Minor League Wrap (7/5-11/10)
I’m still waiting to hear anything at all w/r/t international signings. It’s been a big deal this year with a few top prospects going down with identity or steroid issues. Whoops. At least Walker and Wiswall debuted this week.
To the jump!
Tacoma Rainiers (6-1 this week, 51-39 overall)
The Week in Review:
Monday, July 5th 2010
Tacoma 8, Salt Lake 7 (ANA 0)
W: French (10-2, 2.69); L: Mendoza (0-3, 7.03)
Tuesday, July 6th 2010
Tacoma 7, Salt Lake 5 (ANA – 1)
W: Seddon (10-4, 3.53) L: O’Sullivan (5-5, 4.95)
Wednesday, July 7th 2010
Tacoma 5, Salt Lake 2 (ANA – 2)
W: Feierabend (2-2, 5.05) L: Davidson (8-2, 5.17)
Thursday, July 8th 2010
Fresno 4 (SF + 16), Tacoma 5
W: Worrell (2-4, 5.25) L: Nestor (0-1, 11.57)
Friday, July 9th 2010
Fresno 8 (SF + 17), Tacoma 7
W: Sosa (6-2, 3.07) L: Petit (2-2, 5.93)
Saturday, July 10th 2010
Fresno 2 (SF + 16), Tacoma 8
W: Baldwin (6-4, 4.72) L: Maday (1-1, 10.64)
Sunday, July 11th 2010
Fresno 4 (SF + 15), Tacoma 6 (eleven innings)
W: Patterson (1-0, 1.46) L: Hinshaw (2-3, 5.35)
Hitter of the Week:
RF Mike Wilson, R/R, 6/29/1983
7 G, 27 AB, 5 R, 12 H, 2 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 4/3 K/BB, .444/.500/.741
It was pretty stiff competition for the top spot this week and I went with Wilson because he had more hits, more walks, and I probably get more questions about him than just about any high minors player in the system. Wilson has been kicking around in the system since the ’01 draft. Over the years, he’s gone through the long and at times awkward transition from being a wanna-be switch-hitter and football recruit to being an actual baseball player, a right-handed powerhouse with negligible splits. The organization knows he’s there and has twice added him to the 40-man only to see him get injured. Is this ultimately his year? It could be. He has a chance to eclipse his previous HR high of twenty-seven this year, and is hitting better and striking out less than last time (24.1 % of PAs then, 21.8% now). Some organization out there could probably use a RH power hitter entering his prime and we’ll just have to see if that organization is us.
Power! Mention:
1B Mike Carp, L/R, 6/30/1986
5 G, 21 AB, 6 R, 7 H, 4 HR, 9 RBI, 6/1 K/BB, .333/.363/.905
Also Some Power Mention:
RF David Winfree, R/R, 8/5/1985
6 G, 22 AB, 4 R, 8 H, 3 HR, 4 RBI, SB, 4/0 K/BB, .364/.364/.772
1.000 OPS Week Goes Mostly Unnoticed Mention:
3B/1B Matt Mangini, L/R 12/21/1985
6 G, 24 AB, 5 R, 8 H, 5 2B, HR, 4 RBI, 8/0 K/BB, .333/.333/.667
Pitcher of the Week:
LHP Ryan Feierabend, 8/22/1985
1-0, GS, 2.57 ERA in 7.0 IP, 6 H (HR), 2 R, 4/2 K/BB, 10/6 G/F, WP
Whenever I talk about Feierabend, I have to remind myself that he missed all of last season with Tommy John surgery. I don’t use that as a positive so much as a reminder that he could probably end up better than he has been. Feier went seven innings against vs. Salt Lake, an outing that was identical in a lot of ways to his previous outing and win versus them, though there was a hiccup start in between. The more time goes on though, the more I question his long-term future. Walks aren’t an issue, and for his career, he’s always given up hits, but in his earlier high minors stints he was usually just under six strikeouts per nine, which is dangerous, but livable territory. The current run in Tacoma has him down to 75% of that, which is definitely not something most pitchers survive. I hate to add insult to injury here, particularly because that’s exactly what I intend, but Feier may be on the outside looking in when the 40-man crunch hits in the offseason.
Relief Ace Mention:
RHP Levale Speigner, 9/24/1980
0-0, 3 G, 2 SV, 0.00 ERA in 6.2 IP, 2 H, R (0 ER), 5/0 K/BB, 7/4 G/F, WP
From The Training Room:
LHP Luke French was called up and quickly optioned. C Guillermo Quiroz was also added from West Tenn. You can never have too much catching.
Strange Happenings:
On Friday, Yusmeiro Petit was a better pitcher than Michael Pineda: Petit’s line: 4.1 IP, 2 R, 3 H, 8 K. Pineda’s: 3.1 IP, 6 R, 5 H, 3 BB, 2 K. May this never happen again. Never ever ever ever ever…. The Rainiers had a nine-game win streak end this week. Now they’re starting a new win streak.
