Friday, April 12, 2013

Minor League Week In Review

Following a long awaited start to major league games that count, the minor leagues kicked off last week with opening series against the Red Sox affiliates. Over the past months we at YFU have brought you numerous prospect profiles along with our top 40 in the system list, so many of you will be familiar with the names thrown around here in the regularly scheduled recaps. Each week we'll highlight performances and keep you updated on some of the bigger names in the system, along with some who should be on the radar soon. Without further ado, let's get rolling. 

SWB RailRiders:

The newly coined RailRiders kicked off the season with a thud, losing 4 straight and going 1-5 in what was a dismal, rainy start to the season. Like the parent club, SWB missed their last two games due to inclement weather, and luckily so. There's been a bit of good news though, and that starts with budding catcher Austin Romine who went 7/18 with 3BB's and 8K's. No extra base hits yet, but it's ggod to see him out there and making a bit of contact. Addison Maruszak stepped in at short and drew 5 walks to one strikeout while going 4/11. Melky Mesa is busy doing his best windmill impression, hitting .250 while whiffing 13! times. Newly re-signed Mike Adams is struggling to get going with just three hits in 15 AB's, but has walked as many times as he's struck out (4). 2B Corban Joseph is also off to a sluggish start going 5/23 with 5BB's and 4K's. Good to see at the least his plate discipline is holding fast. 

On the pitching end Vidal Nuno continues to shine. He went from an impressive 2012 campaign to shining in winter ball, carried that opver to major league spring training and he still hasn't stopped. The soft tosser didn't pick up a win, but threw 11.2 IP of 3 run ball on 6 hits, walking none and striking out twelve. Aside from the guys already in the BX, Nuno is making a strong case to be the next in line for a spot in the rotation or that of long man. I iamgine he could serve as a lefty reliever, but he shouldn't be limited to short bursts and lefties only. Dellin Betances also made his debut and threw 4 innings of 2 run ball on three hits and two walks, striking out four. He started off a bit shaky and then settled in. Normally a stat line like this wouldn't be much to speak of, but considering the drubbing he took last year this is actually a good sign. Sinkerballer Brett Marshall was toasted in his outing, giving up 5 runs on 6 hits over 3.2 innings. He walked and struck out four. Mark Montgomery got in five innings of work and gave up a home run....the second of his professional career spanning over 100 innings. I suppose he's allowed. He conceded only one run and four hits, walking none and knocking out nine. Left Juan Cedeno has been solid, going 3.1 innings, allowing a lone run on one walk and four K's. Craig Claiborne also had a good week, throwing 3.1 innings of two hit ball, walking none and striking out four. 

Trenton Thunder:

The Thunder have quite a team this year, sporting several players in the top 20 of the system, with a few more likely to join them later this year. They ended the week 4-3 backed by Neil Medchill, who went 9/23 with three 2B's and 2 HR's, driving in 8 runs. Catcher JR Muprphy is focusing more on his bat this year now that his defense is well on it's way, going 6/23 with a HR, driving in 4, taking 4 walks and striking out 4 times. Ramon Flores is sputtering a bit with only 8 hits in 33 AB's including a double and three RBI's. The notable part of his line is that he's only taken 2 walks while striking out 9 times. He's considered one of the better disciplined hitters in the system so let's hope he gets himself adjusted to AA ball. Fellow outfielders Slade Heathcott and Tyler Austin are having their struggles getting used to a new level as well. Slade has gone 7/29, albeit with a pair of doubles and a triple, but had some early strikeout woes ending the week with 8 K's and 3 BB's. Austin went 6/31 with three doubles and a HR, driving in three while striking out 11 times. Let's hope he can get his feet under him as he adjusts to life in Trenton. 1B Kyle Roller chipped in 6 RBI's this week including a HR. 

The Thunder pitching has gotten knocked around a bit, namely southpaw Nik Turley who made two starts this week, going 8.2 innings, allowing 9 runs on 14 hits. He walked four and struck out 6. Matt Tracy made his brief debut, recording a single out before getting yanked for giving up 5 runs. He walked the park (4) and recorded a K in his only out. Zach Nuding had the best debut, allowing just a single run in his two starts totaling 9.2 innings and 11 hits. He walked four and struck out eight. Newly converted starter Francisco Rondon threw 5 innings of 3 run ball, all on HR's, and all to right handers. We'll see how long this experiment lasts, as he could be a very effective guy out of the bullpen for the Bombers. Kelvin Perez, who may be a victim of the numbers game finds himself back in Trenton after making his way to AAA last year, went 5 IP, allowing just two hits while striking out five. Branden Pinder has gotten kicked around thus far, allowing 8ER over just 4.2IP. Tommy Kahnle is also off to a shaky start, albeit not as ugly as Pinder's. He's allowed a pair of runs to cross the plate in his two innings pitched, walking two and striking out a pair. Jeremy Bleich....yep, that Jeremy Bleich has returned to the fray pitching in relief. He's tossed 5.1 scoreless innings on 5 hits, walking three and striking out four. 

Tampa Yankees:

Tampa sports the other half of our top four prospects in Gary Sanchez and Mason Williams. Gary has picked up where he left off, going 11/30 with four 2B's and four RBI's. He's taken one free pass and struck out four times. Mason is getting back into the swing of things after having season ending shoulder surgery last year. He went 7/27 with a pair of doubles, walking 6 times and striking out 7. New to the Tampa club is Angelo Gumbs, who is struggling as of now in a 3/30 slump, a triple his only XBH. He's walked once while striking out five times and swiping a pair of bases. Another outfielder to keep an eye on is Ben Gamel, who I spoke with Matt about earlier in the offseason, regarding why he was left off the top 40 list. It was for the most part a matter of too many players and not enough chairs, and at that point in the list you could re-write it a dozen times and make a case for a myriad of endings. Gamel is one to watch though, and from all accounts he added some mass to his frame over the winter and should see a power spike this year. If that comes to fruition he'll be making his way up the best of sheets in no time. The kid can hit, but for a corner outfielder he's going to have to add some pop. He's had a nice start to the year showing some gap power with 5 of his 11 hits going for doubles. He's walked twice, struck out four times and stolen two bases. 

Bryan Mitchell led the team in innings this week, tossing 12 while allowing 4 runs on 8 hits. He walked five and struck out ten. Corey Black added 11 innings of his own, giving up 3 runs on 9 hits. He walked four and struck out ten. He was also noted to be in the low to mid 90's, touching 96 at times. He has no problem getting it up there, but maintaining that velocity through the latter innings has been his issue. He'll need to show he can build up some stamina or he could be off to the pen. Nothing wrong wit ha late inning guy that can dial it up to triple digits, but you can't blame them for trying to get as many innings out of him as they can. Scottie Allen and Shane Green combined for 11 innings of two run ball, Mikey O'brien pitched 4.2 innings allowing 3 runs on five hits. He walked none and struck out four. Nick Goody, who was invited to big league camp but missed most of it due to a sprained ankle as the result of a car accident returned to action, pitching 3 innings of one run ball on two hits. He walked two and struck out three. Once he gets rolling he could be a quick mover, and a trip to Trenton is not out of the question later this season. Manny Barreda chipped in 2 innings of one hit ball while Sean Black added 3 innings of 3 hit ball. 

Charleston RiverDogs:

Cito Culver is the big news this week for the RiverDogs. Over the winter he decided to ditch the whole swithc hitting thing and go solely as a right hander. He also gave up the high leg kick for one more abbreviated and so far the results have been outstanding. He kicked off opening week going 11/37, which included three 2B's, a 3B, and 2 HR's. No...that's not a typo. Cito went deep twice in the same game and has amassed about a third as many XBH/s in the first 8 games as he did all of last year. Small sample size admitted, but he looks damn good at the plate. Robert Refsnyder rolled in with nine hits of his own, including three doubles. He drove in one, took four walks, struck out five times and stole four bags. He's getting used to life at second base and could give Gumbs a run for his money as best in the system at that spot. Greg Bird, who is now a 1B after back problems moved him away from catcher, started off the year going 10/30 with a double a HR and 4 RBI's. He's walked eight times while striking out ten. Taylor Dugas is also off to a good start, going 9/26 with a double. He's driven in a pair, walked four times, struck out twice and stolen two bases. Dante Bichette was getting it going later in the week and finished 6/33 with a pair of HR's (one a grandy) and 11 RBI's. He also adjusted his swing over the winter, so keep an eye on him even if last year soured you on his future. 

