Quakers

Ditto

Hey, Maples made it through three innings :-)

Maples for Boise...This should be interesting.

Well Boise swept the series:) I was surprised to see Skulina start. Has Blackburn been pushed to today (Thursday?) Baleguert was not playing, but I saw him in uniform heading to the bus after the game and he appeared healthy. I wish I knew were Hanneman was. Skulina hit 95. Orozzco (sp?) struck out the side in his one inning of work. Outside of Maples, Boise's pitching looked good. I think that the quality of the staff is much improved from last year. We have some prospects. Penalver was the hero of the game. He smashed line drive off the Hillsboro's pitcher's leg which caromed into right field driving in 2 runs and later he hit a line drive single to left that advanced a runner to third. The throw to second got away (ruled an error) allowing Penalver to be safe at second and the runner at third to score. Penalver then stole third easily (He has the best speed on Boise's team this year, Dunston would be second) I am not saying that Penalver is going to be a top ten Cub prospect at the end of this season. He should make many top 30 lists. What I am saying is that he is much better than his current stats indicate. Similar to Dunston last year. I remember that several people were willing to give up on him last year when he struggled at Boise. I posted not to give up on him. This year he is justifying my faith. I believe Penalver's offensive stats will greatly improve as the season progresses. Speaking of Dunston...Yesterday I posted that he was hitting everything to left. So last night he decided to pull the ball. His one single was a solid line drive down the right field line. I wonder if he (or any other cub prospect) reads NSBB?

With my luck he will be promoted to KC by the time oise swings through Oregon again :(

To be fair, Starlin Castro and Junior Lake never made it to Boise and I assume you never saw Javier Baez (6 AB in Boise in 2011). So it comes down to guys like Arismendy Alcantara, Marco Hernandez and Wes Darvill and while the latter two didn't do too well in Boise, Alcantara hit .283/OPSed .716 as an 18-year old. It should be noted that I missed a few of Boise's seasons, due to frequent traveling to Europe. I did not see AA. Penalvar is much better defensively than Marco or Wes. It is also true that this is Boise after all. Many a player has looked good here only to falter somewhere down the line.

Dunston seems to have the build and athleticism to have some power, but at this point it is not what he is showing. My observations of Boise players over the years has led me to the conclusion that more often than not, the coaches are more worried about player development than winning. They often have a player doing things that will make him better in the future. Maybe the coaches are having him work on hitting the opposite way? Maybe he saw too much of Mark grace, who made himself a decent career by doing just that.

Wait... what? I agree with the ???? Penalver is young for the league. I think he will hit. He already looks better now than he did a few weeks ago. But, I doubt he will develop power... Of course I am projecting. It will be interesting to see how he does over the course of the year and equally as interesting to see what those of you who observe KC next year think.

Does anyone know when Hanneman is coming of the DL? Does anyone know why Balaguert was taken out of the game last night? He did not appear to be injured.

A fun game to watch last night as 9th inning heroics won the game. Pugeliese - Was in control of the game from the start. The two hits he gave up were weak infield grounders. Fastball at 91 and a breaking pitch at 78. The breaking pitch was making the Hillsboro hitters look bad. Masek - This is the second time I have seen him. The first time was against Salem-Keizer and he just showed a 94 mph fastball with control issues. Last night, he pitched two innings. His first inning of work was dominated by a breaking ball (78). His control was good. During his second inning he started to ramp up his fastball to 94 again and had control issues. He walked two batters before the coach came out and said something to him. Masek continued to throw heat, but now with control. I wish I knew what the pitching coach had said to him. Dunston - I do not know if it is due to a small sample size or...but Dunston seems to try to hit everything the opposite way. I have yet to see him pull a ball with authority. Penalver - The more I see this guy, the more I like him. The best SS prospect I have seen at Boise (but then again, I have not been impressed with the previous Boise SS's). Defense is a plus and last night he showed some real speed on the base paths. His liner down the left field line in the ninth broke the game open. Gretzky - Looks over-matched at the plate. Hopefully he will look better in August when Boise comes through Oregon again.

Maples was not close to getting a strike. His fastball was around 94. Underwood was hitting 94 as well. He has not had a good start to this season, but I would not give up on him as a prospect. He just looks raw. Wait and see where he is at by season's end. Penalver had a real good night. He showed superior defense at short, excellent speed on the base paths, and stroked the first solid hit (double) that I have seen him hit. He is a smart player, athletic and he seems to learn fast. I think he is a legit prospect. Keep an eye on Lockhart. This guy knows what he is doing at the plate. (So far no power though.) Good defense at second as well. Edit: This was my first trip to Hillsboro, so I do not know how accurate the scoreboard radar reading is, but it is a new (and very nice) facility so I am guessing the radar was good.

Thanks I will be attending the Boise Hillsboro series over the next three evenings:) Due to the seats I was able to purchase, I do not think that I will be able to peek over the shoulders of scouts and get pitch speeds. What should I be looking out for?

I am intrigued by Carlos Martinez. What is his story?

Just gotta send out those negative waves....think positively...he is coming to Boise. Besides, since Boise has switched divisions in the NWL they will be coming through Hillsboro and Salem again before the year is out. But of course you will probably tell me he will be at Daytona by then.

Hope this is true Tweet from Rogers and Boise is coming to Hillsboro on the 15th - 17th:)

Hope this is true Tweet from Rogers

Bryant = Boise or KC or Daytona?

From what I have seen Hanneman is the one that should move up. Why they still have Skulina working out of the pen is beyond me. He is good. They probably want to limit his innings. Sounds right. Masek is working out of the pen too.

From what I have seen Hanneman is the one that should move up. Why they still have Skulina working out of the pen is beyond me. He is good.

Urias - I see that he was BA's top prospect this week, but since this is his first year in pro ball he should be unavailable until next years minor league draft....correct? I believe I am... If not, then I would like to claim him.

Boise Note: A really ugly game. I left early. The only interesting observation was that Balaguert hit an opposite field double (right center 390ft off the very top of the wall).

I mentioned yesterday, that I liked his presence at the plate. It just says power. But he hasn't done much yet. He walked and scored in the first on Tuesday. He did sngle and score in the 9th, but that was off a catcher who was brought in to pitch the 9th, because SK had used up all the pitchers scheduled for the night. He looks decent in right, decent speed, athletic, strong. But like I said, he really has done anything yet.

Enjoyable game. Boise has taken two from Salem and looks to go for a sweep on Wednesday. Notes 1) Hannemann - The more I see of this guy, the more I like him. Showed an above average arm (for a CF) last night. He also put down a perfect drag bunt past the pitcher and to the second baseman to lead off the game. Bunting for a hit is definitely going to be part of his game. Does anyone know if Hannemann has shown power in the past? 2) With Blackburn starting I was told to sit next to a scout and get the pitch speeds of the Boise pitchers, so that is what I did. a) Blackburn's fastball was sitting at 92. His secondary pitch was at 88. Blackburn looked unhittable in the 1st, but he walked two to start the second. At the time I thought it was because he lost his release point, but there may be another reason. The coach came out talked to him and Blackburn promptly threw a double-play ball and then got the next batter to ground out. But he started off the third by walking the batter. A fielder's choice made it seem that he would get out of it, but then and error and another walk got him into trouble. He managed to get to next batter to fly out, but then two 2-out singles did him in. Blackburn finished the inning by getting the next batter to fly out, but Blackburn was done. There may be a reason for his "wildness" (he wasn't off by much). Later in the game the scout that I was sitting next too was talking to his wife and said that the home ump was having a tough time establishing a consistent strike zone. One of the problems in A ball is that there are rookie umps. Nobody argued pitch calls with the ump, so I am not certain. But it should be noted that the SK pitchers who were charting the game next to me said the same thing earlier in the game. Maybe Blackburn was upset that he wasn't getting the calls??? b) Rodriguez - A big dude (6-6). Fastball at 91. He looked good the first inning, but got real wild in his second. He was very lucky to get out of it without being scored upon. c) Masek - His fastball was around 94. He had some control issues and didn't look real sharp. d) Skulina - (6'5") His fastball was at 96 and had a good curve at 76. He walked the first batter too, but he didn't let it bother him and he blew down the next three. I really liked this guy! e) Bremer - fastball 89. The fastest pitcher in the game was from SK. Soptic was regularly hitting 97, but gave up a homerun to Bote in the one inning he pitched. (From what the SK pitchers said, Soptic was on a rehab assignment from a high A team. I think Blackburn, Skulina, and Masek are definitely ones to keep an eye on. They should be good.

Enlightenment is achieved.

Wonder where he gets that from? :-k :wink: