An ugly night for the farm system with all four teams taking losses. Memphis has now lost 9 straight and the River Bandits were shutout in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
For those interested, tomorrow at VEB I’ve written a 1500 word piece walking through a bit of Lance Lynn’s history.
- Bryan Anderson is not fairing well in Memphis. To go along with an 0-for-3 showing (1 walk), he had 3 stolen bases on his watch.
- Matt Adams was 2-for-4 with a double. If he isn’t in the lineup every night he is healthy, Pop Warner is doing something wrong.
- Eugenio Velez, token minor league veteran, was 3-for-4 with a triple. Velez stole 2 bases to top it off.
- Zack Cox remains mired in a funk with an 0-for-3 outing and 1 walk.
- Nick Additon struggled with control walking 4 in 5 innings. He allowed 5 hits and 1 ER while striking out 4.
- Jess Todd allowed 2 runs on 3 hits and 1 walk.
- Chuckie Fick struck out 2 in a pair of hitless innings. He did hit one batter.
- Another wild outing for Eduardo Sanchez who had a hit batter, a wild pitch, 1 walk and 1 unearned run allowed during 0.2 IP. Sanchez has been particularly shaky this season with reporters noting during spring training that his mechanics would come and go. There should be real concern among fans about the integrity of his shoulder given the start of the season and his time on the DL last year. Of the 24 pitches he threw, only 13 were strikes.
- Oscar Taveras was 1-for-4 with a HR.
- Adam Melker was 1-for-2 with a walk and a HR.
- Springfield tallied just 5 hits and 2 walks.
- Michael Blazek was shelled for all 6 runs in 4.1 innings. He allowed 5 hits and 3 walks while striking out 2.
- Jesse Simpson struck out 3 in a pair of perfect innings.
- Palm Beach tallied just 6 hits — all singles — and failed to take a walk.
- Nicholas Longmire had a particularly ugly night at the plate with three strikeouts in 4 trips.
- Chris Corrigan pitched 2.2 innings allowing 3 hits and 3 walks for 1 ER. He struck out 2.
- Aidan Lucas was the lone bright spot for the pen striking out 5 in 2.1 innings.
- Colin Walsh was 2-for-2 with a pair of doubles playing second base. Walsh clearly has the hot bat on the team right now and has started this year hitting .281/.361/.656 in 32 at bats.
- Lefty Kyle Hald allowed 4 hits in 5 innings and walked 1 for 2 ER. He struck out 4.
- Kevin Jacob was blasted for 3 runs in 1.2 innings of work on 4 hits. He struck out 3.
Entries (RSS)
Any news on where Wong has been?
Wong was in the lineup Friday night.
The Palm Beach lineup is looking very weak right now. I just don’t see where the runs are going to come from.
See the discussion in the other thread. He came out of Friday’s game for a PH and didn’t appear yesterday, leading to speculation that he got hurt in the Friday game.
Nobody is going to score runs in Palm Beach. It’s the most notorious pitchers’ league in the minors.
I somehow missed where he left Friday’s game. Hope it’s nothing serious.
I know the FSL is a pitcher’s league, but the PB lineup just doesn’t excite me. The Rodriguez’s (Starlin and Jonathan) are intriguing, but that’s about it.
Chris Edmondson is a sleeper pick for me this year. Though I have been very high on Longmire since we drafted him I am starting to cool on him as he hasn’t shown any improvement really.
Good call. Longmire is a real puzzler to me. I saw him play last year and he hit a dinger, but it seems everyone has talked about his long swing as a legitimate issue, and it just doesn’t seem he can change it….I really don’t understand why.
Agreed – Longmire has some good skills and solid tools so I just assumed he would work on shortening his swing a bit and make more contact. But it just hasn’t happened and puzzling is exactly the way to describe it.
I see he’s playing today. Looks like just rest or something precautionary.
This is the most loaded farm system we have had in years, and yet the teams are sucking….what does it all mean?
First, it’s early, they are young and managers adjusting to their positions as well, so in all fairness they need some time. My opinion is that it’s not where you begin but where you end up.
But one thing to keep in mind, Vuch was the farm director last year but the big decisions still came from Luhnow and above. I may be speaking prematurely, but a lot of the success starts with the way people who are in charge run things.
Memphis’ success had a lot to do with clubhouse leadership, most of those guys are gone or been promoted. That’s how ML clubhouses are designed to work, older vets helping the young to learn and find their way and it creeps down into your system when you apply it as well. It is my opinion that you just have too many prospects together. Take a look at most rosters there is a reason why teams have older players there though they may never make a ML team. They provide leadership and understand their role, example was Stavi.
