Box Score Recap – 4/21/2014

Box Score Recap

It’s probably too early to start making promotions, but I wonder how soon you move Cameron Perkins to AAA. I would think if he’s still raking in mid-May, they’d have to consider it, especially with Dugan, Altherr and Collier also in Reading right now. Perkins or Dugan will be forced to play 1B to get all four prospects consistent time in the field, like Perkins did tonight as he went 2-4 with a 2B and a HR, his second of the year. Ken Giles struck out two in two scoreless innings to finish up after a decent start from Luis Paulino. Tommy Joseph also homered in that one.

Clearwater put up their five runs on three bombs, courtesy of Harold Martinez, Pete Lavin and Angelo Mora. Brian Pointer had an OF assist, throwing out Rock Shoulders trying to stretch a single into a double in the ninth. Yes, I just wanted to say “Rock Shoulders“. Can you blame me?

And for Lakewood, Mark Leiter took care of business again – 1R, 4H, 2BB, 7K in 6IP. Carlos Tocci with his first career triple in that one, as Willians Astudillo continues his torrid hitting pace – he’s on an eight game streak, with ten hits in his last four games.

Here’s the affiliate Scoreboard from MiLB. http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.jsp?sid=milb&org=143&ymd=20140421

4-21-14

37 thoughts on “Box Score Recap – 4/21/2014”

  1. I was thinking same thing about Reading. Could see either Dugan or Perkins getting quick promotion with good month or so. Leiter with a really good outing. He could also get a promotion soon.

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  2. I was at lakewood last night. Got to see the tocci triple!!! He seems to be hitting the ball alittle harder now. I feel by midseason he could be on his way to a breakout! Leiter threw at aaron judge on purpose and almost hit him in the head at the game.

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  3. Honestly, I’d like to see Perkins in AA through at least May. For him to make the majors and stay there as anything more than a spare part, he’s going to need to hit for good power and draw a fair share of walks in addition to his solid overall hitting. The more he can sharpen those skills in AA, the better off he’ll be when he goes to LHV, which is a pretty tough hitting environment. We’ve had more than our fair share of good looking prospects at Reading who just fell flat at AAA and never made it past that league.

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    2. Power has never been apart of his game. He is gap hitter. I would promote him because I think he is close to his ceiling at minor league level.

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  4. If the weather is right I am going to head out to Lakewood this Saturday. As for Perkins and when to promote him I think it would be some where around 150-200 PA’s and if he is still tearing it up then up he goes.

    He is a college draftee so its not like he is a young kid.

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    1. That’s probably about right, IMO. 150-200 is pretty good especially if he continues to hit at even 75% of what he’s doing now. Will be interesting to see how teams adjust to him the second time through the division the next couple weeks. So far Harrisburg and Richmond haven’t stopped him with their respective second looks.

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    1. He’s just a hired bat with no future so I doubt he’ll get promoted unless they want someone else to get playing time.

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  7. I read somewhere that prospects with a great hit tool is the best projection to success in the majors over any other tool. something about BA’s best hit tool players always end up with a positive WAR. Cam seems to have that tool in spades. could be a very interesting prospect for us. could take over for Byrd when his 2 year contract is up.

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    1. Not sold on the hit tool, just a huge reminder that batting average does not equal hit tool. Perkins has good hand eye, but the swing is noisy and long. To me it looks like something that is going to get exploited against better pitching (contact quality drops and suddenly you are looking at puts not hits, just look at Franco right now)

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      1. I think it’s unfair to assume Franco’s struggles are because of better pitching. I think it makes more sense that such a dramatic fall of is a result of a change in his swing. He was told by the MLB staff that he needs to change his swing which will inevitably effect his timing. A cold start due to changes in mechanics in no way indicates that he can’t handle AAA pitching imo.

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          1. I haven’t seen any Iron Pigs games so I’ll take your word for it. It’s still probably just a cold start/timing issue imo.

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      1. Interesting article and after all is said and done, based on the article’s premise….JP Crawford’s future seems very bright.

