Off topic: Went and saw the movie Hancock tonight starring Will Smith, Jason Bateman and the stunning Charlize Theron. The movie was ok — I’d suggest just waiting for it to come out on DVD — but I have to issue a warning. You may remember that when I went to “see” Cloverfield (I think I wrote about that on VEB) I was basically forced to sit with my head between my knees because of motion sickness. Well, Hancock has the same wobbly camera hijinks but more subtle. I had to leave the theater for a while because I was feeling ill, unsure of what was causing it. When I came back in, I immediately noticed the type of can’t-quite-hold-this-still camera technique that makes me have motion sickness. I was able to tough it out because it wasn’t as bad as Cloverfield but if you have the same problem I do, consider yourself warned.
Maybe I missed it but John Sickels offered some thoughts on Jaime Garcia earlier in the week. My thoughts lineup with his on balance.
Danup makes a (too) rare appearance and plays with translations.
Couldn’t agree more Pop. Also in the Kary Booher piece a check up on Francisco Samuel who still walks too many guys for me to begin supporting.
Kary Booher also takes a look at Daryl Jones. He makes a good point that we sometimes gloss over — the ballparks (with the exception of Hammons Field) are typically pitchers parks up and down the Cardinals system. Jones is excelling in a field that’s going to dramatically suppress his power numbers.
- Brian Barden goes 3-for-5 with a double and a HR. His Baseball Prospectus translation (prior to this game) was just .258/.322/.390 despite his actual line being .314/.384/.480. He takes a real hit due to his age but I’ve still got to wonder if he isn’t better than one of Kennedy, Izturis or Ryan.
- Nick Stavinoha was 3-for-5 with a triple. I’m guessing that ball got by the right fielder into the corner because Stavinoha is no speedster.
- Josh Phelps goes 2-for-3 with a double, a HR and two walks. I have to continue to question the reasoning behind giving Phelps at bats. He’s obviously not in the Cardinals long-term or short-term plans (the Chris Duncan at first while Albert was on the DL should tell us that) so why not spread 1B duties around with Stavinoha and Mather.
- Jaime Garcia had a rough night with bad command. It’s one start, so don’t read into this, but poor command and high walks was a trademark of Garcia’s injured elbow last season. Garcia lasted just 4.1 innings allowing 8 hits, 4 walks and 6 ER. He struck out just 1 but did record 7 groundouts against 3 flyouts.
- J ason Motte pitched a perfect frame striking out 1.
- Jose Martinez was 2-for-4.
- Allen Craig was 2-for-5 with a double.
- Brandon Yarbrough was 1-for-3 with a walk.
- Tyler Herron got roughed up yet again in AA. Batters are teeing off to a .302 tune and the walks have gone through the roof. He did last 6 innings striking out 6 but he walked 2, allowed 8 hits and 4 ER.
- Josh Dew retired one batter while walking 3.
- Marco Gonzalez got 5 outs allowing one hit to pick up the win.
- Fernando Salas followed up with a perfect 1K 9th.
- Tyler Henley was 1-for-4 with a double.
- Arnoldi “Tony” Cruz was 2-for-4 with a double.
- Daryl Jones was 1-for-4.
- Despite recording just 6 hits and 1 HBP, the Cardinals managed to score 6 runs. Clutch, baby, clutch.
- Thankfully Tyler Norrick brought his A game striking out 8 over 6 innings. He walked 2 allowing 5 hits and 2 ER.
- Eddie Degerman pitched a scoreless frame striking out 2.
- Pete Kozma was 0-for-4.
- Brett Wallace was 1-for-4 with a double.
- Josh Wilson turned in a hell of a game despite being the losing pitcher. Over 7 innings, he struck out 7 walking 0. He allowed 6 hits, one of which was his undoing — a solo jack.
- Pete Parise closed out the game with two scoreless frames striking out 1 allowing 1 hit.
- Christian Rosa was 2-for-3 with a double, HR and 2 walks.
- Xavier Scruggs was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles.
- Jose Garcia was 2-for-5.
- Edwin Gomez was 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles.
- An ugly night of pitching for Batavia. Thomas Eager started and went 5 innings allowing 4 hits and 4 walks — somehow only allowing 1 run.
- George Brown followed up with better peripherals and worse results. He allowed 5 hits and struck out 5 but was tagged for 3 ER.
