The Kernels program lists five outfielders, at least four of whom would logically be players the organization wants to see get substancial playing time.
All five started at least once in the two games I saw on this trip, with probably the top two -- Trevor Larnach and Akil Baddoo -- starting both games, in right field and centerfield respectively. Trey Cabbage and Gabriel Maciel each started a game in left, and Jacob Pearson was the DH in one game.
A few observations:
Larnach, the Twins' first-round draft pick (20th overall) this year, has split this initial pro season almost evenly between Cedar Rapids and Elizabethton. Neither level should be a great challenge for a college star from a big-time program. Larnach went 0-for-8 in the two games with a walk and a stolen base. He did have three hard-hit outs over the two games to left field. At 21, he is the oldest of the group of five, and the one with the least professional experience.
Baddoo's stat line is intriguing. He's hitting about .240, which isn't impressive, but his on-base percentage is around .350 and his slugging percentage is over .400. He hit leadoff in both games, and like Larnach went hitless (0-for-8 with a walk and two steals). He's quite fast and made a nice catch at the wall Wednesday night. He's also just 19, quite young for the league.
Pearson came to the Twins from the Angels last offseason when Anaheim was scraping up all the international pool money it could for the Shohei Ohtani derby. His skill set appears to be akin to Baddoo, but my sense -- and the stat line supports this -- is that the tools are pitched at a lower level than Baddoo's. He went 1-for-2 in his one start with a walk, an RBI and a run scored.
Cabbage was taken in the fourth round of the 2015 draft as a third baseman. He's now splitting time between left field, right field and first base. He's gotten more playing time this season than in the previous three, and he's hit a little better, but probably not enough to merit being taken serious as a prospect. This is also the first season in which he hasn't been notably young for the level of competition. He went 1-for-4 in the game I saw him play with a double and a run scored.
Maciel was part of the return from Arizona for Eduardo Escobar last month. He really impressed me Wednesday night. He went 3-for-4, which is nice, but what struck me was how he went 3-for-4. First at-bat, hitting left-handed, he pulled a solid single. Second at-bat, still hitting left-handed, he laid down a perfect bunt. Third trip, hitting right-handed against a lefty reliever and facing a sharp shift with a man on second, he was clearly trying to go to right and, after fouling several pitches off to the first base side, grounded one through the vacancy. It was a key piece of a four-run inning that put the Kernels ahead to stay. (He struck out in his final trip.)
Like Baddoo, he's 19. Unlike the other four, who all hit left handed, he's a switch hitter. He made a nice running catch in left, and appears to be fast enough to play center. He hasn't hit for much power in the Midwest League (he played for Kane County before the trade), but that can come.
This is, of course, low-A ball. None of them are on the cusp of the majors, although Larnach may be on a fast track. They have genuine tools. The challenge is learning to use them.
Showing posts with label minor league trip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label minor league trip. Show all posts
Thursday, August 30, 2018
Friday, August 25, 2017
A trip to Cedar Rapids: Final thoughts
I had intended to start writing about the major league team again, but after watching more errant throws and misplays Thursday night than I saw in three games of low A ball, I don't really want to.
So, a couple followup comments and notes:
The double-digits thing sounds more impressive than it is. Ten is a lot of triples. It's not that impressive in homers and steals (he has 11 steals). And 19 doubles isn't anything astounding.
But he's still fairly young for the league.
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I commented in the Monday print column about Royce Lewis that he has a bigger leg kick than some pitchers employ in their windup.
Here's a photo of that leg kick, taken by my wife.
I said Monday that I doubt the Twins will try to change anything with him until he starts to struggle. That hasn't happened yet.
Incidentally, Lewis hit his first homer at Cedar Rapids on Monday.
And he drew his first walk Wednesday night (with the bases loaded in extra innings). He has, at this writing, 1:8 walk-to-strikeout ratio in the Midwest League. Granted, it is all of 45 plate appearances, but that's not a good ratio -- and it's drastically different than what he had in the Gulf Coast League, where he had more walks than strikeouts.
Again, small sample size. But it suggests to me that, his lofty batting average aside, he is being challenged by the move to the Midwest League. Which is neither unexpected nor detrimental. It's part of the process.
So, a couple followup comments and notes:
Travis Blankenhorn is 1st @CRKernels player to record double digits in homers, doubles, triples & stolen bases since Jean Segura in 2010!— Cedar Rapids Kernels (@CRKernels) August 24, 2017
The double-digits thing sounds more impressive than it is. Ten is a lot of triples. It's not that impressive in homers and steals (he has 11 steals). And 19 doubles isn't anything astounding.
But he's still fairly young for the league.
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| Royce Lewis' leg kick. (Photo by Linda Vanderwerf) |
I commented in the Monday print column about Royce Lewis that he has a bigger leg kick than some pitchers employ in their windup.
Here's a photo of that leg kick, taken by my wife.
I said Monday that I doubt the Twins will try to change anything with him until he starts to struggle. That hasn't happened yet.
Incidentally, Lewis hit his first homer at Cedar Rapids on Monday.
And he drew his first walk Wednesday night (with the bases loaded in extra innings). He has, at this writing, 1:8 walk-to-strikeout ratio in the Midwest League. Granted, it is all of 45 plate appearances, but that's not a good ratio -- and it's drastically different than what he had in the Gulf Coast League, where he had more walks than strikeouts.
Again, small sample size. But it suggests to me that, his lofty batting average aside, he is being challenged by the move to the Midwest League. Which is neither unexpected nor detrimental. It's part of the process.
Thursday, August 24, 2017
A trip to Cedar Rapids: Joe Cronin
The Twins have a big name infielder on their Cedar Rapids farm club -- and I don't mean Royce Lewis.
Joe Cronin was a Hall of Famer -- probably the greatest American League shortstop until the Robin Yount-Alan Trammell-Cal Ripken Jr. generation came along, and also a long time manager, team executive and president of the American League. He was a better player than manager and a better manager than executive, but he truly merits his plaque at Cooperstown.
Joe Cronin is an infielder for the Cedar Rapids Kernels. The Twins drafted him last year in the 34th round out of Boston College, and he is hitting under the Mendoza Line so far in his career. He's split time pretty evenly among third base, shortstop and second base for the Kernels. I saw him homer Sunday.
Cronin the Younger is not related to Cronin the Elder and certainly can't hit like his namesake some 80 years ago, but he seems to be a reliable fielder, especially by A ball standards. I probably wouldn't have paid him any attention were it not for his name.
The name gets him noticed. But if you're hitting .192, you might not want to be noticed.
Joe Cronin was a Hall of Famer -- probably the greatest American League shortstop until the Robin Yount-Alan Trammell-Cal Ripken Jr. generation came along, and also a long time manager, team executive and president of the American League. He was a better player than manager and a better manager than executive, but he truly merits his plaque at Cooperstown.
