Minor League Wrap (5/23-29/11)
I don’t have an intro this week, just content. I’m trying to work on some sort of broad draft-related preview stuff, as this has quickly turned nebulous on us. The Dominican Summer League has indeed started, but I’ll probably tackle that next time as I’m not certain of the roster composition yet. In the meantime, if you really want some minor league stuff, check out Larry Stone’s output lately, where he’s talked about the youth movement the team has been trying to sell everyone on and gets quotes from Pedro Grifol on Erasmo Ramirez, Kyle Seager, Nate Tenbrink, James Paxton, Mike Carp, Carlos Triunfel, and Guillermo Pimentel. Ramirez is throwing a lot harder than he used to.
To the jump!
Tacoma Rainiers (4-3 this week, 22-29 overall)
The Week in Review:
Monday, May 23rd 2011
Nashville 3 (MIL – 9), Tacoma 5
W: Patterson (1-0, 0.00) L: Butler (2-3, 5.35) S: Cortes (1)
Tuesday, May 24th 2011
Nashville 4 (MIL – 10), Tacoma 15
W: French (1-5, 5.68) L: Wright (1-4, 6.23)
Wednesday, May 25th 2011
Rain!
Thursday, May 26th 2011
Nashville 1 (MIL – 11), Tacoma 4 (seven innings)
W: Beavan (2-1, 5.40) L: Rivas (3-4, 4.12) S: Ring (2)
Nashville 3 (- 10), Tacoma 2 (seven innings)
W: Narron (3-1, 3.26) L: Lueke (1-3, 3.12) S: Green (1)
Friday, May 27th 2011
Tacoma 4, Las Vegas 11 (TOR + 11)
W: MacDonald (3-1, 5.98) L: Seddon (1-3, 5.91)
Saturday, May 28th 2011
Tacoma 8, Las Vegas 14 (TOR + 12)
W: Cecil (6-1, 5.89) L: Roe (0-5, 7.33)
Sunday, May 29th 2011
Tacoma 10, Las Vegas 6 (TOR + 11)
W: French (2-5, 5.92) L: Roenicke (1-3, 6.43) S: Lueke (5)
Hitter of the Week:
2B Dustin Ackley, L/R, 2/26/1988
7 G, 30 AB, 12 R, 13 H, 4 2B, 2 3B, 3 RBI, 6/3 K/BB, .433/.485/.700
I’m happy because I get to talk about Ackley for a change. After the .642 OPS showing in April, he’s batting .350/.434/.598 for May and his overall line looks pretty darned respectable. In addition to that, he’s shown no real issues with left-handed pitching, actually hitting southpaws a bit better for the year with a .316/.437/.544 line in a 57 at-bat sample. Of course, his batting eye shows better against right-handers. The one thing that I would draw attention to is that there’s about a .140 point OPS difference between his home and road performances, presenting itself almost entirely in power. I’d point again to Marc’s earlier analysis of how the team has been playing Cheney this year and suggest that we still probably shouldn’t expect him to hit for too much power too soon.
Power and Walks Mention:
LF/DH Mike Carp, L/R, 6/30/1986
7 G, 27 AB, 7 R, 9 H, 3 HR, 9 RBI, SB, CS, 1/4 K/BB, HBP, .333/.438/.667
Not Going Away Mention:
3B Alex Liddi, R/R, 8/14/1988
7 G, 28 AB, 8 R, 11 H, 2 2B, HR, 7 RBI, SB, 8/4 K/BB, .392/.469/.571
Working his Way into the Discussion Mention:
1B/LF Matt Tuiasosopo, R/R, 5/10/1986
7 G, 28 AB, 6 R, 9 H, 2 2B, 2 3B, 7 RBI, 3 SB, 10/4 K/BB, HBP, .321/.424/.536
Hitting Finally Mention:
SS Sean Kazmar, R/R, 8/5/1984
6 G, 23 AB, 3 R, 9 H, 3 2B, SB, CS, 4/1 K/BB, .391/.417/.522
Pitcher of the Week:
LHP Fabio Castro, 1/20/1985
0-0, 1.59 ERA in 5.2 IP, 5 H (HR), 3 R (ER), 5/2 K/BB, 4/6 G/F
To this point in the season, I’ve been kind of a Castro doubter. Not a hater, just a doubter. His season stats have him with 3.7 walks per nine and 8.3 strikeouts per nine, which is better than his triple-A average, which is 4.3 walks and 7.1 Ks in 364.0 innings now. It’s not a huge leap though, and as an evaluator, I try to look for those kinds of things. So let’s compare his two months now that they’re in the books. For April, he averaged about four and two-thirds innings per start, had a .303 average against, 3.4 walks per nine, and 9.81 Ks. Things have changed in May, certainly. He’s averaged more than five and a third innings per start, the batting line against is .252, the walks have climbed a little to 3.95 per nine and the Ks sit at 7.2 per nine. He’s been around the plate less, but has had better luck with getting the ball hit at guys. So I see to be in the same position I’ve been before. I’m glad he’s around, particularly with French and Beavan and Roe performing below expectations, but I’m not yet excited.
