The system had a strong showing as it won 5 of its 6 games played. Two of the system’s best pitching prospects took the mound today in Shelby Miller and Carlos Martinez. Several hitters put on impressive hitting displays for Johnson City. Details after the jump…
Memphis 5, Salt Lake 3
- Cedric Hunter was 2-for-3 batting leadoff.
- Jose Garcia was 3-for-4 and stole his 1st base.
- Eugenio Velez walked twice and stole his 31st base.
- Steven Hill hit his 12th HR of the season.
- Lance Zawadzki, Brock Peterson, Bryan Anderson, and Pete Kozma singled.
- Shelby Miller churned out another impressive outing that was nearly spectacular. All 3 runs allowed came in his 6th and final inning, 2 of them on a HR with 2 outs in the 6th; he retired the next batter. His final line: 6 IP, 3 R, 5 H (1 HR), 1 BB, and 7 K.
- Adam Reifer, Jess Todd (1 K), and Victor Marte pitched the final 3 innings in scoreless fashion.
- Jermaine Curtis was 3-for-4.
- Kolten Wong and Oscar Taveras doubled. Wong also stole his 21st base.
- Raymond Krumi also doubled as a PH.
- Jamie Romak, Xavier Scruggs, Adam Melker, and Travis Tartamella singled.
- Greg Garcia walked.
- Carlos Martinez exited the game after 4 innings and 83 pitches. He allowed 4 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits, 4 walks, and 4 strikeouts, but he did manage to record 6 groundouts against zero fly outs.
- Justin Wright struck out 2 in 2 innings.
- Deryk Hooker struck out 1 in the 7th and Eric Fornataro struck out 2 in the 8th.
- Keith Butler was credited with his 25th save after he struck out 2 in the 9th.
- Mike O’Neill was 4-for-5 batting leadoff.
- Luiz De La Cruz was 2-for-3 with a double.
- Ronny Gil and Starlin Rodriguez both doubled; Gil stole his 12th bag.
- James Ramsey, Chris Edmondson, and Neal Pritchard singled.
- Chris Corrigan was battered for 6 runs on 8 hits (2 HR) in just 2.1 innings.
- Aidan Lucas calmed the storm by only allowing 1 run on 3 hits, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts in 2.2 innings.
- Travis Miller (1 BB), Dean Kiekhefer, and Zach Russell (1 K) combined to pitch the final 3 innings without allowing a run.
- Anthony Melchionda hit his 4th HR.
- Stephen Piscotty was 2-for-3 with a triple and walk.
- Matt Williams tripled and David Medina doubled.
- Colin Walsh singled and walked twice.
- Nick Martini was 3-for-4 and stole his 7th base.
- Luis Mateo walked once.
- Dail Villanueva had positive results tonight: 5.1 IP, 1 R, 6 H, 3 BB, and 4 K.
- Ethan Cole struck out 3 and only allowed 1 hit in 2.2 innings.
- Dixon Llorens worked a scoreless 9th.
- Danny Stienstra hit his 1st HR.
- Steven Ramos was 2-for-5.
- Patrick Wisdom doubled and walked.
- David Washington was 2-for-4 with a double.
- Reggie Williams, Gary Apelian, and Garrett Wittels all singled and walked.
- Kolby Byrd singled and Breyvic Valera walked.
- Ben O’Shea allowed 1 run on 4 hits, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts in 5 innings.
- Kevin Jacob permitted 1 run in his inning that included 2 hits and 1 strikeout.
- Kurt Heyer allowed another run in 2 innings (2 H, 1 K).
- Brandon Creath struck out 2 en route to a scoreless 9th.
- Michael Knox was 3-for-4 with a HR (4) and 2 doubles.
- Trevor Martin was 3-for-3 with a HR (3), 2 doubles, 2 walks, and stole his 2nd bag of the season.
- Carson Kelly hit his 8th HR and was 2-for-5.
- Bruce Caldwell was 4-for-6 with a double and his 2nd stolen base.
- Ronard Castillo was 3-for-5 with his 2nd stolen base.
- Adam Ehrlich and Dutch Deol doubled.
- Ricardo Lizcano walked and Leandro Mateo (PH) singled.
- Silfredo Garcia struck out 7 and only walked 1 in 6 innings; he allowed 3 runs (2 earned) on 6 hits.
- Jacob Booden (2 K, 1 BB), Samuel Tuivailala (2 K), and Roberto Canache (1 K) held Kingsport scoreless over the final 3 innings.
Entries (RSS)
In this start Shelby Miller was sitting 92-95 on his fastball. He’s definitely got that ++ fastball back that tails into hitter eating them up.
Carson Kelly continues to impress with his raw power potential at such a young age now has 8 HR this season.
