The only loss in the system tonight was the game that AlxFritz attended. I’m just sayin’ …
Memphis 11, Salt Lake 7
- James Rapoport went 2-for-5 with a 2B and RBI.
- Adron Chambers went 2-for-5 with a 2B and RBI.
- Mark Hamilton went 4-for-5 with a HR, 2B and 3 RBI.
- Andrew Brown went 3-for-4 with a HR and 3 RBI.
- Matthew Carpenter went 1-for-4 with a 3B and 2 RBI.
- Nico Vasquez, Brian Anderson and Donovan Solano (2 2Bs) all went 2-for-5.
- PJ Walters picked up his 2nd win with a 7 IP, 6 H, 4 ER performance. He only walked 1 while striking out 6.
- Brian Broderick threw an IP with 2 H, 1 R (0 ER).
Pete Parise finished the game off despite giving up 2 H (1 HR) and 2 ER in 1 IP.
Springfield 2, Corpus Christi 1
- Steven Hill went 1-for-4 with a 2B.
- Alex Castellanos went 1-for-2 with 2 BBs.
- Zack Cox picked up an RBI.
- Audry Perez went 1-for-4.
- Tommy Pham had a pinch hit.
- Kevin Thomas twirled 6.2 shutout innings. He gave up only 3 H, walked 3 and struckout 7.
- Nick Greenwood struckout 1 in getting 4 outs.
- Jesse Simpson picked up the win despite giving up the only runs of the game. He went 1.0 IP with 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB and 1 K.
- D’Marcus Ingram went 2-for-5.
- Kyle Conley went 2-for-3 with a HR and 3 RBI.
- Edgar Lara went 1-for-2 with a HR and 2 RBI, as well as 2 BB.
- Domnit Bolivar hit a 2B, going 2-for-4 with a RBI.
- Rainel Rosario went 2-for-4 with a RBI.
- Xavier Scruggs and Juan Castillo each had a hit.
- Justin Smith picked up his first win, giving up 8 H but no BB in 6.0 IP. He struckout 4 and gave up 2 R (1 ER).
- Daniel Calhoun threw 2 IP with 1 K.
- Jorge Rondon threw 1 IP.
River Bandits 2, Kane County 3
- Cody Stanley went 2-for-4.
- Greg Garcia went 1-for-4.
- Robert Stock hit a 2B, going 2-for-3.
- Starlin Rodriguez went 1-for-2.
- Carlos Martinez took the loss despite only giving up 1 ER and 1 BB in 5 IP. He struckout 5 against 7 H.
- Angel De Jesus threw 2.0 IP, giving up 2 ER on 3 H with 1 BB.
- Aiden Lucas struckout 2 while giving up 1 H in 1 IP.
- Justin Wright faced 3 batters and struckout 2 of them.
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A few thoughts from the QC game at Busch.
Martinez’s fastball was really popping. The radar gun at Busch wasn’t on, which was really lame, but the Post-Dispatch reported that he topped out at 99.2 and sat consistently at 95-97. His breaking ball was inconsistent, and he appeared to telegraph it a couple times by slowing up his delivery, but he also snapped off multiple good ones. Overall, extremely impressive, as you might guess.
A couple other notes:
Swinson has a cannon in right field, which he showed off on back-to-back plays early in the game. Here’s hoping that the guy figures things out at the plate, because he looks like a pretty nice athlete.
Wright was impressive. Appeared to hide the ball well and looked to have some pretty good velocity (though, again, the gun at Busch was off, so I’m not sure how hard he threw). Looks like a potential LOOGY candidate down the line to me.
The talent at QC was pretty lacking on the offensive side, though obviously the absence of Taveras affects that.
I was also at the game last night and did a writeup at http://www.redbirddugout.com. In that post I have links to video and pictures I took at the game. Martinez FB was impressive for sure but I thought it was going to have more movement based on his arm angle. His CB was inconsistent and he did telegraph a few of them but when he snapped a good one off with the right motion it was a plus pitch and really through the hitters off. The one thing I will say is a very subpar Cougars lineup didn’t have problem putting the ball in play. He was more hittable than he should be. Might be the fact that everyone sat on his FB but still. Overall quite impressed but he has work to do so we won’t see him in STL anytime soon.
