Julio Reyes with a gem – struck out nine and allowed just one hit in six scoreless IP. He’s 22 years old, he missed all of 2012 after a 2-year DSL stint, and he’s only one season from needing to be protected, just in case you were wondering. Josh Warner followed up Reyes’ performance by allowing just one hit and striking out two in three scoreless, though the write-up says Tyler Buckley worked the ninth for the save. Not sure what actually happened. Zach Green was 2-3 and scored the game’s only run on an error, after the Batavia pitcher hit two Cutters in a row to load the bases after his single.

One more WIL game today, and we’re done for the year.

Just one note on rosters – yesterday I mentioned that Tyson Gillies was moved to the 60-day DL to clear a roster spot for Cameron Rupp. It would appear that was incorrect, as there was room on the 40-man. Thanks Rick B for pointing that out. Not sure why they moved Gillies over to the 60-day. Just for maximum flexibility on the waiver wire, I guess.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 9/3/2013 →

Winding down – Lakewood’s finale was calcelled by weather, so there were only three games Monday. Lehigh Valley was blanked on two hits. Several members of that squad were called up after the game, including 40-man guys Galvis, Cloyd, Savery, Garcia and Mauricio Robles. Tyson Gillies was transferred to the 60-day DL, ending his hopes for a call-up, but making room on the 40-man for Cameron Rupp, who was added to the big league roster. 

Maikel Franco was not added, despite assurances from anonymous posters here that he would be, but he did cap off his fine year by going 3-4 with a double, to finish with a AA OPS of .926 after an A+ OPS of .925. Pretty remarkable. Severino Gonzalez made his AA debut in place of Jesse Biddle, (I saw no word on why exactly Biddle was held out). Gonzalez reportedly threw FBs at 87-89, according to @chrismellon from BP, which is lower than we’ve seen in previous reports. It’s been a long year for the 20-year old, so maybe we’re just seeing a little fatigue, or maybe 87-89 is closer to his norm than the 94 we saw earlier in the summer. We shall see. He’ll be a tough guy to rank this winter.

And Dylan Cozens tallied his ninth HR of the year. He’s got two games left to try to get to double digits, while Zach Green goes for 14 to potentially break the Cutters record for HR in a season.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 9/2/2013 →

Larry Greene had, by far, his best day of 2013 Sunday, as it was the day his season finally and mercifully ended. He closes out the year just above a .600 OPS. His K Rate was a whopping 35+%, though he did continue to take his walks at better than a 12% clip. I’m not writing him off completely, though, and if he comes to camp in 2014 ready to play, he’ll have a clean slate in my opinion.

Malquin “Malki”, (as I’ve decided to call him), Canelo has forced his way into the prospect conversation. A note that’s been making the rounds on Twitter and in the comments here – Canelo, the barely 18-yr old Crosscutters’ shortstop, who all but skipped the GCL this year, and fields with the best of them, (as reported at various times by Mitch Rupert and Crashburn Alley’s @Longenhagen), is sporting a .438 BA and an 1.104 OPS in his last 10 games, punctuated in his final plate appearance last night, where he walked off the home season at Williamport with his first professional round tripper.

If Canelo ever winds up on a team with the aforementioned Mr. Greene, I hope someone gets a snapshot of the two of them and captions it “Malki and Larry”. Would be perfect.

And FTR, I deleted a big note about Cam Perkins’ fine season just so I could land that reference without clutter.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 9/1/2013 →

Some notes – Cesar and MiniMart were recalled to take the place of John McDonald and Michael Young. I’d imagine Freddy Galvis, Cam Rupp, maybe Tyson Gillies, (I’d say that’s a coin toss), and a bunch of pitchers will go up agfter tomorrow’s game. CLR finishes out their season today, LV, REA and LKW tomorrow, and WIL has games Tuesday and Wednesday to close out their season.

As for Saturday’s results, Trevor May struck out 10 RPhils in a no-decision. The bottom of the lineup came through, though, with all five guys from 5-9 picking up a double, and combining for all five runs and eight hits to take the win. Nice lines from Luis Paulino and Miguel Nunez – they went five and six scoreless innings, respectively. And another in a long line of not-great-looking lines from Mitch Gueller – 5IP/5R (4 earned)/7H/2BB/1K. He finished the year with a WHIP of 1.879. He’s not walking a ton of guys – 26 in 58 innings is just a shade over 4BB/9IP, so he seems to be throwing strikes. He’s just not missing enough bats. Let the “change him to a position player” debate commence. Or continue, I guess. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/31/2013 →

Lehigh Valley keeps their slim playoff hopes alive in dramatic fashion, coming back from a 4- deficit to walk off with two runs in the ninth. Maikel Franco went 2-4 including a double, and Kelly Dugan had three hits as Reading lost to Miguel Sano and his New Britain Rock Cats and his two homeruns. Clearwater shutout for the fourth game in a row. They did manage to get one hit, though, so they have to be feeling pretty good about that. Mark Leiter threw down again for Lakewood – his A- WHIP sits at 1.00 with 20K in 16 scoreless innings. Impressive.

And finally, Zach Green took his place in the Williamsport record books Friday, hitting his franchise record-tying 13th home run, matching Walter “Junior” Young’s mark, set back in 2001, when he was Pirate property. Wikipedia notes, (without citation), that Young, who had a cup of coffee with Baltimore in 2005, was “listed at 6′ 5” and 322 pounds, giving him a Body Mass Index of 38.2 (over 30 is considered “obese”), the second highest BMI of any major-league player in history, behind Prince Fielder 5’11, 275 lbs with a 38.4 BMI”. So if Zach Green hits one more homerun this year, Young will be second in two things. Bummer for him.

Young is, apparently, a corrections officer now. If Green manages one more bomb, hopefully the inmates don’t hear about it. Poor Junior will never hear the end of it. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/30/2013 →