Joe Cronin is an infielder for the Cedar Rapids Kernels. The Twins drafted him last year in the 34th round out of Boston College, and he is hitting under the Mendoza Line so far in his career. He's split time pretty evenly among third base, shortstop and second base for the Kernels. I saw him homer Sunday.
Cronin the Younger is not related to Cronin the Elder and certainly can't hit like his namesake some 80 years ago, but he seems to be a reliable fielder, especially by A ball standards. I probably wouldn't have paid him any attention were it not for his name.
The name gets him noticed. But if you're hitting .192, you might not want to be noticed.
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
A trip to Cedar Rapids: Travis Blankenhorn and Trey Cabbage
I get Travis Blankenhorn and Trey Cabbage confused.
They are both left-handed hitting infielders drafted by the Twins in the third and fourth rounds respectively in 2015. Both were described as third basemen on draft day. They both have first names that start with the same two letters.
Blankenhorn got to Cedar Rapids for the last month or so of the 2016 season and hit fairly well after crushing the Appy League. He played more second base than third, and DH'd more than he played second. He returned to Cedar Rapids for the 2017 season and has been a bit less productive at the plate while playing more in the field, splitting time between second and third with more time at third than at second.
Cabbage has been slower up the ladder and less productive. He spluttered last year at Elizabethton and improved some there this year before getting a late promotion to Cedar Rapids, and he's barely over the Mendoza line in less than 150 plate appearances in the Midwest League. He's played more outfield than third base for the Kernels.
On Friday, Blankenhorn was the DH and Cabbage started at third base. On Saturday, Cabbage was the DH and Blankenhorn second. On Sunday, Blankenhorn played second and Cabbage entered the game late at first base.
Cabbage drove in the winning run Friday with a sac fly. Blankenhorn homered on Saturday for the only run of the game for either side, and followed that up with a 4-for-5 game Sunday.
Somewhere in my brain, I have linked Blankenhorn and Cabbage to a 1970s Twins third baseman named Mike Cubbage (which is pretty close to Cabbage). Cubbage was a left-handed hitter who platooned at third base for Gene Mauch and occasionally played second. He finished his playing career with the Mets and went on to manage in the minors, coach in the majors and serve as in interim manager with the Mets in 1991.
Cubbage's career might be Blankenhorn's future. Cabbage will have to find his bat to reach that high.
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
A trip to Cedar Rapids: Ben Rortvedt
There are few players on the Cedar Rapids Kernels roster more important to the Twins future than Ben Rortvedt, a left-handed hitting catcher selected in the second round in the 2016 draft.
Rortvedt isn't putting up good numbers for the Kernels. Indeed, backup catcher Caleb Hamilton has hit three times the homers (nine for Hamilton, three for Rortvedt) and has about 50 points of on-base percentage and more than 70 points of slugging percentage on Rortvedt.
Which does not make Hamilton a better prospect. Age matters. Rortvedt was drafted last summer out of high school and has spent the entire season in low A; he isn't the youngest player on the roster (Royce Lewis is), but he's close. Hamilton was also drafted last summer (23rd round) but out of college; he's three years older than Rortvedt.
I didn't see much of Rortvedt; he's been hampered by injury of late, and he played just one of the three games I was at. He went hitless, but he caught a 1-0 shutout.
He got off to a terrible start -- a .096 batting average in April, .175 in May -- and in that sense that he's gotten his average over the Mendoza Line is something of an accomplishment.
Obviously, one would prefer that he be tearing up the league. Rortvedt isn't, and the Twins were probably aggressive in placing him in full season ball this quickly. But his hitting has improved, and he's done the bulk of the catching for a team that ranks second in the Midwest League in runs allowed per game, so he's doing something right behind the plate. The struggles may have hastened his development.
It's going to be a while before Rortvedt appears on the Target Field scoreboard. The Twins probably hope that when Jason Castro's contract is up (he's signed through 2019) that Rortvedt will be close to major league ready. That, it appears right now, would be an aggressive ambition.
Rortvedt isn't putting up good numbers for the Kernels. Indeed, backup catcher Caleb Hamilton has hit three times the homers (nine for Hamilton, three for Rortvedt) and has about 50 points of on-base percentage and more than 70 points of slugging percentage on Rortvedt.
Which does not make Hamilton a better prospect. Age matters. Rortvedt was drafted last summer out of high school and has spent the entire season in low A; he isn't the youngest player on the roster (Royce Lewis is), but he's close. Hamilton was also drafted last summer (23rd round) but out of college; he's three years older than Rortvedt.
I didn't see much of Rortvedt; he's been hampered by injury of late, and he played just one of the three games I was at. He went hitless, but he caught a 1-0 shutout.
He got off to a terrible start -- a .096 batting average in April, .175 in May -- and in that sense that he's gotten his average over the Mendoza Line is something of an accomplishment.
Obviously, one would prefer that he be tearing up the league. Rortvedt isn't, and the Twins were probably aggressive in placing him in full season ball this quickly. But his hitting has improved, and he's done the bulk of the catching for a team that ranks second in the Midwest League in runs allowed per game, so he's doing something right behind the plate. The struggles may have hastened his development.
It's going to be a while before Rortvedt appears on the Target Field scoreboard. The Twins probably hope that when Jason Castro's contract is up (he's signed through 2019) that Rortvedt will be close to major league ready. That, it appears right now, would be an aggressive ambition.
Monday, August 21, 2017
A trip to Cedar Rapids: The pitchers
While the Twins were demolishing the Arizona Diamondbacks during the weekend, I was in Cedar Rapids watching their low A team, the Kernels, sweep the Beloit Snappers.
I wrote at some length about Royce Lewis, the No.1 overall pick in the June draft who is now playing shortstop for Cedar Rapids, for the Monday print column. He's hitting leadoff and sporting a .400 batting average going into today's game, so that's going pretty well.
For this space, I'll spend a few days talking about other things I saw there, starting with the pitchers.
The Kernels held the Snappers to three runs total in the three games. It's difficult to do much better than that at any level.
Still, I doubt I saw any future big league arms working for Cedar Rapids.
Anthony Marzi, who started Friday's game, and Charlie Barnes, who started Saturday's, are pretty much the same pitcher, left-handed strike throwers with modest velocity. The Twins signed Marzi out of an independent league; Barnes was a fourth-round pick out of Clemson University in June. Both are probably a bit old for the league; Marzi certainly is. The scoreboard gun in Veterans Memorial Stadium is notoriously slow, but neither hit 90 in the board reading.
Tyler Beardsley, a right hander who started Sunday, hit higher velocities but was less effective than the other two, although Beloit couldn't do much with him either.