- Then cam Daniel Richardson who retired just 1 batter while allowing 4 runs.
- Adam Reifer was asked to finish off the game getting the final two outs but allowing his own run as well.
- This was a completion of the July 5th game.
- Nico Vasquez was 2-for-4 with a walk.
- Curt Smith was 2-for-5.
- Osvaldo Morales was the offensive powerhouse though. He was 4-for-4 with 2 doubles and a HR. Morales is confined to first base but he’s got the power to move up the system. He played 27 games in QC this year but was overmatched. He’s another bat to keep an eye on in the system.
- Reynier Gonzalez went 4.1 innings allowing 7 hits and 4 ER while striking out 3. He’s been up and down this year and doesn’t seem well suited to the starting rotation.
Johnson City 4, Burlington 1 (7 innings)
- Nico Vasquez was 2-for-3 with a double and a HR.
- Alex Castellanos was 1-for-3 with a double.
- Randy Santos opened with 4 scoreless innings allowing 1 hit, 1 walk and striking out 4.
- Adam Veres allowed 3 hits over 2 innings striking out 3. He also had an unearned run during his frames.
- Joel Pichardo finished up with a 1 walk, 2 K 7th.
Filed under: Daily Farm Reports
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
I wonder if Gary Daley can hit? B/c he sure cant pitch.
Johnson City Played 2. Winning the second game 4-1
Nico Vasquez went a combined 4-7 on the doubleheader w/ a double and a home run. You gotta love his fast start to his professional career, while showing good power right away.
I think he also has just 1 or maybe no errors in the field so far as well. Not sure if that is a true indicator of his play at SS..but when he does get to it..he is sure handed.
I do worry about the K every 3 at bat per thing…but its early and he has shown decent plate discipline even with his K’s
Exciting guy..already 19 yrs old though…so maybe a bump to Batavia is close?
Outside of Kozma..there isnt a SS standing in his way…so he can progress as fast as he wants!
missed that second game. added now.
AZ…I had that same problem with that 9-11 movie United 93. I never could finish it. I don’t get why film directors think it’s a good idea to make their audience feel like they are being spun around on a never ending merry go round…I left the theater. I thought the movie was fine and all, but I couldn’t take it for more than 30 min. I had a similar problem with the last Jason Bourne movie, but managed to stick it out.
Barden’s age and #s (minus some power) aren’t too far off of Dan Uggla’s before he got a full time job. He was in AA at age 25.
An added note on Wilson’s pitching performance - he only threw 8 balls thru 7 IP.
Craig in LF for Springfield
and Greene at 3B.
…interesting…
Erik and gang,
Has there been a profile done on Josh Wilson? I know very little about him but starts like that are very exciting!!! Especially given his control coming back from surgery. Can somebody enlighten me on him — thanks
Great to read that Daryl Jones is so driven to succeed–or rather, to excel. Too bad Kary erred a bit on Daryl’s stats, though. Jones has 4 triples, not doubles (he has 11 two-baggers), and DJ is slugging a robust .540 on the road, not .502. In fact, 5 of his 6 homers have come on the road, where he’s hitting a stunning .349/.423/.540.
I didn’t realize Jones had dropped entirely out of BA’s Cardinal top 30 before the season. (Hard to blame BA for that, though.) What a transformation Daryl has undergone: if his road numbers this year were his *overall* line, he’d be a serious candidate for next year’s pre-season top 50. Or even top 25, if he can cut down on the K’s a bit.
Elsewhere on Palm Beach’s squad, Tony Cruz is still under the radar–but check out his month-to-month progress in the FSL this season:
April OPS .611
May .731
June .837
July .874
If Cruz can stick at catcher, the 21-year-old has a legit chance at being an above-average MLB starter. Gotta work on that BB/K/AB ratio a bit, though.
OT:
I posted this question on VEB…but considering it’s minorleague players I thought there might be more knowledge here. What does anyone know about these two guys in the Phillies system: Jason Donald (SS) and Adrien Cardenas (2B)? Phuture Phillies rates them as their 4th and 2nd best prospects respectively.
You know, az, for being a robot, you sure have a weak stomach.
I wonder also why the Cardinals are keeping Phelps around. They supposedly got him for insurance if Albert got hurt. Well Albert got hurt and they didn’t bring him up. So he has no future in St.Louis. So let somebody else get the oppurtunity to play.