First Win Since April 13th Mention:
RHP Blake Beavan, 1/17/1989
1-0, 1.80 ERA in 5.0 IP, 5 H (HR), 3/2 K/BB, 7/4 G/F
From The Training Room:
As the doubleheader approached, the Rainiers activated knuckleball RHP Charlie Haeger from the DL, and LHP Fabio Castro hit the temporarily inactive list. Haeger had a run allowed on a hit and six walks against two Ks in four innings. That sounds like a knuckleball start… CF Greg Halman was finally activated from the DL on Sunday. He hit a home run in his first at-bat back! Hooray! I hear Brandon Haveman is on the outs because of this, but I’ve yet to see a move.
Strange Happenings:
Sometimes, I find interesting things to look at in the opposing team’s lineup. Adam Loewen has been playing outfield and first base for Vegas. Loewen was the highest drafted Canadian ever as a pitcher back in 2002. He’s been a position player since 2009 and now, in his third year, he’s in the PCL hitting .302/.368/.550 for Las Vegas, with power against lefties and no problematic home/road splits. Baseball!
Jackson Generals (4-5 this week, 29-21 overall)
The Week in Review:
Monday, May 23rd 2011
Mississippi 8 (ATL – 8 ), Jackson 5 (seven innings)
W: Castro (1-0, 1.84) L: Kelley (0-1, 0.00)
Mississippi 12 (- 7), Jackson 10 (seven innings)
W: Sullivan (1-3, 5.04) L: Vasquez (3-4, 4.91) S: Pruneda (3)
THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE JACKSON GENERALRegisterLoginMiLB.com
Tuesday, May 24th 2011
Off day
Wednesday, May 25th 2011
Jackson 0, Mobile 8 (ARI + 4) (seven innings)
W: Corbin (3-2, 5.51) L: Ramirez (4-2, 3.76)
Jackson 4, Mobile 5 (+ 5) (eighteen innings)
W: Kaczrowski (1-0, 0.00) L: Savastano (0-1, 0.00)
Thursday, May 26th 2011
Jackson 8, Mobile 3 (ARI + 4)
W: Grube (4-0, 3.00) L: Parker (3-4, 5.86) S: Sena (1)
Friday, May 27th 2011
Jackson 4, Mobile 2 (ARI + 3)
W: Moran (2-1, 9.00) L: Zavada (0-1, 2.79) S: Penney (2)
Saturday, May 28th 2011
Jackson 2, Mobile 3 (ARI + 4) (seven innings)
W: Brewer (3-1, 3.21) L: Penney (3-2, 5.32)
Jackson 12, Mobile 7 (+ 3) (seven innings)
W: Paredes (2-0, 5.00) L: Wilson (0-1, 13.50)
Sunday, May 29th 2011
Jackson 3, Mobile 2 (ARI + 2) (ten innings)
W: Delabar (1-0, 0.00) L: Henry (3-2, 4.58)
Hitter of the Week:
3B/1B/RHP Scott Savastano, 6/12/1986
7 G, 26 AB, 8 R, 14 H, 4 2B, HR, 3 RBI, 1/4 K/BB, HBP, .538/.613/.808
0-1, G, 0.00 ERA in 0.2 IP, H, 0/1 K/BB, 2/0 G/F
Most weeks Savastano has won this, I’ve found some way to fault his performance. It’s mainly because he’s known for some streakiness in power (think LaHair) and has never walked all that much. This week, however, he did everything, including taking the mound for a while in that ridiculous eighteen inning affair. He drew four walks this week, bumping his season total up to ten, and hit two-thirds of his doubles this week. If he kept doing this, it would be a pretty amazing season, but I’m also conscious of the fact that it took him this long to get that many walks, meaning that he’s not on pace to do anything all that special for his career. On the other hand, while the doubles have been down, his home run clip has shot up, and he’s halfway to a career high he set last year in 93 games, so we could be seeing some kind of change in the type of hitter he’s been.
