Shelby Miller has a fine outing for Memphis and Seth Maness continues to perform at Springfield.
- Adron Chambers was 2-for-5.
- Lance Zawadzki was 3-for-4 playing shortstop.
- Lou Montanez was 2-for-4.
- Bryan Anderson was 1-for-4 with a home run.
- Shelby Miller struck out 10 in 5.2 innings of work. He was touched up for 7 hits and 3 runs but walked no one. Now that the walks are back in line with normal, it still looks like most of Shelby’s woes have been BABIP related this season. You’d like to see a better performance from a top prospect in AAA but, on balance, Miller’s season really has been good just not great.
- Adam Reifer struck out 1 in 1.1 innings.
- Maikel Cleto struck out 3 in 1.1 innings.
Springfield 3, Corpus Christi 9
- Kolten Wong was 3-for-5.
- Oscar Taveras was 2-for-5.
- Jaime Romak was 2-for-3.
- Springfield had lots of hits — 13 — but zero walks and just 2 hits that went for extra bases.
- Seth Maness continued his no walk ways with a 6 inning performance free of free passes. He was touched up for 9 hits and 5 runs (4 earned) while striking out 4.
Palm Beach vs. Bradenton: Postponed
- Anthony Garcia was 2-for-4.
- Jeremy Patton was 1-for-2 with a double and 2 walks.
- Casey Rasmus hit a home run in his second consecutive game. He was 1-for-4.
- Tyrell Jenkins had a solid outing throwing 5 innings allowing zero walks and 6 hits for 2 runs. He struck out 5 and had more outs on the ground than in the air.
- Steve Ramos (CF) was 2-for-5.
- Patrick Wisdom (3B) was 0-for-1 but walked twice.
- Gary Apelian (LF) was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.
- Tim Cooney struck out 8 in 5.1 innings of work. He allowed 1 run on a single walk and 6 hits. The 2012 draftee is carving out a nice season with 30 strikeouts and 4 walks in just under 40 innings.
- Yunier Castillo took the blown save and the loss allowing 2 runs on a home run in his inning of work.
- C.J. McElroy (CF) was 3-for-5.
- Michael Knox (1B) was 1-for-3 with a home run.
- Ildemaro Vargas (2B) was 1-for-4.
- Carson Kelly (3B) was 1-for-3 with a walk.
- Ronard Castillo (LF) was 3-for-4.
- Zachary Petrick struck out 7 in 7 innings of work. He allowed 5 hits and walked 2.
- Sam Tuivailala allowed 3 hits while recording just 2 outs.
- Ronald Shaban would strand all 3 base runners but allow 2 runs of his own in his second inning of work walking 3.
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Free Shelby Miller!!!! ;)
SHELBY MILLER ALERT!!!!
Classic!
It would be nice to have another strikeout pitcher in the big league bullpen. I think it is worth a shot
7 hits and 3 runs in under 6 innings…Still not the greatest.
Yep
Didn’t one score after he was removed? I thought the other two scored on a HR he gave up in the 1st or 2nd inning.
Anyways, I think the reason people are excited is because of the impeccable control he’s shown over the past month. Even last night he had 10 Ks to 0 BBs. And he hasn’t walked a hitter in something like 30 innings. Pretty impressive.
It would be nice to get a report from someone who’s actually seen him pitch and can opine on why there’s such a big mismatch between what happens when batters don’t make contact, and what happens when they do. One possible interpretation is that catchers are basically telling him, “Here’s what I want you to throw. Now chuck it right down the middle and defy them to hit it.” Result: lots of Ks when they don’t, and no walks since he’s throwing strikes, but hard contact when contact is made. And the line then becomes a testament to the difference between command and control.
I don’t know that that is what is going on, although it does fit the facts. Other explanations are possible. I’d like to know what people who’ve seen him pitch in this current run think.