Sometimes when you get too many big egos on one team it doesn’t work.
As far as Sanchez, only he can decide if he is healthy or not.
In Memphis, I think the injuries are taking a toll. They were counting on Hamilton and Robinson. Hamilton’s hurt and Robinson is in STL because of Craig’s injury. Steve Hill has only played in 2 games so far. (Not sure what’s wrong with him.)
Then you have Bryan Anderson’s horrible start following a great spring, and Cox’s usual adjustment period to a new level. (Worth remembering he has less pro baseball experience than anyone in his league — a couple games in the GCL, a month in the AFL, and a year in Palm Beach and Springfield. And he only played 2 years in college.)
Palm Beach just isn’t a strong team. I think Martinez is the only top-20 prospect on the roster. Three top-10 prospects skipped that level altogether, which makes both teams a little weaker in the short term — Springfield has a young roster, with hardly any previous AA experience, and PB lacks star power.
OTOH, QC should be fine. Lots of 22-year-olds from solid Division I programs + short-season experience, along with some of the younger guys from last year’s championship team in JC.
Hill has a foot injury, doesn’t look good or they would not have brought in Canhem.
Do you know Cox? He’s a great kid, really very very nice, however he doesn’t belong in AAA (at this time) but they put him there because of Wong in Springfield and the injury situation you speak of. Who will be bumped after Hamilton and Robinson return, but I ask you, will THEY be happy back in AAA?
I think that performance and attitude go hand in hand, and not sure if everyone is a happy camper in Memphis.
I don’t know any of these guys. I didn’t see your reply before I replied.
So who’s unhappy in Memphis? I assume you’re referring to Anderson. But who else?
Chambers is the only other guy I thought had a chance to make the varsity this season, but the organization, for whatever reason, really wants Komatsu. On paper the two seem to have similar skill sets.
If someone is unhappy in Memphis, they would be wise to set it aside – that’s about all I can say to that.
I have been pretty impressed with Komatsu’s plate presence and approach. Against Cueto he had no hits, but he had a 14 pitch at-bat followed by an 8 pitch at-bat……pretty impressive.
Komatsu was one of the biggest surprises for me in Spring Training this year. I wrote him off when we got him in the Rule 5 but someone that can play all 3 OF positions, has speed, has a good approach at the plate and seems to go full speed on every play. Not much more you can ask for from a 5th OF really.
Well, nothing. Primarily because the teams aren’t all “sucking.” QC is 5-4, PB is 4-5, and SPR is 4-5…so basically right around .500 after 9 games.
Only one team, Memphis, is sucking. And they’re missing two of their best hitters, Steve Hill and Mark Hamilton, who are both injured, plus Bryan Anderson (.045 BABIP) and Zack Cox are slumping badly, and their bullpen has been awful (Reifer, Cleto, and Sanchez being the main culprits).
Besides W-L records (which don’t mean anything to me standing alone), I think the things that mean something are:
1. Adams has looked very good in AAA in a small sample (.512wOBA) but he needs to bring that BB% longterm (we knew this already)
2. Zack Cox probably wasn’t ready for AAA, but that’s not too surprising given this is essentially his second year of pro ball. He’s shown the ability to adjust so it makes sense to give him the time to do so.
3. Wong is right.
4. Shelby Miller’s start is nothing to be concerned about – 27% K rate, 5.4% BB rate, 5.00 K/BB. He’s got a .455(!) BABIP against and has given up a couple of dingers. Big whoop.
5. The things I’m concerned about are Reifer, Cleto and Sanchez, especially Reifer and Sanchez (injury concerns?).
Agree with this 100%
Excellent post
Definitely agree on Reifer and Sanchez. Reifer is probably more rusty due to missing almost all of last year so hopefully as time goes on he will get in a groove. Sanchez seems to be more mechanics based. He worked all ST on this but it seems that he is having a hard time repeating his delivery which in turn accounts for his extreme inconsistencies. His stuff is dynamite so I really hope he can find a way to work through it.
As far as Cleto – I was never high on him. We also haven’t handled him very well. He never had a chance as a starter but we bounced him back and forth from start to reliever, from big club (where he had no business being in) to minor leagues. His FB will keep him on somes radar but not mine. Don’t think he will ever make it.
Well said. 9 games a season does not make.
I have a feeling that is why they brought Mitch Canhem into Memphis, a mature older player, he provides a lot of leadership and from what I hear, that’s much lacking at this moment.
Fick off to another strong start. Maybe last year wasn’t all smoke and mirrors like some think. He should be the next one called up if the big club needs help.