Sunday, April 6, 2014

Down on the Farm: 4/5/2014

AAA  Fresno Grizzlies scored 7 runs in the top of the 9'th inning for a comeback win over the Las Vegas 51's 8-6:

Gary Brown(CF)- 2 for 5, Assist(home).  BA= .286.
Chris Dominguez(LF-1B)- 2 for 5.  BA= .286.
Andrew Susac(Catcher)- 2 for 4, BB.  BA= .583.
Edwin Escobar(LHP)- 4.2 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 4 K's.  ERA= 7.71.
Brett Bochy(RHP)- 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 0.00.
Mason Tobin(RHP)- 2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 3 K.  ERA= 4.50.
Heath Hembree(RHP)- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, Save(1).  ERA= 0.00.

Rough start for Escobar, but it's his first of the season and Vegas is a rough place to pitch.

AA  Richmond Flying Squirrels defeated the New Britain Rock Cats 13-3:

Tyler Graham(CF)- 3 for 6, 2B.  BA= .400.
Matt Duffy(SS)- 2 for 5, 2B.  BA= .308.
Jarrett Parker(DH)- 4 for 5, HR(1).  BA= .615.
Angel Villalona(1B)- 1 for 5, HR(1).  BA= .308.
Myles Schroder(Catcher)- 2 for 5, 3B.  BA= .231.
Skyler Stromsmoe(3B)- 2 for 3, 2B, BB.  BA= .667.
Adalberto Mejia(LHP)- 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 5 K's.  ERA= 5.40.
Law, Osich, Hall, McCormick- 1 IP, 0 R each.

So-so start for Mejia on a good day for the hitters.  Parker may win both the MVP of hair and the MVP of the EL!

High A  Rancho Cucamonga scored a run in the bottom of the 9'th off reliever Stephen Johnson to win a pitcher's duel 1-0:

Chuckie Jones(RF)- 1 for 4, 3B.  BA= .300.
Joan Gregorio(RHP)- 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K.  ERA= 0.00.
Mason McVay(LHP)- 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 0.00.
Brian Wilson(RHP, Quakes)- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 0.00.

Strong effort by Gregorio.  He faced one batter who singled in the 5'th inning.  I assume it was due to pitch count considerations.  Tweet from Conor Penfold picked up by CoveChatter had him sitting 92-94 with an easy delivery. McVay stretches out in long relief.  LOL Brian Wilson!

Low A  Augusta Greenjackets stung the Charleston River Dogs 6-3:

Randy Ortiz(CF)- 2 for 4, 3B.  BA= .250.
Ryan Tuntland(1B)- 1 for 2, 2 BB.  BA= .200.
Ryder Jones(SS)- 2 for 4.  BA= .250.
Matthew Chavez(DH)- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .500.
Tyler Horan(RF)- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .300.
Christian Paulino(LF)-  0 for 2, 2 BB, SB(1).  BA= .000.
Keury Mella(RHP)- 5.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 5 K's, GO/AO= 8/1.  ERA= 1.59.

Strong first start for the young future ace, Mella.  Links on Covechatter to come great articles by David Lee in the Augusta Chronicle about Mella.  FB was 92-94 with lots of 94's with heavy sink.  Curveball and changeup look promising.

Starters for today are Jason Berken, Kyle Crick, Pat Young and Carlos Diaz.

16 comments:

  1. So many pitchers to follow every night. Looking forward to seeing Kyle Crick in a little Sunday matinee baseball this morning. David Lee is already a big believer in Mella. I'll tell you what, that kid sure does make a first impression! Ritzo's reports on Gregorio and McVay were very strong last night. Last but not least, Jon Laaser (Richmond media) tweeted Mejia was lighting up 96 on the stadium gun yesterday!

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    1. Gonna chalk that up to a hot gun, but if the season goes on and more of that velocity starts to get reported...oh man! Elite velocity like that would immediately bump him into top prospectdom.

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    2. I seem to remember someone on this site, prolly DocB, saying he thought Mejia being so young, had a chance to grow into his frame and pitch in the mid-90's. Looks like it may be true. And that's ace stuff.

