Box Score Recap – 4/8/2014

Box Score Recap

Cameron Rupp did it again. Four HR in 4 games. Can I call him “Babe Rupp” without you all booing me off the site and into a shame spiral that ends with me face down in a ditch somewhere with an empty gallon of vodka?  No? Ok, then, I won’t call him that.

Jesse Biddle had a good night, earned runs not withstanding. Tommy Joseph went deep and ditto Art Charles. Phillippe Aumont walked four batters, which led me to assert on Twitter that Aumont is French for self-parody. And hey, look, I just did it again.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 4/8/2014 →

Lehigh Valley Weekly Report

7. Lehigh Valley

Welcome back to another year of the IronPigs report. This report will put out weekly most likely Wednesday mornings throughout the course of the year.  Feel free to leave any suggestions for weekly coverage in the comment area of anything that would be of interest to you.  As time permits, I expect to post a variety of interviews with members of the team as the year progresses.  Lehigh Valley began their season with a four game split in Pawtucket, and then came home for a washout Monday, followed by a 4-2 loss to Buffalo on Tuesday.  The ‘Pigs homestand continues through the weekend with two more against Buffalo followed by four games with Rochester.

‘Pigs Prospects–Without getting into a huge debate on the definition of a “prospect”, I am going to list the following players on the Lehigh Valley current roster as prospects: Cameron Rupp, Maikel Franco, David Buchanan, Michael Nesseth, Jon Pettibone and Kyle Simon.  They are listed as prospects based on expectations for them and their age.  Others will join the list during the course of the year.  For this group of players, there will be bi-weekly statistical updates on their progress.  I will cover several one week and then those that weren’t covered the following week. For the first week:

Maikel Franco: has gotten off to a very rough start, currently hitting .100 (2-20) going without a HR and just one RBI.  He has struck out four times in his 20 AB’s and hit the ball hard just a handful of times.  Franco got his first start of the year at 1B on Tuesday and played well, making a couple of tough plays and looked fairly comfortable. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report →

Box Score Recap – 4/7/2014

Box Score Recap

With two rain-outs and a scheduled off-day, only Lakewood was in action Monday. The bullpen couldn’t hold two leads, as Cody Forsythe gave up three runs in the ninth, and Tyler Buckley gave up two in his second inning of work in the 11th. All of this couldn’t obscure J.P. Crawford‘s 4-6, 2B, HR, 4R, or Dylan Cozens’ 4-6, 2B, 3 RBI. We’re going to be talking about that Lakewood lineup all year.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 4/7/2014 →

Submit Your Questions And Reports

Announcements

So if you have been paying close attention to the site, you may have noticed some new links on the side bar.  One is for you to submit your mailbag questions.  I don’t know how often we will answer them, it depends on how many you ask, but the team here will do our best to provide you the best (not always most informative) answer to your questions.  The link to the question submission is here, you can also ask us via email or on Twitter.

The other link is for you to submit your own scouting reports for games you attend.  We are looking to build a data base of trends in stats and opens that aren’t captured by other sites.  The most simple measurement are pitcher velocity readings, but hitters you can give home to first times and pop times.  However there is plenty of room to add your opinion to the assessments.  You can find the link here.  You can also email us full game reports and we will work to fit them in as guest pieces among our regular contributors.

As always, check the pages at the top, I will be working on getting all of the player pages updated.  The draft page for 2014 already has some links and I will populating it with more reports, mocks, and draft boards as we start to kick off our draft coverage.

General Discussion – Week of 4-7-2014 – Fifth Starter Edition

Weekly Discussion

With today’s rain-out in Philadelphia, the big club will need its fifth starter on Saturday, a day earlier than anticipated. Someone other than the current four starters was going to have to make a start this coming Sunday anyway, and with David Buchanan scheduled to pitch tomorrow, what looked to be a fairly simple decision has a new wrinkle. Buchanan would either need to take this MLB start on Saturday on short rest, whether by pitching just a couple innings Tuesday (or Wednesday/Thursday perhaps, in lieu of what might otherwise be his pre-start bullpen session), or they will need to use someone else.

Speculation in the beat/blog world is that Jonathan Pettibone could be used on long rest, (he pitched yesterday). That’s not a bad plan, as it also negates the need for a 40-man move. Alternately, you could see a bullpen game started by Jeff Manship, or least likely, IMO, someone like LVH’s Greg Smith, who is scheduled to be on the hill today, could be used for a spot start. Smith is unlikely to be claimed off of waivers, so getting him back to Lehigh Valley should not be an issue, though you would need to waive someone like Tyson Gillies or 60-day DL Ethan Martin to make it happen.

Don’t discount the possibility that they choose to use Kyle Kendrick on short rest and Buchanan on Sunday as planned. Seems unlikely, but if they don’t believe Pettibone is ready to come back from his shoulder issue, and don’t want to mess with Buchanan’s routine prior to his big league debut, it could make sense. Kendrick’s been a fungible arm in the past, operating as a swingman for most of 2011-2012. Again, unlikely, but I could see it.