The Twins have moved a number of significant pitching prospects through CR in recent years, and probably the best one to pitch this year for the Kernels is Griffin Jax, who is now on active duty with the Air Force and won't be back in the farm system for two years.
Another pitcher I'll keep in my memory bank is Tyler Watson, the lefty acquirred last month from Washington in the Brandon Kintzler trade. I didn't see him, or Bryan Sammons, the Twins' eight-round pick this June, another college draftee.
I wrote at some length about Royce Lewis, the No.1 overall pick in the June draft who is now playing shortstop for Cedar Rapids, for the Monday print column. He's hitting leadoff and sporting a .400 batting average going into today's game, so that's going pretty well.
For this space, I'll spend a few days talking about other things I saw there, starting with the pitchers.
The Kernels held the Snappers to three runs total in the three games. It's difficult to do much better than that at any level.
Still, I doubt I saw any future big league arms working for Cedar Rapids.
Anthony Marzi, who started Friday's game, and Charlie Barnes, who started Saturday's, are pretty much the same pitcher, left-handed strike throwers with modest velocity. The Twins signed Marzi out of an independent league; Barnes was a fourth-round pick out of Clemson University in June. Both are probably a bit old for the league; Marzi certainly is. The scoreboard gun in Veterans Memorial Stadium is notoriously slow, but neither hit 90 in the board reading.
Tyler Beardsley, a right hander who started Sunday, hit higher velocities but was less effective than the other two, although Beloit couldn't do much with him either.
The Twins have moved a number of significant pitching prospects through CR in recent years, and probably the best one to pitch this year for the Kernels is Griffin Jax, who is now on active duty with the Air Force and won't be back in the farm system for two years.
Another pitcher I'll keep in my memory bank is Tyler Watson, the lefty acquirred last month from Washington in the Brandon Kintzler trade. I didn't see him, or Bryan Sammons, the Twins' eight-round pick this June, another college draftee.
Thursday, September 8, 2016
A trip to Cedar Rapids: Pitchers
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| Tom Hackimer comes from down under. (Photo by Linda Vanderwerf) |
Indeed, the most impressive arm I saw in the two-plus games I attended was Luiz Gohara, a Brazilian lefty who started Saturday for Clinton, a Seattle farm club. He was clocked on the (suspect) stadium gun in the upper 90s regularly. He also had difficulty with the strike zone -- five walks and seven strikeouts in six innings.
Gohara is a prospect -- a guy you can watch and imagine becoming Fransciso Liriano, a power starter. The guys the Kernels started Saturday and Sunday, not so much. Brady Anderson and Sam Gibbons seldom if ever broke 90 on the stadium gun.
I had a comment last year about Gibbons having too much "pitchability" for the Midwest League, and I was a bit surprised that he didn't move up the ladder this spring to the Florida State League. His numbers last year suggested he should move up; his numbers this year suggest that the Twins were correct in leaving him in low A. His numbers deteroriated across the board.
Anderson was signed this summer after going undrafted as a fifth-year senior, and Saturday was almost certainly his worst start as a pro. But his ERA (1.89 for the Appy and Midwest Leagues combined) doesn't mean much to me; he's 23 and has an idea of what he's doing with an offspeed pitch, so he ought to be dominating those levels.
Eduardo Del Rosario started Monday; I saw him throw one inning and liked what I saw. He was in the mid 90s with his velocity, and his delivery appeared smooth and efficient. But he only pitched two innings, and I don't know why it was such a brief outing.
An interesting arm I saw in relief Saturday was Tom Hackimer, who the Twins took in the fourth round out of college. He throws low-sidearm/high submarine. He faced four hitters, got them all out, stuck out two. The Twins haven't had many unconventional deliveries on their staffs over the years.
I didn't see probably the two best pitching prospects on the roster, Michael Cedaroth (who I mentioned in the Tuesday post) and Lachlan Wells, a lefty who was to start the playoff opener last night. Wells, 19, is an Australian (like Gibbons) who put up a 1.77 ERA in 12 starts.
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
A trip to Cedar Rapids: Hitters
The Cedar Rapids Kernels -- the low A affiliate of the Twins -- will be in the the Midwest League playoffs this week as the second half champions of the West Division. It's the fourth straight year the manager Jake Mauer has piloted the Kernels into the league playoffs, and it's all the more impressive because there really isn't much on the roster in terms of high picks and name prospects.
The only player on the roster last weekend who Baseball America listed on its preseason top 31 prospects for the Twins is infielder Travis Blankenhorn, who was their third-round pick in 2015. He's a left-handed hitter who was drafted as a third baseman but has played mostly second base when in the field this year and DH'd more than anything. BA listed him as the Twins 26th prospect in the spring.
He played second base and hit fourth Saturday against a lefty, third base and hit fifth on Sunday against a righty and wasn't in the lineup at all on Monday (another lefty). He did nothing in either game that particularly caught my eye, but Friday was probably a really bad day for everybody on the team -- they'd played (and won) a 16-inning game Thursday night and then had a 5.5 hour bus ride back to Cedar Rapids, so it was probably a really tired squad.
Three other infielders have had interesting seasons.
Luis Arraez, a smallish left-handed hitting second baseman from Venezuela, hit .347 with 31 doubles in a full season with Cedar Rapids, leading the Midwest League in batting average. He's only 19. Baseball Reference lists him as 155 pounds, but the Kernels roster lists him at 175, and I'd say the latter is more likely accurate right now. He started just the one game against a righty (Saturday) and had one hit but stung the ball two other times. He also got hit in the upper chest/neck by a ground ball.
.347 is .347, even in low A, and I would expect Arreaz to show up on prospect lists this winter. He's definitely worth keeping an eye on.
Nelson Molina is a skinny guy -- 6-foot-3, 165 pounds according to the roster and looks it -- but he hit .304, albeit without the doubles power Arraez displayed. The Puerto Rican played third base on Friday and shortstop on Sunday. He's 21, and if he is going to have a future he needs to get stronger.
Zander Wiel is plenty big (6-3, 220) and led the Kernels in home runs and RBIs; in fact, he led the Midwest League in RBIs and was second in homers. We saw him homer on Saturday, his 17th of the season; we left Monday's game early and missed two more homers from him. He hit 15 of his 19 homers in the second half of the season, doubtless a big reason why the Kernels had such a strong second half. But .. he's 23, a bit old for the league, and he's a right-handed hitting first baseman who hit under .260. Right-handed hitters limited to first base have to really mash to get to the majors, and I doubt Wiel qualifies.
The only player on the roster last weekend who Baseball America listed on its preseason top 31 prospects for the Twins is infielder Travis Blankenhorn, who was their third-round pick in 2015. He's a left-handed hitter who was drafted as a third baseman but has played mostly second base when in the field this year and DH'd more than anything. BA listed him as the Twins 26th prospect in the spring.
