Minor League Discussion & Boxes 6-1-2008

[Outshined_One]

Box Scores

 

Iowa won 8-3 Box Score

 

2B E. Patterson 1/5, R, RBI, HR (2), K, E (6, throw)

CF F. Pie 2/5, 2 R, RBI, HR (3)

LF M. Murton 0/3, 2 BB, R

1B J. Dubois 2/5, R, RBI, 2B (1), K

RF J. Kroeger 2/4, BB, 2 R, RBI, 2B (16), 2 K

3B C. McGehee 1/3, R, 2 K, HBP

SP J. Berg 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2/2 K/BB, 2 HR, WP, 8-7 GO-FO

 

Tennessee won 9-5 Box Score

 

CF S. Fuld 2/5, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2B (3), HR (1)

SS M. Camp 0/4

LF T. Colvin 0/4, R, RBI, HBP

1B M. Craig 4/4, BB, 2 R, RBI, 2B (4), HR (3)

RF D. Deeds 1/4, BB, RBI, K, SB (2)

DH J. Fox 1/4, 2B (6), 2 K

3B M. Matulia 0/4, BB, K

C W. Castillo 1/3, BB, R, RBI, 2B (1)

SP T. Watson 3.2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 1/2 K/BB, HR, 2 HBP, 6-3 GO-FO

RP M. Holliman 1.1 hitless/scoreless, 2/3 K/BB, Balk, 0-2 GO-FO

 

Daytona won 8-3 Box Score

 

2B J. Mota 3/4, BB, 2 R, SB (2)

SS D. Barney 2/4, R, RBI, SB (3)

C S. Clevenger 1/5, K

LF T. Wright 1/3, 2 BB, 2 R, K

RF R. Harvey 0/3, BB, R, 3 K

CF J. Wyatt 0/2, BB, R, K

3B J. Lansford 1/4, 2 RBI, K

DH Y. Carter 1/4, RBI, 2B (6), 2 K

SP E. Caridad 5 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3/2 K/BB, 7-5 GO-FO

RP C. Lambert 1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1/0 K/BB, 1-1 GO-FO

 

Peoria won 6-4 Box Score

 

DH E. Lara 1/5, 2 K

SS G. Guzman 1/5, R, 2B (3), K

LF B. Guyer 2/5, R, RBI, K, SB (2), CS (2)

3B J. Rosa 1/4, BB, RBI, K

2B M. Smith 2/5, 2 R, RBI, 2B (15), HR (7), 2 K

RF D. Johnston 3/4, BB, R, 2 RBI, HR (8)

CF C. Andersen 1/3, RBI, HBP

SP H. Chen 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2/2 K/BB, HBP, 9-4 GO-FO

RP T. Blackford 2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2/1 K/BB, 3-1 GO-FO

 

OVERALL: 4-0

Edited June 2, 2008 by Outshined_One

[Guest]

Probable Starters:

 

Iowa: RHP Justin Berg (Iowa & Tenn: 1-5, 5.06 ERA, 48 IP, 19 K/20 BB)

Tennessee: RHP Tanner Watson (1-1, 4.53 ERA, 45.2 IP, 30 K/17 BB)

Daytona: RHP Esmailin Caridad (4-4, 4.39 ERA, 55.1 IP, 25 K/12 BB)

Peoria: RHP Hung-Wen Chen (0-3, 3.30 ERA, 43.2 IP, 28 K/9 BB)

[Jon]

Nice to see Pie leave the yard today. Oppo, no less. He was 2-5.

[TruffleShuffle]

iowa scored 6 in the 8th to win 8-3 today. pie went 2-5 with a homer; patterson 1-5 with a homer.

 

tennessee won 9-5; just like iowa they scored a lot of late runs (7 in the last 3 innings). Fuld went 2-5 with a homer and a double; larry craig (i'm forgetting his real first name - matt maybe) went 4-4 with 2 singles, 1 double and 1 homer. holliman pitched 1.1 hitless out of the bullpen but walked three; grant johnson (is he even a prospect?) got the win but pretty much sucked (2.1 IP, 1 ER, but 4 H and 2 BB against 0 K). colvin was 0-4.

 

daytona won 8-3. thomas didn't play and everyone else on that team is lousy.

 

peoria made it a perfect day, winning 6-4. dylan johnston went 3-4 with a home run, but even more surprisingly drew a walk and did not commit an error. some shortstop named guzman is hitting .455, but it's probably in about 12 ABs or something.

[Guest]

Jonathan Mota with 3 hits and a walk today for Daytona. I've always liked him but he's gotten the minor league filler treatment. Anyways, he's up to .337/.371/.408...not bad for a guy who just turned 21 today in the pitcher-friendly FSL.

 

Wellington Castillo went 1 for 3 with a double and a walk in his AA debut.

 

RHP (and former corner IF) Taylor Parker struck out 5 in 2 scoreless innings for Peoria. He now has 42 K in 34 innings with a 1.59 ERA and a .193 BAA. 19-year old Gian Guzman has parlayed his hot first two games in Peoria into the 2nd spot in the lineup. He got an XBH today. :) Marquez Smith hit his 7th HR of the year; Dylan Johnston hit his 8th. It's a shame Dylan can't play in the infield. Smith might be something if he can play second base permanently.

[Guest]

iowa scored 6 in the 8th to win 8-3 today. pie went 2-5 with a homer; patterson 1-5 with a homer.

