Minor League Highlights 6/21 - 6/23 (INPO)

by FreeZorilla on Jun 25, 2009 10:56 AM EDT Comment 36 comments

Kansas City Royals catcher Miguel Olivo, left, and Tampa Bay Rays' Matt Joyce watch his two-run homer off Kansas City reliever Roman Colon during the eighth inning inning of a baseball game Tuesday, June 2, 2009, in St. Petersburg, Fla. Joyce had four RBIs in Tampa Bay's 6-2 win. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)

More photos » by Steve Nesius - AP

5 months ago: Kansas City Royals catcher Miguel Olivo, left, and Tampa Bay Rays' Matt Joyce watch his two-run homer off Kansas City reliever Roman Colon during the eighth inning inning of a baseball game Tuesday, June 2, 2009, in St. Petersburg, Fla. Joyce had four RBIs in Tampa Bay's 6-2 win. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)

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1. The Durham Bulls bats came alive the past 3 days. SS Reid Brignac went 4-10 with a 2B and a BB. Reid's splits sit at .291/.356/.436 vs. .250/.299/.412 a year ago. A big improvement this season has been BB:K as he has gone from .27 to .78. His K% has been reduced from 26.4% to 13.4% while his walks have jumped to a more respectable 9.5%.

2. 27 year old OF Rashad Eldridge continues to play well for Durham since being promoted from AA. In the past 3 games he has gone 3-8 with 2 BB. The minor league vet is having arguably his best season hitting .301/.370/.361. Eldridge had a shot at AAA back in 2006 with the Mets and the Rangers but only OPSed .612 and .583. Prior to this season he put up back to back years in AA of .780+ with the Twins and the Rays.

3. OF Matt Joyce has been mired in a slump since being recalled to Durham going 7 for his last 49 with 9 walks. His OPS in that span has been .541. For the season vs LHP he is putting up .229/.260/.333. He's going to need to improve on those numbers to become the everyday right fielder for the Rays. In the past 3 games he has gone 1-13 with 2 BB, but his lone hit was a big home run yesterday. His seasonal slash at AAA is .268/.367/.453.

4. 25 yr old C John Jaso has woken up in June after a dreadful May where he OPSed .431. He has gone 3 for his last 11 with 2 BB and a HR. His season slash sits at .238/.349/.390. Jaso's plate discipline is excellent, especially when compared to Navi. He is walking at a rate of 13.7% while only striking out 12.8% for a BB/K of 1.24. For those keeping score at home Navi has walked 1.9% and struck out 14.9% for a ratio of .13.

5. OF Justin Ruggiano continues to play well going 3-8 with a 2B and a HR making this list for the 2nd consecutive time. THe 27 year old is now slashing .247/.341/.416.

6. 1B Rhyne Hughes continues his torrid hitting since being promoted from Montgomery. In the past 3 Hughes has gone 5-13 with a BB, a 2B, and 2 HRs. In 58 AAA ABs, Hughes has now posted .323/.354/.613.

7. Scott Kazmir had what appears to have been a one night only in Durham going 6 innings while striking out 5 and walking none. He surrendered 5 hits and 0 runs with his velocity consistently in the 90s. Kazmir was sadit o have thrown about 70% strikes.

8. Wade Davis made another excellent start going 6 innings, striking out 6 and walking 2. He allowed 6 hits and 2 runs, 1 earned. In 31 June innings his K/9 is 11.32 vs a BB/9 of 2.32. His seasonal FIP is 3.68 with a June FIP of 2.99.

9. Four Durham pitchers performed well this week out of the bullpen: Jason Cromer, Dale Thayer, Joe Bateman, and Julio DePaula. Each allowed no earned runs in a minimum of 2 innings pitched. The table below will update you on their seasons to date:

	K/9	BB/9	ERA	FIP
Jason Cromer	4.78	3.38	0.84	4.07
Dale Thayer	5.87	2.93	1.47	3.3
Joe Bateman	9.25	5.92	4.81	3.73
Julio DePaula	6.75	4.14	4.14	4.63

10. It was a quiet few days with the lumber for the AA biscuits, but there were a few pitching gems. Jeremy Hellickson made his return in a big way picking up right where he left off. Hellickson went 4 strong striking out 6 and walking none while surrendering 4 hits and 0 runs. Hellickson has been lights out all season with a K/9 of 10.9 and a BB/9 of 2.08. His FIP is at 2.25 with an ERA of 1.85. The right hander turned 22 in April.

11. 25 year old left hander Brandon Mann made his best start of the season for Montgomery going 6 shutout innings while striking out 6 and walking none. For the season his FIP sits at 3.85 with a K/9 of 5.07 and a BB/9 of 3.73.

