Minor League Discussion & Boxes 4-10-2009

[Outshined_One]

Box Scores

 

Iowa won 6-2 Box Score

 

CF S. Fuld 0/4, BB, R, K

3B N. Spears 2/5, R, RBI

1B J. Fox 2/3, BB, R, 4 RBI, HR (1), K

RF B. Snyder 0/4, BB, 2 K

SP J. Ascanio 4 scoreless, 2 H, 4/0 K/BB, HBP, 8-0 GO-FO

RP JR Mathes 2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1/1 K/BB, 3-2 GO-FO

RP J. Stevens 1 scoreless, 0 H, 3/1 K/BB, HBP

RP C. Fox 1 scoreless, 0 H, 1/1 K/BB, 0-2 GO-FO

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

 

Tennessee won 10-3 Box Score

 

2B T. Thomas 4/5, 4 R, 5 RBI, 2B (1), 2 HR (2), K

LF T. Wright 1/5, RBI, K

CF B. Guyer 1/5

C S. Clevenger 1/5, R, K

SS D. Barney 2/3, R, 2 RBI, HR (1)

RF R. Robnett 0/2, R, K

SP H. Chen 5.1 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 5/1 K/BB, 8-3 GO-FO

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

RP B. Parker 1 scoreless, 1 H, 3/1 K/BB

 

Daytona won 7-6 Box Score

 

2B N. Samson 1/3, BB, 2 RBI, 2B (1), 2 CS (2), E (1, fielding)

LF M. Gonzalez 1/4, K, SB (1)

DH T. Colvin 1/4, 2 R, 2B (1)

1B J. Rosa 2/4, R, 2 RBI, 2 2B (2), K

RF D. Johnston 0/1, 2 BB, R, K

3B M. Smith 1/3, BB, R, RBI, 2B (1), E (1, fielding)

CF D. Rundle 0/3

SS S. Castro 2/3, R, 2 RBI, CS (1), E (1, fielding)

SP M. Mateo 2 scoreless, 1 H, 1/0 K/BB, 3-2 GO-FO

RP R. Searle 3.1 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 0/0 K/BB, HBP, 9-1 GO-FO

RP D. Cales 1.2 scoreless, 1 H, 1/0 K/BB, 3-1 GO-FO

 

Peoria lost 3-2 Box Score

 

DH J. Harrison 3/4, R, 2B (1), SB (2)

LF K. Burke 1/4, E (1, throw)

3B J. Vitters 1/4, RBI

RF N. Perez 1/4, R, 2B (1), K

1B R. Ridling 1/4, RBI

SS R. Flaherty 0/3, K

2B J. Lake 1/3, 2B (1), K

SP C. Carpenter 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 6/1 K/BB, Balk, 5-4 GO-FO

RP M. Hatley 1 scoreless, 1 H, 0/1 K/BB, 0-3 GO-FO

RP C. Huseby 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1/0 K/BB, 2-0 GO-FO

 

OVERALL: 3-1

[Guest]

Probable Starters

 

Iowa: RHP Jose Ascanio (2008 at Iowa: 2-1, 5.10 ERA, 54.2 IP, 58 K/23 BB)

Tennessee: RHP Hung-Wen Chen (2008 at Peoria & Daytona: 4-5, 3.38 ERA, 128 IP, 86 K/25 BB)

Daytona: RHP Marcos Mateo (2008 at Peoria & Daytona: 5-3, 3.22 ERA, 103.1 IP, 85 K/36 BB)

Peoria: RHP Chris Carpenter (2008 at Mesa & Boise: 4-2, 4.64 ERA, 33 IP, 25 K/23 BB)

[Outshined_One]

I might make the drive over to Peoria today if the weather manages to clear up. Doesn't look too good at the moment, though.

[NCCubFan]

I'm thinking of going to Durham tonight to see David Price's first start of the year. I have the opposite weather issue to contend with, whether expected rain holds off long enough.

[MSG T]

I know I don't post in the MiL forum much, but with my new slot, I'm going to be able to get to more I-Cub games this year. I'll try to get on here more often this season and give you guys some details. I always appreciate reading about what some of you watch regularly for the teams I never get a chance to see.

 

 

BTW, does anyone know if they have expanded the online streaming for MiL games? Would like to catch some of the lower levels online.

[TruffleShuffle]

i think there are like 3 minor leaguers that i actually care about in the cubs' system.

[Outshined_One]

BTW, does anyone know if they have expanded the online streaming for MiL games? Would like to catch some of the lower levels online.

 

MiLB.tv streams games, although I don't know if anyone here has it. Boise streams their home games for free, although they don't start up until mid-summer.

 

You can find the minor league audio feeds here.

[Outshined_One]

Looks like the rain's passed through Peoria. It'll be in the 40s tonight, but I'm still going to make the trek!

 

Hopefully the game won't get called due to wet grounds before I go there. :?

[ChiefsVoice]

Looks like the rain's passed through Peoria. It'll be in the 40s tonight, but I'm still going to make the trek!

 

Hopefully the game won't get called due to wet grounds before I go there. :?

 

We are golden. Tarp came off at 2. Sun is out. 52 right now. Same lineup as last night.