I think the question of who is going to be at 3b in the lower levels to start next year will be very interesting. Pisciotty’s doing well but probably not well enough to jump to AA. Meanwhile, Wisdom and Kelly have both earned spots in full season ball. You might be tempted to move one of them up to Palm Beach except that Pisciotty’s there too. All three guys have to be in the line-up every day so someone’s going to have to learn to play a different position at least on a temporary basis, probably Wisdom to 1b.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they pump the brakes a bit on Kelly and he goes to Batavia next year. His plate discipline needs work, but the power potential is certainly there. Eight bombs in the Appy League for a young 18 y/o is terrific.
For 3B, I’m guessing Wisdom will be at QC, Piscotty at PB, and Kelly at Batavia.
For my nickel Carson Kelly, due to his youth/inexperience, should have spent 2012 in the GCL. The organization used three older players on the Gulf Coast team in 2012: Almaraz (age 20), Medina (21) and Garcia (22). To date, Medina has 99 at-bats, Garcia 77 and Almaraz 57. No doubt Kelly is the best long-range prospect of the four players.
I would have Carson Kelly at the Fall Instructional League and then give him an invite to the minor league “early” Spring training session next March. Because of his low batting average and high K to BB rate (29 to 7) I would start Kelly at Batavia in 2013. If his overall game shows significant improvement, maybe then a late season promotion to QC. Considering his youth (born 7-14-94) I am more concerned with polishing all aspects of Kelly’s game at this time. Several players have split time between QC and PB, or even skipped PB all together (Greg Garcia/Wong/ Taveras). Kelly has huge potential and time on his side. No reason to rush the prospect and derail him.
Added thought on Carson Kelly, Even if he spent one-full year at every level, in 2017, Kelly would be the starting 3B at Memphis at age 22…..still very young baseball-wise, and having five full years of minor league experience. I would love to have his future.
No way Wisdom goes to 1B, IMO. He’s the best defender of the bunch. Also, I’m not sure Kelly doesn’t play in Batavia next year. He hasn’t exactly torn up JC.
I thought Wisdom was the very good defensive 3rd baseman. If so….would he be the one to move?
Wisdom is an above average 3B with plus strong throwing arm doubt he’d be the one who would switch positions. Piscotty will move to a corner OF spot providing his line drive doubles stroke in the future. Wonder where Kelly will move so he’s not blocked by Wisdom at 3B too perhaps a corner OF spot as well?
Matt Williams OBP at the end of the first half of the season for QC was .318 only drew 18 walks in 270 AB and was OPSing .685. In the 2nd half Williams is OBPing .380 drawn 23 walks in 195 AB OPSing .837 sign of showing more plate discipline. Williams line .286/.345/.404/.749. Williams is an athletic SS that has committed a lot of error this season he’s got some upside with the bat it will be interesting to see how he fares against more advanced pitchers in higher levels.
Aside from the error totals, what have you heard about his defense? Does he have the range and arm to stay at SS?
Scouts say Williams will likely stay at SS in the next couple of levels ahead he’s got decent range and arm just inconsistent glove.
Might be a bit too soon to tell on him. When I saw him play he looked like he had an idea at the plate, so that is developing. Still raw with the glove and I didn’t see him make a play to his right that would test his arm. Gotta let this guy cook, PB next year.
Sorry meant to say play to his left.
Sorry I was right the first time…i need to shut up.
Kiley McDaniel from ESPN Insider was at Memphis today and had quite the glowing review:
Shelby Miller strikes out the side again in the 5th. The short version of my report is Miller is everything Jameson Taillon hopes to be.
Colin Walsh has really jump started the QC offense. It will be interesting to see if he can keep this going next year at a higher level.
It will be interesting to see what level Walsh will be in next season he’s got some gaudy numbers in Low A this season in only 79 games .318/.431/.569/.1000 .251 ISO 16 HR 65 RBI also note that he’s a switch hitter with tremendous bat speed and incredible plate recognition and discipline. A question about Walsh is where does he fit defensively? A good comp for Walsh is a Scott Spezio type.
I hereby nominate Stephen Piscotty for Weirdest Ever Platoon Split:
The right-handed hitter is now batting .317/.414/.517 versus righties.
But in a (tiny) sample of 26 AB’s, just .115/.207/.115 vs. lefties.
Yes, that’s a quality right-handed hitter with an isolated slugging of .000 against southernpaws. I’m going to choose to celebrate Piscotty’s terrific performance against righties, and pretty much ignore the flipside… at least for now. ;)
Yeah, that sounds about right for an average cardinal hitte.
I saw him hit. He is going to make it to the show, one of these corner Matt Carpenter/Allen Craig types. Just depends on how quickly he develops as to how much he maxes his values.
Kelly at Batavia seems unlikley given the Card’s history of player movement. it is rare for them to put a highy touted HS hitting prospect in Batavia. Not sure i remember the last one. Breyvic Valera is there this year and he is young as well so they may be changing their philosophy. The biggest reason I assume that they dont place HS kids there on their way up (aside from the fact most of the players in the league are much older) is that they want them to go to full season ball as soon as possible to get as much experience as quickly as possible.
Speculating which prospect in short-season ball will block which prospect in short-season ball is like counting your chicks before the eggs are even laid.