He played second base and hit fourth Saturday against a lefty, third base and hit fifth on Sunday against a righty and wasn't in the lineup at all on Monday (another lefty). He did nothing in either game that particularly caught my eye, but Friday was probably a really bad day for everybody on the team -- they'd played (and won) a 16-inning game Thursday night and then had a 5.5 hour bus ride back to Cedar Rapids, so it was probably a really tired squad.
Scouting the stat line
Three other infielders have had interesting seasons.
Luis Arraez, a smallish left-handed hitting second baseman from Venezuela, hit .347 with 31 doubles in a full season with Cedar Rapids, leading the Midwest League in batting average. He's only 19. Baseball Reference lists him as 155 pounds, but the Kernels roster lists him at 175, and I'd say the latter is more likely accurate right now. He started just the one game against a righty (Saturday) and had one hit but stung the ball two other times. He also got hit in the upper chest/neck by a ground ball.
.347 is .347, even in low A, and I would expect Arreaz to show up on prospect lists this winter. He's definitely worth keeping an eye on.
Nelson Molina is a skinny guy -- 6-foot-3, 165 pounds according to the roster and looks it -- but he hit .304, albeit without the doubles power Arraez displayed. The Puerto Rican played third base on Friday and shortstop on Sunday. He's 21, and if he is going to have a future he needs to get stronger.
Zander Wiel is plenty big (6-3, 220) and led the Kernels in home runs and RBIs; in fact, he led the Midwest League in RBIs and was second in homers. We saw him homer on Saturday, his 17th of the season; we left Monday's game early and missed two more homers from him. He hit 15 of his 19 homers in the second half of the season, doubtless a big reason why the Kernels had such a strong second half. But .. he's 23, a bit old for the league, and he's a right-handed hitting first baseman who hit under .260. Right-handed hitters limited to first base have to really mash to get to the majors, and I doubt Wiel qualifies.
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
Back home with the loot
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| The jersey was worn on home game Tuesdays by pitcher Michael Cedarroth. I won it in a silent auction Friday. The lunch box was the giveaway for Sunday's regular season finale; |
- Brian Dozier continued to do his Harmon Killebrew impersonation and
- Bryon Buxton had the best five-game stretch of his major league career.
I'm sure I'll have things to say about both in the future ... I've said plenty in the past, after all. But for the next few days I'll post about who and what I saw in the Midwest League games I attended.
What we have here for art is the baseball loot my wife and I brought home Monday.
The Kernels wore these jerseys, based on the Twins jerseys of 1991 (note the World Series patch on the right shoulder), for Tuesday home games. They held a silent auction during Saturday's game. I bid on the Michael Cedaroth jersey and won.
And who, you may ask, is Michael Cedaroth? He's one of the many college relief pitchers the Twins have selected with high draft picks in recent years (specifically, their third-round pick in 2014). He's had some injury issues -- only appeared in 11 games last year, 30 games this year. He struck out 61 men this year for the Kernels in 47.2 innings -- and walked 33. He had a nice ERA (2.45), but that's too many walks.
The other goodie is a lunchbox. We hadn't intended to go to Monday's game, but my wife wanted one of the giveaway lunchboxes, and it was a noon start, so we delayed our departure from Cedar Rapids a couple hours, collected a box, and took off after the first inning, with fans still filing into the park. So we missed the Kernels' one win of the weekend, and Cedaroth's only appearance of the three games we went to.
Thursday, August 13, 2015
A trip to Cedar Rapids: Photographic evidence
Yeah, you're tired of Cedar Rapids posts. Tough. I ain't done yet.
I warned you on Sunday that photos were coming. Here they are. Unless otherwise stated, they were made by my wife, Linda Vanderwerf.
I warned you on Sunday that photos were coming. Here they are. Unless otherwise stated, they were made by my wife, Linda Vanderwerf.
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| Brian Navaretto takes a pitch. (Photo Edward Thoma) |
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| Felix Jose delivers a pitch. |
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| There were fireworks after two of the four games. |
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| Luke Bard fires his warmup pitches Saturday night, when the Kernels wore special jerseys for "Jimmy Buffett Night." |
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| Navaretto sets up behind the plate. He's listed at 6-2, but he folds up nicely. |
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| Nick Gordon in the on-deck circle. (Photo Edward Thoma.) |
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| Australian right-hander Sam Gibbons ran a scoreless innings streak past 28 innings before allowing two runs in the seventh inning on Saturday night. |
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
A trip to Cedar Rapids: Gibbons, English, Larson
During last summer's trip to see the Kernels, I was impressed by Chih-Wei Hu, a right-handed pitcher from Taiwan who had a strong start despite unimpressive velocity.
Hu went on to have a good half-season with Cedar Rapids and followed that with a strong four months with Fort Myers this year before being traded to the Rays at the deadline. (Hu went on the disabled lis tthis week after cutting his left hand on a blender.)
Last week I saw Sam Gibbons, an Australian right-hander who is 6-2, 2.94 for the Kernels in 11 starts, 64.1 innings. As with Hu, he doesn't have a big fast ball, but he clearly has more "pitchability" than the Midwest League can handle. On Saturday he extended a scoreless inning streak into a 29th inning before giving up a pair of runs in the seventh.
I was seated for that game right behind the Kernels dugout, and after one quick inning coach Tommy Watkins turned around and barked at a player behind him: Why can't you be like Sam?
It looks easy, but ... if pitching were easy, everybody could do it.
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Tanner English is a speedy center fielder and leadoff hitter who leads the Kernels in runs, walks, steals, doubles and triples. He is also just one homer shy of the team lead in that category too (he has five).
He's also pretty small. Baseball Reference lists him as 5-10, 160, and I suspect that's exaggerated.
The Twins are pretty loaded with outfield prospects, and while English looks pretty good so far in the lower levels of the system, I'm not sure how he cracks through the likes of Byron Buxton, Eddie Rosario, Max Kepler, Aaron Hicks and Oswaldo Arcia. Size matters.
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Every once in a while I find myself in a pointless argument with somebody who believes with conviction that RBIs are an evaluative stat. Get lots of ribbies, you're a great hitter. The stat savvy realized that RBIs are largely a function of opportunity.
The Kernels have a good example of that. Left fielder Zack Larson is hitting .220 and has yet to homer. But he hit cleanup in all four games I attended, and I was told by local blogger "Jim Crikket" that Jake Mauer's hit him cleanup consistently this year.
Larson leads the Kernels in RBIs not because he's having a good year, but because he's hitting behind English, Nick Gordon and others who are having productive seasons.
Hu went on to have a good half-season with Cedar Rapids and followed that with a strong four months with Fort Myers this year before being traded to the Rays at the deadline. (Hu went on the disabled lis tthis week after cutting his left hand on a blender.)
