Minor League Wrap (5/17-23/10)
Instead of an intro this time out, I’d like to do something different. Alert readers have probably noted Wes Littleton’s coming and going from the West Tenn roster. Well, a few days ago, I found out why, via a blog. As it turns out, he and his wife had a son recently, and the kid has been going through an awful lot of medical trouble early on, with diagnoses of bacterial meningitis and a form of hemophilia. These are both very serious health issues for a kid so young, and so Wes has been flying back and forth between the team, which seems to have been fairly understanding, and the hospital. Of course, if there are any comments you want to leave or any support you might be able to provide them as they go through this, I’m sure they’d appreciate it. Even at the minor league level with eight innings in the books, he’s still part of the Mariners family.
To the jump!
Tacoma Rainiers (4-2 this week, 20-21 overall)
The Week in Review:
Monday, May 17th 2010
Tacoma 9, Memphis 13 (STL + 1)
W: Kinney (2-2, 3.65); L: Speigner (1-5, 8.64)
Tuesday, May 18th 2010
Tacoma 1, Memphis 5 (STL + 2)
W: Ottavino (3-3, 4.50); L: Seddon (3-2, 3.92)
Wednesday, May 19th 2010
Off day
Thursday, May 20th 2010
New Orleans 6 (FLA – 4), Tacoma 7
W: Olson (2-4, 3.38); L: Tankersley (3-2, 4.50)
Friday, May 21st 2010
New Orleans 5 (FLA – 5), Tacoma 7
W: Speigner (2-5, 8.15); L: Olenberger (0-2, 9.58)
Saturday, May 22nd 2010
New Orleans 3 (FLA – 6), Tacoma 7
W: French (5-1, 1.61); L: Jones (0-3, 3.77)
Sunday, May 23rd 2010
New Orleans 3 (FLA – 7), Tacoma 11
W: Shell (3-1, 2.28); L: Lawrence (3-4, 5.00)
Hitter of the Week:
RF Brad Nelson, L/R, 12/23/1982
6 G, 20 AB, 6 R, 8 H, 2 2B, HR, 4 RBI, SB, 1/8 K/BB, .400/.571/.650
I’ve been waving around the banner for this guy the past few weeks, but this one was something else. He stole a base for the second week in a row! I guess there was also the hitting four hundred and walking eight times thing. Unlike some other guys in the lineup who can’t seem to turn the switch off, the only thing Nelson hasn’t been doing this month is hitting for power, as the big guy’s ISO is just .143. That’s about the only thing holding him back at the moment, so once he starts hitting balls out, and his track record says he will, the M’s are going to have to come up with some pretty good excuses for keeping him down.
Three Home Runs in Last Three Days Mention:
1B Mike Carp, L/R, 6/30/1986
6 G, 26 AB, 7 R, 10 H, 2B, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 3/2 K/BB, .385/.429/.769
Worse Kind of Two-Outcome Hitter Mention:
CF Gregory Halman, R/R, 8/26/1987
6 G, 25 AB, 5 R, 7 H, 3 HR, 4 RBI, 11/1 K/BB, .280/.307/.640
Small Sample Size #1:
CF Ezequiel Carrera, L/L, 6/11/1987
4 G, 12 AB, 2 R, 7 H, 2B, 3 RBI, 0/2 K/BB, .583/.643/.667
Small Sample Size #2:
C Eliezer Alfonzo, R/R, 2/7/1979
4 G, 15 AB, 3 R, 5 H, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 5/1 K/BB, .333/.375/.933
Pitcher of the Week:
LHP Garrett Olson, 10/18/1983
1-0, 2 G, 0.00 ERA in 3.0 IP, 6/0 K/BB, 2/1 G/F
Olson in the rotation is probably an underrated asset. His starts tend to be a bit ugly, but his 3.82 tRA ranks second only to Shell, and everyone else is well over four. Olson in the ‘pen, however, is a beast and that much is apparent. No one reached against him this time, and through 8.0 innings of relief work, he’s allowed just five hits, walked no one, and struck out twelve. The M’s don’t necessarily have a need of a bullpen lefty at the moment, what with RR-S out of the rotation, but Olson could theoretically fill that role in the future, provided he’s able to retain his command there. The season stats, which include his starts, have him running a 8/6 K/BB against left-handed batters in 10.1 innings, and that’s no good.