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    3. I believe I have commented on Mejia's combination of size and youthfulness in the past.

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    4. Yeah, mid-90's heat from a lefty is elite ace stuff that put guys into top prospectdom! And, wow, Mella is looking good as well.

      Escobar at least had a nice number of K's and only one walk, and no homers given up, just a lot of singles per the comment below, which suggests that he just got BABIPed really hard in this start.

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  2. Good to see Escobar get tested a bit. Going to need it to be successful in the bigs. Susac is going to force the Giants hand sooner than later.

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  3. Escobar: According to MCC, there were 22 MPH cross winds, and 9 of the 10 hits were singles. His fortitude and patience probably were tested, and pitching from the stretch; but the whole experience might have been more provoking than disheartening or indicative of much.

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    1. Thanks for that info. Will keep that in mind and perhaps exclude this game in future consideration. Looking forward to his next game, hopefully in a more neutral setting.

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    2. Yeah that sounds like a good experience. Got BABIP'd I suppose. It's not easy pitching in adverse conditions from the stretch. Trying to decipher some of you wordiness: "provoking" ? Do mean the fans on the internet were provoked? Thanks for the input. MCC eh?

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    3. It was actually probably a bad experience for Escobar to pitch in those conditions, but good experience to face the adversity as long as we are going to discuss choice of words here.

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  4. LOL. That's funny about Parker's MVP of hair.

    Was at the game and Chuckie looked to have a solid body and went to 3rd standing up on the triple. McVay pitched well, with FB mostly at 88-89. Gregorio early on had a couple of 92-94 MPH FB in the first inning, but I think he sat mostly at 90-91 after the first. I could be wrong but that's how I remember it. Galindo didn't do much. Was hoping to see his speed on the paths. But it was a night of pitchers. Hitters on both teams didn't do much.

    Hat tips to all those who started mentioning Mella a few months ago. He will be an interesting pitcher to follow.

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    1. Mella & Isla look like bullpen pieces. Calling it early. Kendry Flores too. Arms are good.

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    2. Not sure I would draw that conclusion, Ryan. Both Mella and Flores pound both sides of the zone and have 2 promising secondary pitches. Both are still young. They both look like future starters to me.

      There clearly are not enough future rotation spots for everybody, so yeah, some will either be traded or end up in the bullpen, but I'm not sure why you would pick out Mella and Flores as the likely candidates.

      Ysla, I think we still don't really know enough about.

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    3. Just rubbing my crystal ball is all. I see pitchers who throw 93-95 starting, but could air it out with sink a little higher. It's awfully cloudy inside this crystal ball and they're a long ways off, but that's what I see.

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    4. Not sure what you are getting at there, Ryan, but to each his own.

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    5. There is no need to "call it early" on Mella and Isla right now, they are all the way down in Class A. Flores too is too early. Why call them early when they might still develop as a good starter.

      Unless you know that 1) all our starters are going to stay health and productive (impossible) and 2) how well these prospects will develop in the future (impossible), there is no reason to pigeonhole these guys as bullpen pieces now, the Cubs thought that they were set for a long time with Prior and Wood, but it turned into a nightmare for them pretty quickly. We might need aces sooner than we think, and even if we don't, that's a great problem to have.

      Plus, the whole idea of focusing on so much pitching is that the cream will rise to the top and there are a lot of spots on the major league roster that you can fill in with good and better players without needing to trade away anyone for talent pieces that you need. And the beauty of the pitching staff is that since you control the young guys for a long while you can slot them into positions of need, like the bullpen, as necessary, and not be forced to make a trade where you give up more in trade. And starters who can throw 93-95 is at a good starting point for young pitchers, then you add others to complement them.

      Whatever, believe whatever you are "crystal balling" but know that you are pretty much alone in this sentiment unless you can give good reasons other than you are spitballing. Every pitcher can air it out by a move to the bullpen, that's not a good reason to make guys who look good as starters so far into relievers. Especially since we have a number of good relievers in the pipeline already and pitchers often transition from starting to relievers once they failed as starters in the upper leagues.

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