Weekly Minor League Update + HOTLIST: Playing Catch-up
by yondaime4 on Jun 3, 2008 12:00 AM EDT
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PrintSo yeah I'll try to cover some of the stuff that I have missed over the past week or so.
Richmond 28-28
Richmond has dropped back to second in the division and 2 games back of Durham. They went 14-15 during the month of May but they did have a 7 game losing streak tossed in there in the last week or two that kind of crippled them. The pitching has dropped a bit and now sits in the middle of the league with a 3.95 ERA. The offense has plummeted though down to the second worst OPS in the entire league. Thats just horrible considering what they were doing a few weeks ago. Jason Perry might help a little though I think he will struggle more at AAA. Scott Thorman has been coming around so we might see a boost there.
Mississippi 22-35
The M-Braves went 16-13 for the month which is obviously a marked improvement over the first month of the season. Jason Perry powered the offense most of the month but he was moved up to Richmond recently and Reid Gorecki (another journeyman OF) hit the crap out of the ball for a few days but then went on the DL. Jordan Schafer is back with the team and will probably be in the lineup again here in the next couple of days. The team still has the worst BA in the league at .236 as a team and the second worst OPS at .676. They also have the worst ERA in the league with a horrible 5.06 mark. I don't know how they won most of the month like they did. They are 10-8 in 1 run ball games.
Myrtle Beach 37-20
This team has been a juggernaut the last month and a half. They are 9.5 games up on the second place Kinston team. Recently the Pelicans have been my only bright light in the Braves Universe. They went an incredible 20-9 during the month of May. They did lose their best pitcher (Tommy Hanson) to Mississippi but the rest of the pieces in that rotation have been solid and Chris Vines has been pretty good since he returned to starting. Their ERA is easily the best in the league at a paltry 3.06. They still have the best OPS in the league and lead in homers also. We'll probably see an OF with Gorkys Hernandez and Jason Heyward here soon I would think.
Rome 18-38
I am just amazed at how bad this team is. As good as the Pelicans have been this team has been worse. At 20-8 for the month nothing good can really be found outside of the 3-4 men in the lineup. Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman have been all the offense for most of the past month and sooner or later I would think they'd break down from all the pressure. The ERA hasn't been horrible, not good, but not horrible either. The team OPS is second to last. All I have to say is Secondbass and company need to root harder or slip the team some HGH or something!
Hotlist!!!!
- Jason Heyward - So as one of the youngest players in the SAL (Angel Villalona of Augusta is the youngest) Heyward .345/.398/.564 for the month of May. He walked more, struck out less and spiked his power. A good sign of real improvement.
- Freddie Freeman - What these have done can't be stated without also noting how bad their offense is outside of them. Frederick went .313/.336/.625 on the month. Obviously he needs to walk a bit more after only 4 in 112 ABs in May but his power was amazing with 21 XBH for the month after only 7 in April.
- Scott Thorman - A bounce back month for the former prospect. He went .333/.343/.635 for the month. Again, not many walks but 17 XBH in less than 100 ABs ain't bad.
- Kyle Cofield - a 1.57 ERA for a month is excellent. He walked a crap ton of people - 28.2 IP 22/16 K/BB - but it didn't matter too much. I'll keep an eye on those Ks and Walks but everything else was good it seems. He had a decent ground ball average so that works for him.
- Charlie Morton - Well amazingly Morton was even better this month than last. He went 3-1 with a 1.60 ERA in 39.1 innings with a 32/12 K/BB. An excellent month for him and if anyone else goes missing in the starting rotation in Atl. it will be hard to ignore his performance so far. Only thing we have to watch for with him is his annual late season decline.
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South Atlantic League All Stars
Representing the Rome Braves will be (big surprise):
Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman.
Well deserved. Should be more, but like you’ve pointed out, yondaime4, Rome stinks! If Scott Diamond were still here, he may have made the team, but you’d surely have figured on Jeff Locke, Jose Ortegano, maybe even Eric Barrett. But no.
As I’ve mentioned, I’ll be in Myrtle Beach next week, and I plan to go to about 5 games. If things go my way (which they usually don’t), I could be there when the Pelicans clinch the first half title – their magic number as of today is 5.
Jordan Schafer
Was in the lineup last night. He went 2-4, w/a 3b, run scored, and 2 RBI. He also walked.
Thanks again.
As big of a baseball fan I think I am, I really am behind the curve when it comes to my minor league knowledge. These definately help. Thanks again.
I was curious so I brought up Heyward’s numbers so far this year, and I must say I am impressed (not to mention the fact that he OPSed .842 last year at age 17). To have .332/.380/.516 slash stats at age 18 is phenomenal. That’s a .901 OPS! He’s got a 36/22 K/BB ratio which includes a 15% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate…both pretty good at his age, especially the walks. Not only is he a force in the batters box, but it goes along with his 8 SBs (only been caught 1 time). That’s a 89% success rate this year. It’s a small sample size of course…but just so you know, Carlos Beltran holds the active career record for success rate at 88% (players with 250 or more SBs). Heyward has made 6 errors in the OF this year, but his arm is already making a statement with 5 assists in 54 games.
