Minor League Discussion & Boxes 4-14-2008

[Outshined_One]

Box Scores

 

Iowa won 5-4 in 12 innings Box Score

 

2B E. Patterson 1/6, 2 K

LF M. Murton 0/5, BB

RF J. Kroeger 2/4, 2 BB, 2 R, RBI, 2B (3), CS (1), PO (3B)

1B J. Fox 2/6, R, 3 RBI, HR (3), K

3B C. McGehee 2/5, RBI, 2B (2), K

CF S. Fuld 0/5, 3 K

SP M. Holliman 6 scoreless, 3 H, 6/0 K/BB, 4-8 GO-FO

RP C. Pignatiello .1 perfect, 0-1 GO-FO

RP J. Ascanio 2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2/0 K/BB, HR, 2-2 GO-FO

RP N. Cotts 2 scoreless, 2 H, 2/1 K/BB, 3-1 GO-FO

 

Tennessee lost 10-3 Box Score

 

SS/P J. Simokaitis 0/2, BB, K, E (2, fielding)

CF T. Colvin 0/4, RBI, 2 K

DH R. Harvey 0/3, K

2B N. Spears 0/1

1B D. Deeds 0/4, 3 K

RF M. Camp 0/3, BB, 2 R, Assist (Home)

SP J. Berg 5 IP, 11 H, 7 ER, 0/1 K/BB, HBP, 12-3 GO-FO

RP R. Roquet 2 scoreless, 1 H, 2/0 K/BB, 1-2 GO-FO

RP S. Avery .2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 0/1 K/BB, 0-2 GO-FO

RP J. Simokaitis 1.1 perfect, 1/0 K/BB, 1-2 GO-FO

 

Daytona lost 10-6 Box Score

 

2B T. Thomas 3/5, 2 R, 2B (2), 3B (1), 2 K (Ejected in 8th)

RF T. Wright 0/4, BB, R, 3 K

1B S. Clevenger 2/5, 2 K

C W. Castillo 1/5, R, RBI, 2B (1), K

3B J. Lansford 2/5, R, RBI, 2B (2)

SS D. Barney 1/4, R, 2B (4), K

SP E. Caridad .2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 0/1 K/BB, WP, 2-0 GO-FO

RP J. Papelbon 2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2/1 K/BB, 3-1 GO-FO

 

Peoria won 4-0 Box Score

 

CF D. Rundle 0/3, BB, K

2B N. Samson 1/3, 2 RBI, 2B (1)

SS M. Gonzalez 1/4, K

DH J. Donaldson 1/4, K

3B M. Smith 0/4, 2 K

1B J. Rosa 0/3, R, 2 K

RF K. Burke 3/3, 2 R, RBI, HR (1)

SP D. Rhee 6 scoreless, 3 H, 3/3 K/BB, 8-7 GO-FO

 

OVERALL: 2-2

Edited April 15, 2008 by Outshined_One

[Guest]

Probable Starters:

 

Iowa: RHP Mark Holliman (0-0, 6.00 ERA, 3 IP, 4 K/5 BB, .333 BAA)

Tennessee: RHP Justin Berg (0-2, 2.53 ERA, 10.2 IP, 4 K/2 BB, .273 BAA)

Daytona: RHP Esmailin Caridad (0-1, 5.00 ERA, 9 IP, 6 K/1 BB, .242 BAA)

Peoria: RHP Dae-Eun Rhee (2-0, 0.90 ERA, 10 IP, 12 K/1 BB, .143 BAA)

 

Tennessee follows up facing Clayton Kershaw last Thursday by matching up with another of the games best lefty prospects in Tampa's stud LHP Jake McGee.

[Brian]

hopefully Rhee-mania continues

[craig]

The spring has been dominate by negativity regarding the farm. (If Vitters wasn't en-route to busthood, he'd be ready for Peoria. Colvin and Donaldson can't hit. Ceda and Veal are wilder than ever, Huseby is a bust, Hernandez is on drugs. None of the farm teams have any hitting whatsoever, etc..)

 

I understand all the negatives, but as an optimist by nature I thought I'd comment on a couple of positives. The staffs have all gone through two rotations now, so I thought it would be fun to notice some of the ERA's.

 

Early ERA's for some top-15 prospects.:

 

Gallagher: 1.00

Samardz: 0.75

Rhee: 0.90

 

A bunch of other guys who have often not been highly touted or highly paid or highly drafted also have some nice ERA's through two starts:

 

Berg: 2.61

Maestri: 1.93

Acosta: 1.86

Atkins: 1.80

Siegfried: 1.80

Ashwood: 1.08

Harben: 0.90

Russell: 0.82

 

To my knowledge none has an extraordinary arm or a 98-mph fastball. None has the "could become an ace" potential that I associate with Farnsworth, Wood, Cruz, Zambrano, Hagerty, Brownlie, Guzman, and Veal. But I think some of them have good enough arms so that if they learn to use their arms well, they couldn emerge into servicable, useful major leaguers.