[TruffleShuffle]

starlin castro - one of the few minor leaguers that i care about - has 2 more singles and has knocked in a pair of runs.

 

vitters is 0-2; carpenter started and went 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K.

 

marcus mateo: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 K.

searle: 3.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 HBP.

[THISisTHEyear09]

Cales the win for Daytona he has filthy stuff.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Whats up with Ascanio starting for Iowa? Looks like he got the job done as they won 6-2, but has he ever stated before?

[craig]

Whats up with Ascanio starting for Iowa? Looks like he got the job done as they won 6-2, but has he ever stated before?

 

No air outs in his 4 innings, 4 K's, and 8 groundouts on only 55 pitches. Nice. I don't recall exactly, but I recall talk that in relief last year he only threw fastballs and sliders, and that his slider wasn't good like it had been when they'd scouted him. So I recall the idea was that they wanted him to get enough innings to at least rediscover his knockout slider. And perhaps work on his change as well.

[Outshined_One]

Alright, I'm back from the game. My pen ran out of ink in the third inning, so a lot of this is from memory. Some preliminary notes...

 

-As always, I had a ball at O'Brien Park. The atmosphere is great and very family-friendly. Considering that I paid $5 for a ticket and got seats two rows behind home plate, I really cannot complain about the accommodations. If you ever get the chance, I really encourage you to take the trip down to Peoria to catch a game.

 

-That out of the way, today's game was not very friendly weather-wise. It was 50 degrees when I got to the park and the temperatures dipped down into the low 40s as the night went on. There was also a swirling wind that didn't exactly help matters, either. The grass and warning track appeared to be slick, as there were a few stumbles and slips in the outfield.

 

-One other thing I want to emphasize is that it's early in the season and a lot of my observations may not reflect how good or bad players are down the road. Considering this was not a day that was hitter-friendly and a lot of the pitchers still aren't totally stretched out yet, their best baseball this season is yet to come.

 

Anyways, onto my game notes...

 

-Chris Carpenter looked pretty good. The radar gun wasn't working in the early going and I wasn't in the mood to harass anyone in the stands about their readings, but when the gun got back up, Carpenter was working in the low 90s. He was regularly hitting 92/93 in the 5th inning, which was nice to see. His breaking pitch (I think slider?) had very nice late break on it and his change had some good action. He ran into some trouble in the fourth inning and the Cougars start hitting his pitches hard (including one hanging breaking ball that should have been jacked out of the park, but instead ended up being a long double). However, he worked around it and made the most of what he had. I remember hearing he has trouble with command/control on occasion, but he looked pretty sharp tonight with some clean mechanics.

 

-What in the heck happened to Huseby? The guy was working in the 80s when he came out of the pen. Maybe the Cubs are trying to build up his arm strength for later in the season when he'll be starting, but considering how much the Cubs forked over to sign him when they drafted him, this is not what I expected to see at this point in his career.

 

-The 0 BBs for the Chiefs is noticeable, but in fairness to them, the Cougars' pitchers were doing a solid job of working the strike zone tonight. Plus, they had plenty of hittable pitches for people tonight.

 

-With Josh Vitters...there's not a whole lot I can really say about him from tonight's game. There was one ball hit his way the entire night and that particular ball was a tough play for any 3B (low and hard grounder to his left that got under him as he laid out for it). His ABs looked fine and his swing was pretty nice, but he didn't do anything particularly noteworthy. The one thing I did like was that he made a conscious effort to use all fields.

 

-I see both sides of the argument with Ryan Flaherty sticking at SS. On the one hand, the guy looks kind of awkward at SS. On the other hand, he did a good job out there tonight defensively. He handled the routine plays and made some fairly nice plays. I still don't think he'll stick at SS, but I see why the Cubs want to see if he can stick there.

 

-Nelson Perez is the kind of talent that excites me and yet worries me. His double was a frozen rope down the opposite field line. He has a cannon of an arm that has fairly good accuracy. However, he had an AB where he saw a steady diet of breaking balls and looked completely lost against them as he flailed away. I can definitely see why his walk numbers last season were not so good.

 

-Junior Lake looked alright. His error was on a bad hop on a ball that froze him. Much like Perez, his double was a frozen rope down the opposite field line. He made some decent plays at 2B, although it was pretty clear that he still has some work to do in terms of getting comfortable with his position. He had a scary moment during the game when a shallow pop fly was hit out his way. He seemed to have waved off CF Tony Campana and made the catch, but for whatever reason, Campana dove head-first for the ball and took out Lake's legs. Thankfully, both of them got back on their feet quickly afterwards.

 

-Josh Harrison has the potential to be one of those mighty mite types of guys. Standing next to guys like Flaherty, Perez, and Lake (all 6'2 and over), he looked like a midget. However, the guy did a very good job at the plate tonight, laying down a beautiful bunt single and splitting a gap. He also was a nuisance on the basepaths and seemed to have pretty good instincts out there.

 

-I didn't pay much attention to the Cougars. Christian and Coleman were their top two prospects out there and both looked decent, but no one on that team was really memorable.

 

That's about it from what I remember. I'm hoping to go back again soon!

