Minor League Report...April 25, 2008

by roger13 on Apr 25, 2008 7:56 AM EDT Comment 9 comments

Will be leaving for the weekend Friday morning, thus, will do a shortened version of this report a day early.

With one day remaining this week, the system was two games under .500 at 10-12. Not helping their record was Beloit, who was 0-5.

There were several player moves. Adam Everett was placed on the DL by the Twins, and replaced by Brian Buscher. Tim Lahey was added to the Ft. Myers roster last Saturday, and later promoted to Rochester. The Miracle also put Dan Berg on the disabled list. Danny Graves was also promoted from Ft. Myers to New Britain, with Danny Hernandez coming off the disabled list and joining the Miracle bullpen. Graves joined New Britain after they placed David Shinskie on the DL. Last night the Twins activated Michael Cuddyer from the DL, sending Denard Span back to Rochester.

The Red Wings are 3-2, behind two great starts by Brian Duensing. Brian pitched 5.2 innings on Saturday with 1 run in a 1-0 loss. Last night, he pitched 7.0 innings with 3 hits, 1 run, and 5K/0BB in the Wings 8-2 win...lowering his ERA to 2.40. Kevin Mulvey, also pitched another good game in Wednesday's 5-3 win, allowing 2 runs (1 earned) in 5.2 innings.

The Rock Cats were 3-3 behind two excellent starts by Yohan Pino. Pino allowed 1 run in 5.0 innings in Saturday's 5-3 loss, while allowing 2 runs in 7.0 innings in last night's 2-1 loss. Pino now has a 1.35ERA. The Rock Cat bats came alive this week, scoring 5, 5, 9 and 15 runs, respectively, on Sunday through Wednesday. The hitting star was Luke Hughes, who was 12 for 28 this week and is now hitting .373Ave. Hughes had a double, 5 home runs, 8 runs scored, 8 rbi and a walk. Many fans don't know alot about Hughes, however, he hit a respectable .283Ave/.356OBP with 9 home runs for New Britain in 2007, then was one of the hitting stars for Australia in last fall's WIBF championships.

The Miracle had a winning record (4-2), as their bats also were hot with wins of 6-2, 10-4, 10-9 and 8-1. The top pitching performance was by Alex Burnett, who pitched 5.2 innings with 2 hits, 1 run and 4K/3BB. After beginning his season with a cold bat, Wilson Ramos, has been hitting better this week at 5 for 22, raising his average to .210. Rene Tosoni, continues to lead the team with .339/.425/.403, although, Brian Dinkelman, is a close second in team hitting at .338/.437/.514. Juan Portes, also had an excellent week, 8 for 20, and is now hitting .295/.380/.410.

The Snappers are struggling. It seems that when they get a good pitching performance their bats are silent. When they score three or four runs, their pitchers give up a few more...leading to losses this week of 5-3, 4-3, 2-1, 5-3 and 5-4. Michael Tarsi, has struggled, however, dropped his ERA to 9.78 with this week's start when he pitched 8.0 innings with 6 hits, 2 unearned runs and 3K/1BB. Michael McCardell, had another good start allowing 5 hits and 1 run in 5.0 innings with 5K/3BB. McCardell now has a 2.53ERA with 24K/6BB in 21.1 innings. Brian Kirwin, is the staff leader with a 2-0 record with 2.42ERA in 22.1 innings. The top hitters on the club are Steven Singleton, at .361/.409/.492. Garrett Olson, has also been solid, going 8 for 21 this week for a team second best .300/.320/.443. Chris Parmalee, was only 1 for 18 this week with 7 strikeouts, dropping his average to .255/.373/.600. Baseball's shortest player, Chris Cates, was 5 for 13 with his average now up to .265/.306/.324.

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Thanks!

If you hadn’t done the usual Saturday thing, I’m sure everyone would have been wondering where you were!

I think it’s pretty common knowledge that I’m rooting for Parmelee, so some disappointment there. But it looks like Tosoni is still hot, so that’s good to see. I’d also like to see one of our 3B prospects heat up.

by Jesse on Apr 25, 2008 9:02 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Hughes

At some point, this kid has to be a legitimate candidate for the third base job. I don’t know about his glove. But he can hit.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Apr 25, 2008 11:11 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Hughes?

I’m pleading ignorance here. Whoe’s the 3B prospect named Hughes?

by Jesse on Apr 25, 2008 3:05 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Quote

“The hitting star was Luke Hughes, who was 12 for 28 this week and is now hitting .373Ave. Hughes had a double, 5 home runs, 8 runs scored, 8 rbi and a walk. Many fans don’t know a lot about Hughes, however, he hit a respectable .283Ave/.356OBP with 9 home runs for New Britain in 2007, then was one of the hitting stars for Australia in last fall’s WIBF championships.”

Hughes has been around a while. I think this is his third year at New Britain. But some guys just take longer to put it together—Nick Blackburn, for example.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Apr 25, 2008 3:24 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Roger got it

right when he said many people hadn’t heard of him—I was one of them, and I didn’t know he was a third baseman when I read it.

Add another one to the list…

by Jesse on Apr 25, 2008 6:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hughes

He mostly played second last year, but they’ve moved him to third permanently.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Apr 25, 2008 6:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Looking at his track record...

...he still has a lot to prove. This will probably be the best month he ever has as a professional, so good for him, but I’ll wait until the end of the year before declaring him a legitimate candidate for anything other than minor league lifer.

by ubelmann on Apr 26, 2008 7:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hughes has been at New Britain...

...all of 2007 and again in 2008. He along with Plouffe is blocked in AA by all those older veteran guys they signed this last year. He was at Ft. Myers the last few weeks of 2005 and all of 2006. Statistically, 2007 was his best year since his first year in the GCL when he hit .305Ave/.361OBP in 190 at bats in the GCL.

This young Auggie hasn’t hit a lot of home runs (previous high was 9 last year), thus, his early season power comes as a bit of a surprise. He has played primarily third this year after being a middle infielder/mostly second in the past few years. He did have one game last week however, when he started in left and moved to center later in the game. Yes, this has likely been the best month of his career, but with the numbers he put up this month you could be one of the best players in all of minor league baseball and never had a month like this.

by roger13 on Apr 27, 2008 7:03 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs