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Saturday, April 21, 2007

Clip Gets Rocked

Injuries/News:

Hideki Matsui played for Tampa last night and should be back in short fashion. This is great news for the big league club, as Melky Cabrera seems to have simply had a career year last year...According to Pinstripes Plus, Joba Chamberlain can be expected back in the next few weeks...George Kontos had an interesting evening in Tampa...Eric Duncan has a bruised left hand.

AAA:

Tyler Clippard started the first game of Scranton’s doubleheader and had his worst start of the season. Clippard gave up 7 hits and 3 walks in 5 innings, which led to 4 runs, all earned, and a loss. Clippard’s issue on this day was not being able to nail the corners. Because he doesn’t have great fastball velocity, Clippard, obviously, needs to his spots. While his strike to ball ratio does not display this issue, it was evident in his K:BB ratio as well as during the game. So, there, I said it, Clippard sucked on this night and hasn’t been very good thus far in AAA. I don’t think it’s time to start thinking AAAA yet, but it definitely isn’t good for Tyler that he’s digging a hole for himself on the Carl Pavano DL Watch.

The other starter for Scranton yesterday was Matt DeSalvo. DeSalvo didn’t have a problem of missing at the corners, but rather was all over the place. Despite this, he managed to get good results as attested by his 5 inning, 3 hit, 4 walk, 4 strikeout, and 1 run performance. Yankee officials seemed to be very excited about the way DeSalvo pitched during the spring, and at the moment he is validating that by leading The DL Watch. While his walk total is far from ideal, DeSalvo is the type of pitcher that’s always going to walk guys. For others, the walks might be a sign of a complete breakdown, but Matt gets by with high walk totals and less than average BABIP rates. How effective such a skill set would be in the majors remains to be seen.

Alberto Gonzalez continues to impress with the bat. Alberto was 3 for 6 with a triple and through his first 51 at bats he is now hitting .314/.333/.451. In case you forgot, Gonzalez came over in The Big Useless deal as an all-glove no-hit middle infielder. However, as I and a bunch of others pointed out at the time, Alberto’s bat was a bit more interesting than it appeared given the context of his performance. He is validating those suspicions, at the moment, and making himself into a potential regular.

AA:

Alan Horne continued to make me look silly by striking out 7 and walking none in 5.2 innings. Yeah, he gave up 9 hits, including a home run, and 4 runs, but more important, especially with Horne is the K:BB ratio. In the early going it stands at 22:2 and his ERA and hit rate should begin to make sense in due time. I didn’t believe that Horne’s improved control at the end of 2006 was a sign of things to come, but Alan is proving otherwise.

At the plate, Cody Ehlers was 1 for 5 with a single and a walk and Brett Gardner was 1 for 5 with a double, a walk, and a strikeout. Gardner is now 2 extra base hits away from equaling his total in 217 AA at bats last year.

A+:

Reegie Corona, Jose Tabata, and Juan Miranda were all 1 for 4 with singles for Tampa. Corona supplemented his single with a walk, while Tabata threw in a strikeout in his 4 at bats, and Miranda threw in 2 for good measure. Francisco Cervelli had a more encouraging night with a 2 for 4 line. Both of Cervelli’s hits were singles and he also struck out once.

A-:

The Charleston Riverdogs were able to sweep their doubleheader with outstanding starts by Angel Reyes and Tim Norton. Reyes finally had an outing where his walk total was under control, 1 in 4 innings, and continued to limit the hits, 1, while showing off strikeout stuff, 6. Reyes was Baseball America’s pick for a breakout candidate in the Yankee farm system, probably in response to the way they overlooked him last year, and has been doing well in the early going. Last year at Staten Island, George Kontos and Tim Norton seemed to feed off each other and though they are in different locations, it seemed that Norton heard about Kontos’ spectacular outing last go around. Tim went 6.1 innings with 5 hits, 0 walks, and 10 strikeouts.

Jose Gil was 2 for 3 with a double in an attempt to make me look a little less terrible for my obsession with him. Mitch Hilligoss probably had the best day as he was 3 for 8 with a double. As I’ve stated in the past, I’m not a big fan of Hilligoss. Scouts seem to really love his swing, but when I’ve seen him play there’s been nothing about his game that impressed me. He might be an average utility player down the line, but he won’t even amount to that much if he doesn’t start hitting for a much higher average or driving the ball. Being a college draftee, he doesn’t have as much time on his side either.

Spotlight On:

Scranton. Steven Jackson is on the mound tonight.