Sustaining the Breakout Mention:
OF Jake Shaffer, L/L, 8/16/1987
9 G, 39 AB, 5 R, 14 H, 3 2B, HR, 3 RBI, 9/4 K/BB, .359/.419/.513
Power Stroke Mention:
SS Carlos Triunfel, R/R, 2/27/1990
9 G, 34 AB, 6 R, 10 H, 4 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, CS, 4/1 K/BB, .294/.314/.588
Hits and Hits Mention:
RF Johermyn Chavez, R/R, 1/26/1989
9 G, 36 AB, 5 R, 10 H, 2B, 2 3B, HR, 3 RBI, 4/2 K/BB, 3 HBP, .278/.366/.500
Not Quite Enough Playing Time Anyway #1 Mention:
CF Kuo-hui Lo, R/R, 9/26/1985
6 G, 18 AB, 4 R, 9 H, 2 2B, HR, 10 RBI, 2/3 K/BB, .500/.571/.778
Not Quite Enough Playing Time Anyway #2 Mention:
3B Nate Tenbrink, L/R, 12/21/1986
6 G, 21 AB, 4 R, 6 H, 2 3B, HR, 3 RBI, SB, CS, 6/6 K/BB, .286/.444/.619
Pitcher of the Week:
RHP Steve Delabar, 7/17/1983
1-0, 2 G, 0.00 ERA in 6.1 IP, 4 H, 6/3 K/BB, 5/3 G/F
Considering that nine games were played this week, spanning some seventy-nine or so innings, it seems appropriate to highlight a reliever. There were quite a few of them that logged more innings than the starters. Delabar is the guy I’m going with here, and that may surprise some. After all, Sena was the better groundballer and walked fewer, and LaFromboise is at least in the discussion, but of Delabar’s three walks, two of them were intentional, coming in the fifteenth inning of the eighteen game. The leadoff man doubled, so the next man was walked to set up the DP, then another batter sacrificed both over, so Delabar had to walk another man to set up another double play. And you know what? It worked!
Other Important Reliever #1 Mention:
RHP Jandy Sena, 8/10/1989
0-0, 2 G, SV, 0.00 ERA in 6.1 IP, 3 H, 4/1 K/BB, 10/3 K/BB
Other Important Reliever #2 Mention:
LHP Bobby LaFromboise, 6/25/1986
1-0, 3 G, 1.35 ERA in 6.2 IP, 5 H (HR), R, 4/2 K/BB, 9/3 G/F
Started the Eighteen Inning Game Mention:
RHP Taylor Stanton, 1/15/1988
0-0, GS, 1.59 ERA in 5.2 IP, 4 H, R, 6/0 K/BB, 4/1 G/F
From the Training Room:
Wednesday afternoon, before the marathon doubleheader, RHP Josh Fields was put on the DL and RHP Steve Delabar was brought in from High Desert. There are only so many things that I can say about Josh Fields anymore, and most of them aren’t nice. I don’t want somebody’s mother getting mad at me… The day after, because of the depleted bullpen, Delabar was sent to Everett on paper and RHP Jandy Sena was called in from Clinton… A few days later, in preparation for the second doubleheader, RHP Andrew Carraway was sent to Everett on paper and Delabar brought back. Another interesting move was that DH/LF Joe Dunigan came off the DL and 1B/LF Eddy Martinez-Esteve was moved out to Peoria, according to the transaction register, but I’m not so sure about that. Pitchers can easily be maneuvered on paper, but position players?
Strange Happenings:
I noticed this week that Arizona’s double-A affiliate is the Bay Bears and their Northwest League affiliate is the Yakima Bears, which is a bit stranger than Kansas City operating two Burlington affiliates last year… There were not five double plays on a Friday three weeks in a row. You’ll have to manage somehow… After spending a large portion of the week listening to Hendu on the radio side, I now fear that I’m going to get grief for not naming Lo player of the week because RBI… Before anyone gets too excited about all the DINGERS this week, note that Mobile’s home park has a 131 factor for LH home runs and a 125 for RH home runs. It’s easier to knock it out there… Wilhelmsen gave up too many hits his first time out and too many walks his second time. You may have wanted to know… In the eighteen inning game, we pitched Savastano last. That much you know. Did you know that Mobile got four scoreless innings of pitching split between a shortstop and a third baseman?
