minor lines, 6/29/10
by steve S on Jun 30, 2010 8:19 AM PDT
in They Might Be Giants
Email
PrintHighlights from the Giants' farm: Matt Downs homered and singled, Matt Klimas had three hits in three plate appearances, and Oliver Odle allowed 2 ER in 7.0 IP. Also notable, Jesse Shriner homered and doubled while reaching base four times.
AAA: Fresno lost to Las Vegas 14-3
(after allowing five runs in both the 1st and 3rd innings)
Fresno: 3B Matt Downs: 2 for 4, HR
Las Vegas: 3B Edwin Encarnacion: 3 for 5, HR, 2B, BB, 2 SO, E
Fresno: SP Henry Sosa: 0.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Fresno: RP Tony Pena Jr.: 1.1 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
Fresno: RP Joe Martinez: 2.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 K--1 HR
Fresno: RP Osiris Matos: 2.0 IP, 2 K
Fresno: RP Jesus Guzman: 1.0 IP, 2 BB
Downs had the Grizzlies' only multi-hit line and their only XBH with his 5th HR. The Blue Jays' Encarnacion homered for the third straight day. In seven PCL games, he has an OPS over 1.100 but also five errors.
Sosa had the disaster start, retiring just two of nine batters before being ejected after 41 pitches (27 strikes). In his PCL pitching debut, Pena pitched 1.2 scoreless IP before not retiring any of the five batters he faced in the 3rd inning. Martinez yielded 3 more ER in the 4th inning. After Matos had 2.0 perfect IP in the 7th and 8th innings, Guzman pitched the 9th inning.
AA: Richmond lost to Akron 4-3
(after the score was tied 1-1 through six innings)
Richmond: RF Roger Kieschnick: 2 for 4, 2B, SO
Richmond: 3B Conor Gillsapie: 2 for 4, 2B, SO
Akron: 2B Jason Kipnis: 1 for 4, HR, 2 GiDP
Richmond: SP Daryl Maday: 7.0+ IP, 8 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 1 K--1 HR, 1 E
Kieschnick and Gillaspie each had two of the Flying Squirrels' nine hits. Both hitters have AVGs just above .250. The Indians' Kipnis had his 4th HR in sixteen games since being promoted to the upper minors.
Maday allowed just 2 ER through seven innings but then allowed a leadoff single and committed an error on the subsequent bunt to allow both the tying and go-ahead runs to reach base.
A+: San Jose lost to Visalia 5-3
San Jose: 3B Drew Biery: 1 for 4, HR
San Jose: LF James Simmons: 1 for 3, HR, 2 SO
San Jose: C Matt Klimas: 3 for 3, 2B
Visalia: LF Marc Krauss: 4 for 4, HR, 2B, SB
San Jose: SP Oliver Odle: 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K--1 HB
San Jose: RP Edwin Quirarte: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K--1 HR
Klimas, the Giants' eighth rounder four years ago, played in just his third game of the year. He had three hits in his Cal League debut. Biery had his 8th HR, Simmons his 4th HR. Despite their in-game success, both Simmons and Klimas were replaced by pinch hitters in the 9th inning, who respectively struck out and grounded out. Krauss, the Diamondbacks' second rounder a year ago, had a big game. He connected for his 12th HR with a three-run, one-out shot in the 8th inning.
Perhaps inspired by his successful spot start in the PCL a few days earlier, Odle had perhaps his best start of the year. It was at least his longest start of the year. Quirarte has allowed just 10 ER this year but 7 ER over his last three appearances.
A-: Augusta lost to Charleston 4-2 (8 innings)
(completed early)
Augusta: 1B Luke Anders: 0 for 3, 3 SO
Augusta: DH Hector Sanchez: 2 for 3, 2B
Augusta: RF Ryan Lollis: 1 for 2, BB
Augusta: SP Chris Heston: 8.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 8 K--1 HR, 1 HB
Sanchez had two of the GreenJackets' six hits, including his 11th double. He is now hitting .255/.329/.393 through 145 AB in his first full season. Lollis also reached base twice while Anders managed the hat trick in just three plate appearances.
With 8.0 IP, Heston easily surpassed his previous high of 6.1 IP. Still, his W-L record dropped to 2-9. Since there was one RiverDogs batter in the 9th inning before the game was called facing a reliever, Heston was not credited with a complete game.
ssA: Salem-Keizer defeated Tri-City 11-4
Salem-Keizer: RF Ryan Scoma: 3 for 5, SO
Salem-Keizer: C Jesse Shriner: 2 for 3, HR, 2B, BB, HBP, SO
Salem-Keizer: SP Edward Encarnacion: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 9 K
Salem-Keizer: RP Aaron King: 1.0 IP, 2 K
Shriner had his 3rd HR and 3rd double while reaching base four times. Scoma's three singles raised his AVG to .417 through eleven games.
Concepcion bounced back from his previous two starts (including 8 R in 1.2 IP in his last start) with an impressive 9 K in 5.0 IP. King pitched a perfect 9th inning.