Wright was also impressive as you stated. He did hide the ball well and his FB and CB combo is really nice. He has a future in the bigs.
On the offensive side I noted that Longmire’s swing is not as long as some have indicated. Ronnie Gil can fly and he is very slick at SS. Stanley handles the stick well but I wanted to see him for a few innings behind the plate. Speaking ovf behind the plate I was impressed with Stock’s D (both receiving the ball and catch and throw to 2nd – NICE arm). Still see him as a pitcher though. Chris Edmondson came in as a reserve but the ball seem to pop off his bat. 1st AB he roped a liner into CF but right at the CFer.
As you were it was a bummer Taveras was hurt.
Thanks for the video. Got a kick out of the clip of Wright going Luis Tiant with his back to the catcher.
For those of you that attended did SS Gil leave the game due to injury or what? Thanks.
Not that they annouced. I think they just wanted a number of guys to get an opportunity to play at Busch.
Wrong Vazquez at Memphis, alas: Ramon, not Niko.
Don’t see this posted anywhere but apparently we put Blake King on waivers and the Stros claimed him. I was never a fan but I know he had a few supporters on this site.
Thereby improving both farm systems at once. A rare achievement …
The interesting thing is that the Cards were attempting to clear him on waivers off of the 40 man roster when he was claimed. It would seem that they were attempting (and succeeded) to create a spot to add a player, maybe via trade, i.e. a prospect for a major league player (??).
More than likely to add a player to the 40-man roster from within the organization at this point in the season; Matt Carpenter?
If they were trying to create a spot on the 40 man then maybe Carpenter so if they decided to bring him up to man 3B this year it would already be in place. Just a thought.
Could be just to create flexibility, rather than for a specific move.
They had to add Brian Broderick back on…
Oh yeah…forgot about him getting returned.
Broderick was NOT added to the 40-man roster. They’re still at 39. I asked Derrick Goold why they chose to expose King to waivers. He indicated that no addition to the 40-man was evident. Said he was “seeking clarification.”
I meant imminent, not evident.
Thanks for the update – this could be an interesting development
“They had to add Brian Broderick back on…”
which would suggest that he was there before. He wasn’t, explaining the Rule 5 selection in the first place.
Better pitching prospect at age 19: Carlos Martinez or Rick Ankiel?
The answer is almost certainly Ankiel, but Martinez might be the top SP Prospect that we’ve had since Ricky
Ankiel had a traditional pitchers frame, great downhill plane on a 3 plus plus major league pitches, and he was lefthanded.
And lets not forget that at the age of 19 he struck out 190 hitters in 140 innings at the two highest levels of the minor leagues, with a WHIP at 1.162.
Not really that close IMHO. We should never forget how fantastic a pitching prospect Rick Ankiel really was.
I think that Martinez could match it but IMO was a once a decade talent as a pitcher. Not saying Martinez can’t be that good but I don’t think he’s an elite elite prospect yet. He may become one though.
Ankiel was easily one of the top 5 pitching prospects in baseball at one time IMO. Martinez is nowhere near there yet – there’s an argument that he’s not in the top 30 (though I’d guess he’d be in the 20-some region).
Ankiel was already up to Baseball America’s #2 overall prospect when he was 19.
Martinez has skill #1 for a pitching prospect–he can locate a really fast fastball. The atheletic ability/precision it takes to locate a good fastball lends itself to the ability to learn to throw good breaking pitches. From the reports today the breaking pitch skill is coming along too.
As for his fastball being straight…that kinda worries me, but it is something that can be overcome with good command. He probably doesnt really have an approach yet other than beam the catchers mitt. Next step is to get something off-speed working and then you have the tools to really start to focus on the mental side.
It is just really exciting to have this type of raw coachable talent in the system.
The video did give me one mechanical concern to his motion—he needs to finish his delivery. He doesnt give his arm enough time to decelerate.
I understand the fastball is for real and he has a curve that projects as plus. Does he throw a change? In this system, I bet that an average change would be scrapped for a cutter/slider.
change up is much more important imo than a slider. He already has a curve that has a slider action. I’d like to see a change where there is a 20 MPH speed difference.
