It’s complete cherry picking and very anecdotal. That said, we’ve seen several players in recent years who have completely aberrant performances in Springfield relative to their prior performance and their skillset. There was never a good reason to think that Shane Robinson was a true talent .891 OPS player even in Springfield.  Jarrett Hoffpauir saw a similar one season spike at Springfield only to see Memphis numbers collapse.

There’s a great number of issues at play here (increased competition, sample size, injuries, etc) and my contention is not that Matt Carpenter will see decreased production in 2011. Rather, it’s prudent for the organization to try Carpenter out at a Memphis where the costs of failure or struggles are reduced.

The other component to this is that David Freese needs to prove he can withstand playing for 140-ish games in a season.  While he’s been on the field, he’s been productive (.343 wOBA) but he hasn’t been on the field much. The Cardinals are assuming some degree of risk by beginning the season with him at third but it is mitigated by the presence of Matt Carpenter who is merely a Memphis-St. Louis bus ride away.  Regardless of whether Freese secures the St. Louis 3B spot long term or not, a healthy season will establish whatever trade value he may have. Currently, much of his trade value is in potential rather than actual production.

If both Freese and Carpenter have healthy, productive years then the 2012 conversation becomes both more difficult and more interesting. For 2011, however, there seems little reason to indulge in the hypotheticals of what Matt Carpenter could do in St. Louis when the risks and need for a productive Freese are so readily apparent.

Freese’s 2009 season was delayed by a foot injury but when he did return to health at Memphis, he posted a line nearly identical to the 2008 campaign.  Despite my repeated protests that “I just don’t see it” when I’ve watched him live and on camera, he continues to produce.  I’ve always tried to balance what the objective measures tell me with my subjective senses and Freese just happens to be one of those guys who likes to stick it to my senses.

The sunny projection from Baseball Prospectus takes his AAA numbers (good for a .380+ wOBA) and claims that Mr. Freese would have hit a .261/.327/.473 line in the majors.  That’s a better line than most projections for Adrian Beltre and would equate to a .350 wOBA.  It’s also a healthy bit better than average offensive production (.330 wOBA) for a player.

The less optimistic translation comes from Minor League Splits but even that comes out above average if only by a hair.  A .332 wOBA from a (essentially) free player is nothing to sneeze at.  The statistical consensus surely seems to be that Freese is decent bet to hold his own in the big leagues offensively.

Assuming that Freese hits the optimistic projection about 20% of the time, the moderate projection about 70% of the time and flames out 10% (.300 wOBA – i.e. Pedro Feliz), you’d wind up with a league average offensive profile.  Statistically, I’m having a hard time arguing with those numbers but they don’t feel like a substantial enough risk.  Even assuming a much higher downside for Freese, you’re not going to drive his numbers much further south than .315 wOBA.  He’s posted very good power numbers with reasonable walk rates — it’s a classic offensive profile.

Rally’s projections regress Freese to a neutral defender at the hot corner despite posting consistently better than average numbers in the minors.  The Cardinals have shown that they consider Freese’s glove at third an asset and I’d be willing to (grudgingly) assess him an above average defender.  To be conservative, we’ll stick with Rally’s neutral projection.

Putting it together: Offense + Defense + Position + Replacement = 0 + 0 + 2.5 + 20 = 22.5 runs above replacement

The gains between David Freese and any of the 3B free agents seems to be marginal at best.  The incremental cost associated with these players is going to be very high.  Of the list above, Mark DeRosa makes an immense amount of sense for the Cardinals as someone who offers a failsafe at multiple positions.  The wrist injury is a concern and his cost may be prohibitive but he represents a decreased opportunity cost relative to players that are restricted to third base.

Maybe this is a dose of cold water for those clamoring to sign Beltre should Holliday find greener (or more expensive) pastures.  Beltre is likely to sign for upwards of 3 years and $25M.  His production indicates that he’s worth that in a vaccuum but for the Cardinals, well, not so much.  You’d basically be gaining 1 WAR at a $8M cost beyond what Freese would produce for you.  Downgrading the projection for Freese and you could get the incremental gains to be at the market rate ($4-$5M per win) around 2 WAR but that may restrict the Cardinals from making additions in other areas where they have a lower baseline to work from (5th starter, LF).

