Minor League Discussion & Boxes 8-4-12

[Vinestal]

Grounded out in his 4th at bat at least he took a pitch this time.

[StarlinOnYou]

He has a reputation of not getting cheated at the plate. I think it's a little early to say he's pressing.

[bukie]

If it's early to say he's pressing for his first game back near his HS, it's way too early to say he has a reputation at the plate.

[davell]

Geez, he's 19. First game back home. I wasn't saying he's overmatched or anything like that. Just saying he could have been trying to impress his family and friends a bit tonight. He'll be just fine, no doubt whatsoever.

[El Duderino]

Stephen Bruno up to 11 HBP.

[davell]

Stephen Bruno up to 11 HBP.

SGP is what he's got. Serious Grit Potential.

[Rizzo Smash]

Vitters 3 run HR

[Little Slide Rooter]

Vitters with his 17th HR, a 3 run shot. And a great game for Rusin,

7 IP 1 ER 1/8 BB/K

[El Duderino]

Tayler Scott got 16 outs, 13 on the ground.

[StarlinOnYou]

Vitters OPS is climbing.

[toonsterwu]

I don't recall Alcantara going down with a serious injury, but for the life of me, I can't think of what he went down with right now. Perhaps this means Alcantara is out for a longer period of time than expected.

 

I think it was some sort of leg injury. I asked whoever runs the Daytona twitter feed if he would be back soon, but all they said was he was still in AZ rehabbing.

 

I was wondering if the eventual move would be Alcantara to Tenessee when he returns and Junior Lake or Logan Watkins to Iowa when that happens.

 

Alos, could they have just as easily given Tim Saunders a crack at AA? he was relly doing well for himself in his short stint at Daytona.

 

Saunders seems more like a guy who will move around to fill in gaps in the system than a guy who is going to get pushed aggressively,

[toonsterwu]

So if he hits here to finish the year, he starts next year where?

 

My guess is that it would take some extreme circumstances for him to start anywhere but Daytona next year, but I think this signals that he could potentially spend a good amount of time in AA by the end of 2013.

Agreed.

 

I also hope Bruno is bumped up to Peoria.

 

I want to see Bruno in Peoria, but I really have no idea how comfortable they would feel about giving him shortstop, which is the open position. Marco Hernandez is on a 9 game hit streak, but it seems quite unlikely that they would bump him up.

 

Personally, I'd prefer Bruno up, but I could understand it if they thought, hey, we need some time to make a secondary move, and will stopgap it with Saunders/Darvill in the interim.

[toonsterwu]

I'm very curious now about Alcantara and what the plans are for him. I thought I had read he was really close to coming back like a week ago. So either there's been a setback or he could play a couple of games in Arizona and move on up to Tennessee after that, I guess. On another note, they've really moved Saunders around. I was a tad surprised they moved him down to Peoria. He seems like a utility type, I would have kept him there and moved Bruno up, I believe.

 

Well, as intriguing as Alcantara is, the simple thing is that, like with Marco, if Baez is ready, everyone steps aside. That said, with Alcantara, they have the easy answer of bumping him to AA and shifting Lake to full-time 3rd or another spot (corner OF?). My hunch is that they might consider that. I wouldn't say that Alcantara is definitely deserving of a bump up, but he's done enough to warrant consideration of it. Like with Baez, and with Lake last year, you really need to see Alcantara against tougher pitching to get a good gauge on whether or not his approach can hold up enough to make him a solid offensive player.

[toonsterwu]

He's playing 4 hours away from where he went to HS. He could easily have a bunch of people there to see his first game and is pressing.

 

Or ... he simply has to work on improving his approach at the plate.

 

at the end of the day, struggling isn't a bad thing provided he has the work ethic, strength of mind, and, well, understanding, for lack of a better term, to get better. If he doesn't, well, then that would be a bigger issue. There's really no big negatives for the rest of this year in regards to Baez if he's mentally tough - if he succeeds, then people will be touting him as a possible top 10 prospect; if he falters, okay, be mentally tough and get to work in the fall.

