Minor League Discussion & Boxes 4-15-11

[Outshined_One]

Box Scores

 

Iowa PPD: Rain

 

Tennessee PPD: Rain

 

Daytona lost 4-3 Box Score

 

LF E. Crawford 1/5, R, RBI, 3B (2), 2 K

3B M. Cerda 1/4, RBI, K, HBP

CF JH Ha 3/5, R, 2B (4), 3B (1)

1B J. Bour 0/5, K, E (1, throw)

C W. Castillo 2/3, RBI, K, E (1, throw)

PR/C C. Noble 1/1

RF M. Burgess 1/4, 2B (2), K

DH M. Brenly 0/4

SS J. Lake 1/4, 2B (2), K

SP B. Wallach 4.1 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 6 BB, 2 K, 1 HR, WP, 2 HBP, 5-2 GO-FO

RP K. Rhoderick 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 3-1 GO-FO

RP J. Lorick 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, WP, 1-1 GO-FO

 

Peoria PPD: Rain

 

OVERALL: 0-1

[Guest]

Probable Starters

 

Iowa: LHP JR Mathes (0-0, 4.50 ERA, 4 IP, 4 K, 1 BB)

Tennessee: RHP Alberto Cabrera (0-0, 6.75 ERA, 4 IP, 7 K, 3 BB)

Datyona: RHP Brett Wallach (0-0, 6.23 ERA, 4.1 IP, 4 K, 1 BB)

Peoria: LHP Cam Greathouse (0-0, 6.23 ERA, 4.1 IP, 4 K, 1 BB)

[imb]

Why did I not know Wallach is a pitcher? Is this a position change or am I just an idiot?

[sneakypower]

his dad was a 3B for the expos, if memory serves

[imb]

his dad was a 3B for the expos, if memory serves

 

Well as long as Stevie Weis is still a shortstop

[NCCubFan]

his dad was a 3B for the expos, if memory serves

Yes. Tim Wallach.

[NCCubFan]

Why did I not know Wallach is a pitcher? Is this a position change or am I just an idiot?

He's always been a pitcher (at least in pro baseball; I don't know about before that). Last year was just his second year in the minors; he was drafted in 2009.

[javy knows my name]

Why did I not know Wallach is a pitcher? Is this a position change or am I just an idiot?

He's always been a pitcher (at least in pro baseball; I don't know about before that). Last year was just his second year in the minors; he was drafted in 2009.

 

He came over from the Dodgers along with Smit and a position player, right? I, too, thought he was the position player

[imb]

Maybe I was thinking of Jimmy Sabo

[StarlinOnYou]

Wallach is trash

[TruffleShuffle]

well this will be a boring evening of minor league baseball, all games except for daytona's were rained out.

[illiniguy]

well this will be a boring evening of minor league baseball, all games except for daytona's were rained out.

How in the hell does Daytona be the one that doesn't get rained out?

[TruffleShuffle]

well this will be a boring evening of minor league baseball, all games except for daytona's were rained out.

How in the hell does Daytona be the one that doesn't get rained out?

 

it's florida in april.

[TruffleShuffle]

jae-hoon ha is a triple short of the cycle in the 5th inning, and it's worth noting that he hit .317 in full season ball at age 19. granted, he doesn't have many secondary skills, but reports are that he is a plus defender in CF and should be projectable to develop power at that age.

 

seems a lot like castro in many respects - good athlete, excellent contact skills, hitting for good average against older competition, good projectability, premium defensive position, poor patience. very underrated prospect IMO.

[ctcf]

jae-hoon ha is a triple short of the cycle in the 5th inning, and it's worth noting that he hit .317 in full season ball at age 19. granted, he doesn't have many secondary skills, but reports are that he is a plus defender in CF and should be projectable to develop power at that age.

 

seems a lot like castro in many respects - good athlete, excellent contact skills, hitting for good average against older competition, good projectability, premium defensive position, poor patience. very underrated prospect IMO.

 

I believe you mean a HR short as it certainly looks like he has a triple. That said, I'm a fan.

[TruffleShuffle]

jae-hoon ha is a triple short of the cycle in the 5th inning, and it's worth noting that he hit .317 in full season ball at age 19. granted, he doesn't have many secondary skills, but reports are that he is a plus defender in CF and should be projectable to develop power at that age.

