Just one minor league game on Easter Sunday.
AAA Reno Aces edged the Fresno Grizzlies 2-1:
Gary Brown(CF)- 2 for 3, BB, CS(2). BA= .301
Juan Perez(RF)- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .467.
Edwin Escobar(LHP)- 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 5.49. '
OK, THAT is what we've been hoping to see from Escobar this year! He reportedly tweaked his delivery and it obviously paid off. Brown continues to do what he needs to do at the top of a batting order, well, except for the CS.
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I saw the Grizz game on Sat. nite and got my 2010 replica ring. In the 2 games I've seen this year, Brown appears to be letting the ball get deeper and is using the right side of the field. He's also getting on top of the ball. He even tried to bunt for a hit down the 3b line, but got it too far down the line and the 3B for Reno made a nice bare hand pickup. Brown's OBP is .380 something, and .400 over is last 10. I like what I've seen out of Brown at AAA more than what I"ve seen out of Blanco at MLB this year.
ReplyDeleteAlso really liked how Duvall looks in the box. I was surprised with his patience. Randy Wolf was out there doing his nibbling and Duvall did not seem afraid to get deep in the count. He just looks like a big leaguer at the dish - poised and strong.
I would be cautious about comparing what you see in a starter at AAA and a reserve player at MLB levels. Two very different animals. I agree that Brown is doing the right things so far this year and Duvall's bat looks like it will play at the MLB level.
DeleteThrow caution to the wind, baby !!
DeleteBlanco off to a rough start - his swing looks exploitable, the book may be out: make him put the ball in play, go up in the zone and induce the pop out so he has to do push ups at home plate. I don't know - his baseball IQ with the bat and on the bases seems average or below.
In general, hitting a pitched baseball is the hardest thing to do in all of sports. Specifically doing it as a bench player is much tougher than doing it 4-5 times every day.
DeleteAlso, given how fierce the Aces offense looked on Saturday night, Escobar's outing sounds even more impressive.
ReplyDeleteEscobar's outing was indeed impressive and great news for Giants fans!
DeleteEscobar's previous outings with high numbers of walks & hits, over very few innings, was just not like him at all. An explanation of mechanics makes perfect sense to me. Let's see if he can really launch from this one.
DeleteAlso, I believe it was OGC who mentioned that management wa not impressed with Escobar this spring. Be that as it may, I for one was; not because he was truly dominant, but because he was clearly struggling with command and control, a's yet even in his worst outings has the opposing mlb lineup off balance. I believe what we saw this spring will pale in comparison to his call-up, if he comes up with his usual stuff working.
Yeah, I don't know where that came from. I have not read anything about management not being impressed with Escobar from any reliable source.
DeleteOn the contrary, Sabean was praising Escobar; I have not heard of "not impressed". They even released Surkamp, thinking Escobar would be ready soon.
DeleteWhat may have happened is expectations becoming unreasonable high., and the Giants realized they would have to wait for at least the second half of teh season before Escobar becomes the 6th starter.
Mea culpa. I mentioned it, which, came from Baggarly's April 16, 2014 chat (at CSN Bay Area), at around 2:23 (PM) mark.
DeleteThis is what he wrote: "Excellent question because I understand the Giants weren't bowled over by the way Escobar looked in the spring, either."
Make that 2:24 Mark.
DeleteWell, Baggarly was kind of just stating the obvious, was he not. Was anybody here "bowled over" by Escobar's spring performance? Baggarly has been known to be a bit of an instigator at times, or that may just have been his way of giving a snarky response to a stupid question(I don't know what the question was, so I'm not saying it WAS stupid, just that is one possible explanation for the comment).
DeleteLook, Escobar was not going to make the Opening Day 25 man roster short of a whole rash of injuries to the pitching staff anyway. He was ticketed for AAA all along and even that was a fairly aggressive placement. If Escobar was such a big disappointment in Spring Training, the Giants could have changed their minds and assigned him to AA. It wouldn't be the first time they have changed their minds at the last minute.
Anyway, let's all be happy Escobar found the glitch in his mechanics and apparently has fixed it. It will make him a better pitcher in the long run.
This was the question that prompted his response:
Delete"With Escobar scuffling a bit out of the gate, what do you think the Plan A (or B) will be if a starter goes down or needs to be replaced?"
I think if management thought Escobar might have needed to work on his mechanics, it could be the reason why they weren't 'bowled over.'