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  9. In XST action on Saturday Hernandez homered and doubled with Pujols homering in support of Drew Anderson start. His start was not as good as his last, giving up 3 runs but the windy conditions resulted in some poorly played balls that contributed to his results. He was sitting at 88-91 again and getting a few K’s on his breaking ball. In the other game Venn Biter doubled. On Monday saw Denton Keys pitch, but because the Yankee complex doesn’t allow you to get behind home plate types of pitches and speed couldn’t be determined. Statistic wise it sounds like a horrible effort 5 inn 8H 6R(2 unearned) 3W 3K, but he deserved better as they say. The 1st run he gave up in the 2nd inning involved a double that probably should have been caught, in the 4th 2 blooping opposite field hits and an error resulted in 2 runs. Up to this point none of the hits were pulled or hard hit, but the 5th was a different matter as it appeared he was tiring, he went W, hard ground ball double pulled inside the 3b bag(1 run), hard single up the middle, hard hit 643DP(1 run), then a catchers throwing error letting in the last run. He should pitch again on Saturday so it will be interesting to see how he does there. Meanwhile the offense may have been no-hit, I didn’t see the 1st inning, but the last 8 there were no hits for sure, the closest being a E4 the second baseman went to his left on that clanked off his glove, I guess a charitable scorer might have given him a hit. That group included Hernandez, Pujols, Grullon, Knapp, Williams, and Tromp. At least on the other field Biter had a double.

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  10. Once more, with feeling: every year, someone does this at Reading. And Perkins is not such a polished collegiate prospect that he should be on the fast track to the majors. As far as the hit tool goes, there’s some skeptical analysis of his swing in this Crashburn Alley writeup:

    http://crashburnalley.com/2013/12/27/the-future-is-unwritten-cameron-perkins/

    I’m open to the idea floated at the end of this article, that Perkins might be that rare player that overcomes an idiosyncratic approach at the plate to become a decent major league hitter. But he definitely sounds like a guy who would benefit from a full season of AA at-bats. Let the Eastern League pitchers see him a couple times and see what happens with his numbers. At 23, there’s still no huge rush to get him to the majors. I would think the best-case scenario here for Perkins is a Darin Ruf-type season: if he keeps mashing all year, he gets a brief callup in September if the Phillies are out of it, then he comes to Spring Training in 2015, goes to AAA and waits for an injury to Byrd or Brown.

    As for where he plays in the field: a crowded outfield is not the worst thing in the world to have, injuries happen, and by all accounts its the bat that will carry Perkins, so let’s make sure he’s got that worked out first.

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  11. Through 62 PAs, Perkins is sporting an 11% strikeout rate. It’s still early, but Fangraphs claims that K% “stabilizes” at around 60 PAs.

    Whatever else you say about Perkins, he hasn’t struck out much throughout his minor league career, and looks to be continuing that this year. That’s a very good sign, especially for a tall guy with (presumably) long arms.

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  12. it really is amazing how reading seems to have one of these guys every year. rizzotti, ruf, even franco. i am of the mindset that you keep promoting a guy until he stops hitting

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  13. Giles 2 innings ZERO BB….right on, buddy

    so far 9 innings, 18 SO’s and only 3 BB. Not sayin’ he needs to be in Philly right now, but this summer??? You could make a case.

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  14. I’m still not sold on Perkins. The swing is still really long, as Matt said. And I don’t think the power is ever going to be realized, at least not home run power. That’s not who he is. His career high in college was 9, not exactly screaming of a power hitter. I think he’s a clutch hitter who thrives on RBI situations, but he’s not going to be hitting a ton of home runs.

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    1. Personally, I see a 4th OF type but time will tell. He’s a below average fielder also but if he keeps hitting 300, he’ll become a major leaguer in one form or another.

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    2. Do you have where he stood on the HR leader’s board in the Big Ten, specifically over the three year collegiate career?

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    1. Yes it is!!!!! Huge jump for a hitter from Reading to Lehigh Valley. Lehigh Valley is where the careers of overhyped minor league hitters go to die.

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      1. In fact, Lehigh Valley hitting statistics can be a pretty close comp for major leauge hitting statistics. It’s a really difficult place to hit well and hit well for power.

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