Hat tip to Bleacherbum 593 for passing this along. It seems the reverberations of Haerther’s injury are now being felt, as per the Swing’s official site, Mark Shorey of the Swing was called up to AA to take his place. Shorey was the Swing’s everyday left fielder.
He hit .299/.337/.420 in 188 at bats for QC. Before the season started, I picked him as one of my sleepers. He’s hitting a pretty empty .300 for someone who showed such power in college.
Jim Rapoport was moved up to Palm Beach to replace Shane Robinson, who has also landed on the DL.
Coming up from an extended spring training to replace the two open spots on the Swing roster are Tommy Pham and Wilmer Alvarado. Alvardo is a 19 year old switch hitting 3B who played in both the Venezuelan Summer League and the Dominican Summer League. He posted an .831 OPS in the VSL over 97 at bats, while hitting for just a .421 OPS in the DSL. He’s switching from catcher to third. At today’s post at VEB, Luhnow noted he likes Alvarado’s upside. (That was a must-read today, if you missed it you have head on over and check it out.)
I’ve already discussed Pham on an earlier post. He’s moving from the SS to the outfield. I’m very excited about his call up as the Swing are coming back to town next week. I’ll do my best to have a full report.
Filed under: Jim Rapoport, Mark Shorey, Shane Robinson, Tommy Pham, Transactions, Wilmer Alvarado
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
Erik,
I saw the Swing play on Sunday night and I am kind of surprised with Shorey’s promotion. He seems like a kid who has a good idea of what he wants to do at the plate. But his defense looks to be quite a bit behind his offense. Rapoport is a high energy player that I could see as a fifth outfielder type. I have to say I am quite disappointed I did not get to see Pham, I really believe he could be a very good player. Here is an entry I did on him a little while back:
http://whiteyball.wordpress.com/2007/01/30/tommy-pham/
As usual, great update.
Dustin
http://whiteyball.wordpress.com
I think a better idea might have been to promote Buckman or Hamilton to Double-A and start using Mather in the OF more exclusively. No complaints, though, maybe messing with Buck right now is a bad idea, and Shorey is one of those make-or-break guys to me, like Stavinoha but without the same success.
Shame about Cody, he’s one of my favorite prospects. Also, the Swing site says that Pham will be moving to the OF. I know he didn’t look good defensively last year but has that continued to this point? I hope it’s not true, we just don’t have the kind of depth up the middle for him not to get more of a shot, and no one’s really holding down the fort in QC.
Hey mateodh! Decided to wander away from the official site forum some? (You might be a little more familiar with me as cardsfan)
I agree with you, though. Hamilton, Buckman, or Craig all should have been promoted before Shorey. Shorey is having a decent year but he certainly isn’t dominating the competition and isn’t displaying the power he did last year. I think he would be overmatched at Palm Beach at this point, much less Springfield. Mather is a much better prospect if he plays in the outfield and those other three all play first base.