High Desert Mavericks (3-3 this week, 24-26 overall)
The Week in Review:
Monday, May 23rd 2011
High Desert 2, Visalia 14 (ARI – 3)
W: Eitel (2-3, 4.87) L: Fernandez (0-1, 8.03)
Tuesday, May 24th 2011
Off day
Wednesday, May 25th 2011
Modesto 7 (COL – 4), High Desert 9 (eleven innings)
W: Markovitz (2-1, 3.48) L: Kuo (0-2, 5.71)
Thursday, May 26th 2011
Modesto 19 (COL – 3), High Desert 4
W: Frazier (2-5, 5.44) L: Czyz (1-4, 8.67)
Friday, May 27th 2011
Modesto 18 (COL – 2), High Desert 10
W: DeRatt (3-2, 4.63) L: Hudson (0-3, 7.61) S: Woods (1)
Saturday, May 28th 2011
Modesto 4 (COL – 3), High Desert 7
W: Sorce (5-1, 2.92) L: Perkins (0-1, 7.71) S: Kesler (2)
Sunday, May 29th 2011
Lancaster 4 (HOU – 10), High Desert 5
W: Fernandez (1-1, 6.87) L: Donovan (2-5, 6.27) S: Kirkland (1)
Hitter of the Week:
3B Mario Martinez, R/R, 11/13/1989
6 G, 21 AB, 6 R, 12 H, 2 2B, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 6/1 K/BB, .571/.591/1.095
More than any other year since I’ve been watching, I would say that the Mavericks offense scares me. I don’t mean that in a good way. Take a look at Mar Mar here. In home games, he’s hitting an amazing .400/.447/.747 in seventy-five at-bats. On the road, it’s a measly .258/.313/.387 in sixty-two ABs. Compare that to his season line in Clinton last year of .239/.270/.384. Variations of OBP and SLG aside, the road line is basically a translation of what he did in the Midwest to the Cal League. At home, it’s entirely different though. He’s hit all of his seven home runs there. It’s probably contributed to the fact that it seems like he’s twice the hitter against left-handers as he has been against right-handers. Martinez has learned how to take advantage of the home park in High Desert and it’s screwing with the way we evaluate him.
Roughly the Same OPS as in April, Far Better Average Mention:
SS Nick Franklin, S/R, 3/2/1991
6 G, 26 AB, 5 R, 12 H, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, 5/3 K/BB, .462/.517/.615
One For the Road, One For Home Mention:
DH Dennis Raben, L/L, 7/31/1987
6 G, 26 AB, 7 R, 10 H, 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 4/2 K/BB, HBP, .385/.448/.731
Tied For Second in League in Home Runs (with Raben) Mention:
3B/1B Vinnie Catricala, R/R, 10/31/1988
6 G, 24 AB, 9 R, 9 H, 2B, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 2/5 K/BB, .375/.483/.667
Pitcher of the Week:
RHP Brandon Maurer, 7/3/1990
0-0, GS, 0.00 ERA in 8.0 IP, 3 H, 9/0 K/BB, 7/3 G/F, WP
Rarely in High Desert do I have the luxury of such an obvious pick for Pitcher of the Week. Maurer’s second start was at home, the implications of which I’m sure you’re aware of by now. While Modesto is one of the league’s lesser offenses, or has been to this point in the year, in the following two games they scored nearly twenty runs against the Mavs. Maurer was unimpressed. He retired the first seven in a row until a couple of men reached with an error and a single. A wild pitch moved them to third, but in context, the Nuts needed both those miscues in order to move anyone past first base. The next eight went down in order. If Maurer can keep doing this, he’ll shed that “sleeper” status he’s had for some time now, but knowing the difficulties of pitching in Adelanto, I can’t get my optimism any higher than cautious.
“Consider the” Mention:
RHP Chris Sorce, 10/28/1987
1-0, GS, 1.35 ERA in 6.2 IP, 8 H, R, 4/2 K/BB, 8/5 G/F, WP, 2 HB
From the Training Room:
Delabar going to Jackson meant that RHP Chris Kirkland came in from extended. Why he was there, I can’t say, but injury seems like a possibility. The same day, Clinton and High Desert traded back SS Anthony Phillips for SS Jake Schlander. Didn’t we already do this?
Strange Happenings:
Gillheeney pitched four innings on Friday and gave up four home runs. It was a home game, I guess is what I’m trying to say… On Monday, in the fifth inning, the Mavericks pitching coach was ejected after Mavericks hitter Dennis Raben struck out. I DON’T UNDERSTAND… Sunday, we had pitcher pickoffs from both sides of the rubber. Those would go to LHP Anthony Fernandez and RHP Chris Kirkland… Daniel Carroll already broke his previous season high in walks. I know… The park effect is also affecting Franklin. .189/.268/.324 on the road, .352/.447/.524 at home.
