Minor League Discussion & Boxes 9-6-11

[Outshined_One]

Box Scores

 

Daytona lost 4-3 in the 10th Box Score

 

LF E. Crawford 0/5, K

2B L. Watkins 1/4, BB, R, RBI, K

3B M. Cerda 0/4

1B J. Bour 2/5, R, K, SB (1)

RF M. Burgess 1/3

PR/RF A. Abreu 0/1, K

CF M. Szczur 0/3, BB, K

SS E. Soto 3/4, R, 2B (1)

C M. Brenly 0/3, K

PH G. Rohan 0/1, K

C C. Noble 0/0, E (1, throw)

SP DE Rhee 6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, HR, HBP, 6-4 GO-FO

RP A. Kurcz 1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, HR, 0-0 GO-FO

RP F. Batista 2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 4-0 GO-FO

RP JY Serrano .1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 1-0 GO-FO

 

Boise lost 9-1 Box Score

 

LF Z. DeVoss 0/4, BB, 2 K

2B B. Zapenas 2/4, K

C R. Lopez 2/3, BB, 2B (1), HBP

1B R. Cuneo 0/4, K, E (1, throw)

DH P. Hoilman 0/4, 2 K

RF R. Golden 2/3, R, RBI, HR (1), K, HBP

SS W. Darvill 0/4, K, 2 E (2, fielding, throw)

CF KM Na 0/3, K

PH Y. Cabezas 0/1, K

SP J. Zeller 3.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, WP, 3-4 GO-FO

RP A. McKirahan 2.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 3-0 GO-FO

RP H. Mayora 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, WP, 3-0 GO-FO

RP T. Zych 1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, HBP, 2-2 GO-FO

 

OVERALL: 0-2

[Guest]

Probable Starters

 

Daytona: RHP Dae-Eun Rhee (8-7, 4.02 ERA, 127.2 IP, 117 K, 43 BB)

Boise: RHP Joe Zeller (2-0, 2.51 ERA, 32.1 IP, 23 K, 7 BB)

[Guest]

Probable Starters

 

Daytona: RHP Dae-Eun Rhee (8-7, 4.02 ERA, 127.2 IP, 117 K, 43 BB)

Boise: RHP Joe Zeller (2-0, 2.51 ERA, 32.1 IP, 23 K, 7 BB)

The growing lack of minor league games makes me a sad panda.

[KingKongvs.Godzilla]

The growing lack of minor league games makes me a sad panda.

 

AFL is only one month away!

[toonsterwu]

Too bad Ben Wells is one day away from starting. Here's hoping Joe Zeller and the staff can force a Game 3, and we'd get Big Ben on the mound.

[toonsterwu]

Rhee's giving us a pretty good start against Dunedin. 6 h, no bb through 5, 3 K's, 1 run on a solo homer.

[Guest]

But Kurcz blows the lead in the 7th.

[KingKongvs.Godzilla]

But Kurcz blows the lead in the 7th.

 

I actually like his arm. He's one of many guys who can be a good pen arm in the long run.

[Outshined_One]

Boise is down 5-0 in the early going. Not looking good for the Hawks.

[Named After Maddux]

Boise is down 5-0 in the early going. Not looking good for the Hawks.

 

Which is too bad because it also could eliminate any possibility of seeing Ben Wells in another big game this year. I'm so interested in seeing what he will do next year. His record might not seem gaudy, but for a 18 year old (19 on 9/10) in shortseason, I'll take 4-4 4.66 ERA and a roughly 3 GO/AO any day.

[TruffleShuffle]

wow boise just decided to not show for the playoffs... yuck

[toonsterwu]

The shame of it in the NWL series is that the top two starters there aren't available, with Wang headed back to the National Team, and with Wells one day off schedule wise. I don't recall what happened to Cruz off the top right now.

 

I had mildly wondered if they would've contemplated sending Liria/Peralta down for some work, but I guess they opted against it.

 

Kurcz blowing that one hurts the D-Cubs chances, but overall, the game was a positive simply to see Rhee continue his strong late season push. Kurcz, for my money, is still the top pen arm in the system.

[Outshined_One]

Boise is down 5-0 in the early going. Not looking good for the Hawks.

 

Which is too bad because it also could eliminate any possibility of seeing Ben Wells in another big game this year. I'm so interested in seeing what he will do next year. His record might not seem gaudy, but for a 18 year old (19 on 9/10) in shortseason, I'll take 4-4 4.66 ERA and a roughly 3 GO/AO any day.

 

My hope for him next season is to see him get a handful of games where he makes it through 6/7 innings and surpasses the 100 IP mark without any trouble. My primary concern for him this season has been conditioning-related, as it seems he has been excellent in many of his outings up until about the 5th/6th inning, when he tends to fall apart.

 

I'm not quite as sold on his upside as toonster is, but even if his ceiling is that of a 3rd starter with a power sinker and the ability to pitch 180-200 IP in a season with a WAR around 3, that's still pretty darn good.

[toonsterwu]

Boise is down 5-0 in the early going. Not looking good for the Hawks.

 

Which is too bad because it also could eliminate any possibility of seeing Ben Wells in another big game this year. I'm so interested in seeing what he will do next year. His record might not seem gaudy, but for a 18 year old (19 on 9/10) in shortseason, I'll take 4-4 4.66 ERA and a roughly 3 GO/AO any day.