 

Certainly most of these guys will have flaws or limitations exposed as the season wears on. But I think it's also possible that one or more (add Caridad to the list, too) may prove no fluke, and will emerge as a guy to watch. For example, Ashwood is 6'4", 21, and lefty; would he be the first tall lefty who wasn't a great prospect at age 20 but became a usable major-leaguer later on?

 

Here's hoping that as the season continues, that at least some of these guys will continue to throw well and will start to sustain their sample size of success. Hopefully several of them will emerge as significant prospects.

 

[Again, just to forestall the justifiable negativism about them: camp is short, so hitters are still finding their groove; weather has been often cold, so bad pitches that will result in HR's later are making easy flyouts now; two starts is no sample size; with low K's you can get lucky for two starts, but if the K's are low you must not be missing bats so your stuff must stink and stinky stuff will prove to be inadequate later if not sooner. So certainly none of these early ERA's proves much of anything.] But still it's kinda fun.

[Wrigley Rat]

Well said Craig.

 

Truthfully - I'm just happy baseball is back. It was a long off-season.

[TruffleShuffle]

probably a lot of it has to do with the weather. scoring is down in the majors as well. in iowa and peoria especially, the weather has been damp and cold, which is good for pitchers.

[Outshined_One]

probably a lot of it has to do with the weather. scoring is down in the majors as well. in iowa and peoria especially, the weather has been damp and cold, which is good for pitchers.

 

Yep. I think part of the problem we're seeing with some of the Cubs' position prospects down in Peoria is that they likely don't have much experience in cold weather. When you look at some of the notable position prospects down in Peoria, a lot of them likely haven't had a whole lot of exposure to playing in these kinds of conditions.

 

If we're at Mid-July and no one out of the Donaldson/Burke/Rundle/Andersen/Rosa/Gonzalez/Smith group has emerged as at least an intriguing prospect, then I'll be concerned. For now, I'm happy to be patient and see how things develop as the weather improves.

[sneakypower]

A bunch of other guys who have often not been highly touted or highly paid or highly drafted also have some nice ERA's through two starts:

 

Berg: 2.61

Maestri: 1.93

Acosta: 1.86

Atkins: 1.80

Siegfried: 1.80

Ashwood: 1.08

Harben: 0.90

Russell: 0.82

 

To my knowledge none has an extraordinary arm or a 98-mph fastball. None has the "could become an ace" potential that I associate with Farnsworth, Wood, Cruz, Zambrano, Hagerty, Brownlie, Guzman, and Veal. But I think some of them have good enough arms so that if they learn to use their arms well, they couldn emerge into servicable, useful major leaguers.

Berg is a guy I like a lot, as he has ability to keep the ball on the ground at an elite level.

[Guest]

Daytona News-Journal story on the rehabs and injury recoveries of Adam Harben and Mike Phelps.

 

Peoria Journal Star story on Jonathan Mota.

[Guest]

AZ Phil at extended spring training: Boise beats Team China 11-0, AZL Cubs lose to AZL Giants 4-3 in 11 innings.

 

Notes: Fox and Muldowney's rehabbing are going well. Hernandez looks good while suspended. Jose Made with a huge game. Vitters commits a few errors. Hams continues to pitch well.

[Outshined_One]

Iowa's facing off against a rehabbing Yovani Gallardo. Should be a fun game.

[Guest]

Dae-Eun Rhee with some control problems...3 BB in 3 innings, but he's kept West Michigan scoreless.

 

Yikes, the I-Cubs have roughed up Gallardo to the tune of 4 runs in 5 innings while Holliman has looked impressive (5 K in 5 scoreless thus far).

 

And Justin Berg is really good at getting ground balls (6 GO-0 FO through 2).

[sneakypower]

Dae-Eun Rhee with some control problems...3 BB in 3 innings, but he's kept West Michigan scoreless.

 

Yikes, the I-Cubs have roughed up Gallardo to the tune of 4 runs in 5 innings while Holliman has looked impressive (5 K in 5 scoreless thus far).

 

And Justin Berg is really good at getting ground balls (6 GO-0 FO through 2).

I think it was Listach that said his sinker was as good as Webb's.

[Wrigley Rat]

I'm just glad they let Berg have another chance at the rotation. His numbers haven't been great in past years, but he has a real shot.

[Guest]

Yeah, whoops on Berg. He ended up giving up 4 in the 3rd and 3 more in the 6th. 5+ IP, 7 ER, 11 H, 0 K/1 BB, 12 GO-3 FO.

[Guest]

Dae-Eun Rhee: 6 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 3 K/3 BB. ERA down to 0.56. :) Peoria wins it 4-0 as Marcos Mateo throws 3 scoreless innings to finish the game. He struck out the last 6 hitters he faced and 8 total.

