Minor League Report...August 9, 2008

by roger13 on Aug 9, 2008 10:40 AM EDT Comment 17 comments

After a couple dismal weeks, all minor league teams played at .500 or better with the organization putting up an excellent 29-15 record this week.

There was limited player movement this week. Dianna is reporting that the Twins have a young French catcher in Ft. Myers, nineteen year old Frederic Hanvi, who has yet to appear in a game. Paul Kelly returned to action with the Snappers, appearing in 3 games this week. With his rehab assignment completed, the Twins moved Jose Mijares up to New Britain. Philip Humber was named the International League Pitcher of the Week last week, while Adan Severino was named the Appalachian League Player of the Week. Eric Lis' season may be over with a shoulder injury. Wilmer Guanchez appeared in his first game for the GCL Twins, and by now we all are aware that Michael Cuddyer injured his foot last night while in Rochester on a rehab assignment.

Rochester Red Wings (AAA) (6-1, 59-63)

In fourth place, 15.0 games behind Scranton/WB, the Red Wings hopes of making the playoffs have been over for some time. They took a big step this week in getting back to .500 so that they can end the year with a winning record.

Although there has been much talk in Rochester of the Red Wings playing shorthanded several times this year, the real problem has been their starting pitching. Pitching remained the story this week as their starters collectively had their best week of the year. It began last Saturday when Philip Humber got the win, 4-1, pitching 8.0 innings with 6 hits, 1 run and 9K/2BB. Kevin Mulvey continued in Sunday's 5-3 win, with 6.0 innings, 9 hits, 2 runs and 3K/3BB. Anthony Swarzak held serve in Monday's 4-3 win, pitching 7.0 innings with 8 hits, 2 runs and 5K/1BB. Recently acquired Tom Shearn had this week's best start in Wednesday's 5-0 win, pitching 7.0 shutout innings with 2 hits and 8K/0BB. Humber had a short start in Thursday's 11-7 loss, pitching 3.1 innings with 7 hits, 4 runs and 3K/1BB. The loser on Wednesday was former Twin J. D. Durbin. Durbin, who is now pitching out of the bullpen, has a AAA record of 0-7 in 31.0 innings with an 11.03ERA. Kevin Mulvey got the Wings back on track with a 3-2 win last night, pitching 6.2 innings with 6 hits, 2 runs and 7K/3BB. Bobby Korecky made 4 appearances (4.0 innings), picking up 3 saves (20) with 3 hits, 1 run and 4K/1BB. Lefty Ricky Barrett made 3 appearances (3.0 shutout innings), picking up his second save while allowing 3 hits with 4K/2BB...Barrett now has a 3.00ERA with 72K/31BB in 60.0 innings.

With Randy Ruiz up with the Twins and Cuddyer going down with injury, the Wings will again be shorthanded (they are down to 10 position players) until Jim Rantz and company make a couple moves. Jason Pridie remained hot with a 13 for 27 week including 4 rbi, a double and his league leading fifteenth triple. Recently promoted Luke Hughes was 8 for 26 including his first home run, 1 double and 1 triple...and is now hitting .314/.351/.514 in 35 at bats. Trevor Plouffe is settling in nicely at AAA, hitting .206 in 63 June at bats, .273 in 88 July at bats and .320 in 25 at bats this month.

New Britain Rock Cats (AA) (4-3, 48-70)

As they approach the end of their season the Rock Cats remain in last place, 24.0 games behind Trenton.

The starting staff was better this week, however, no starter had a quality start as the Cats disappointing season winds down. Jay Rainville and Ryan Mullins each made two starts, with Rainville pitching 11.0 innings with 14 hits, 8 runs and 9K/9BB. Mullins pitched 12.0 innings with 16 hits, 8 runs and 6K/6BB. Rainville and Mullins now have ERA's of 6.50 and 4.63, respectively. Yohan Pino made a short start in Monday's 12-4 loss, pitching 3.1 innings with 3 hits, 5 runs and 4K/6BB. Jeff Manship didn't get the win on Tuesday, when he pitched 6.0 innings with 10 hits, 4 runs and 2K/0BB. Kyle Aselton has been in a revolving door as he moves between the bullpen and starting staff. He was the starter in Wednesday's 11-7 win, pitching 3.2 innings iwth 5 hits, 4 runs (3 earned) and 2K/5BB. Zach Ward appeared in 3 games (6.1 innings) with 7 hits, 5 runs and 6K/5BB. Closer Ben Julianel didn't earn any saves this week as he appeared in only 2 games (2.0 innings) with 4 hits, 3 runs and 2K/0BB...Julianel now has a 2.79ERA with 64K/24BB in 58.0 innings with an organization high 23 saves. Rob Delaney continues to pitch very well, picking up his second win in his only appearance this week (2.0 innings) with 2 hits, 1 run and 4K/0BB...dropping his ERA to 1.50 with a 0.83WHIP in 24.0 innings with 30K/3BB. Jose Mijares made his first appearance with the Cats, pitching 2.0 innings with 1 hit, 0 runs and 2K/1BB.