He’s looking like quite a steal at the slot we drafted him in.
Morton
Yonda, cmon…..
Every season Charlie Morton has pitched, the second half has always been better than the first…. His last few months have always been his best.
No Sub-ject-o
That someone with a little more involvement in the braves organization is telling you this….
well lets see he posted his best month last year in May with a 2.95 ERA and then posted ERAs of 5.63, 5.4 and 4.03. He did switch back to starting in August so that might have helped him a bit. But man seems like he didn’t really get better at all as the season moved on. What kind of involvement it is you have with the Braves? Cause you seem to like to flaunt it but you never appear to be able to back up anything you say. Just to let you know, just because YOU say something I don’t consider it fact. Baseball is a game of stats and facts and you never have any.
No subject
Well, one thing we have argued about, is prospect status… Which can’t really black/white be proved with stats alone (primarily in dustin evans case).. Secondly, I flaunt nothing. I give your readers info so they’ll know what the deal is… Then, you jump in and get on me because I don’t cite my info (when I really can’t be more blunt than I have been)...And you can’t take Mortons stats from last year. They were putting him in and out of the rotation the whole year.. His turnaround started in late july anyway (either way you look at it)... including a gem of a game in the playoffs….then he went to the fall league and dealt… I’m sorry if I can’t find split stats past last year to show you… And eveything I’ve claimed that will happen has happened…
^
And what may seem flaunting to you, is often frustration at you from someone who believes in players in the Atlanta Braves organization that have great amounts of talent, but are often overlooked by the public and people who think they know everything about whats really going on inside the professional ranks. If you prefer I stop posting say so, and I will be 100 percent done with this site.
Dustin Evans is complete crap and saying something BLUNTLY doesn’t make it true or even a valid argument. I don’t care if you argue or even disagree but you just say stuff and leave it at that. Morton made 6 starts last year. I don’t really see how that can really be considered yanking him in and out of the rotation. Especially when you consider he made 5 of those starts in August. He has never made it through an entire season as a starter. Not once in his entire career and until this year he hasn’t even been better than awful for an extended period of time. He did pitch great in the AFL and even later in the season but to make a blanket statement like “his last few months are always his best” is ridiculous and useless, especially when last month, his last few months were obviously not his best.
^
Next time you get the chance, infact no, you should do it for your own knowledge… please call the Mississippi braves clubhouse and request an interview with Derek Botelho the pitching coach there. First ask him if he thinks Dustin Evans has the ability to compete in the big leagues. Ask him whatever you want infact, and try to get it out of him that he thinks that Dustin Evans is garbage… Secondly, ask him if Morton has been considered a starter or reliever for the majority of his career.. Then ask him if the first half or second half was the best… Then, whenever you get a chance, call Kent Willis, the pitching coordinator, and ask him if Morton always has a better second half… Then, if you and your research prove me wrong, tell me so…
LOL find me a coach anywhere who would call their player garbage. Please. And I like how you tell me to back up my points when you don’t back up yours, same as always. We’re done, you’re useless.
^
How do the stats of Morton last year back up your claim?? I see no digression in his stats at all at the end of the year.. You made a flat out claim that he digresses and tires as the year goes on… He pitched 7 innings 1 run in the playoffs against Mobile (in september), then dealt against the best in the minors when he went to Arizona. In his last two bullpen appearences in Miss he pitched three scoreless, then started and gave up 2 in 5 innings, then 1 in 7, then zero in 2 plus before the game was postponed by rain, then 1 in 7 innings for his last start of the regular season..There is ZERO decline, and ZERO proof that he tires. It is a claim that you have made. It is speculation, and you speak from this huge platform to the public who eat your bowls of BS knowledge that are found by you sitting on your ass. You claim in August he was “starting” so that helped him. Where is your proof that in the past, starting has helped him?? It never had! Thats why he was demoted and moved to the pen in the first place. And in the pen (in the minor leagues), the hitters see you less, and you pitch less (less workload)..but he still struggled…. What causes you to believe its easier for him to come out of the pen or be in the rotation?? The reason he’s been in and out for the past two years is because they were trying to find something that worked for him… In one of the last games he pitched this year you made a speculative statement that “maybe the hitters get used to his stuff”.. Then he goes out last night and carves up a team he has faced twice already (the same team infact that caused you to speculate the first time, and a team that also happens to be one of the strongest in the International league). Everyone is allowed to draw their own conclusions, but that doesn’t mean they are accurate… Which is why again, please, I’m begging you.. Get your journalist hat on, and do some real research. Call Kent Willis, or Derek Bo…that way, you’re speculation won’t be needed in the world of minor league player development
^
And here’s an article/blog from DOB who was at Morton’s last game in Arizona
http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=70237
If you notice, the article quotes Morton’s velocity as having reached 97 several times, which is also some knowledge you have lacked… hmm 97 in his last game (which was a no hitter through 5) Yeah man, he really tired out at the end..
^
The article also quotes Frank Wren as saying Morton was getting stronger after the all star break, and so does DOB…
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