Grasping a Straws Mention:
LHP Luke French, 9/13/1985
1-0, GS, CG, 1.35 ERA in 6.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R (ER), 5/3 K/BB, 8/6 G/F, HB
From The Training Room:
A few days after calling up Luis Oliveros to take on the lead catching duties, the Rainiers pulled a switcheroo and grabbed Guillermo Quiroz, whom they had probably been eyeing anyway, and sent Oliveros back to double-A… When RHP Sean White was added, they sent SS Anthony Phillips back to extended.
Strange Happenings:
If you thought it was just the Mariners doing it, Rainiers pitchers Yusmeiro Petit and Levale Speigner combined to let ten runs score in the eighth inning on Monday, after six hits, a wild pitch, a hit batter, and three walks… The Rainiers hit ten home runs off the New Orleans Zephyrs in the recent series. The Zephyrs have only allowed thirty-three home runs on the season… Tacoma Weekly had a Q & A with Gregory Halman.
West Tenn Diamond Jaxx (3-5 this week, 23-21 overall)
The Week in Review:
Monday, May 17th 2010
West Tenn 9, Mississippi 1 (ATL – 2)
W: Merry (1-0, 0.00); L: Thompson (2-3, 6.75)
Tuesday, May 18th 2010
West Tenn 1, Mississippi 2 (ATL – 1)
W: Diamond (2-3, 4.37); L: Bray (1-2, 3.03)
Wednesday, May 19th 2010
West Tenn 5, Mississippi 6 (ATL 0)
W: Hyde (2-1, 0.84); L: Littleton (1-2, 7.88)
Thursday, May 20th 2010
Montgomery 3 (TB + 4), West Tenn 0
W: Hall (1-2, 3.51); L: Pineda (3-1, 2.23)
Friday, May 21st 2010
Montgomery 3 (TB + 3), West Tenn 5 (seven innings)
W: Hensley (5-1, 1.58); L: McGee (0-4, 6.31)
Montgomery 2 (+ 2), West Tenn 3 (seven innings)
W: Munoz (1-3, 3.60); L: Downs (4-1, 2.06)
Saturday, May 22nd 2010
Montgomery 5 (TB + 3), West Tenn 2
W: Oliveros (1-4, 6.83); L: Wild (0-1, 9.64)
Sunday, May 23rd 2010
Montgomery 6 (TB + 4), West Tenn 1
W: Torres (5-2, 2.64); L: Bray (1-3, 2.60)
Hitter of the Week:
1B Johan Limonta, L/L, 8/4/1983
8 G, 26 AB, 4 R, 8 H, 5 2B, HR, 7 RBI, 4/4 K/BB, .307/.400/.615
This was a week for good, but not great hitting by the D-Jaxx. No one in the lineup exceeded eight hits, despite eight games played, so I decided to go with the guy who had 75% of those go for extras. Not a bad choice, right? Particularly when you consider that he walked a bit too. Limonta now has fourteen doubles for the year, which ties him for the league lead with a couple of other guys. He’s still striking out more against left-handers (once every four at-bats), but he’s also squaring up against them more than he has in years past. I happen to think he’s played his way to triple-A at this point, but there’s that logjam that has Brad Nelson playing the outfield these days.
More Walks than Strikeouts [For the Year] Mention:
2B Dustin Ackley, L/R, 2/26/1988
6 G, 18 AB, R, 5 H, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI, 2/3 K/BB, .278/.381/.444
Pitcher of the Week:
RHP Steve Bray, 12/22/1980
0-2, GS, CG, 0.69 ERA in 13.0 IP, 8 H, 5 R (ER), 6/2 K/BB, 12/6 G/F, 13/17 G/F
On Monday, due to an injury with Dan Cortes after the second inning, four relievers had to combine for the remaining seven innings. For Tuesday afternoon’s game, they needed the starter to spare them any extra work while everyone was resting up. Bray did just that, throwing a complete game loss, with two runs (one earned) scoring on three hits and a couple of Ks. Bray retired nine to open the game and eleven to end the game, it was just the middle seven when the runs were scoring that gave him grief. The results for both his starts this week were unfortunate, due to defensive miscues and a lack of hitting from the lineup, but you can’t take anything away from him on the effort. With Hill and now Cortes on the DL, the D-Jaxx are going to need him.