In any case, I am just passing the information. Maybe I agree with it some but not 100%. Like a lot of things, we fans just don't know.
6'th starter was always Petit's to lose and they brought in Huff to be the backup plan to Huff or the #7, so I am not convinced Escobar was ever seen as an option any time before mid-season anyway.
DeleteI believe Sabes stated exactly that, "the Giants weren't impressed with Escobar this Spring" in a Comcast interview about a month ago. I will see if I can find the linky.
DeletePut it up.
DeleteWell, maybe we'll see Escobar sooner than later. David Huff goes out with a quad strain.
DeleteIn today's chat: Andrew Baggarly: Escobar wasn't so polished this spring and he wasn't as ready as the front office had hoped.
DeleteThis was the line we were expecting from Downtown Gary Brown last year. 6 extra base hits out of 22 ain't great, but a 384 OBP is just fine. Getting his K/BB into positive territory like this is a great thing if he can sustain it.
ReplyDeleteSusac is slashing 314/417/490... That is just fine. The 4 Grizzles with the most TBs: Duvall, Brown, Tony Abreu (no injury yet?) and Sooz. Joe Panik rounds out the top 5. They are struggling as a squad though, getting off to a lowly 5-13 start.
The pitching has been pretty bad and aside from Duvall and Susac, they have no power to speak of.
DeleteHopefully this is following Brown's progression of learning in college: in freshman, he didn't hit so well for anything, but was able to get on base via more walks but more so more HBP, in sophomore year, he hit well for average, so he didn't walk as much, but had similarly good OBP, and still wasn't hitting for power, then in junior year, he hit well for average and extra-base power, and he was better off not taking walks as he was hitting so well. His learning curve isn't as steep as others initially, but he improved over time and then took off in his junior year, compiling the best batting line, including SLG and ISO for his conference, beating even Evan Longoria's record setting numbers as well. That is kind of similar to Schierholtz, he would need some time to figure out how to hit at his new level first, then he would be capable of swinging for power, once he got the hitting down.
DeleteI don't expect him to hit as well or for as much power as Longoria, but I've expected him to hit well when he reaches the majors and learn to hit. Hopefully this is the first signs of that happening. He is controlling his bat well, walking a lot while not striking out much plus making good contact. Brown should be having a season closer to what people have been expecting from him before they downgraded him. My belief hasn't faltered much regarding his hitting, but I'll need to be convinced that he'll ever be any good as a base stealer. However, if he can get on at a good rate, his speed on the bases is what will be important with the power hitters we have in our lineup, he would be able to score from 1B on extra-base hits. He can be like Pence and use his speed to steal at opportune moments, which would help reduce his CS%.
If he can sustain his success, he certainly looks like he could be a MLB contributor the way he's playing right now. Either way, it's good to see him setting the table in Fresno.
DeleteIs Brown doing better now by him changing his swinging?
DeleteI read his hitting problem was from not having his hands in position to swing early enough.
I wouldn't be surprised if Brown changed a lot of aspects of his hitting mechanics last year (often, this is not public nor media knowledge in the complete extent, I'd assume). While at first that would have effected his performance simply based on learning on-the-fly, additionally that very poor performance may have been a psychological negative feedback loop.
DeleteIt's very, very exciting to see him hitting so well off the bat this year (no pun intended!). Also, I'd assess it as less likely to be a mirage, being that he's hitting mostly for average (Fresno effects power most of all, yes?) and OBP. It would be very interested to get an insider report at some point (Fresno beat writer, this means you!!) on Brown's mechanical and mental evolution in the last two years.
I saw a couple of Brown AB's on TV in Spring Training. There could have been some subtle differences, but it looked like the same old Brownie to me.
DeleteGreat interview from Conner Penfold up on the Chronicles and Conner's own site. Hope you don't mind me posting the link here Dr. B.
ReplyDeletehttp://sfgiantpotential.squarespace.com/home/2014/4/19/qa-with-giants-no-2-prospect-edwin-escobar
He seems to be getting lower earlier in his delivery, then launching his body straight towards the plate with the patented "step over" that Cain and Lincecum used to tremendous effect in their young careers. Fantastic way to leverage his legs, this is a good sign for the Giants #2 starter. Great video there!
Interview was done just before his game on Sunday, and he did the whole thing in fluent English, no translator. Very good sign for this kid having a strong head on this shoulders.