Erik, not a coincidence United 93 and The Bourne Ultimatum had similar effects as they’re both directed Paul Greengrass. My young eyes have a certain affinity for the 1000 cuts/minute style of Mr. Greengrass, but I can see where he may make one queezy.
Also, might we test the strength of the player tracker curse and put it up for Nico?
I can understand why directors would like the stylized version of filming for something like Cloverfield where it simulates a hand held camera but I was really shocked to find it in Hancock. And yes, arch, my stomach is strangely susceptible to these movie effects for a robot — I call it motion sickness but it’s the only time I ever experience it. I can read in the car and what not without any issue. It’s odd.
To answer the question about Craig in LF and Greene at 3B. The Springfield staff does this about one game a week. I believe they were instructed to do so. Usually when they are facing a lefty.
I posted this on the GRB site earlier today. I attended the Redbirds-Royals game yesterday afternoon.
-I was sitting right behind home plate, about six rows up. There were about six or seven scouts in the pair of rows in front of me. I recognized scouts from the Royals, Rays, Yankees and Phillies. Frank White was sitting about three rows in front of me. The Yankees’ scout loved the movement on Garcia’s curveball, but I saw some notes from previous games and it appears he hated Mark Worrell. Wrote down in big bold letters that Clement still isn’t healthy. A scout whose team I wasn’t sure wrote that Garcia was a #3 starter, then changed it to 2-3 about midway through the game (this was before his awful 5th inning).
-Brian Barden, on this particular day, looked like the best player. He was hitting ropes everywhere. His homer lead off the game, and it was a bullet that had just enough height to clear the wall. He also started a nice DP on a soft grounder where he had to charge hard. I thought he only had a play at first; once he got the out at second, the turn was the easy part.
-The line on Garcia isn’t deceptive at all. He fell behind just about every batter and started off I think the first three innings with leadoff walks. He consistently missed inside to left-handed batters and outside to righties. The stadium gun had his fastball topping out at 94 MPH, but by sneaking a peak at the scouts’ guns, I saw he was sitting in the 89-92 MPH range, with one reaching 93. Every ball hit out of the infield was clobbered. Haerther made a nice diving play that kept a run from scoring. The curve looked great in warmups. Yankees scout said “That just isn’t fair.” He couldn’t get it over for a strike though, but none of his pitches were working today.
-Phelps is a big, big man. It felt like he took a lot of pitches in every single AB. It kind of reminded me of Edmonds. His home run was a light tower shot that cleared everything in CF. I don’t know the exact distance, but I wouldn’t doubt that it went at least 440 feet. It’s one of the longest homers I’ve seen in person.
-On the flip side, Shane Robinson can’t be any bigger than 5′5″. He almost decapitated Matt Wright (the Royals SP) in his first AB. He made a strong throw from deep center that one-hopped to third and got an assist by throwing the runner out. He was also caught stealing on a pitchout. It really wasn’t close though, and I guess that’s a little disappointing.
-Bryan Anderson had a mixed bag. I don’t worry about the 0-for-4, but he was moving extremely slow yesterday (like almost Yadi slow). He walked in the 1st, but he couldn’t even get to 2nd when Stavinoha hit a liner to right-center that wasn’t cut off until it was deep in the gap. He also hit a grounder up the middle that was bobbled by the shortstop, but he was thrown out handily. His defense behind the plate was strong, made some very nice blocks for Garcia and Hugo Castellanos. He also picked a guy off at first with a nice read and good arm.
-Motte looked very nice today. The scout guns had him all the way up to 97, consistently in the 94-95 range. His slider was forgettable.
-Stavinoha’s triple was a gift. With Barden on 3rd and two outs, Stavy hit a sinking liner. Shane Costa (the Royals RF) dove for it to try and end the game, but he wasn’t close at all. It went to the wall and Stavinoha got to 3rd. Frank White thought it was a bonehead play, and it proved to be the difference when Phelps came up after him and doubled him home.
All in all, a good game, despite the humidity. I didn’t think Memphis had enough in them to comeback, but I’m glad they proved me wrong.
Nice report, MGW.
Been out for a while, but has anyone noticed that Brett Wallace’s player page at milb.com has him listed as a 3B? I guess the webmaster over there must fancy himself to be some kind of scout.