesting note that Yunier Castillo is a walk machine this year, well not completely but alot more than last yaer when he never did. Maybe he was reading the people on this website who was complaining that he would never be a prospect because he wouldn’t take a walk. :)
Does anyone else have trouble with MiLB.com? The pages have been loading incredibly slowly this season.
Yes, very much so, and a lot of script errors.
@Andrew: in the other thread, you said rosenthal was taking a mich needed break. Why is it much needed?
back issues
It was good to see Corpas have a good outing. All of a sudden they need some righty relievers to progress upward.
Also good for the system that some lefty relievers, Freeman, Wright and Lyon (maybe Additon) seem to be developing.
When I saw Corpas last year two things stuck out to me. His 93-95mph fastball, albeit without a lot of movement and very good command. His struggles this season have came as a surprise to me.
Good to see a nive outing by Thomas. 14 of 15 outs by groundball or K. I’d rather see him in the rotation than Blazek.
I believe Brown has an 11 game hitting streak.
I agree good start, It’s weird because when Cleto made his debut they mentioned that Thomas was heading to the bullpen and I believe the day before Thomas in fact did pitch in the bullpen tha tday.
Not weird at all really. Springfield had a DH and didnt want to throw someone on short rest so they gave Thomas a spot start.
does anyone know why Pham didn’t play in either game for springfield ? just a day off I’m assuming ?
He’s been sent to the 7 day DL with a muscle bruise.
Interesting at bat for the guy who “refuses to walk” tonight. Adams up with men on 1st and 2d one out. First pitch called strike, 2d ball, 3rd foul, fourth ball, fifth ball, sixth ball. Oh well.
It’s kind of strange with some of the best pitching prospects we’ve ever had, that the farm really stinks across the board this year.
Why is it strange? Winning in the minors has next to nothing to do with top prospects but is more about the 2nd and 3rd level depth guys who will likely never make it big.
That’s a generalization that would be very hard to prove. I think Memphis won last year because of guys like Jay, Descalso, Greene, and Craig as well as good bullpen duty from Sanchez and Salas.
Many of those guys aren’t look at as quality prospects and other than Descalso they were only half year players, Guys like Josh Kinney, Rich Rundles, Brandon Dickson, P.J. Walters and Ruben Gotay are why Memphis won.
They may not be looked at as blue chip prospects but any player who makes the major leagues is quality. The guys you credited certainly participated, but clearly, are not responsible for the farm team success. After all, two of them are still there and having a lot less success with the current teammates.
I wouldn’t diminish the contributions of Descalso, Craig, Greene or Jay. Their total run production was 459. Without that, the 2010 team would have looked much more like this year.
Everybody has players like those guys in their system and even the worst rated system every year gets guys to the majors.
Which explains why last year we won with those players and this year they are unavaliable…hence we are losing.
Still, we are losing at each level…particularly at AA and we are losing in all the facets of the game…pitching, defense, offense etc. While RH pitching has been our system strength, we have many holes in the pen and the lineups.
It’s frustrating to see the turn around from last year’s successes. If I were to explain it with one reason it would be that we’ve rid teams of the organizational fill, and put raw prospects in their places. The goal is to improve play via OJT. If that is successful, then the second half of the year should look better than the first.
We shall see.
Jess Todd is back!!!!