Minor League Discussion & Boxes 5-07-2009

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I don't think Tennessee is going to get in their second game. Mississippi is hitting in the bottom of the 11th of the first game.

[Guest]

Tennessee's pen (today it's Parker, Gaub, Russell and Schlitter) has been great. 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 9 K.

[Wrigley Rat]

So did Marquez Smith want the game to end or what? 2 outs, bottom of the 12th, men on 1st and 3rd, ground ball to 3rd and he throws the ball to 2nd with no one covering. Game over. Tony Thomas' fault for not covering 2nd or Smith's?

[chattbaseball]

So did Marquez Smith want the game to end or what? 2 outs, bottom of the 12th, men on 1st and 3rd, ground ball to 3rd and he throws the ball to 2nd with no one covering. Game over. Tony Thomas' fault for not covering 2nd or Smith's?

 

Both. Should have been covered, but you've got to make sure someone's there before you throw it. This actually happened in my 5 & 6 Cubs game tonight. Runner on second, the ball hit to my pitcher (my kid). He fields it, turns and throws it to third. My third baseman is looking at the runner...ball goes flying into left field. ](*,) I guess it can happen at every level.

[Outshined_One]

I don't think Tennessee is going to get in their second game. Mississippi is hitting in the bottom of the 11th of the first game.

 

The players are warming up as we speak.

[Guest]

Tennessee with 6 already in the first. Tony Thomas hit a double to lead off the game. Clevenger has a 3-run double.

 

Aww, Tony Thomas grounded out in his second at bat of the first inning.

[Outshined_One]

Tennessee with 6 already in the first. Tony Thomas hit a double to lead off the game. Clevenger has a 3-run double.

 

Aww, Tony Thomas grounded out in his second at bat of the first inning.

 

Yeah, he's hot.

[Guest]

And due to be traded at the deadline for some overrated reliever with a fluke first half.

 

Sorry, did that come off as overly negative? :)

[Outshined_One]

And due to be traded at the deadline for some overrated reliever with a fluke first half.

 

Sorry, did that come off as overly negative? :)

 

Steve Trachsel's available.

[RammyFanny]

Jay:

 

3 IP/ 3 Hits/ 0 ER/ 5K-0BB

[Guest]

4 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K.

[Outshined_One]

5 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 8 K, 1 BB

[Guest]

6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K. Only 73 pitches...double digit Ks and a CG are within reach!

[Outshined_One]

6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K. Only 73 pitches...double digit Ks and a CG are within reach!

 

Got the 1-2-3 and a K, so he got both. 8-)

[Outshined_One]

Tony Thomas on the year

 

.356/.430/.632, 7 2B, 1 3B, 5 HR, 10 BB, 18 K, 3 SB, 3 BS

 

He's striking out at a much lower rate than last season, to boot.

[craig]

Man, other than Coleman's disappointing outing, that was one fun night for prospects.

*McDaniel with another stellar game, but this being the first with lot of K's. If you have both strikeout stuff and sinker/groundout stuff, that's a nice arsenal. Could provide the flexibility to be a pitch-to-groundout-contact quick-inning pitch deep guy one day. But on another day when you need it, to pull out your strikeout stuff, that's pretty nice too. Sounds like he may have enough stuff so that he can compete even if one or the other of his sinker or his strikeout pitch (the slider, I assume) isn't best on a given day.

 

*Great to see the big game for Jay Johnson. Earlier the report was that his control was missing and his fastball didn't have much gas. The control must be back.

 

*Gaub, now has 15 K in 8.1 innings, wow. Cheers to the scouts. Last year he qualified as super wild, not exceptionally effective (3.4 ERA in A- isn't that special), and way old for his age. But now, having opened the season at age 23 in AA, AA hitters are having as much or more trouble hitting his stuff as A- hitters did. At least for the moment, I'd guess his stuff probably compares favorably with recent Loogies Ohman and Cotts. They both are limited by issues of control and consistency; Gaub has a ways to go to prove whether he'll be any better controlled or any more consistent than Ohman and Cotts. But I'm sure hoping.

 

*Cales hasn't had any eye-popping K's, or K/BB, or GO/AO numbers. But he had another two shutout innings last night. For a kid who pitched very little in college, who was drafted in the 24th round, and who will still be only 21 for most of the season, his jump straight to A+ and the early success he's shown there are certainly unexpected. BA and UK/Ping have both said he's got some pretty good stuff. If scouts knew his stuff was interesting, I wonder how serious his baggage was that he slipped to the 24th round?

 

*Clevenger with another good day at the plate, another double, another walk, 2/3. He's been very productive at the plate in his limited chances, that's for sure. Two of his issues past were utter lack of power, pure singles guy; but his XBH output is up some thus far, it seems. If he could sustain even a semi-decent IsoP, he's got a chance to be a pretty interesting hitter for a 2nd catcher. Who knows; maybe if he hits enough he'll end up as a 1st catcher sooner or later, whether with us or somebody else.

 

*Thomas's hitting has really been a pleasant surprise. I have to admit I'd been pretty down on him. I'd thought his numbers might be kind of fluky, and certainly to some degree they are; but his BABIP is actually only .406. Obviously that isn't sustainable, but it's not like he's BABIP'ing at .500 or anything. Given how many XBH he's gotten, it would seem that he is hitting the ball really hard, and scouts have always talked about his nice stroke (even though they've never explained why such a nice stroke misses so many pitches and strikes out so abundantly). So guys with good strokes and who are hitting the ball hard, they tend to have high BABIP's. Of course his numbers will drop; I don't really expect him to be a 30+ HR guy (his current pace, were you to give him the 550AB that a big-league regular gets) or a .406 BABIPer. But it does look like something real is happening with him. It's also worth remembering that despite it being his 3rd year and his big-college background, he's still only 22 and will be for most of the year. So getting better and adding some strength, those are well reasonable within his age.

 

*A growing Thomas concern, though, is his defense. He's got 7 errors already, including some bad throwing errors, and a flagrant through-the-wicket miss recently. Plus the play yesterday where he didn't cover 2nd on smith's throwaway. Fontenot had fielding questions, but has turned out to be pretty acceptable. But I'm getting scared that Thomas is going to be another Eric Patterson, a guy who low-minors people say looks good defensively but scouts say otherwise; a guy who some defensive metrics say looks good defensively but scouts and some people who start to watch more carefully say otherwise; and a guy who ends up fielding his way into the outfield. Speaking of which, what's up with Eric? He's in AAA for Oakland, and has played 5 of his 25 games at 2B, most in left, the rest at DH or CF. Hitting .280.

[sneakypower]

Tony Thomas on the year

 

.356/.430/.632, 7 2B, 1 3B, 5 HR, 10 BB, 18 K, 3 SB, 3 BS

 

He's striking out at a much lower rate than last season, to boot.

*boner