Oscar Taveras hit his 7th homerun of the season in a Springfield victory and Jonathan Rodriguez continued his hot street while helping Palm Beach to a victory. Quad Cities was swept in a double header despite Tyrell Jenkins’ solid start and his penchant for missing bats.
Hitting:
- Adron Chambers went 2-for-4 w/ 1 2B, 1 BB and 3 R
- Ryan Jackson went 2-for-4
- Matt Adams went 2-for-4 w/ 2 2B, 1 R and 1 RBI
- Amaury Cazana went 1-for-4 w/ 1 2B and 2 RBI
Pitching:
- Nick Additon got slammed to the tune of 11 H, 8 R, 2 BB in 3.2 innings, he also recorded 1 K
- Jess Todd didn’t fare much better
- Maikel Cleto pitched 1.1 innings that included 1 H and 2 K
- Chuckie Fick pitched a perfect inning
NW Arkansas 5 @ Springfield 12
Hitting:
- Kolten Wong went 3-for-4 w/ 1 BB, 3 R and 1 RBI
- Oscar Taveras did everything that you want from him statistically in this game, he went 2-for-4 w/ 1 HR, 1 BB, 2 R, 2 RBI and 1 SB
- Audry Perez went 2-for-4 w/ 1 2B, 2 R and 2 RBI
- Rainel Rosario went 1-for-3 w/ 1 BB and 2 R
- Greg Garcia went 1-for-2 w/ 1 3B, 2 BB and 2 RBI
Pitching:
- Tyler Lyons was very strong: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB and 7 K
- Justin Wright pitched a perfect inning and recorded 1 K
Hitting:
- Michael Swinson went 2-for-5 w/ 1 3B and 1 RBI
- Jonathan Rodriguez went 3-for-4 w/ 1 HR, 3 R and 1 RBI
- Geoffrey Klein went 2-for-3 w/ 1 BB and 2 R
- Nicholas Longmire went 1-for-4 w/ 1 2B, 1 R and 3 RBI
- Ronny Gill went 3-for-4 w/ 1 2B, 1 R and 2 RBI
Pitching:
- Seth Maness was predictably solid: 7.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 0 BB and 1 K
- Iden Nazario picked up the win by pitching 2.0 scoreless innings that included 1 H, 2 BB and 2 K
South Bend 6 @ Quad Cities 2 (Game 1)
Hitting:
- Matt Williams went 1-for-3 w/ 1 2B and 1 R
- Colin Walsh went 2-for-3 w/ 1 RBI
- Virgil Hill went 1-for-3 with a solo shot
- Tyler Rahmatulla went 1-for-1 w/ 2 BB
Pitching:
- Tyrell Jenkins was a little wild, but he was also missing bats: 5.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R (0 ER), 4 BB and 7 K
- Heath Wyatt relieved Jenkins and gave up 5 R (2 ER) in the seventh, thus losing the game. The two earned runs came from a two run homer off the bat of Fidel Pena.
South Bend 8 @ Quad Cities 0 (Game 2)
Hitting:
- Roberto De La Cruz went 1-for-3 w/ 1 2B
- Anthony Garcia went 1-for-3 w/ 1 3B
- The River Bandits did not record another hit in this game
Pitching:
- Hector Hernandez did not have a good day: 3.0 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 2 BB and 1 K
- Kevin Jacob pitched 2.0 perfect innings that included 3 K
- Ethan Cole pitched one perfect inning, he recorded 1 K

Entries (RSS)
who do the cards bring up when Salas gets sent down. Fick?
probably linebrink off the DL
Salas isn’t getting sent down.
I think he needs to be sent down he is getting hammered his whip is 2.08. Linebrink still has Shoulder issues. I think it is Fick time.
his results arent great…but the peripherals are still solid…his BABIP is almost .500…baddish luck so far
http://www.vivaelbirdos.com/2012/5/2/2993749/2012-draft-preview-numero-sixo-various-positions#comments
Yeah, I think he gets sent down.
Our top prospects doing good, yada yada yada. Same old story.
Remeber the days when we would be excited because John Gall had 2 singles?
In my defense, I only got excited about his doubles.
Taveras homer puts him 2nd in home runs in the Texas league. I know Springfield is suppose to be a band box, but still pretty heady stuff for a 19 yr old in AA.
It’s too early to conclude that he has answered all the questions about his power potential, but you’ve gotta love the early results.
He’s hitting many of his home runs on the road against good pitchers. His home run was the first run and possibilty hit against Royce Ring this year in 7 innings an Ex MLBer. He hit one against a guy named Felipe Paulino who was on a minor league rehab assignment from the Rockies. He also was the first hit in about 15 innings that Edwar Cabrera gave up. Cabrera is a lefty that lead the MILB is K’slast year and has very simlar stuff to Jaime Garcia. That was a bullet down the line off the wall.
Jesus OT is exciting
Supposed to be a , after jesus. Was not calling Oscar “Jesus”
not yet anyway
Funny. When I read that, I knew you were talking about Taveras so for some reason in my head, I channeled Pedro Cerrano and pronounced it “Hey-Zeus”.
Which now makes me think of Samuel L. Jackson.
BA mentioned OT’s recent power production in its prospect blog today: http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/2012/05/power-pushes-oscar-taveras-game-to-a-new-level/
oh my…they compared OT to the splendid splinter
Wow. There’s a comp you don’t see thrown around often. I thought Goldstein’s Harper comp on the violence in his swing was heady enough. Comparing his focus on mastering hitting to Williams? Just wow.
Yeah, Taveras doesn’t exactly struggle against better pitchers.
For instance, last year, versus the best MWL pitching prospects (Taijuan Walker, James Paxton, Keyvious Sampson, Dan Corcino, and Ty Thornburg), Oscar hit .368 and slugged .632. Against the uber-talented Walker, O.T. was 3-5 with a triple.
Anyway, Taveras now has an OPS 357 points above his Texas League peers; well, actually it’s 362 above his league-mates, as Oscar personally lifts the league OPS from .716 to .721.
Meanwhile, over in Quad Cities, Anthony Garcia seems to be figuring out full-season pitching. After an awful 2-21 start, the 20-year-old is hitting roughly .300/.380/.540. Overall, the average is still poor at .244, but 12 of his 19 hits have gone for extra bases. (Maybe I wasn’t crazy to have him as a borderline top 100 prospect pre-season. ;) I’m very curious to see how he hits over the next several weeks….
Bob-Garcia was just bad the first 4 or 5 games I saw him play this year. Well he was also pretty bad in Spring when i saw him. Hope its just an adjustment period.
Well, be fair Volsn. They compared his *preoccupation* with hitting to Ted’s, rather than his skill.
One thing I didn’t really care for, is the persistent and negligent implication that Taveras wasn’t ALREADY hitting for power. His isolated slugging was far above the MWL average last year (65%), and nearly as far above the Appy in 2010 (+62%).
He was already hitting for power, but now the doubles/triples are becoming homers — which was borderline inevitable, given Oscar’s age, size, bat speed, and contact ability.
right, but its still a comparison…a writer at HardballTalk has been calling him Oscar “Ted Williams” Taveras…the comparison has been made in a few places
Adron Chambers has quickly turned around his season. About an .800 OPS now. Cleto has also pitched very well after a couple of bad outings to start the season.
Oscar Taveras is off to a torrid start. Wow now 7 HR already. Good to see him develop power at such a young raw age.
Maness is having a incredibly start to his first full season. No walks in 35 IP. That is a pretty impressive. Nice to have another control pitcher in the system.