Dustin Martin isn't often mentioned when talking about center field depth in the organization, but he should be. Martin has only 1 error while he has his average up to .290/.360/.436 following a week in which he was 10 for 30 with 3 doubles (27), 1 home run (8), 7 rbi (60), and 4 runs scored (54). With Rochester again shorthanded with only two outfielders on their roster (Jason Pridie and Garrett Jones), will Martin get the call and take his final step before joining the Twins? Martin's 27 doubles are tied for sixth best in the league, however, teammate Erik Lis was leading the league with 36 before his injury this week. Lis was hitting .277/.318/.462 with 3 triples, 11 home runs, and 51 rbi in 405 at bats. Danny Valencia was 7 for 22, raising his average to .280, while Steve Tolleson was 7 for 24 and is now hitting .313/.398/.460. Brian Dinkelman was 8 for 20 this week, raising his average to .264/.322/.400. David Winfree's average is slowly moving up to .241/.311/.419 following a week when he was 9 for 27 with a double, triple, home run and 8 rbi. His 70 rbi are tied for fourth best in the league and best in the Twins organization.

Ft Myers Miracle (Hi-A) (4-2, 22-23)

The Miracle, who are already in the playoffs, moved up two spots this week and are now in third palce, 9.0 games behind Dunedin.

Cole DeVries continues to pitch as well as anyone in the organization. Cole got the win last Saturday, 5-4, when he pitched 6.0 innings with 7 hits, 2 runs and 9K/1BB. Thursday, Cole picked up his ninth win (9-8) when he pitched 5.0 shutout innings with 4 hits and 1K/4BB...in a 1-0 Miracle win. Cole now has a 2.85ERA in a team high 126.1 innings with 96K/35BB. Alex Burnett had an excellent start, yet got the loss Sunday, 3-0, when he pitched 7.0 innings with 6 hits, 1 run and 3K/0BB. Deolis Guerra started in Monday's 3-2 win, pitching 5.0 innings with 6 hits, 1 run and 1K/6BB...Guerra leads the staff with a 10-6 record, however, has 57 walks with only 58 strikeouts in 113.2 innings. Spencer Steedley got a start of a game Wednesday that would be shortened by a power outage against the Yankees in Tampa. Steedley pitched 3.0 shutout innings with 1 hits and 2K/0BB. Matt Fox came on in relief the next day to get the win, pitching 5.0 innings with 2 hits, 1 run and 4K/0BB...Fox now has a 6-6 record with a 3.84ERA in 93.2 innings with 80K/26BB. Anthony Slama has his ERA down to 0.89 following 2 appearances this week (2.0 innings) with 0 hits, 0 runs and 2K/2BB. Slama now has 92K/21BB in 61.0 innings with a 0.93WHIP. Brian Erickson has a record for the Miracle with a 1.36ERA and 41K/13BB in 33.0 innings. Brian appeared in 3 games this week (3.1 innings) with 0 hits, 0 runs and 6K/2BB.

Brandon Roberts, who was 8 for 18 while on his rehab assignment, appears ready to return to New Britain to replace Dustin Martin who should move up to Rochester this week. Steven Singleton was only 3 for 16 this week as his average slipped to .280/.359/.417. Edward Ovalle has quietly been one of the Miracle's top hitters this season...hitting .285/.351/.407 with 16 stolen bases in 25 attempts. Last week's Player of the Week, Wilson Ramos, was 3 for 11 this week with a double and his team leading twelfth home run. Ramos also had 2 rbi for a team high 66.

Beloit Snappers (A) (3-3, 24-23)

The Snappers lost another 2.0 games to division leading Burlington, yet moved up a spot into a three team tied for fourth, 4.5 games out. If the Snappers are to make a run for the playoffs, they will have to make a move next week as their season begins to wind down.

