erik has a summary below of the early returns on the 2007 draft class.
Long intro tonight w/ a lot of news. Catch it all after the jump.
Let’s hear it for Jarrett Hoffpauir #9 2B in the minors according to Kevin Goldstein.
This is the biggest breakout of the bunch. Hoffpauir was a sixth-round pick in 2004, and he always put up impressive numbers in college, but an Eckstein-esque frame and lack of tools prevented him from being seen as an elite pick. His numbers this year are nothing short of fantastic, and all of the peripherals indicate that it just might be for real, including more walks (35) than strikeouts (25) in 263 at-bats. Scouts are impressed with Hoffpauir’s feel for contact, but he’s not just a slap hitter, as he can punish mistakes by driving them into the gaps. Defensively, he’s made just five errors on the season, though his first step is a little slow, and he’s not especially rangy. If the Cardinals go into a full rebuilding mode, the player who was on the verge of oblivion going into the year is suddenly looking like he just might get a chance.
It’s a lot of what you’ve already heard around here but it’s still nice to see where he stands relative to the pack. One word of caution about 2B rankings. This position is often hard to rank because many SS in the minors will wind up here due to defensive limitations. I profiled him here way back when he was still demolishing AA pitchers. All signs are still a go as his transition to Memphis has been more of the same.
Kary Booher says Cody Haerther is off to a good start in the Gulf Coast League on rehab. Azru says Haerther has an incredibly small sample size that we shouldn’t take any stock in. Plus, it’s a AAA player hitting rookies — he could hit 1.000 and it wouldn’t tell us anything. The only thing we care about is that he’s in the batters box healthy.
Booher also has a piece on Chris Perez:
“I’d like to cut the walks down. That’s my Achilles’ heel,” Perez said.
If Perez cuts down on the walks, he has the chance to be an elite closer at the MLB level.
Thursdays are my favorite day to do the DPR. Why, you ask? Because we get to Meet the Swing!!! This thursday, meet Nick Derba:
Do you still participate in any other sports as hobbies?
Fishing, golf.
Obviously, he has two hobbies as neither of these are sports.
Your favorite player?
Craig Biggio.
Damnit. One of the Killer B’s was your favorite player? Ugh.
Who was your favorite baseball team growing up? Yankees.
At least he didn’t say the Red Sox or the Cubs but I can think of better answers.
What do you want your career highlight to be thirty years from now?
Walk-off home run in Game 7 of the World Series to beat the NY Yankees.
Nice save Nick Derba, nice save.
Chris Narveson gets hurt again. Sean Danielson goes all Slappy-singles McSlapperson on Wichita. The Quad Cities and Johnson City decide to crush the opposition with football scores. The farm system goes 6-for-6 in tonights Daily Prospect Report.
- Let’s get this cleared up right away. Chris Narveson 5.2 innings into throwing a no-hitter, left with a leg injury. I’ve got some four-letter words for that but I’ll let you fill in the blanks. Needless to say, this is another disappointing setback for one of my favorite prospects (from a “fan” standpoint; not a talent evaluator).
- Gregorio Petit broke up the no-hitter off Troy Cate with a two out single to left field in the 8th. Cate did strike out 4 in 2 innings. I think Cate is a better pitcher than Randy Flores or Kelvim Jimenez but after throwing 35 pitches the other night, the STL Cardinals needed an arm and Cate needed some rest.
- Jarrett Hoffpauir goes 1-for-3 with a walk.
- Nick Stavinoha went 2-for-4.
- The Redbirds scratched out a run in the 9th with two outs. Hoffpauir, Ankiel and Bozied walked followed by a Stavinoha single which constituted the walkoff run.
- Sean Danielson goes 4-for-4 with a walk. The problem with Danielson is that he doesn’t hit for power and if he isn’t going to play the premium defensive position of CF he’s really not worth a corner outfield spot. He is fast stealing bases 10 and 11 tonight. Looking at his stats and size, the immediate comparison that comes to mind is Brady Clark.
- Colby Rasmus went 1-for-5 with a double.
- Juan Lucena went 3-for-5 with pair of doubles.
- Mark Shorey jacked a solo HR (his 10th HR of the season).
- Eric Haberer improved to 10-4 on a respectable outing. He allowed 4 runs (3 earned) in 6 innings. The 9 hits and 2 walks against 2 strikeouts are as bad except that he allowed 2 HRs.
- Matthew Scherer and Jason Motte tried to close out the last 3 innings but Chris Perez had to be brought in to retire the last batter and strand Motte’s two beqeathed runners. He struck him out.
Palm Beach 3, St. Lucie 2 (11 innings)
- Jim Rapoport went 3-for-5 stealing a base and getting caught as well.
- Brandon Buckman went 2-for-5 with a double.
- Isaias Garcia went 3-for-5 with a double.
- Tyler Norrick went 6 innings striking out 5 against 5 hits and 1 walk. He also hit one batter while allowing just an unearned run.
- Luke Gregerson was called in during the 8th to try and stop the fire caused by Jon Mikrut. He failed getting saddled with a BS when he allowed the inherited runner to score.
- Donnie Smith got the win when Luke Gorsett singled in Garcia.
- Antonio DeJesus scored all4 times he reached base. He went 1-for-3 with a double, 2 BBs and a HBP.
- Arnoldi Cruz, man of mystery, went 2-for-6 with a double.
- LF Steve Hill went 3-for-4 with a pair of walks and a double.
- Jaime Landin went 4-for-4 with a double and a HR.
- Shaun Garceau was betrayed by his defense going 5 innings allowing 4 runs (1 earned) on 4 hits and a walk. He struck out 7 batters in the process.
- Kenny Maiques struck out 1 in a perfect 9th.
Johnsonville 18, Greeneville 0
- Ouch.
- Greeneville had 7 errors. Ouch.
- Greeneville had 0 XBHs. Ouch.
- Greenville had 4 baserunners. Ouch.
- RF Jon Edwards goes 2-for-5 with a double and a walk.
- 1B Nick Vera goes 3-for-4 with a walk.
- 3B Wilmer Alvarado went 1-for-3 with a pair of walks.
- Jose Arrendondo went 5 innings allowing 3 hits and a walk while striking out 6.
- Nick Additon struck out 6 in his 4 perfect innings.
GCL Cardinals 4, GCL Marlins 3
- RF Edgar Lara goes 2-for-4 with a double.
- Rainel Rosario goes 1-for-4 with a triple.
- Mike Sillman threw another innings allowing 1 hit, 1 BB and striking out 1.
- Fabian Marquez strikes out 2 and allows 2 hits in the final 3 innings to pick up the win.
Filed under: Chris Perez, Daily Farm Reports, Jarrett Hoffpauir, Nick Derba
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
I’m reading Jim Masilak’s recap of last night’s memphis game:
Why are reporters allowed to write garbage like this? Is the common fan really so detached from the reality of the game that they are willing to accept 1 at bat as a “slump-buster”? Bad cliches aside, if Stavinoha goes 0-for-10 the next few games (or something closely approximating that) what do we make of that “slump-busting” at bat?
Perhaps it’s just me, but I have a hard time reading the newspaper and listening to radio commentary anymore. I’m never going to claim that one person is more of a fan than another (everyone enjoys the game in their own way) but it’s incredibly difficult for me to not scream at the radio in my car when someone begins looking at batting averages and RBIs to find the “good” players in the league.
In any event, the Stavinoha at-bat was one at-bat; don’t read into it. Jim Masilak calling it a slump-buster is lazy writing and requires crystal-ball foresight for it to come true.
(Tangent: The article also says that Narveson tweaked his right knee. Read that however you will.)
AZ - I agree with you. My roomate and I were having an interesting discussion about RBIs, stats, etc. And we were wondering about pitchers vs. hitters. And in my mind, there is only one(or two) stats that count for pitchers, ERA (and total runs allowed). You either get guys out and don’t let them score, or you do.
On the other hand, there are so many different kinds of hitters, slap-hitters, patient hitters, power hitters, free swingers.
In both cases, numbers tell us so much more, but I agree with you that RBIs do not mean that much.
I don’t know why, I just thouught I would just go off on a tangent on your tangent.
Jeff - if you think that ERA is the most important stat, then I’m not sure that you get the gist of what AZ is saying.
What’s your second most important pitching stat, Wins/Losses?
I’m sick of reading the local paper where the “top pitchers” are categorized by win %. What a joke.
One of my goals this offseason is to go over the best methods (imo) to statistically evaluate pitching and hitting. ERA is not on that list. I use ERA from time to time on the site because everyone is familiar with it but it’s not something I would ever use to base an evaluation of talent on.
If you want some summaries of pitching and defense, the best place to look is to google USSMariner and Evaluating pitching/defense. They’ve got some fantastic pieces (and the writers there are incredibly knowledgable).
I will be interviews Nick Derba for my site tonight…any questions?