Tuesday, May 22, 2007
The Major Leagues Are Depressing…
Injuries/News:
Nothing.
AAA:
Almost as depressing as the major league team is at this point is the minor league hitting. Eric Duncan had the best night of the non-A ball position prospects by going 1 for 4 with a single and a strikeout. Despite my whining about Duncan’s BABIP, and it certainly is low, it’s not THAT low. It’s also not as if he’s consistently made terrific contact and has been getting robbed. I mean, that’s happened, but it’s not enough to disregard the fact that it’s May 23rd and Eric Duncan is hitting .223 at AAA and hasn’t hit above .250 since 2004.
Alberto Gonzalez was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts. Just like that, his 3-game hit streak is over. Perhaps he should have discussed how to extend that with Mitch Hilligoss.
AA:
Alan Horne followed Brett Smith’s no-hit bid with an excellent start of his own. Horne’s final line of 6.1-5-1-1-1-7-0 (IP-H-R-ER-BB-K-HR) is just another in a long line of excellent outings this year. Horne’s established himself as one of the best prospects in the system with this start and is now charging into consideration as one of the better overall prospects in baseball. He’s always had the hype/stuff, but there were questions about command/results and this year he seems to be answering those questions.
A+:
Joba Chamberlain picked up his 2nd win of the year and upped his ERA to 2.25 while posting a line of 6-4-2-2-2-7-0. Chamberlain now has 7 walks in 20 innings, which some seem to be concerned about, given what Joba did during Hawaii Winter Baseball. The reality is that Chamberlain’s control isn’t that good. He’s not going to struggle with walks, but he’s not going to be going out there posting Curt Schilling K:BB ratios either, so if he walks a man or two here and there, it’s not a cause for concern.
Jose Tabata, Colin Curtis, and Marcos Vechionacci had uninspiring offensive nights as they were a combined going 2 for 13 with 2 strikeouts. Meanwhile, Francisco Cervelli got back on track following his recent slump, by going 2 for 4 with 1 strikeout. Reegie Corona, my new favorite prospect, had the best night of all as he was 2 for 3 with a walk and 2 steals.
A-:
Michael Dunn, who hasn’t been as sharp as he was in the early going, gutted through the game for Charleston with a 5-8-3-3-1-4-1 line. Dunn turns 22 today and the time for him to be making mistakes at the A ball level is running out.
On offense, Austin Jackson had a game reminiscent of the second half of the 2006 season by going 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts. Meanwhile, Mitch Hilligoss was 2 for 5 to extend “The Streak”. Hilly’s AVG is now up to .327. “The Streak” is now at 28 or 29 games depending on who you ask.
Spotlight On:
The Yankees have an old guy that they picked up as an undrafted free agent going for Trenton tonight. He’s got pretty horrendous age contextualized stats, but perhaps there’s more to him.
Comments
It’s getting to the point at which I may soon wish YES would start airing the starts of Horne, Chamberlain, etc. instead of Yankee games.
Rich, at least when Mussina starts.
It’s getting to be a stretch to continue calling E. Duncan and A. Gonzalez “prospects.” I don’t think they’re going any higher than where they are now. Duncan has shown he is capable of some hot hitting but never consistently.
Although when I see Miguel Cairo lately I guess Gonzalez and his missing bat don’t look as bad.
Hey Fabian, what’s the deal with Dellin Betances? One of the posts indicated he hasn’t pitched for any of the minor league teams this season… anyone can shed some light on this?
I don’t think they’re going any higher than where they are now.
If Eric Duncan were hitting the way Shelly Duncan is hitting right now, but playing avg-above avg defense at first (where Duncan apparently has no defensive ability), what would you think? Right, that he should probably be playing first instead of Eyechart.
Well, S. Duncan is 5 years older, so what if it takes E. Duncan another 3 years to develop into that? Right, if he can hit like that at 25, and play passable defense at first, he is probably a starter for some team. Point is, Duncan is still young, and has a lot of time to develop. We all want it to be now, now, now, because of the hype and the lack of position prospects in the Yankees’s system. But he’s going to have to develop at his own pace, not ours.
Ditto (but to a lesser degree) with Gonzalez. Gonzalez’s defense means that even if he can only post a .650 OPS at the ML level, he’s still a valuable commodity, though maybe not a starter. If he can post .700, he’s probably a starter at SS, though maybe not for the Yankees.
Mike, E. Duncan has a career .770 OPS in minor league play, including the unbelievable season he had at Staten Island. If his hitting follows the path of S. Duncan he will be right where S. Duncan is in five years time (AAA still). S. Duncan has gotten hot but he hasn’t suddenly developed into a major league caliber hitter.
And Gonzalez has a .639 OPS right now, getting worse by the day. What makes you think he can hit .700 OPS in the majors? Even if he did (he won’t) he probably wouldn’t be anything more than a utility man, and one of the worst offensive ones in the majors at that.
Betances is still pitching in extended spring training, which is where he belongs. The Yankees are remaking his delivery, etc., and Betances is a very rough product right now. I imagine he will pitch in short season ‘A’ ball or, more likely, rookie league.
He was no where near ready to pitch even in low ‘A’ ball.
Fabian or anyone else that knows, does Corona have the tools to make it as a ML SS? I know he’s made a lot of errors, but in A ball I don’t worry about that as long as he has the range and arm strength.
Kyle, IIRC, his range and arm are both solid, nothing to write home about. So yeah, he could, but don’t expect him to be a standout defender there.
So he profiles more as a 2B probably. If his weight on MiLB listed is at all correct, he should be able to put on the muscle to add a bit more power to his game. I didn’t remember hearing anything about his speed before this year, but his SB numbers are very impressive. You’ve got to love a middle infielder that controls the strike zone and has good speed, though.
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