David Freese reminds me a lot of that film Final Destination. No matter what he does, what armor he wears or how careful he is, nature is going to get him. He is going to find a way to be injured, in the most unusual usual way.
On to the DFR!
- Sugar Shane Robinson went 3-for-5 with a RBI.
- Tyler Greene went 2-for-6 with a 2B and 2 RBI.
- Mark Hamilton was 1-for-5.
- Matt Carpenter (1 RBI) and Nick Derba (3 RBI) were 2-for-4.
- Pete Kozma was 2-for-3 with a RBI.
- Maikel Cleto picked up his 2nd AAA win with 6 strong innings. He gave up 4 H and 3 BB but struckout 4.
- Bryan Augenstein threw 2 IP with 1 H, 2 BB and 1 K.
- Ron Mahay struckout 1 in 1 IP.
- James Rapoport went 1-for-4 with a 2B.
- Ryan Jackson went 3-for-5 with a HR and 4 RBI.
- Matt Adams was 1-for-5 with a 2B and 2 RBI.
- Eric Duncan was 1-for-4 with a 2B.
- Zack Cox went 4-for-5 with a 2B and RBI.
- Chris Swauger was 1-for-5.
- Jermaine Curtis (2B) and Daryl Jones both went 2-for-4.
- Shelby Miller picked up his 7th win with a dominant performance. He only gave up 1 H and 3 BB over 6 IP. They scored 1 ER and he struckout 4.
- Nick Greenwood threw 2.0 IP with 2 H and 1 K.
- Jorge Rondon went 1.0 IP giving up 2 H.
Palm Beach 1, Charlotte 2 (14 Innings)
- Greg Garcia went 2-for-5.
- Domnit Bolivar had a single in 6 at-bats.
- Niko Vasquez had 2 H with a 2B, while Xavier Scruggs had 2 singles.
- Arquimedes Nieto devised 7 innings of 1 H, 1 BB and 4 Ks.
- Jordan Swagerty gave up an ER on a H and 2 BB over 2 IP.
- Justin Wright went 1 IP with 1 H and 1 BB and 3 K.
- Jesse Simpson logged 3 IP with 1 H and a BB, as well as 3 K.
- Chris Corrigan took the loss, only recording 1 out in the 14th and handing out 2 BB and a H. He gave up the winning run.
Muckdogs 2, Hudson Valley 3 (Game 1/ 7 Innings)
- Joseph Bergman went 2-for-3.
- Romulo Ruiz went 2-for-4.
- Jeremy Patton was 1-for-3 with a 2B.
- Virgil Hill hit a 2B, going 1-for-4 with a RBI.
- Jordan Rasmus went 1-for-3.
- Todd McInnis took the loss, yielding 3 ER over 5.2 IP. He struckout 9 but gave up 6 H.
- Danny Miranda recorded 1 out.
Muckdogs 2, Hudson Valley 1 (Game 2/ 7 IP)
- Joseph Bergman (2B), David Medina and Romulo Ruiz were 1-for-2 with a 2B.
- Daniel Stienstra and Roberto Reyes (2B) both went 1-for-3.
- Michael Maness started, going 4 IP with 1 H and 4 K.
- Yunier Castillo picked up the win by pitching the 5th, giving up 1 ER on 2 H and a BB.
- Travis Miller threw an IP with 1 H.
- Javier Avendano recorded the save have striking out the side in his IP. He gave up a H.
Riverbandits 5, Cedar Rapids 6 (10 innings)
- Mike O’Neill went 3-for-5.
- Ronny Gil, Jonathan Rodriguez and Cody Stanley all went 1-for-5.
- Oscar Taveras went 1-for-3 with a RBI.
- Nicholas Longmire went 1-for-4.
- Geoffrey Klein hit his 1st HR.
- Patrick Elkins went 2-for-3.
- Trevor Rosenthal started, going 5.0 IP. He struckout 5 and walked 2 while giving up 3 ER on 6 H.
- Iden Nazario threw 2.0 IP with 1 H and 3 K.
- Justin Edwards went 1.0 IP with 1 HR as his blemish.
- Aiden Lucas went 1.1 IP with 3 H, 2 ER on 3 BB and 1 K.
- Anthony Garcia, Gary Apelian, David Washington and Hector Garcia al went 1-for-4 with a 2B.
- Steven Ramos was 1-for-4.
- Roberto De La Cruz went 2-for-4.
- Breyvil Valera picked up 2 H In 3 AB.
- Tyrell Jenkins was the winner over 6 IP of 6 H, 2 ER baseball. He struckout 3.
