Down on the Farm: 05-15-2010

AAA Fresno blanked the Oklahoma City Redhawks 2-0:

Freddy Sanchez- 2 for 4. BA= .500.
Joe Borchard- 2 for 4. BA= .349.
Ben Copeland- 3 for 3, SB(6), Assist(Iribarren at 2B). BA= .274.
Matt Yourkin- 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 3.50.
Steve Edlefsen- 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 1.57.
Santiago Casilla- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 0.00.

Nice game for Copeland who has 5 tools. It's just that none of those tools is quite what you are looking for at the MLB level. Buried in the Giants OF depth chart. Freddy Sanchez takes his rehab assignment to AAA. Replacing DeRosa on the 25 man roster when Mark goes on the DL would seem to be the logical move here. Yourkin is almost 29 yo, but is a big LHP who put up pretty good numbers in AA last year. Could be an emergency option down the road. I can almost guarantee that Casilla will play a MLB role with the Giants sometime before the year is up.

AA Altoona Curve wiped out the Richmond Flying Squirrels 9-2:

Darren Ford- 1 for 4, 2B. BA= .248.
Mike MacDonald- 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 2.48.
Andy Sisco- 2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 5.65.
Craig Whitaker- 1.2 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 0 K's. ERA= 4.60.

MacDonald was on a lowered pitch count coming off a DL Stint(I didn't even know he was on the DL in the first place!). Whitaker got hammered after a string of dominant outings.

High A San Jose Giants defeated the Bakersfield Blaze 6-2:

Juan Perez- 2 for 4, 2B, SB(3). BA= .328.
Brandon Belt- 1 for 2, 3B, 2 BB. BA= .398.
Ehire Adrianza- 2 for 2, 2 BB. BA= .222.
Eric Stolp- 7 IP, 10 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 2 K's, GO/AO= 15/3. ERA= 4.39.

Stolp is an extreme GB pitcher with a season GO/AO of almost 4. He doesn't seem to have enough else to make it work at higher levels. Belt seems to be toying with the Cal League pitchers.

Low A Augusta Greenjackets downed the Charleston Riverdogs 3-1:

Chris Dominguez- 1 for 4, 2 SB(6). BA= .279.
Luke Anders- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .302.
Hector Sanchez- 1 for 4, HR(2). BA= .250.
Jorge Bucardo- 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K's, GO/AO= 4/7. ERA= 2.04.

Dominant start for Bucardo. A couple of things to note in the line: the K/9>9 and the reversed GO/AO makes me wonder if Jorge is mixing in a 4 seam fastball to complement his two seamer. If so, I think it's a great move that forces hitters to worry about a changing visual plane on pitches that are traveling 90+ MPH. Cain and Lincecum use this to enhance the effectiveness of their heaters except they started with the 4 seamer and added the two seamer later. Or, it all may be just a one game fluke here for Bucardo! LOL!