12. 24 year old right hander Ryan Reid struck out the side in his one inning of work. Control has plagued him since joining AA last season. This season his K/9 and BB/9 both sit at 6.33. His K/9 has slipped this year from 10.3 to 6.33, so hopefully this inning was a sign of things to come for Reid.

13. Jesse Darcy made his best start of the season for the Charlotte Stone Crabs pitching a 7 inning complete game shutout. Darcy struck out 2, walked one, and allowed 5 hits. Darcy picked up his second win of the season in 13 starts. His FIP sits at 5.25 with a K/9 of just 3.68.

14. 24 year old right hander Tommy Rafferty has pitched 8.1 innings of relief for the Stone Crabs since his mid-season promotion. Rafferty has struck out 9 and walked 4 in his 8.1 innings posting a FIP of 2.51 while allowing 2 earned runs.

15. Cody Cipriano has had a cooler bat going 1-8 over the past 3 games. Why is he on this list? 4 walks over that span elevating his BB% to 11.8%. This is good because in A-and A ball Cody walked 14.1% and 13.9% of the time. Looks like his eye may be catching up to A+ pitching.

16. 22 year old middle infielder Omar Luna had been struggling mightily since joining the Stone Crabs in 2009. In the past 3 he has managed to go 4-6 with a BB. His slash sits at .197/.217/.413. Luna has never walked above 5% in his career.

17. 22 year old left fielder Ryan Royster has struggled in his second year with the Stone Crabs. He did manage to go 4-7 over the past games raising his slash to .220/.273/.295. His OPS has declined from .691 last year to .568 this year at the same level. He seems to be struggling in his splits OPSing .516 vs righties while his OPS vs lefties is .771.

18. 21 year old shortstop Shawn O'Malley has gone 4-8 with a stolen base over the past 3. The speedster is slashing .265/.364/.322 while swiping 25 bags in 32 attempts. He is having arguably his finest season in 4 years with the Rays organization in his first season at the A+ level.

19. The South Atlantic League held their annual all-star game. The Hot Rods were represented by Tim Beckham and Chris Andujar. It was a rough night for Andujar giving up 3 hits, a walk, and 4 runs in his sole inning pitched. Becks star shone bright as he went 3-5 with a 3B and 2 strikeouts. He also committed an error.

Stats courtesy of MILB.com/Fangraphs/minorleaguesplits

Not all sites update daily so minor inconsistencies may appear

Will do a week in review for short season highlights during the weekend.

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Comments

This franchise is loaded with pitching. Cobb has been on my watch list for some time

and continues to impress, even Darcy had his best outing the other day

by Raymondo on Jun 25, 2009 11:09 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Cobb is a lesser version of Sonnanstine.

He could be useful, though.

by rglass44 on Jun 25, 2009 11:20 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Uh oh Raymondo likes a soft tosser???

Follow Me on Twitter @FreeZorilla

by FreeZorilla on Jun 25, 2009 11:21 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I thought Cobb's velocity was low 90

by Raymondo on Jun 25, 2009 11:21 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Cobb pretty much does everything well, but nothing great

He doesn’t walk guys(but his minor league walk numbers aren’t quite like Slowey or Sonnanstine), he gets enough groundballs(but not an overwhelming amount), and he strikes guys out(but not a ton).

Jason McEachern watch: 5 ip 3 h 0 er 0 bb 4 so 0.00 ERA
www.raysprospects.com

by Imperialism32 on Jun 25, 2009 11:43 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Holy shit, this is the first time I've ever seen you start a thread with a positive comment.

by Suttree on Jun 25, 2009 11:21 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

In fairness, this is the 2nd time in two days he did

It struck me too the first time

Follow Me on Twitter @FreeZorilla

by FreeZorilla on Jun 25, 2009 11:22 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sorry if i can't find much to cheer about in a 10-1 loss or sub 20K crowds

by Raymondo on Jun 25, 2009 11:22 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Abreu!

Follow Me on Twitter @FreeZorilla

by FreeZorilla on Jun 25, 2009 11:23 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Pitching well in the lowest leverage situations does not impress--agree?

by Raymondo on Jun 25, 2009 11:26 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

No

You have to start somewhere. You could pitch not well in low leverage.

Follow Me on Twitter @FreeZorilla

by FreeZorilla on Jun 25, 2009 11:29 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

A veteran team like Philly is up there hacking, trying to just end the game

that changes everything

by Raymondo on Jun 25, 2009 11:38 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I didn't say make him the closer

It was a positive.

Follow Me on Twitter @FreeZorilla

by FreeZorilla on Jun 25, 2009 11:40 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Darcy has good stuff and from what I have seen gets introuble when he tries to finesse rather than power.

by Doyouseeit? on Jun 25, 2009 11:22 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

It is nice to see Brignac seem to develop his offense again.

