Minor League Discussion & Boxes 4-15-2009

[Outshined_One]

Box Scores

 

Iowa lost 7-4 Box Score

 

CF S. Fuld 0/5, Assist (2B)

2B N. Spears 1/3, BB, R

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

RF B. Snyder 0/4, 2 K, CS (1)

SP J. Ascanio 4 scoreless, 3 H, 4/1 K/BB, HBP, 7-1 GO-FO

RP J. Estrada 2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0/1 K/BB, 4-2 GO-FO

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

RP K. Hart .1 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 0/2 K/BB, HR, 1-0 GO-FO

RP JR Mathes .2 scoreless, 1 H, 0-1 GO-FO

 

Tennessee lost 6-2 Box Score

 

2B T. Thomas 1/4

3B M. Camp 1/3, BB, K, SB (1)

LF T. Wright 0/3, K, HBP, E (1, throw)

CF B. Guyer 0/3, BB, R, E (1, missed catch)

C W. Castillo 1/3, BB, K

SS D. Barney 1/3, K

SP J. Russell 4 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 1/2 K/BB, HR, 4-6 GO-FO

RP A. Maestri 2.2 scoreless, 1 H, 1/3 K/BB, 3-3 GO-FO

RP J. Papelbon 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1/1 K/BB, 0-3 GO-FO

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

 

Daytona lost 3-1 Box Score

 

2B N. Samson 0/4

DH T. Colvin 0/2, 2 BB, R, 2 K, SB (1)

3B M. Gonzalez 1/4, RBI, 2 K, CS (1)

RF D. Johnston 0/3, K

CF D. Rundle 0/2, BB, K

SS S. Castro 0/2, BB, SB (2)

SP M. Mateo 3 scoreless, 1 H, 5/1 K/BB, 1-3 GO-FO

RP H. Williamson 2.1 scoreless, 2 H, 1/1 K/BB, 4-2 GO-FO

RP J. Muyco 1.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2/0 K/BB, 1-1 GO-FO

RP A. Alburquerque 1 perfect, 2-1 GO-FO

 

Peoria won 3-2 Box Score

 

PR/CF K. Burke 0/1, K

LF J. Harrison 1/4, K, CS (3), PO (1B)

1B R. Ridling 2/3, BB, 2 R, RBI, 2 2B (4)

RF NotNeifi Perez 1/4, RBI, 2B (3), K

3B J. Vitters 3/4, RBI

SS R. Flaherty 1/3, BB, K

DH J. Lake 0/4, 2 K

SP A. Shafer 7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 7/1 K/BB, HR, 11-3 GO-FO

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

 

OVERALL: 1-3

[Guest]

Probable Starters

 

Iowa: RHP Jose Ascanio (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 4 IP, 4 K/0 BB)

Tennessee: LHP James Russell (0-1, 5.79 ERA, 4.2 IP, 2 K/1 BB)

Daytona: RHP Marcos Mateo (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 2 IP, 1 K/0 BB)

Peoria: RHP Aaron Shafer (1-0, 1.80 ERA, 5 IP, 2 K/0 BB)

[craig]

Ascanio: he looked great at times in camp, and was great in opening start. Can he sustain and do it again?

 

Russell: was awful most of last year, and was at least as bad in opener. Probably a no-interest washout. If not, he needs to start putting some games together quickly.

 

Mateo and Searle piggy-backed last time, so I expect Searle again. Both are interesting and significant. Both could get increasingly interesting if they could sustain some success.

 

Shafer's interesting.

 

Russell's the only obvious blah tonight.

[Guest]

Marcos Mateo is dealing (3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K). James Russell is not (1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 0 K).

[Guest]

Marcos Mateo is dealing (3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K). James Russell is not (1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 0 K).

 

That's Mateo's final line.

 

Josh Vitters gets an infield single in his first at bat for Peoria.

[TruffleShuffle]

Marcos Mateo is dealing (3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K). James Russell is not (1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 0 K).

 

That's Mateo's final line.

 

Josh Vitters gets an infield single in his first at bat for Peoria.

 

2 singles now. call him up.

[Guest]

Marcos Mateo is dealing (3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K). James Russell is not (1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 0 K).