David Bromberg had another disappointing start last Saturday, allowing 10 hits, 8 runs (7 earned) with 4K/1BB in only 3.1 innings. He followed that with his first excellent start in some time, pitching 6.0 shutout innings with 5 hits and 8K/4BB. Bromberg leads the staff with 123.1 innings with a 5.04ERA and 139K/44BB. Steven Hirschfield followed Bromberg with a dismal start in Sunday's 11-8 loss, pitching 4.0 innngs with 10 hits, 9 runs (8 earned) and 2K/2BB. Henry Reyes made an excellent start in Tuesday's 5-1 win, pitching 6.0 innings with 4 hits, 1 run and 4K/1BB...Reyes has a 2-0 record with a 3.53ERA and 31K/16BB in 35.2 innings. MIchael McCardell had an excellent start on Thursday, getting the win with 8.0 innings, 5 hits, 3 runs (2 earned) and 7K/1BB. McCardell has an excellent 2.82ERA with 112K/21BB in 108.2 innings. Shooter Hunt wasn't good in Wednesday's 8-1 loss, pitching 3.1 innings with 4 hits, 6 runs (5 earned), 3K/5BB, 1 wild pitch and 2 hit batters...it appears that the reports questioning Hunt's control are accurate and Hunt has a lot of work to do if he is to become a top starter for the organization.

Ben Revere returned to the lineup this week, getting 3 hits in 21 at bats...dropping his average to .382/.434/.507, which leads all minor leagues . Revere also had 3 stolen bases in 3 attempts and now has 37 in 49 attempts. Paul Kelly also returned with 2 hits in 12 at bats. Rene Leveret didn't make the Snappers out of spring training, however, has been an excellent replacement for the injured Chris Parmalee. Leveret was 10 for 21 this week with a double, home run 6 rbi and 4 runs scored...and is now hitting .315/.368/.419 in 124 at bats. Catcher Allan de San Miguel was 4 for 12 and is hitting .253/.389/.352 in 91 at bats since moving down from Ft. Myers. Shortstop Estarlin De Los Santos was 6 for 16 with his ninth stolen base in thirteen attempts.

Elizabethton Twins (Advanced Rookie) (5-2, 30-19)

The Twins were 5-2 this week as they stetched their lead over second place Kingsport to 2.5 games.

Bobby Lanigan made two excellent starts this week getting wins on Saturday and Thursday, games the Twins won 5-3 and 3-1. Lanigan pitched 7.0 innings on Saturday with 8 hits, 3 runs and 4K/0BB, following that with 8.0 innings on Thursday with 4 hits, 1 run and 5K/1BB. Brad Tippett also made two starts, allowing 6 unearned runs in Sunday's 14-9 win when he pitched 4.0 innings with 4 hits and 2K/2BB. Tippett was very good in last night's 11-3 win, pitching 7.0 innings with 4 hits, 1 run and 5K/0BB. Dan Osterbrock was very good in Monday's 6-5 loss, pitching 7 hits with 3 runs (1 earned) and 8K/1BB. Osterbrock now has 72K/7BB in 53.1 innings with a 3.04ERA and 0.99WHIP. Steve Hamburger continues to pitch well in the closer role, appearing in 3 games this week (4.0 innings) with 3 hits, 0 runs and 4K/0BB. Curtis Leavitt and Alex Curry weren't as good in their starts as they allowed 6 and 7 runs, respectively.

Seth Stohs had an excellent link this week to a piece done about Angel Morales, who continues to lead the Twins with a .324/.432/.634. Morales was 7 for 25 this week with a double, 4 home runs (tied with Evan Bigley for the team and league lead with 11) and 8 rbi (22). The article talks about Morales swing and his high rate of strike outs. Morales struck out 8 times this week, however, also had 4 walks and now has 56 strike outs and 18 walks in 142 at bats. Jon Waltenbury was 9 for 29 with a double (team high and league second best at 17), 2 home runs and 7 rbi (32). Bigley has 32 rbi to go with his 11 home runs. This week Bigley was 11 for 29 with 3 home runs and 11 rbi...and is now hitting .308/.368/.630. This year's eleventh round pick out of Vanderbilt, Dominic De La Osa, was 9 for 31 this week, raising his average to .247/.377/.359.

GCL Twins (Rookie) (3-2, 25-16)

The GCL Twins lost to the Pirates last night, 5-2, dropping into second place a game behind the league leading Pirates.

