The Lynx limped into the three day All-Star break losing three of four to Scranton/Wilkes Barre in a repeat of their previous four game home stand against the Yankees. In what has become the norm for this team in the 2007 season, two games were blowouts, (one was an Ottawa win), and two were one run games. Game one was especially ugly as J.A. Happ’s return to the rotation was a disaster. Happ had been hit hard in his major league debut and his return to the Lynx rotation was even more unsuccessful. Happ, (1-3), threw fifty pitches and retired only two batters. The game got so out of hand that outfielder Jim Rushford pitched the eighth inning. Scranton scored seven runs in the first innings, one in the second and three in the third. The Lynx scored four in the fourth and one in the fifth but Scranton scored another five runs in their half of the fifth. Jason Anderson went four inning and gave up seven runs. Yankee starter Chase Wright, (6-3), gave up seven runs in five innings of work but which the huge early Scranton lead, he didn’t have to be very fine and could just put the ball over the plate. Gary Burnham went 4-4 with five RBI for the Lynx and Dusty Wathan went 3-4 driving in three. Yes it was one of those games for certain but as we’ve seen through much of the first half, one of those games is becoming the norm.

Continue reading Ottawa Lynx Week Fourteen →

Tyler Mach seems to be the man of the hour. Everyone knows that I wasn’t found of the pick when it was made and said as much in my draft review, and now folks want to know if I’ve changed my mind, and they want to know why he’s still in Williamsport and hasn’t been moved up. So, I’ll try and tackle those questions and give you as good an answer as I can. Before that, just to add there is nothing new on the Joe Savery front, as far as I know, but he’s going to sign. I’ve also got nothing new to add on Brandon Workman and Julian Sampson, but I have a feeling that nothing will happen there until Savery is signed. Now, onto Mach-Mania..

Continue reading It’s Mach-Mania →

Midseason report released today.

29. Carlos Carrasco – RHP Phillies – DOB: 03/21/87 – ETA: June 2008
Previous rankings: 2007 #93

6-2, 2.84 ERA, 49 H, 53/22 K/BB in 69 2/3 IP for Single-A Clearwater
3-0, 3.48 ERA, 15 H, 14/12 K/BB in 20 2/3 IP for Double-A Reading

The lack of a strikeout breaking ball hasn’t prevented Carrasco from holding hitters to a .199 average this season. That’s because he has nice movement on his 91-94 mph fastball and one of the top changeups in the minors. An improved curveball would give him top-of-the-rotation potential, and he still looks plenty good enough to succeed as is. The Phillies could choose to hurry him to the majors next month if they’re still in contention.

Pitchers ranked ahead of Carrasco

4. Clay Buchholz (BOS)
12. Max Scherzer (ARI)
14. Adam Miller (CLE)
16. Eric Hurley (TEX)
19. Joba Chamberlain (NYY)
21. Gio Gonzalez (CHW)
22. Nick Adenhart (ANA)
24. Wade Davis (TBD)
27. Jacob McGee (TBD)

That would make double C the 10th best pitching prospect in baseball. Not bad.

Adrian Cardenas checks in at #93 which is low, considering the names above him. Mathieson was ranked #125, and Josh Outman #130.

Starting Pitching: Thirteen different pitchers started games for Ottawa in the first half of the 2007 season. Injuries and ineffectiveness were the main culprits as manager John Russell was forced at times to use anyone he could find who was available to pitch in any capacity. The Lynx best starter left in May, ( Brian Mazone), the second best starter was out from mid May to early July, ( Matt Childers), and the promising J.A. Happ couldn’t go deep into games, was injured and then ineffective upon his return. By the All-Star break, two inexperienced and recently promoted to Triple A pitchers were becoming the most reliable members of a patchwork rotation.

Continue reading Ottawa Lynx Pitching First Half, (Starters) →

Yesterday I linked up an article on William Harris written by Donald Leypoldt, and he was kind enough to share an article he wrote on Matt Rizzotti as well that hasn’t made it’s way online yet. If you missed the Harris article, you can find it here. Below is Donald’s article on Rizzotti…enjoy.

Continue reading Matt Rizzotti article →

Head on over to a new blog that covers all things Philly sports, spliterati.com and check out a podcast interview they recently did with Johnathon Mayo from milb.com. Lots of good stuff here, check back on these guys often.