Last week I saw Sam Gibbons, an Australian right-hander who is 6-2, 2.94 for the Kernels in 11 starts, 64.1 innings. As with Hu, he doesn't have a big fast ball, but he clearly has more "pitchability" than the Midwest League can handle. On Saturday he extended a scoreless inning streak into a 29th inning before giving up a pair of runs in the seventh.
I was seated for that game right behind the Kernels dugout, and after one quick inning coach Tommy Watkins turned around and barked at a player behind him: Why can't you be like Sam?
It looks easy, but ... if pitching were easy, everybody could do it.
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Tanner English is a speedy center fielder and leadoff hitter who leads the Kernels in runs, walks, steals, doubles and triples. He is also just one homer shy of the team lead in that category too (he has five).
He's also pretty small. Baseball Reference lists him as 5-10, 160, and I suspect that's exaggerated.
The Twins are pretty loaded with outfield prospects, and while English looks pretty good so far in the lower levels of the system, I'm not sure how he cracks through the likes of Byron Buxton, Eddie Rosario, Max Kepler, Aaron Hicks and Oswaldo Arcia. Size matters.
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Every once in a while I find myself in a pointless argument with somebody who believes with conviction that RBIs are an evaluative stat. Get lots of ribbies, you're a great hitter. The stat savvy realized that RBIs are largely a function of opportunity.
The Kernels have a good example of that. Left fielder Zack Larson is hitting .220 and has yet to homer. But he hit cleanup in all four games I attended, and I was told by local blogger "Jim Crikket" that Jake Mauer's hit him cleanup consistently this year.
Larson leads the Kernels in RBIs not because he's having a good year, but because he's hitting behind English, Nick Gordon and others who are having productive seasons.
Monday, August 10, 2015
A trip to Cedar Rapids: John Curtiss and Luke Bard
The Twins in the past three years have used a goodly portion of their first-10-rounds draft picks to select college closers. The payoff on those picks so far have been minimal.
Luke Bard is one of those college closers. The Twins took him with the 42nd overall pick in 2012. He pitched seven innings on two levels that year, 13 innings in 2013, none at all last year. It's not much of a foundation for a pro career.
He's 24 now, which is old for the Midwest League, On Saturday night he made his 21st appearance for the Cedar Rapids Kernels, He struck out one in his sole inning of work, allowed two hits (one a scratch infield hit) and no runs. More important, he demonstrated the kind of velocity that intrigued the Twins when he was a collegian at Georgia Tech. He was consistently in the mid-90s on the scoreboard gun; at least one pitch was listed as 97.
The Twins talked in 2012 about trying him as a starter. Two seasons lost to injury have probably derailed that notion. His ERA for Cedar Rapids (2.11) is impressive; his strikeout rate (6.6) is less so. Still, it's the kind of arm one does not discard lightly.
The Twins took John Curtiss in the sixth round last year. He came off the disabled list about the time I showed up in town, and he threw a shutout inning of relief Saturday night. He popped a few mid-90 readings on the scoreboard gun as well.
Curtiss opened the season in the Kernels rotation and made seven starts before going on the shelf for almost two months. His numbers are quite opposite Bard's: A lousy ERA (5.68) and a better K rate (8.8 per nine innings).
Nobody's going to move from the Midwest League straight to the majors, so nobody I watched in Cedar Rapids should be viewed as immediate help for the major league team's beleaguered bullpen corps. That Curtiss and Bard are still in the Midwest League typifies the futility so far of the bullpen draft strategy.
(The Monday print column is about Nick Gordon, the 19-year-old shortstop prospect at C.R. and the fifth overall pick in the 2014 draft. Read it here.)
Luke Bard is one of those college closers. The Twins took him with the 42nd overall pick in 2012. He pitched seven innings on two levels that year, 13 innings in 2013, none at all last year. It's not much of a foundation for a pro career.
He's 24 now, which is old for the Midwest League, On Saturday night he made his 21st appearance for the Cedar Rapids Kernels, He struck out one in his sole inning of work, allowed two hits (one a scratch infield hit) and no runs. More important, he demonstrated the kind of velocity that intrigued the Twins when he was a collegian at Georgia Tech. He was consistently in the mid-90s on the scoreboard gun; at least one pitch was listed as 97.
The Twins talked in 2012 about trying him as a starter. Two seasons lost to injury have probably derailed that notion. His ERA for Cedar Rapids (2.11) is impressive; his strikeout rate (6.6) is less so. Still, it's the kind of arm one does not discard lightly.
The Twins took John Curtiss in the sixth round last year. He came off the disabled list about the time I showed up in town, and he threw a shutout inning of relief Saturday night. He popped a few mid-90 readings on the scoreboard gun as well.
Curtiss opened the season in the Kernels rotation and made seven starts before going on the shelf for almost two months. His numbers are quite opposite Bard's: A lousy ERA (5.68) and a better K rate (8.8 per nine innings).
Nobody's going to move from the Midwest League straight to the majors, so nobody I watched in Cedar Rapids should be viewed as immediate help for the major league team's beleaguered bullpen corps. That Curtiss and Bard are still in the Midwest League typifies the futility so far of the bullpen draft strategy.
(The Monday print column is about Nick Gordon, the 19-year-old shortstop prospect at C.R. and the fifth overall pick in the 2014 draft. Read it here.)
Saturday, August 8, 2015
A trip to Cedar Rapids: Randy Rosario
Randy Rosario cracked a few Twins prospects lists after compiling a 2.82 ERA in 44.2 innings for Elizabethton in 2013. He opened 2014 in Cedar Rapids, making three starts with a 5,56 ERA before having Tommy John surgery. Friday night was his sixth start of the season for the Kernels.
Rosario is a 21-year-old lefty out of the Dominican. His windup motion is at least vaguely reminiscent of Frank Viola's, and he appears to have more lower-body involvement in his delivery than does Felix Jose.
I was seated right behind two Kernels pitchers, Randy LeBlanc and Sam Gibbons, who were charting pitches, and could see their radar gun, which was giving higher velocities than the scoreboard listing. Rosario threw a few mid-90s heaters but sat considerably lower than that, 88 to 90 mph.
What he really had going was movement. He had a pitch, either a sinking fastball or a hard slider, that moved sharply to his glove side (down and in to a right handed hitter). He struck out five men in his 5.2 innings Friday; one of them reached first when the pitch eluded catcher Brian Navarreto, and Navarreto had to throw to first to complete two others.
Rosario and his teammates had an ugly first inning, with three infield errors resulting in two unearned runs. Rosario himself was involved in the ugliness. He fielded a comebacker that should have been turned into a double play but threw low and behind the second baseman covering the bag. The error was charged to the second baseman, but it was still a suboptimal throw from Rosario.