West Tenn Diamond Jaxx (1-5 this week, 45-43 overall)
The Week in Review:
Monday, July 5th 2010
West Tenn 0, Mississippi 3 (ATL – 2)
W: Beachy (3-1, 1.15); L: Hensley (6-6, 2.81)
Tuesday, July 6th 2010
West Tenn 3, Mississippi 7 (ATL – 1)
W: Gustafson (3-0, 1.72) L: Cortes (5-3, 5.51)
Wednesday, July 7th 2010
Carolina 0 (CIN 0), West Tenn 4
W: Bray (5-6, 3.51) L: Thompson (0-4, 3.54)
Thursday, July 8th 2010
Carolina 6 (CIN + 1), West Tenn 2
W: Webb (4-6, 5.37) L: Robles (6-5, 4.31)
Friday, July 9th 2010
Carolina 3 (CIN + 2), West Tenn 1
W: Carroll (2-4, 2.73) L: Grube (1-2, 2.92)
Saturday, July 10th 2010
Carolina 9 (CIN + 3), West Tenn 1
W: Cochran (7-3, 2.33) L: Hensley (6-7, 3.39)
Sunday, July 11th 2010
All-Star Break
Hitter of the Week:
LF Nate Tenbrink, L/R 12/21/1986
6 G, 17 AB, 5 H, 2B, HR, RBI, 2 SB, 5/4 K/BB, HBP, .294/.454/.529
I’m a fan of peripherals, and peripherals were just what it came down to this week. Tenbrink walked more than Ackley, stole a couple of bases, and had one of his hits leave the park. I’ve spent quite a few words this season talking about Ackley and his eye numbers, which are now at a 41/55 K/BB, and while Tenbrink hasn’t approached nearly that level yet, he hasn’t been half bad, 53/35 for the season and 20/13 at double-A. We kind of lost track of him for a while there after the terrifying concussion he suffered, but Tenbrink’s breakout season is still in effect and he hasn’t lost much steam. But my if he doesn’t have some weird splits: .286/.500/.667 vs. LHP, .288/.355/.442 vs. RHP since getting to double-A.
Still Pretty Good Mention:
2B Dustin Ackley, L/R, 2/26/1988
6 G, 19 AB, 7 H, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 2/3 K/BB, .368/.455/.473
Pitcher of the Week:
RHP Steve Bray, 12/22/1980
1-0, GS, 0.00 ERA in 7.0 IP, 7 H, 6/1 K/BB, 11/4 G/F
Bray’s old tricks of putting a lot of balls in play and letting the defense sort it out hasn’t worked so well this season. That’s probably in part because he doesn’t have Halman and Carrera roaming the outfield behind him, or infielders well-versed in the defensive aspects of the game. It hasn’t helped either that he’s been striking out fewer batters overall. But, every so often, things can come together for both him and those behind him and he’ll turn in an outing like this. Except, in this case, the most interesting part was probably when he came out in the eighth with the bases loaded and Varvaro managed to strand every one of them. He also retired seven in a row to open the game, so there’s that I suppose.
Close Behind Mention:
LHP Mauricio Robles, 3/5/1989
0-1, GS, 1.35 ERA in 6.2 IP, 7 H (HR), 3 R (ER), 4/0 K/BB, 7/5 G/F
All-Star Reliever Mention:
RHP Anthony Varvaro, 10/31/1984
0-0, 2 G, S, 0.00 ERA in 3.0 IP, 2 H, 4/0 K/BB, 2/3 G/F
From the Training Room:
C Jose Yepez hit the DL in the middle of the week, which brought the traveling show of C Carlton Tanabe back into town. Earlier in the week, there was another catching move, because with Quiroz heading to the Rainiers, they had to bring in C Ralph Henriquez from High Desert. The M’s didn’t force any of the trade acquisitions to report immediately, given that the D-Jaxx were heading into the break anyway.
Strange Happenings:
The streak without an extra-base hit broke on Monday when CF Brandon Haveman had a triple… Cortes’ start this week had him walk seven again. So, instead of being consistently mediocre, he now has flashes of brilliance mingled with bouts of unprecedented suckitude. Frustrating, I think is the official term for it… Everybody go look at Luis Munoz’ profile on the Jaxx roster. What say you? Is it duckface?
High Desert Mavericks (3-4 this week, 48-40 overall)
The Week in Review:
Monday, July 5th 2010
Rancho Cucamonga 23 (ANA 0), High Desert 8
W: Shoemaker (7-6, 4.83); L: Carraway (5-5, 6.22)
Tuesday, July 6th 2010
Rancho Cucamonga 4 (ANA + 1), High Desert 2
W: Flores (3-4, 4.41) L: Vasquez (5-3, 2.18)
Wednesday, July 7th 2010
Visalia 7 (ARI + 2), High Desert 5
W: Brewer (2-1, 4.34) L: Cleto (2-4, 5.73)
Thursday, July 8th 2010
Visalia 7 (ARI + 1), High Desert 10
W: Penney (4-2, 2.68) L: Woodall (5-3, 2.25)
Friday, July 9th 2010
Visalia 8 (ARI 0), High Desert 9 (eleven innings)
W: LaFromboise (9-4, 4.19) L: Robowski (1-2, 3.79)
Saturday, July 10th 2010
High Desert 2, Rancho Cucamonga 3 (ANA + 3)
W: Scholl (1-1, 4.10) L: Nation (3-3, 4.94)
Sunday, July 11th 2010
High Desert 5, Rancho Cucamonga 4 (ANA + 2)
W: Vasquez (6-3, 2.38) L: Flores (3-5, 4.92)
Hitter of the Week:
RF Johermyn Chavez, R/R, 1/26/1989
7 G, 30 AB, 5 R, 9 H, 2B, 5 HR, 12 RBI, 7/2 K/BB, .300/.344/.833
With the due respect to EM-E’s week, it’s not often that we see five home runs in seven days, and yet we got just that from a guy I jokingly referred to as Homerin’ Chavez in the offseason. While it’s not terribly clever, he can wear it as a badge of honor if he likes for having 25% of his season’s home run output in a single week. Since three of those came at home, I’m not eager to anoint him as the next big thing. Maybe the next Peguero, or his slightly better right-handed equivalent. Roughly half his home runs have come at home, where he might be trying to swing for the fences a bit more, not that I can really fault him for that. The good news is that thus far, he seems to be doing all right versus right-handers, so there’s no present worry about him maybe being a platoon slugger.
