Minor League Discussion & Boxes 5-22-12

[Prizefight]

Rizzo with a 2RBI single.

 

Maybe it's the pessimist in me, but I kind of wish he'd cool off a bit. The hype is already going to be crazy , but I'd like to see the pressure and expectations tempered a bit when he's up here in June. PCL leading home runs and I think 1-2 RBI behind do not help th 8-[ is. :D

[PriortoTheoIhadWood]

What kind of numbers do you guys think Rizzo puts up at his best? Is he a high average hitter in the MLB? Any comparisons to anyone?

[davell]

Most think he'll settle in as a .260/.270ish hitter with power obviously. A few days ago, we were throwing around Votto as a loose comp, because the K rate was fairly close and so were the homers. Votto did walk more, but they OPS'd close anyway in the minors and Rizzo was younger at each level and has spent less time in the minors. If I remember, Votto had close to a 1000 more plate appearances than Rizzo does to date, in the minors.

[PriortoTheoIhadWood]

Only a .260/.270 hitter? What happens?

[davell]

Maybe Vogelbach had a good game today. He tweeted that he's glad to back in his comfort zone and that a few tweaks can make a big difference.

[toonsterwu]

I'm guessing Raley is going up to Iowa to take Jay Jackson's spot? Volstad, Rusin, DeLaCruz, Lopez, and Raley/Jackson?

 

AJ Morris has been good lately. Two more perfect innings.

 

Alcantara made two more errors, he's up to 19 already.

 

Szczur two hits, a walk leading to the winning run, and a SB. He's up to .270 with OBP in .360's. I hope they leave him alone, though, rather than rushing him up to AA. He's due for some slump.

 

Speaking of AJ Morris, whatever happened to Graham Hicks the other arm in the Gorzellany trade? He disappeared last year with an elbow injury, but I haven't heard anything since. TJ surgery?

 

Last I heard, still rehabbing. Maybe someone should pop over and ask AzPhil. Really liked what I saw out of Hicks a few years ago.

[Little Slide Rooter]

The inning of doom lives on.

 

Tacoma Top of the 6th

Carlos Triunfel flies out to center fielder Dave Sappelt.

Luis Rodriguez singles on a line drive to right fielder Alfredo Amezaga.

Miguel Olivo pops out to third baseman Josh Vitters.

Carlos Peguero homers (7) on a fly ball to left field. Luis Rodriguez scores.

Luis Antonio Jimenez singles on a line drive to center fielder Dave Sappelt.

Vinnie Catricala doubles (7) on a fly ball to center fielder Dave Sappelt. Luis Antonio Jimenez scores.

Chih-Hsien Chiang lines out sharply to second baseman Luis Valbuena.

[PriortoTheoIhadWood]

Hey man...Not everything can be of doom. The inning of his downfall can work too.

[toonsterwu]

I hope it's true. I wasn't ready to give up on him as a starter.

 

Same here. I think we all debated it earlier in the year, why he was the number 1 lefty, and most reasonable response seemed to be that Antigua as a starter wasn't significantly better than the others, and he might be a better lefty pen arm. Not the best argument to me, but it was the most logical one, it seemed.

 

I mean ... we've got the poor man's Antigua (I think AzPhil phrased it that way once, or something similar) starting in Daytona (Del Valle), and 4 soft-tossing lefties from A+-AAA that don't have Antigua's velo. You'd figure with a solid 3 pitch mix, he'd get a longer look.

 

(that said, my bet is that MiLB made a mistake. I have a hard time buying that Raley would get benched now ... unless he was getting sent to Iowa?)

 

I had him pegged as the minor league pitcher of the year last year if not for Beliveau. I really liked the peripherals he put up as a 21 year old in A+. I'm wondering if they wanted to limit the amount of innings he threw this year. If he gets about 18 starts through the end of the year, he would finish up approaching 130 IP which is a pretty good escalation from last year's 97 IP.

 

Hmm ... that does make sense from a timing perspective. Here's hoping. Harman is up in AA and can be the main lefty, and if they need another one, they could bump up Jokisch and thus, clear any issues about the A+ rotation as well.

 

Interesting. Hadn't really pondered that.

Edited May 22, 2012 by toonsterwu

[Splendid Splinter]

Brett Jackson getting the day off.

 

Hopefully they'll give him another day off tomorrow as well.

 

Why do you think that?

 

 

El Duderino already mentioned it... He sat out a couple days because of back injury recently and IMO it's bothering him more than he's letting on and his game suffers as a result. Just give him a couple days to rest up and get his mind off of the Ks/slump/etc...

[PriortoTheoIhadWood]

That back injury probably goes a long way in explaining the number of K's lately tbh. You have to think he's been restricted in his movements.

[Vinestal]

You would think with the amount of success Rizzo has had more pitchers would try to work around him and you'd be seeing him either walk, K or hit to weaker contact. Why are people even attempting to pitch to him so much? I expect him to be challenged in the majors but are AAA pitchers just dumb? I guess they are trying to prove themselves against someone who's obviously majors ready but I think I'd work around him.