 

I'm huge on Wells. He's got nasty action on the fastball, and if he learns to command it, on that alone, he'll have a shot to make the bigs as a pen arm. That said, I've heard enough reports on his secondary stuff that I still buy he has TOR potential (to be fair, had a discussion on his ceiling on Sickels site the other day, and yes, I would agree, as of now, he's more a workhorse mid-rotation profile, and everything depends on how the secondary stuff develops). There's a lot to be intrigued with, particularly since the kid grew into his power late last year, and this year, he's gotten bigger, and I haven't heard any issues with his work ethic.

[Guest]

FYI, Reggie Golden should be 2/2 with 2 XBHs - he hit a HR in his 2nd AB; in his first AB, he hit one to the wall but fell on his way to 2nd and had to retreat for a single.

[toonsterwu]

Boise is down 5-0 in the early going. Not looking good for the Hawks.

 

Which is too bad because it also could eliminate any possibility of seeing Ben Wells in another big game this year. I'm so interested in seeing what he will do next year. His record might not seem gaudy, but for a 18 year old (19 on 9/10) in shortseason, I'll take 4-4 4.66 ERA and a roughly 3 GO/AO any day.

 

My hope for him next season is to see him get a handful of games where he makes it through 6/7 innings and surpasses the 100 IP mark without any trouble. My primary concern for him this season has been conditioning-related, as it seems he has been excellent in many of his outings up until about the 5th/6th inning, when he tends to fall apart.

 

I'm not quite as sold on his upside as toonster is, but even if his ceiling is that of a 3rd starter with a power sinker and the ability to pitch 180-200 IP in a season with a WAR around 3, that's still pretty darn good.

 

I've been under the impression that his struggles have less to do with conditioning, and more to do with inefficiency. Off the top, there were at least more than a handful of games, I think, where his pitch count was awfully high by the 4th/5th (I'm almost certain I remember one game where he was at 80+ pitches in the 4th.) A lot of that can be attributed to his inconsistency with his secondary stuff, and the fact that, on occasion, the fb runs from him.

 

I don't recall much concern over his conditioning, other than he was a big boy who was getting bigger. It might be an issue down the line, but was there something about his conditioning that I just don't remember right now?

[toonsterwu]

Despite his self-inflicted problem to start the year, I'm still actually fairly pleased with Golden's first full year. Here's hoping he learned his lesson and is in shape next spring. Some tinkering, and I could see him really take off. Here's hoping.

[Outshined_One]

I've been under the impression that his struggles have less to do with conditioning, and more to do with inefficiency. Off the top, there were at least more than a handful of games, I think, where his pitch count was awfully high by the 4th/5th (I'm almost certain I remember one game where he was at 80+ pitches in the 4th.) A lot of that can be attributed to his inconsistency with his secondary stuff, and the fact that, on occasion, the fb runs from him.

 

I don't recall much concern over his conditioning, other than he was a big boy who was getting bigger. It might be an issue down the line, but was there something about his conditioning that I just don't remember right now?

 

That's been my impression so far more than anything else; you could be right that he's been inefficient with his pitches and that's been the reason for him not lasting so long as he could have been. However, given some of the concerns about his weight and the fact that he came from a small time program, I've always taken his 5th/6th inning struggles more to be about him having issues tiring out. If he's been wasting pitches, it didn't show on his box scores when he'd cruise through the first 3-4 innings without much in the way of hits or walks given up.

 

He's still a teenager who just spent his first full year in professional ball after being a virtual unknown in high school. It's not worrying, but it's noteworthy.

[toonsterwu]

Well, it certainly is possible. I don't recall that much concern about his conditioning, but one thing to be said is this - the kid is/was still growing (looking at recent pics ... I doubt he has the frame to add on that much more good weight ... bad weight is obviously always possible). That can be quite exciting in one respect (love a pitcher with a big, strong frame that can handle workload), but it can also be troubling if he fails to adjust to his body's needs and demands as it pertains to keeping in shape.

 

______________________________

 

I'm going to be curious how Mark Johnson and Casey Kopitzke are viewed by the new GM. Before, there seemed to be signs that both were liked enough by Hendry and Co. to be groomed as possible guys to work their way up the ladder. Casey, unfortunately, had a fairly weak squad to work with all year in Peoria. Of course, with Fleita still around (I guess that isn't completely guaranteed if the talks about his contract structure are right), maybe not that much changes in how they are viewed, but it'd be interesting to follow.

[BearClaw]

Peoria hitters were 2nd in team BA by a point and struck out the least by total and by percentage of times of all 16 MWL teams

[CubColtPacer]

Peoria hitters were 2nd in team BA by a point and struck out the least by total and by percentage of times of all 16 MWL teams

 

That's a great combination to have. If they could just improve either their power or their walks to be average (they don't necessarily need both) they'd really have something. A hitter really needs two of the following three tools to really be successful: batting average/low strikeouts (low strikeouts by itself isn't that important but it does help keep BA high and also helps players translate from level to level), power, walks. It doesn't really matter which two, but having just one unless it's extremely elite isn't enough.

[dfnowak]

Peoria hitters were 2nd in team BA by a point and struck out the least by total and by percentage of times of all 16 MWL teams

As of a few weeks ago, they were also 12th in OBP and last in walks. Sounds like the same old "swing, swing, swing" mentality to me.

[SouthSideRyan]

Peoria hitters were 2nd in team BA by a point and struck out the least by total and by percentage of times of all 16 MWL teams

As of a few weeks ago, they were also 12th in OBP and last in walks. Sounds like the same old "swing, swing, swing" mentality to me.

 

Now you've done it.

[KingCubsFan]

Peoria hitters were 2nd in team BA by a point and struck out the least by total and by percentage of times of all 16 MWL teams

And 10th in runs scored.

[SouthSideRyan]

Also dead last in ISO. But boy, can they hit singles. I blame Slappy Szczur.