- Michael Santana threw 1.2 IP with 1 H and 2 K.
- Heath Wyatt recorded the save despite handing out 2 BB in 1.1 IP. He struckout 1.
Entries (RSS)
Shelby’s start was weird. Only 1 hit is great, and 89 pitches through 6 isn’t terrible, but 3 walks and more flyouts than ground outs is not great. It’s like he was pitching to contact (4 k’s in 6 is ok but not great) but leaving the ball up at the same time. I’d like to see a report on this game and hear what pop Warner has to say. He’s been fairly critical of Shelby the last couple of starts.
Not sure it’s exactly time to worry about anything, but his last few starts have been deeply underwhelming. K/BB ratio poor, once again. Could just be that he’s working on things, and/or that he’s pitched more innings this year than he ever has done before, but it does take the gloss off an otherwise excellent year.
They’re laying down the law with Miller. Apparently, he did so last night but it doesn’t surprise me that he’s getting some mixed results because of all this.
I’m guessing it had to do with the secondary pitch enforcement. When you see Rosie’s fly outs approach his ground outs like yesterday, it’s probably his change being left up. Rosie’s ERA would be below 2.00 if he wasn’t trying to develop (just my opinion). It’s part of what makes evaluation of minor league pitching stats difficult.
I am not sure if it’s so much being left up or the very hot warm weather in some cases.
I don’t understand what the weather has to do with ground outs vs. fly outs – I must be missing context….
i was talking about shelby miller, but yea, same goes for Rosenthal (who is a dreamboat)
Kary Booher reported a few days ago that they got down on him because he had abandoned his secondary pitches, which obviously needs work.
The article went on to say that at the AA level it’s not hard for better hitters to figure you out, teams knew that he would be relying in his FB so they sat on it, and he has been throwing a lot of FB to get through the few innings he could. Once they figured out his FB, after seeing it a few times in the line up,
knowing he would not use his secondary he was predictable. The way I see it, you can have mega talent but if you can’t figure out how to use it, it’s not going ot work.
He doesn’t throw a sinker, but he can induce a soft bloop hit with a properly thrown CU or CB and perhaps they hung a bit in the zone. He needs to practice, in games his offense is good enough to trust they will help him out.
Pops only words on this outing is “he mixed it up”.
For those who talk about him in STL soon, he has a very long way to go.
Food for thought, I think you will begin to see more propects held back at the AA level than having to sit and wait years in AAA. I may be wrong, but that’s the way I see it.
I was at the game and a couple of those walks should have been strikeouts. The ump was very inconsistent with his strike zone and fans for both teams agreed on that. He did appear to be working various pitches but wasn’t getting many calls on the corners. I did see a couple of nice curveballs. I was impressed that he didn’t fall apart after losing the no-hitter. You could feel his disappointment as he struggled with the following batter, but he pulled it together and finished the inning.
I’d be okay with the walks if it was a case of pitching around Trout but it wasn’t. Still when the only hit you give up is to the consensus best prospect in baseball it’s not bad.
For all we know, the ump missed calls that turned backwards K’s into walks. It’s pretty much impossible to tell whether his go/ao or k/bb means anything for this game.
Anyone know why Breyvil Valera is at JC? Is Rahmatulla hurt?
I must say, I’m starting to really think that Ryan Jackson can probably be an average major league shortstop. That’s 10 HR on the year now, I believe, and I hear nothing but good things about his defense. He’s been a league-average or slightly better hitter at every stop now, and his BB/K ratio has remained solid up to AA. He’s age-appropriate and has climbed one rung per year.
It’d be nice to see Furcal back next year on a 1-yr deal, then Jackson to spend all year in AAA and hopefully get a month or two in the majors at the end of the year, with a view to taking over in 2013. Even if his bat falls back a bit from his park and league-assisted .342 wOBA this year, I could see him being a .260/.320/.380-type hitter in the majors, which is actually above-average for a shortstop. With his glove, he probably doesn’t even need to do that to be a valuable player. A real under-rated prospect IMO.
I totally agree – looks like he’s on track to get 70+ RBI’s, the guy has been productive even when he was struggling. If the glove is as good as advertised, I agree, have him start at AAA next year with the eye on the prize in 2013 and hope he doesn’t take a step back in the process
I’m high on Jackson too but I think Kozma had 13 HR/72 RBI for Springfield last year.
I understand that it doesn’t necessarily mean success but Jackson’s glove makes a big difference
Yes, but that’s because RBI are bullshit and meaningless. Kozma only had a .327 wOBA and 96 wRC+ (i.e. he was below average) in his 2nd full season in AA. He put up excrutiatingly bad numbers in his first year in Springfield. Jackson’s put up a .342 wOBA, 103 wRC+ in his first year there, and from what I’ve heard is probably a better defender. I think there’s a distinction there.
