Minor League Discussion & Boxes 4-23-12

[Outshined_One]

Box Scores

 

Iowa lost 6-2 Box Score

 

Tennessee won 5-4 in the 12th Box Score

 

Daytona lost 7-2 Box Score

 

Peoria lost 7-3 Box Score

 

OVERALL: 1-3

[SABR Gamer]

Give me another 2 homer game, Anthony.

[Guest]

Probable Starters

 

Iowa: RHP Jay Jackson (1-1, 5.87 ERA, 15.1 IP, 11 K, 7 BB)

Tennessee: RHP Dallas Beeler (0-0, 1.08 ERA, 16.2 IP, 9 K, 2 BB)

Daytona: RHP Hayden Simpson (0-2, 7.71 ERA, 12.2 IP, 3 K, 5 BB)

Peoria: RHP Jose Rosario (1-2, 5.40 ERA, 15 IP, 10 K, 7 BB)

[toonsterwu]

Wondering if anyone has heard anything more on Beeler's breaking stuff this year (curve)? Last thing I had (from this year's games) was that the curve was looking better, but he still was struggling to find consistency with it from time to time and hung some (but they weren't taken advantage of), but that was from one game, so curious if there's been other news about it. Still sounds like an average pitch at best.

 

* I'm no pitching guru, but I keep wondering if he should try a slider, but that's my own personal ... curiosity.

[Gilby]

Where is Trey McNutt?

 

Edit - Nevermind. I just saw yesterday's minor league thread.

[Guest]

With Casey Harman going to AA, Frank Batista was bumped up to AAA.

[ctcf]

With Casey Harman going to AA, Frank Batista was bumped up to AAA.

 

Sweet. Pretty interested to see how Batista does up there. Hopefully he can get a taste of the big leagues this year.

[Little Slide Rooter]

With Casey Harman going to AA, Frank Batista was bumped up to AAA.

 

Sweet. Pretty interested to see how Batista does up there. Hopefully he can get a taste of the big leagues this year.

 

Definitely interesting. He was very good last year. There should be several bullpen spots open next year if not by the end of this season and Batista, Parker, Rhoderick, and Cabrera should all be interesting options as well as Beliveau of course.

[Named After Maddux]

I'm at the ICubs game and I'll have a detailed report later, but I can already say the Memphis Redbirds are squaring Jay Jackson up pretty well. Brett Jackson crushed a long fly out to deep center that the CF made a good catch in the 1st.

[toonsterwu]

I'm at the ICubs game and I'll have a detailed report later, but I can already say the Memphis Redbirds are squaring Jay Jackson up pretty well. Brett Jackson crushed a long fly out to deep center that the CF made a good catch in the 1st.

 

I'd be curious about your thoughts on Jay Jackson's secondary pitches, particularly his breaking ball. Not sure where you are sitting, so I guess, whether or not you think the Redbirds were making good contact/seeing it well is what I'm curious about.

 

Btw, enjoy the game. Weather is brutal on the east coast right now.

[Named After Maddux]

Vitters with an E. it'll go down as a throwing E, but it was mental. He made a great stop and came up firing... Right over Rizzo's head. He should have put it in his pocket.

Jay Jax has been missing his spots around the plate. He has settled down a bunch, but his breaking pitches haven't been very crisp. Redbirds are sitting back and hitting his 89-92 mph fb.

[toonsterwu]

Hey Named, I'm curious if you have any takes on the Redbirds starter, Joe Kelly. Liked him a fair amount out of college, and IIRC, had a nice sinker.

[Named After Maddux]

Toonster, Kelly has been pretty on most of the game. Only Jackson (0/2 with two hard hit balls) and Rizzo (1/1 with a BB) have been squaring him up. Lots of broken bats and weak grounders.

Rizzo is Kelly's one walk and it was very patient by Anthony.

[toonsterwu]

Thanks. Never understood why Kelly never got more attention as a SP prospect. He could be a dynamite pen arm, but with a plus sinker, and two decent secondary pitches (well, change-up may be a tick below average, but I have nothing on this year), that's a decent SP prospect in his own right.

 

And with that, I'll stop talking about Cardinals prospects.

 

Good to hear Brett is squaring him up, though. Tough guy to really square up with the combination of plus velo and very good movement on the fastball.

[PriortoTheoIhadWood]

Toonster, Kelly has been pretty on most of the game. Only Jackson (0/2 with two hard hit balls) and Rizzo (1/1 with a BB) have been squaring him up. Lots of broken bats and weak grounders.

Rizzo is Kelly's one walk and it was very patient by Anthony.

 

Kelly as in Casey Kelly?

 

Good arm...one of my favorite in SP prospects out there. Sucks they're not beating his brains out.

 

How has Vitters looked at the plate?

 

Edit: No, not Casey Kelly.

[toonsterwu]

Joe Kelly, hard throwing sinkerballer. You wouldn't love him ... a bit undersized, although decent athlete, IIRC.

 

I've actually never been gung-ho about Casey Kelly (even when we were rumored to have interest in him), but that's enough non-Cubs talk in this thread.

[PriortoTheoIhadWood]

Joe Kelly, hard throwing sinkerballer. You wouldn't love him ... a bit undersized, although decent athlete, IIRC.

 

I've actually never been gung-ho about Casey Kelly (even when we were rumored to have interest in him), but that's enough non-Cubs talk in this thread.

 

Iunno, hard throwing sinker is always appealing...It'd depend on how many groundballs he's getting but for a sinkerballer he's been pretty good at getting K's in the minors (almost 1 per inning). That said, yeah back to the Cubs.

[Named After Maddux]

Rizzo with an amazing save to his left! He then dove to the bag to end the inning. It was unbelievable! His defense this game has been great!

[PriortoTheoIhadWood]

Rizzo with an amazing save to his left! He then dove to the bag to end the inning. It was unbelievable! His defense this game has been great!

 

Good to hear...I've heard good things about his glove.

 

What's his batting stance look like? Do you have a camera on you? Thought he had an interesting one during his call up with the Padres, and I'd like to see if there's any changes.

[ctcf]

Nice debut for Batista in Iowa today. 2 scoreless IP on 1 hit, no walks and 2 Ks. Consider me thrilled.

[toonsterwu]

I'm impressed Batista's getting K's this year. While I've always liked him, his lack of K's last year was a bit troubling for a guy who doesn't exactly have top tier velo (unless I'm mistaken, he's around 92-94, plenty good, but not top tier).

 

__

[ctcf]

According to MiLB.com, it will be Cates and not Simpson starting tonight in Daytona.

[PriortoTheoIhadWood]

According to MiLB.com, it will be Cates and not Simpson starting tonight in Daytona.

 

At least the replacement is interesting, but something fishy is going on with Simpson. Early season issues...new injury...something....

[BeerHere]

According to MiLB.com, it will be Cates and not Simpson starting tonight in Daytona.

 

At least the replacement is interesting, but something fishy is going on with Simpson. Early season issues...new injury...something....

If it hasn't been settled already, I think Simpson will end up being one of the worst (if not the worst) first round picks of the Hendry era. And that says something considering the Brownlie's and Pawelek's of that time. Was Ben Christiansen a Hendry draftee?

[Guest]

Daytona is going up against rehabbing Jacob Turner, and as you might guess it's not going so well. Just 2 walks through 4, and both of those guys were caught stealing.