Minor League Discussion & Boxes 8-17-2008

[Guest]

All boxes posted!

[Lefty]

Jeremy Papelbon threw 6 shutout innings today, he's now up to 35.1 scoreless innings. :shock:

 

I didn't realize he was as old as he is. And also, its weird having reached the point where I consider a prospect old if I'm younger than him.

 

Yeah. Greg Maddux was the first Cub (and major leaguer) younger than I was. Haven't gotten over it yet.

[craig]

Does anyone know anything about the radar gun at New Orleans? Gooz was consistently 88-92 mph on their radar, which seems odd when he was consistently 94-97 the last few times out with Daytona and Tennessee. I'm guess it's a slow gun, especially considering he gave up 1 hit (a single) and got 3 strikeouts.

 

Guzman himself said the slowness was real. Disappointing. We'll see how that goes as his appearances move beyond four.

 

"Guzman was a bit disappointed in his fastball, which topped out around 90 miles per hour. 'Before my surgery I was getting mid-90's, but today it wasn't as fast," Guzman said. "I felt good, but sometimes that happens and you have to adjust and just play with what you have that day.'"

[craig]

I'm really excited by Shafer having a good outing. He was good through is first three in the previous start, before giving up stuff in his 4th inning, the longest he'd gone since college. Might be wishful thinking, but I hope that he's only now getting his arm strength and command rebuilt, and what we got first-three previous start and during yesterday's start is the real thing, and it's good.

 

Obviously it's early, but he'd been in my mind as a could-bust-fast guy. He'd looked lousy in the CWS, ping was unimpressed, most of the scouting reports had his existent velocity as very fringy, and he'd started very blah.

 

So yesterday's clean outing is really encouraging that he may be a legit prospect worthy of 2nd round selection, with the control that makes winners, and hopefully enough stuff besides. Hope he can keep it up and emerge as a good-value draft pick and a legit big-league prospect.

 

So cal, remind me of what we know about his velocity. You watched/listened to an early Boise outing by him, and he had fastball that was in low 90's? Do you know if that was regular (like his working fastball), or a deal where a guy is throwing mostly 86-89, but topped out at 91 a time or two? And you either saw or heard the announcers say that his curveball looked very professional? And if I've got it right, the draft reports had his spring fastball as upper 80's, occasional touch into the 90-92 range, but it had averaged a bit faster and touched 95 as a freshman?

[Guest]

So cal, remind me of what we know about his velocity. You watched/listened to an early Boise outing by him, and he had fastball that was in low 90's? Do you know if that was regular (like his working fastball), or a deal where a guy is throwing mostly 86-89, but topped out at 91 a time or two? And you either saw or heard the announcers say that his curveball looked very professional? And if I've got it right, the draft reports had his spring fastball as upper 80's, occasional touch into the 90-92 range, but it had averaged a bit faster and touched 95 as a freshman?

 

I watched his outing two games ago (Aug 11) and the only velocity read I got was a 91 mph fastball. The announcer just said something "Shafer got that fastball in at 91" - I don't know if that was his top reading, if the 91 was actually his standard velocity and he hit higher on the gun or what. That August 11th start was really good except for 1 meaty fastball down the middle in the 4th that resulted in a 2-run HR (the only 2 runs he gave up). He did finish that 4th inning with a nice strikeout on a curve. His curve looked good both times I've seen him - that start on Aug 11 and also on Aug 6th - it was sharp and clearly fooling the hitters.

 

You're right on the draft reports, that's exactly what I've read too.

 

Shafer used to work from 91-94 mph with his fastball and now ranges from 88-91 mph.

[Guest]

A rare mention of a Mesa Cub in Baseball America's Daily Dish:

 

Baseball America's Daily Dish[/url]"]Cubs second baseman Vincent Watkins went 4-for-6 with a double, a run scored and a run driven in. The Cubs drafted Watkins in the 21st round of this year’s draft and paid him $500,000 to play pro ball instead of attending Wichita State. Watkins hasn’t hit for a lot of power, but his contact and on-base skills have been on display this season as he’s hit .294/.456/.333.

[craig]

A.... Watkins hasn’t hit for a lot of power, but his contact and on-base skills have been on display this season as he’s hit .294/.456/.333. /quote]

 

Not real common to have an OBP .123 higher than your sllugging.

[Guest]

Does anyone know anything about the radar gun at New Orleans? Gooz was consistently 88-92 mph on their radar, which seems odd when he was consistently 94-97 the last few times out with Daytona and Tennessee. I'm guess it's a slow gun, especially considering he gave up 1 hit (a single) and got 3 strikeouts.

 

Guzman himself said the slowness was real. Disappointing. We'll see how that goes as his appearances move beyond four.

 

"Guzman was a bit disappointed in his fastball, which topped out around 90 miles per hour. 'Before my surgery I was getting mid-90's, but today it wasn't as fast," Guzman said. "I felt good, but sometimes that happens and you have to adjust and just play with what you have that day.'"

 

Inside the Ivy[/url]"]“I’ve been throwing in the middle 90s,” Guzman said after the game. “I don’t know what happened. It (arm) feels great, but it’s just one of those things.”

 

Of his 34 pitches, 2 were curves and 3 were changeups.

 

Des Moines Register[/url]"]"He had an overpowering fastball, threw some good breaking balls, worked ahead in the count and it didn't take him many pitches to get outs," Iowa manager Pat Listach said.

[Guest]

Does anyone know anything about the radar gun at New Orleans? Gooz was consistently 88-92 mph on their radar, which seems odd when he was consistently 94-97 the last few times out with Daytona and Tennessee. I'm guess it's a slow gun, especially considering he gave up 1 hit (a single) and got 3 strikeouts.

 

Guzman himself said the slowness was real. Disappointing. We'll see how that goes as his appearances move beyond four.

 

"Guzman was a bit disappointed in his fastball, which topped out around 90 miles per hour. 'Before my surgery I was getting mid-90's, but today it wasn't as fast," Guzman said. "I felt good, but sometimes that happens and you have to adjust and just play with what you have that day.'"

 

Inside the Ivy[/url]"]“I’ve been throwing in the middle 90s,” Guzman said after the game. “I don’t know what happened. It (arm) feels great, but it’s just one of those things.”

 

Of his 34 pitches, 2 were curves and 3 were changeups.

 

Des Moines Register[/url]"]"He had an overpowering fastball, threw some good breaking balls, worked ahead in the count and it didn't take him many pitches to get outs," Iowa manager Pat Listach said.

 

What the heck?

 

The Daily Herald | Bruce Miles[/url]"]The other interesting player is Guzman, whom the Cubs said hit 96 mph on his fastball in his most recent rehab outing for Iowa.

[Jon]

Don't worry, Raisin. I'm sure installing properly calibrated Pitchf/x systems in every ballpark is at the top of MiLB's list...