The lefty got through the fifth without allowing another run, but was clearly laboring in the sixth, with more effort showing in his delivery. After getting the first batter out, he allowed a double, wild pitch, single and double before getting a fly ball and then issuing his first walk of the game, at which point manager Jake Mauer pulled him. The reliever, Jared Wilson, issued his own walk to load the bases and then gave up a three-run double.
So Rosario's line for the game: 5.2 innings, nine hits, six runs, four earned, one walk and five strikeouts. It was a better outing than that stat line suggests.
Rosario is young -- a year younger than the Midwest League average -- and he seems to be bouncing back from the ligament replacement surgery well. I think he has a major league future ahead of him, most likely as a reliever, but good health is obviously a necessity for that to happen.
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I commented Friday morning on Navarreto. On Friday evening he went 0-for-5 but gunned out two more would-be basestealers. That makes him 5-for-5 in the three games I've seen. Again, I don't know about his bat, but the catcher can throw,
Rosario is a 21-year-old lefty out of the Dominican. His windup motion is at least vaguely reminiscent of Frank Viola's, and he appears to have more lower-body involvement in his delivery than does Felix Jose.
I was seated right behind two Kernels pitchers, Randy LeBlanc and Sam Gibbons, who were charting pitches, and could see their radar gun, which was giving higher velocities than the scoreboard listing. Rosario threw a few mid-90s heaters but sat considerably lower than that, 88 to 90 mph.
What he really had going was movement. He had a pitch, either a sinking fastball or a hard slider, that moved sharply to his glove side (down and in to a right handed hitter). He struck out five men in his 5.2 innings Friday; one of them reached first when the pitch eluded catcher Brian Navarreto, and Navarreto had to throw to first to complete two others.
Rosario and his teammates had an ugly first inning, with three infield errors resulting in two unearned runs. Rosario himself was involved in the ugliness. He fielded a comebacker that should have been turned into a double play but threw low and behind the second baseman covering the bag. The error was charged to the second baseman, but it was still a suboptimal throw from Rosario.
The lefty got through the fifth without allowing another run, but was clearly laboring in the sixth, with more effort showing in his delivery. After getting the first batter out, he allowed a double, wild pitch, single and double before getting a fly ball and then issuing his first walk of the game, at which point manager Jake Mauer pulled him. The reliever, Jared Wilson, issued his own walk to load the bases and then gave up a three-run double.
So Rosario's line for the game: 5.2 innings, nine hits, six runs, four earned, one walk and five strikeouts. It was a better outing than that stat line suggests.
Rosario is young -- a year younger than the Midwest League average -- and he seems to be bouncing back from the ligament replacement surgery well. I think he has a major league future ahead of him, most likely as a reliever, but good health is obviously a necessity for that to happen.
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I commented Friday morning on Navarreto. On Friday evening he went 0-for-5 but gunned out two more would-be basestealers. That makes him 5-for-5 in the three games I've seen. Again, I don't know about his bat, but the catcher can throw,
Friday, August 7, 2015
A trip to Cedar Rapids: Brian Navarreto
Brian Navarreto is, for me, one of the more intriguing players on the Cedar Rapids roster. Maybe it's not so much Navarreto who intrigues me as the idea of Navaretto -- a young, projectable catcher. The Twins really haven't had one since the Wilson Ramos trade half a decade ago.
Navarreto is one of three catchers the Twins took in the first nine rounds of the 2013 draft, A Puerto Rican who attended high school in Florida, he was the only high schooler among the three backstops. The college guys, Stuart Turner and Mitch Garver, got the higher assignments and remain higher on the organizational totem pole -- Turner at Double A, Garver at High A.
Navarreto is 20 now and still rather young for the Midwest League. He hasn't hit all that well at Cedar Rapids: .242/.271/.301 slash line entering Thursday's game, with just one homer.
Navarreto had two hits in four at-bats Thursday; this followed a one-for-four performance on Wednesday. He struck out once in those eight plate appearances, and hit ground balls in the other seven. He was reputed when drafted to have good power, but power and ground balls don't go well together.
Hitting is only part of the catching job, of course, It's not only a premium defensive position, it is perhaps the most technical and the most difficult for an outsider to evaluate.
But to these decidedly amateur eyes, Navarreto looks like he can be a competent receiver. He did have an awkward passed ball in a crucial situation Thursday -- putting the go-ahead run on third base with no outs in the ninth inning -- but he looks like a quiet, stable receiver.
He certainly throws well. On Wednesday he gunned down a pair of base stealers and picked off another base runner. He's thrown out more than half the would-be base-stealers this year and did the same last year. Throwing is the easiest part of catching to see and perhaps the least important of the defensive skills a good catcher has, but he does have that tool.
The Twins have a catching problem in the majors -- they're going back to Chris Herrmann as Kurt Suzuki's backup -- and there doesn't seem to be a good all-round alternative in the advanced minors. Turner looks like the second coming of Drew Butera, and Josmil Pinto's not only a flawed receiver, he's missed literally months with a concussion.
Navaretto's youth gives him a chance to develop into that kind of catcher, but if it happens, it won't be soon,
Navarreto is one of three catchers the Twins took in the first nine rounds of the 2013 draft, A Puerto Rican who attended high school in Florida, he was the only high schooler among the three backstops. The college guys, Stuart Turner and Mitch Garver, got the higher assignments and remain higher on the organizational totem pole -- Turner at Double A, Garver at High A.
Navarreto is 20 now and still rather young for the Midwest League. He hasn't hit all that well at Cedar Rapids: .242/.271/.301 slash line entering Thursday's game, with just one homer.
Navarreto had two hits in four at-bats Thursday; this followed a one-for-four performance on Wednesday. He struck out once in those eight plate appearances, and hit ground balls in the other seven. He was reputed when drafted to have good power, but power and ground balls don't go well together.
Hitting is only part of the catching job, of course, It's not only a premium defensive position, it is perhaps the most technical and the most difficult for an outsider to evaluate.
But to these decidedly amateur eyes, Navarreto looks like he can be a competent receiver. He did have an awkward passed ball in a crucial situation Thursday -- putting the go-ahead run on third base with no outs in the ninth inning -- but he looks like a quiet, stable receiver.
He certainly throws well. On Wednesday he gunned down a pair of base stealers and picked off another base runner. He's thrown out more than half the would-be base-stealers this year and did the same last year. Throwing is the easiest part of catching to see and perhaps the least important of the defensive skills a good catcher has, but he does have that tool.
The Twins have a catching problem in the majors -- they're going back to Chris Herrmann as Kurt Suzuki's backup -- and there doesn't seem to be a good all-round alternative in the advanced minors. Turner looks like the second coming of Drew Butera, and Josmil Pinto's not only a flawed receiver, he's missed literally months with a concussion.