 

tennessee won 9-5; just like iowa they scored a lot of late runs (7 in the last 3 innings). Fuld went 2-5 with a homer and a double; larry craig (i'm forgetting his real first name - matt maybe) went 4-4 with 2 singles, 1 double and 1 homer. holliman pitched 1.1 hitless out of the bullpen but walked three; grant johnson (is he even a prospect?) got the win but pretty much sucked (2.1 IP, 1 ER, but 4 H and 2 BB against 0 K). colvin was 0-4.

 

daytona won 8-3. thomas didn't play and everyone else on that team is lousy.

 

peoria made it a perfect day, winning 6-4. dylan johnston went 3-4 with a home run, but even more surprisingly drew a walk and did not commit an error. some shortstop named guzman is hitting .455, but it's probably in about 12 ABs or something.

 

Matt Craig.

 

Gian Guzman. Close, 11 at bats.

[craig]

...RHP (and former corner IF) Taylor Parker struck out 5 in 2 scoreless innings for Peoria. He now has 42 K in 34 innings with a 1.59 ERA and a .193 BAA. ....

 

Cal or anybody else, do you have any scouting info on Parker? I know some of the basics: RHP, 6'3", two-way guy in HS, positions in college, switched to pitching last spring or the previous fall?

 

But do you know anything about his stuff? Does his knockout K-rate reflect a big-time big-league arm? Does he have a second pitch?

[ChiefsVoice]

RHP (and former corner IF) Taylor Parker struck out 5 in 2 scoreless innings for Peoria. He now has 42 K in 34 innings with a 1.59 ERA and a .193 BAA.

 

Actually his name is Blake Parker. Listed in Milb as Richard B. Parker. I think Taylor Parker is a completely different guy that was in the system. And Blake is legit.

[Guest]

Oops, good catch. You're right, Taylor used to be in the system. What type of stuff does Blake have?

[craig]

Blake is legit.

 

What type of stuff does Blake have?

 

Nate, I second Cal's question, about what Blake throws that makes him legit. I'd guess the standard fastball/slider combo, that both are very tough on Midwest League, and I'd guess that he has promising but sometimes inconsistent command of the slider?

 

In terms of fastball, how fast is he? 88-92, touching 94-95 on occasion? Who, if anybody, on that staff throws harder? Is his fastball more notable for speed, or for movement? In other words, does it look more like a 4-seam high fastball, or a 2-seam sinker/runner?

 

Any thoughts you can give us would be appreciated, since other than his statistical excellence and your comment that he's legit, I don't have any info on how he's getting so many guys out and K'ing so many.

[Guest]

Craig, someone asked AZ Phil over at The Cub Reporter and he had a nice, lengthy response. The gist of it:

 

As for what he throws, last time I saw him he had a 93 MPH fastball, a decent breaking ball, and a change that still needed to be perfected, but I don't know what he's throwing at Peoria.

 

Like other former catchers who become pitchers (Carlos Marmol, Randy Wells, Tim Lahey, et al), Parker has a "rubber arm" and can probably throw every day, mainly because he was already in the habit of throwing every day as a catcher. He would project as a reliever.

[mul21]

Craig, someone asked AZ Phil over at The Cub Reporter and he had a nice, lengthy response. The gist of it:

 

As for what he throws, last time I saw him he had a 93 MPH fastball, a decent breaking ball, and a change that still needed to be perfected, but I don't know what he's throwing at Peoria.

 

Like other former catchers who become pitchers (Carlos Marmol, Randy Wells, Tim Lahey, et al), Parker has a "rubber arm" and can probably throw every day, mainly because he was already in the habit of throwing every day as a catcher. He would project as a reliever.

 

 

I've noticed a few decent outings from Welss recently. Does he have any value at this point or is he just a meh kind of guy?

[craig]

I've noticed a few decent outings from Welss recently. Does he have any value at this point or is he just a meh kind of guy?

 

Good topic. A friend attended his most recent start, said he showed good control and a pretty good curveball, stadium didn't have a radar gun but thought his fastball looked decent, said he used it high in the zone for some of his K's, but said his stuff didn't look filthy. Another guy showed somebody having charted his pitches in a spring training outing, and had his fastballs mostly in the 89-91 range.

 

I think he's interesting but in a limited way. He's always been a high-K guy. His minor league profile showed excellent K/BB coming up, with some vulnerability to the HR-allowed, which I think goes with throwing 90-mph fastballs up in the zone and throwing curves which sometimes hang. When he hit AAA two years ago, his hits-allowed went up. Last year, his K's were still excellent, and his hits-allowed weren't as bad, but they were still high, plus his walk rate was too high. Thus far this year, his K-rate is excellent, his walk rate is back down, and his hits/HR-allowed have both been solid thus far.

 

My guess is he's a guy with decent but sub-average stuff who needs above-average location to succeed in AAA/NL. He's a proven K-pitcher, so he's got something that makes minor-leaguers miss. He's still only 25, so after conversion from catcher it's possible his command might be a bit better than last year. I don't think he's a high ceiling excitement guy. But if the contol is there, guys with decent stuff but excellent control can be pretty useful. We've got Marquis and Lilly in our existing rotation, and Lieber and Marshall in the wings; none of those three have exactly high ceiling excitement stuff either. I think Hart's stuff is better than Wells's. So I think there's a possibility that Wells might emerge as a back-of-the-rotation or back-of-the-bullpen option who might be the prefered anti-awful choice at some point. Who knows, maybe next season he could fill the kind of role that Lieber has this year?

[Guest]

Over the last 3 years at West Tenn and Iowa, every report I've read has had Wells at 88-92 on the FB.

[Outshined_One]

larry craig (i'm forgetting his real first name - matt maybe) went 4-4 with 2 singles, 1 double and 1 homer.

 

He's toe-tappingly good!