It was not a great night down on the farm as the teams posted a 2-3 record overall. Matt Williams, Casey Rasmus and Jeremy Patton all had a nice day at the plate which helped power Quad Cities to a victory. Johnson City posted a win and Ben Freeman had a nice start for Batavia though his bullpen let the victory slip away. Let’s get to the good stuff….
Hitting
- Matt Adams went 1-for-4, his one hit was a 2-run bomb
- Adron Chambers went 1-for-5 w/ 1 R
- Lou Montanez went 1-for-3 w/ 1 R and 1 RBI
- Steven Hill (1 BB), Ryan Jackson and Jose Garcia (1 BB) all singled in 4 PA
Pitching:
- John Gast got the start and did not have control of his pitches: 4.1 IP, 5 H, 6 R (5 ER), 5 BB and 3 K
- John Gaub pitched a scoreless inning that included 1 H
- Jess Todd gave up 1 H and 1 BB in 0.2 scoreless innings, he also had 1 K
- Sam Freeman and Adam Reifer pitched 1.0 perfect inning apiece, each included 1 K
Hitting:
- Starlin Rodriguez went 1-for-4 w/ 1 2B and 1 R
- Chris Edmondson produced the RBI, he went 0-for-4
Pitching:
- Kyle Hald was not his efficient self: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 1 BB and 5 K
- Drew Benes, Danny Miranda and Dean Kiekhefer combined to give up 5 runs over the final 4.0 IP
Hitting:
- Nick Longmire went 2-for-5 w/ 1 RBI, Longmire has really picked it up since being sent to Quad Cities
- Matt Williams went 4-for-5 w/ 1 RBI
- Anthony Garcia went 1-for-3 w/ 1 2B, 1 BB and 1 R
- Jeremy Patton went 3-for-4 w/ 1 2B
- Casey Rasmus went 3-for-4 w/ 1 2B, 3 R and 1 RBI
Pitching:
- Hector Hernandez continues to struggle to go deep into games: 5.1 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 1 BB and 1 K
- Ethan Cole went 1.2 scoreless innings (1 H, 1 K) to post the W
- Ricky Martinez was credited with his 3rd save of the season after pitching 2.0 scoreless inning, he gave up 1 H
State College 4 @ Batavia 2 (10 innings)
Hitting:
- Steven Ramos and Jacob Wilson both went 1-for-4
- Danny Stienstra went 1-for-4 w/ 1 RBI and 1 SB
- Breyvic Valera and Patrick Wisdom both went 1-for-3 w/ 1 BB
- Matthew Young went 1-for-3 w/ 1 BB and 1 R
- Gary Apelian went 1-for-4 w/ 1 2B, 1 R and 1 RBI
Pitching:
- Ben Freeman was good for 7.0 innings, they included 6 H, 2 R (1 ER), 3 BB and 5 K
- Christopher Thomas pitched a scoreless inning that included 1 BB
- Joseph Scanio pitched 2.0 innings, he allowed the winning runs to score in the 10th inning
Elizabethton 2 @ Johnson City 4
Hitting:
- C.J. McElroy went 2-for-4 w/ 1 2B and 1 R
- Ildemaro Vargas went 1-for-3 w/ 1 HR, 1 BB, 2 R, 2 RBI and 1 SB
- Adam Ehrlich went 1-for-3 w/ 1 BB and 1 R
- Jeremy Schaffer went 1-for-2 w/ 1 2B, 1 BB and 2 RBI
Pitching:
- Juan Bautista was solid: 5.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 3 BB and 5 K
- Jacob Booden (1 H, 2 K) went 1.2 innings
- Samual Tuivailala went 1.1 innings and recorded all his outs via the strikeout, unfortunately he gave up 1 H, 1 R and 2 BB
- Ronald Shaban (1 K) went 0.2 innings and was credited with his 11th save
Entries (RSS)
Adam Ehrlich on fire since his promotion to JC.
Max Foody, 6 walks in 1 inning of work.
Illdemaro Vargas has modest numbers this season as well in JC. 57-for-177 .322/.392/.446/.838 3 HR 18 RBI 13 doubles impressive .344 BABIP. I’ve heard Vargas has a line drive type swing that makes consistent contact he’s also a switch hitter also heard that his defense is above average at 2B has excellent range. Certainly a prospect to watch.
Longmire is a question mark for me at this point. He seemed completely over matched in high A and a little old for the lower A. What has happened to Walsh, by the way?
Walsh is currently on the 7 Day DL and has been since July 11th.
Just wanted to give Sam Freeman props. He’s been very good in AAA this year.
Agreed Freeman has been one of the few bright spots and one of the assets in that depleted Memphis bullpen. Freeman owns a 1.71 ERA in 42 games this season (triple a and double a) 14 BB/ to 33 K a modest K rate of 13.8% and has cut down on his walks by a couple of points 8.4% walk rate 42.9% groundball rate.
Freeman showed he was still a bit raw in his cup of coffee in the majors but also showed his plus stuff out of the pen live fastball, and a solid slider, and change-up. He’s got some pretty impressive splits against LH batters as well has held them to a .156 mark he could be a shutdown LOOGY in a few years.
Ben Freeman is having a solid season and remember he’s another southpaw 9 starts (49.0 IP) 2.39 ERA 11 BB/ 42 K 44.1% groundball rate 21.0% k rate 5.5% walk rate 1.20 WHIP.
Freeman is a projectable lefty at 6-foot-2 and has topped out at 89 on his fastball.
Matt Williams after an OPS of .685 before the all-star break, he’s been at .866 since. He cut his BB/K numbers from 16/56 before the break to 20/20 after. Williams has shown he can handle the bat well offensively, defensively it’s a question mark he’s committed 31 errors this season at SS.
I sure would like to see Matt Williams chasing balls in centerfield. 31 is a lot of errors, but I’m not sure if he has throwing or fielding problems. I only saw Matt play three games this season, but he really appeared to be a good athlete with some quickness.
Weird, how unexciting these reports are when none of the power arms are pitching. I confess that I am a bit disappointed at the way Gast has been pitching at Memphis, having pegged him pre-season as somebody to watch. What’s the problem with him? Just inadequate stuff to get guys out? His control has deserted him? Something else?
Being in the minors seems a lot like spring training. We seldom really know what these players are working on. Which always makes it hard to tell if the stuff is not there or if they are just trying something new.
I also think it is weird how a player like Adams seems to have fallen off most people’s radar screens, including mine. His OPS in nearing 1000. I can’t think of another player in recent memory with this kind of power potential?
I’m not too worried about Gast yet. Similar to Shelby Miller, this just shows how difficult it can be transitioning to the next level. Give him time. It worked for Miller.
Gast’s peripherals are better than they’ve ever been. He’s striking out more guys in 2012 than he did last year, walking fewer. Right now, his AAA ERA is a product of his BABIP and his LOB rate, which have a strong likelihood of bein luck influenced.
Besides his SS and his CF’er, not sure Gast’s defense is very stellar.
Followed Ben Freeman all year so far. Heard hes topped out at 92. Hes usually 87-90. He has given up no more than 3 runs in any of his 9 starts. Has given up 2 or less in 7 starts. Hes only 20 years old. Very good breaking ball and change up. Hesnot being talked about as much as he should. High ceiling considering his frame, age and command he already has