Navaretto's youth gives him a chance to develop into that kind of catcher, but if it happens, it won't be soon,
Thursday, August 6, 2015
A trip to Cedar Rapids: Felix Jorge
I'm spending a few days looking at the Cedar Rapids Kernels, the Twins' Low-A affiliate in the Midwest League.
Felix Jorge started Wednesday night for CR against the Dayton Dragons (Cincinnati Reds). He's a 21-year-old Dominican right-hander who's been on Twins prospect lists for a couple of years but struggled last year on his first exposure to the Midwest League (9.00 ERA in 39 innings). This time around he's putting much better numbers. He entered Wednesday's start with a 2.49 ERA in 108 innings -- the lowest ERA in the league for any pitcher with at least 100 innings.
Of all the pitchers on the CR roster, Jorge is the one I was most interested in seeing. So naturally he had a rough outing Wednesday.
In truth, he had a rough inning. The Dragons scored five runs in the inning on three singles and two homers. They added an unearned run in the third -- shortstop Nick Gordon committed a two-base error on the first batter and he came around to score -- and the Dragons didn't get another man into scoring position in Jorge's six innings.
His line in the Kernels' 8-3 loss: six innings, seven hits, six runs, five earned, two walks and four strikeouts.
Jorge is very slender. The Kernels list him as 6-3, 180; Baseball Reference lists him as 6-2, 170. I'm not sure he weighs 170. He pitches with a very miminalist, upright motion that seems designed to enhance command at the expense of velocity, but the motion looks easy; he does not appear to be a max-effort guy. He topped out at about 91 mph and threw several pitches in the upper 70s (according to the scoreboard radar gun). He works very quickly -- there were times he had to step off the mound and wait for his fielders to return to their positions after foul balls.
Wednesday was clearly not one of Jorge's better outings, but he was perhaps better than his stats indicate. He's got a chance, but that's true of a lot of Low-A arms. I would expect the Twins to go slowly with him, between his struggles last year when elevated to a new level and the obvious need for him to grow into his body,
Felix Jorge started Wednesday night for CR against the Dayton Dragons (Cincinnati Reds). He's a 21-year-old Dominican right-hander who's been on Twins prospect lists for a couple of years but struggled last year on his first exposure to the Midwest League (9.00 ERA in 39 innings). This time around he's putting much better numbers. He entered Wednesday's start with a 2.49 ERA in 108 innings -- the lowest ERA in the league for any pitcher with at least 100 innings.
Of all the pitchers on the CR roster, Jorge is the one I was most interested in seeing. So naturally he had a rough outing Wednesday.
In truth, he had a rough inning. The Dragons scored five runs in the inning on three singles and two homers. They added an unearned run in the third -- shortstop Nick Gordon committed a two-base error on the first batter and he came around to score -- and the Dragons didn't get another man into scoring position in Jorge's six innings.
His line in the Kernels' 8-3 loss: six innings, seven hits, six runs, five earned, two walks and four strikeouts.
Jorge is very slender. The Kernels list him as 6-3, 180; Baseball Reference lists him as 6-2, 170. I'm not sure he weighs 170. He pitches with a very miminalist, upright motion that seems designed to enhance command at the expense of velocity, but the motion looks easy; he does not appear to be a max-effort guy. He topped out at about 91 mph and threw several pitches in the upper 70s (according to the scoreboard radar gun). He works very quickly -- there were times he had to step off the mound and wait for his fielders to return to their positions after foul balls.
Wednesday was clearly not one of Jorge's better outings, but he was perhaps better than his stats indicate. He's got a chance, but that's true of a lot of Low-A arms. I would expect the Twins to go slowly with him, between his struggles last year when elevated to a new level and the obvious need for him to grow into his body,
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Minor league trip: Additional observations
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| Engelb Vielma was limited to coaching first base during my visit. |
In truth, even if Kohl Stewart matures into Jim Palmer, there will be millions of people who won't know the difference. And the bulk of the players in the Midwest League will never even reach the major leagues, much less become stars.
This is particularly true of the 2014 Cedar Rapids Kernels, a sub-.500 team in a low A league. As I said in an earlier post, there's aren't a lot of prime prospects among the position players. This team is all about the pitching.
There are a few guys of interest. "Jim Crikket," the CR blogger whose Knuckleballs blog is linked to on the siderail, is very impressed with Engelb Vielma, a scrawny 20-year-old shortstop who sustained a concussion in a collision with an outfielder a few days before I arrived.
I did notice Vielma in spring training, particularly as the second base partner to Jorge Polanco when Tom Kelly and roving instructor Sam Perlozzo were working Polanco as a shortstop on a side field. I figured at the time that Vielma was just there to give Polanco a second baseman to work around and with on double play drills.
It's entirely possible that the Kernels have some bats bigger than Vielma, but Crikket loves his defensive range and says Vielma, after not hitting at all in April, has started squaring some balls up.
There's not a lot of evidence in the stats to suggest that Vielma will hit, but Crikket tells me the Twins brain trust thinks very highly of the kid.
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| Mitch Garver is probably a better hitter than receiver right now. |
Garver hit cleanup in all three full games I saw, and he's hit quite well. His defense behind the dish apparently leaves something to be desired, however.
There are probably good things to be said about Chad Christensen, a first baseman-corner outfielder, and Alex Swim, another catcher who's getting considerable time in the outfield, but both are a bit old for the Midwest League. So is Garver, for that matter. All of them are 23.
This team has a lot of college guys for a Midwest League team, and several of them -- Christensen and Swim fit this description -- were signed after their senior seasons, not their junior seasons, as is common among collegians.
It's not a promising sign to have a lineup whose most productive hitters are old for the league and still be sub-.500.
Minor league trip: Kohl Stewart and Nick Burdi
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| Kohl Stewart delivers Friday against the Clinton LumberKings. (Photo by Linda Vanderwerf) |
Cedar Rapids blogger "Jim Crikket" warned me on Thursday: Stewart is kept on a tight pitch count and thus doesn't often work deep into games. (The same is true of the other teenager in the Kernels rotation, Lewis Thorpe, who I will not see pitch on this trip.)
The limits show in Stewart's record: He averages less than five innings a start, which makes it very difficult to pick up the win. His ERA is 2.58, but his won-loss record is 2-5; you can get a loss in a four-inning start, but you can't get a win.
He had no problems with the limits Friday. Stewart went six innings, allowing one run on six hits. He didn't walk anybody, and struck out five.
He has a very compact delivery; even in the windup, the right knee doesn't come close to waist level, and the hands don't rise above the chest. There's even less motion in the stretch; the slide step seems to come naturally to him.