Their contact profiles are very different as well. Just from eye-balling their fangraphs pages, Kozma is consistently closer to 20% for strikeouts with Jackson closer to 15%. Jackson just makes more contact, it seems.
Jackson’s wOBAr is .355 after adjusting for park and batted ball rates. Actually his wOBA* and wOBAr were higher last year in Palm Beach and similar in QC. In other words, his bat could fall back a bit by moving up a level (although his improvement could offset it) but it’s not likely to fall back just because of park/league.
Agreed and good points, although I’d caution regarding wOBAr in the minors. If the batted ball types are a bit funky in the majors, I can imagine the stringers doing the job in the minors (and the variability of the defense) makes it an even less accurate statistic.
I guess, though there’s nothing to say that the stringers are less accurate in general, or more pertinent here, that Jackson’s numbers are less accurate than any other standard. They could just as easily be more accurate for all we know. In any event, the main point is that park and league are not necessarily having a big effect on his wOBA, though they are probably affecting his home runs, especially compared to a place like Palm Beach, which is the polar opposite as far as being a home run park.
Yep. I think that’s the point. A quibble could be made, here or there, about Jackson’s hitting. But it’s the fact that he IS hitting, even when you adjust the results or dampen down the expectations a bit. At the time he was drafted, his evaluation was that his glove was “already major league ready.”
Since then, his bat has continued to play at each level of his progression. Remove a bit of the “Springfield/Texas Laegue offensive boost,” he may be getting this year, and we still may have a very useful shortstop coming up.
Someone recently, apparently, made a comp with Jeff Blauser.. As bereft as we’ve been in recent years at short (with the brief exception of B Ryan in 2009 and his defense in 2010), a 2013ish version of a Jeff Blauser sounds pretty delightful to me.
Not familiar with Blauser, but if Jackson’s a bit better with the bet than Brendan Ryan with the bat (which is possible) and a bit worse with the glove (which is likely) then he’ll still be a very valuable player who’ll be dirt cheap for 6 years. I’m really disappointed they let Boog go this year, but hopefully (possibly?) one year of Furcal can bridge the gap and then we’ll see what jackson can do. He’s certainly had a much more consistent and impressive minor league career than Ryan.
Certainly so. Particularly with the premium always attached to the defensive position we’re talking about here.
I also compared Greene to Blauser when I first saw him but that didn’ prove true.
Yeah. I suppose none of it may prove true. On the other hand, Jackson doesn’t
have the strike out propensity so intertwined in his offensive profile like Greene has always had. Jackson seems, to me, a little less of the “all or nothing” variety player that Greene is.
Greene’s that perennial prospect with the speed-power combo that personnel people always admire so much and want to draft so high. It sure LOOKS like he oughtta be able to play somehwere. He’s such an athlete.
I remember when they used to say that same thing about Geronimo Pena. Damn, that dude sure looks like he should be able to play somewhere.
I’ve been on the Jackson bandwagon all year. His combination of low floor (he’s not going to forget how to play defense one hopes) and his closeness to the majors means he would probably crack my top 10. Not a future star by any means, but a very valuable guy to have.
He’s moved up to 11 on my list but only because we’re so loaded this year. He had a terrible month of May but if you can chalk that up to an aberration or a reprise of old, bad habits his numbers look even better. I endorse the plan of signing Furcal for next year and then giving Jackson the job for the next several.
Yeah I think he was about 11th or 12th on my list but in all honesty I could make an argument for him to be ahead of one or more of Adams, Swagerty and Cox (who I think may be the three guys ahead of him). That glove just makes such a huge boost in value IMO.
That should read high floor, of course.
He came from the same place as Jay, UM.
He may not be a future star in STL, but perhaps somewhere else.
His defensive game has improved 100%.
I didn’t see it mentioned above, but that Jackson homer was a grandslam. The fans were really riding Matt Adams hard about his size when he answered with a double and showed off some of his agility on the bases.
John Jay has already started his post trading deadline swoon. i would love to see robinson promoted to platoon with him. Tony Cruz was the obvious choice to option to make room for Craig. Now, that will have to wait until after Molina’s suspension.
You make it sound as if he’s had August slumps in the bigs for the last ten years. Remember this is a guy still in his second year in the bigs. Patience.
Note, incidentally, that a certain former Cardinal is now putting up a line of a cool .125/.160/.167 in Toronto. Talk about a “post trading deadline swoon”!