I’m not a David Freese advocate.  Never have been and until he produces in the majors, I’m probably going to stubbornly stick with my gut. It’s important to remember that most aging studies presume that Freese is at his peak now so he’s a reasonable bet for the next 3-4 years to hold par but not really see any major improvements.  That said, I can’t construct a reasonable argument* for the Cardinals to spend big on 3B given the baseline above.  David Freese, regardless of the Holliday signing/non-signing, should play 3B for the Cardinals.

*Unreasonable argument: I don’t want to see the gifs/jpegs that come from having a Mr. Freese on the team.

First, let’s look at each player’s MLE’s from last season:

Freese - .264/.304/.446

Mather – .258/.339/.498

The advantage decidedly goes Mr. Bombs.

Now, let’s look at how each player is predicted to contribute offensively:

Freese -
CHONE: .335 wOBA
Oliver: .346
PECOTA, fudged wOBA: (OBP*1.75+SLG/3): .302

Mather -
CHONE: .343 wOBA
Oliver: .343
Marcel: .334
Fudged PECOTA: .333

Oliver is a real believer in Freese, while PECOTA hates him. I prefer CHONE above the others, but basically the difference between each hitter isn’t huge.

How about defense? We know Mather played 3B before moving to the OF. The fact that he had to be moved to a corner outfield spot early in his career obviously is telling. At the most (hopefully), we’re talking about him starting 25% of the games. The worst regular 3B defensively was Edwin Encarnacion, who was -12.6 per 150 games. If Mather is as big of a butcher as Edwin at the hot corner, that would make Mather worth a -3.4 runs.

What does a 3B need to do? He needs to have good hands, instincts and a good, accurate arm. According to the fans, Mather doesn’t. This isn’t a perfect way to go about doing this, but Mather’s comps from the Tango’s scouting report by the fans includes one guy who played regularly at 3B, Carlos Guillen, but he’s no more a 3B than he was a SS and is now being moved to the outfield. Guillen was a -5.3 per 150 games, not great, but no Edwin Encarnacion.

We’ve already talked about the merits of Freese at 3B. The past two seasons, Freese has been +13 and +12 runs per 150 games according to Sean Smith’s Total Zone. So while Mather would at worst cough up 3 or 4 runs, Freese would save 3 or 4…well, if his Achilles heal doesn’t hinder him, which you’d think it would.

Figuring Mather or Freese would get around 160 plate appearances, I have Freese at .6 WAR and Mather at .5 WAR, no big diff. That is also assuming Mather is awful with the leather. So I’d say Mather is all but certain now to get the nod. He’s already on the 40 man roster and plays LF/RF/1B. Oh, and he’s healthy and has been all but named to the team with that bright red 7 on his jersey. I think Freese is sporting 62.

In the long run, I think I may like Freese a little more as a prospect because of where he plays on the diamond, and how well he plays there. He’s not a future all star, but neither is Mather. Freese could be something like a 2-2.5 WAR player whereas Mather is more of a 1.5-1.8 win corner outfielder should he someday get a shot at starting. Right now he looks like quite a nifty bench player.

[edit: Kevin Goldstein's Top 11 may come out today.  Feel free to discuss that in this thread as well.]

azruavatar: David Freese obviously hit our rankings like a ton of bricks this year.  Perhaps we should be thankful that the Cardinals make as few trades as they do in recent memory given the disparity between how well we know Cardinal draftees from day one and how well we (or anyone for that matter) know some random prospect from another team.  That said, I’m not sure I see a difference between Allen Craig and David Freese.  I ranked them #9 and #8, respectively, but that could have just as easily gone the other way.

roarke: The difference, for me, comes down to their levels.  I am a really big fan of Craig, but he put up his good numbers at AA, while Freese was a level closer to the big leagues.  That gives Freese a bit of an advantage in my mind.  I also think that hitting at a high level in Memphis is inherently more impressive than doing so in the hitter’s environment of Springfield.  On top of the level difference, I think defense comes into play.  Freese is probably capable of being the backup 3B this year, but I’m not sure that anyone is sold on Craig having the ability to play 3B in the majors.

azruavatar: The lack of anything resembling a public and  reliable defensive statistic is crippling when talking about defense.  Beyond the fact that we’ve all seen players that “look” great and turn out to be average, the difference between a player that looks above average and one that looks below average is really difficult to put in objective terms without a stat.  Are we talking about a +2 and a -2 player or a +8 and a -7 player? Impossible to know.

