The farm fared well with a record of 5-1 as Batavia played a double header and Palm Beach got the night off. Trevor Rosenthal took the mound and didn’t fare as well as the farm…
- I might as well post the entire box score, but Tyler Greene had the stat line of the night after belting 2 homers (numbers 13 & 14) in 4 at-bats and walking once
- Matt Carpenter wasn’t far behind as he hit 3 doubles and finished 4-6. His batting average has climbed above .300, and he has 75 walks on the year compared to 55 strikeouts.
- Pete Kozma hit a 2-run homer in the 7th and was 2-5
- Adron Chambers led off and went 3-6
- Nick Stavinoha and Mark Hamilton both went 2-5 with a walk in the 3rd and 4th spots in the order. Stavinoha added a double
- Andrew Brown recorded a double and walked once
- Nick Additon didn’t fare so well after giving up 5 runs (4 earned) off of 8 hits, a HBP, 3 walks, and 3 strikeouts in 6 innings
Springfield 4, Corpus Christi 1
- Ryan Jackson went 2-3 with a walk. If the Cardinals re-sign Furcal for a season, Jackson could be the heir apparent to start with the Cardinals in 2013
- Zack Cox hit a homer in back-to-back games and finished 2-4
- Matt Adams was 1-4
- Joe Kelly had a hit at the plate and posted what might be his best start since joining Springfield. He gave up 1 run off 7 hits and a walk in 6 innings. He struck out 3 and had a GO:FO ratio of 10:4
- Jordan Swagerty struck out 1 in a scoreless inning for his first save for Springfield. He also walked 1
- It was hard to pick the MVP of the night for the farm, but Oscar Taveras has a great case as he recorded 4 hits, including a 3-run blast in the first, in 5 at-bats
- Cody Stanley hit a walk-off homer in the 12th and finished 2-6
- Nick Longmire went 1-4 with a double before being replaced by Mike O’Neill
- Trevor Rosenthal has stumbled lately and tonight continued that trend after he gave up 4 runs off of 7 hits and 2 walks in 3.2 innings. The good news is that he struck out 7 and didn’t allow a flyout.
Batavia 3, Mahoning Valley 2 in 8 innings (Game One)
- Jeremy Patton hit cleanup and finished 2-4 with a double and 2 RBI
- Roberto Reyes was 2-3, both singles
- Garrett Wittels led off and was 1-3 with a walk. He recorded his 10th error
- Romulo Ruiz hit 3rd and went 1-3 with a walk
- Todd McInnis had a solid start as he gave up just 2 runs off of 7 hits and 1 walk in 7 innings. He struck out just 1, but he also produced an impressive 13:1 groundout-to-flyout ratio. He lowered his ERA below 2.00 and is posting an impressive K:BB ratio
Mahoning Valley 11, Batavia 3 in 7 innings (Game Two)
- Garrett Wittels was successful in the leadoff spot today as he went 2-3 with a walk
- Daniel Stienstra provided a good 1-2 punch at the top of the order after finishing 3-4 (all singles) behind Wittels
- Romulo Ruiz and David Medina couldn’t drive them in as they went a combined 0-7
- Kevin Moscatel and Victor Encarnacion both went 1-3 with a double
- Jonathan Cornelius wasn’t so effective (to put it lightly) in the starting spot as he lasted just a third of an inning and gave up 5 runs off of 3 hits and 3 walks
- Roberto De La Cruz hit his 14th homer and may be a prospect to watch break out next year
- Matt Williams had 4 hits in the leadoff spot, including 1 double. He also stole his 18th base and has only been caught stealing twice this season
- Gary Apelian was the only other batter to record more than 1 hit as he went 2-4 with a double in the cleanup spot
- Tyler Rahmatulla recorded a hat trick in strikeouts and finished with a single
- Benjamin Freeman struck out a very impressive 9 over 5.1 innings, but was effectively wild as he walked 4 batters, and only gave up 1 hit, and 1 run. One of the walks was intentional
Entries (RSS)
Roberta De La Cruz is tied 3rd in the Appy league with 14 home runs. The two of ahead of him are tied with 16. They also have 34 and 41 more at bats than him. But he has to improve his plate discipline going forward. He has 50 Ks to 7 BBs.
Of more concern is that he’s being used exclusively as a DH lately. Gotta have a position to play with the Cardinals.
No, you have to have several. but it is really not a problem because if you dont have one LaRussa will put you at one you’ve never played before.
All you need is grit and you are a LaRussa guy
Whether the team’s out of contention or not Tyler Greene needs to be in the Major Leagues playing as much as possible right now.
Would love to see Greene and Craig get the majority of the time the rest of the season up the middle. Unlikely, though.