Second in the League in Ks Mention:
RHP Michael Pineda, 1/18/1989
0-1, GS, 3.00 ERA in 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 8/1K/BB, 7/2 G/F
From the Training Room:
RHP Dan Cortes left his start on Monday after two innings with shoulder tightness. He later hit the DL, so RHP Jake Wild was called up from High Desert and made his first double-A start on Saturday… LHP Edward Paredes is off the DL, and threw an inning on Saturday, walking one and striking out one… Luis Oliveros returned to the Southern League in the catcher shuffling, and 1B/DH Scott Savastano was added to the roster from High Desert, sending RHP Jorden Merry out to Clinton.
Strange Happenings:
Pitching coach Lance Painter got ejected on Sunday in the third inning after Steve Bray intentionally walked someone… A note from last week, but the winning run, after Mike Minor shut the D-Jaxx down for eight innings on Sunday, came on a suicide squeeze by Liddi that scored Peguero.
High Desert Mavericks (5-2 this week, 26-18 overall)
The Week in Review:
Monday, May 17th 2010
Stockton 3 (OAK – 7), High Desert 9
W: Kasparek (3-1, 2.61); L: Smalley (2-3, 5.74)
Tuesday, May 18th 2010
Inland Empire 6 (LA – 16), High Desert 5 (ten innings)
W: Smit (3-1, 3.04); L: Richard (1-3, 4.26)
Wednesday, May 19th 2010
Inland Empire 18 (LA – 15), High Desert 3
W: Haeger (1-1, 2.70); L: Feierabend (0-1, 5.31)
Thursday, May 20th 2010
Inland Empire 6 (LA – 16), High Desert 7
W: Richard (2-3, 4.05); L: Smit (3-2, 3.04)
Friday, May 21st 2010
High Desert 6, Lancaster 1 (HOU – 11)
W: Vasquez (1-0, 0.00); L: Seaton (1-5, 5.25)
Saturday, May 22nd 2010
High Desert 9, Lancaster 7 (HOU – 12)
W: Kasparek (4-1, 2.45); L: Keuchel (1-4, 4.70)
Sunday, May 23rd 2010
High Desert 7, Lancaster 3 (HOU – 13)
W: Carraway (3-2, 3.64); L: Dydalewicz (1-4, 9.28)
Hitter of the Week:
1B Rich Poythress, R/R, 8/11/1987
7 G, 24 AB, 7 R, 8 H, 4 HR, 9 RBI, 4/6 K/BB, HBP, .333/.469/.833
I think a four home run week is one of the things that could usurp Tenbrink from the top spot. Poythress now has ten home runs on the year, but as everyone well knows, I’m capable of picking this apart, so I’ll point out that at least four of those have come in Lancaster, which is known to be a ridiculous park. He’s also showing an OPS split of nearly three-hundred fifty points, which is weird because if you normalize it for luck it’s only about a hundred. Here’s another interesting set of numbers I can throw out there: his K/BB at home is 7/13, and on the road it’s 23/7, and yes, he’s played more games on the road. The slugging is close to equal.
Still Playing a Video Game Mention:
3B/LF Nate Tenbrink, L/R, 12/21/1986
7 G, 28 AB, 9 R, 10 H, 2 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 8 SB, 8/6 K/BB, .357/.471/.714
Leadoff Man Mention:
2B Kyle Seager, L/R, 11/3/1987
7 G, 31 AB, 4 R, 11 H, SB, 7/3 K/BB, .355/.412/.355
Pitcher of the Week:
LHP Anthony Vasquez, 9/19/1986
1-0, GS, 0.00 ERA in 8.0 IP, 4 H, R (0 ER), 6/0 K/BB, 10/4 G/F
It doesn’t seem like Vasquez has yet noticed that his home park is one of the worst to pitch in, because that’s where he was on Friday evening and it didn’t look like it registered with him. Or rather, it only registered for the first three innings, and after that he only allowed two batters to reach safely and picked off one of them. Vasquez isn’t my favorite because he’s lacking a bit in stuff and older than most prospects, but I’ll admit to be interested in seeing if he can keep up everything he’s been doing at this level. Among the Lumberkings starters, he was tied for the lowest home run total with Blandford, who has had two fewer starts since hitting the DL, so he’s got that going for him.