[davell]

Oh well, Vogelbach didn't play today, so he probably had a good BP or something. OTOH, someone can post a link to AZPhil, but Candelario was 3-3, with 2 doubles and a BB. Whitenack went 6, allowing 3 hits, sn unearned run, and 7 K's. 56 pitches, 45 strikes, 8/3 GO/FO ratio. Move him up fellas, he's ready for Daytona at least.

[Guest]

You would think with the amount of success Rizzo has had more pitchers would try to work around him and you'd be seeing him either walk, K or hit to weaker contact. Why are people even attempting to pitch to him so much? I expect him to be challenged in the majors but are AAA pitchers just dumb? I guess they are trying to prove themselves against someone who's obviously majors ready but I think I'd work around him.

When you've got Valbuena batting behind you...you're going to get some good pitches to hit.

[KingCubsFan]

Brett Jackson getting the day off.

 

Hopefully they'll give him another day off tomorrow as well.

 

Why do you think that?

 

 

El Duderino already mentioned it... He sat out a couple days because of back injury recently and IMO it's bothering him more than he's letting on and his game suffers as a result. Just give him a couple days to rest up and get his mind off of the Ks/slump/etc...

Didn't his stats suffer last year when tried to play with an injury? I feel like he started off strong, slumped due to injury, and eventually finished strong in AAA.

[StarlinOnYou]

Brett Jackson getting the day off.

 

Hopefully they'll give him another day off tomorrow as well.

 

Why do you think that?

 

 

El Duderino already mentioned it... He sat out a couple days because of back injury recently and IMO it's bothering him more than he's letting on and his game suffers as a result. Just give him a couple days to rest up and get his mind off of the Ks/slump/etc...

 

Jackson struck out a ton in college and many questioned whether his lack of contact would be his eventual downfall. You have no clue on whether or not an injury is bothering him. This isn't some shocking evaluation - he strikes out a ton - always has.

 

Wilken has whiffed on pretty much every first round pick he chose here -- paint me pessimistic until proven otherwise. I mean just off the top of my head - Colvin (garbage), Cashner (struggling - but projects well IMO), Simpson (complete joke), Vitters (close to chalking this one up as a loss), etc.

[pitchcs]

Oh well, Vogelbach didn't play today, so he probably had a good BP or something. OTOH, someone can post a link to AZPhil, but Candelario was 3-3, with 2 doubles and a BB. Whitenack went 6, allowing 3 hits, sn unearned run, and 7 K's. 56 pitches, 45 strikes, 8/3 GO/FO ratio. Move him up fellas, he's ready for Daytona at least.

 

56/45, wow.

[CubsWin]

Oh well, Vogelbach didn't play today, so he probably had a good BP or something. OTOH, someone can post a link to AZPhil, but Candelario was 3-3, with 2 doubles and a BB. Whitenack went 6, allowing 3 hits, sn unearned run, and 7 K's. 56 pitches, 45 strikes, 8/3 GO/FO ratio. Move him up fellas, he's ready for Daytona at least.

TCR Link

 

Whitenack does look ready or close to ready based on his EXST numbers...

0.64 ERA

0.75 WHIP

.196 Opp BA

73% GO

73% strikes

28.0 IP, 19 H, 4 R (2 ER), 2 BB, 26 K, 2 HBP, 1 HR, 2 GIDP

[Guest]

I want Whitenack up around 75 pitches/start before he moves up to a full season league.

[davell]

Junior Lake leadoff home run.

[craig]

Antigua laboring in his rotation debut. 5 hits and 2runs in first two innings, four of the first six guys got hits, two of them doubles, and one of the outs the guy lined to third and the baserunner at 3rd was doubled off, so fair chance that was hit hard too. Hopefully he settles down.

[Have a seat, Neifi]

Rizzo 3/5 with a HR and two singles

Vitters 2/5 with a 2B

[C.C.]

15th HR. Damn!

[craig]

Antigua does settle down, and ends up with only the two runs over 4 innings. Lake turned a sacrifice into a bunt single, for the moment gets his average up over .300 and his OBP over .400. He's never before gone 50 AB into a league with a K-rate below 20%. Would sure be fun if that proved to be more than a small-sample fluke.

 

Probably he'll rack up 8 new K's by Sunday night, now.

[UK1679666180]

Brett Jackson getting the day off.

 

Hopefully they'll give him another day off tomorrow as well.

 

Why do you think that?

 

 

El Duderino already mentioned it... He sat out a couple days because of back injury recently and IMO it's bothering him more than he's letting on and his game suffers as a result. Just give him a couple days to rest up and get his mind off of the Ks/slump/etc...

 

Jackson struck out a ton in college and many questioned whether his lack of contact would be his eventual downfall. You have no clue on whether or not an injury is bothering him. This isn't some shocking evaluation - he strikes out a ton - always has.

 

Wilken has whiffed on pretty much every first round pick he chose here -- paint me pessimistic until proven otherwise. I mean just off the top of my head - Colvin (garbage), Cashner (struggling - but projects well IMO), Simpson (complete joke), Vitters (close to chalking this one up as a loss), etc.

 

Not to defend Wilken b/c his tenure overall is looking poor at best, but given what they paid Samardzija (espec. compared to Colvin), he was basically a 1st rounder.