The system was 3-4 tonight with some top hitting prospects having big days but top pitching prospects missing their starts. Oscar Taveras is Superman.
- The Memphis offense totaled just three hits. They have Mark Hamilton back but have yet to get a boost in run production
- Adron Chambers has been playing reasonably well with an .803 OPS. He was 0-2 with 2 BB
- Matt Adams hit his 5th homerun and was 1-3 with a walk.
- Nick Additon gave up some extra base hits but wasn’t terrible, striking out six and walking none with a home run over six innings of work.
- Jess Todd pitched a couple innings of perfect baseball with three strikeouts.
- You all wanted to hear about Oscar Taveras who was 1-2 with a pair of walks and his 8th home run. He must have heard your pleas because, in the past eight days, he’s taken seven of his eight walks on the season (some of them intentional).
- Kolten Wong had a pair of singles and was picked off.
- Jermaine Curtis was 4-5 with a pair of doubles.
- Chris Swauger was 4-5, all singles.
- Tyler Lyons groundballed his way through 6 innings with 4 strikeouts, one earned run and a pair of walks.
Palm Beach 6, Brevard County 5
- Carlos Martinez was scratched but is slated to start tomorrow.
- Alan Ahmady was 2-4 with a pair of doubles.
- Niko Vasquez was 1-2 with a pair of walks.
- Chris Edmondson was 2-5.
- Jonathan Rodriguez won it with a walk-off single in the 11th.
- Kevin Siegrist had an abbreviated start at 4.1 innings, giving up 6 hits, 5 ER, 2 BB and 2 strikeouts.
- The bullpen was quite effective, Iden Nazario, Logan Billbrough and Dean Kiekhefer combining for 6.2 innings of 3 hit ball with 1 walk and 9 strikeouts.
- Colin Walsh continues to rake with a pair of home runs, bringing his total up to nine.
- Matt Williams was 2-5
- Roberto de la Cruz was 2-4 with a double.
- Hector Hernandez was wild but lucky, walking 5 with 6 hits but giving up only one run.
- Robert Stock had an encouraging outing, throwing a couple innings with a couple strikeouts.
Entries (RSS)
Worth noting is that Wong and Taveras left injured but neither seemed serious. Wong turned and ankle at 1st running out a ground ball and Taveras had a nasty collison but he was seeing jogging around after and left the game as a precaution. Regarding Martinez the plan was always to have Siegrist jump in the rotation on his normal rest which was today. Martinez isn’t hurt or anything.
Anyone have a scoop on Colin Walsh?
13th round draft choice in 2010, out of Stanford. He’s 22 years old, which is old for low A, and is repeating the level. He hasn’t hit for this kind of power before. Put all these things together, and he’s probably not a prospect, but youneverknow…
I DO
I don’t know why so many of you think 22 is old for low A. Many players are 22 coming out of college and most start in short season ball. Freese and Carpenter were 23. Walsh can play second and third base as well as corner outfield so could at least profile as a utility guy. Another similar player although with less power is Jermaine Curtis. He and Swauger both went 4 for 5 last night but I have always thought of Swauger as another Mark Shorey.
Important distinction: Twenty-two isn’t generally old for players in low-A…but it IS old for a future MLB regular.
Extenuating circumstances aside, future regulars tend to be in low-A at 20, high-A at 21, etc.. Future stars tend to be younger, and bench guys older.
Maybe Walsh could have a Scott Spiezio type career as a utility guy with pop and patience, who doesn’t hit for average (say .260 or so) but helps out all over the field without hurting you at the plate. I think that’s a best-case, and maybe mostly plausible.
Thirteenth round? Really? Just like Matt Carpenter, and a certain #5? Sounds like lucky number 13 to me. ;)
Correct about the “prospect” distinction, but he still isn’t young for low A. Average age last year in the Midwest League was 21.6. Walsh, who turns 23 in September, certainly isn’t ancient by league standards, but he is equally certainly on the wrong side of the line. I would be more willing to accept the argument that this is just the normal trajectory for a college player if he hadn’t played last season and even part of 2010 at that level as well. Was he injured last year? Seems credible.
All of this said, I’d agree that Spiezio (hopefully without the personal issues…) is probably a realistic best-case comparable for him, and a player like that has value. He probably won’t get there. But he might. (Note however that Spiezio’s progress through the minors was faster than Walsh’s.)
Sure do hope ur rite Bob..
Good to see Adams is continuing to rake at Memphis. Also good to see him actually draw a walk for once. He needs to be more discipline at the plate. He is averaging 6.8% BB and 19.4%K. But his hitting makes up for that as you see his .379 OBP. Taveras looked good at the dish he was working deep counts once worked a 9 Pitch AB and eventually drew a walk. Good to see Lyons getting back on track after getting roughed up a couple starts ago nice to see him have a quality start. Robert Stock is a sleeper as a pitcher this season. Maybe he can be another Jason Motte type. They said he has a nice 3 pitch mix though.
Had a chance to venture out to Round Rock for the Redbird game on Sunday. Adams’ home run was a screamer – line-drive pulled to right field that cleared by about 5 feet. It left the park in a hurry, and I’m unsure of his splits, but it was off a lefty. His walk seemed to be one of the pitch-around variety, as he previous homer was just about the only decent contact made by a Cards hitter on a humid afternoon. There were runners on 1st and 3rd, Adams was a bit late on a 3-1 pitch that he fouled-off (also one that he reached for a bit), and then the 3-2 was way out of the zone. I got to the game in the 2nd, so I missed Additon’s work in the 1st, when the Express put up 3 on him. I sat behind home plate and got a pretty decent look at him. I have little skill to offer in the form of analysis, but his breaking stuff looked strong – inducing a lot of missed bats. Hitters had a pretty easy time with his fastball, especially when he was behind in the count and they could sit on it.
I am a huge cardinals and hope Oscar Taveras and Jose Garcia and kolten Wong are ok!
Go cardinals! Hope everyone is ok!