The system went 4-and-2 as some fun things happened today. Johnson City won its first playoff game, Boone Whiting debuted in double-A, but the most notable news of today was Chris Corrigan‘s PERFECT GAME!!! Congratulations, Chris!
#Beachbirds Chris Corrigan completes first FSL perfect game since June 9, 2001 and first career perfecto for@pbcardinals#history— Palm Beach Cardinals (@PBCardinals) August 30, 2012
Details after the jump…
- Memphis’ offense walked 5 times against Jake Odorizzi but only managed 1 hit and struck out 6 times in 6 innings.
- Brock Peterson hit his 3rd HR and walked.
- Lance Berkman was 1-for-3 with a double and two walks as the DH.
- Eugenio Velez and Vance Albitz each had 2 singles.
- Adron Chambers walked twice.
- John Gast found positive results: 6 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2K.
- Jess Todd was rocked: 1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 K.
- Maikel Cleto allowed an unearned run: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R (unearned), 2 BB, 2 K.
- Victor Marte pitched the 9th inning: 1 H, 1 K.
- Oscar Taveras hit his 23rd HR.
- Kolten Wong hit his 9th HR.
- Adam Melker was 2-for-3 with his 10th HR and a walk.
- Greg Garcia singled and walked.
- Boone Whiting had a successful debut: 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 5 K.
- Michael Wacha continued to mow people down: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 4 K.
- Michael Blazek fell apart and was charged with the loss: 1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 K.
- James Ramsey was 2-for-4 with 2 doubles and a walk.
- Alan Ahmady was 3-for-4 with a double and his 4th HR.
- Rainel Rosario and Ronny Gil also doubled.
- Geoffrey Klein was 2-for-5.
- Chris Corrigan was perfect. Sure, there’s a certain amount of luck in any perfect game, but Corrigan’s line was quite convincing: 9 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 9 K. He also recorded 10 outs on grounders versus 4 in the air. Corrigan isn’t one of the Cards’ premiere prospects, but his results (4.50 ERA entering game) may not fairly represent his performance (3.36 FIP) this season. We should probably be more surprised by his control (4.18 BB/9) than strikeouts (8.17 K/9) in today’s game.
- Colin Walsh was 2-for-4 with a triple.
- Matt Williams and Gary Apelian doubled.
- Jordan Walton was 2-for-3 with a double.
- Anthony Melchionda singled and Casey Rasmus walked.
- Jhonny Polanco allowed quite a few baserunners but minimized damage: 6 IP, 8 H, 3 R , 3 BB, 2 K.
- Josh Renfro was credited with the win despite allowing 2 unearned runs: 2 IP, 1 H, 2 R (unearned), 1 BB, 1 K.
- Ricky Martinez saved his 4th game: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB.
- Patrick Wisdom was 2-for-4 with a triple.
- Steven Ramos was 2-for-5 with a double, triple, and 11th SB.
- Danny Stienstra singled, walked, and stole his 3rd and 4th bases.
- Breyvic Valera singled and stole his 10th base.
- Tyler Melling didn’t last long but missed several bats: 3.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R (0 earned), 1 BB, 6 K.
- Kevin Jacob (2.2 IP, 2 K), Ramon Delgado (2 IP, 2 K), and Dyllon Nuernberg (1 IP, 1 K) wrapped things up with 5.2 perfect innings.
Johnson City 2, Burlington 1 (First Rd. of Appalachian League Playoffs - Game 1)
- Carson Kelly belted a HR.
- Ildemaro Vargas and Ricardo Lizcano doubled.
- Jeremy Schaffer had a single and RBI.
- Bruce Caldwell walked 4 times.
- Silfredo Garcia had a strong, scoreless outing: 6 IP, 2 H, 4 BB, 6 K. The 4 walks were uncharacteristic of Garcia as he posted an outstanding 0.54 BB/9 over 66.3 innings this season.
- Joseph Donofrio was less stellar but preserved the lead: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R (unearned), 2 BB, 2 K.
- Ronald Shaban was credited with the save: 2 IP, 1 H, 4K.
Entries (RSS)
Per Dan Kantrovitz
“”Wacha 93-96 with plus curveball”
Already said to have a plus FB and plus change. It was the curve that was behind the curve (a little humor). If his curve is really developing this fast it would seem highly possible he could see STL next year. A plus curve would also elevate his ceiling to #1 / #2 starter material.
I think Wacha has to make most top 100 lists though he doesn’t seem to have that much buzz surrounding him by national writers.
Although he’s done much better than expected, I think most prospect evaluators will wait until Wacha starts in the pros before they consider him for a top 100 list. The longer innings tend to affect velocity and performance, and they’ll want to see if he can maintain his current success as a reliever.
Wacha has been great in his two inning role but you still have to wonder where is his velocity going to be as a starter?
So far Wacha looks like Lance Lynn 2.0 as we hoped. Even Lynn struggled his first season @ AAA. I’ll just hazard a guess that Wacha begins 2013 as a starter in Springfield then gets promoted to Memphis in season. A plus change should allow him to be effective as a starter with average velo on his FB. Next season should be an interesting one for Wacha. It’s just heartening to know his velo is as good as or better than advertised albeit out of the pen.
What are we going to do with all of these pitchers? Rosie looked pretty good last night. If he keeps pitching like that, he will be competing for a rotation spot. I assume Swags will be back in the mix next year, Miller, Wacha, Kelly, Lynn and let’s not forget CMart for Pete’s Sake. Jenkins probably took a step back this year, but some kid named Maness stepped up. It’s just flat impressive.
Which makes no sense as to why people want to rush Shelby Miller.
Champagne problems…
I like that!
