---

Monday, May 7, 2007

Waking Up From Slope Weekend

Injuries/News:

Cody Ehlers is on the DL retroactive to May 3rd with a sore right elbow...Brett Gardner is out 4-6 weeks with a broken bone in his right hand, given the state of the Yankee position player prospects, this is especially painful...Marcos Vechionacci will be back shortly...Matt DeSalvo had a solid major league debut. He gave up a lot of flyballs and got no strikeouts, which is atypical for him. It also worries me going forward. Outside of the box score results DeSalvo’s stuff looked fine and certainly better than Rasner or Karstens’. He threw a fastball at 87-92, a good change-up, which generated a few awful looking swings, and some get me over breaking pitches. While he really struggled with his control in the early going he was able to get out of jams without using too many pitches and eventually he settled down and cruised. All this comes with the caveat that it was against Seattle’s awful offense.

AAA:

Scranton has played 5 games since I last updated. In that time, Eric Duncan has done some solid work on increasing his batting average. Duncan is 7 for his last 18 with 2 doubles, 4 walks, and 2 strikeouts. Duncan’s average is now up to .257 and he has looked much better at the plate as his strikeout rate goes down. Alberto Gonzalez is 6 for his last 18 with 3 doubles and a stolen base. Gonzalez was in a bad stretch for a while, but he seems to be back on track. His lack of walking...ever...is really hurting his offensive value though.

Steven Jackson pitched on May 3rd and showed flashes, but was still unimpressive. Jackson seems to be having trouble keeping his arm slot up and as a result his pitches are flattening out. When breaking balls don’t break and sinkers don’t sink, they’re very hittable and the AAA batters have been proving that.

Chase Wright only gave up 1 hit in 6.2 innings, but he also gave up 5 runs, all earned, thanks to 6 walks. Wright has put up some good numbers at AA this year, but his lack of command might prevent him from reproducing those results or anything close, at AAA. When he’s not throwing his change-up it seems to be a guessing game as to where the pitch is going to end up.

Ross Ohlendorf posted a line of 6.1-5-0-0-3-4-0 (IP-H-R-ER-BB-K-HR) on May 5th in what was his best start of the year. He now has 10 walks to go before he equals his total from 2006. I’m still not sure what’s going on with him.

Tonight’s game was started by Tyler Clippard and he performed impressively. The difference between Clippard early 2006 and late 2006 was the emergence of his change-up as a legitimate out pitch. The difference between Clippard early 2007 and Clippard the last 3 starts has been improved command. Tyler’s always had good control, but his command has given him trouble at times. Right now he is nailing the corners, keeping the ball low, and tossing it high and by guys when he needs to. There were about 3 balls hit hard against him last night and he just looks great out there right now. Matt DeSalvo had a nice debut and Rasner has pitched well thus far, but if either of those guys falters prior to Clemens’ return, Clippard could get a look, especially if there is any delay in Hughes’ rehab.

AA:

Brett Smith, Jeff Marquez, and Alan Horne continued the run of dominant Trenton pitching in my absence. Right now all 3 guys are getting strikeouts, limiting walks, and getting groundballs to varying degrees. Smith, I’m still cautious about, but Marquez and Horne have a reputation for good stuff and I’m more inclined to believe that their performance is for real.

Brett Gardner was 1 for 5 with a single and a strikeout prior to getting injured.

A+:

Daniel McCutchen had a good outing for Tampa on the 4th. His line was 6-2-1-1-2-7-0. His ERA is now down to 2.50, but his peripherals aren’t that great. The sample size is small though, so we’ll see what happens. The more important pitching news to come out of Tampa was that Joba Chamberlain is finally fully recovered from his hamstring problems and made his first start of the season. Chamberlain’s line of 4-3-1-0-0-5-0 is similar to the lines he posted during the Hawaiian Winter Baseball league. Joba has terrific fastball command and since he uses the pitch a lot, he should be able to generate some low walk totals. It’ll be interesting to see if the Yankees wait on him to get some more innings under his belt before they promote Kennedy to AA.

Reegie Corona was 3 for 21 with 1 double, 3 walks, and 5 strikeouts as he is clearly in a bit of a slump. Corona’s OPS is still above .700 though and for a young middle infielder in his first taste of the FSL, that is solid. Colin Curtis is coming back to Earth a bit as he went 4 for 22 over the recent stretch with 1 home run, 1 walk, and 5 strikeouts. Juan Miranda was 7 for 22 with a double, 2 triples, 1 walk, and 7 strikeouts. Miranda has been unimpressive thus far and this hot streak appears unsustainable thanks to the strikeouts. Overall, Miranda has had a tough time controlling the strike zone and may not be as polished as initial reports touted. The hottest hitter on the team has been Francisco Cervelli, who has gone 8 for 12 with a double and 1 strike out. Cervelli’s value is highly batting average related, but any type of offensive value from a C in the FSL makes them one to pay attention to. It appears that I may have really missed the boat on Cervelli in the offseason, especially given my Jose Gil infatuation. Jose Tabata returned from injury to go 5 for 17 with 2 doubles and 4 strikeouts. Tabata is doing a good job maintaining for Tampa. That is probably all the Yankees need or want to see from him given the tough offensive environment he is playing in.

A-:

Michael Dunn had another good game for during my inactivity. Dunn is a converted LHP with good stuff and may be headed to Tampa if he keeps up his early season performance. Dunn’s line of 6-7-2-1-1-7-0 is perfectly in line with what he has been doing thus far. Whether or not he receives a promotion is likely tied to what is done with Ian Kennedy.

Mitch Hilligoss’ hit streak has now reached 17 games. Hilligoss was 7 for 23 with 1 double and 4 strikeouts over the last 5 games. Hilligoss still isn’t hitting for much power or drawing too many walks so while it’s nice to see him with a .288 AVG, you still want more. Austin Jackson went 6 for 14, all singles, 4 walks, 2 strikeouts, and 2 stolen bases. Jackson has really cut down on his strikeouts as of late and is beginning to show the promise that so many were whispering about after seeing him during Spring Training. Seth Fortenberry was 4 for 16 with a homer, a walk, and 4 strikeouts. Fortenberry continues to run hot and cold, which is especially dangerous for his prospect status given his 1983 DOB. Eduardo Nunez, Mr. Single, was 4 for 16 with a strikeout and 2 stolen bases. Finally, Jose Gil was 0 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout. Gil is a favorite of mine, but it appears the boat is sailing on his prospect status.