.400+ Week Mention:
3B Eddy Martinez-Esteve, R/R, 7/14/1983
7 G, 29 AB, 4 R, 13 H, 3 2B, 3 RBI, 3/1 K/BB, HBP, .448/.467/.551
Leadoff Mention:
SS Kyle Seager, L/R, 11/3/1987
7 G, 29 AB, 6 R, 10 H, 2 2B, 3 RBI, SB, 3/5 K/BB, .345/.441/.414
Pitcher of the Week:
RHP Stephen Penney, 8/14/1986
1-0, 3 G, 1.50 ERA in 6.0 IP, 5 H, R, 6/0 K/BB, 8/3 G/F
Penney is a guy whom I’ve probably cut short a few times this season. There was a stretch there in the early part of the season where if he came out of the ‘pen with any runners on base, you could almost certain that at least one of them was going to score and there was nothing you could do about it. Here is a positive note on him: 40/4 K/BB. The whole season, 42.1 innings for him so far, he’s only walked four, which certainly isn’t an aberration as he’s been around that level his whole minor league career. In addition, even with the brutal conditions of Mavericks Stadium, he’s not only running the best K-rate of his career, he’s also allowing fewer than a hit per inning, where in the past his good command came at the cost of being very hittable. I still don’t want him holding a close lead with men on right now, but I’ll reevaluate as more time goes on.
Closer Mention:
RHP Wes Littleton, 9/2/1982
0-0, 3 G, S, 0.00 ERA in 4.0 IP, 3 H, 2/0 K/BB, 3/7 G/F, WP
From the Training Room:
Henriquez was demoted, and thus, so was C Blake Ochoa to Clinton… After IF Edilio Colina came off the DL, IF Hawkins Gebbers was sent to Everett for a second season… DH Dennis Raben hit the DL, again, which coincided with Joe Dunigan arriving in town on a brief rehab assignment. Rabenwas 8-for-16 this week with three home runs and would have been an obvious pick for HOTW otherwise. Poythress wasn’t playing later in the week but wasn’t officially on the DL either.
Strange Happenings:
Last week’s assessment of Cleto was indeed wishful thinking… I couldn’t note Carraway’s second start, a six-inning affair that had him give up two runs on five hits and strike out eight, because the first was so very awful, a part of that 23-8 debacle… Speaking of very awful, check out the splits on Raben since he got to the Cal League. It’s only 125 Abs, but his hitting .235/.278/.324 against southpaws and .440/.500/.879 against right-handers, with all ten of his home runs. That gives me some pause in evaluating him.
Clinton Lumberkings (3-3 this week, 46-39 overall)
The Week in Review:
Monday, July 5th 2010
Clinton 5, Peoria 2 (CHC – 5)
W: Gillheeney (6-6, 3.14); L: Searle (4-3, 3.53)
Tuesday, July 6th 2010
Rain out.
Wednesday, July 7th 2010
Quad Cities 9 (STL + 4), Clinton 3
W: Smith (4-0, 2.70) L: Housey (5-4, 4.19)
Thursday, July 8th 2010
Quad Cities 0 (STL + 3), Clinton 1 (seven innings)
W: Cooper (4-2, 4.89) L: Simpson (3-2, 2.47)
Friday, July 9th 2010
Quad Cities 1 (STL + 4), Clinton 0
W: Hooker (4-4, 2.92) L: Gallagher (0-2, 3.72)
Saturday, July 10th 2010
Clinton 4, Kane County 9 (OAK + 2)
W: Hoehn (5-3, 2.90) L: Moorer (0-1, 5.40)
Sunday, July 11th 2010
Clinton 6, Kane County 2 (OAK + 1)
W: Gillheeney (7-6, 2.92) L: Straily (6-6, 4.63)
Hitter of the Week:
RF James Jones, L/L, 9/24/1988
6 G, 24 AB, R, 8 H, 2 2B, 3B, 2 RBI, SB, 5/0 K/BB, .333/.333/.500
Early in the season, I was able to laud Jones on his peripheral successes, being a fellow inclined to draw some walks here and there and maybe drive a few balls with some authority. The latter remains present, but the former has been dwindling in the recent months. After drawing eleven walks in twenty-two April games and seventeen free passes in May, he’s come down to eight in June and is on pace for about six July. The strikeouts have come down too, going from nearly once every third at-bat down to better than once every four at-bats last month, and one in five now. This suggests to me that Jones might have been one of those odd players who was striking out and walking as a product of waiting too long. I get the need to be aggressive, or at least not too passive, but I wish that he could both hit for a reasonable average and draw walks at the same time.
Walks, With Less Power Mention:
1B Tim Morris, L/L, 12/11/1987
6 G, 18 AB, 6 H, 2B, 5 RBI, 3/4 K/BB, .333/.400/.389
Power AND Walks on Sunday Mention:
SS Nick Franklin, S/R, 3/2/1991
6 G, 22 AB, 6 H, 2B, HR, RBI, 2 SB, 3/2 K/BB, .272/.333/.455
Pitcher of the Week:
LHP Jimmy Gillheeney, 11/8/1987
2-0, 2 GS, 1.20 ERA in 15.0 IP, 5 H (HR), 2 R, 13/3 K/BB, 15/13 G/F, HB
Last week, I talked about Gillheeney and his command problems, like how he’s been at four walks per nine innings pretty much the whole season. The last three outings or so have been different for him. In that span, he’s run a 19/4 K/BB over 22.0 innings, which is just over a walk and a half every nine innings. Compare that to the season’s 88/41 K/BB, which only broke away from 2:1 even with this outing. He’s also managed to avoid the hits, allowing just eight, but since his season average against is .224, this isn’t quite as remarkable. While he surprisingly proficient at keeping runs from scoring either way, his fluky 2.92 ERA a testament to that, Gillheeney with command is a heck of a lot more interesting than his earlier incarnation.
De Facto #2 Starter:
RHP Erasmo Ramirez, 5/2/1990
0-0, GS, 0.00 ERA in 6.0 IP, 2 H, 7/2 K/BB, 5/3 G/F
Rain Man Mention:
LHP Nick Czyz, 4/10/1987
0-0, GS, 0.00 ERA in 4.0 IP, 4 H, R (0 ER), 5/1 K/BB, 5/2 G/F
From the Training Room:
A few minor moves occurred for the Lumberkings. In addition to getting Ochoa back for reasons confusing to me on a player development level but whatever they need catching, Ryan Moorer was activated from the DL and took his spot in the ‘pen once again. Also, Wellington Dotel was released. I’ll miss you, Beef. 🙁
Strange Happenings:
Morris’ walks this week were negated somewhat in his OBP by his having three sacrifice flies… All four players acquired in the Lee trade are former Clinton Lumberkings, going back to their time as a Rangers affiliate. I’m sure Dave Lezotte is ecstatic.