I think it’s a lot like Waino earlier this year. The stuff is good, most of the time, so he is getting the strikeouts. But the control isn’t always there. I know Shelby isn’t walking guys, but some of that could be falling behind and grooving it like you said, but I think a lot of the hits/HR’s are due to missing location, and throwing pitches in very hittable zones. Once Waino got the control back, he’s returned to form.
It’s worth noting that McElroy stole his 20th base of the season last night.
I’m going to disagree just slightly with your assessment of Miller’s season. You wrote that it appeared as though “Miller’s woes have been BABIP related.” I think that his woes have been “HR/FB related.” He’s given up far too many homers, which isn’t all that unusual in the PCL. Prior to this season, his highest HR/9 was 0.60 and it’s 1.69 this season. Some of it, I’m sure, is from poor location but I would bet that some of it is a result of bad luck on fly balls. I would bet that a normalized HR/FB rate would make his season a lot better than traditional stats indicate. The BABIP isn’t all that out of the ordinary at .330. It might be a little high, but homers have been a bigger problem for Miller than a few extra singles have.
I wonder if part of his HR/FB rate issues are related to poor pitch selection and/or not having sharpened his offspeed and breaking pitches. I would imagine that an expected HR/FB rate would be higher when the batter can correctly guess a fastball is coming, or when the pitch is a hanging breaking ball.
Either way, he has been excellent as of late; I hope and suspect it’s a result of him sorting out his non-fastball pitches. He hasn’t walked a batter in nearly 30 IP. I feel a lot better about seeing him in St. Louis some time in 2013, and a bit more confident about letting Lohse and Westbrook go this offseason and just promoting from within between Kelly/Miller/Dickson/Lyons/Gast/Cleto/Rzepczynski and behind Wainwright/Carpenter/Lynn/Garcia.
Springfield is suppose to be a bandbox and Miller didn’t seem to have this same problem pitching there.
re stadium dimensions:
Jupiter
335-380-400-375-325
Springfield
315-365-400-365-330
Memphis
319-360-400-373-322
Tyrell Jenkins actually showed some consistentcy between starts. Jenkins was sitting 94-97 MPH on his fastball last night that’s a season high for Jenkins.
Some interesting quotes from Shelby in an MiLB.com article.
http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120811&content_id=36543754&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb
He is always so candid. Love the Shelby interviews.
What are the Cards going to do with the AAA rotation in 2013?
Miller, Martinez, Rosenthal, Dickson, Maness, Gast, Lyons, Gorgen, Additon
Lyons and Gast could audition for a LOOGY type role next season in ST. Rosenthal and Miller will be competing for a spot in the rotation if Lohse or Westbrook aren’t resigned and an option isn’t picked up. Martinez, Maness, Gorgen, Addition, and Dickson should all each been in Triple next season.
So your looking at a possible projected 2013 rotation of:
1.Martinez
2.Maness
3.Gorgen
4.Addition
5.Dickson
Gast, Lyons, Miller, and Rosenthal are included if they don’t crack the roster out of ST.
I think Dickson is already looking at apartments in Houston. I don’t know whether there is room or not for him to remain on the 40 man but he deserves a look in another organizations that lacks the depth we have. In 2013 after the starting 5 in STL, he’d be like the 5th or 6th option as a starter.
Wainwright
Lynn
Carp
Garcia
Westbrook
———————–
Joe Kelly
Rosenthal
Miller
Gast
Martinez
Dickson?
This is basically how I would see the 2013 pitching depth. I hope Carp can come back
I would think that Rosie and Miller will factor more in STL than Memphis next year….or be traded for another ML piece
It’s starting to look like Shelby Miller is starting to get his plus stuff back again as, I’ve heard his ++ fastball velocity is sitting at 92-95 again and his movement/tailing action is once again eating up hitters and he’s used his curve-ball more early and often and counts. Miller owns a gaudy 24.9% k rate and he’s starting to command better with a modest 9.2% walk rate. “No-shake rule” is paying off.
Oscar Taveras and his “violent controlled swing of chaos” now have a TL leading 134 hits this season he’s has an incredible hit tool.