Monday, October 15, 2007
It’s been a while…
2007 Minor League Pitcher of the Year
This one is a tie between Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy. Joba’s performance was more impressive on a rate basis, but Kennedy gets extra credit for the larger body of work. To be fair to Joba, he would have had more innings had he not been so awesome that he was called up with a month to go in the minor league season.
2007 Minor League Hitter of the Year
Austin Jackson wins in what was not much of a competition. Despite a poor statistical performance at Charleston, Jackson was hitting the ball hard in games I listened, but just right at people. He then went to the FSL and raked. After a slow start in Hawaii, he is raking again.
2007 Minor League All Star Team
C Francisco Cervelli
1B Juan Miranda
2B Prilys Cuello
3B Brandon Laird
SS Reegie Corona
OF Austin Jackson
OF Jose Tabata
OF Justin Snyder
RHP Chamberlain/Kennedy
LHP Michael Dunn
Breakout: Cervelli
Comeback: Jackson/Horne
***
Alan Horne’s Bullpen Candidacy:
As mentioned in a thread earlier today, I’m not sure Horne would be a good candidate for the bullpen. He has the fastball as well as groundball and strikeout tendencies I like to see in a potential reliever, but there are two things that make me think he might not transition well to such a role. First is that his game is based around having one very good pitch, his fastball, and several solid pitches, his curve, change, and slider. Anecdotally, it seems most shut down relievers live off of two really good pitches. In addition, it has been said that something that gets Horne into trouble from time to time is his arm action as it is not ideal. If that problem exists, one would expect it to cause the most issues when he first gets in the game and, tellingly, Horne’s first inning walk rate this year was 5.4 per 9. His walk rate for the rest of the game was about 3 per 9. Take this information with a grain of salt, but it seems to make sense given the available qualitative information.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Horne-y Rocket
Injuries/News:
Roger Clemens made his final rehab start as a member of the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees. Clemens’ final line was 6-2-0-0-2-6-0 (IP-H-R-ER-BB-K-HR) and while he looked good, he didn’t look that good. Maybe this is just depression from the way the Yankees as a team are playing creeping into my overall outlook, but I think that a 3.50 ERA with 6 innings a start is a best case scenario for Clemens. That’s worth something, but definitely not 28 million and I don’t think it’s enough to make a huge difference in the overall playoff outlook. I hope I’m wrong.
AAA:
Alberto Gonzalez was 0 for 3 and Eric Duncan was 1 for 3. Duncan’s single was kind of a luckily placed hit, but at this point, he deserves the luck. Balancing out the good luck on that hit was a hard hit ball deep to the outfield for his second out of the game.
Edwar Ramirez came out of the bullpen and dominated, as has been the case all season. Ramirez throws a terrific change-up and the rail-thin righty has done a great job keeping hitters off balance with the pitch all year long as shown by his AAA line of 6.1-3-0-0-2-10-0 and season line of 23-9-1-1-10-43-1.
AA:
Alan Horne picked up the win for Trenton while being impressive without his best stuff. The final line for Horne was 6-7-4-1-2-7-0. A combination of bad defense and well-placed hits lead to the unearned runs that Horne gave up. It didn’t help that Horne seemed to struggle with his secondary pitches all game. The change, slider, and curve were all difficult for him to get over for quality strikes on this afternoon. Fortunately, Horne’s fastball was enough to get the job done, which is a testament to the quality of the pitch. This is getting a bit repetitive, but Horne really needs to be promoted. Today was a day when he didn’t have it and he was able to just go to his fastball and get by, if that doesn’t say that a guy should be promoted to a more challenging level, I’m not sure what does. As I’ve said in the past, the minor leagues are for learning and you can’t learn if you’re not getting punished for mistakes.
A+:
Nothing scheduled.
A-:
34. Mitch Hilligoss’ hit streak reached 34 games as he got himself 3 singles in 6 at bats. That should show me for speculating the streak was coming to an end soon. I’m starting to notice people clamoring for Mitch’s promotion, and while I wouldn’t have a problem with that move, I don’t think Hilligoss has done enough where such a move is a no-brainer, despite the flashy AVG and hit streak. Seth Fortenberry and Austin Jackson were both solid, going a combined 3 for 10 with 2 doubles, a walk, and a strikeout. Jose Gil was 2 for 5 with a homer and is now up to a whopping .233/.286/.359. In his last 10 games, which is stretch over the last 3 weeks, Gil has gone 11 for 36 with a double, 2 homers, 5 walks, and 5 strikeouts. Maybe he’s turning the season around or, maybe I’m just a fanboy. Hopefully, it’s the former.
Spotlight On:
Ivan Nova going against Columbus. Nova’s off to a nice start; let’s see if he starts striking out some more guys.
Upcoming Stuff:
At exactly noon today, the first part of my draft preview will be available.
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.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
I Think I’m A Believer
Injuries/News:
Mitch Hilligoss played today, so apparently he wasn’t hurt.
AAA:
Tyler Clippard had far from his best stuff yesterday, but was able to battle and get pitches over when it mattered in order to post a line of 5.1-8-2-2-2-3-0 (IP-H-R-ER-BB-K-HR). Some type of correction is going to be occurring with Clippard very soon. He’s allowed 56 baserunners in 38.2 innings, which means he really should not have an ERA of 2.79. At the same time, he’s struck out 38 men in those 38.2 innings and has been very unlucky as far as BABIP. Being a faithful Clippard fan I’m going to hope that he just pitches a couple no-hitters and then the stats will line up.