Discuss.

Box Score Recap – 4/6/2014

Box Score Recap

Cameron Rupp is raking right now. Just absolutely mashing. He’s OPSing 2.381 over his three games, and today he hit his third home run. Crushing it. My goodness.

Perci Garner had a fine outing, picking up the victory via a six inning, six strikeout performance. Ken Giles struck out the side in order for his second consecutive save. He’s recorded six outs thus far in 2014, all Ks.

And in Clearwater, Cole Hamels gave up two homers to Dwight Smith Jr. and little else in a four inning rehab start. Smith retired after the game, citing that one Seinfeld where George leaves a meeting after making a successful joke. “I’m not topping that one,” said Smith. When asked about it, Hamels said, “I don’t know that one. I stopped watching after season six.”

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 4/6/2014 →

Cole Hamels vs. Jays at Bright House; April 6, 2014

Game Reports

This afternoon, we enjoyed one of the many quirky promotions that you encounter in minor league parks – Bark at the Park.  Afterward, we were treated to a Cole Hamels’ start for the Threshers.

Hamels’ second pitch was rocketed over the right field wall by Jays’ star Dwight Smith, Jr. In the third inning, Hamels hit the number 9 batter in the heel while ahead in the count.  He proceeded to pick the runner off first base.  Good thing, too.  Smith followed with another bomb over the wall in right center.

Including a single off the shortstop (I had scored it E6), Hamels line was – Continue reading Cole Hamels vs. Jays at Bright House; April 6, 2014 →

Box Score Recap – 4/5/2014

Box Score Recap

Sean O’Sullivan got hit around some, but Phillippe Aumont worked his way around two hits to work a scoreless inning in LV’s loss. Two hits a piece for Cameron Perkins and Kelly Dugan – Perkins’ were both doubles – he’s got three already on the young season, picking up where he left off in 2013. Ken Giles struck out the side, (not in order, of course), to pick up his first AA save, after AA repeater Jay Johnson struck out two in a clean eighth inning.

A rehabbing JA Happ beat CLR, while Brian Pointer had his second triple in as many days. Dylan Cozens with two hits and Larry Greene was on base twice in support of a fine outing from Alejandro Arteaga for LKW – 2R, 5H, (1 HR), 6Ks 0BB, and he threw nearly 2/3 of his pitches for strikes.

Not going to get the graphic up today, but here’s the link and a spot to discuss Saturday’s action.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 4/5/2014 →

Threshers at Dunedin; April 5, 2014

Game Reports

The Threshers faced JA Happ on a rehab assignment tonight. Happ proved to be a formidable foe for the young team.  Happ retired the Threshers in order in 3 of his 5 innings.  He allowed 2 runs on 3 hits and a walk. He struck out five.  In the 4 innings after Happ exited the game the Jays bullpen limited the Threshers to 2 hits and a walk.

Meanwhile, The Jays greeted starter Jon ProsinskI with 4 consecutive hits in the first inning.  ProsinskI settled down and got out of the inning allowing only 2 runs.  Continue reading Threshers at Dunedin; April 5, 2014 →

Box Score Recap – 4/4/2014

Box Score Recap

Cameron Rupp went deep again. He’s on pace for probably a lot of home runs or at least more than two, I bet. Also thing I would bet – Kyle Simon is not happy with his AAA debut. Just a hunch. Hector Neris, on the other hand, survived his unscathed. Don’t sleep on the 25-year-old Dominican. He put up pretty solid peripherals in Reading, and could be a bullpen piece for the big club sometime soon, especially if his HR rate normalizes now that he’s out of the Reading launching pad.

Cameron Perkins had two hits, including a double, while Severino Gonzalez started his season well – 1R 4H 1 BB and 3K in 5 IP. Reports from @longenhagen had Seve at 89-90 and touching 91 early, then fading later in the cold.

CLR walks it off in the tenth against Dunedin. Brian Pointer had a triple in that contest, and Ethan Stewart allowed just five base runners in seven IP – he only struck out one, and walked three, but allowed just two hits. A note there – The Jays have Dwight Smith‘s son, Dwight Smith Jr. For those who don’t remember Dwight Smith, he and Jerome Walton were all the rage back in ’89. Walton won the NL ROY and his Cubs teammate Smith got second, ahead of one-time Phils Gregg Jefferies and Charlie Hayes.

Carlos Tocci and Andrew Pullin had doubles, while Jesen Therrien got rocked in relief, as Lakewood took the loss. Tyler Viza made his full-season debut. He was a 2013 draftee out of JuCo, and played GCL last year, so he’s skipping Williamsport, (for now, at least). Looking forward to seeing what he can do with the opportunity.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 4/4/2014 →