Seven+ Innings in the Last Three Starts Mention:
RHP Andrew Carraway, 9/4/1986
0-0, 2 GS, 1.84 ERA in 14.2 IP, 13 H (2 HR), 5 R (3 ER), 14/1 K/BB, 8/17 G/F, WP
From the Training Room:
With Wild heading to double-A to replace Dan Cortes, LHP Anthony Vasquez was brought in from Clinton. You probably already noticed that… To replace Savastano on the Mavs roster, they brought in Shaver Hansen from Clinton, which is odd because he’d been playing only in limited time and not doing all that well.
Strange Happenings:
Wednesday evening, in the midst of an 18-3 loss, catcher Travis Scott was ejected by the home plate umpire for arguing balls and strikes. While he was catching… RHP Ryan Moorer got knocked out the same day after allowing six runs to score on five hits and two walks. He did not record an out.
Clinton Lumberkings (4-1 this week, 23-20 overall)
The Week in Review:
Monday, May 17th 2010
Off day
Tuesday, May 18th 2010
Clinton 4, Burlington 1 (KC – 12)
W: Ramirez (2-2, 2.43); L: Sample (1-2, 4.89)
Wednesday, May 19th 2010
Clinton 1, Burlington 4 (KC – 11)
W: Hayenga (1-0, 0.00); L: Cooper (1-1, 5.71)
Thursday, May 20th 2010
Rain!
Friday, May 21st 2010
Kane County 1 (OAK – 2), Clinton 4
W: Lewis (2-0, 0.90); L: Joseph (0-2, 5.02)
Saturday, May 22nd 2010
Kane County 1 (OAK – 3), Clinton 5
W: Housey (3-0, 2.38); L: Hoehn (3-2, 3.27)
Sunday, May 23rd 2010
Kane County 3 (OAK – 4), Clinton 4
W: Stanton (4-2, 3.43); L: Christensen (0-2, 7.71)
Hitter of the Week:
RF James Jones, L/L, 9/24/1988
4 G, 12 AB, 4 H, 2B, HR, RBI, SB, 5/4 K/BB, HBP, .333/.529/.667
Jones’ average for the year is only .212, but he’s managed to be productive enough in other ways to work his way to a .683 OPS. Of his thirty-one hits, 42% of them have gone for extra bases, and his twenty-one walks leads the team by six. The latter might be more important to the Lumberkings’ lineup, which ranks third-to-last in walks and first in Ks, seeming to get by on the longball alone. The pitching is not so much an issue, so the hopes of the Clinton team are going to rest more on the ability of guys like Jones to hit for a better average and help set the table.
[First] Four Walks in Four Days Mention:
SS Nick Franklin, S/R, 3/2/1991
5 G, 16 AB, 2 R, 5 H, 2 2B, RBI, 2 SB, 4/4 K/BB, .313/.450/.438
Also Learning to Take a Walk Mention:
2B Gabriel Noriega, R/R, 9/13/1990
5 G, 13 AB, 2 R, 4 H, RBI, 4/3 K/BB, HBP, .308/.471/.308
Pitcher of the Week:
RHP Taylor Stanton, 1/15/1988
1-0, S, 2 G (GS), 1.00 ERA in 9.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R (ER), 6/0 K/BB, 11/7 G/F, WP
Tuesday evening, Stanton was the closer, coming in with a three-run lead to save the start by Erasmo Ramirez. By Sunday afternoon, due to the promotion of Vasquez to the Cal League, he was back in the rotation, and nearly threw a complete game, retiring eleven in a row from the first to the fourth. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen something like that happen in nearly ten years now of watching minor league games. Stanton was in the rotation for all of April and only went to the ‘pen fairly recently, so there is that, but he’s recently been making a stronger case for continued starting. In his four April starts, he had a 13/4 K/BB through 23.1 innings. His two starts in May have him at a 10/1 K/BB in 13.0 innings. It could just be that he’s been a little bit fresher of late, but more strikeouts and fewer walks will go a long way towards convincing the manager that he can stick it out as a starter.
Pitching More Like an Ace in May Mention:
LHP James Gilheeney, 11/8/1987
0-0, GS, 0.00 ERA in 7.0 IP, 6 H, R (0 ER), 4/1 K/BB, 7/7 G/F
From the Training Room:
There were a couple of promotions early in the week. Hansen headed west for California on Monday, which brought in local guy IF Hawkins Gebbers from extended. Then, on Wednesday, Vasquez took the same flight, so Merry was added to the bullpen from West Tenn.
