Springfield’s offense was stymied again by Tulsa’s Josh Outman. Yes, the same pitcher who came within one strike of a no-hitter (before Oscar Taveras spoiled his bid) last week. The series is now tied 1-and-1 but Springfield will have home-field advantage in the final 3 games (should the series last that long). Details after the jump…
Springfield 0, Tulsa 3 (Texas League’s North Division Series – Game 2)
- Xavier Scruggs hit a double.
- Jermaine Curtis was 2-for-4.
- Oscar Taveras reached base 3 times with a single and 2 walks.
- Kolten Wong went hitless in 4 at-bats.
- Seth Maness induced 10 groundouts against 2 flyouts but didn’t strike many batters out and took the loss: 6 IP, 3 R, 6 H (1 HR), 1 BB, & 2 K.
- Michael Blazek struck out 2 in 2 hitless innings.
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Did anyone look at the MLB top 100 prospect rating published on MLB Trade Rumors today? Taveras in at number 12.
official mlb one has him at 13
tards
I dont care where anyone ranks Oscar as long as he becomes a All-Star in the Big leagues…
I was a bit surprised to see that Wacha wasn’t in the top 100 prospects and that Anthony Garcia and Seth Maness weren’t included in the top 20 Cardinals prospects
Wacha not a part of the top 100??? Thats a mistake imho if it stays that way too long! Glad to see Taveras getting good love, but Garcia and Maness not being in the top 20 is a mystery as well
not surprised … and don’t think he should be in the top 100 yet.
That list is basically worthless. Pay it no mind. Wacha seems like a top 100 guy to me, but I haven’t really looked at other team’s prospects. My bigger issue is with Gast at 9, Blazek on it at all, and Piscotty left off entirely, etc. Wait until BA, BP, Sickels, and KLaw put out their lists.
Ya true…but definately think Wacha is top 100 pretty easy, and ya Piscotty has to be included as well in the Cardinal list
Maness has walked 5 batters in his past 10 starts.
The very fabric of time and space has been torn asunder
I like Josh Outman because he’s a local kid – but seriously colorado.. sticking a guy that has parts of 4 major league seasons under his belt in a AA playoff game… I guess he needs to get his work in too.
I wonder if the Cardinals — as we sit here today — have the best batch of position prospects in baseball, AND the best group of arms as well.
We’re talking three of the top 25-30 position guys in Taveras, Wong, and Adams.
And the same with hurlers, in Miller, Rosenthal, and Martinez.
And then there’s the depth, which I would say rivals or surpasses any other organization in term of both hitters & moundsmen. Specifically, Garcia and Wacha are top 100 guys for me, and Jenkins doesn’t miss by a lot. Plus you’ve got plausible “top 250″ types like Breyvic Valera, Greg Garcia, Stephen Piscotty, Seth Maness, Dixon Llorens, and maybe even Siegrist, Whiting, Wisdom, and Gast.
And I’m likely forgetting one or two farmhands. Some kinda talent collection, for sure. ;)
I don’t think wong rates that high.
This is part of my problem with prospect rankings.
Wong is a college kid that will probably be a good/solid second baseman. He won’t steal that many bases, won’t hit that many home runs. Low ceiling, high floor. Which means not good prospect rankings.
Well, Sickels had Kolten the #16 position prospect mid-season, so with a few superior 2012 draftees added, but with 5-6 of the mid-year guys above him promoted to The Show, I suspect Wong will still be among his top 20-25 position players, even with Kolten’s second half slide. Good bat, good glove, good baserunner, and great work ethic. Looks like a 3-5 WAR guy in his prime, and maybe even a bit more.
One guy I omitted above, and would like to look at a bit closer, is Tyler Lyons. The southpaw was merely okay for Palm Beach in 2011 — especially considering he was already 23 at the time.
But then he was solid at Springfield to start this year, and his sturdy 15 starts for Memphis kinda got lost amidst all the Shelby Miller hubbub. For Memphis, Lyons raised his K rate to 9-per-9, while simultaneously lowering his walk rate from its previous (acceptable) levels.
Putting his performance into context: In the PCL, of the two dozen pitchers (starters & bullpenners) who fanned at least a better-per-inning, Tyler had the finest K/BB ratio, checking in at nearly 5-1.
Moreover, that’s after Lyons got off to a bumpy beginning in AAA; over his final dozen starts, he whiffed 76 men in 73 innings, while issuing just 13 free passes.
That’s a 24-year-old lefty, striking out a batter an inning in AAA, with a nearly 6-1 K-BB, over the course of two months. Under other circumstances, I might sound the LOOGY alarm…but Tyler was as solid against righties as lefties.
Yes, he was a bit old for a “true” AAA prospect, *but* he was already 22 when the Birds swiped him in the 9th round of the 2010 draft. To be succeeding in AAA just two short years later…well, it’s almost Rosenthalian!
I don’t think he had him that high did he? I don’t think law had him ranked at all.
http://www.minorleagueball.com/2012/7/2/3130761/top-120-prospect-list-for-2012-midseason-revision-update
The above is Sickels’ midyear list. Unless I’m even worse at math than I think I am, Wong comes in at #16 among hitters.
The other guy? Keith Law won’t like Wong until Kolten has played in his third All-Star game. Actually, even then Law will be patiently explaining to all us morons why Wong isn’t as good as everyone *thinks* he is.
Law doesn’t lack for intelligence, but he tends to stick to his established beliefs (e.g. Kolten Wong = hardworking, undersized, 2-WAR-upside non-athlete) even when overwhelming contradictory evidence bites him on the leg.
Extra inning game…critical point of the season…and punchless, pointless bats like Shane Robinson and Adron Chambers are stealing at-bats from possible call-ups, like…I dunno…whomever might present an actual *threat* at the dish.
Any nominees?
Steven Hill.
I think Adron Chambers is exactly the kind of guy we want up there right now. By the way, how’d you like that play off the wall?
In fact, I wish Adron Chambers were running for Craig in the 11th.