Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 5-4-15

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Scheduled Games (All Times Central):

 

Iowa won 2-1 Box Score

 

Tennessee lost 4-3 (13 innings) Box Score

 

Myrtle Beach won 14-6 Box Score

 

South Bend lost 2-0 Box Score

[ctcf]

Here's hoping Stinnett can follow Skulina's lead and get himself together.

[toonsterwu]

That Tennessee rotation has gotten off to a fine start (outside of Zastryzny - you know, I sort of wonder if he's a poor man's Brian Matusz - a lefty who seems to have all the pitches to be a starter, but never finds the extended consistency). I really still am not sure that I expect all that much out of Felix Pena or Frank Batista unless there stuff has ticked up. Good to see Pineyro getting back in a groove. Still pleasantly surprised at how well Willson Contreras has hit to start the year. For all the talk about Schwarber, Caratini, and Zagunis to start the year (and even Amaya), Contreras was sort of lost by the wayside, but if his defense continues to improve and he gives us some offense, he's really an interesting option who has reached the upper levels.

 

I'll probably catch the Pelicans at some point in the next month or so, and I really hope I can get intrigued about any of those bats. It's somewhat painful to see the numbers for those guys to start the year, but then again, it's not like McKinney/Zagunis/Caratini didn't come with some offensive concerns. I'd love to see them move Ben Wells into a full blown short relief mode if he's over his yips (SSS). It seems unlikely to transition him back to a starter, so I wonder if we could make him into a power throwing sinkerballer out of the pen.

 

Really hope those K's come down for Charcer Burks. It'd be nice to have another positional guy to be intrigued with in South Bend that isn't a bit old for the level.

[Guest]

I'm really not sure what is wrong with McKinney's numbers. He's not going all Bryant/Schwarber on the league, but he's doing just fine.

 

Zagunis, too, for that matter. Sure, I'd like to see more power. But a 20% walk rate is darn impressive.

[sneakypower]

Billy McKinney: .290/.375/.435, 11.3% BB, 13.8% K, .304 BABIP (144 wRC+)

Austin Meadows: .311/.370/.400, 9% BB, 13% K, .351 BABIP (132 wRC+)

 

McKinney is 8 months older, fwiw

[imb]

and a ginger, i believe

[sneakypower]

Gleyber Torres (18) is the youngest player in the MWL, yet he's in top-10 for wRC

 

8 of the top 10 are 22 years or older

[sneakypower]

Carl Edwards Jr's transition to the bullpen:

http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20150501&content_id=121494768&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb&sid=milb

 

• "I'm very confident [i can get back to 2013 numbers]," Edwards said. "I always feel like I start slow and get better as I get more and more comfortable. The more innings I get, the more innings I face, you'll see it's going to come back. I'm not even frustrated yet because I know what's coming."

[toonsterwu]

I'm really not sure what is wrong with McKinney's numbers. He's not going all Bryant/Schwarber on the league, but he's doing just fine.

 

Zagunis, too, for that matter. Sure, I'd like to see more power. But a 20% walk rate is darn impressive.

 

Nothing's wrong with it ... but I'm not particularly intrigued by any of them so far. Now, I loved McKinney as the 2nd asset in that trade and was mildly surprised that I seemed to a low person on his ranking, but

 

a) I've been fairly consistent in the belief that guys who lack major tools need to prove it all the way up for me to be really intrigued

b) He isn't, as of now, busting through any of the projections/expectations on a repeat year in A+ ... and a positive offensive case still looks to be middle-aged Nick Markakis

 

There's a place for a guy like that, and maybe even a starting role in the bigs (there is something to be said for solid, and consistently solid), but for me to intrigued, he either needs to bust through or he needs to prove it up the ladder.

 

As for Zagunis ... if he's an OF now ... the approach is great, but he has to show some power. There was the expectation of more power as he develops, so we'll see if he can step it up as he gets more adjusted to upper level pitching.

[toonsterwu]

Billy McKinney: .290/.375/.435, 11.3% BB, 13.8% K, .304 BABIP (144 wRC+)

Austin Meadows: .311/.370/.400, 9% BB, 13% K, .351 BABIP (132 wRC+)

 

McKinney is 8 months older, fwiw

 

I'm not particularly huge on Meadows, but he does project to have more, and potentially, much more, power than McKinney, potentially plus power as he matures.

 

Again ... I'm not saying there's anything wrong with McKinney's numbers, but I'm not particularly encouraged by the start when coupled with the projections and expectations for him. I guess a part of me wondered, when our voting happened, if you guys were seeing/hearing things that would make McKinney far more exciting than I thought, so sometimes said intrigue is expectation based as well.

[Guest]

Schwarber has reached base in all 19 of his starts, he's reached base twice or more in 14 of those starts, with a chance to make that 15 at the end of today's game.

 

Vogelbach is at 21 of 23 reaching base, 12 of 23 reaching base twice with a chance at 13.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Maybe not as exciting as the Cubs 1st inning, but Mendy's 1-1 and Javy with a HBP, which is kind of like a walk.

[Gilby]

Alcantara has a .995 OPS.

[ctcf]

Szczur is looking p good.

 

BAEZ WALK

[Cubswin11]

Szczur is looking p good.

 

BAEZ WALK

Would think he'd be coming up if Denorfia has to go to the DL

[Guest]

Szczur is looking p good.

 

BAEZ WALK

Would think he'd be coming up if Denorfia has to go to the DL

 

Yep, he left the game early, he's coming up.

 

Alcantara is really starting to hit his stride, nice to see.

[OleMissCub]

 

BAEZ WALK

 

Chuck Knoblauch must be pitching

[CyHawk_Cub]

 

BAEZ WALK

 

Chuck Knoblauch must be pitching

 

Rick Ankiel making a pitching comeback

[Deeg]

Baez had a higher walk rate at all of AA, AAA and MLB last year than Castro has ever had in the majors. But by all means, stay with the jokes.