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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.