Thursday, July 12, 2007
Action Again
-I don’t want to jinx it, but Austin Jackson’s numbers are getting better just about every day. Jackson hit a homer and a double today to up his season line at Tampa to .425/.469/.699. Jackson still strikes out more than you’d like, but it’s dramatically reduced from last year. Jackson has struck out in 23.3% of at bats this year, which is improved from 28.2% last year. In 227 less at bats he’s hit 4 less doubles, 2 less triples, and 3 more home runs so his power is also up. Austin still has to come back to Earth a bit because there’s no way he’s this good, but the hot start at Tampa is going a long way to placing him in the discussion for the Top 10 of one of the best systems in baseball.
-As if the Yankees needed another elite right handed pitching prospect…Zach McAllister had the best start of his pro career. In 6 innings, he gave up 3 hits, no walks, and struck out 10. McAllister is now sporting a 10.4 K/9, a 4.5:1 K:BB ratio, and a 5:1 Ground Out:Fly Out ratio. In other words, ignore the 3.86 ERA, he has been terrific. With Jeff Marquez having just a solid season, perhaps McAllister is the best hope for a groundball/strikeout monster.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Signs
Injuries/News:
Recently, I’ve been watching Scrubs on late night FOX, it’s a quality show, and I think I’ll pick up the DVDs…I really like the White Castle “like collecting” commercial…Austin Jackson was promoted to Tampa, I don’t think he’s proven it, necessarily, and I’m not sure why Seth Fortenberry wasn’t promoted, but thems the breaks…Juan Miranda and Colin Curtis were/are promoted to Trenton, per NYYFans…Futures Game rosters were announced and Joba Chamberlain was the only Yankee selected to participate in the game. This makes this year’s game considerably less exciting than last year’s Tabata and Hughes celebration, but better than the Kevin Thompson year. Yeah, somewhere between those two.
AAA:
Matt DeSalvo had a weird start. On the one hand, he struck out 10 guys in just 4.2 innings. On the other, he also gave up 10 base runners. DeSalvo’s ERA now stands at 1.96 in a little over 40 AAA innings. Matt is in a weird position. I think the best way to learn and adjust is to experience failure, but Matt is good enough, it seems, that he can post decent minor league ERAs despite peripherals indicating that he isn’t pitching as well as he could. I wonder if this makes it more difficult to drive home the point that he really needs to work on his control and command.
Eric Duncan had his 2nd awful game in the last 3. This time he was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts. With the recent increase in strikeout rate, there’s just about no positive you can hang your hat on for Duncan. He hasn’t been healthy, he hasn’t hit for consistent power, he hasn’t hit for average, and he hasn’t controlled the strike zone. Alberto Gonzalez was 2 for 4 with a double. The 2 hits were his first in a week. The last game in which he had a hit was also a 2 for 4 with a double game.
AA:
Ian Kennedy picked up his first AA loss despite not pitching TOO poorly. Kennedy’s line of 5-3-1-1-2-3-0 (IP-H-R-ER-BB-K-HR) was not enough as the Trenton bats were asleep. The only guy in the lineup to do anything was Brett Gardner, who was 4 for 5. With Colin Curtis and Juan Miranda arriving soon, the Trenton offense should get a bit of a boost. If they can get some offense to go along with the pitching they already have, they might not ever lose again, kind of like how the Yankees were never going to lose again and then the Rockies swept them.
A+:
Reegie Corona was 3 for 4 with a walk as he attempts to reverse his trend of decreasing month-to-month offensive performance. Corona’s a really small guy, so fatigue may be why he’s slowed down both of the past two seasons. Or it could be that the league has figured him out each time. Given my aggressive ranking of him, I hope it’s the former. Colin Curtis and Juan Miranda ended their FSL careers in style, going 0 for 4. Curtis drew a walk and Miranda struck out once. Jose Tabata was 1 for 2 with a double and 2 walks. Of Tabata’s 9 doubles on the year, 3 of them have come in his last 8 games. Maybe something is finally clicking. Marcos Vechionacci was an uninspired 1 for 4 with a strikeout.