Great problem to have. I’d personally put Swags back in the pen. He’ll be on a pitch count early next year anyway and he’d have to go back to AA as a starter. As long as he is getting people out in ST, I’d send him to the Memphis pen on standbye for a E ticket to the show. Watch your back Eduardo. Competition cometh.
Boone Whiting showing a nice transition in his first start from Low A Quad Cities to Double a Springfield quite a leap up. It will be interesting to see how his not overpowering stuff but excellent command fare out in the TL against those more advanced hitters next season.
Ronald Shaban converted his 17 SV for JC. Shaban 35 K in 22.2 IP now 36.8% K rate sits 91-93 tops 94 consistently on his fastball.
Congrats Chris Corrigan on his 15 minutes of fame. We don’t mind if you keep up this level of pitching. Really, we don’t!
Silfredo Garcia continues to make a name for himself and move up that prospect list. Great work young man!
Boone Whiting, his only bad outing of the year was in the GCL. First start back from rehab I believe. Tonight I think he exceeded expectations and good on him. They may start taking you seriously as a prospect after all.
Michael Wacha; geez! Apparently he’s hittable after all. Who knew?
Patrick (Conventional) Wisdom says this guy is growing on me. He’s a player to watch for sure.
Wacha allowed a run!?!?!? NOOOOOOOOOO!
Scruggs is 1-32 with 21 K’s in his last 8 games – ouch!
Vision problems? His girl screwing around on him? Some kind of family crisis going on? Napping at the dish? Hmmm…
Scruggs is seriously cyclical. When he’s bad, he’s very bad. When he’s good…he kick azzz.
Nice to see a couple of hits out of Ramsey. Has anyone seen him play? By the numbers, he looks to be seriously overmatched in the FSL.
Sure wish the Cardinals had selected Stryker Trahan with the Ramsay pick. Wacha’s looking so good so that may be forgiven. “May.” Would’ve been nice to have both Wacha and Trahan while looking at the rest of the draft field. Oh well. Hind sight is 50/50.
Right now Ramsey is 4 levels higher than Trahan. I think it is way to early to tell whether the right pick was made.
Leaving out the part about Ramsay being five years older than Trahan…
How many clubs would have taken Ramsay over Trahan in that position? Ramsay may turn out to be Carl Yastrzemsk (doubt it), and Trahan may turn out to be Tom Nieto (doubt it), but that doesn’t mean that pick at that time wasn’t a bad one.
Most Cardinal fans thought it was because of money and signing Ramsay under slot and what it would afford the Cardinals the ability to do with signing some of their draft selections. When that didn’t happen, what was the reasoning behind the pick?
I would have picked Trahan over Ramsey but that doesn’t mean it would have been the right choice. I enjoy debating who we should have picked as much as anyone but I’m also wise enough to know that the Cards may (or may not!) know better than I do. And I am willing to acknowledge that we will only know with time.
CC, I love the direction the Cardinal fan system is going, and it certainly appears St. Louis has a stocked pond full of prospects right now; more so than at any time in my memory of being a long-time fan. I really have no gripes about the job the front office is doing in minor league development and making draft selections. You’re right. I’m certain they know a helluva lot more than I do about whom to pick and where.
That said, I am curious as to why Ramsay was picked in the position he was. I’m not attempting to be argumentative. I just honestly don’t understand it. There’s some knowledgeable fans that frequent this site, and if someone can explain the pick (and has the time) I’d love to hear.
Wonder how often college players start out at high A right out of the draft? I know Wong started at QC last year. Wallace also started out at QC but finished in Springfield in 08. I hope Ramsey is just tired or needs time to adjust.
I can see why Shaban made RP on the Appy All-Star team. Congrats!
Whiting picked for Arizona Fall League.
Anyone else noticed the totally quiet yet extremely strong second half that Adam Melker is having? .870 OPS since the TL all-star break including a near .200 ISO SLG. Looks like there may be some park factor involved but that is still impressive. I know he has played some CF prior to getting stuck behind Taveras this year. Insights from anyone who has seen him in person?
Springfield put McGregor on the DL. Gorgen back to Springfield. They are getting ready for the playoffs.
Fun With Taveras Numbers:
Oscar’s K rate in the Appy League was 18%.
Last year in the MWL, he improved to 15%.
The first half of this season, down to 13%.
And the second half this year? (Now first off, bear in mind that he’s playing in an 8-team league, so by the midway point of the season everybody pretty much knows everybody else. Strengths, weaknesses. You get the point.)
Okay, over the second half of the season, Taveras is striking out just 8% of the time… and doing so with an isolated slugging of .251
How rare is this sort of power/contact combo? At Fangraphs their database includes over 1,500 minor leaguers at all levels (even including Mexico and the DSL), and the list of players with an ISO north of .200, combined with a K rate under 10%… well there is no list. Nobody is doing that. Nobody in the majors, either.
Now, I know it’s just the *second* half. But to me it is an absolutely stunning achievement nonetheless — because Taveras qualifies so easily, in both categories.
As a hitter, this kid could be the next George Brett… but with more power. I think he has that kind of talent.
Bob, some very interesting statistics on Taveras. Thanks for bringing them here. I think the best is yet to come for OT; don’t think we’ve seen anything yet.
Think I read (link someone posted from here?) that one scout guessed Oscar would hit. 280 playing everyday now in the big leagues. With a good spring I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him in the Cardinal OF next year.
George Brett. Vladimir Guerrero. That’s pretty good company.
Taveras will definitely hit for more power as he matures as a hitter his hit tool is very impressive for his age. The violent controlled swing say so…
Oscar Taveras’s predicted career stats break down from the sabermetric standpoint. http://www.minorleagueball.com/2012/8/10/3234657/crystal-ball-oscar-taveras