Reading goes into the All Star break at .500 (45-45), 8 games back and in 4th place in the Southern division, although beginning to show some life.  My quest for MVP consideration for Greg Jacobs is as simple as looking at his stats.  He is currently 10th in the league in runs (49), 4th in hits (97), 5th in doubles (24), 4th in homers (14), 2nd in RBI’s (59), 2nd in slugging %(.566), 4th in average (.329) and second in OPS (.953).  Mike Costanzo is 4th in runs (58), leads the league in homers (17) and is 2nd in strikeouts (112). Jason Hill is leading the league with 27 doubles and Javon Moran is 4th is stolen bases (21). Matt Maloney  continues to get noticed in the pitching categories as he is 8th in wins (7), 2nd in innings pitched (104.1) and 4th in strikeouts(93).  Chris Key has been coming on strong and now is 8th in the league with 9 saves. Continue reading Reading Report →

It’s been a few weeks since my last Threshers update, so I figured I’d better get on the ball.  The Threshers finished the first half of the year in third place behind first-half champs the Sarasota Reds and the Tampa Yankees.  In the second half of the season the boys have been cruising along right where thay left off.  They currently sit in third one game behind Tampa in first and 1/2 game behind Dunedin in second.

There have been a lot of roster moves since the first half so it is almost like a new team in the secnd part of the year.    Just before the all-star break Pat Overholt was promoted to Reading, and since the all-star break Carlos Carrasco was promoted to Reading as well.  This has left a power vaccuum for starting pitchers in Clearwater that has yet to be filled. 

Ben Pfinsgraff and Alex Concepcion have been promoted from Lakewood to fill the empty spots, and Luis Villerreal has been added as a free agent to fill the spot of Dan Brauer who is on the DL.  So far these additions have seen mixed results.  Concepcion had a tough first outting, but was solid in his next two starts, and very good in his most recent trip to the hill giving up just four hits in seven innings of work.  Unfortunately those hits included two solo home runs and a triple for three runs, but the offense helped him out with an 8-4 win.

Pfinsgraff has a 6.75 ERA at Clearwater in an up and down start in his three games.  He went 5.0 innings in his first start giving up three runs but earning a loss with no run support.  In his second start he was excellent going 7.0 innings with no runs on four hits and four Ks but got a no decision again thanks to no offensive support.  IN his most recent outing he was pummeled for eight runs on nine hits in just 2.2 innings of work.

Brad Harman (a Phuturephillies favorite) has turned things up since the break hitting .400 in July while starting at just .237 before the all-star break.   Clay Harris who lead the SAL last year in HR got off to a rough start in Clearwater hitting just .196 before the break, but has improved to .314 since then.    Catching prospect Lou Marson who earned an all-star game bid has done even better since the break as well hitting .321 since then.

Starting pitcher Josh Outman has continued to put up impressive numbers with a 9-2 record and a 2.08 ERA as a starter with 96Ks in 97.2 innings of work.  (Josh’s overall ERA stand at 2.58 skewed by one relief appearance where he gave up 7 runs in 2.2 innings of work).

 Starting pitcher Andrew Carpenter has been a pleasant suprise for the team with a 9-5 record and a 3.80 ERA.  He had a recent 25.0 scoreless innings streak snapped in his last game when he gave up three runs in his most recent outting.

Catcher: Jason Jaramillo was selected to play for the IL All-Star team and most deservedly so. He was hot in April, ice cold in May and hot again in June and to this point in July. This has all added up to an average of .275, (eleventh on the Lynx), 34 runs scored, (tied for third), 74 hits, (fourth), four doubles and a surprising three triples. Jaramillo was tied for second with five home runs and finished third on the Lynx with 37 RBI. He had 99 total bases, (fifth), walked 29 times, (third), and slugged .368 good for only eighth among the regulars. He was fifth in OBP, (.353), and seventh in OPS, (.721).

Continue reading Lynx Batting First Half 2007 →

A few notes for today.

* I’ve updated the prospect tracker to include all the links for guys in the GCL. Just a note, the links are to minorleaguesplits.com, which gives more info than you can find via minorleaguebaseball.com, but the numbers are not as up to date. If you want up to the minute stats, go to minorleaguebaseball.com, but if you want more in depth split info, use the latter. I’ll update the Williamsport guys either today or tomorrow.

Continue reading Odds and Ends →