Samuel Hiciano is really killing it with the bat right now. He hit his sixth home run of the year last night, and is OPSing 1.075 over his last ten games, and .959 for the month of May. Wonder if they’ll challenge him with a promotion mid-year. Would be fairly surprising, but he’s really raking, so it’s possible. Ken Giles gave up one hit and struck out one in a scoreless inning for Lehigh Valley. Severino Gonzalez put up an OK line – 3R on 7H, 1HR, 0BB, 5K in 7IP. He was throwing strikes – just over 2/3 of his 92 pitches, so that’s good to see.

And the dream is gone, folks. 17-year-old Jesus Alastre went hitless in the VSL, ending what was a ten game streak to start his pro career. Thought he’d maybe just keep going forever and ever. He did walk twice, so we can talk about his on-base streak, if you like, for as long as that lasts. Also, he managed to successfully steal a base, while unfortunately and predictably being caught stealing once as well. He’s 1-6 thus far. As AndyB pointed out, there’s nothing wrong with letting the kid keep running. My joke to the contrary yesterday was both not terribly funny, (keeps my streak going), and developmentally silly. So keep running, Jesus. Keep running.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/27/2014 →

Ken Giles earned his third save at AAA, allowing a hit and striking out one in 1.2IP. Cam Perkins was pinch-hit for with Anthony Hewitt in the seventh inning of a game where Perkins had one of three hits and the only extra-base hit. Not sure why anyone would do that without good reason, and we know “getting Anthony Hewitt a plate appearance” hasn’t been a good reason for like four years now.

Samuel Hiciano is puttin’ a hurtin’ on South Atlantic League pitchin’ right now – he’s OPSin’ 1.187 over his last 10 games and sits at .833 on the year after a 2-3 on Monday. He remains a very interestin’ guy. Ok, I’m don’. Also in that one, Tyler Viza recorded 18 outs, three by strikeout, one by flyball, and 12 on the ground, two of which were turned into double plays. That’s some heavy stuff he’s tossin’. Sorry.

And finally, our young friend Jesus Alastre was 2-2 to extend his hitting streak to all 10 professional games in which he’s ever played. Here’s something though – he’s been blanked in stolen base attempts – oh-fer his first four. Maybe give him the stop sign, coach. Just an idea.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/26/2014 →

Ethan Martin stuck out two in a clean inning of work, his first clean outing in almost two weeks. Aaron Altherr had two hits (and two strikeouts), while Cam Perkins was 1-4 plus a BB. Jesse Biddle was held out of his start after he suffered headaches from being hit in the head with hail during last week’s storm in Reading. No, I am not trying to be funny. This is a thing that occurred. That note was first reported by Mike Drago from The Reading Eagle. Give him a follow on Twitter @mldrago

Perhaps Miguel Gonzalez was also in a hail storm. Not sure. Might explain some things. Adam Loewen pitched well in his return to the hill after a couple years playing the field. Sure, he met some nice hits, but in the end, he decided to come back to his first love, pitching. He and pitching will be married in a civil ceremony in June, and hitting is not invited. Yeah, it didn’t end well.

J.P. Crawford left early for unknown reasons. I will update this item if we hear why. And Jesus Alastre did it again, hitting in his ninth straight game to start his pro career.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/25/2014 →

Ken Giles works a six out save for Lehigh Valley – he struck out one a hit a man. Phillippe Aumont also had a nice outing, retiring five of six batters he faced, including two Ks. Cameron Perkins was 2-5 and hosed Francisco Lindor at the plate.

I’m having a hard time talking up Clearwater results lately. Mostly because I go a little dizzy and nauseous when I look at their boxes.  And Saturday they had two boxes. Luckily I took a Dramamine. Lakewood box scores, on the other hand, make me swoon. Also helped by Dramamine. Andrew Pullin was 3-5 with his sixth home run, while Mitch Walding was 4-5 with his first bomb of the year. J.P. Crawford and Samuel Hiciano added multi-hit games. Drew Anderson allowed 4H, 3BB and 7K in six scoreless. That makes three strong starts in a row for the 20-year-old righty.

And finally Jesus Alastre was 2-2 with a double in extending his season-and-pro-career-long hitting streak to eight games. At some point, one of you will figure out what the record is for such a streak. I honestly don’t have a good guess where to look for that.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/24/2014 →

Dylan Cozens went deep twice for Lakewood to up his season total to seven, while Samuel Hiciano hit his fifth and went 3-5. Carlos Tocci, J.P. Crawford and Wilmer Oberto all added multi-hit games as well, but Alejandro Arteaga got beat up pretty good by West Virginia.

Hoby Milner put up a nice line, giving up just 3H, 2BB and 5K in 6.1IP. He threw a solid 71% of his pitches for strikes. Edgar Duran was 4-5 and hit a 12th inning HR to give the RPhils the lead, and after an RBI from Brock Stassi, Nefi Ogando walked four in the bottom of the frame, but struck out two and induced a flyball to pick up what looks, on paper, like the ugliest save of the year. Stassi’s having a nice year at the plate, OPSing .869. Unfortunately, his positional inflexibility will be an issue he’ll have a hard time overcoming without adding more home run power – he’s got just 10 in nearly 900 pro PAs. That won’t play at first base, and it doesn’t seem like he can play anywhere else.

And finally, Cameron Rupp hit his first home run since returning from a month-long DL stint. Good to see that. Justin De Fratus and Ethan Martin each gave up three hits and one run in an inning of work. Sounds like some of their big league counterparts.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/23/2014 →

Running short on time here, so I’ll just say “LAKEWOOD OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION” and “LAKEWOOD PITCHING IMPLOSION” and let you all have at it. And check out Jason Parks’ article on Brandon Nimmo, who homered against CLR on Thursday. It’s behind the paywall at Baseball Prospectus.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/22/2014 →

A light schedule Wednesday, with both LV and LKW having scheduled days off. The highlight of the day was Aaron Altherr going deep to help Reading hold off New Hampshire. Usually after a home run I look for a spike in the rate stats – Altherr’s OPS over his last ten games has skyrocketed to .432. He’s got four hits and three walks over that span, and his OBP is .206. He’s been slumping, is what I’m saying.

Andrew Knapp drew two walks and Ethan Stewart allowed seven in his four innings of work for CLR. And Jesus Alastre kept his pro-career-starting hitting streak alive at seven games.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/21/2014 →

Jim Murphy‘s three-run home run held up, as Ken Giles got the six out save for Lehigh Valley, including two Ks and two BBs. Barry Enright and Cesar Jimenez pitched well in that game as well, and Darin Ruf was 2-3 with two doubles and a walk. Wonder if he’ll get the call-up to replace Cliff Lee and then they’ll make a pitching move before Saturday’s game.

Jesse Biddle gave up 2R on 8H, 1HR, 2BB and 3K in six innings. He threw about 57% of his pitches for strikes. Feels like I say something similar fairly often after he starts. It’s a problem, to be sure. Cam Perkins was 2-5 with a double, and Brock Stassi 3-5 with a walk-off two-run homer and a walk.

Roman Quinn was 3-5 with a CS for Clearwater, while Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez was…well…bad. “Bad”‘s the word I’m looking for, right? 5R, 2ER on 4H, 5BB, 1K in 2.1IP. “Bad” pretty much sums that up, I think. Feel free to suggest other terms for that, but until then, I’ll go with “bad”. So, so bad.

J.P. Crawford, Willians Astudillo and Andrew Pullin were each on base three times, while Dylan Cozens hit a walk-off two-run bomb for Lakewood. Cody Forsythe did well to mop up Ulises Joaquin‘s mess in the eighth, stranding two, and then worked a scoreless ninth. The 23-year-old Forsythe has handled himself well this year – after being relegated to the GCL instead of sent to Williamsport last year with many other college draftees, I wasn’t expecting much from him, but he’s showing a good K rate and low walk rate thus far. If you missed it, Eric @Longenhagen wrote him up briefly at Crashburn Alley a few weeks ago.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/20/2014 →

Roman Quinn was 0-4 in his return from a ruptured Achilles Tendon. He played all 12 innings and stole a base. I’ll take both facts as good signs. Brian Pointer went deep in that game, and Gabriel Lino was 2-5 plus a walk. 22-year-old Miguel Nunez is back from a trip to XST – he gave up two hits and a walk in two scoreless innings of relief. It will be interesting to see if they keep him in the pen or try to stretch him out again.

Aaron Altherr picked up two hits in the nightcap of Reading’s DH with New Hampshire to pull his average back about the Mendoza line, where it had dipped after an 0-2 in the early game. That’s called resiliency. I guess. Dude probably didn’t even realize. Cameron Perkins was 2-3 with a double and a walk in the second game as well.

Darin Ruf and Maikel Franco went deep in back-to -back at bats in the top of the sixth to draw Lehigh Valley to within a run of Buffalo, but someone pulled the thread and Justin De Fratus came undone in the bottom of the inning, allowing two hits, a walk, a HBP and a wild pitch for three runs.

J.P. Crawford, Wilmer Oberto and Willians Astudillo all put up two hits in a losing effort for Lakewood. Delvi Francisco has allowed just one hit and struck out five over his last four innings. The former position player’s been effective in limited use thus far in 2014.

And finally, Jesus Alastre has yet to be held hitless in his six-game professional career. So that’s nice. Small sample size caveats apply, but Alastre is the best player in the history of the game and should be called up immediately.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/19/2014 – The Fall And Rise Of Roman Quinn & Aaron Altherr’s Batting Average →

David Buchanan got pulled after one inning, I suspect simply because he threw 45 pitches in the first inning, but I also suspect the walk, five hits and four runs might have done it anyway. Seth Rosin gave up four hits in relief and he was the team’s MVP, as he also struck out four.

Cam Perkins drove in three of the four Reading runs and Nefi Ogando closed out his fourth save, allowing two hits and striking out two in a scoreless ninth. He’s walked just five and struck out 19 in his 19 innings thus far. John McDonald, on the other hand, hasn’t struck out anyone. He’s slipping.

And for Lakewood, Andrew Pullin was 2-5 with a double and a home run, Carlos Tocci was 2-4 with a walk, Mitch Walding was 3-5 with a double, and Deivi Grullon was 2-3 with two doubles. But the big winner of that contest was Ranfi Casimiro. The 6’8″ right hander struck out eight in six innings, while allowing just one run on two hits and three walks. Easily his best start of the year, after he had easily his best start of the year last time out. That starts to look like a trend if he does it one more time. Cross your fingers.

And in case you missed it, Jay Floyd (@phoulballz) reported that J.P. Crawford was hitting in the cage with a bandage on his injured finger under his batting glove, was available if needed, and intends to play Monday.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/18/2014 →