Minor League Open Thread: Robbie Grossman Draws 100th Walk

Dont recall too many of those

Yeah, Alderson is so close to being done it’s not even funny. Though I guess Dubee had a bad relief outing last night, so maybe NH just loves set-up men.

with the Bismack BiyOMBo, his 11th.

Not good at all 5IP 10H 4R 4ER 0BB 0K at State College.

Someone keep me off the ledge with him.

• Really want to go to sleep and drink beer, but I guess I can’t let this get stale. I got to yesterday’s game against the Renegades (Rays NY-Penn league team); work & weather cut into tonights game. Dutchess County stadium is a nice little thing and when you consider that the NY-Penn League is pretty low on the totem pole, a very nice stadium.

• Spikes hitters – were all AWOL both games. Very few balls left the infield; those that did were generally shallow. The Renegades, on the other hand, were driving balls 390 feet dead center or 300+ down either line.

   - Gamache (20 yo, 6th Round/2011, 3B) was disappointing. Yesterday, 3 or 4 weak grounders to the right side, all resulting in DPs or easy put-outs. Tonight, his outs were to the opposite side of the infield.

   - Junior Sosa (20 yo, 2008 Int’l FA, OF) apparently started on the GCL roster. No power. He laid down a horrible sacrifice bunt that the 1B inexplicably did not charge and hustled out a single yesterday. He showed some good speed on the basepaths (took part in a double steal) and in center field and there were several plays were his speed helped him cut off balls in the gap.

  - Wesley Freeman (21 yo, 16th round/2008, OF) struck out badly twice tonight (3 weak swings the first time, tied up inside the second). He may be reaching the end of his rope if he can’t hit in his 3rd season.

   - Carlos Mesa got one of the few solid hits yesterday, a nice double.

   - The bottom of the line-up – Ponce, Singer, and Lewis – did very little at the plate.

The Spikes’ two runs yesterday were unearned. With runners on 1st and 2nd, no one out, and the top of the line-up up, what did the Spikes do? You guessed it – bunts. Bad bunts which didn’t help. They had a double still, passed ball, and then I think a sac fly. I missed most of their scoring today, but only two fly balls made it out of the infield, and neither was deep whilst the Renegades hitters were pounding their balls deep and hard.

Pitching (no gun, so no speed info)

Nick Kingham (19 yo, 4th Round/2010, RHP) – 13/19 1st pitch strikes. 60 pitches over 5 innings. 38 k, 22 bb. Kept the ball low & outside (to RH batters) and was effective. When he left the ball up and caught more of the plate, the ball got hit hard. Fielded his position well – had several comebackers.

Jordan Cooper (21 yo, 23rd Round/2011, RHP) – 5/8 1st pitch strikes, 35 pitches in 2 innings 19/16 k/bb. Seemed to throw the hardest of all the pitchers from either side, but his shot group was everywhere. When he got one over the plate and contact was made, they went a looooong way.

Emmanuel DeLeon (20 yo, Int’l FA 2007, RHP) – closed out Wednesday’s game. 5/6 1st pitch k’s and 13/8 k/bb. Did a nice job.

I missed Stevenson’s implosion tonight – 6 straight hits in the 2nd inning – but he seemed to settle down in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings. Like Kingham, he seemed to be trying to spot low and outside (to RH batters). When his pitches got hit, they were tatooed. From the 3rd to the 5th, his numbers inverted – 3 1st pitch balls (for 4 batters) in the 3rd and 8 balls to 6 ks, but by the 5th 4/5 1st pitch k’s and 9ks to 3 bb’s.
Kleis came in and mowed them down in the 6h and 7th, but his defense let him down in the 7th. With runners on 1st and 2nd, no one out, Ponce missed a throw from 1Bman Lashmet. Than Gamache let a routine grounder go under his glove. But it just seems unfair to send a 6 foot, 8 inch pitcher out in the NY-Penn League. He just looked a lot bigger than the others.

Purjess (from this year’s draft?), the only LH Pitcher I saw, came in to help out Kleis and did a good job. He was throwing strikes and got out of the inning.

The Renegades catcher tonight threw 4 of 6 base-runners out on attempted steals, made Skirving look silly by picking him off 1st, then nearly caught Ponce napping at 1st two innings later.

That’s all I’ve got! Player info from P2 (the WTM profiles and depth chrats.

good post