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Tony Thomas went off. 4 for 5 with a 2B and 2 HR.

 

Strong day for relief pitchers. Stevens, Parker, my boy Cales, and Perconte all with good showings.

[Wrigley Rat]

Chris Huseby - 1 IP - 0 BB - All balls in play were hit on the ground - I'm hoping his control problems are behind him.

Nate Spears played 3B - only had 1 defensive opportunity and wasn't able to throw the runner out on a slow roller.

Jose Ascanio started and pitched 4 scoreless innings. Almost all outs were ground outs or strikeouts.

Jeff Stevens struck out the side in the 7th. He hit a batter, walked one, and witnessed a passed ball, but managed to escape without anyone scoring. He faced the 7-8-9-1-2 hitters.

Tony Thomas had an outstanding day at the plate hitting 2 solo HR's, a 2B, and a 1B. 3 flawless defensive plays.

Matt Camp had some time at 3B again today, but did not handle the ball. He did hit a SF, though.

Blake Lalli got the start at 1B today and went 2-for-5 with a run scored and an error.

Steve Clevenger started at catcher and had a single.

Darwin Barney hit a homerun.

Jonathan Mota only played half the game, but walked and got a single, and scored both times.

Hung Wen Chen had a very nice outing. He gave up one run in the 2nd inning on back-to-back doubles. His only other run scored in the 6th inning after he was taken out of the game - Chen walked the leadoff hitter and gave up a line drive single after a line drive out, when John Gaub came in. Gaub struck out his first batter, but threw a wild pitch that allowed a run to score before striking out the next batter. Gaub struck out two of the three lefties he faced (the other walked). It was a right handed PH who doubled off Gaub.

Marwin Gonzalez played in LF today. He had 3 balls hit to him (2 hits and 1 line drive caught).

Marcos Mateo started, but only pitched 2 innings. 1 hit - 1 K.

Ryan Searle piggy-backed and had some bad numbers - maybe we should rush him to Iowa - all kidding aside, he did very well in his first three innings (all ground balls), but had no defense around him (2 errors). In Searle's 4th inning of work, either he was tired or the third Daytona error shook Searle up a bit because he gave up 4 straight hits before being pulled.

Edited April 11, 2009 by Wrigley Rat

[sporrer17]

Tyrus Thomas had an outstanding day at the plate hitting 2 solo HR's, a 2B, and a 1B. 3 flawless defensive plays.

 

Dang. He was just starting to play well for the bulls :wink:

[Outshined_One]

Tyrus Thomas had an outstanding day at the plate hitting 2 solo HR's, a 2B, and a 1B. 3 flawless defensive plays.

 

Dang. He was just starting to play well for the bulls :wink:

 

It only figures he'd have 3 flawless defensive plays!

[sporrer17]

I didnt see any blocks in his stat line. disappointing.

[craig]

Outshined, thanks much for the report. Nice to hear that Carpenter looked reasonably good and reasonably controlled. I've kind of been assuming that he'll be a bust and a wildman. But yesterday's outing and your report sounds like his control issues might not be hopeless, and his breaking ball sounds promising. Any sense with his fastball whether it looks a little sinky, 2-seamer, versus 4-seamer? BA always talks Carpenter as if he's so exceptionally fast, 95's and touch 98 mph kind of talk; your report that he's fast but working more in the 92-93 kind of range puts it into better context.

 

Disappointing that Huseby is that slow. But thanks for the info.

 

Hatley and Perconte: how did Hatley come in velocity-wise? We've at times gotten reports that he could get pretty up into the 90's. Was that the case last night?

[Wrigley Rat]

Tyrus Thomas had an outstanding day at the plate hitting 2 solo HR's, a 2B, and a 1B. 3 flawless defensive plays.

 

Dang. He was just starting to play well for the bulls :wink:

Oops - fixed! :oops:

At least I know that someone reads what I write! :)

[Guest]

Yeah, I'm interested in Hatley too.

 

He started off well in Boise last season before struggling and then getting hurt. A few times when I listened in to Boise games, he was topping out at 96.

[Outshined_One]

Outshined, thanks much for the report. Nice to hear that Carpenter looked reasonably good and reasonably controlled. I've kind of been assuming that he'll be a bust and a wildman. But yesterday's outing and your report sounds like his control issues might not be hopeless, and his breaking ball sounds promising. Any sense with his fastball whether it looks a little sinky, 2-seamer, versus 4-seamer? BA always talks Carpenter as if he's so exceptionally fast, 95's and touch 98 mph kind of talk; your report that he's fast but working more in the 92-93 kind of range puts it into better context.

 

Disappointing that Huseby is that slow. But thanks for the info.

 

Hatley and Perconte: how did Hatley come in velocity-wise? We've at times gotten reports that he could get pretty up into the 90's. Was that the case last night?

 

It was a bit hard to tell what fastballs he was using, although I wouldn't be surprised if he used both. His fastball would range from 88 to 93 on the gun and there was a decent mix of ground balls and fly balls that he got out of them.

 

Hatley looked okay. His breaking stuff was fairly effective and I think he hit 90/91 on the gun. Perconte was working in the high 80s.