Quad Cities was rained out and a double header is now scheduled for Tuesday. Memphis wins late and Palm Beach blanks the opposition.
- Eugenio Velez was 2-for-4. Velez, who played in the Majors for parts of the last 5 years, is hitting a robust .347/.397/.528.
- Cedric Hunter was 1-for-3 with a homerun and a walk.
- Pete Kozma was 1-for-4 with a HR.
- Matt Adams was 1-for-3 with a walk. He also was caught stealing third base.
- Joe Kelly pitched 6 innings allowing 7 hits and 1 run. He struck out 3 and walked 2. Once again, Kelly was more dominant on the mound than your FIP peripherals would tell you with 10 groundouts against 3 air outs. On the season, he has a groundball rate that’s creeping back towards 50% and remains above average.
- Maikel Cleto struck out 1 and walked 1 in a scoreless frame.
- The Redbirds actually picked up a walk off win. Amaury Cazana Marti pushed a hit into left field past the shortstop and Cedric Hunter would reach base on an error before Pete Kozma‘s HR would send the team to the showers with a win.
- Oscar Taveras was 1-for-3 with a pair of walks and a HR.
- Kolten Wong was 0-for-4.
- Kyle Conley was 2-for-4 with a HR.
- Niko Vasquez was 2-for-4 with a double. Vasquez, whose first name is actually Ernst, is just 23 despite being in the system for a long time. He’s hitting an excruciating .163/.250/.186 this season while repeating a level.
- Trevor Rosenthal struggled with his command walking 6 in 5.1 innings and allowing 3 runs on 3 hits. He struck out 4.
- Eric Fornataro, who relieved Rosenthal in the 6th with the bases loaded, didn’t do him any favors allowing all three inherited runners to score.
- Keith Butler and Sam Freeman each pitched a scoreless inning. Butler allowed 1 hit.
- Nick Longmire was 1-for-3 with a walk. Longmire is off to a slow start with a .461 OPS.
- Ronnie Gil was 2-for-2 with a walk.
- Drew Benes had a strong outing going 7 innings allowing just 1 walk and striking out 5. He was tagged for 3 hits but held Charlotte scoreless.
- Logan Billbrough struck out 1 in an inning of work to pick up his first save.
Entries (RSS)
Two walks for Taveras. I have to admit I’m more excited by this than the dinger.
Not if you saw the home run…….It was a bomb. The MILB.tv announcer said it was into the Cardinals BP but I watched it multiple times and it looked like the bullpen guys were standing up looking at it to see hwo far it went as it flew over the bullpen. Honestly it appeared it left the stadium completely. He has a good eye and is capable of taking walks. Once in his mind he think its ok to take a walk they will increase. He is like Vlad and can hit bad balls too so he expands his zone when he doesn’t need to. I wouldn’t be suprised if hte organization asked him to take a few more walks and the numbers will skyrocket.
That was a bomb..he crushed that ball..Taveras has some legit power..reminds me a lot of vlad guerrero with his swing and power..Taveras, to me, is the best prospect in the system right now at this time
You might be Wong about that………
I’m late to the party thanks to a busy work schedule, but the first walk was hilarious. He got a 3-0 count before hacking at one at his chest that would have been ball four. He fouled it off and walked on the next pitch. He didn’t want to walk. And the HR was a BOMB. It stayed in the park and just cleared the bullpen. But it was directly into a strong south wind blowing straight in from RF. It was a towering blast as well.
Rosenthal- i has a sad
C’mon, even dreamboats hit a sand bar now and then! Kind of a strange outing with 5 walks going to a pitcher batting .200 and an OF batting .215. If Fornataro is a bit sharper, Rosie’s line is 0-1 ER. He got pulled at the 90 pitch mark, and putting in relievers in a pressure situation is probably just as important as starters working themselves out of a jam. He had an off day – no question about it, but he didn’t allow a run through 5 innings and leaves with bases loaded and one out and the Cards still leading 1-0. We expect better, but it wasn’t a disaster. I just wish that they wouldn’t pull him until he had given up a run himself – he was still in a position do retire the side on a double play and ground balls are his specialty. I do think the 90 pitchcount is where they want him right now, and I’m fine with that.
i know you’re right…i just love him so much and to see him struggle hurts my soul
He did not get hit hard at all. He just hurt himself with the walks. I rewatched the game last night. His first 3 innings he had no clue where the ball was going. In innings 4-6 he did have more of an idea. In the 4th and 5th he gave up an early walk but immediately got out of it by rolling a DP. The 6th inning he started off by hitting Arenado in the hand which caused about a 2 or 3 minute delay. He had a great sequence against Ben Paulsen the cleanup hitter that resulted in a pop up to 2nd base after about 7 pitches.. Kent Matthes took a very good sinker and softly floated it up the middle for a single. At this point it was still one of his better innings. Threw a ball to Torres to go down 1-0. The next pitch was a wild pitch which advanced the runners to 2nd and 3rd which was the difference in the inning. You could also see him tighten up knowing he had to strike this guy out and then get the next one to preserve the shutout. Obviously he overthrew the new two pitches and they were no whree close. Had he not thrown the WP and the runners were still on 1st and 2nd, I don’t believe he would have been pulled. A regular out makes it 2 outs without scorign the runner and a DP is still in order.
As I said he did it to himself for sure. But upon further review innings 4-6 were an improvement over 1-3.
Rosie’s learning to pitch in AA. We’d love for him to have immediate success there, but how realistic is that? I’d settle for measured improvement. It would be nice if he can get to the 7th inning and eventually thru the 7th.
I’d like for him to get his K rate to 1 per inning. I want him to keep up his GB ratio. We do, but we shouldn’t care how high he ends up on the prospect list. We should care how close he gets to pitching in the major leagues.
Rosie is learning to pitch at whatever level he is at (and will continue to do so)……other than that minor difference, I agree completely with your points here. It’s fun to argue a prospect list after it is out, but worrying about where he ends up is not in the least relevant.
Rosenthal (as we all know) is making the *huge* jump for a 21-year-old pitcher in this system, skipping to a AA hitter’s league without so much as a pitstop in the FSL. I’ve been impressed so far.
And the 19-year-old Taveras? His OPS of 1.017 is nearly 300 points above his Texas League peers. And without the benefit of an unusually high BABIP (.333 vs. almost .450 last year in the MWL). Insane.
While I didn’t see it, the broadcaster said that Tavares made a very strong throw from CF (Derba apparently wasn’t able to make the tag)……sounds like the kid is the real deal!
I have said it before…his arm isnt a total cannon but it will play well in RF in the show. Good all around ball player that has one insane tool…hand eye coordination.
I still feel like he’s being undersold as a centerfielder among the major internet analysts but you’re right in that he can definitely hang in RF.
Agreed 100% – I have yet to see WHY he can’t make it as a CF. He has enough speed. His arm is very nice. His instincts need to improve but as he continues to get more work that will continue to improve.
Taveras is a freaking prodigy
Also, is Rosenthall still under the change mandate?
I really don’t mind the walks if he is learning to locate secondary pitches.
I think he is, but I don’t think anywhere close to the extent last year. The walks are a problem, this last outing moreso because of who he walked. I don’t think the walks are really a change per se. He is facing better and more selective batters, so he will need to adjust accordingly. I believe he will. Some of it will be just getting mentally tougher – learning to focus on every single pitch (something he will tell you himself) – it may sound easy, but I’m pretty sure it’s not. I can’t focus on every single golf shot in 18 holes! There are going to be ups and downs, but I think when the season concludes, we will be happy with the overall result.
Worth noting: Jackson played second base, while Kozma played ss.