Jean Mijares made two excellent starts this week (he had only one start prior to this week) in the Twins 3-2 win on Sunday and their 5-2 loss last night to the Pirates. On Sunday Mijares pitched 4.0 shutout innings with 2 hits and 3K/2BB. Last night he pitched 5.0 innings with 3 hits, 1 run and 3K/1BB. Edgar Ibarra was also excellent in Monday's 5-3 loss, pitching 5.0 innings with 4 hits, 2 runs and 7K/1BB. The excellent performances by Twins starters included Miguel Munoz' 4.0 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs and 5K/3BB and Angelo Sanchez 6.0 innings with 3 runs (2 earned) and 3K/0BB. Andrei Lobanov got the win Wednesday, 9-3, when he pitched 2.0 shutout innings of relief with 1 hit and 3K/0BB...and now has a 3-1 record with 3.54ERA. Kelvin Mota picked up his ninth save to go with a 0.93ERA.

Anderson Hidalgo moved into the team lead at .365/.461/.429 following a 3 for 8 week. Josmil Pinto is hitting .333/.647/.556 in 69 at bats following a 6 for 12 week with 2 doubles, a triple and 1 home run. Top pick Aaron Hicks was 3 for 14, dropping his average to .317/.417/.492. Hicks also has 10 stolen bases in 10 attempts. The Asian law firm of Jang, Choi and Choi also had an excellent week. Catcher Jae-Hyeong Jang was 3 for 4 and is now hitting .300/.324/.433 in 30 at bats. First baseman Hyeong-rok Choi was 3 for 9....290/.364/.391 in 69 at bats. Outfielder Hyun-wook Choi was 3 for 8....279/.319/.372.

DSL Twins (Dominican Summer League) (4-2, 37-22)

The Twins moved up a spot into a 3-way tie for second (with Cubs-1 and Yankees-2), 1.5 games behins the league leading White Sox-1. With only 13 games remaining, the Twins are in position to make a run for a championship as they play two games against the White Sox-1 and Yankees-2 with one against the Cubs-1.

Adrian Salcedo is a seventeen year old that we need to watch. Salcedo his third win (3-4) this week when he pitched 7.0 innings with 3 hits, 1 run and 8K/1BB...dropping his ERA to 1.40 with a 0.76WHIP in 57.2 innings with 39K/6BB. Ramon Acosta didn't pitch this week, thus, his record remains at 5-0 with a 0.00ERA. Pedro Guerra also had an excellent start (7.0 innings with 4 hits, 2 unearned runs and 7K/0BB) improving his team leading record to 7-2 with a 2.04ERA and 0.94WHIP in a team high 70.1 innings. Guerra is eighteen years old and will likely move up to the GCL Twins next season.

Shortstop Jairo Perez (20 years old) continued his excellent hitting with a 9 for 21 week including 2 doubles and 6 rbi...is now hitting a team high .344/.458/.516. Daniel Santana is a seventeen year old infielder who was 6 for 16 this week and is now hitting .272/.353/.391 in 151 at bats. Santana also has 14 stolen bases in 18 attempts.

Player of the Week

The Twins selected switch hitting shortstop Alejandro Machado in the 2006 Rule V draft. He was placed on the disabled list during spring training and missed the entire 2007 season. Machado, who had appeared in 10 games with the Red Sox in 2005, hit .300Ave for Pawtuckett of the International League in 2005 and .260Ave with Pawtuckett in 2007.

The 26 year old Machado again spent the early part of this season on the disabled list, returning to the Red Wings in June when he hit .269/.296/.385 in 26 at bats. This week Machado was 12 for 25 (.480Ave) with 5 doubles, 5 rbi and 6 runs scored. Machado hit .360/.360/.520 in 50 July at bats and is another candidate for a callup to the Twins in September.

5 recs | Comment 17 comments

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Comments

Call-ups

Who should come up in September? I predict Korekcky and Humber for sure. One or both of Gomez and Barrett.

No catcher for the third spot, sadly, unless you want to 40-man Butura or Christy.

Pridie will come west. Though Macri hasn’t been burning up the league, yes, he’ll make the call. Would like to see Machado be that extra infielder, especially if Casila isn’t back in force. Would the Twins give another shot to Garrett Jones? WOuld it be worthwhile to looksee Plouffe or Hughes?

Visit www.TwinsCards.com and check out "rosters" to see my collection!

by rosterman on Aug 9, 2008 11:24 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Numbers

Historically, the Twins don’t call up as many kids as we expect them to. They don’t want to start the clock too soon if there’s no good role for a player. I could see Barrett, Humber, Machado and Macri. Not sure about Pridie. I suppose now that Cuddyer probably won’t be back, the Twins could use another outfielder when rosters expand. THey always bring a third catcher up. I would say Butera is the choice there unless he’s hurt. That’s still more guys than they typically promote in September.

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

by cmathewson on Aug 9, 2008 4:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agree with CMath...

...that they will call up less than most fans would expect. The first group of potential callups is to look at who is on the 40-man roster: 1) We will see at least one reliever, which likely will be Korecky. None of the others have pitched all that well and Mijares is just coming back from his injury. 2) Normally, they would bring up a third catcher…but none are on the 40-man roster. 3) Infielders, I would expect they will bring Macri back and if Ruiz….if he is sent down before September which may be if Casilla is activated in the next week or two. 4) The only outfielder would be Pridie, especially if Cuddyer is still. In summary that would be Korecky, Macri, Pridie and Ruiz…for a total of 4. They also should be adding Tolbert about the same time…which would give us 5 extra players.

Callups that woud have to be added to the 40-man roster could include several players who they would likely add to the 40-man roster in November (thus, they can be called up without using an option) or players of need. The first group could include Brian Duensing; Ricky Barrett, Mariano Gomez, Alejandro Machado, Trevor Plouffe and Luke Hughes. If they need/want a catcher, it would be either Ryan Jorgenson or Drew Butera. I expect they are highest on Butera for his defense, yet Jorgenson has much more experience and is a better hitter. Likely that decision would come down to whether it is a third catcher for emergency purposes (Butera) only versus a situation where one of our current catchers goes down and the player would be the primary backup and expected to play a few games a week (Jorgenson). This could add another player or two, however, we need to remember that last year they didn’t call up Denard Span who was a former #1 pick.

by roger13 on Aug 9, 2008 5:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hughes

Been surprised that Hughes has transitioned quite easily against AAA pitching thus far. Hopefully he’ll continue to settle into a position. It looks like he’s pretty much played exclusively at 3B thus far. However I’d very much like to see if he can handle 2B to maximize his offensive output. That could conceivably move Casilla back to short (though Gardy seems to believe he’s better at 2B) and I don’t mind having a platoon at 3rd next year until a long term solution can be achieved.

Gardenhire's major league career: Banjo hitting, futility infielder who couldn't lick it.
Rick Anderson's major league career: Strikethrower who never made it happen with his sub 90's fastball.
Really gives a new definition to living vicariously through other people, don't it?

by caseintheface on Aug 9, 2008 4:51 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Humber

Was quite bad the other night. What I’ve noticed is that if he has confidence in his stuff, on any give night, he can dominate a lineup. However if he doesn’t trust himself he tries to be precise and ends up getting himself into a lot of bad counts.

by caseintheface on Aug 9, 2008 4:54 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Posted this over at sethspeaks and my own, too.

It was truly a great day for the organization. The Twins won again and are back in first place despite featuring the bats of Adam Everett, Nick Punto and Carlos Gomez. Think about that. If teams would just keep throwing right-handed starters at them they’d be unstoppable.

Here’s a look at the minor league action:

Rochester beat Indy 6-5. The man who should be occupying Carlos Gomez’s slot in major league baseball, Jason Pridie, reached in 3 of 5 PAs including a walkoff triple (his 16th!) and a walk. He also ran down a line drive and doubled a runner off second base. Alejandro Machado is still stupid hot, going 2 for 3 plus a walk. Luke Hughes was 0-4, Plouffe 1-4. Anthony Swarzak pitched fairly well save for a rough 7th inning: 7 IP, 29 BF, 2 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 3 Ks, 1 HR. 62 strikes out of 105 pitches.

New Britain smacked Bowie 7-2. Yohan Pino was the spot starter, going 5 innings, 1 R, 0 ER, 6 H, 4 K, 2 BB. Jose Mijares pitched 2 innings and gave up a run on a solo home run. He was lucky not to yield more as he also walked two and gave up 3 hits while striking out one. Rob Delaney recorded a two innings of no-hit ball for the save, striking out 2 and walking 2. The top of the order was huge: Brian Dinkelman was 2-4 plus a walk, Steve Tolleson was 3-5 including a double and a home run, Dustin Martin (who’s my AAA guy ahead of Gomez right now) was 2-5 and the suddenly streaking David Winfree went 3-5 including home run #15. He just turned 23, so there may be hope yet, as he’s been a different hitter over the past couple weeks.