Everett Aquasox (4-2 this week, 16-7 overall)
Monday, July 5th 2010
Everett 7, Eugene 6 (SD – 2)
W: Thomas (1-0, 4.58); L: Portillo (1-2, 7.63)
Tuesday, July 6th 2010
Everett 6, Eugene 3 (SD – 3)
W: Markovitz (1-1, 1.50) L: Franklin (0-1, 6.35)
Wednesday, July 7th 2010
Off day
Thursday, July 8th 2010
Spokane5 (TEX + 1), Everett 3 (fifteen innings)
W: Osborne (1-2, 3.38) L: Kesler (0-2, 5.19)
Friday, July 9th 2010
Spokane5 (TEX 0), Everett 6
W: Arias (1-0, 3.68) L: Weibley (0-1, 9.95)
Saturday, July 10th 2010
Spokane 9 (TEX + 1), Everett 5
W: Rojas (1-1, 3.70) L: Fernandez (3-1, 3.25)
Sunday, July 11th 2010
Spokane 1 (TEX 0), Everett 10
W: Kesler (1-2, 3.86) L: McBride (1-2, 6.97)
Hitter of the Week:
CF Ryan Royster, L/L, 10/13/1985
4 G, 17 AB, 3 R, 7 H, 4 2B, 3B, HR, 4 RBI, CS, 4/2 K/BB, HBP, .412/.500/.941
This is a bit of a sneaky pick I think I can get away with because the Aquasox only played six games this week. It’s not so much a matter of Royster picking up where he left off with the Aquasox last season when he hit .325/.415/.563, but continuing what he had done in Peoria this season when he hit .444/.545/.667. Except he now has as many extra base hits (and almost as many total bases) in four games for the ‘Sox as he did in eight games for the AZL team. Royster can be a pretty exciting player when healthy, but he’s also spent almost all of the past three summers in Everett, which isn’t a bad place for a left-handed hitter to be. I’d still like to see him move on to bigger and better things, though.
More Walks than Ks Mention:
OF Kevin Rivers, L/R, 8/24/1988
6 G, 20 AB, 5 H, 3B, 2 RBI, CS, 6/9 K/BB, .250/.483/.350
Pitcher of the Week:
LHP Edlando Seco, 7/23/1988
0-0, GS, 1.50 ERA in 6.0 IP, H, R, 7/3 K/BB, 5/5 G/F
Oh, Edlando Seco, you are an amusing pitcher indeed. So here’s the deal. In the three starts prior to this one, Seco had run an 11/12 K/BB through 12.1 innings and failed to get past the fifth in any of his outings. This is a bit more extreme for him, but not outside what you might expect in a small sample because he’s never walked fewer than five-and-a-half men per nine innings in any full season for his career. He’s also never struck out fewer than seven, and is usually nine to ten. If your guess was that he also has a history of elbow trouble, you’re right, as he missed all of ’08 with inflammation and probably lost most of ’06 to it too. Seco, for me, is probably the pitching equivalent of Kalian Sams: talented enough to do one or two interesting things, like striking out batters and being nigh-unhittable, but possessing one major flaw that not only hinders his development, it comes to define him.
Second Nine K Game of the Season Mention:
RHP Yoervis Medina, 7/27/1988
0-0, GS, 3.00 ERA in 6.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R (2 ER), 9/1 K/BB, 5/3 G/F
From the Training Room:
On the same day they added Gebbers, the Aquasox also brought in CF Ryan Royster, who was on last year’s team. The unfortunate loser in that exchange was OF Jose Rivero, who was sent to Pulaski… 1B Mickey Wiswall also joined the team for the homestand, except that he’s played a few games at third so far, which is interesting… He’s not listed on the DL, but Tyler Burgoon hasn’t pitched since June 27th.
Strange Happenings:
On Thursday, the Aquasox went 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position and stranded fourteen. Ouch… Forrest Snow’s pro no-hitter ended, so he now has a hit allowed in 12.1 innings of work… Other than Wiswall’s apparent position shift, there’s also the weird fact that both of his pro hits have been home runs and one of them was a grand slam… Speaking of home runs, chalk up Friday night’s win to a pinch-hit, three-run shot by Evan Sharpley.
Pulaski Mariners (3-4 this week, 10-10 overall):
Monday, July 5th 2010
Bristol 7 (CHW 0), Pulaski 9
W: Boyce (4-0, 4.15); L: Evans (0-2, 13.50)
Tuesday, July 6th 2010
Bristol 4 (CHW + 1), Pulaski 2
W: Schatz (1-0, 0.90) L: Vargas (1-1, 3.86)
Wednesday, July 7th 2010
Pulaski 5, Greeneville 4 (HOU – 2) (ten innings)
W: Bischoff (2-0, 3.00) L: Rorabaugh (0-1, 1.23)
Thursday, July 8th 2010
Pulaski 12, Greeneville 16 (HOU – 1)
W: Quezada (1-2, 6.00) L: Nava (1-2, 6.23)
Friday, July 9th 2010
Pulaski 12, Greeneville 14 (HOU 0)
W: Gerrish (1-0, 3.86) L: Boyce (4-1, 5.40)
Saturday, July 10th 2010
Pulaski 1, Danville 7 (ATL + 1)
W: Northcraft (2-0, 5.51) L: Olivero (0-2, 6.65)
Sunday, July 11th 2010
Pulaski 7, Danville 6 (ATL 0) (ten innings)
W: Bischoff (3-0, 2.31) L: Mertins (0-1, 0.00)
Hitter of the Week:
SS Jake Schlander, R/R, 8/4/1988
6 G, 18 AB, 5 R, 9 H, 5 RBI, SB, 2/3 K/BB, .500/.591/.500
Funny that Schlander should get top honors this week, because last week I had been sitting on an interview with him that I forgot to post, a rare bit of news from that team. So there you have it. He likes green things. He’ll like Seattle should he ever get there. While he is a bigger guy as middle infielders go, 6’2 and 195 lbs, he was rated as the Pac-10’s best defensive shortstop his sophomore year at Stanford, so you might be able to expect him to stick there even though he’s made seven errors thus far. Another interesting bit of trivia on him is that he was the first freshman to start all of Stanford’s games since Jody Gerut.
