Friday, April 27, 2007
Up and Down with T-Clip
Injuries/News:
The New York Yankees aren’t playing so well.
AAA:
Tyler Clippard was able to pick up his first career AAA victory by showing an ability to adjust. Given the lack of an overpowering fastball, Clippard has often been told to keep his pitches down in the zone. Unfortunately for him, he was missing low at the game’s outset. It wasn’t by much, but it was running up his pitch count and putting him in poor situations with hitters. Then, from about the 3rd inning on, Clippard adjusted and began throwing high. He was able to better hit his spots while doing so and pitch better. His overall line ended up being 5.1-3-1-1-4-5-0 and the way things are going at the big league level right now, that could be enough to name him the number 1 starter. I kid, I kid.
Alberto Gonzalez was 1 for 4 with a single, a strikeout, and an error, his 4th of the season, as he continues to scuffle a bit. Hopefully, he can find his footing.
AA:
Brett Gardner showed signs of life last night by going 1 for 3 with a single and 2 walks. Getting on base 3 times in 5 plate appearances led to 2 stolen bases. Whether by single or walk, the key for Gardner is getting on base. If he can do that and continue to hit the gaps as he’s done in the early going, it would be great.
A+:
Ian Kennedy got the start for Tampa and his final line was not representative of how well he pitched. Still, 5.1-6-3-3-3-9-0 is a fairly impressive performance, but it would have looked much better had the runners he left on not been allowed to score. Similar to his performance in Hawaii, Kennedy is striking out a ton of guys, but also walking his fair share. The walks are the only thing keeping me from declaring him ready for AA.
Jose Tabata, who had been 1 for his last 12, picked up 2 hits in 4 at bats, while striking out once. Tabata is currently hitting .288 and while he isn’t showing much in the way of power or patience at the moment, as long as he keeps his average up, I’ll be optimistic. He was also caught stealing for the second time this season. Reegie Corona was 2 for 4 with a single and a double, as well as a stolen base. Corona has now collected 4 2-hit games in a row. The groove he is in is reminiscent of the way he was hitting during early 2006. Juan Miranda had a blah night as he went 1 for 4 with a single and a strikeout. Colin Curtis and Francisco Cervelli had good nights though. Curtis was 1 for 2 with a single, a walk, a strikeout, a stolen base, and a caught stealing. He had a busy night to say the least. Cervelli was 2 for 3 with 2 singles, a walk, and a strikeout. I’ve really been impressed by Francisco’s transition to full season baseball thus far.
A-:
Angel Reyes got the start for Charleston and, as has been the case for him in the early going, was able to overcome control issues and put together a solid outing. His final line of 5-5-3-2-3-6-0 seems in line with expectations. His control problems aren’t Abel Gomez bad, but they do need to be worked on. Given the amount of walks, passed balls, and wild pitches that have occurred while Reyes is on the mound it seems strange that Dellin Bettances wouldn’t be in full season baseball.
Mitch Hilligoss overcame 2 strikeouts to finish the game 2 for 4 with 2 singles. His hit streak is now at 9 games, with 3 2-hit games thrown in. Wilmer Pino had a single and 2 strikeouts of his own in 4 at bats. Seth Fortenberry was 1 for 3 with a single, a walk, and…2 strikeouts. Eduardo Nunez was 1 for 3 with a single and a walk. Eduardo has a very nice 8:9 BB:K ratio in 62 at bats, but has shown little of anything else. My boy, Jose Gil, had a rough go of it; he was 0 for 4 with a strikeout and had to deal with Reyes’ pitches.
Spotlight On:
Steven Jackson, previously on the Scranton hot seat, gets the start today. With the troubles being faced by the major league rotation leading to Hughes’ call up, Jackson is safe at AAA, for now. However, if he continues to pitch poorly and guys like Alan Horne and Jeff Marquez continue to push well, he’s going to begin feeling pressure.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Angel!
4.9.07 Review:
The best lefty prospect in the organization, Angel Reyes, had a start to remember for Charleston. The 20-year-old has terrific stuff, which he demonstrated by striking out 9 men in 3.1 innings while only giving up 1 hit. Unfortunately, he doesn’t always know where it’s going as demonstrated by the 3 wild pitches, 1 passed ball, and 3 walks during that same stretch. This looks like a line out of the Abel Gomez school of pitching, but Reyes has, in the past, demonstrated better control than Gomez ever did. It’s just a matter of him getting in synch.
On the other side of things, Mitch Hilligoss had a solid game going 1 for 5 with a triple and a strikeout while having “professional” ABs. Austin Jackson, from the box score, looks like he had a poor night as he was 0 for 3 with a strikeout, but this was not the case. He put together quality at bats and on 2 occasions he mashed the ball to the warning track, only for the opposition’s OF to make the play. Jackson came into camp with added muscle and it is definitely making an in-game difference. Seth Fortenberry had a terrific game at the plate, but was unlucky on the basepaths. Seth was 4 for 4 with 2 singles, a triple, and a home run, but was caught stealing twice, including a failed hit and run. Eduardo Nunez was 2 for 3 with 2 singles and an RBI and Jose Gil and Wilmer Pino each picked up an extra base hit. Gil’s was a homer and Pino’s a double. Pino also picked up a walk, which is always unexpected.
