Severino Gonzalez with an “avert your eyes” type of line. Just don’t look. (Just don’t look). In CLR, Gabriel Lino went 3-4 with a home run and a walk, while Roman Quinn stole his 13th base of the year, in what’s been about 40% of a year’s worth of PAs – figure that’s 30-35 or so in a full season after 30 and 32 in half seasons the last two years. Coming off his Achilles injury, I’m not too worried about that decline, as you’d expect him to ease back in to things.

For Lakewood, Mitch Walding is really hitting in the second half so far – in over 120 PAs, he’s got 15 doubles and 13 walks, both marked improvements over the first half, when he was fresh off having rib-removal surgery. He’s also limited his Ks, with about a 21% in the second half after ~33% in the first half. Big caveat – he’s repeating the league. Even so, I’ll take signs of life from a guy we had high hopes for coming out of the 2011 draft. Also for Lakewood, Yoel Mecias worked five strong innings, allowing one run on just two hits, and he struck out one.

Brandon Liebrandt has been absolutely dealing in his two NYPL starts – he’s allowed just one run, five hits, two walks and struck out 12 in 12 innings since his promotion. Derek Campbell was 2-4 with a double and a triple in Liebrandt’s win tonight.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/23/2014 →

Sorry so late – got caught up watching Whatever It Takes, Dude on the YouTube. Maikel Franco left the Lehigh Valley game early with what Greg Joyce (@gjoyce9) described on Twitter as back tightness. Jo-Jo Reyes, back from over a year in pro ball in Korea, didn’t have his finest game, giving up seven earned in five innings and not managing to strike out a single batter. Jake Fox was a single short of the Big Wheel, and Kelly Dugan was 2-4 with a walk, pulling his season OPS back to an even .800. If he starts to show signs of getting his power stroke back in the next two weeks, they should just promote him already. He’s proven he can hit at AA. JPC with a hit and a walk, while Brian Pointer was 2-5 with a double for CLR. Perhaps I did not jinx him with that write-up last week after all. It’s almost as if I have no power to jinx people…hmm…gonna have to look into that.

Jiandido Tromp was 4-5 with two home runs (9), his third two-bomb game of the year. Aaron Brown and Cord Sandberg had two hits a piece, and Drew Stankiewicz was 4-4 for WIL as they walked off against Batavia on a Rhys Hoskins double. Fifth rounder Hoskins has hit safely in five of his last six, including five extra base hits (3 HR). Mitch Gueller managed his six innings well, walking two and allowing five hits while inducing seven outs on the ground, though he didn’t manage to strike anyone out in his six innings. In the GCL, Trey Williams had two XBH, including his second home run, while Nic Hanson and Austin Wright both got hit around in their rehab outings.

And finally, a little VSL update. The VSL squad was idle, but their playoffs start in less than two weeks – the Phils sit firmly in second place, four games up on third place Seattle for the last of two playoff spots to compete with runaway leader Detroit in a three game championship series. 18-year-old Ranger Suarez leads the five-team league in strikeouts with 68, (second place has 55), and he also leads all starters for fewest walks: he has allowed one, while the next closest starter has allowed four. Jesus Alastre’s OPS ranks ninth in the league, and he’s bested by four guys repeating the league, two 18-year-old league rookies old enough for the 2012 July 2 signing period, and two “men” (17-year-olds) from his signing year. I imagine we’ll see both Suarez and Alastre for instructs in the fall and vying for a spot in GCL (or possibly higher for Suarez) in the spring.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/22/2014 →