AAA Tacoma Rainiers blasted the Fresno Grizzlies 9-3:
Jackson Williams- 2 for 4, HR(2). BA= .226.
Henry Sosa- 4 IP, 9 H, 8 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 3.95.
Craig Whitaker- 1.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 2.45.
Alex Hinshaw- 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 4.50.
Tony Pena- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 9.42.
Williams has a line of .294/.351/.529 over his last 10 games. Disheartening line by Sosa. This was Pena's best AAA outing so far.
AA Reading Phillies clubbed the Richmond Flying Squirrels 9-4(completion of suspended game from 7/26):
Conor Gillaspie- 3 for 4, 2B. BA= .281.
Skyler Stromsmoe- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K's. ERA= 0.00.
Gillaspie added another single. Maybe Stromsmoe should seriously try pitching. He ain't going anwhere as a hitter!
AA Richmond Flying Squirrels downed the Reading Phillies 6-2(regularly scheduled game):
Nick Noonan- 3 for 5. BA= .247.
Ryan Lormand- 3 for 5. BA= .232.
Thomas Neal- 3 for 4, 2 SB(10). BA= .285.
Brandon Belt- 1 for 4, 3B. BA= .366.
Conor Gillaspie- 2 for 3, SF. BA= .284.
Clayton Tanner- 6.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 4 K's, GO/AO= 11/4. ERA= 3.14.
Noonan had been slumping badly. Neal shows off his speed game. Gillaspie is hitting .417 over his last 10 games. Does Tanner have what it takes to survive at higher levels?
High A Rancho Cucamonga edged the San Jose Giants 4-3:
Johnny Monell- 3 for 4, 2 HR(13). BA= .259.
Kyle Woodruff- 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 2.44.
Second start for the big guy from Cal State Chico. Look for Monell to finish the season strong.
Low A Augusta Greenjackets vs Hickory Crawdads was rained out.
Short Season The NWL was idle.
Rookie AZL Giants defeated the Angels 8-1:
Daniel Burkhart- 2 for 4, 2B, 3B, BB. BA= .500.
Brice Cutspec- 1 for 5, HR(3). BA= .324.
Sundrendy Windster- 3 for 4, 2B, HR(4). BA= .344.
Rafael Rodriguez- 1 for 3, BB. BA= .250.
Waldis Joaquin- 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 0.00.
Reese McCulley- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 0.00.
Nice pro debut for Burkhart, the Giants 10'th round draft pick a C out of Ohio State. Reese McCulley was signed as a free agent. He's a local kid from Salem OR who hooked on as an intern with the S-K Volcanoes then used that position to finagle a series of tryouts. Apparently Treblehorn was impressed enough to recommend the Giants sign him. He pitched for Division III Linfield. Great story and a kid to keep an eye on. Kudos to the Giants for giving a kid like that a second look.
DSL No box score posted for the Giants.
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Is it me, or does Sosa mostly look good/promising out of the bullpen, and then when given a chance to start, he appears lost? It seems like his potential has been tracked a lot over the last few years, and then sort of fell under the radar after the injury. Now I don't know what to think.
ReplyDeleteWhat's your take on him?
Ditto on Tanner? He puts up good numbers, but doesn't seem dominant. Where do you think his ceiling is at?
Thanks,
Lucky
Wouldn't it be terrific if Dan Burkhart turns out to be the next Bob Brenly? I look forward to following his career.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like Neal and Gillaspie might be figuring out the Eastern League. Should we expect them to tear up the PCL next year?
Say, DrB, have you ever figured out any way to evaluate college hitters? I mean, without being a scout, that is.
ReplyDeleteFor example, Jackson Williams was a great hitter in college, but apparently they are dime a dozen, as most draft evaluators said that he wasn't going to hit as a pro. And they were right, unfortunately.
The best I can think of is looking within the same conference in the recent past and seeing how a similar hitter subsequently did in the majors. Like what I did with Gary Brown and finding that only hitters with comparable batting line are Evan Longoria, Kurt Suzuki, and Mike Blumenthal, and he was closer to the first two than the latter.
I would think that scouts look more at stance and bat speed than they do at actual production (often the two go together, but not always). The difference between the metal bat and the wood bat is soooo extreme that it would take a trained eye to see a player in person to even begin to have an idea how they would do against better competition and a different bat.
ReplyDeleteThanks Cal (Go Bears!), yeah, forgot to mention the metal vs. wood transition problem.
ReplyDeleteBut even there, I see Cape Cod always being mentioned as a good showcase because they use wood bats, and I don't know if I was scarred by Todd Linden, but that was what was touted about him when we drafted him, about how great he was in Cape Cod.
Sooo, basically you are saying that it is basically impossible for us geek number crunchers to do much in evaluating college hitters other than reading all the experts opinions about the draftee.
Wow! Thanks for all the comments everybody!
ReplyDeleteSosa still seems awfully raw for how long he's been around. He's got a nice darting fastball, but lacks command, secondary pitches and consistency.
Tanner seems polished for his age, but reliance on the ground ball and a K/BB of close to 1 would seem to be red flags for failure in AAA, although he might actually be able to keep the ball on the ground better in MLB than in the PCL.
I think evaluating college hitters is exremely difficult. Here's a couple of things I've picked up, right or wrong:
1. Pay attention to individual game performance. The quality of pitching in college is a whole lot better on Friday nights than on Sundays. If the hitter is going 0 for 4 on Friday nights and cleaning up on Sundays, then there's a good chance of failure in the pros.
2. Pay attention to strength of competition and environment. The West Coast is a much stronger pitching environment than the Midwest and South, as OGC has pointed out. Like him, the one thing that makes me optimistic about Gary Brown is that he prospered as a hitter in a pretty extreme pitcher's league, at least by college standards. Of course, Buster Posey played in a pretty extreme hitter's environment in college and he hasn't let that slow him down in the pros, so scouting has to be a major factor too.