Ft. Myers completed a suspended game against Sarasota which they won 11-4. Five players had two hits, including Edward Ovalle and Wilson Ramos, who also reached on a walk and is smoking hot of late. Alex Burnett had started the game and went 4 innings, striking out 5, walking no one but yielding 5 hits including a 3 run home run. Carlos Gutierrez pitched 3 scoreless innings (2 hits, 1 BB, 3 Ks) of relief today. The Miracle dropped game 2 8-0 as Deolis Guerra continued his year-long struggles. Maybe they should just let him throw how we wants to throw, as he went 5 IP with 2 K, 3 BB, 8 H, 2 HR and 5 R (all earned).

Beloit beat Peoria 7-2. Ben Revere snapped his mini-slump going 3-5. Paul Kelly was also 3-5, which is great to see. Steven Hirschfeld recovered from a nasty outing last time to pitch 7 innings while giving up just 4 hits, 2 walks and 2 runs against 4 strikeouts. Blake Martin and Charles Nolte have both been phenomenal in relief for the Snappers and each pitched a perfect inning tonight, striking out 1 and 2 respectively. Incidentally, Nolte is a FREAK and somebody I’m gonna start following closely: he’s an EXTREME groundball guy, getting 71% GBs this year and 74% last year at E-Town while striking out a good number of hitters. There could definitely be something VERY interesting there.

The Elizabethton Juggernaut was back to its old ways, beating Burlington 10-2. Dominic De La Osa started off the year red hot, slumped badly and has again picked it up of late. He went 3-5 including home runs 5 and 6. Switchhitting 3rd baseman Nicholas Romero was 2-3 with HR #7. Michael Harrington had a double and Morales: El Angel de la Muerte was 1-4 with a strikeout. Incidentally, if you missed it he hit home run 11 Friday night. Daniel Osterbrock got the start and the win, going 6 strong innings, striking out 8, walking nobody and yielding 2 runs on 7 hits including a solo home run. In case your keeping track (and you should be), he’s now got 80 Ks in 59.2 IP against just 7 walks. I am REALLY excited about this guy.

I have no idea what the GCL Twins did as there’s no info up yet.

by tobynotjason on Aug 10, 2008 1:41 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Pridie's 16th triple...

...is four short of the all-time Rochester record currently held by Ray Pepper. Jason also has a current 16-game hitting streak while Alejandro Machado has an 18-game hitting streak. Actually, David Winfree has been very productive all season with an organization leading 73 rbi (3 more last night), 15 home runs and .286/.352/.500 in 140 at bats with runners in scoring position.

The GCL Twins won 5-3 yesterday, moving to within a half game of the Pirates who were rained out. Martire Garcia got the start, pitching 4.0 innings with 4 hits, 2 runs and 7K/3BB. Khol Nanney got the win in 3.0 innings of relief with 1 hit, 0 runs and 1K/0BB. Kelvin Mota got his 10th save with 1.0 inning, 2 hits, 1 run and 1K/1BB. Anderson Hidalgo led the offense with a 3 for 5 day with 1 run scored and a double. Reggie Williams also had 3 hits in 4 at bats with a rund scored, double and 2 rbi.

The DSL Twins weren’t as successful, losing 4-1 to the Orioles and now drop another game to 2.5 games out. Jairo Perez led the hitters with a 2 for 4 day while Lesmire Vargas got the start and was the loser of record.

Dianna is also reporting that Brock Peterson has moved up to AAA Rochester (who is also without catcher Ryan Jorgenson for a few days), with Brandon Roberts completing his rehab with Ft. Myers moving up to New Britain. She also reported that Tyler Robertson was long tossing yesterday and is hopeful he can make his first appearance with the GCL Twins late next week.

by roger13 on Aug 10, 2008 9:09 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Brock Peterson move

I’m guessing that move is a lot like the Swarzak move. Need to fill a roster spot in AAA and though he’s not doing particularly well in AA it’s time to see what he can do against tougher competition.

by caseintheface on Aug 10, 2008 11:34 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Winfree, RBIs, RISP

Hitting w/RISP is a non-repeating, non-sustainable non-skill. This isn’t to say Winfree hasn’t been productive, it’s just to say his RBIs and “clutch hitting” aren’t predictive of future performance or indicative of any particular talent.

by tobynotjason on Aug 10, 2008 2:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Good work

Nice to have more than a couple of people around here keeping tabs on the minor leagues.

