Minor League Discussion & Boxes 9-4-11

[Outshined_One]

Box Scores

 

Iowa won 2-1 Box Score

 

DH B. Jackson 0/4, 3 K

SS M. Gonzalez 0/4, K

CF L. Montanez 1/2, 2 BB, R, SB (4), Assist (Home)

1B S. Moore 1/2, BB, HBP

3B DJ LeMahieu 1/3, BB, RBI

LF R. Flaherty 0/4, K

RF M. Spencer 0/4

2B M. Smith 2/4, R, 2B (17), K

C M. Mercedes 2/4, RBI, 3B (1), K

SP C. Rusin 6 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 5-3 GO-FO

RP A. Cashner 1 perfect, 1 K, 1-0 GO-FO

RP C. Carpenter 1 perfect, 1-1 GO-FO

RP S. Maine 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, WP, 1-0 GO-FO

 

Tennessee lost Game 1 of their DH 5-1 Box Score

 

CF JH Ha 1/3

DH J. Vitters 0/3

SS J. Lake 0/3, K

RF N. Perez 1/3, K, E (5, fielding)

SP M. Carrillo 4 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 1-6 GO-FO, E (4, pickoff)

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

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

 

Tennessee won Game 2 of their DH 5-1 Box Score

 

SS J. Lake 2/4, 2 R, 2B (10), K, SB (19)

CF JH Ha 0/3

LF R. Ridling 1/2, BB, R, 2B (29), K

3B J. Vitters 1/2, R, 4 RBI, HR (14)

RF N. Perez 0/3, K

2B N. Samson 0/2, BB, K

SP HW Chen 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 3-2 GO-FO

RP O. Martinez 1 perfect, 1 K, 1-1 GO-FO

RP M. Hatley 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, WP, 1-1 GO-FO

 

Daytona lost 6-4 Box Score

 

CF T. Easterling 1/5, K, Assist (Home)

2B L. Watkins 1/4, 2 K, E (13, throw)

3B M. Cerda 2/3, BB, CS (6)

1B J. Bour 0/4

RF M. Burgess 1/3, BB, R, Assist (Home)

LF A. Abreu 1/4, R, RBI, 2B (5), K

SS E. Soto 0/2, BB, RBI

C C. Noble 2/4, R, 2 RBI, HR (1), K, E (4, throw)

SP P. Francescon 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 2-2 GO-FO

RP E. Figueroa 3 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 3-2 GO-FO

RP J. Serrano 2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, WP, 2-2 GO-FO, E (2, pickoff)

RP Y. Negrin 1.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1-0 GO-FO

RP F. Batista .1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 0-1 GO-FO

RP J. Latham .1 perfect, 1-0 GO-FO

 

Peoria won 4-3 in the 12th Box Score

 

2B A. Alcantara 0/6, R, 2 K

CF R. Silva 1/4, BB, K, E (14, fielding)

1B R. Jones 2/6, RBI

C M. Gibbs 2/6, R, 2B (13), 2 K

3B D. Geiger 2/5, BB, 2 K

LF B. Klafczynski 2/5, BB

SS K. Socorro 0/5

DH J. Morelli 1/4, R, 2 K

SP D. Beeler 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 5-2 GO-FO

RP B. Wallach 4.2 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1-4 GO-FO

RP P. Levitt 1 perfect, 2-0 GO-FO

 

OVERALL: 3-2

[imb]

In case anyone is curious how the guys we got for Fukudome fared with us this year, the answer is ... not good

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=smith-007car

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=abreu-001abn

[Guest]

Vitters HR

[Guest]

Taiwan Easterling up to Daytona. The first of what should be a few playoff-related roster moves.

[Guest]

Taiwan Easterling now with Daytona, playing CF. Szczur may be done, I guess.

[TruffleShuffle]

vitters went 0-3 in game one of tenn's doubleheader but hit a 3 run homer in his first AB in the second game. also hit a sac fly in his second PA.... milb gameday makes it look like he just missed a 3 run homer on the sac fly. it was to straightaway cf and it advanced slow rebel ridling to 3b, so it had to be pretty deep.

[BearClaw]

Gonna keep following these players:

 

Richard Jones hits and is adequate defensively at 1B. He needs to be challenged and it will be interesting to see what the Cubs do with him, Hoilman, and Cuneo. I would guess 2/3 of them end up in Daytona depending on Bour and his status.