[toonsterwu]

Missed an interesting day, so some random thoughts, nothing new -

 

- The "Where is Stephen Bruno?" game continues. CF? RF? He's athletically sound enough to play CF, and with experience, probably play it at a higher level. But ... he really shouldn't be groomed as a utility player until the chances of him developing into a starter is much slimmer. Moving him up to Peoria would move move him to short, a position he can handle. Timothy Saunders shouldn't block anyone if they are ready, nothing personal on Saunders.

 

- Marco Hernandez has a 9 game hit streak. A better note is that, over the last 39 AB's, he's only had 5 K's. That jives with the reports that he's finding a groove and settling in, forcing himself to be more disciplined. Still wish he walked more, but baby steps (and yes, I know he had a bad stretch right before this so this is partially cherry-picking data, extend it 5 games, and the overall line for the stretch would be pretty bleh).

 

- It's too early to get worried, but since we've spent so much time talking about the potential of guys "pressing" (Brett Jackson in the other thread, Baez above), I wonder if Matt Szczur is pressing. If not, then uh ... well ... 9 K's in 33 AB's ... not good (but granted, SSS).

 

- Junior Lake is on another tear. One random side note, but I had not realized how much he has struggled with lefties this year. Seems ... odd.

 

- Quietly murdering the ball ... Justin Bour. Last 10: .344/.432/.813. He got off to a hot start last year before cooling off, but he's been better this year and there seems to be some curiosity about him. The power's been solid this year. Doesn't have much of a future with us, though (uh ... do not want him in LF).

 

- Quietly hitting well of late - Dong-Yub Kim. It seems so long ago when he was a fascinating new young guy that AzPhil was tracking. He's older now, though, so time is running short, but nice to see him doing something with the bat.

 

Edit: Oh, another guy that it's good to see him hitting, for moreso than Bour or Kim, is Mark Malave. Granted, it's the DSL, so I never really take anything positive from there all that seriously ... but struggling in the DSL would be troublesome, so it's nice to see that he's turned the corner from his slow start.

[Cubswin11]

Vitters OPS is climbing.

http://www.mtv.com/onair/jersey_shore/season_4/images/gifs/vp-fistpump-hi.gif

[scarey]

Missed an interesting day, so some random thoughts, nothing new -

 

- The "Where is Stephen Bruno?" game continues. CF? RF? He's athletically sound enough to play CF, and with experience, probably play it at a higher level. But ... he really shouldn't be groomed as a utility player until the chances of him developing into a starter is much slimmer. Moving him up to Peoria would move move him to short, a position he can handle. Timothy Saunders shouldn't block anyone if they are ready, nothing personal on Saunders.

 

- Marco Hernandez has a 9 game hit streak. A better note is that, over the last 39 AB's, he's only had 5 K's. That jives with the reports that he's finding a groove and settling in, forcing himself to be more disciplined. Still wish he walked more, but baby steps (and yes, I know he had a bad stretch right before this so this is partially cherry-picking data, extend it 5 games, and the overall line for the stretch would be pretty bleh).

 

- It's too early to get worried, but since we've spent so much time talking about the potential of guys "pressing" (Brett Jackson in the other thread, Baez above), I wonder if Matt Szczur is pressing. If not, then uh ... well ... 9 K's in 33 AB's ... not good (but granted, SSS).

 

- Junior Lake is on another tear. One random side note, but I had not realized how much he has struggled with lefties this year. Seems ... odd.

 

- Quietly murdering the ball ... Justin Bour. Last 10: .344/.432/.813. He got off to a hot start last year before cooling off, but he's been better this year and there seems to be some curiosity about him. The power's been solid this year. Doesn't have much of a future with us, though (uh ... do not want him in LF).

 

- Quietly hitting well of late - Dong-Yub Kim. It seems so long ago when he was a fascinating new young guy that AzPhil was tracking. He's older now, though, so time is running short, but nice to see him doing something with the bat.

 

Edit: Oh, another guy that it's good to see him hitting, for moreso than Bour or Kim, is Mark Malave. Granted, it's the DSL, so I never really take anything positive from there all that seriously ... but struggling in the DSL would be troublesome, so it's nice to see that he's turned the corner from his slow start.

 

Did you seriously use jive and groove in the same sentence?