The system split its games with 2 wins and 2 losses today. Nick Additon surprised us all by winning today’s poll by 1 strike out, but Trevor Rosenthal probably had the better outing. Oscar Taveras padded his batting average. Palm Beach played a rain shortened game but Quad Cities made up for it by going an extra 4 innings. Details after the jump…
- Pete Kozma led the offense today with 2 hits in 4 at-bats, one being a double.
- Zack Cox and Mitch Canham each went 1-f0r-4 with singles.
- Amaury Cazana had a pinch-hit single that brought home a run in the 7th inning.
- Skip Schumaker, Adron Chambers, and Chris Swauger were hitless, but they each drew a walk.
- Matt Adams was hitless but put the ball in play in each of his 4 at-bats.
- Nick Additon had mixed results in 7 IP, allowing 3 ER and 7 hits. Before today’s game, he had walked more batters than he had struck out, but he reversed that trend with 7 strike outs against only 1 walk. Unfortunately, he also gave up 3 home runs, all of which were solo shots.
- Maikel Cleto recorded 1 out and allowed 1 hit.
- Adam Reifer pitched 1.2 hitless innings that included 1 walk and 1 strike out.
- Barret Browning – whom Jeff acknowledged was having a hot start to the season – recorded the final out of the 9th inning.
- Oscar Taveras went 3-for-4 (all singles) and is now batting .340 on the young season.
- Greg Garcia was 1-for-3 with a HR and walk.
- Jose Garcia was 2-for-5 with a double.
- Xavier Scruggs was 1-for-3 with a double and walk.
- Kolten Wong was 1-for-4 with a single. Jake Shaffer and Thomas Pham also added singles.
- Trevor Rosenthal had his best start of the season, hurling 6 scoreless innings and matching that total with 6 strike outs. He allowed 3 hits and 3 walks. Rosenthal was also productive with the bat; he had a single and walk.
- Eric Fornataro went 2 innings that included 3 strike outs and only 1 hit.
- Justin Wright closed out the game with a scoreless 9th inning in which he allowed 1 hit.
- Alan Ahmady and Ronny Gil each went 1-for-3 with a double.
- Chris Edmonson was 1-for-3 with a single.
- Starlin Rodriguez was 1-for-2 with a single and walk.
- Geoffrey Klein was 1-for-2 with a single.
- Richard Castillo was the only pitcher who took the mound for Palm Beach because of the rain shortened game. He went 6 innings and allowed 1 run (0 ER), 5 hits, and 1 walk. While he only recorded 2 strike outs, 10 of the 15 outs on balls in play came on ground balls.
- David Medina went 3-for-4; all of his hits were singles.
- Roberto Reyes went 1-for-6 with a HR.
- Tyler Rahmatulla had a double in 2 at-bats.
- Juan Castillo was 1-for-4 with a double and walk.
- Colin Walsh also had a double in 6 at-bats.
- Nick Martini, Jeremy Patton, and Garrett Wittels all contributed singles.
- Todd McInnis pitched 6 innings. He allowed 4 runs (3 ER) on 9 hits but did not walk anyone. He struck out 3 batters.
- Kevin Jacob struck out 2 batters in 2 scoreless innings, and permitted 1 hit and 1 walk.
- Brandon Creath also struck out 2 batters in 1 scoreless inning. He walked 1 hitter.
- Danny Miranda did not permit any runs in his 3 relief innings either. He allowed 1 hit, 1 walk, and tallied 4 strike outs. This outing brings his season total up to 10.1 scoreless innings.
- Ethan Cole brought this long one to an end by pitching the 13th inning. He allowed 1 hit.
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Listened to some of the Springfield game. Rosenthal had a much better outing. Was sitting about 94-95 and popped 99 in the 2nd. He didn’t get in his own way like he did last start. He had quick efficent innings. The 5th he lost his control for a bit and walked 2 but got out of it. The hit he allowed that inning was a bad call and should have been an error. Taveras his 3 very hard balls tonight and flaired one. First inning he hit a hard line drive to the track in CF for an out. He also singled hard up the middle and singled hard to right. His third hit was a jam shot in front of the left fielder.
Tommy Pham reinjured his shoulder diving back into first on a pickoff play. Not sure how long he will be out again. It was only his second game back in the field.
Fornataro has been lights out out of the bullpen this year. He’s also throwing 95-97 in his relief stints. Interesting observation from the announcers but he seems to be switching sides of the rubber depending on the count. Not sure if he’s able to do that without tipping pitchers or not.