I agree, he’s hot, he should have been in STL. Stavi should be there as well, regardless, you can’t tell me someone else up there is doing better right now.
But be careful, success will be attributed to park factors.
Additon did pretty well considering he really doesn’t belong there…yet.
Memphis is only 4 games behind first.
Stav’s wOBA+ is 100, which is right at league average. This is below Hamilton’s, Carpenter’s, Luna’s, Greene’s, Chambers’s, Brown’s and Robinson’s. It’s not that hard to find players who are having better offensive seasons, and it’s not like Stav is good with the leather. But then again, this is a team that lets Corey Patterson hit in the ninth inning, down a run, while Allen Craig is on the bench, so….
The one thing with Stavi, he has come through when needed lately, that always counts for something.
The clutch argument? Stavinoha has no place in the organizations future. He’d be an utter waste of ABs in the majors right now.
Does anyone know what kind of “stuff” Swagerty has coming out of the Bullpen?
Greene’s 14 errors in 54 games are disturbing. Does anybody have a handle on what his problem is in this area?
Rosenthal’s ERA is rising
On the plus – Matt Carpenter is definitely a major league player. I like Freese and think he’s a better player (if healthy) going forward but there is no doubt in my mind that Carpenter would be ready in 2012
MCarp could get to the bigs as a utility guy. He can play 2B. I think they started him at SS one game @ Memphis and Tony was looking at him in the outfield during spring training. It’s a given that Freese will not stay healthy for an entire season so if MCarp could make the 25 man roster as a utility guy he’ll eventually get PT when Freese can’t go.
Gotta like the walks and the ability to put the ball in play. I hope MCarp can contribute in St Louis next year.
I wouldn’t want to see MCarp at shortstop with any degree of regularity.
That said, I think you trade one of Freese or MCarp to bolster another part of the club for next year.
assuming the club resigns albert, a matt carpenter-matt adams package could net you something very, very nice.
I don’t remember him playing second. It would definitely help as no team is going to have two guys who play 3b exclusively. I actually think that, if used correctly which means as a #2 hitter, Carp could add more to the offense than Freese does.
Did anybody think two months ago that Cox and Adams would both be at .312 right now?
No, but I didn’t think the club would mess with Adams plate approach either. At least, I have been reading rumors to this affect that is what the club has done.
Cox has really rebounded. That’s good stuff. However, his power and defense are big problems. He won’t be worthy of his 1st rd pick if he only hits 10 homers and plays bad defense at the hot corner. Looking like if he can’t play 2B then he may be a player without a position.
Let’s stop with the lack of power stuff unless you also think Freese lacks power. Cox has an ISO SLG of over .150 the second half as he did the last part of his stint in PB. His ISO for the year is .120 and that is with soe terrible starts. If he can repeat that in the majors his power numbers will be fine. Freese’s career ISO is less than .130 and it is .140 this year.
On defense, I’m still hearing he’s improving so that is fine. I’ll worry when he has maxed out defensively.
I know that De La Cruz has had serious defensive shortcomings at third, but he isn’t going to get any better if he is used almost exclusively as a designated hitter. Johnson City is supposed to be developing complete players, not preparing them for a possible future in the American League. At this stage his power bat is too promising to be wasted in the DH role unless an injury is keeping him off the field. As a hitter, it would be nice if he showed the discipline to draw more walks, but he has rather dramatically cut down his strikeouts and improved his batting average from his days in the Gulf Coast League. He is still very young.
What if they are afraid worrying about his fielding will detract from his improving as a hitter?
Improving as a designated hitter? That’s nonsense. This is Johnson City. Find him a defensive position and develop him as a complete player. If not, trade him to an American League organization. The Cardinals have done even stupider things with their prospects, I suppose, but this ranks pretty high on the level of stupidity. If they have a good reason for confining him to DH, I’d like to hear it. Does anyone closer to the Johnson City scene have any idea what’s going on?
I think Carioca’s right about the club’s reasoning. The troubling thing is that they think it’s necessary. I don’t think it’s a bad idea to do it for a while until he gets into a hitting groove but he’s been hitting well for a while now. You don’t want to restore him to a position when he’s promoted to a harder league which he should be at the start of next year.
Nice to see Taveras break his slump with a vengeance.
Too bad he won’t have the plate appearances necessary to win the MWL batting title—might be the highest BA by a teenager in Midwest League history (only one guy of any age has hit .370+ in the past 50 years, and that was 20-year-old Ben Revere a couple seasons ago).
Could “The O.T.” be league MVP despite not qualifying for the batting title?
adams now has a respectable 8.4% walk rate, which is nice to see, and not overwhelmingly IBBs: statcorner breaks it down at 6.8/1.5 BB/IBB%.