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| Nick Burdi's is a maximum-effort delivery. Notice the back leg kick in his follow- through. (Photo by Linda Vanderwerf). |
He got eight outs on ground balls, five on outfield flies and five on strikeouts. One of the hits off him came on a bunt. He made a very nice defensive play himself, coming off the mound to field a tapper on a short hop and take it to first himself for the out.
Another pitcher I was hoping to see got the ball for the ninth inning: Nick Burdi, the Twins' second-round pick in last month's draft. He threw 12 pitches Friday and struck out the side. I recorded the speed on the park scoreboard for each pitch:
93, 97, 97, 88 (strikeout); 98, 96, 97, 89 (strikeout); 95, 89, 97, 96 (strikeout). Overwhelming stuff, to be sure, with the three high-80s offerings being wicked sliders. I don't think the three hitters Burdi faced even mustered a foul ball.
The word on Burdi around draft time was that he could be fast-tracked to the majors. I sure didn't see anything to contradict that assessment. It's not likely that the Twins would do that, but they could.
Friday, July 11, 2014
Minor league trip: Chih-Wei Hu
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| Chih-Wei Hu works against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. (Photo by Linda Vanderwerf) |
Hu had a rough introduction to the Midwest League. The Kernels committed three throwing errors in the first inning. One of them was his; the others came from the third baseman and the left fielder. Hu gave up three runs on four hits and all those errors in the first inning, all the runs unearned.
And that was pretty much all he gave up. Hu followed that first inning with five scoreless frames, allowing just one more single and walking one. He struck out five.
In comparison to Ryan Eades, the pitcher the previous night, Hu didn't display the top velocity or the slow speeds that got Eades nine strikeouts. He also gave up fewer hard-hit balls. Hu pounded the strike zone and worked a full inning deeper into the contest.
And the Kernels somehow managed to win a game in which they committed five errors.
The Twins gave Hu a $220,000 bonus when they signed him in 2012, so they have a bit of an investment in him, but he isn't a truly high-profile prospect. Just eyeballing the Kernels roster, I can pick out at least seven pitchers who got bigger bonuses.
Which is fine. It takes a lot of pitchers for an organization to find one viable major leaguer. There's a ghastly attrition rate at this level of the minors.
Hu has a long way to go to beat those odds. Thursday was a step in that direction.
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Minor league trip: Ryan Eades
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| Ryan Eades follows through on a pitch Wednesday in Cedar Rapids. (Photo by Linda Vanderwerf) |
The 2014 Kernels are not a strong team, certainly nowhere as good as the 2013 edition was. The true prospects in the lineup are scarce to nonexistent. (I base this on the lack of high-round draft picks and guys who got write-ups in the preseason prospect books.)
The talent is in the pitching staff, and those pitchers are not getting much support.
A case in point would be the hurler I saw Wednesday night, Ryan Eades.
Eades was Minnesota's second-round pick last year, a right-handed pitcher out of Louisiana State. On Wednesday he went five innings, allowing six hits and five runs, all earned.
I promise, he pitched better than that line. He struck out nine men and walked just one (the last batter he faced). Two of the hits were bunt singles. The first three runs scored when the Cedar Rapids center fielder made an ill-advised dive for a single; it got by him and went to the wall for an inside-the-park home run. The other two runs scored after Eades left the game.
Nine strikeouts in five innings is pretty impressive. He entered the game with a K-rate of 7.5 strikeouts per nine innings, so this was far above his usual performance. Eades throws with some velocity, and got several of the strikeouts with off-speed pitches located around the knees.
On the bad side: He didn't get off the mound well for defense, which might have been part of the problem on those bunt singles, and I didn't like his body language when his third baseman booted a grounder. There were two bases stolen on him, both easily, and it wasn't for lack of effort on holding the runners. Lots of pickoff throws, plenty of slide steps, but he couldn't stop the runners.
Eades took the loss in a 5-2 game. He's 5-9 with an ERA of 6.54, which is pretty ugly. What I saw in this one game says he's better than that.
Friday, August 9, 2013
Two games in Cedar Rapids: Random thoughts
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| Adam Brett Walker returns to the dugout after his home run Monday. Max Kepler (22) is about to get in the box. |
As I've mentioned at least once, Terry Ryan, the Twins general manager, attended the Quad Cities series. Here, via the Cedar Rapids Gazette, is what he had to say about some of the Twins prospects.
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Adam Brett Walker II hit his 24th homer of the season in the ninth inning Monday -- too little, too late to be a factor in the game, which the Kernels lost 6-2.
Walker was the Twins third-round pick in the 2012 draft, a big (listed at 6-foot-4, 215 pounds) right-handed right fielder who grew up in Milwaukee and went to college in Florida. He has legitimate power and runs well enough to be eight-for-eight in steal attempts.
Keith Law of ESPN has been asked about ABW2 repeatedly in his chats, and always gives the same response: He's old for the league, the Twins shouldn't be sending college players to the Midwest League, this isn't proving anything.
Beyond that, I'm wary of Walker's walk/strikeout ratio, almost 4 K's for every BB. The .282 batting average is nice, the .548 slugging percentage is very good (especially for the Midwest League), but the on-base percentage is unimpressive. This was also true for Walker in the Appy League last summer.
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| Jake Mauer (12) had a lengthy but non-histronic dispute with the umpire over an interference call Sunday. |
Jake Mauer — older brother of Joe and the Cedar Rapids manager — was thrown out of Sunday's game after Travis Harrison was called out for interfering with the catcher on a Walker steal attempt.
It wasn't until the next inning, when Tommy Watkins emerged from the dugout to coach at third base, that I realized Mauer had been tossed. True to his Mauerness, Jake even got ejected in a low key manner.
Baseball America's annual Tools issue has Jake Mauer voted as the Midwest League's best managerial prospect. I suspect he'll someday emerge onto the major league staff, although Jim Crikket is probably right that it won't happen while Joe is the centerpiece of the roster.
Still, it seems pretty well-established that the elder Mauer is not merely a nepotism hire.
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A food discovery at Veterans Memorial Stadium I'll be sure to repeat in future visits: The fried popcorn shrimp. Yum. It may not be traditional ballpark fare, but I like.
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When I went to a game in May, Niko Goodrum played first base and Jorge Polanco was the shortstop. At these two games, they were at their more accustomed positions, shortstop for Goodrum, second base for Polanco.
They looked pretty good there. Second base is almost certainly a better fit for Polanco's arm than shortstop. Goodrum — listed as 6-feet-4 himself — faces the same "is he too big for shortstop" question that I mentioned in the Correa post.
Polanco continues to keep his batting average above .300 and remains in the middle of the Kernels lineup. Goodrum's slumped of late — his average had fallen below .250 while I was in CR — and while it seems obvious that Polanco will move up to High A next year, I wonder if Goodrum might not wind up repeating Low A.
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