Hits, When He Plays Mention:
C Henry Contreras, R/R, 5/5/1986
6 G, 24 AB, 4 R, 8 H, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 2/4 K/BB, 2 HBP, .333/.467/.583
Has No Need For Puny Singles Mention:
3B Ramon Morla, R/R, 11/20/1989
7 G, 32 AB, 8 R, 7 H, 2 2B, 4 HR, 9 RBI, 10/2 K/BB, .218/.264/.656
Pitcher of the Week:
RHP Matthew Bischoff, 5/21/1987
2-0, 2 G, 0.00 ERA in 5.2 IP, H, R (0 ER), 6/2 K/BB, 1/8 G/F
Considering that the M’s pitchers averaged eight runs given up per game this week, thanks to a couple of double-digit games, I don’t have a heck of a lot to work with. So, enter Bischoff, whose relief work, though a little messy on Sunday (he scored an inherited runner to tie the game), earned the team two of its three wins this week. And hey, one of his walks was intentional too. A starter in most of his tenure at Purdue, Bischoff was a 20th-round pick as a senior this year after a campaign where he nearly hit 100 IP and was striking out a man an inning. He’s done better than that in the Appalachian League thus far. The Mariners have been using him out of the bullpen, but don’t let this fool you, as their recent policy has been to lay off on running college starters out in the same role their first pro season. Bischoff will probably return to the rotation in Clinton to start next year.
Even Mention:
LHP Ryan Kiel, 6/26/1987
0-0, 2 G, 2.45 ERA in 3.2 IP, 3 H, R, 4/0 K/BB, 3/4 G/F, HB
From the Training Room:
C Henry Contrares was picked up from the Clinton Lumberkings early in the week. This afforded the M’s the opportunity to play three guys listed as catchers in the same lineup on Sunday and still have one to spare. I’ve mentioned Rivero, who was added from the Aquasox when Royster joined them. He’s been hitting .500/.526/.944. Blarg. He would have made Hitter of the Week but didn’t qualify… Morban was removed from the roster and sent to Peoria for the second year in a row. He’s hurt or something.
Strange Happenings:
Very frequently in minor league baseball, I have incidents where I look at them and realize that what I’m seeing doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but most of the time, it still ends up being pretty cool. Rarely will I see something and just have an outright reaction of “that was stupid.” This week, RHP Yovanny Olivero threw a complete game loss in which he gave up seven runs on twelve hits, two hit batters, and two Ks. That was stupid.
Dispatches from the Land of Rehabbers and Teens:
RHP Danny Cruz Ayala: 6 G, 3 S, 0.96 ERA in 9.1 IP, 7 H (HR), R, 19/0 K/BB
2B Michael Acevedo: 4 G, 18 AB, 4 R, 6 H, 2B, 3B, RBI, CS, 2/0 K/BB, .333/.333/.500
C/1B Ji-Man Choi: 14 G, 47 AB 8 R, 24 H, 4 2B, 13 RBI, 4 SB, CS, 7/6 K/BB, .511/.556/.596
RHP Jeroen de Haas: 3 G (GS), 4.50 ERA in 8.0 IP, 11 H, 7 R (4 ER), 9/1 K/BB, HB
1B Jose Flores: 11 G, 39 AB, 7 R, 10 H, 4 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 2 CS, 13/8 K/BB, .256/.375/.513
RHP Seon Gi Kim: 5 G (3 GS), 6.39 ERA in 25.1 IP, 36 H (2 HR), 19 R (18 ER), 29/3 K/BB
CF Alfredo Morales: 14 G, 57 AB, 10 R, 16 H, 7 2B, 3B, 6 RBI, 2 SB, 22/6 /BB, .281/.349/.439
OF Guillermo Pimentel: 14 G, 47 AB, 2 R, 12 H, 2 2B, 5 RBI, 9/2 K/BB, .255/.294/.298
RHP Luke Taylor: 2 G, 6.75 ERA in 2.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2/2 K/BB
RHP Preston Vancil: 3 G, S, 0.00 ERA in 8.1 IP, 5 H, 9/0 K/BB
RHP Taijuan Walker: G, 0.00 ERA in 2.0 IP, 3/0 K/BB
RHP Tom Wilhelmsen: 4 G (2 GS), 0.00 ERA in 10.0 IP, 3 H, 17/1 K/BB
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31 Responses to “Minor League Wrap (7/5-11/10)”
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So what’s Peguero’s ultimate upside? I thought he was pretty fast coming out of the batters box on his double and we All know about his crazy April.
On Pineda’s rough start, I was talking about this on another site and they said it’s probably a good thing he got roughed up, because he has never had to face much adversity in the minors thus far. You agree.
And Jay Thanks as always.
What does Mike Wilson have to do to get a shot at the big leagues??
Mike has been raking in AAA. I understand he is not a “prospect” anymore because of his age , but he has PLUS PLUS power , a great arm and above average speed.
If he were to get called up and produce for a couple weeks after the break he would make great trade bait for a team looking for some right handed pop. He may not bring the best return but if all he is going to do in Seattle is rot in AAA why not trade him while his value is as high as it’s going to be and give him a shot to play in the big leauges somewhere??