A-:
Ivan Nova posted another underwhelming line; this one was 6-6-4-4-0-4-0. My new conclusion is that Nova is throwing too many strikes, or not enough quality strikes. His stuff is good enough that he can leave it over the plate and be effective. However, because the pitches are too fat, he’s not striking out as many as he should. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Mitch Hilligoss was 3 for 5 with a strikeout as he continues to hit singles with great regularity. Seth Fortenberry was 1 for 5 with a double and a strikeout, taking over Austin Jackson’s CF spot. Eduardo Nunez was 0 for 4 with a strikeout. Hitting right handed doesn’t seem to be working out much better than being a switch-hitter. Jose Gil was 2 for 3 with a walk.
SS:
Zach McAllister’s much anticipated debut went poorly, 3-6-5-4-3-3-0. The good was that McAllister’s fastball seamed to have a lot of run to it, getting in on right-handed batters and he kept it down for the most part. Unfortunately, he kept it too down and as a result ran a lot of deep counts. He also REALLY struggled with his curveball, throwing a lot of hangers up in the zone. The other good part was that McAllister just looks like a guy with a lot of physical potential. He’s listed at 6’6’’ and 240, but looks like he still has a lot of room to add weight.
R:
The GCL guys had a fairly quiet game. Abe Almonte was 0 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout, Cuello was 2 for 4, and Zoilo Almonte was 0 for 3.
Monday, November 27, 2006
No.21 - Zach McAllister, RHP, 18
Zach McAllister, RHP, 18Previously Ranked: N/R
What Others Say: Pinstripes Plus N/A, Baseball America N/A, John Sickels 15th (C)
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Physical Ability: Zach McAllister is a BIG righty with untapped physical potential that the Yankees are hoping they can harvest. Listed at 6’5’’ and 230 pounds, McAllister was only touching the low 90s at draft time. In addition his go-to secondary pitches were a rough slider and chage-up combination. However, due to being the son of a cross-checker, McAllister had the “polished†tag attached to him and the Yankees picked him up. Since draft day, McAllister’s fastball velocity can now be pegged at low 90s due to mechanical adjustments made by the Yankees as well as by emphasizing the 4-seamer with him. He is also in the process of picking up a curveball to replace his slider. Finally, McAllister’s change-up has to this point been lauded as perhaps the best pitch in his arsenal and an easy plus pitch right now.
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What Happened in ’06: McAllister signed quickly and was sent to the GCL where he was most frequently seen as part of a starter tag-team duo with Dellin Betances. Drafted as a sinkerballer, McAllister was able to experience some early success despite a BB:K ratio of 9:8 through his first 19 professional innings. The reason for this is that over that same span of time he held a groundball to flyball ratio of 43:12, which is…absurdly good. The Yankees have a club policy of not altering a player’s game until 30 days into their career and it was about the conclusion of those first 19 innings that they decided to make the aforementioned modifications to McAllister’s approach and mechanics. The result was that over the final 16 innings of the season McAllister improved his BB:K ratio to 3:20 and his groundball to flyball ratio was still excellent at 23:10.
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What Lies Ahead: Zach should begin the year as a member of the Low A Charleston rotation and it seems that physically, the changes that needed to be made have been made, and so what is going to be critical is continuing to work on the mental aspects of the game. This means continuing to have confidence in the 4-seam fastball as well as his changeup and working in a curveball every now and then. McAllister is also going to have to do a better job of buckling down with runners on as he was guilty of giving up “the big hit†in ’06, though the sample size was small. Another small sample size concern is that McAllister struggled through some control problems against lefty batters.
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Grade: McAllister has everything I look for from a statistical perspective in a pitching prospect and I am bullish on him, as the scouting end seems to hold up with his performance record. Hopefully, his big body will allow him to more easily handle some of the fatigue that pitchers deal with in their first full season. The mental side of the game is going to be especially critical for him, and that’s where having his particular baseball background may come in handy, as it seems that pitchers of his ilk, extreme groundballers, often have to deal with adversity in the form of ugly numbers early in their career. This is thanks in part to poor minor league fields and unpolished defenders. If he can get through that ok, he should be a very interesting pitcher. C
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