 

That's Mateo's final line.

 

Josh Vitters gets an infield single in his first at bat for Peoria.

 

2 singles now. call him up.

 

And this one out of the infield!

[TruffleShuffle]

Marcos Mateo is dealing (3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K). James Russell is not (1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 0 K).

 

That's Mateo's final line.

 

Josh Vitters gets an infield single in his first at bat for Peoria.

 

2 singles now. call him up.

 

And this one out of the infield!

 

plus colvin has a walk and stolen base tonight. i'd say tim wilken has some vindication.

[Outshined_One]

plus colvin has a walk and stolen base tonight. i'd say tim wilken has some vindication.

 

Shafer has also had a very nice day. Hopefully those 7 Ks weren't the result of smoke and mirrors.

[craig]

plus colvin has a walk and stolen base tonight. i'd say tim wilken has some vindication.

 

Shafer has also had a very nice day. Hopefully those 7 Ks weren't the result of smoke and mirrors.

 

Shafer is throwing a lot of strikes to get in 7 innings under the mid-April pitch count, while getting some K's and allowing some baserunners. One walk in 12 innings thus far. Last summer, he was 5 walks/32IP at Boise. Pretty clear that he's a strike-thrower at this level. Whether the stuff is any good and will be playable versus better hitters, time will tell.

[manbearcub]

Ascansio 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K - 54 pitches 31 strikes

 

iowa up 1-0 in the 5th

[craig]

At least through the first four innings of his second start, Ascanio is also on a strike-throwing binge. 4 more shutout innings in thus far, at only 54 pitches. He got his first air-out of the season in the 4th.

 

After Iowa and Albuquerque scored a million runs last night, tonight is 1-0 after 4. After working relief in camp well into March, I wonder what Ascanio's pitch countis up to? I doubt he'll go much longer than the 4 he's already pitched.

[manbearcub]

At least through the first four innings of his second start, Ascanio is also on a strike-throwing binge. 4 more shutout innings in thus far, at only 54 pitches. He got his first air-out of the season in the 4th.

 

After Iowa and Albuquerque scored a million runs last night, tonight is 1-0 after 4. After working relief in camp well into March, I wonder what Ascanio's pitch countis up to? I doubt he'll go much longer than the 4 he's already pitched.

looks like he is done, replaced by jesse estrada.

[Guest]

Yeah, Shafer is definitely throwing a lot of strikes. Only 1 BB in 12 innings but 12 hits (3 XBH) in in the same time. Love seeing the 7 Ks though.

 

Huseby followed Shafer with a scoreless inning with 2 strike outs and once again, no walks.

 

Vitters went 3 for 4 but all 3 hits were singles.

[Guest]

Colvin ended the night 0 for 2 with 2 walks. That's 6 walks in 19 at bats already. Crazy.

[manbearcub]

Another HR for Jake Fox. hes 2-4. Rivas also homered

 

Stevens struggled walking 2 (1 intentionally) and giving up a hit, but got out of it.

 

Kevin Hart has given up a HR, 2b, and 1b so far in 1/3 of an inning.

[karenmac]

Shafer looked great again tonight - wasn't keeping score, but still lots of 1st pitch strikes. It did seem to me, though, that he wasn't *quite* hitting his spots like he did last Thursday (or just a pickier ump, perhaps). It also seemed like there were more balls in the air with this outing. Then again, pretty hard to keep it on the ground as much as he did the last time around. Pretty sure he had family or friends in town to see the game too, as I passed a MO license plate with Wichita St stuff in the window on the way back to my car after the game. Glad they were able to make it!

 

Also, it looks like Mike Brenly has made it to Peoria. He wasn't on the roster tonight, but was down in the bullpen warming guys up during the game. Not sure when or what the roster change will look like, but would guess it won't be too long before it happens.

 

Thought I'd mention too, that, while Vitters did hit tonight, he had an error at 3rd too (airmailed a throw to first early in the game), so still some work to do there. Guess it's good to see even the first rounders are human :)

[manbearcub]

yikes, Kevin Hart 1/3 IP, 4 H, 5(so far) R, 2 BB, 0 K

[craig]

Shafer looked great again tonight - wasn't keeping score, but still lots of 1st pitch strikes. It did seem to me, though, that he wasn't *quite* hitting his spots like he did last Thursday (or just a pickier ump, perhaps). It also seemed like there were more balls in the air with this outing. ...)