Robinson is terrible. He might make a bit more sense than Corey Patterson as a right-hander but I think it’s way too early to talk about platoons. Jay doesn’t have much of a platoon split anyway.
Don’t get too tied up in Patterson’s left handedness. He’s actually hitting lefties quite well this year and did last year as well. He’s probably a better platoon option in center than Robinson (setting aside the fact that Jay hits lefties well too).
Patterson’s had all of 172 PAs against left-handers spread over the last two years; it’s a tiny sample in which anyone can get lucky. He has a career .649 OPS against lefties, and an ABYSMAL .274 OBP. He has a fairly regular platoon split, and he sucks to begin with. He shouldn’t really be playing, but he CERTAINLY shouldn’t be playing against lefties; I can’t see any possible way he’s suddenly become less terrible against LHP in his 30s.
For reference, Jay has a .717 OPS and .353 OBP against lefties and has been slightly above average against them in his career so far (admittedly with a bit of a lucky BABIP).
Jay should be playing every day, really, and I kinda think they screwed up with Patterson – they should’ve looked to add a right-handed guy with the ability to play CF now and again (actually, Ryan Ludwick might’ve worked – Pirates got him for a PTBNL and the rest of his salary this year, $2m or so).
Robinson is terrible? Have you seen him play. He is an excellent CF. In fact the Cardinals have two minor leaguers that are getting a little old to be called prospects but could be of value to the right major league club before their playing days are over.
They are Stephen Hill And Shane Robinson. They both have a tendency to hit well without playing regular which makes for a good bench player
A night of exciting starting pitching and it didn’t disappoint. No one had a blow away line but all were very effective.
Neito might be the best pitcher at PB right now. Very strong his last 3 outings.
Note that Cox is now batting over .300 at Springfield, with an OPS north of .800 despite his miserable start there. Dude can hit. In less happy news, Craig still isn’t hitting at Memphis. That injury really set him back.
In news from the opposite dugouts, note that the mop-up pitcher for Reno was one Mike Piazza! Not THAT Mike Piazza, and they’re not father and son (the older Mike’s kids are still toddlers), but based on the milb.com photo, the facial resemblance is so strong that one suspects they’re closely related somehow.
Incidentally, I’m going to be in Springfield next Friday (not today, week from today) as I help our son move cross-country to grad school, and we hope to get there in time for the game. Any FR people expect to go as well? A meetup might be interesting.
I’m a fan of Cox too (uh…..). We just have to find a place to play him.
Yep. As long as whoever is pushing the pins in the voodoo doll effigy of David Freese keeps it up, and he continues in this Greek tragedy of his, we need to hope for the best from both Cox and M Carpenter. They might both be handy to have in a not too distant scenario.
Piaza plays for Arkansa Travelers.
I will be there both Friday and Saturday nights.
i am very pleased to see his walk rate pushing 9%. hopefully, his ISO will start picking up too.
I just believe that Jay would do better as a platoon player and that Robinson would hit lefties better. When they played together in the minors it was usually with Robinson in center field. I saw them when they were at QC and Jay was in left.
Jay seems to have come on as a pro hitter in the majors, though, and Robinson’s pretty much always been awful. He’s also a year older. As I said above, Jay’s been a (slightly lucky) roughly average hitter against lefties so far in the majors. Robinson hasn’t been an average hitter in his first year at any stop in the MINORS barring 270-odd PAs at AA, and has only just about been average in Memphis this year at his 4th attempt. He doesn’t really walk much and has zero power, and looked pretty awful in his last go-around as a major league player.
FWIW, I really like the idea of having a righty who can play CF a couple of days a week for Jay, and agree that it would help, but Shane Robinson is really not the answer (although I suspect he’s probably no worse than Patterson).
Tyler Greene is right handed….he can play center (hahahahaha)
i get upset every time i think about tommy pham getting injured, for most of the reasons above.
Memphis pitching outside of Ottavino and Marte deserve a shout out for how good they pitched in Reno, While the Aces lost 4 of their top bats recently who have hit 81 HR, .337 BA with 296 RBI but its still one of the best places to hit in the minors as shown by their team .911 OPS even after getting blanked.
The real comparison here probably shouldn’t be Robinson vs. Jay but Robinson vs. Chambers. Anyone think we should remove Chambers from the 40 man roster at the end of the year and add Robinson?
No.
Robinson is 27 years old. Chambers is 24, turning 25 in October. According to Fangraphs, they’re not all that far apart hitting-wise. No reason to expose the real prospect to Rule 5.
Whoops…Robinson is 26, turning 27 in October. Can’t add, but it really doesn’t change my point.