 

Kyler Burke went 3/3 with a solo HR. Cliff Andersen went 2/3 with a double.

[dlocks]

Rhee was very good again tonight! His line: 6 innings, 3 hits, 3, walks, 3 K's, 0 ER. The ump had a very tight strike zone, and he got squeezed on 2 of the walks from the Ump. He was racking up the ground balls, and really pitched to contact much more this start. sat 90-93 the entire night on his Fastball. Very impressive again.

[badnews]

To my knowledge none has an extraordinary arm or a 98-mph fastball. None has the "could become an ace" potential that I associate with Farnsworth, Wood, Cruz, Zambrano, Hagerty, Brownlie, Guzman, and Veal. But I think some of them have good enough arms so that if they learn to use their arms well, they couldn emerge into servicable, useful major leaguers.

 

Certainly most of these guys will have flaws or limitations exposed as the season wears on. But I think it's also possible that one or more (add Caridad to the list, too) may prove no fluke, and will emerge as a guy to watch. For example, Ashwood is 6'4", 21, and lefty; would he be the first tall lefty who wasn't a great prospect at age 20 but became a usable major-leaguer later on?

 

Unfortunately that's kind of boring to me. I don't know. Watching the future Mark Hendricksons, Brian Tallets, and Dave Borkowskis develop just isn't a lot of fun.

[illiniguy]

Dae-Eun Rhee: 6 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 3 K/3 BB. ERA down to 0.56. :) Peoria wins it 4-0 as Marcos Mateo throws 3 scoreless innings to finish the game. He struck out the last 6 hitters he faced and 8 total.

 

Kyler Burke went 3/3 with a solo HR. Cliff Andersen went 2/3 with a double.

Wow, I am going to give him a couple more starts, but I am starting to get really excited about this kid.

[rawaction]

Could Berg be a poor man's Derek Lowe? He obviously doesn't have the stuff of a Webb or even Carmona, but he seems very similar to Lowe, IMO. 11 hits and 7 ERs stand out as being a horrible outing, but looking at the box score, NONE of those 11 hits went for extra bases. That says to me that a lot of those GBs found holes. My quick math shows that with 0 HRs and 0 strikeouts in the game, the opponent hit .440 on balls in play tonight against Berg. In his 15.2 innings, Berg has given up 23 hits, but a grand total of 2 have gone for extra bases (1 HR, 1 double, both in his 2nd start). Opponents are hitting .329 against him, but are slugging just .385. Again with quick, sloppy math, I count a .338 BABIP against him.

 

As for the Derek Lowe comparison. I never thought Lowe had anything special other than his sinker. Look at the career minor league numbers:

 

Lowe 9.39 H/9, 0.54 HR/9, 3.01 BB/9, 5.51 K/9

Berg 9.74 H/9, 0.36 HR/9, 4.18 BB/9, 6.03 K/9.

 

The concerning thing is the K rate has gone down in the last year and 3 starts in AA. The walk rate is not good enough right now to be acceptable with his lack of Ks, but that rate looks to be getting better with just 3 walks so far on this season.

[TruffleShuffle]

Dae-Eun Rhee: 6 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 3 K/3 BB. ERA down to 0.56. :) Peoria wins it 4-0 as Marcos Mateo throws 3 scoreless innings to finish the game. He struck out the last 6 hitters he faced and 8 total.

 

who is marcos mateo? any sort of prospect? i see he had pretty solid numbers last year as part of the reds organization, but he's 24 already. sounds like he should probably be in daytona or west tennessee right now.

 

oh, and dae-eun rhee. if he keeps this up, he will not have a long stay in peoria.

[rawaction]

Jae Kuk Ryu comparisons are going to be prevalent with Rhee. Hopefully, he stays away from osprey.

[TruffleShuffle]

As for the Derek Lowe comparison. I never thought Lowe had anything special other than his sinker.

 

well that sinker and the solid control. and, derek lowe's career GB/FB rate is a ridiculous 3.33, which is very hard to do. if you don't have great stuff and you can't keep that ground ball rate down, you're going to give up too many line drives and home runs to be effective.

[Guest]

Dae-Eun Rhee: 6 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 3 K/3 BB. ERA down to 0.56. :) Peoria wins it 4-0 as Marcos Mateo throws 3 scoreless innings to finish the game. He struck out the last 6 hitters he faced and 8 total.

 

who is marcos mateo? any sort of prospect? i see he had pretty solid numbers last year as part of the reds organization, but he's 24 already. sounds like he should probably be in daytona or west tennessee right now.

 

oh, and dae-eun rhee. if he keeps this up, he will not have a long stay in peoria.

 

Well, he's old and he's repeating. All I know is the Cubs got him for Buck Coats and he's Juan Mateo's cousin.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Simokaitis doing his Marmol impersonation, haha