 

Taiwan Easterling needs Fall instructs defensively, and he hit well enough in Peoria to fill in for Caesar(Szczur) for the playoffs. Lots of reads and routes issues from seeing several games, surprising for a WR, but then again, the ball is smaller.....lol

 

The OBP aspect of DeVoss and speed is leadoff potential. He would be a bonus type at 2B and not CF.

 

I am not concerned with the younger guys like Baez, Vogelsmash, etc. because there is no rush. More into why some hitters who keep hitting are stalled, Rohan comes to mind, probably one of the top hitters in the system where 2012 should be a TENN start, and then see what happens. bet he hits well there also?

 

Burgess has slowly reduced K's and maintained power, but at the expense of BA and has a consistent track record, so what is the conclusion? A .230 hitter with a 25% K rate that may also hit 25 doubles and 25 HR's in a full MLB season?

 

There are several guys in MLB with the same statline as Burgess so who knows what is desired these days. So much emphasis on finding players that do everything above-average that makes people forget that a baseball lineup consists of players who bring something to the table to contribute to success, but in today's game of baseball, 51 HR's from a smidge named Brady is a thing of the past.

 

Ben Klafczynski was hitting .138 in mid July after his promo to Peoria, has hit .320 since to get to .250 and has played 62 college games, 61 pro games so he may be a grinder. A player that needs to keep playing, Fall instructs would have been a good place to keep getting AB's. His athleticism is still professionally untapped, defense ML quality, and could use Camp Colvin to maximize the potential. Tremendous OF throwing arm.

 

Paul Hoilman can be explosive at times, and I wonder what the Cubs will do approach-wise without surrendering the power but reducing the overly aggressive manner. His strength may allow him to pick and choose his spots, and defensively and athletically, he is not a typical 1B hide. Would be neat to continue the sell-out to 2 strikes, then, develop a survival appoach when bad counts happen.

 

Both Hoilman and Klafczynski left college as record holders in many offensive categories for their programs.

[KingKongvs.Godzilla]

Josh Vitters is going to wreck the PCL next year.

[Named After Maddux]

Hey guys, I've been reading this forum (specifically the Minor League section) for awhile now and figured the first time I post I'd actually have something interesting to share. :D I went to the Peoria Chiefs game today (and going tomorrow). Here's a recap of several players I made notes of throughout the game:

 

Dallas Beeler: Really in control the entire 4 innings he pitched. His fb ranged 90-93 and touched 94 twice that I saw. As the game progressed (~ 3-4th innings in) he broke off several nice curves, which ranged 73-78. He never seemed to be in any trouble and cruised through his outing. I was very impressed.

 

Brett Wallach: Piggybacked with Beeler and came in to start the 5th inning. Brett was all over the place, but that seemed to be a product of him throwing much harder than I thought-consistently 92-95 and touching 97 several times. This was a 97 that actually seemed legit and not a “Del Valle 98”, although who knows. He blew through multiple hitters with his fb and a curve ball that was erratic, but flashed some pretty impressive break at times. It also seemed like he had a two-seamer that he used a couple times. I know it’s been brought up about Wallach as a power reliever and I didn’t believe it at first until I saw him today. He kept hitters off balance and flashed some plus stuff in his fb and curve. Again, very erratic and some control issues, but when on was lights out. He unfortunately gave up three runs in the 9th, but how those were all earned is beyond me. There was a pop-up to left that was dropped and somehow ruled a hit, which opened the floodgates. He should have gotten out of the inning (and the game) giving up 1-2 runs. He did appear to tire in the 9th, which definitely contributed to his erratic control.

 

Dustin Geiger: Long-lanky kid that reminds me a little of Hunter Pence in stature. Struck a couple singles right on the screws. Played ok defense (nothing remarkable was hit to 3rd base, but showed decent range and a couple good throws). I was surprised that he was not a quicker base runner. Appeared to be very slow and deliberate out there and didn’t have a thicker frame like Gibbs so it was a bit confusing.

 

Gibbs: Looks like a future major-league backstop. Maybe as a back-up, but looks the part of a major leaguer. He is a heads up base runner (twice in key situations-including his GW slide into home), had good strong throws to the guy covering second, and good game manager. He was adept at blocking balls in the dirt (Wallach was all over the place during the 9th inning). He seemed over matched in a couple of his at bats but showed solid power in the 12th with his opposite field blast that hit the very top of the wall (half the stadium thought he won on a GW homer- it was that close). Also showed a good balanced swing from both sides of the plate.

 

Rubi Silva: Really good speed and kind of glided to the ball in center. He featured a great running catch in left center and a solid sacrifice bunt that he obviously beat the throw, but was called out on a horrible call. We had a really good angle and even the Cardinal fans behind me mentioned the botched call. He lost a ball in the sun, but it was a challenge to fielders all day. Every pop-up was an adventure. I was really looking forward to see him play 2b, but with Easterling moved up to Daytona, Silva played cf.

 

Overall, there are some solid pieces, Beeler and Wallach could be good in their own right and flashed some potential, but have some issues. Beeler is recovering from an injury and Wallach has some control problems and needs a new role IMO. Gibbs appears to be a future major league catcher in some capacity. Also, Silva is an interesting prospect with a lot of athletic talent, but appears to be caught in a logjam with outfielders in the system. It would be better if he consistently played second (and even that might be an issue with DeVoss, who isn’t too far away from him). Geiger is obviously challenged at this level, but hopefully that speaks to how highly the organization views him. He struck a couple solid hits pretty well and I’ll be interested to see how he performs next year.

 

If anyone has any questions about anyone in particular I might be able to answer it. I'll have a recap of tomorrow's (I guess today's now that I see how late I'm posting!) game so If you have anyone in particular you want me to make notes of let me know!

[Bear Cub]

Welcome aboard Maddux and thanks for the report.

[Quakers]

Welcome aboard Maddux and thanks for the report.

 

I agree. I like reading first hand reports on how our prospects are faring. =D>

[SweetZombieJesus]

Josh Vitters is going to wreck the PCL next year.

 

So he'll have a 810 OPS next year?

[toonsterwu]

The expectation with Geiger is that he's going to add some to his frame. He isn't viewed as a good runner, and as he gets older, he might get slower as he thickens a bit. The hope is that he can continue to stick at 3rd, but even in HS, most expectations were that he'd be shifted to a corner OF/1st role. I was a bit surprised he was jumped to Peoria, as he didn't seem like a kid who was ready. I expect he should be there to start 2012, unless someone passes him in the spring. That said, he's got a higher ceiling than guys like Hoilman, so I'd prefer to see Geiger stay put.

 

I saw Beeler earlier this year, and he wasn't doing much with the change. He's going to need that in the upper levels. With his solid control, the fb/cb should be enough to dominate Low A, but that change needs to come around.

 

I think, more than position, Silva's biggest issue is that, I question if he has the skillset to survive with that high a number of K's. That said, not sure if you caught BP. Supposedly, and I've heard this from several people (including mlp over at Bruce Miles' blog), Silva shows a surprising amount of power in BP (perhaps relatively speaking, but not sure). With the numbers in CF, his best chance is really at 2nd.

 

Wallach as a power arm is intriguing, because some of his problems came about when he was trying pitches besides the fb/breaking ball. If he can focus on those two, he could be intriguing. That said, a lot of guys with a similar profile. I mean, mid-90's with a decent/intriguing breaking ball, but erratic, describes Blake Parker (and Alessandro Maestri from before), and he's a guy who just hasn't been able to get over the hump to force us to use him.

[KingKongvs.Godzilla]

Josh Vitters is going to wreck the PCL next year.

 

So he'll have a 810 OPS next year?

 

Probably lower!

[Named After Maddux]

Good point on Beeler earlier. I got to the game a little early today and actually got to talk to Dallas as he was sitting in the bullpen. I asked him how his arm was feeling and he said that it felt great. He was on a 4 inning or 60pitch max yesterday (which ever came first) and he only threw 36 pitches through 4 yesterday before being taken out. We talked (ironically that you brought up the change) about what he liked to throw and what his repertoire was. He loves his 2-seam fastball. He's comfortable with the Curve and likes how that pitch is progressing. He did say that when talking to the organization, they told him he needs to make serious effort with the change and he'll be throwing that a lot more next year just to get the feel of the pitch. He did say he threw a couple yesterday, but next year will start using it more often.

 

As far as Silva, he surprised me with how the ball really jumps off his bat. Not that he has a ton of power, per se, but he did strike the ball really well at times. I didn't get to see him in bp so I'm not sure. It'll be interesting to see if he can improve the plate discipline, because as you brought up, that's an issue. He had some swings that were not pretty today (and 2 more K's).

 

Wallach transitioning to a power reliever would be intriguing. Basically anything we could get out of him would be nice. Hopefully he can focus just on the fastball/curve, improve the command, and develop some consistency.

[javy knows my name]

I would like to nominate this new poster for president of nsbb