Eric Duncan was 0 for 4. Again, it’s nice that Duncan isn’t striking out, but hits really need to start dropping in.
AA:
Alan Horne might have made a believer out of me yesterday. Horne went 6-4-1-0-2-8-0 to lower his ERA to 2.66. In 40.2 innings he has a 50:9 K:BB ratio. His numbers are off the charts excellent. His approach was excellent as well. Throwing breaking balls in fastball counts and throwing fastballs by hitters who knew the fastball was coming. Another start or two like this and Horne is going to be in AAA. I really missed the boat on him this past offseason.
A+:
Joba Chamberlain had the worst control of his brief amateur career with a line of 5-0-0-0-4-6-0. It’s early, but Joba is looking good.
Thanks to a completion of yesterday’s game a lot of ABs were had. Jose Tabata reached .300 by going 3 for 9 with 2 singles, a double, a walk, and a strikeout. My official stance on the Tabata weight issue is that I’m not going to believe he’s suddenly 225 pounds and grossly overweight. Tabata is a big guy, no doubt, but he’s built solidly and I’m trusting that had this changed dramatically, Pinstripes Plus would have broken the story. Reegie Corona was 3 for 11 with 2 singles, a triple, a stolen base, and a strikeout. Colin Curtis was 0 for 7 with 2 walks and is now 1 for his last 15. Francisco Cervelli was 0 for 2 with 2 walks to end his hit streak, but his BB:K ratio edged ever closer to 1. Seeing him play at SI last year and looking at his stat line, his control of the strike zone was my concern about his performance, and thus far he has made me look silly for doubting that.
A-:
Charleston played on the road at Asheville and as should be expected in that environment, lots of runs were put up. Mitch Hilligoss was 3 for 5 with 2 singles and a double to up his average to .302. Despite the .302 average, Hilly’s OPS is only .745. He really needs to show more in terms of secondary skills, especially given his age. Anyway, his hit streak is now 19 games. Austin Jackson was 1 for 4 with a double, a walk, and 2 strikeouts. Jackson seemingly isn’t as locked in as he was earlier in the week as he is beginning to strike out again. Eduardo Nunez was 0 for 2 and Wilmer Pino was 1 for 4 with a single and a strikeout. Pino now has an 8-game hit streak going. During the stretch he is 9 for 32 with 2 doubles, a home run, a walk, and 2 strikeouts. I’m not typically a fan of hackers, but would love it if Pino could get it going.
Spotlight On:
Steven Jackson going for Scranton and feeling the pressure of Brett Smith and Alan Horne’s starts to the season.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Ohlie Cow
4.7.07 Review:
Ross Ohlendorf made his first start of the year for AAA Scranton and wasn’t that great. Typically allergic to walks, Ohlendorf had no such luck on this day. It wasn’t so much that he was wild with his pitches and couldn’t find the zone as it was that he was just missing off the edges. In addition, the opposition was able to place their hits in the right place and the result was a less than pleasant final line. While watching Ohlendorf, I couldn’t help, but think that he just does not impress me that much. His fastball velocity is good, getting up to 94 MPH, he keeps the ball down, and he typically has excellent control. That might seem like enough, but I’m concerned with the movement or lack thereof on his pitches. Even his sinker did not seem to have great sinking motion as it was that he was simply keeping the ball down. I might be wrong, but I’ll try to keep an eye on this. Finally, for what it’s worth, he does seem to have quite the physical presence on the mound.
Eric Duncan had a third straight positive game. Once again, he did a good job on defense and at the plate. The key moment for him, offensively, was during the 6th inning when he blasted a home run to right center field to give Scranton their winning margin. He also drew a walk on the day as he consistently had patient, quality at bats. One thing that has stuck out about Duncan is that he seems to love the ball low and middle of the plate to low and out.
Alberto Gonzalez…to be honest, I didn’t even realize he played, so I don’t have much to say regarding his performance.
Around The Minors:
Alan Horne began his season in solid fashion. Judging by the box score, he might have tired down the stretch, but it was a fine start for Horne and the guys such as Mike from River Ave Blues and Bryan Smith, who believe that Horne could be headed for big things.
Brett Gardner was 2 for 5 with his first extra base hit, a triple, first stolen base, and first strikeout of the season. I’m hoping he does lots of two of those things. For a guy with all the speed Gardner has, you’d like to see him exceed his 2006 total of 24 combined doubles and triples.
George Kontos made his full season debut for Tampa yesterday and went 6 solid innings. He would give up 2 runs on 1 homer, 6 overall hits, while striking out 5 and walking 1. I expect a lot out of serious pitching prospects in the Florida State League, so this start was just ok to me.
Jose Tabata managed to have another terrific day. The 18-year-old phenom was 2 for 3 with an opposite field home run as well as a walk and a strikeout. Oh yeah, he also picked up his second steal of the season. Given his age and his environment, I was expecting something along the lines of .300/.365/.425 from Tabata. It’s early, but I might have to raise my expectations and I’m not upset about that.
The guy most likely to be affected by when/if Tabata is promoted to Trenton, Austin Jackson, had a good day at the plate as well. Jackson was 2 for 3 with a walk and his first stolen base of the season. Jackson seems to think that a lot of his struggles last year were due to the fatigue of playing baseball full-time for the first time. I believe him and hopefully his performance validates that belief.
Finally, Wilmer Pino was 1 for 3 with a double and a steal. I saw Pino last season at Staten Island, and was impressed by him. He’s a hacker, but seems to have a solid set of tools and I’m rooting for him.
Spotlight On:
Eric Duncan’s bat and Matt DeSalvo’s comeback. Scranton it is.
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