Two of our more interesting pitching prospects currently reside here, first in Jose Campos, the other piece in "The Trade" who went down with elbow inflammation early last year. He made his first start in 11 months, and was a little rusty, He allowed 4 ER on 4 hits including a HR, while walking one and striking out three. Cobwebs i'm sure...he has great stuff and is pretty polished for his age. Expect a lot more from him moving forward. Rafael DePaula was the big story this week. He rang in his stateside debut with a bang...er, K. Eleven of them actually. He went about 70 pitches in his opener and knocked out eleven of the nineteen batters he faced. He made another start later in the week and was a little wild, giving up four free passes. He finished off with 6.1 IP, 6H, 4ER, 5BB, 16K and 2 HB. There's a lot to look forward to with this guy as he has some great stuff coming from a good sized frame and free and easy delivery. Gabe Encinas had a nice little game of his own, going 6 innings and allowing just one hit. He walked three and struck out four. Even Rutckyj pitched five shutout innings of his own, allowing 3 hits and two walks against one K. Daniel Camarena had a rough first week, allowing 5ER on 11H, walking one and recording not a single strikeout. Charlie Short, Ben Paullus and Alex Smith pitched a combined 13.2 innings of eight hit ball, striking out 20 while walking just five. 

That's it for our first week in review, tune in every Friday for the rundowns of all our minor league action, and keep an eye out for more prospect profiles, as well as some articles detailing the upcoming 2013 first year player draft. 

10 comments:

  1. Thank you for the great post I love being able to keep up on the kids.

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  2. Campos and Tracy had much better outings tonight. And Sanchez hit 2 HRs.

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  3. Fish Keith Law was scouting the game and he said his stuff was very diminished from what it was before the injury. FB sat between 89-92. Didn't sound good

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  4. Matt, this his first game back, give the kid 10 starts before we start analyzing him.

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  5. Yeah i read it but you really have to take it in context. The kid missed nearly a full year with an arm injury and is making just his 2nd appearance on a limited pitch count. Last year, before the injury he was 90-95 and last night he was 89-92. A 2-3 mph difference coming off injury at this time of yr isn't out of the norm. CC is in the same category and his injury wasn't nearly as serious.

    Law said he had "below-average command" yet he threw 33 of 47 pitches for strikes and allowed just 2 singles and a Walk in 3 scoreless innings. So, we'll see how his subsequent outings go.

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  6. My feeling is the Yanks made a mistake with Hughes, bringing him back too quick from his injury. They didn't give him any rehab assignments. The Yanks would have been better off using Phelps or Warren who have pitched well so far. It has cost them at least one victory.

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  7. Law also conceded that it was a limited look. After an 11 month layoff you expect some consistency issues. I do wonder why all of the sudden he's talking about his arm action being susceptible to injury. As far as his command comment, even though he was throwing strikes doesn't mean he was commanding the zone well. Getting it over the plate but not hitting his spots could well be a product of the long layoff.

    His comments about Culver were also a bit puzzling first about his running (could use some explanation, not just a declaration) and then about him barreling the ball and still not getting it out of the infield.... wait... doesn't he have about a third as many XBH's through 8 or 9 games as he did all of last year?

    This is exactly why one needs to be cautious about a scouting report derived from a single day.

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  8. Tracy got crushed tonight giving up 10 Runs in 3 ip! Betances had another poor outing also. Campos another short outing....3ip, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 W, 4K.

    But at least some hitters did well:

    JR Murphy had 3 HRs and went 4 for 5 in Trenton....he's off to a great start, .364 with 4 HR
    Gary Sanchez 3-4 with HR......358 with 3 HRs
    David Adams went 2-4 with a HR...now hitting .355
    Rob Segedin 3-4 with 2 HRs, hitting .358 with 3 HRs

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  9. Yanks are snake bit with their minor league pitching, Betances, Turley, Campos, and Rondon haven't started too well. Nuno is a plus.

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)