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Monday, May 14, 2007

Abel Reyes

Injuries/News:

Nothing new to report.

AAA:

Steven Jackson started for Scranton, but had no idea where the ball was going. Jackson’s final line was 5-3-3-1-5-3-0 (IP-H-R-ER-BB-K-HR) as he continues to struggle tremendously. While Randy Johnson hasn’t been setting the world on fire, the guys acquired for him have been playing poorly to varying degrees so it hasn’t been great from either end.

Eric Duncan and Alberto Gonzalez were a combined 0 for 7 with a walk. Shockingly, the walk was for Alberto and not Eric, but the point remains that both of these guys are struggling big time.

AA:

Nothing to see here.

A+:

No game scheduled.

A-:

So, I was checking out some splits yesterday morning and couldn’t help but think that Jose Gil was unlucky. He responded to my observation by going 2 for 5 with a double, a homer, and a strikeout. I hope the Yankees stick with Gil for a bit longer before giving up on him because he deserves a sizable amount of at bats, if for no reason than the lack of any other legitimate C prospect to take his place. Mitch Hilligoss was 2 for 5 with a single, a double, and a strikeout in extending his hit streak to 20 games. Austin Jackson continued to have a productive cooling off period by going 1 for 4 with a single, a walk, and a strikeout. Wilmer Pino was 1 for 5 with a single to get his hit streak to 9 games. Seth Fortenberry was 2 for 4 with a single, a double, and a walk. The streaky OF is hot again as shown by a 5 game hit streak in which he has gone 8 for 19 with 2 doubles, 3 walks, and 3 strikeouts.

On the mound, Angel Reyes continued his process of turning into Abel Gomez by going 4-4-4-4-6-0-2. Reyes has been very unimpressive overall thus far and I again have to wonder how he is at Charleston and McAllister or Dellin are not. I don’t fault Angel for giving up runs in Asheville, that’s expected, but to give them up by walking everyone is the problem.

Spotlight On:

Ian Kennedy taking the mound for Tampa. I think.

From The Comments:

This is going to be the section for when people post Game Reports or interesting analysis in the Comments of a previous entry. Here’s what Kyle had to say yesterday (and for the record, I agree with pretty much everything he says…unless it proves to be wrong):

I took a closer look at Tabata’s and Cervelli’s stats for this season.  None of these are park adjusted, but thought they might be interesting anyway.  For each stat it will go Tabata, Cervelli, League Average.

BA: .300, .352, (.255)
OBA: .380, .452, (.323)
SLG: .392, .443, (.363)
OPS+: 125, 162, (100)
BABIP: .385, .431, (.311)
BB rate (BB/AB+BB+SF): 9.7%, 13.7%, (8.4%)
XBH rate (XBH/(AB-SO): 7.6%, 11.1%, (9%)
Contact: 76.9%, 81.8%, (78.8%)
SO/BB: 2.15, 1.14, (2.29)
GB%: 60%, 42.6%, (51.4%)
LD%: 11.1%, 17.6%, (13.3%)
FB%: 28.9%, 30.9%, (28.7%)
POPUP%: 0.0%, 22.2%, (18.6%)

Tabata so far really likes to hit the ball on the air, and even with the low linedrive rate, you’d expect a high BABIP with all the GB and obviously no popups.  The only thing missing so far is power, and while I’m wondering where it is, he’s still very young for this league and I’m confident he has the tools to develop into a 20-25 HR, 40+ 2B hitter in his prime.  I just hope the reports from BA are false, and/or he really works his ass off to get back in shape.  As much talent as he has, he’s one I really worry about since we’ve heard about weight issues for two years in a row, and I’m always worried about guys that have had hand/wrist injuries.

I really like what I’m seeing from Cervelli.  It looks he lifts the ball a lot, and while his BABIP is certainly flukey, I’m happy to see a lot of linedrives thus far.  I can’t believe how well he’s controlled the strike zone as well, not only walking frequently, but also walking nearly as often as he’s struck out.  Even with a below average IsoP, he’s hitting XBH a bit more than most players, they’re just not going for HR.  I’m confident that even when his BABIP regresses he’ll still be a very good hitter.