With sluggers such as Rob Johnson getting every opportunity imaginable , why not give Mike a chance?
Great review as always Jay. Ackley seems to be finding his stride at the plate in a big way: hitting for average, getting on base almost half the time, and using his gap power for respectable slugging numbers. With the recent additions and assignments to West Tenn, do you see Ackley being promoted?
Is this a risk at his stage of development where he is just getting comfortable? Or do you think he could bare the continued steep learning curve – both offensively and defensively – in AAA?
Thanks for the recap! A couple quick questions.
One, I’m having a little bit of trouble with Smoak’s service time. How many years after this one is he under club control?
Two, does anyone keep track of the distance of minor league home runs? I was at the Rainiers-Bees game when Halman homered and he hit it literally out of the stadium – is there anywhere I could check for an actual distance traveled? Thanks!
How far out is Liddi? He still a few years away from Tacoma?
There was some pretty detailed information (Saturday I believe) on one of the threads (can’t recall which one exactly).
From memory, I think the general conclusion was that Smoak would not be able to meet the 172 day requirement for this season to count as his first (Year #1) full season – and as a result, the Mariners would have him under their control through 2016. However, Smoak would be a “Super 2” arb guy effective after the 2012 season.
Smoak got called up by Texas early this season at a time that would presumably not allow him to earn a full season of service time in 2010 (and their timing was not likely an accident).
I am sure Jay will provide supporting information (cuz the 172 day requirement was new news for me); but I think I have captured the essence of the details provided on Saturday.
This is correct.
Jay, can Kyle Seager really play shortstop? Or is this just part of the organization’s practice of playing middle infield prospects at 2B, SS, and 3B?
A couple quick questions, Jay….
Should we just stop talking about Josh Fields? A guy from Prospect Insider today mentioned that he didn’t ever think he would close for the M’s.
Does that make Wes Littleton the potential closer of the future? I don’t have any confidence in DA, now or in the future, and I don’t think there is anyone at the MLB or AAA level that can do it.
Finally, are we going to “Strasburg” (my verb, no stealing it) Michael Pineda until next June? Or are we desperate enough for 5 starters that we are willing to risk losing a year from him for 2 months of pitching?
When will the new Future Forty be put out? Thanks for all your work Jay.
Role player, at this point. His achieving any status as a prospect was contingent on him being able to adjust back after pitchers started approaching him differently in May. He hasn’t. Since then, he hasn’t had even an .800 OPS in May or June and his start to July has been abysmal, decent Futures Game showing aside. The larger sample has also shown that he still can’t really hit left-handed pitching.
Ackley isn’t the type of player where I’d question his mental fortitude. He seems to know what he’s about. I’d promote him, but there is a risk that doing so would aggravate the defensive issues, which he’s succeeded in spite of recently.
There’s no hittracker for the minor leagues that I know of. I’ve seen spray charts, but the actual distances on those are educated guesses, and they aren’t current through the season.
Liddi could hit Tacoma next year. He could also be blocked there and start out again in double-A, depending on what happens with Mangini and Tui. He’s not exactly lighting the Southern League on fire, but he’s been fairly competent, noting that he’s also had a really awful start to July.
I doubt it. It was a bit of an experiment to even try him at second initially, because they know that his bat won’t play at third. His hope is to be passable on the infield and then hit enough to warrant playing him. Another future utility infielder, in all likelihood.
Mediating between my disgust at the time with the Fields pick and his actual performances is tricky. I don’t think much of him, never have really. There was a time where I thought he could be something along the lines of Mark Lowe, but Lueke seems more likely for that role now. With Fields, his mechanics have been bad, aggravated by oblique injuries and the like, the velocity has been down to less eye-popping levels, and he hasn’t been able to bust out the curve like he used to. It was a bad pick then and it’s just getting worse.
Definitely not. Littleton is only closing for the Mavs in order to be closer to his family, I would think, and since he’ll turn 28 later this year, he’s not a prospect. He doesn’t have quite the command or the stuff for me to even consider him a MLB closer candidate. Lueke is probably the best bet if you’re looking for someone in system, but the pickings aren’t great.
I think they’ll allow him to contend for a spot in the spring. If we started pitching him now, we’d still have him for six years after this. I wouldn’t do it though. The concerns about his elbow from last year don’t make me want to add any more innings that he’s already getting.
I’m only finding time to work on it in fits and starts. I had a list of the 40 I was looking at about a month ago, then there was the Branyan trade, and the Lee trade which added a few guys who would probably make it, and I’m trying to sort out the short-seasons stuff and international acquisitions, to say nothing of the draft signing deadline a month from now. Right now, even if I had time to put it together, it’s gotten to the point where it’s going to be inaccurate within a week or two, so it might be something best pushed to around the end of the minor league season. Even then, my calendar is pretty cramped, so I might not have a working version until spring training of next year, which is around when it starts to open up again for me.
I’m just gonna go ahead and ask…does “w/r/t” mean “with regards to”? It’s my best guess.
Awesome with a cherry on top, Jay. This article brightens up what’s proving to be a dreary day.
I have one question…so far, the best source I have found for up-to-date draft-pick signings is Baseball America.
But I have to go through several different database pages they have to get to their woefully-limited free content. Fortunately the 2010 draft lists are among those, and they update them pretty regularly, so near as I can tell.
Is there anyone who does a better job, besides USSMariner? I’m totally sure if we sign a Littlewood,Stanek or a Paxton, then USSMariner (as well as ProspectInsider) is all over that. But even if we sign guys under the radar- say like Kohlscheen and Versnik- I’d love to know.
Come to think of it, that leads to another question…is there any progress on the Littlewood, Stanek or Paxton negotiations to speak of? I know these things can drag out all throughout July, but I was hoping Paxton would be a done deal by now.
Thank you again, Jay!
For some goofball reason, every time I see Mike Carp I think he’s like 27-28 and a career minor leaguer, instead of a guy who just turned 24.