Pham just can’t stay healthy…sad really as he has a lot of quality traits and could flourish with a full healthy season.
Seems like Pham would make a good Rule 5 selection for some team. 300 AB above A ball and if he gets hurt you hide him on the 60-day DL all year.
Yeah, and then you’d have an oft injured minor league player on your 40 man roster.
What was Rosenthal’s FB touching near the end of the outing?
I don’t recall any specific gun readings called on the broadcast in the 6th inning, but he struck out 2 that inning. I don’t think he was slowing down any.
For the record, Rosie only gave up 3 hits, not 4 with the 3rd hit being very questionable vs. an error. Only real negative was following the “Non-error”, he followed with 2 walks, but he got out of it. Nothing else negative to say. He finished with 90 pitches – not great, net bad…par.
Thanks for pointing out the mistake in hits. It’s been corrected.
I believe I heard that announcer say 96 or 97. Granted Springfield sometimes had a hot gun but take 2 MPH off that and it’s still impressive for having already throwing 80 or so pitches.
Also, remember that Springfield’s radar gun has a reputation to be tick higher or two than reality. He typically sat in 91-93 range in Single A I believe, with his velocity rising in relief or short starts. I think Rosenthal’s strength is more in his ball movement and pitching approach than raw velocity.
A Walton article from April of last year: http://www.foxsportsdetroit.com/04/21/11/Rosenthal-accelerates-prospect-standing/landing.html?blockID=508437
I tend to agree with you regarding his strength is in ball movement, and I think he gets more ball movement working around 93. However, if Rosie wants to he can pitch at high velocity as well – when he isn’t, it is by design. On scout guns in the MWL Championship game he wient into the 7th inning 95-99. It’s the same thing Verlander does – he will pitch low 90′s, and when he wants to he ramps it up to or near 100. I’m not saying Rosie is Verlander (although it would be nice if he is!), I’m just pointing to what I believe the goal is. Greinke is another guy who can vary his fastball speeds effectively. I’m excited with Rosie’s curveball which more and more people seem to be recognizing as “nasty”.
When he went in the championship, it was a relief appearance. That’s what I said in my original post: “…with his velocity rising in relief or short starts.” His coach in that article pointed out the same thing in explaining the rise in his velocity last spring training. Rosenthal doesn’t have the constant high velocity as as starter like, say, Shelby Miller. And I never have seen a scouting report that says he can throw in the high 90s with command and control on the back end of a start. He’s capable of throwing that hard, but it’s not his average velocity as a starter.
When pitchers know that they don’t have to pace themselves over several innings, they throw harder. Same thing happened to Mitchell Boggs when he went to the bullpen. Same thing happens with Rosenthal. That’s why there’s a questions of whether he’ll be a starter or reliever in the majors; his velocity increases so much that he may be a lights out closer. But Rosenthal is so good as a starter (unlike Boggs, who was back rotation quality), that he could be more valuable as a No. 2 or 3 guy.
You are simply flat wrong. I was at the game. He started and threw into the 7th inning, but did not record an out after a single and a walk, so the box score below shows he pitched 6 innings:
Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Trevor Rosenthal (W, 2-0) 6.0 5 3 3 2 7 0 1.80
Drew Benes (H, 2) 1.0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0.00
Aidan Lucas (H, 4) 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0.00
Dean Kiekhefer (S, 4) 1.0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0.00
You are welcome to take exception to opinion, but making stuff up should be avoided.
Forsch-Completely disagree with you on this. Rosenthal sits at a higher velocity than Miller. Rosenthal’s scouting reports have frankly been wrong for most of his professional career. Rosenthal was only out of the BP at JC. He was converted to starter at QC and hasn’t been used otherwise (except for Big League camp) since.
As my feeble memory begins to fade, I believe at JC Rosie was in a piggy back rotation where they alternated the starter/second in….so he both started and came out of the bullpen. I don’t think they had a “starting” rotation.
I saw consistent 96-97 during his first start of last year. He can rare it back and throw hard. Yes, most pitchers have more movement throwign a few MPH slower. I know he sits higher than 91 though. I would say 94-95.
I see that Rahmatulla came out of his game early. Any idea why?
You can’t hide rule V picks on the 60-day. A rule V pick must remain on the active roster for at least (iirc) 90 days.
I was at the Springfield game last night. Rosenthal was setting at 92-94 all night through the 6th. That 99 reading was on a wild high and wide pitch. Not even close to the strike zone. He did hit 95 a couple of times. Overall he looked very good. Like posted he just had the one tough inning, but got through it.