Around The Minors:
Matt DeSalvo begin his start in positive fashion, but had to leave quickly. The good is that his stuff was there and he could generate swings and misses in moments of need. Unfortunately, the bad was that he struggled to throw consistent strikes and put batters away, so as a result he threw 77 pitches in 3 innings, 44 of which were strikes.
Offensively, Eric Duncan had his first tough game of the year. He still worked deep counts, but ended the day 1 for 4 with an opposite field single and 3 strikeouts. Alberto Gonzalez was also promoted to 2nd in the lineup and responded by going 1 for 4 with 2 strikeouts of his own. Part of the reason for the strikeouts was Buddy Carlyle being on the mound for the opposition and while he might not have done much in the majors, he’s quite adept at getting guys out in the minors, which he demonstrated in his time in the Yankee farm system a little while back.
In Brett Smith’s first start of the new season The Thunder went 12 innings. Smith lasted 5 innings and struck out 6 while giving up 5 hits, 2 walks, and 3 runs, all of them earned. At the time he was drafted, Smith was reputed to throw in the low 90s and looked like one of the organization’s shining stars on the mound. Unfortunately, his velocity has been closer to high 80s/90 and without overwhelming secondary stuff the result has been that he plays the role of semi-interesting organizational filler.
Brett Gardner, responding to his MYB sponsored watch, was 1 for 4 with a double and 2 walks. Ramiro Pena, who according to the Pinstripes Plus folks looked terrific in spring training, finally flashed something as he went 1 for 4 with a double, a walk, and a stolen base. Cody Ehlers was 2 for 5 with a double, a walk, and 2 stolen bases. Similar to EJ Fagan, I like Ehlers better than most. When you are a hitter and perform as well as he did in the FSL last year, I take notice.
The Tampa offense put 10 runs on the board, and as would be expected, a lot of the offensive prospects had good nights. Reegie Corona, who has struggled tremendously in the early going, was 2 for 5 with a double, a stolen base, and 2 strikeouts. Given his history, I’m surprised at how much Corona is striking out right now, but it’s probably just a small sample size issue. Jose Tabata, who has also struck out a bit in the earl going, was 1 for 3 with a single, a walk, and 2 strikeouts. He also managed to pick up a sacrifice fly RBI. Marcos Vechionacci tripled his season hit total by going 2 for 5 with 2 singles. Finally, Colin Curtis was 3 for 5 with a double and Francisco Cervelli was 0 for 3, but picked up a walk.
Spotlight On:
Charleston is the place to be as Tim Norton gets his second start of the season. I’ve also come around on the roster of offensive prospects at Charleston, realizing that this is the second best prospect offense in the Yankee farm. Will Pino walk again? Will Action Jackson continue to hit it hard? Find out tonight.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
No.22 - Angel Reyes, LHP, 19
Angel Reyes, LHP, 19Previously Ranked: N/R
What Others Say: Pinstripes Plus N/A, Baseball America N/A, John Sickels N/R
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Physical Ability: Angel Reyes is, in essence, taking the mantle of hard-throwing undersized lefty from Abel Gomez. Hopefully for the Yankees, Reyes does more with his physical talent than Abel did. Similar to Abel, Angel throws a fastball that is in the low 90s, touching the mid 90s. Also similar to Abel, his secondary stuff is a mixed bag at the moment. Other than the fastball, he utilizes a change up and a curveball, but neither of the pitches is where they need to be at the moment and can be classified as show me pitches. What sets him apart from Gomez, and hopefully will make his transition to full-season baseball easier, is that Angel has displayed pretty good control to this point in his career and does not look like a threat to have a BB:SO ratio in the area of .75, as Abel has over the last 2 seasons.
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What Happened in ’06: Reyes began his 2006 campaign in the Gulf Coast League, but after demonstrating his self to be one of the most dominating pitchers in that league the Yankees moved him to Staten Island to help with their stretch run. In both leagues, Reyes displayed the ideal pitching prospect characteristics of groundballs, strikeouts, and avoiding the walk, though he did seem to battle his control when faced with left-handed batters. Being an undersized starting pitching prospect, stamina is always going to be an underlying concern, but Reyes was able to assuage some of that by improving his strikeout and groundball rates as the season went on.
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What Lies Ahead: Reyes should be ticketed for Low-A Charleston in 2007. There he will attempt to replicate the success he has had to this point of his career. As previously mentioned, developing his secondary pitches will be key as full-season hitters won’t be as likely to simply be overpowered by Reyes’ fastball. In addition, if he still struggles with the consistency of those secondary offerings, given his size, don’t be surprised to see a move to the bullpen.
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Grade: Generally speaking, there are going to be two types of players at the end of this list, the high-risk high-reward, or the low-risk low-reward, Reyes qualifies as a double high. If he can even get one of his secondary offerings to the point where it gives him something other than a fastball to rely on, there’s little reason he won’t have a successful SAL debut. He doesn’t have overwhelming fastball velocity, though it is very good for a lefty, but hitters are rarely able to lift the pitch. Instead, they consistently pull it on the ground to the left side of the infield for easy outs or fight it off in the air to the opposite field for more easy outs and some singles. He has the ability to move way up this list depending on how ’07 and the quest for a second pitch goes. C
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