As for Navarro, I wonder what has happened to him. As a minor leaguer, one of his apparent skills was plate discipline and patience. Look at his BB totals each year from age 17 on:

17: 17BB/43AB; 23K in GSL
18: 39/328; 61K in A-
19: 17/197; 27K in A+
      18/208; 26K in AA
20: 33/255; 44K in AA
      14/136; 17K in AAA
21: 38/241; 24K in AAA
      20/176; 21K in Majors (LA)
22: 11/75; 18K in LA
      20/193; 33K in TB (in an otherwise terrible debut here)
23: 33/388; 67K in TB (horrible start, excellent 2nd half)
24: 34/427; 49K in TB (last year)

So what is happening? His BB rate has been declining in TB, and it seems this year to have completely cratered. But until 2009, it has not been awful, and prior to coming here it was generally quite good.

by bobr on Jun 25, 2009 11:24 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

It is bizarre, 10% in 05 and 06 in the bigs

1.9% now, seeing no major changes in how pitchers approach him as far as pitch selection outside of a big decline in changeups this year. Hes had substantial rises in swinging in and out of the zone. A 4% swing % increase over 05 and 06. Hes also making contact more frequently out of the zone, 50% and 61% in 05 and 06, 73.3% in 09. As a direct result of his hack tendencies, he is only seeing 50.4% of pitches in the zone. Still higher than most on the team, but historically he is 52-54% in the zone.

Follow Me on Twitter @FreeZorilla

by FreeZorilla on Jun 25, 2009 11:35 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed.

Much like FreeZo says, it seems he just went from being cautious at the plate to hacky. Maybe he felt he wasn’t getting his money’s worth, and he actually doesn’t have a very good batter’s eye. So he went from taking too many pitches in the zone to swinging to too many out of the zone.

by rglass44 on Jun 25, 2009 12:36 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Question for you FreeZo

What is Elliot Johnson doing playing with GCL Rays? rehab??

by Raymondo on Jun 25, 2009 11:28 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

yes, he had a broken wrist.

by Dbullsfan on Jun 25, 2009 11:35 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think he's the only non-hispanic on the team

the entire league is hispanic, why is that?

by Raymondo on Jun 25, 2009 11:45 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Because most teams use their GCL affiliate to bring players from DSL/VSL leagues over

Also as more high school picks sign, they’ll report there. Andrew Bellatti is there, Jacob Partridge should be there soon, etc. Having two rookie-league teams, Princeton and the GCL Rays allows us to bring over more VSL/DSL guys.

Jason McEachern watch: 5 ip 3 h 0 er 0 bb 4 so 0.00 ERA
www.raysprospects.com

by Imperialism32 on Jun 25, 2009 11:50 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I suffered the same injury when we got HBO for the first time.

by Suttree on Jun 25, 2009 11:46 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Briggy will be better than bartlett

by daveh33 on Jun 25, 2009 12:24 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

You, Mr. FreeZorilla, are a freaking animal with this minor league stuff...

Love it and keep it comin’!!!

Delmon Young is a big fan of Delmon Young. - Jonny Gomes

by JDeLuca on Jun 25, 2009 12:57 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Top Prospects at Hudson Valley?

I live in Wisconsin, but I’m taking a trip, and I’m going to take in a couple of Hudson Valley Renegades games next week. Does anybody know who are the players-to-watch on the HV roster? I’d be happy to post a little scouting report on here next week if there are players that particularly interest anyone.

Don't try to do too much with it. Just take the ball the other way.

by shooty babitt on Jun 25, 2009 1:16 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Here

Not many of the hitters thrill me, but infielders Elias Otero and Burt Reynolds can swing the bat some. Outfielders DJ Jones and Dustin Biell are toolsy, but haven’t really translated that into results. Outfielder Brett Nommensen was one of the top hitters statistically in college in 2009. Catcher Mayobanex Acosta was ranked by BaseballAmerica, but his stat lines haven’t stood out.

As for the pitchers: Kyle Lobstein was the Rays 2nd rounder in 2008, he’s pretty talented. Albert Suarez and Alexander Colome are both decent prospects. Glenn Gibson was considered a decent guy going into 2008, but had an awful year and couldn’t find the plate his first start this year. Kyle Ayers is a big reliever who’s been good statistically. Devin Fuller, who hasn’t pitched yet, was the Rays 6th rounder this year.

Jason McEachern watch: 5 ip 3 h 0 er 0 bb 4 so 0.00 ERA
www.raysprospects.com

by Imperialism32 on Jun 25, 2009 1:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs