Colt Murray struck out 3 and walked 1 in the ninth to earn his 10th save of the year for CLR. He could use a few more of those after a pretty brutal stretch here in the last couple weeks. In all, though, he’s pitched better than his 5.58 ERA suggests this year, with an FIP of 3.34. Walks are up over last year’s near-brilliant FSL stint, but Ks are good at 9.9/9IP. He’s guy that reportedly throws pretty hard, and I imagine he’ll be moving up to AA next year with a chance for a 40-man spot after the season.

HMart continues to rake – 3-4 with a double. Logan Moore went 3-3 with a walk, a double and his third HR. Jan Hernandez was 3-5 with a triple and a homer. And Mark Leiter Jr. has 23 Ks in 16 GCL innings. Yes, he’s a college guy striking out high school kids. Still.

And another strong start from Drew Anderson – he gave up two hits and walked two in six scoreless, and struck out the side in order in the sixth. For a guy Mitch Rupert mentioned has had trouble in the later innings, he sure did take out the top of that Brooklyn lineup, (ncluding struggling 2012 1st round pick and high-level Mets prospect Gavin Cecchini), the third time through – all three Ks were swinging.

Enjoy your deadline day!

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/30/2013 →

Harold Martinez with 2 more hits. Same from Cameron Perkins. Dan Child works an inning for CLR after spending time in the GCL thus far. Brian Pointer goes deep – his sixth. He’s been slumping pretty badly, though he has drawn 5 walks in his last 10 games. Man can take his walks. Speaking of…Dylan Cozens hit his 5th HR of the year. He’s also keeping up a good pace for his bases on balls, 11+%, while limiting his Ks to around 22%. It’s a 2:1 ratio there, 34K, 17BB, and with ISO near .200, you’d have to call his first half of this short season a success.

At the lower levels, Deivi Grullon threw out two would-be base-stealers and picked off another, while JPC stole his 7th and 8th bags, added a triple, drove in and scored 2runs. And 19 yr-old mini second sacker Lucas Rojo (listed at 5’6″, 153 lbs), hit his 7th VSL homer. He’s got 19 XBH in around 170 PAs. That’s some pop from a small frame. Another guy to look for in instructs in the fall and the minor league camp in the spring.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/29/2013 →

Jesse Biddle really has not had it the last couple times out. After not making out of the first last start, he lasted just 1.1 on Sunday, retiring just 4 of the 13 men he faced. He walked 6 and allowed 3 hits, striking out 2, before being relieved after throwing just 20 of his 50 pitches for strikes.

Ethan Martin living outside the zone again, throwing just 57/104 pitches for strikes. 5H, 3BB, 8K in 6 scoreless innings. Hard to complain about it if you’re rooting for the Pigs to win a ballgame. Hard to not remain concerned if you’re pulling for him to be a big league starter for the Phils. Does this count as harping yet? I feel like I’m “harping” on the subject.

Cody Asche with a double – he’s OPSing over .900 since June 1. Maikel Franco with 2 hits – he’s OPSing 1.015 since his call up to Reading. And Kelly Dugan continues to hit – he’s got 12 hits, including 6 for extra bases, in his last 10 games, as his AA OPS moves towards .800. That’s a pretty nice crop of position players standing on the stoop, if not already knocking on the door.

And one more note – Harold Martinez OPSing .965 over his last 10 games, and .803 in still limited action in July, even after Franco was promoted to make some room in the field. He’s 23 years old in his second stint in A+, so there’s that. He’s playing pretty much every day right now, so I will guess he’s hot and will cool off and continue to be essentially a non-prospect, but I guess I’ll keep an eye on him for the next couple weeks. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/28/2013 →

Maikel Franco went 3-4 with a double, Cody Asche hit his 13th HR, and Cam Perkins with 2 doubles, to bring his shortened season total to 25. In under 300 PAs. Impressive. Adam Morgan with another pitch-counted start at AAA – he gave up 1 hit, walked 3 and struck out 2 in 3 scoreless IP. Nic Hanson and Seth Rosin did some nice work from the bump as well. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/27/2013 →

With all the MAG excitement, let’s not forget that there was a full slate of oh who am I kidding. Big splash for RAJ in the Int’l market. Huge. Paired with what looks like a likely $1m amateur FA in a couple weeks, and the handful of $500k plus signings in the last couple years, and perhaps the team has finally turned the corner on big International spending.

Ok, some results, in verse, because it’s a lovely Saturday out there or whatever –

Kelly Dugan with a bomb, Aaron Altherr, too;

Andrew Knapp’s first in the pros and Mikey F. hit two.

Mario looked pretty good, Nick Hernandez, not;

Herlis, Wilmer, Nitty Ferd, and J.P.C. stay hot.

Yacksel Rios got a start, Braden Shull done broke my heart;

Denton Keys and Tyler V., and two, times, two, for, Big, Sir, Art.

– Yes, I rhymed “too” with “two”. Deal with it. Also , yes: “Mikey”. And I hope you catch the drift of my pacing at the end. It slows down, like a breath between every word. Calming, I hope. Have a nice weekend. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/26/2013 →

In February, had I asked you to fill in the blanks on the following sentence: “By July 25, Larry Greene will have twice as many ____ as ____.”, how many of you would have said stolen bases and homeruns, respectively? Be honest.

The story of the night, clearly, is Austin Wright. A fine line for him – 1 R on 4H, (1HR), 3BB and 10K. Jason Guarente at The Reading Eagle has some insight as to what helped Wright on Wednesday. If Wright can have success with a three-pitch mix, he’s got a much better chance to stick as a starter. We’ll see how his newest offering holds up.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/25/2013 →

Not a lot of excitement. A fair line from Mitch Gueller in a 6 inning CG, and a nice spot start from Chris Nichols highlight a WIL doubleheader split. Cody Asche 2-4 with a double. Tyler Cloyd pitched a real nice game, spoiled in the 8th by the bullpen and 3 passed balls from Steve Lerud. Jose Pujols went deep, his third of the year. And be sure to cue up the circus music when you read Ethan Stewart’s line. How he managed to get out of that without giving up a half dozen runs defies all logic.

And finally, Kyle Simon allowed all three base runners he inherited to score – that probably ties a record. Unless someone, sometime, was called upon to pitch in the middle of an inning, had to stay in to field a position, and then was called back to pitch again in the middle of another inning. Or the same inning, I suppose. There’s a research project for all of you. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/24/2013 →

Very nice line from Ethan Martin -2H, 3BB, 6K in 6 scoreless innings, threw 65 of his 100 pitches for strikes. That’s what he needs to do, more or less, every time out for the rest of the year to prove to me that he’s a viable candidate to be a starter. The couple walks I can live with. A couple more hits, a couple runs? Fine. But if the strike rate is in the mid 60s, it means he’s not living outside the zone, which is all but an impossibility for a starting pitcher. That’s what I’ll continue to look for.

3-5, 2 HR for Cody Ashce. I would love to see him up in the bigs in a couple days, platooning with Kevin Frandsen or not. If the team moves Michael Young, hopefully that’s the play, though Freddy Galvis playing every day at 3B might be the club’s preferred option.

Elsewhere, Kelly Dugan 2-3 with a double, (off Top 50 guy Noah Syndergaard). Jesse Biddle couldn’t get out of the first inning. Brody Colvin came in with the bases loaded and allowed 1 runner to score, but then worked a solid 4.1 innings. Chris Serritella with a ninth inning, 2 out, full count HR to send the game into extras after Colt Murray couldn’t hold the 1-1 tie in the ninth. A fine start from Shane Martin to lead Williamsport to victory. And Jesus Chavez, strike-throwing lefty, continues to torch the VSL. I would expect him stateside next year after 66 K and just 6 BB in 66 IP so far. Any way you do the math, that’s pretty good stuff. 

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/23/2013 →