Clinton Lumberkings (3-3 this week, 14-36 overall)
The Week in Review:
Monday, May 23rd 2011
Clinton 4, Peoria 9 (CHC + 6)
W: Sosa (2-0, 1.23) L: Kohlscheen (1-3, 6.00)
Tuesday, May 24th 2011
Clinton 7, Cedar Rapids 1 (ANA – 1)
W: Paxton (1-1, 2.22) L: Russell (4-3, 2.41) S: Burgoon (5)
Wednesday, May 25th 2011
Clinton 1, Cedar Rapids 2 (ANA 0)
W: Nichols (2-4, 4.63) L: Snow (1-7, 4.45) S: Robinson (5)
Thursday, May 26th 2011
Clinton 2, Cedar Rapids 0 (ANA – 1)
W: Walker (2-2, 4.03) L: Baez (1-5, 4.03) S: Nava (1)
Friday, May 27th 2011
Beloit 10 (MIN – 4), Clinton 1
W: Soliman (2-2, 4.10) L: Mieses (1-6, 6.47)
Saturday, May 28th 2011
Beloit 4 (MIN – 5), Clinton 6
W: Seco (1-0, 5.59) L: Hermsen (3-6, 4.13) S: Burgoon (6)
Sunday, May 29th 2011
Rain 🙁
Hitter of the Week:
RF Kalian Sams, R/R, 8/25/1986
5 G, 18 AB, 3 R, 5 H, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 4 SB, 7/0 K/BB, HBP, .278/.316/.611
The Lumberkings offense was bad this week, we’re talking three to four hits for most guys through six games, but Sams was legitimately good in that way that we’ve come to identify uniquely with him. Sams has struck out 27.4% of his plate appearances for Clinton this year, which is still 16.3% better than last year. He’s also starting to hit home runs, which now comprise 21.4% of his hits (31.3% with Clinton last year). The walks disappearing means that it’s hard for Sams to be a good player, but he can be entertaining, and it’s not as though the Lumberkings have much power anyway. The team lead in dingers is a four-way tie between Sams, Romero, Morris (DL), and Steve Baron, of all guys. They all have three.
Peripherals! Mention:
LF Jabari Blash, R/R, 7/4/1989
6 G, 17 AB, R, 4 H, 2 2B, 3B, 3 RBI, CS, 5/3 K/BB, .235/.350/.471
Pitcher of the Week:
LHP James Paxton, 11/6/1988
1-0, GS, 1.50 ERA in 6.0 IP, 3 H, R, 12/2 K/BB, 5/1 G/F
I was hoping that they’d get Sunday’s game in because that would have given me a little more context to work with here. Paxton struck out twelve and got his first pro win, no one can really take that away from him, but Cedar Rapids, his opponent in that game, is the team with the worst OPS in the league, just below your 2011 Lumberkings. They have the second-worst average at .228 (Lumberkings), the worst OBP at .307, and the second-worst slugging with .324 (again, Lumberkings). However, if you want to take something positive away from this, they’re only just above the league average for strikeouts, which means that part of the performance is legitimate.
Same Caveats Apply Mention:
RHP Taijuan Walker, 8/13/1992
1-0, 0.00 ERA in 5.0 IP, 2 H, 7/3 K/BB, 6/0 G/F, HB
From the Training Room:
The Schlander/Phillips exchange, I’ve already spoken of. The other thing that happened around that time was that LHP Jonathan Hesketh went on the DL. Given how erratic his pitching has been, I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised, but he probably shouldn’t have been trying to pitch through whatever it was as that’s usually asking for trouble. The loss of Hesketh meant that RHP Jessie Nava came in from extended spring training to fill in. His numbers were nothing particularly special last year or over the course of his minor league career, though he did miss ’09 with a shoulder strain. He signed with the organization because he wanted to pitch in the same org as Felix Hernandez. D’awwwwwww…
Strange Happenings:
Tyler Burgoon got a three-inning save this week, perfect innings all and two Ks, but the downside is that it was the game where Paxton had already demoralized everyone… The other starter of the Cedar Rapids series, RHP Forrest Snow, did all right for himself, with two runs allowed in six innings and a 7/1 K/BB, but that wasn’t going to be enough to get on the list this week… Seco picked off a couple of guys in his start on Saturday. I don’t know who has the best pickoff move in our system these days, but I think he’d be in the discussion. Anthony Fernandez as well.