 

Actually he was 11GO/3AO in the box score, so not many fly balls that were caught, at any rate.

 

Thanks for the good report.

 

Of course we've got to ask the scouting questions, to whatever degree you feel confident to answer.

1. Does Peoria show radar readings for velocity? If so, and if you remember, what kind of readings was Shafer getting? (And if you noticed, Huseby?)

 

2. The report on him last summer was that he had a good breaking ball (curveball), on good days. Did you notice some?

[SouthSideRyan]

Marcos Mateo is dealing (3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K). James Russell is not (1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 0 K).

 

That's Mateo's final line.

 

Josh Vitters gets an infield single in his first at bat for Peoria.

 

2 singles now. call him up.

 

And this one out of the infield!

 

plus colvin has a walk and stolen base tonight. i'd say tim wilken has some vindication.

 

I knew I should've been obnoxious to you about Wieters sucking his 1st 3 games.

[Cubswin11]

Colvin ended the night 0 for 2 with 2 walks. That's 6 walks in 19 at bats already. Crazy.

6 BB used to be almost a half a seasons worth for him

[Guest]

Thought I'd mention too, that, while Vitters did hit tonight, he had an error at 3rd too (airmailed a throw to first early in the game), so still some work to do there. Guess it's good to see even the first rounders are human :)

 

Vitters didn't get charged with any errors in the box score.

 

How did Rebel look? His numbers are great to start the season.

[karenmac]

Thought I'd mention too, that, while Vitters did hit tonight, he had an error at 3rd too (airmailed a throw to first early in the game), so still some work to do there. Guess it's good to see even the first rounders are human :)

 

Vitters didn't get charged with any errors in the box score.

 

How did Rebel look? His numbers are great to start the season.

 

hmmm...well, he got charged with an error in *my* book. It was a ball to his right that he snagged cleanly. I thought that, with a good throw, the guy would have been out. Guess Brandon Thome, our official scorer, disagreed with me!

 

Rebel has looked *great* this season. His work at first has been good, and he's become much more patient at the plate. Last year, he seemed to swing at junk and you can tell he's really worked to fix that over the off season. He doesn't seem to be swinging for the fences every time, either, making him a better hitter...can think of at least a couple xbh in the gap that have scored us runs, so very glad to see he's made adjustments.

[karenmac]

Shafer looked great again tonight - wasn't keeping score, but still lots of 1st pitch strikes. It did seem to me, though, that he wasn't *quite* hitting his spots like he did last Thursday (or just a pickier ump, perhaps). It also seemed like there were more balls in the air with this outing. ...)

 

Actually he was 11GO/3AO in the box score, so not many fly balls that were caught, at any rate.

 

Thanks for the good report.

 

Of course we've got to ask the scouting questions, to whatever degree you feel confident to answer.

1. Does Peoria show radar readings for velocity? If so, and if you remember, what kind of readings was Shafer getting? (And if you noticed, Huseby?)

 

2. The report on him last summer was that he had a good breaking ball (curveball), on good days. Did you notice some?

 

That's probably true...just more hits, and those were the ones that ended up in the outfield, I suppose. Glad to see it - just my perception getting in the way.

 

No worries on the scouting questions...am happy to help with those as I can. I sit in the same section as the *real* scouts and definitely know my observations are amateur hour all the way!

1) normally the radar readings do display, but there have been some issues with the gun early this year. They may be fixed - I'll admit that I haven't trained my eye to look up right after the pitch, so afraid I can't comment on speed of Shafer or Huseby. Nate, do you recall?

 

2) yes, it does seem that the breaking pitch is there, although in general, his pitches seem to have good movement. Wish I could do a better job explaining - Nate has a good view from his spot too, so maybe he'll be able to bail me out of this one :)

[Little Slide Rooter]

Not a great day for the Cubs organization as a whole unless your name is Jake Fox.

 

And Tyler Colvin moves another step close to Luis Montanez/Ryan Harvey territory.