 

seems a lot like castro in many respects - good athlete, excellent contact skills, hitting for good average against older competition, good projectability, premium defensive position, poor patience. very underrated prospect IMO.

 

I believe you mean a HR short as it certainly looks like he has a triple. That said, I'm a fan.

 

yep brain fart.

 

wallach had 7 BBs against 2 Ks, awesome peripherals there.

[Guest]

Wallach played SS and pitched in JC. Was always considered a better pitcher.

[CubsInNC]

jae-hoon ha is a triple short of the cycle in the 5th inning, and it's worth noting that he hit .317 in full season ball at age 19. granted, he doesn't have many secondary skills, but reports are that he is a plus defender in CF and should be projectable to develop power at that age.

 

seems a lot like castro in many respects - good athlete, excellent contact skills, hitting for good average against older competition, good projectability, premium defensive position, poor patience. very underrated prospect IMO.

 

From what I recall of the 3 games I watched when Peoria played West Michigan last year, he also had a rather strong and accurate arm, a great outfield tool. He just lacked some pitch recognition, and tended to overswing. When I saw him, he was in the middle of a "slump" and seemed to be pressing/overswinging. He twirled after a swing and a miss several times over the 3 day span.

[NCCubFan]

Why did I not know Wallach is a pitcher? Is this a position change or am I just an idiot?

He's always been a pitcher (at least in pro baseball; I don't know about before that). Last year was just his second year in the minors; he was drafted in 2009.

 

He came over from the Dodgers along with Smit and a position player, right? I, too, thought he was the position player

The position player was DeWitt.

[javy knows my name]

Oh yeah...

[craig]

jae-hoon ha is a triple short of the cycle in the 5th inning, and it's worth noting that he hit .317 in full season ball at age 19. granted, he doesn't have many secondary skills, but reports are that he is a plus defender in CF and should be projectable to develop power at that age.

 

seems a lot like castro in many respects - good athlete, excellent contact skills, hitting for good average against older competition, good projectability, premium defensive position, poor patience. very underrated prospect IMO.

 

The two reds are key, IMO. I hadn't heard any reports that he is a plus defender in CF. Where did you get that from? If true, that's huge. I guess I'm wondering whether he really projects to be a plus defender in big-league CF, or is only "plus" relative to minor-league OFer liks Burgess and "Neifi" Perez? And just as we project 19/20-year olds to get bigger/stronger and perhaps add power, sometimes 19/20-year olds get bigger/stronger and slower too as they age, and become slower in CF.

 

Anyway, I think it's a huge difference whether he's really a true and high-quality big-league CF prospect, or whether this is more like Colvin who played CF (and got good reports) back in A-ball. His arm, no question.

 

The other Q, or course, is the power projection. The BA report new his height and age, but their scouts did not project much power for him, for whatever reason. So perhaps he's never going to have much HR power. That said, an 8-15 HR guy who could play a good CF and hit for high average could be terrific.

 

CubsinNC saw Ha slumping and missing. But my take has always been that he was something of a natural contact guy. He only K'd 15% of his time last year as a teenager in full-season, and I think went extended stretches where he hardly K'd at all. So my take is that he's got that rare and innate gift of contact. This year he's got only 2 K's in 35 AB. Obviously with 2 K's and 0 walks in 35 AB, he's not taking a lot of pitches or working any counts. I assume it's pretty much see-it-and-hit-it. If he was swinging and missing at many strikes, or chasing and missing on many balls, I think it would be rare to go 35 AB and only twice fail to put the ball in play.

 

I assume that with more scouting, and as pitchers get smarter, they may throw him fewer and fewer good fastball strikes, if he's never going to walk no matter what anyway. But the gift of being able to hit the ball doesn't come easily, so I'm pretty optimistic.

 

I always say that HR is partly a function of strength but also a function of contact. He may eventually end up with an average HR output even if his innate power is below-average, simply based on the fact that he can hit the ball on the nose with unusually frequency.

 

And as much as a I respect the projection skills and scouting evaluations of scouts, I still do have to imagine that a pure-hitting guy who's 6'1" and only 20 years old, that scouts can't be certain that he might not in future add enough muscle and adjust his stroke a bit to add some power. A .300-hitting CFer who could hit 15-20 HR's, that would be fantastic even if he did walk like a Neifi.