From some things I’ve read, that may actually be too much. A change has to look enough like a fast ball to be convincing when the batter has a decision to make. I’d settle for 15 mph — as long as it’s thrown with absolutely the same motion as the heater. Saw a guy a while back in the Red Sox system with more than enough heat, and more than enough separation with the change, but he went to such exaggerated lengths to “sell” the change, with body contortions of various kinds, that I knew it was coming — and if I could pick up on that, a major-league hitter would see it as a big glowing warning sign. He didn’t last.
I’m not suggesting that you change your delievry. The delievery has to be exactly the same, I guess how you hold the ball will determine how much difference there is in speed.
The key is having the arm slot and release point being the same as your fastball. Ideally, you’ve got what looks like the exact same pitch except the velocities are different. If you’ve got a 15+ MPH difference between the fastball and the change up that look the exact same until it’s released, you’re going to keep that hitter guessing which one it is.
A change with a 20mph speed difference would be very easy to hit IMO. I’m sure major league hitters will detect such an extreme velocity differential right out of the hand. I also imagine it’s nigh on impossible to throw one with the same delivery.
IIRC most of the good major league ones are in the 8-12mph slower range.
He is currently working on a change and has a curveball. I think the movement is just a matter of how he’s gripping the ball. I see them adding a sinker and a cutter after he gest the change down. I can see him breaking lot of bats in the future.
I usually don’t worry too much about fastballs being a little straight. If a pitcher has command and a good approach fastball movement can be developed like you said with cutter grips, etc.
The one thing that not having movement on the fastball that bothers me is that it is an indication that a pitcher is not puttin
putting good backspin on the ball. Good backspin makes pitches pop, dart, etc as they approach the plate. Frankly if he can take a little off his fastball and get a little more spin and movement on it he might be better off as a starter in the future.
I’m pretty sure you’re wrong actually – the more backspin on a ball, theoretically the straighter and more predictably it should fly. It’s called the magnus effect and it’s the reason why four-seamers sometimes appear to “raise”, and why knuckleballs move so much (they’re thrown, theoretically, with as little back or side-spin as possible).
Might be wrong here but that’s what I always thought.
Actually there is quite a bit of research starting to come out on the number of revolutions and outcomes because of advancements in using dopler type radar. Verducci is the only article I could think of off hand.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/tom_verducci/04/12/fastballs.trackman/index.html
You are correct in that if the expected trajectory of a pitch is straight downward and you impart perfect backspin on the vertical axis the ball would fly truer. But I doubt that this is the case in actual pitching because of arm angles and how the ball is released off the finger tips will always impart some form of side spin on a ball.
My personal theory entirely from experience is that the angle of the spin off the vertical axis actually changes as it approaches home plate and this is what causes a fastball to appear to dart or run in a direction. So when we talk about Miller having a lot of arm side run on his pitches, what is actually happening is that his fastball when released has a backspin closer to vertical and as it approaches home plate it become closer to horizontal causing the run.
Yea he’s working on a change and I’m sure he will also eventually learn a cutter. With his delievry I wouldn’t be suprised if they also teach him a sinker. Him coming 3/4 with a sinker that ball will really bear down on right handed hitters. He could start the sinker off down the middle and it would break right handed bats all day.
One very nice development, Martinez is getting a lot more groundball outs this year. Still too early to outright call him a high-K, high-GB guy (a la Jaime Garica in the minors), but it’s neverless great to see.
I’m surprised at the reports here that his FB wasn’t moving much; Carlos has been praised for ALL of the big 3 FB qualities in the past—velocity, location, *and* movement.
As far as any Ankiel comparisons, well, Rick’s career just shows how breakable pitchers are. Sigh.
I actually wouldn’t even say it wasn’t moving..unless you were behind home plate you couldn’t really tell. I would be willing to bet if he chooses to throw a 2 seamer it will move. The report was also he has natural cutting action on his fastball. I should get a better look next time cause I’ll have better seats. Hoping he makes the Midwest League All Star game. so i can see him from 3rd row behind home plate.
Springfield manager decided that after last game, the only way to play fair was to sit Matt Adams :)
More like he tweeked something and needed a day off.
I will be getting a look at Rosenthal tomorrow. I heard he found a curve while just messing around. I will be curious if he throws it or not.
Hope so A ball is about development, why not work on it? What was he throwing before? A slider?
Yes. He was told last year that his slider rated highly. Not sure if a curve would be in addition to or in place of the slider.