I agree that Pridie is looking good. But I wouldn’t put Martin or Pridie above Gomez. If you’re concerned about Gomez’s strikeouts, I suggest you look at Pridie’s (114). Everyone is concerned that Gomez might finish the year with more strikeouts than hits. Well, Pridie has more strikeouts than hits right now, one level below Gomez. Two years ago, when Martin was in low A ball as a 22 year old and Gomez was a 20 year old in AA, Gomez put up better numbers than Martin did this year in AA. And nobody in their right minds in 2006 would have put Martin ahead of Gomez in the Mets system.

Gomez has grown some since his 20 year old AA season, though his development was stunted by the Mets last year. You never know how a player will respond to major league competition. And you never know when the light bulb will go off and a player will learn to play like he belongs up here. Casilla is a good example of this. Last year, he looked lost. This year, he looked like an all-star until he got hurt. Gomez has all-star caliber tools. When his skills catch up to his tools, he will be a top center fielder in the league. When that happens, nobody will doubt that he’s at least on par with Span and ahead of Pridie and Martin.

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

by cmathewson on Aug 10, 2008 1:15 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I hope no one...

...is reading my comments to say that I believe Dustin Martin is playing better or a better prospect than Gomez. My comments were based on the fact that Rochester; 1) needed players; and 2) they don’t have many outfielders. Dustin Martin is playing very well at New Britain, but, the Peterson promotion is also very good. Brock has played very well at New Britain for a year and three-quarters and some, me included, thought he maybe should have begun the season in AAA. Rochester’s outfield currently consists of Pridie, Garrett Jones and Howie Clark…that is a natural center fielder, a first baseman and middle infielder, which is why I thought martin made some sense. Hughes had played some outfield for the Rock Cats, thus, he would likely be their emergency guy in the outfield if needed.

by roger13 on Aug 10, 2008 2:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Pridie and strikeouts

Pridie’s strikeouts are exactly why I’ve been saying he’s “like an improved Gomez”. It’s not that he’s the complete player, the real deal, an all-star waiting to happen, etc.. It’s that he’s Gomez but better. Martin is CERTAINLY not the prospect Gomez is. IBut ‘m not talking about potential. I’m talking about RIGHT NOW.

by tobynotjason on Aug 10, 2008 2:11 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Today

Aaron Hicks got his OPS above .900 with a hit and a couple walks. Dinkelman was 3-4 for New Britain. Luke Hughes homered and doubled to drive in all 4 of Rochester’s runs. Brock Peterson went 0-4. Leavitt struck out 10 of 26 batters faced for E-Town against only 1 walk. Michael Harrington and Dominic De La Osa had 2 hit days at the plate for the juggernaut while Big E. Lee was 4-5 with a triple to get his OPS north of 1.000. Morales: El Angel de la Muerte didn’t play. Revere was 0-1 in a pinch hit appearance for the Snappers.

by tobynotjason on Aug 10, 2008 11:50 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Great Read guys!!!

I think Pridie, Barrett, Korecky and either Jorgenson (when healthy) or Machado will get the call.

There seems to be a sudden rush of talent up a level all at once it takes a bit to keep track of ‘et all… (mainly do to injuries)

Great job!

by SteveHoffmanSlowey on Aug 11, 2008 12:34 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

rochester monday

Rochester beat Indianapolis 5-4 this afternoon. Jason FREE ME Pridie was 2-4 with a double. Machado 2-4. Howie Clark and Garrett Jones homered and had multi-hit games. Luke Hughes 0-4 w/3 Ks, Trevor Plouffe 0-4. FREE RICKY BARRETT stranded the runner he inherited and gave up no runs although he did face 9 batters in his 1 2/3 IP. 3 hits and 2 walks were minimized by 3 Ks. Ah, the power of striking out 1 in 3 batters faced… Korecky pitched two innings of 1 hit ball and struck out 1 to get the win.

by tobynotjason on Aug 11, 2008 3:56 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

New Britain pitching

I am going to the New Britain/Akron game this weekend. I read Roger’s reports every week, but I must have missed how badly they have pitched this year. Really disappointing years for Rainville and Manship. Any insight behind these setbacks, Roger?

by wcooley on Aug 12, 2008 12:56 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs