Thursday, May 10, 2007
Chase Wright’s Second Shot
Injuries/News:
Nope.
AAA:
Chase Wright had his second AAA start yesterday morning. Wright’s performance was exciting from a run prevention standpoint, 1 in 7 innings. He also only gave up 6 hits, which is nice as well, but unfortunately his K:BB ratio was 1:3. According to Wright, the issue yesterday was that the only pitch he had command of was his fastball.
Eric Duncan was 0 for 4 with a walk and a strikeout and is now 1 for his last 10, so he’s officially slumping again, as soon as he reached .250ish. Duncan needs to hit for average to have the potential to be an effective major leaguer. He doesn’t have great enough power or on base skills to overcome sub .250 averages. Alberto Gonzalez was 1 for 5 with a double. Gonzalez has been slumping with the average, but providing the occasional double. With someone who doesn’t walk, I’m not sure I like the tradeoff.
AA:
Nothing to see here.
A+:
Ian Kennedy continued to be effective while giving up a bit too many walks and fly balls with his 5-4-1-1-3-4-0 (IP-H-R-ER-BB-K-HR) line for Tampa. Kennedy has now walked 15 in 37.1 innings. It’s too small a sample to get worried yet, but for someone advertised with excellent control and command, it is a concern. It might be the result of nibbling.
The Tampa offense had a good day. Reegie Corona was 3 for 5 with 2 singles and a double. His average is now at .299 and Corona has been very impressive in the early going. The other prospect that has been impressing, somewhat unexpectedly, in the early going is Francisco Cervelli. Cervelli was 1 for 2 with a double and 2 walks. He now leads the league in AVG, is third in OBP, and ninth in OPS. It’s early, but Cervelli is looking like a legit C prospect. Strangely, Jose Tabata and Colin Curtis did not contribute much to the offense. Tabata was 1 for 5 with a single and a strikeout while Curtis was 1 for 4 with a double and a strikeout. Juan Miranda was also a party pooper with his 0 for 4 night.
A-:
Charleston’s offensive night was even more impressive than Tampa’s as everyone of import had a multi-hit game. Wilmer Pino was 2 for 5 with a single, a double, and a strikeout in his return to the leadoff spot. Pino was there in place of Mitch Hilligoss, who had the day off. On the bright side, Pino now has a 5-game hit streak going. Over the course of the streak he is 6 for 20 with 2 doubles, a home run, one walk, and one strikeout. Maybe he’s breaking out of his huge slump. Austin Jackson was 3 for 5 with 2 singles, a double, a stolen base, and a strikeout. Jackson’s season line is now up to .284/.349/.400 thanks to a 9-game hit streak where he has gone 14 for 34 with a double, a homer, 7 walks, 4 strikeouts, and 6 steals in 7 attempts. Seth Fortenberry was 2 for 4 with 2 singles and a strikeout while Jose Gil was 2 for 3 with 2 singles and 2 walks. I like Gil and Fortenberry more than others, but both have guys have failed to reward my faith. Finally, Eduardo Nunez seems to have found his stroke, going 3 for 5 with 2 singles and a double. After no extra base hits in his first 28 games, Nunez now has XBHs in back to back games.
Spotlight On:
Ross Ohlendorf pitching for Scranton against the Pawtucket Red Sox. Ohlendorf had his best outing of the year last time out and is, obviously, looking to build on it.
Comments
For Duncan yesterday, his AB’s looked better than the box score would indicate. In two of his AB’s, there was a borderline call for a strike that he obviously didn’t like, that put him in the hole (once was 1-2, the other time I think was 0-2). He fouled off a number of tough pitches in each at-bat then, before making an out. The K was on what looked like a nasty breaking-pitch, and the other was a line-drive to center, where the ball carried about 350ft but never got more than 10 ft off the ground. Unfortunately, the CF’er didn’t even have to move.
So all I’m saying is having seen him with my amateur eye, he looked like he was having pretty good AB’s, even though the results weren’t there. In the end of course the results are what counts, but I think he’ll have his average up around .270 by the end of the year.
Fabian, thanks for your updates. I look forward to them each day.
Your hopes for Duncan and Gonzalez seem to be going unrewarded.
I’m not sure Rasner is a solid Major Leaguer but it’s fun to see him dominate for awhile anyway (1 er over the last 18 innings between AAA/Bigs). I still don’t understand why the Yankees demoted their second best pitcher statistically and then complained about starting pitching injuries making their options thin. I guess Rasner really pissed someone off at some point.
I like Rasner, but I think I can see why the Yankees prefer some other options over him. Rasner has seen a lot of success, but his peripheral stats aren’t very good. He has 10 Ks and 3 HRs in 19 2/3 IP (4.58 K/9) and (1.37 HR/9). That’s really not a lot of strikeouts. Someone like Chien-Ming Wang can get by without the strikeouts because he has a lot of groundballs. But someone like Rasner is a flyball pitcher. Flyball pitchers who don’t throw a lot of strikeouts is usually a bad combination. That said, he seems to be having some success this year, which is probably why he’s up in the majors right now. Hopefully he’ll continue to pitch well for the Yankees.
You picked his worst peripherals to highlight. And even those compare favorably to the likes of Chase Wright, Jeff Karstens, and Kei Igawa. Igawa will be given a long leash because of the financial commitment, but the others are journeymen at best (Igawa may be as well—Remember Hideki Irabu). There was no reason whatsoever to abandon Rasner earlier this year and start going through desparation to find another starter. I’m sure Rasner will get lit up at some point but we have to go with the Hot hand while they’re hot.
Remember that Rasner pitched pretty well last year before getting hurt. He has a career Whip of 1.16, which is a very good peripheral. Let’s hope he continues to pitch well tonight at SafeCo which typically favors flyball pitchers unless the other team hits it toward Bobby Abreu.
Clipper, you make a good point about Karstens and Wright. I also agree that Igawa will get more chances than everyone else because of the large salary (whether he deserves it or not). Well, at least we’ll get a chance to see DeSalvo and Rasner for now (at least until Clemens and Hughes are back).
. . .and we can’t wait until Clemens and Hughes get back!
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