I wonder if this guy is going to wind up the new poster-boy for “AAAA-player”. It baffles me that he hasn’t shown anything in two stints at the major-league level.
I’m not sold on Peguero’s future either, until he learns to level out that swing AND hit lefties. Speaking of baffling me…all these baseball reporters latching onto him like he’s a great prospect in our system will do that, too.
And I still don’t really know what to make of Alex Liddi.
Jay, what are your thoughts on Ji-man Choi? Do you see him moving up in our system at a fast rate due to our lack of decent catching prospects? He seems to get on-base an awful lot and steal bases every now and then. Do you also think that he’ll hit for power in the future?
Thanks!
w/r/t means just what you said it did.
The funny thing is that the reports seem to be down this season. For example, the only site I could find reporting Wiswall’s signing for a while was the Aquasox site, which said when he was reporting. No new progress on the top five picks though, at least not that I’ve heard.
You may be confusing him for Bryan Lahair, which is understandable.
A hot month does a lot for media coverage. Even if he doesn’t do anything significant for the rest of his tenure in the system, there’s going to be someone coming in here talking about why didn’t we call him up because he had that one amazing month. It’s frustrating.
Liddi maybe gets cut some slack because he doesn’t even turn twenty-two for another month and a half and took a long time to get going. Anyone expecting him to replicate his ’09 performance will inevitably be disappointed. I would like it if he had another really good month at least because at the current pace, he’ll have trouble hitting even fifteen home runs.
Choi has always been advertised as a great hitter and has lived up to his billing thus far, and the walks are promising, it’s just as you said, waiting for the power to come. The catching thing is mainly just an experiment, as he was a third baseman a lot of the time before signing, they just thought he might have enough of an arm to be an option behind the plate.
Probably better to be confused with Lahair than with Chris Shelton. The Mariners website (Roster/Minor League Affiliate) ran a story yesterday about Carp hitting 5 home runs in his last six games … while proudly displaying a picture of Chris Shelton instead of a picture of Mike Carp.
Maybe Carp is in fact, Rodney Dangerfield reincarnate. Poor guy just can’t get any respect.
Shelton would be part of my MLB gargoyles set along with Jack Wilson.
Thank you so much, Jay! This is awesome, and the Minor League Round Up is one of the two highlights of my week. (With the Lookout Landing podcast.)
I always wonder how it’s possible that we haven’t traded Carp.
Right now he sits #4 on our 1B depth cart, with Smoak added. And add that to how many players in Tacoma could play 1B… I count 5, at least. It seems like he just doesn’t have a place in this franchise… Seems like a Mike Carp-for-mediocre C/3B/RHP trade should be coming at any moment.
Hard to argue with that, but I wasn’t trying to turn the discussion in that direction … but yes, LOL
I agree with your current thought process Henry, it’s just that there hasn’t been a lot of time between giving Carp a “look” and the visibly apparent path forward that his future is taking as a Mariner only a couple/few weeks later. I think it is inevitable that he go elsewhere.
However, your question leads me to a question of my own (for Jay or anybody else): The Nationals stink – and may or may not be looking to reduce payroll (i.e. Adam Dunn). Do they stink enough to also be considering a trade of Ryan Zimmerman? We need a 3B. We need a 3B really, really bad (and although Figgins could play there in the future, he does not profile for the position). Ackley is more than a year away, so is there any reason to believe that the Mariners could put together a package of prospects (i.e. Carp and others) that the Nationals might be interested in taking in return for Zimmerman? This scenario would fit the metric requirement of being both a “buyer and a seller” as Blengino has been quoted as saying on more than one occasion.
Are the Nationals dumb enough to play along?
[ot]
Msfanmike
Zimmerman is the face of the Nationals. I know Strasburg is going to take that label very soon. But they love Zimmerman out there and it would require a HUGE deal to get him. The Nats GM said it would take a ton to ‘pry’ away Adam Dunn, I can only imagine what it would take to get Zim.
If Figgins continues with his current crap of a season, he’s not going to be anything more than a pinch-runner and utility infielder. Basically, Bloomquist without the cuteness.
3B is a spot for a big upgrade, I suppose, and Liddi is still a long ways away, given his age and all that. I hope that is where a trade is made, too, but Zimmerman wouldn’t seem to be likely…. Of course, the Nationals are stupid… But even they aren’t as dumb as the Royals… But their 3B sucks, too… But less than ours, this year. Maybe a 1 and 1 offer contract to a low-risk, moderate reward 3B in free agency? Still, 2011 looks like 2010, with less expectations, to me.
@ Spankysout and Henry: I agree with you guys.
Face of the Nationals: means definitely not a trade prospect for the Mariners.
Figgy as the next Claudell Washington: Probably more likely for that to occur than trading for a quality 3B. He used to wear the Mariners out. Seriously wear them out. Now he is wearing us all out in a much different way. He rarely even hits a ball hard … let alone get a hit. I hope Dave’s prediction of him “going to be okay” pans out because he is certainly a joy to watch run the bases. He is a force on the basepaths … when he gets there.
The Royals have Gordon in AAA (who is hitting well at that level). Talk about a guy who was rushed to the show. They also have Moustakas in AA who is the heir apparent at 3B. During the World Baseball Classic yesterdy, I heard the announcer mention that Gordon has been playing some LF in AAA – becuase Moustakas is the heir apparent at 3B … so a trade with the Royals appears unlikely too.
3B is a hard spot to fill – and 5 years ago we thought we had one, only to find out that he wasn’t what we thought he was. He apparently needs a big barn wall in LF as a hitting background. We need a 3B really, really bad – and another young player to work into the mix at that position (in addition to the other young players the Mariners are auditioning) is hard to fathom … unless (as Henry expressed) the 2011 forecast (from the teams perspective) is as the 2010 reality has become.
“Liddi maybe gets cut some slack because he doesn’t even turn twenty-two for another month and a half and took a long time to get going. Anyone expecting him to replicate his ‘09 performance will inevitably be disappointed. I would like it if he had another really good month at least because at the current pace, he’ll have trouble hitting even fifteen home runs.”