erik: It is hard to know for sure, but for what it’s worth, (and it may not be much) we do have BP’s FRAA, which has Freese a +15 player this past season. Of course, BP’s magic formula for calculating FRAA isn’t based on play by play info and they don’t really explain it. We are told to accept it by faith. Last year we had Dan Fox’s Simple Fielding Runs, which is explained in some detail and actually correlated pretty well with UZR and Dewan’s +/- . It had Freese as a +12 defender for Lake Elsinore. So at least we can say have two metrics that come from “smart people” that conclude that David Freese is an outstanding defender at 3B. We also know that Freese was named BA’s best defensive 3B in 2007 by managers and coaches of the California League, so we a little scouting to go with the numbers.  For me, factoring in his glove and the fact that he leapfrogged AA  gave Freese the slight edge for me.  Freese should stick at the hot corner while it sounds like Craig is a strong candidate to play as a corner outfielder this year at Memphis. That diminishes his stock some, as the system is rather full of corner outfielders as it is.

roarke: I really don’t have Freese and Craig that far apart, in reality.  On my list Freese was #4 and Craig was #10, but you can’t look at that in a vacuum.  The guys in between them for me were Jones, Anderson, Motte, Todd and Jay.  I really think that is a solid group of second tier prospects that all fall really close.  I give Freese the edge on Craig, but I don’t think the difference is quite as big as might be expected between a #4 and #10 prospect.  The depth in our system really shows there because you could randomize the order of the back half of the top ten and it wouldn’t seem unreasonable.

erik: Going back to my point about the defensive metrics for just a moment. I thought it was important I give Craig his fair shake by looking up his defensive metrics. BRAA has him at a +5 last season. SFR had him at +3 in 2007. So it’s not like Craig is an awful third baseman, at least if you can believe the stats. I dug up my BA Prospect Handbook to see what they said about each player’s defense. Of Craig, BA said “His range is limited, his arm is no better than average and he doesn’t look smooth when throwing, but he makes plays and the Cardinals think he can stick at the hot corner”.  For Freese, ” [SD] has been pleased with his consistency at third base, where he has shown solid-average range, hands and actions to go with an average throwing arm”. Again, Freese wins, but it’s not like he’s worlds apart from Craig. Perhaps it’s not completely fair for me to say Craig’s value is going to be diminished by moving to a corner OF spot when he’s shown he can at least adequately handle the position. It’s no fault of Craig, but rather because there’s a logjam at the position and neccessity may dictate it. Unfortunately for Craig, there’s an organizational logjam in the outfield as well.

azruavatar: 3B has certainly become a position of depth for the Cardinals with three legitimate prospects at AAA (caliber if not geography) in Craig, Freese and Wallace.  Glaus is a free agent at the end of 2009 but he’s not exactly going to be ancient at age 33.  Projecting him as a 3.5 WAR player in 2009, his 2010-2012 WAR total would be something like 9 WAR worth about 35M over 3 years.  Is it possible that the Cardinals go with the reliable veteran and move one or both of Craig and Freese?  Glaus had a tremendous season last year (5 WAR) and stayed on the field the whole year.  How do the Cardinals work in Freese/Craig/Wallace at the big league level to find out if they can really afford to let Glaus go?

erik: That’s a darn good question, and one I’m not sure I know how to answer. Maybe the better question is- Will Glaus price himself beyond what the Cardinals would be willing to spend? There’s a good chance that could happen. Getting back to your question, I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt Freese’s development to be up with the big club, perhaps in a John Mabry/Scott Spiezio sort of role as backup 3B/1B/LF/RF/inter-league DH. It’s not like he has that much development left given that he is 25. That frees up Craig to play 3B in Memphis and Wallace to at least start there at 3B. Both players get looks at the position.

azruavatar: With the release of Rico Washington and no Josh Phelps-esque signing, the Cardinals seem to have made space at AAA for at least two of Freese, Wallace and Craig.  It would seem a real disservice to Craig to try and fit him into the Memphis outfield given how crowded it is.  Craig has hit and hit well each year in the Cardinals system.  While you want to get your best prospects adequate playing time, trying to keep he and Freese in the minors would seem to be a real disservice to one or both of them.  Craig’s defense at third isn’t outstanding but I’ve yet to see/read anything that makes me think he isn’t average at the position.  At the same time, given the obvious depth at 3B, it’s surprising that the Cardinals haven’t moved one of these two players to a team like the Twins.  Is the rest of the industry just not that convinced that these two are major league hitters?

roarke: The market has been very slow in developing this offseason, so I wouldn’t necessarily count out a move of one of these guys yet.  That being said, if Freese and Craig are still with the organization on Opening Day, I would like to see Freese at the major league level, as Erik suggested.  I would also like to see Craig start the season as the starting 3B at Memphis and Wallace start the season in Springfield.  I would guess that Wallace would be ready to move up quickly, but oftentimes these kind of logjams sort themselves out through injuries and needs in other places.  As for the future, I’d like to see Glaus allowed to leave, the Cardinals pick up a draft pick for him, and let the best of Freese/Craig/Wallace get a shot at 3B and bank the excess payroll for Pujols’ next contract.

erik: You would have to think the Giants would be interested in either Craig/Freese. Given the fact they are kicking the tires on the an good glove/ mediocre hitting Joe Crede, I don’t see why Freese wouldn’t be an interest to them. I don’t know what the Giants would realistically offer in return, but you would think that a Freese acquisition would be another win on Sabean’s offseason scorecard. The market has been glacial, to say the least. I’m also surprised we haven’t heard Bryan Anderson in more trade rumors this winter.

azruavatar: We’ll have to wait with bated breath to see how this plays out in 2009.  While neither seem to be future superstars, I think we all agree that both Craig and Freese seem like legitimate B-type prospects at the corner sack.  What level they’ll play at remains largely undetermined for 2009 but it’s a rather congested path to the majors in the short term.

Q: Thanks for the chat, Jeff! What can you tell me about the velocity/repertoire of Venezuelan southpaw sensation Moises Colorado?
Luhnow: I just saw him pitch the other day in Jupiter, and I saw him in Venezuela earlier in the year. He’s a tall pitcher with long arms. His fastball is 88-89 but he still could throw harder and he’s a left-hander. He has a curveball and a changeup, both of which are improving. I’m looking forward to seeing him in the US next year.

Q: Can you name a few hidden gems, future prospects we may not have heard much from yet?
Luhnow: Sam Freeman. Left handed pitcher up to 94 with good secondary pitches, and one of the best athletes we have in our system. Watch out for him! Good timing, too, as we certainly aren’t going to turn away any good lefties. Also, Ryde Rodriguez is really coming on. He was finally recognized as an All-Star in the GCL. He has matured as a hitter and has big league tools, as well as big league makeup.

He later says the system is lacking in the left-handed pitching department, but hopefully these two will prove to be useful down as they move up the ladder.

Sean Chone Smith released his 2008 MLE’s. David Freese had the best line I could find, with a .276/.321/.467 translation. I’m not sure how sold the Twins are on Brian Buscher; I wonder if Freese would interest them. I dunno, maybe Boof Bonser for Freese? I know Bonser has struggled with a 5.86 ERA and is now in their bullpen, but his peripheral stats haven’t really changed from year to year; his 4.21 FIP tells the real story. They have five young, cost-controlled pitchers right now and a couple of more on the cusp in Mulvey and Humber, so they could be more then willing to part with the Boofster for some offense/glove at 3B.

Speaking of the Twins, watching them come back on the White Sox last night was pretty impressive. I’ve always begrudged the Twins over ’87, and what the Northstars did to the Blues in ’91 furthered my hatred towards Minnesota sports teams. Yet somehow, I found myself pulling for them last night. It must be my appreciation for prospects, that team is packed with young, homegrown talent. They definitely know what they are doing with that farm system.’

And speaking of beefy pitchers (Boof), Goldstein starts an interesting conversation by looking at different pitcher body types in trying to determine if size matters when it comes to results and durability.

Tanner Scheppers, who the Pirates were unwilling to sign do to his shoulder issues and asking price, signed with the independent league St. Paul Saints. That makes two top draft picks in the American Assocation, with Aaron Crow playing for the Ft. Worth Cats being the other.

Rasmus, once projected to play winter ball in the Dominican Republic, apparently will sit out.

“I don’t think it’s as much a knee thing as much as it is a personal decision,” Mozeliak said. “It’s not uncommon for a player to sit there in August and wonder about the validity of going. He may believe there’s more value to experiencing his normal offseason program.”

Does this bother the Cardinals? It would have appeared that a couple of weeks ago they really wanted him to find a team to play for this winter being to make up for some of the time he lost competing. Don’t get me wrong,  I believe that last thing Colby will be doing is sitting around at home in Alabama playing video games. He’s a noted “workout warrior”; a couple of seasons ago he put on 20 pounds of muscle during the winter. I just wonder how wise a move it is to refuse to do something your employer would really encourage you to do for “personal reasons”. Maybe I’m getting overly concerned about nothing.

