Minor League Discussion & Boxes 8-18-2008

[Rob]

I heart Josh Vitters.

[VanceJergins]

I hope Rebel and Jericho both make it to the Cubs.

[Guest]

Tyler Colvin up to 2 for 4 with a walk. The batting average is up to .256 right now.

[Guest]

Rundle strikes out and Vitters fouls out their second time up.

[Rob]

Tyler Colvin up to 2 for 4 with a walk. The batting average is up to .256 right now.

 

Nice to see him walk again. I'd been starting to worry that he was completely abandoning his newfound patience.

[Shilzzz]

seems like there are some very interesting prospects these days, both position and pitchers.

[Guest]

Up to the minute:

 

Drew Rundle - 0 for 2, BB, 2 K

Josh Vitters - 1/3, 2B (18)

Ryan Flaherty 0/2, BB, 2 K

James: Leverton: 4 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 7 GO-1 FO

 

Matt Cerda hit a 2-run HR for Mesa.

[craig]

Leverton good outing. He's already 22, another position-pitcher switcher. Has been an extreme groundball guy, too many walks, too few K's.

 

Might be a project with a good groundball fastball who will take a few years to try to come up with a breaking ball.

[Guest]

Leverton struggles in the 5th, giving up 2 runs and only getting 1 out.

 

Rundle doubled his 4th time up. Vitters flew out deep. Flaherty singled.

[Outshined_One]

I just got back from the Chiefs game! As always, it was quite the enjoyable time and I really recommend people heading out there to take in a game. O'Brien Field is a really enjoyable place to take in a ball game. Plus the ivy is really coming in nicely! :D

 

My notes from the game...

 

-I met Nate! He was a really nice guy and I was really glad he took the time to say hello and chat with me. I was glad to hear he previously met with a few other people on this forum before!

 

-The game itself was really enjoyable. Peoria won down 5-3 going into the bottom of the 9th with Wyatt-Samson-Rosa due up. Peoria had a number of chances throughout the game, but had trouble cashing in runs. Wyatt hit a hard flyball to LF that Clinton's LF took a weird route on and making an ill-advised dive towards, resulting in Wyatt standing on second. Samson hit a single and got Wyatt over to third. Rosa got himself down 0-2, but managed to hit a shot into right center that scored both runs and got him into third sliding. Guyer did the rest by dumping the ball into the OF for the easy run.

 

-The radar gun was broken half the time in Peoria tonight, so some of my readings on the pitchers could be a bit off.

 

-I liked what I saw of Casey Coleman. He does a very good job of hiding the ball and disguising his delivery. Stuff-wise, he reminded me of Acosta with a slightly better fastball and a curveball with a little less bite to it. In the times the radar looked like it was working, his fastball was clocked around 88-90. It wouldn't surprise me if he got the FB up to around 91/92. His mechanics are fairly sound, although he may need to tighten his glove arm action up. He kept the ball on the ground really well and only hard two hard hit balls the entire night (both to deep center, one dropping for a hit). In the second inning, some cheap grounders were what got him in trouble. He could be a middle of the rotation starter down the road, since it looked like he might be able to bulk up a bit more.

 

-Not much else has changed since I last saw the Chiefs at Wrigley. Rosa needs a lot more seasoning and coaching at 3B if he's going to stick there. Ridling hit yet another shot out of the park. Guyer looked solid in CF and at the plate. Siegfried needs better conditioning if he's ever going to be more than a middle reliever, since his stuff tends to fall off significantly after his first inning pitched. Samson has improved his defense and looks better at SS than when I saw him back in May.

 

-Turning to the Lumber Kings, Justin Smoak is not going to stay in the MWL very long. His first AB was a walk on a full count. His next two ABs were very loud outs to the OF. His double was the loudest hit ball of the night. It would have been a HR if he elevated it another foot or two. He looked solid defensively at 1B, to boot.

 

-Beavan didn't impress me very much as a prospect. Here's his THT Writeup from the 2007 draft. The guy is 6'7, but he was working in the high 80s/low 90s all night. He had a decent breaking ball which the homeplate ump was happy to give him a corner on. His delivery is very slow and very stiff. He still throws across his body, although the recoil is not quite as violent as it was when he was in HS. He seems to have eliminated the step-over from his delivery and has added two steps to his windup that really slowed him down (ball and glove behind his head, turns his back to the batter). He looks much more tall and fall than anything else, imo.

 

That's about it!

[Guest]

All boxes posted!

[Guest]

That's some lofty company:

 

PeoriaChiefs.com[/url]"]Rosa struck out once to move past Chris Duncan for 20th all-time in Chiefs single season history

[wvcbxl]

According to Alex Maestri's blog (and Google's always questionable translation from Italian to English), Maestri had an MRI late in July on his shoulder which revealed slight tendonitis. He won't need surgery and rest would be enough - the doctors thought he would be able to throw by August 20th. The blog entry was on July 31st and he hasn't updated since. I'm guessing he might be in the Cubs plans for the AFL if he's recovered in time.

 

Link in Italian: http://alemae.spaces.live.com/

Link translated to English: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=http://alemae.spaces.live.com/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=7&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dalessandro%2Bmaestri%2Bblog%26hl%3Den

 

I didn't bother with the Google translation (I understand enough Italian to figure out what he writes), but what you say is correct. I found his description of the procedure quite funny, as well as how he complains about the heat in Arizona. :lol:

[TruffleShuffle]

That's some lofty company:

 

PeoriaChiefs.com[/url]"]Rosa struck out once to move past Chris Duncan for 20th all-time in Chiefs single season history

 

i'm not even sure why they'd mention that. what a useless piece of information.

[Guest]

Daily Dish:

 

Catcher Matthew Cerda went 2-for-4 with a home run as the AZL Cubs out slugged the AZL Athletics, 10-8.

 

Welington Castillo (Cubs) has had a curious season. In 33 games with high Class A Daytona, the 21-year-old catcher hit .273/.299/.339. In 50 games with Double-A Tennessee, Castillo is batting .297/.359/.429. It’s all still small sample, but it’s an encouraging sign that Castillo has been able to find success in the Southern League, including last night when he went 5-for-6 with a double.

 

Boise third baseman Josh Vitters (Cubs) went 1-for-5 with a double and is fourth in the league in hitting.

 

On the controversial play in the Daytona game:

 

Daytona News-Journal[/url]"]The first firework of the night came when Jupiter's No. 3 batter, Logan Morrison, hit a sharp grounder to Daytona pitcher Jay Jackson.

 

Instead of throwing him out at first, Jackson ran down baserunner Bryan Petersen between second and third base and appeared to tag the runner for the second out.

 

Bases umpire Greg Anderson didn't agree, calling Petersen safe at third base.

 

Jackson argued the call and then manager Jody Davis came out and got in on things, gesturing that Petersen ran out of the baselines in an attempt to avoid the tag.

 

"I just felt like JJ made the tag, and if he didn't make the tag the baserunner was way out of the baselines," said Davis. "When I felt like the guy was tagged out and the baserunner actually quit running himself, I'm kind of feeling like there's a tag made."

 

Cubs catcher Steve Clevenger expressed his displeasure with home plate umpire Joe Hannigan, who promptly tossed Clevenger out of the game.