I’m a big Liddi fan but honestly his performance at West Tenn has not been what I expected till now. Yes, he’s still 22 but he’s already in his 5th pro season, thus it’s time to show some more to be projected as a useful major leaguer. On the contrary he’s going to lose also any trading value.
Why do you claim the Nats are stupid?
The Nats used to be stupid, and might’ve traded Zimmerman for Yet Another Outfielder With No Legs (Milton Bradley, come on down!) But they purged the front office, and the worst of the stupidity is gone. They’re not stupid now. Given what they’d want for their Z, our Z would be able to find a better deal for a 3B elsewhere.
But then there’d be the issue of what to do with Figgins. Yes, he’s had a bad year here and as the mood has turned ugly and the fanbase starts looking to eat its own young there’s certainly a temptation to pile on. And when he’s gone elsewhere and is inevitably performing better we’ll hear “Why do they always get worse when they come here and better when they leave?”
Because that’s exactly what will happen. His .291 BABiP this year — vs .341 over his 8 years with the Angels — tells us that. There’s nothing to indicate this is anything other than a down year for Figgins; this isn’t Sexson on the predictable cliff-edge arc of his late career. Maybe it’s partly the position switch, maybe it’s partly not batting leadoff, but it’s most definitely a lot of bad luck — unless you think 4100 career PAs should be completely ignored in favor of the 380 most recent ones. Figgins is not a lost cause, and if you have any suspicion that the position switch is at the root of his troubles this year, then bringing up Ackley in 2011 and moving Figgins back to 3B is a free upgrade at two spots simultaneously (other than the cost of Lopez’ buyout, I guess).
But this isn’t the thread for complaining about the current team — we have the game threads for that. So….
I agree (though have you noticed how many weeks go by in between the “weekly” LL podcast? Lumping them together does a disservice to Jay, who puts in a tremendous amount of work and delivers it week in, and week out. And as satisfying as I’m sure it must be for him — why else would he do it for free? — I doubt it’s as much fun as just dialing up your buddy to gab about hockey and trash-talk the Astros for an hour.)
I’ve been wondering that for a couple of years — not so much about Carp in particular, but just about the seeming logjam of semi-mediocrity we’ve seen at 1B in Tacoma for a while now. But Carp strikes me as the second guy in a trade, and it’s possible he’s been offered in packages in the past that haven’t been accepted.
So after I point out Penney’s inherited runners problem he goes and blows another save for the Mavs, letting both his guys score. SIGH.
I enjoy it, but it effectively means that anything that needs to be done by Monday should be handled on Saturday.
Right, Carp in and of himself is not particularly useful, only as a second item of interest in a trade. I’ve argued in the past that one of the reasons that Moore seems less interesting to us is because we’re in an era of phenomenal catching prospects throughout the league. Carp arguably gets that worse because he’s competing against the ’08 draft and the Justin Smoaks of the world when his ceiling is something like Lyle Overbay with worse defense.
Joser … your post provides a lot of good information. A lot!
I don’t mean to select only a portion of your entire train of thought and “pick” on it, but I would like to comment on it.
The BABIP stat (and I have warmed up to it a lot during my learning curve) is not without its own flaws. I am familiar with the Baseball Between The Numbers chapter about “luck” – so I am not speaking from complete ignorance.
My concern with Figgins’ BABIP is the type of balls he is putting into play. Consistent, lazy, short fly balls/pop ups is not a reflection of bad luck. It’s a reflection of bad hitting/slow bat/mechanical flaw/other.
I don’t have the answers as to what currently ails Figgins’ bat – but the type of balls he is putting in play (currently) are not going to translate into a higher BABIP in any park.
I have noticed him hitting against a very stiff front leg when swinging from the Left side in comparison to having some front leg knee flex when hitting from the right side. His stiff front leg (usually reserved for power hitters) may be causing a bit of a drop in his shoulder. I think his left-handed struggles this year are mechanical. Arguably, I don’t know shit – and I am not there to see it in person … nor am I spending hours a day watching film, but something is wrong with his swing.
I do appreciate your post though … good stuff. I read the links you provided. Thank you for providing them.
Jay or other MiLB affectionotos:
Okay, Ackley is up in Tacoma, which is awesome… Now the Rainiers are officially more watchable than the M’s.
So, will Ackley be playing every day in Tacoma? Or close to it?
Also, Pineda started on the 9th, which I think means he will start Friday. Which leads him to start on the 16th, and then the 21st, and then hopefully on the 26th, a Monday morning game in Tacoma… And then maybe a Weekend game against Reno the following weekend.
Is this what you guys are seeing too?
I’m slightly worried about him getting shut down, given his innings worked, so I’m hoping to see him in the next few weeks.
I think Ackley will be an everyday player in AAA … no doubt about it, with an occasional “rest” day.
As far as the specific dates/rotation for Pineda starts … I have no idea, but it should be every 5th game for certain – and I am sure Jay will be all over the specific rotation once it is announced. For all I know – Jay actually sets the rotation 🙂
If/when the team reaches an innings threshold on Pineda, there is a solution for keeping his innings down while keeping his progression on pace … pitch out of the bully for the Mariners during the month of September – if not sooner. I would be surprised if the Mariners don’t call him up this sason. Guys used to break into the bigs via the bullpen all the time. You see it less and less these days for reasons that are unclear to me.
September callups sometimes boil down to how much money the team wants to spend ($66,000/month per player). The Mariners seem to fit into that “thrifty” category from time to time; either that, or they simply don’t have a lot of guys they feel a need to have to look at.
Teams used to go to 40 guys almost immediately. Not so much anymore.
However, with some guys – it’s a no brainer … call them up and give them a preview. I am sure we will see the ones worth seeing in September. There is no reason not to.
Service time, especially for a non-competitive (aka usually the M’s) teams.