The same article says Freese will be playing winter ball in Venezuela. That brings me to remind you all that we will be covering the winter leagues as closely as we can, right now I’m debating whether or not to do a DFR or just a weekly update. We should find out soon about who will be playing where, and that may help determine the amount of coverage that goes into it.

What say all of you?

Sorry things have slowed since the minor league season is ended, I think we all are just taking a little breather before we get into prospect profiles, ranking players, covering the fall and winter leagues and a number of other things that go on during the offseason. Stay tuned.

Jones hit .319/.441/.549 in 91 at-bats in August. He hit five home runs and stole five bases in six chances. He struck out 23 times but walked 19 times, showing some excellent plate discipline. For his all around efforts this season Jones will get plenty of Top 100 consideration, a vast improvement from going getting cut from the Cardinals Top 30 in Baseball America’s last Handbook. Jones is no longer tantalizing us with his tools, he’s flashing them on the ball diamond.

2. Brett Wallace – I personally voted Wally for the top spot, but he did have somewhat of an uneven month. Through 71 plate appearances for the Quad Cities Wallace had a power outage, hitting .306/.394/.387. But once promoted to Springfield, he went on an absolute tear, hitting .400/.471/.711. He did hit the ball on the ground a lot – 69%, but when he did hit the ball in the air, it usually went a long way. 27.3% of the balls he hit in the air cleared the fence.

3. David Freese – After a hot July, Freese showed no signs of slowing, hitting .349/.410/.632 for the month of August with seven homers.

As with the hitters, neither of us could decide who was in the top spot for the pitcher of the month. According to our system, Nick Additon is our pitcher of the month. Additon had a 3.21 ERA in 14 innings for QC with 24.1% K/PA rate and a 5.2% BB/PA rate. He had a 0.50 ERA with a 13/5 K/BB ratio over 18 innings and held batters to a .167 average.

2. T- Jason Motte and Richard Castillo – Motte held PCL hitters to a .163 average and struck out 22 of the 47 batters he faced, just showing utter dominance. Seeing him pitch yesterday all I have to say is wow…beware the goatee. Castillo posted a 1.99 ERA with a 23.2% K/PA ratio and a 4.5 K/BB rate. Pretty nice to see a converted catcher and an 18 year old pitcher both have terrific months.

David Freese‘s line looked good in the box score (1-3, walk, three run homer), but the homerun looked like a lazy pop fly (opposite field, down the rightfield line) that would end up foul, but the wind just kept carrying it and kept it fair. No one thought it was a homer off the bat. Something similar happened earlier in the game when a pop up that looked like it might fall in for a bloop hit just hung in the air to rightfield and became a routine fly out. Here is a picture of the follow through on his homerun swing:

Nevertheless, I was impressed with Freese for a different reason: his defense. I have been really curious to see both him and Allen Craig at thirdbase to see if either one have the defensive chops to play third in the big leagues. After seeing Freese, I think that he does. He made three plays that required better than average defensive skills. The first was a swinging bunt down the first base line that he charged, scooped and threw a strike to first for the out. The second was a chopper to his left that he one handed, pivoted, set himself and threw another strike to first. The third was on a bunt by Eric Patterson – Freese charged, barehanded and threw an off-balance throw to first that was just barely late. I don’t think he could have made the third play any better – it was a great bunt and Patterson would have beaten anybody’s throw to first. His only chance was if he had been playing further in before the play started. I know that it was only three plays, but Freese showed the athleticism in those three plays to make me believe that he could play above average defense at third base in the majors.

Anthony Reyes and Rich Hill were the starting pitchers and there were at least six scouts sitting in the rows directly in front of me. I ended up chatting with a season ticket holder (unfortunately I didn’t catch his name) who was able to identify one of the scouts as the Phillies local scouts (he also pointed out Cubs GM Jim Hendry and former Cardinal Mike Mahoney). Reyes looked good for the first few innings, hitting his spots and generating ground balls, but his stuff didn’t hold up and he ended up taking the loss. While the result wasn’t the best, I think it was successful as an audition for the scouts. He showed the stuff to get good hitters out, but perhaps his stamina isn’t completely back after his bullpen role with the Cardinals earlier this year. His mechanics haven’t changed and I’m sure that Chris O’Leary would hate them.

Here is a better angle from his pre-game warm up of the inverted W that O’Leary dislikes:

As Erik said in the DFR for the game, Nick Webber got a rude welcome to AAA. Here is a sequence showing what his mechanics look like.