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11 Responses to “Minor League Wrap (5/23-29/11)”
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I feel like I’m a broken record here, but seeing Liddi play well makes me excited for a near future without Figgins. So does the possibility of drafting Rendon, but still.
The Tacoma hitters have been helped significantly, or at least the sluggers have, by the seriously shortened outfield walls. Given their record maybe they should lop off another few feet. I’m glad Fabio, Mar Mar and Catricala are showing well, for no other reason than I like their names. Fabio had a pretty good winter run too I believe.
If only Carp could play third… I’m guessing he’d have an OPS over .496.
Think about that…
.235 ON BASE PERCENTAGE
.260 SLUGGING PERCENTAGE
The Type-A free agent we signed is returning less than replacement value production. I want an expert to do a study, just on Chone Figgins, to find out how this happened.
Discuss him all you want, but I don ‘t see him coming back to Seattle again unless there are a ash of injuries or they take pity on him when rosters expand in September.
In any other year, we would have called up and sent down Tui about three times already!
I think I’ve finally figured it out. Figgins has been sulking ever since the CHONE projections got pulled back.
Liddi seem like a nice kid and a good story. I know most folks don’t have significant expectations for him; but with Figgins sucking again I’m looking for some ray of hope at third! And with Rendon apparently sinking fast (sometimes I do believe we are cursed), the future at the hot corner seems murky again.
Tui… no. Just no.
Jay, thank you very much for the write-up! I’m really looking forward to reading what you’ve got to say regarding the draft.
Jay,
First off, great write up. Secondly, has there been any talk of promoting Franklin/Truinfel up a level each? I wonder if being in HD can give Franklin some bad habits and Truinfel is actually performing at AA. While it would be an aggressive promotion for Franklin I wonder in this one instance if it would not be better for his long term development to avoid HD.
Speaking of that, any chance Paxton is promoted directly to AA if he keeps performing?
Thanks.
Jay, thanks for the continued great work.
I’m curious. At this point does the system have any OF prospects to pin our hopes on? Chavez and Jones aren’t done, but have both obviously been scrapping. Peguero’s been fun, but hasn’t made much of a case for himself at the major league level.
Schaffer? Is he potentially a major league starter some day? Or does his season seem to be just one of those things?
Question: Do guys like Carp & Tui (OK, less so for Tui) ever get another chance at the bigs? Its nice to see them doing well at the AAA level again, but is there a way to tell if they’ve actually advanced their game and might be able to play at the MLB level? Do they get put in a big sack and traded as a bundle deal somewhere else? Or do they just go grey in Tacoma?
I’ve been busy!
I can’t really see Triunfel getting promoted before the all-star break, purely from a confidence-building standpoint. But if they wanted to call up Franklin around that same time, i’d be satisfied with that too. He’d struggle, but it would probable be better for him long term than sticking around Adelanto.
I don’t think that they were really planning on doing that right away, but yeah, he could. I can imagine him bypassing the Cal League entirely and spending his last four to six starts in double-A. Consistency and innings are the important thing for him, but lately he’s just been rolling. I’ll be curious to see if he keeps the walks in hand for the next time the team faces Burlington (the A’s affiliate). None of the teams coming up on the schedule are going to be super challenging, so we don’t want to get the wrong idea about what he’s doing.
Outfield seems to be becoming like third base in that there are a lot of guys that are interesting and most of them are struggling. Well, Jones is coming around and Phillips Castillo will be debuting this summer. I’m not quite sure that Carroll’s recent revival is enough to make him a prospect yet.
Shaffer, no c, and I still kind of conceive of him as a fourth outfielder, but if he continues to do this, he might turn out to be something more. Guys don’t usually break out in double-A, they usually faceplant, that’s why the whole situation surrounding him is so strange. He only seems to be getting stronger and more disciplined.
Tui is Mike Morse v 2.0. Whether he has Morse’s resurgence in Washington, I don’t know. His plate discipline, power, and average have all gone down a bit this year. It’s not been a good one for him thus far.
Carp is harder to figure out because last year it didn’t seem like he could hit lefties and this year he’s fine. Everyone has to pin their hopes on some guy, and with Wilson actually in the big leagues now, that guy seems to be Carp. It’s more spaghetti to throw at the wall, in my opinion, but he probably won’t be worse than Peguero, so I could see him getting a call at some point.
Yeppers. Carp doesn’t have to be a legit major league regular to be an upgrade for these Mariners.