Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 5-2-16

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Box Scores:

 

Iowa lost 5-1 Box Score

 

C W. Contreras 1/4, R, HR (1), RBI

DH D. Vogelbach 1/3, BB, 2 K

CF A. Almora 0/4, K

2B A. Alcántara 2/3, BB

SS M. Kawasaki 1/4

SP P. Johnson 3 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 HBP, 3-2 GO-FO, 52-36 pitches-strikes

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

 

Tennessee lost game one of a doubleheader 3-2 (7 innings) Box Score

 

CF J. Hannemann 0/4, 2 K

2B C. Young 0/2, BB, K

3B J. Candelario 0/2, BB, E (3, fielding)

RF B. McKinney 1/2, R, BB, SB (1)

LF M. Zagunis 1/3, BB, CS (1)

PH B. Rademacher 0/1

SP T. Skulina 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 1 HBP, 5-6 GO-FO, 86-54 pitches-strikes

RP G. Concepcion 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, 3-0 GO-FO

 

Tennessee won game two of their doubleheader 4-1 (7 innings) Box Score

 

CF J. Hannemann 0/3

2B C. Young 0/4

3B J. Candelario 0/2, BB, E (4, fielding)

RF B. McKinney 1/3, R, K

C V. Caratini 2/3, K

LF M. Zagunis 1 /2, R, HR (1), RBI, BB

PH B. Rademacher 0/0, BB

SP JH Tseng 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 4-1 GO-FO, 35-23 pitches-strikes

RP B. Markey 2.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 1 HR, 3-5 GO-FO, 44-31 pitches-strikes

RP D. Garner 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 2-0 GO-FO

RP C. Black 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 1-0 GO-FO

 

Myrtle Beach won 3-2 (11 innings) Box Score

 

SS G, Torres 1/4, K

LF I. Happ 1/4, R, 2B (6), BB, 2 K

3B J. Vosler 2/4, R, 2B (5), HBP

RF Je. Baez 0/3, BB, 2 K, SB (11)

PH-CF R. Crawford 0/0, BB

SP J. Stinnett 5 IP,2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 7-3 GO-FO, 54-35 pitches-strikes

RP D. Berg 2.1 P, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 5-0 GO-FO

 

South Bend won 3-0 Box Score

 

CF D. Dewees 0/4, K

2B C. Sepulveda 1/4, R, 2B (3)

PH-DH P. Higgins 0/1

LF E. Jimenez 2/4, R, 2B (7), K, SB 93)

RF E. Martinez 0/4, 3 K

1B M. Rose 1/3, R, K

3B J. Hodges 2/3, RBI

SP C. Sands 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, 4-5 GO-FO, 60-38 pitches-strikes

RP P. Morrison 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, 1-3 GO-FO

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Stinnett: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 54 pitches

Sands: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, 60 pitches

 

And the bad:

 

Pierce Johnson: 3 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 HBP, 1 HR, already 52 pitches

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Tseng was pulled after retiring one batter in the third. Not sure if he's hurt but he had pitched shutout ball up till then.

[craig]

Tseng was pulled after retiring one batter in the third. Not sure if he's hurt but he had pitched shutout ball up till then.

 

That's not good.

 

Odd that they pulled Stinnett after only 54 pitches. Thornton has been starting, so maybe he's missed starts and they want to get him some innings, or something? Stinnett's continued to have the ground ball thing going, and his ERA is now down below 2. Small sample, obviously, but seems pretty different from last year. It's a different world when you throw strikes!

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Great to see Contreras hitting for a little pop the last few day. Suddenly, his line is looking pretty damn similar to where he was at last year, which is quite impressive.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Tseng was pulled after retiring one batter in the third. Not sure if he's hurt but he had pitched shutout ball up till then.

 

That's not good.

 

Odd that they pulled Stinnett after only 54 pitches. Thornton has been starting, so maybe he's missed starts and they want to get him some innings, or something? Stinnett's continued to have the ground ball thing going, and his ERA is now down below 2. Small sample, obviously, but seems pretty different from last year. It's a different world when you throw strikes!

 

I wonder if pitch counts are wrong in the lower minors, seeing as Stinnett was pulled after 54 and Sands after 60. That said, Preston Morrison followed Sands so that might be more related to the piggyback situation at South Bend.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

I was at the South Bend game tonight. I got my first look at Carlos Sepulveda, who didn't play when I saw them last week in the Quad Cities. He's an easy guy to like. He probably won't ever be much, because he is small and has no power. He's listed at 5'10", but I doubt he is over 5'8". He made a couple of very slick plays with the leather and turned a couple nice DPs. He also looked alright at the plate. He has good contact skills and a good eye. He probably is never going to hit because of his size and lack of power. But he battles. He had a nice 10- or 11-pitch at bat in the first.

 

The Wisconsin starter, Miguel Diaz, looked good. He was sitting 94-95 and pumped several in at 96. His slider also looked nice. He was perfect through 4. Eloy broke that up with a line drive single, and Diaz kinda fell apart in the fifth. He didn't get hit really hard, but he wasn't able to maintain his velo and was sitting more 92-93 that inning and South Bend was able to do more damage against him.

 

Eloy also hit a gapper later in the game. He continues to impress me. He has decent speed and looks like a pretty smart base runner. He made a nice play in the field, going back and getting a ball. He misread another off the bat that was a liner in front of him, but he was able to correct himself and make the play. It's hard to not be reminded of Jorge Soler when watching him. They both have freakishly sexy bodies, for one. But, Eloy seems to struggle with breaking balls some, while also showing good plate discipline at other times. They both can hit the ball really hard but don't dong enough. At his best, he'll be Good Jorge, with, maybe, solid defense and a little added speed. At his worst, he's the Jorge we are seeing right now.

 

I still haven't seen Dewees do much at the plate or in the field. I'm still anxiously awaiting him displaying his speed. His swing is nice, for sure -- quick and compact.

 

The Eddy Martinez hype from some scouts still confounds me. He's got a really nice arm. It's strong. It's not like Heyward strong or anything, though. I'm sure he's quite fast, but he's hardly even put the ball in play for me to see it. He's got good bat speed, but it's not special.

 

Sands looked alright. His fastball was sitting 87-89 and occasionally hitting 90. He had solid command of it, too. His off-speed stuff looked good, but he wasn't consistent with it. Sometimes he would break a good one off and completely fool the hitter. Other times he was bouncing it in. They didn't make too much hard contact off of him. There were a couple innings where his curve and change-up were sharp and he mowed guys down. When they weren't, he had to work a little.

 

I'm not positive if the gun was right on these. But, twice the gun lit up at 95 for Sands. Once was when he had guys on first and third and was clearly rearing back to get a little something extra to get K's and get out of the inning. It worked because he blew it right past him, and he K'd the last two hitters to get out of the inning. I didn't see him top 90 the rest of the game, though. Is it usual for a guy to reach in and put 5-8 mph extra on a pitch? The second time he did it for sure looked and sounded like it was a lot more heat than the rest of his pitches, though. And the batter was way late, so I definitely believe it could be 95. I just found it odd that he could dial it up that much.