I can’t really provide any analysis as to why he had a bad night – it just seemed like whatever he threw up there was hit hard.

Colby was credited with a hit that night, but he never hit the ball hard and his single was a well placed ground ball that glanced off the second baseman’s glove. Rich Hill was successful against him by repeatedly throwing his slow curveball. Rasmus was also thrown out stealing, but it was a terrible call by the ump. I took pictures of the play that show that he was safe, but I wasn’t really ready to take the shots, so I wasn’t zoomed in properly and the pictures are out of focus. But rest assured – he was safe.

I was somewhat disappointed because I missed Jaime Garcia by one night, Joe Mather was called up to the big leagues that day and Bryan Anderson got the night off. But I came away impressed with David Freese, Nick Stavinoha and, unfortunately, Felix Pie and Eric Patterson.

This is a few days old, so I might have missed mention of it elsewhere, but here is a nice story/interview with the Cardinals minor league pitcher of the month for April, Jess Todd.

The system played four games tonight and all the details are after the jump.

Memphis 4,  Las Vegas 3 – 12 innings

• Jaime Garcia pitched very well in his first outing at AAA.  He went 6 innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits and no walks.  He struck out six and nine of the other twelve outs he recorded came via the groundball. 
• Colby continues to struggle, going 1-6 last night with three strikeouts.  He stole a base but was also picked off once.
• Joe Mather went 2-5 with a double and had an outfield assist.
• Bryan Anderson continues his smooth adjustment to AAA, going 2-5 with two doubles and an rbi.  Jason Repko did manage to steal second against him.
• Ron Flores, Hugo Castellanos and John Wasdin each pitched a scoreless inning.
• Jason Motte threw two scoreless innings, giving up two hits and an intentional walk while striking out two.
• Chris Perez gave up a run in his inning of work, getting the blown save in the 11th, which also gave him the win when Memphis scored in the top of the 12th.  He gave up two hits and struck out one.
• Garcia, Jarrett Hoffpauir and David Freese all had errors in the game.

Springfield 2, NW Arkansas 6

• Well, let’s get the bad news out of the way first: Clayton Mortensen got smacked around again. He only lasted 3.2 innings and gave up five runs (four earned) on six hits and two walks. He did strike out six and he had three groundouts to only one flyout, so his peripherals aren’t terrible. He gave up a walk and a homerun in the first inning and then cruised through the next two innings before the wheels came off in the fourth. An error by Allen Craig and a wild pitch compounded Mortensen’s problems in the inning.
• On the good side of the ledger, Shane Robinson continued to impress, going 2-3 with a walk.
• The relief corps pitched relatively well, aside from a run given up by Zach Zuercher in his 0.2 innings. Josh Dew pitched 1.1 scoreless with a strikeout, Bob Zimmerman struck out a pair in 1.1 scoreless innings, and Fernando Salas struck out two in his scoreless inning.

Dunedin 1, Palm Beach 5

• Arnoldi Cruz was behind the plate this afternoon and he went 2-4 with a homerun, a double and two rbi.
• Isaias Garcia, Nathan Southard and Antonio DeJesus each went 2-4. Southard and Garcia doubled and Garcia also had a stolen base.
• Oliver Marmol went 1-3 with a double and an rbi, but also committed an error in the field.
• Shaun Garceau pitched five scoreless innings, giving up three hits and three walks while striking out three.
• Brandon Dickson pitched the final four innings, giving up two hits – one a solo homerun – and no walks and striking out one.

Kane County 11, Quad Cities 1

• Not much went right for the River Bandits as they were held to two hits, singles by Mike Folli and Paul Vasquez. The best offensive highlight I can come up with is that Pete Kozma went 0-2 with a walk, a HBP and a stolen base. The team struck out fourteen times (including the golden sombrero for Matthew Aburr).
• Eduardo Sanchez took the loss in going 2.2 innings and giving up three runs (one earned) on three hits, a hit batter and three walks while striking out three, but the ugliest line of the night goes to Thomas Eager. Eager lasted three innings and gave up eight runs, only six were earned though. He allowed four hits, gave up four walks and two homeruns while striking out one.
• Matt Spade struck out three in his 1.1 scoreless innings of work.
• Wayne Daman and Cardoza Tucker each pitched a scoreless inning, with Daman striking out one and giving up a hit and Tucker striking out two and walking one.