R: Giants defeated Angels 6-1
Scottsdale: DH Carlos Willoughby: 2 for 3, BB, SO, 2 SB
Scottsdale: 3B Jose Cuevas: 3 for 4, HR, SO
Scottsdale: SP Paniaguua: 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K--1 HB, 1 WP
Cuevas, the Giants 29th rounder earlier this month, had three hits, including his first pro HR. Willoughby also reached base three times as he stole a couple more bases.
Paniagua pitched an impressive 5.0 scoreless IP with 7 K in his second start--a nice follow-up to his 8 K in 4.0 IP in his one previous start this year.
DSL: Giants defeated Phillies 6-3
Dominican: DH Luis Vasquez: 3 for 4, SO
Dominican: LF Leonardo Fuentes: 1 for 4, HR
Dominican: RP Marvin Barrios: 4.0 IP, 2 H, 3 K
Vasquez's (19.3 y.o.) three singles raised his AVG to .259 through nine games. Fuentes (17.7 y.o.) had his 2nd pro HR. Barrios (17.9 y.o.) faced just one batter over the minimum in his fourth relief appearance. He has impressive stats so far with 8 H, 1 BB, 1 ER, and 11 K in 12.0 IP.
55 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Odle
Oodles of Odle
WHY IS BENGIE?!
Dearest, Susan - The Patron Saint of Patience
by Lars The Wanderer on Jun 30, 2010 8:24 AM PDT reply actions
Oliver Odle?
OLIVER ODLE?!
Hensley "Bam Bam" Meulens!
Better than you! Mejor que tú! Beter dan jij! 良い場合も! Mehor than abo!
"The trouble with baseball is that it is not played the year round." - Gaylord Perry
by GrahamCrakalaka on Jun 30, 2010 9:57 AM PDT reply actions
Olivia Wilde?
Obviously any links in the above post are probably NSFW
The baseball gods do not always punish the wicked but they will not just allow people to spit in their faces -- Joe Posnanski
I wish I would stop cheating. fuck. this is jctgamer's fault -- jponry
Where’s RafRod?
You can't solve your problems with the same level of thinking that created the problems - Albert Einstein to Brian Sabean
Not good, but hes still only 17.
Hensley "Bam Bam" Meulens!
Better than you! Mejor que tú! Beter dan jij! 良い場合も! Mehor than abo!
"The trouble with baseball is that it is not played the year round." - Gaylord Perry
by GrahamCrakalaka on Jun 30, 2010 10:10 AM PDT up reply actions
It really is an ugly line though. “He’s only 17” is a much more persuasive line when connected to, for instance, Wilmer Flores putting up a .264/.305/.332 in the Sally. Not that impressive but he’s only 17.
.167/.255/.214 gets a little difficult to spin positive except with the ol’ faithful SSS. Hopefully we’ll see some summer swelling to those numbers.
Panda put up a .330/.383/.425 line in the NWL at 18, that was the year I fell for him.
My Bucardo is better than yours.
A hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter's myth, it is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money.
The stats don’t distress me as much as the eyewitness reports from RichH that RafRod looks slow, awkward, and un-athletic in the field and at the plate. I always thought that his selling point was that he was a toolsy, athletic kid that we needed to mold into a player.
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
I think that you’re thinking of AnVil. RafRod was the athletic, speedy, toolsy opposite of AnVil. He certainly has never exhibited raw power anywhere that he’s played.
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
I’m not sure how you could know that he has never exhibited raw power, unless you watched him take BP in the Dominican Republic or something. It’s RAW power. You can’t know if he has it or not based on his stats.
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/international-affairs/2008/266516.html
At 6-foot-5, 198 pounds, Rodriguez has good raw power and a projectable hitter’s frame. A righthanded batter, Rodriguez has plenty of tools—he’s an above-average runner with an above-average arm—but some scouts weren’t sold on his hitting mechanics and overall feel for hitting.
Toolsy, yes, with raw power being the most important tool.
I was promised lasagna.
He does have a decent arm
But overall looks slow and uninterested. I hope sincerely that what I’ve seen to date is not him going all out.
I was told by one of the players that he was drafted based on a bp performance. I hope that isn’t the case.
Adopted father of Brian Bocock, Brad Boyer, Sharlon Schoop, Shane Jordan, Jeremiah Luster,Trey Webb,David Quinowski, and Jeff Arnold.
"GM Jack Zduriencik is one of the sharper tools in the shed. Elsewhere in that shed, Brian Sabean continues to pound screws into bricks with a garden rake."
It’s hard to figure those things out with a 17 year old though, because they can still be in the awkward phase and not fully in control of their body yet.
My Bucardo is better than yours.
A hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter's myth, it is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money.
RafRod has never displayed raw power, whether in BP or against live pitching. He’s never been one to put on a HR display in BP, even in the DR, or rip a towering HR every once in a while in a game when he luckily makes contact. ToJo has raw power, Chris Dominguez has raw power, AnVil has raw power. Under your definition of raw power, any big, strong guy that picks up a bat could be said to have raw power, regardless of how he actually swings the bat. Granted, some excitedly projected raw power from him because of his size and strength, and that’s what the BA blurb that you quoted is trying to say. However, his main selling points on signing with the Giants was that he already had above-average speed, above-average contact rate, an above-average batting eye, and an above average arm; and he already played average-D in the outfield, while his speed and athleticism led scouts to project above-average D.