Strange Happenings:
Umpiring in Wednesday night’s match-up between Burlington and Clinton was Rocky Craig, whom I believe is the father of former M’s farmhand Casey Craig… In the same game, Steve Baron popped into a double play that caught Daniel Carroll straying too far from first… Lumberkings starters this week: 32.0 IP, 26 H, 6 R (3 ER), 19/5 K/BB, 38/28 G/F… Chris Kirkland still hasn’t given up a second earned run this year… The Lumberkings have opted to change up the batting order a bit and now have Catricala leading off and Franklin hitting third. I don’t know if it’s weirder to have the corner infielder batting first or the nineteen-year-old batting third… Coming out of Saturday night’s game, when he hit his tenth home run, Kalian Sams had an average below .200 and a slugging above .500.
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My thoughts and prayers are with the Littleton family as I am sure everyones here are. Life is more important than baseball.
Jay,
It is hard at this point to not be intrigued by Nate Tenbrink. He is a little old for the league but his May has been even better than April with no discernable split (other than BB rate). How does his defense rate at 3B? A LH 3B with average defense that can rake would be quite useful to the M’s. I’d say we could see an aggressive promotion but with both Liddi and Mangini holding their own I don’t see that. Plus, does Tenbrink have speed? In addition to his 9/9 BB:K ratio the last 10 games he has 9 SBs with 0 CS, for a total of 14 SBs on the year. Is he just taking advantage of pitcher or does he actually possess another above-average tool?
Also, is James Jones now adjusting to the league better? He had a rough start but it seems most scouts rave about the kid.
Awesomeness, Jay.
It’s official, this is my favorite thing about USSMariner…until Dave unleashes Fury, that is.
I liked the interview with Greg Halman, he said mostly stuff I liked to hear. Seems to have a fairly high amount of both intellect and breeding.
This quote, however, made me chuckle:
Nice to see that family matters to him so much…but don’t get cocky, kid. That being said, I sure hope you really put all those tools together and become a ballplayer…
Awesome as usual, Jay. Any word on Nick Franklin’s SS defense? Does he project even as a league average UZR? Looks like he’s doing fine hitting-wise.
And how about Steve Baron’s catching skillset? I see he’s struggled from day one at the plate, but I seem to recall when he was drafted that the consensus was that we’d have to start from scratch with him there. Thanks!
Thanks for the kind words everyone. I know I don’t say that every time out, but I appreciate it.
Before he was drafted, Tenbrink was much beloved for all his tools, which were all generally above average (speed probably the lowest there, which was still at least average), but his performances were not reflective of what you’d think they would be given his abilities. The example JH gave me a few weeks back is that he could make a fantastic charging play that would make him look like a Gold Glove third baseman and then botch a routine grounder the next time up.
Last year, they seemed willing to try him on the middle infield, but this season they seem to have gone in the opposite direction. I looked up the box scores for the past month and he has twelve starts in left field, three at DH, and only seven over at third, most of them coming in the first half of the month. That’s something to file away.
In the past two weeks, he’s really turned it on. It’s not much to go off of, as two weeks doesn’t make a season, but he seems to be getting it now and I’m more positive about him going forward now.
Right now, at second, he’s a little bit above-average for his league, while at short, he’s firmly below. That’s not to say that he can’t improve, he certainly has a few areas that he could fix and is still younger than most of the guys he’s playing with. That, however, raises another point, which is that if he fills out a bit, average is probably his best hope at short, and a more defense-minded club would try him out elsewhere. But we’re talking about a month and a half of performance out of a nineteen-year-old, so things could still improve.
One of the more ominous things coming out of spring training was the word that Rob Johnson had been mentoring young Baron while he was in camp. Baron has nine passed balls all by his lonesome and that’s more than most teams have as their total, second only to some goon in Burlington who has managed to pass eleven. On the positive end of things, hits 48% caught stealing rate is up there with the best of the best.
I’ve seen plenty of video of Baron and read a few scouting reports and I can say right now that I have no idea what’s going on with the errors and the passed balls. Everything I watched had him as one of the best defensive catchers, particularly for his age, that I’ve seen in recent memory. It could be butterflies, it could be something else entirely, but he has a good arm, good knowledge of ball trajectories, and is good at keeping everything in front of him and under his control, so I’d expect that to go away in time.