Fornatano was at 92-95. I believe he hit 97 once in his two innings.
Taveras ball he hit in the first was just a deep fly ball(wind was blowing out) not a line drive. Centerfielder had no problem. The ball hit to left was on a perfect hit-n-run with Wong. The other two base hits were rockets. Taveras played right field even after Pham left the game. As I have read, he still needs work in the outfield.(Angles to ball etc)
Garcia’s home run was to right center over the wagon gate. He looked very good in the field except on one throw after a tough hop. It was high and pulled Scruggs off the bag towards right field. This was the play the offical scorer gave the Tulsa guy a hit on?
Yes, the play you describe with Garcia was ruled a hit. The broadcaster felt it was an error. He acknowledged he made a very good play on the tough hop, but that he had plenty of time to make a good throw and rushed it – or as he said, didn’t get his legs beneath him. Someone else at the game also said it should have been an error. Scruggs argued that he actually tagged him out to no avail.
Went back and checked the “play by play” and this play WAS ruled an error. I now have to question my drinking habits…..maybe they originally ruled it a hit and went back and changed it and the broadcaster didn’t update my ears. Anyway, the descriptions said that two of his three hits were fly balls that found grass, and the other was a groundball up the middle. That said, Rosie also got some line outs – so it seems to have evened out where his stats were representative of his performance.
The ball to Garcia could have been scored either way. I would say Rosenthal was very good except for two (not one) innings, the previously noted 5th when he got a little rattled and started walking guys, and one of the earlier innings (second?) when he really slowed things down and seemed to be laboring a bit. Not quite as sharp as the St. Louis/Springfield exhibition, but a good outing overall.
Re: velocity, he did reach back and hit 95 once in the sixth, but he was low nineties in the fifth and sixth (on the Springfield gun), and the velocity did dip a bit as the game wore on. He did have more movement when he took a little off.
Two of Taveras’ three hits were rockets, and the third was a nice piece of hitting the other way. It wouldn’t be incorrect I guess to call it a jam shot, but I think it is more accurately described as taking a tough pitch and chipping it into left. He does swing really hard, but ina now-two game sample, I haven’t seen him chase much wildly out of the zone. Much as was the case with Adams last year, other teams just keep going after him. He did take a couple of pitches last night and showed a willingness to do so, however, they just kept pitching to him. He did take a real poor route on a foul ball that was catchable for a guy with his speed early in the game.
It is a real pleasure to watch he and Wong bat consecutively, however. Going into the year I expected Wong to lead off (and break up the lefties). Not sure it is how I would construct a lineup, but it sure puts a lot of pressure on the other team to have to deal with two elite AA players consecutively.
On the hit and run mentioned above (Oscar’s third hit), Wong would have easily stolen second.
G. Garcia had a real nice night at the plate as well. Homered (although it was far from a bomb) and earlier in the game he scored from second on a scratch single up the middle that didn’t leave the infield. Got a real good jump and was much quicker to home than I expected.
I was really impressed with how Fornatano threw as well. First time I’ve seen him live and he had really nice velocity last night as noted above.
Very good write-up and appreciated. Excellent information on Taveras.
As I noted before, the Springfield gun is all over the place – last time I was there is was 3 mph slow vs. Scout guns. That last thing I’m concerned with is Rosie’s actual velocity. What I use the stadium guns for is the spread from the FB on the curve and change. Do you recall any of his spreads? That’s the stuff you can’t hear on the radio. It sounded like he threw plenty of curves, but the broadcasters didn’t seem to recognize many change-ups. Any comment on that?
Kolten Wong also had a SB yesterday, his 2nd of the season. I missed that last night. I didn’t see anything in the game story about Rahmatulla being injured.
Rosenthal can no doubt hit 99-100 in the zone…but he sits 92-94
Cleto and Reifer seem to have cleaned things up after a rough start. Nice to see.
Was looking at some stats for Richard Castillo and something amazing jumped out at me. This is his 5th year of pitching at Palm Beach and the 4th year he has started his season there – and he is only 21 years old (will turn 22 only after the season is totally over). That must be some kind of record. His improvement has been slight each year but at least he has never really regressed and he pitched decent in half of a year in AA last year.
I’ve always thought Fornataro as somewhat like Boggs – a slow and steady climber who is very durable (and both have good sinkers). I also wondered if like Boggs he might be able to ramp up the fastball a bit coming out of the pen. Fornataro is making the pen transition a little earlier in his career but with luck maybe he can make it the majors out of the pen like Boggs.
Boggs pure secondary offerings are far better than Fornataro.