And, yes, stats will show a prospect that has raw power – the main one being isolated Power. RafRod’s iso last season was .063 and so far this year it’s .047. He only has 9 XBH in 198 career ABs, with no HRs. There’s absolutely nothing “powerful” about that (although it is raw), despite his low age.
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
RafRod has never displayed raw power, whether in BP or against live pitching. He’s never been one to put on a HR display in BP, even in the DR
This is obviously just made up. You didn’t see him play in the DR. Why would you write something that is clearly made up?
Granted, some excitedly projected raw power from him because of his size and strength, and that’s what the BA blurb that you quoted is trying to say
No, what it actually said, is that “Rodriguez has good raw power”. That is the exact quote.
Here’s another BA scouting report, from 2009:
“Rodriguez profiles perfectly as a right fielder with big-time power potential—’He hits golf balls in B.P.,’ Alou said.”
However, his main selling points on signing with the Giants was that he already had above-average speed, above-average contact rate, an above-average batting eye, and an above average arm
What are you basing this on? Show me one scouting report that said he had a good batting eye.
And, yes, stats will show a prospect that has raw power – the main one being isolated Power. RafRod’s iso last season was .063 and so far this year it’s .047. He only has 9 XBH in 198 career ABs, with no HRs
No, Isolated Power isn’t a measure of raw power. It’s measure of actual, in game power. So are XBH. So are HR’s.
I was promised lasagna.
The 2 BA articles that you cite are basically getting their info from John Barr and Felipe Alou, and what they said at the time of RafRod’s signing. It is my contention that the guy who wrote the article, misunderstood or mistranscribed what was being said, and reported that RafRod “has raw power” at the time of his signing.
If you look at my 2 sources, you get the opposite quotes:
http://www.hot-prospects.net/baseball-prospects/rafael-rodriguez-san-francisco-giants-of.html
Money quote:
Rodriguez has immense power potential and 5-tool athleticism
You see that his 5-tool athleticism is described in the present tense – he already possessed it, but his immense power (another term for raw power) is only “potential” – he didn’t currently possess it.
Money quote:
Felipe Alou was very impressed by his bat speed and hand-eye coordination, mentioning that he didn’t see him swing and miss at a pitch against more advanced competition.
Notice this is all in the present tense. This is Alou’s way of saying he makes great contact and has a good eye.
Now let’s back that article up with what Baggs reported at the time:
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/extrabaggs/2008/07/13/giants-give-25-million-birthday-present-to-rafael-rodriguez/
Money quote:
Rodriguez is big — 6 foor-5 and 195 pounds — and plays an athletic right field. He has a strong arm, is a good runner and projects to hit for power.
Once again we see that the scout (John Barr) states that he already possesses: athleticism, a strong arm, and good speed, but his power is only projectable (in other words it’s not in his current arsenal).
Money quote:
I haven’t seen him swing and miss yet," Alou said. "He takes major league BP. He hits golf balls in BP. He’s a big kid and has a huge strike zone but he covers it pretty good. He can run pretty good and he tracks the ball in right field well. He’s going to get bigger and stronger
Once again, no talk about his current power, just that he makes hard contact (“major league BP”) and that he’s going to get bigger and stronger in the future, which is Alou’s way of saying he should develop power in the future.
Another point of contention between us is that you don’t agree with my statement that RafRod was signed mainly for his tools and athleticism, not his “raw power” – that was something that they hoped would develop. Well let’s look at the last quote from the BA article that you stand by:
“From a tools perspective,” said one international scouting director, “you’re not gonna find a better kid.”
Once again, we see a scout pointing to his tools as the main draw, not his power, raw or otherwise. As anybody can read for themselves, all of the scouts quoted in these 3 articles back up my contention, not yours. The only person to speak of his current “raw power” is the BA guy that wrote the article. He’s not a scout himself, and I’m sure that he never saw RafRod play before writing his article. When he writes that RafRod “has good raw power” you’ll notice that it’s not a direct, or indirect, quote – in fact it’s not sourced at all.
So, now were left only with how to define the term “raw power”. You clearly contend that “raw power” and “potential power” are one and the same thing. You are stating that any prospect that may develop immense power in the future, but does not currently display it, can be said to have raw power. I, on the other hand, contend that for a person to be said to have “raw power” they must currently display it at least once in a while with their bat in the field of play. Of course, a prospect with raw power will very often have big problems making consistent contact and often have even more problems truly squaring up the ball on their bat, but when they do eventually square it up the ball takes off like a shot for a HR or a laser-like line drive to the fences. As I posted previously, this perfectly describes Giants’ prospects like Joseph, Dominguez and AnVil. They all have raw power, and in the cases of ToJo and Anvil, displayed it on the field even when they were well-below the typical age for the league(s) they were playing in.
RafRod, still to this day, has not developed raw power. Even when he squares up a ball he’s not hitting it to the fences in the NWL. And, since he’ll turn 18 next month, you can’t continue to use the excuse that he is so very young for the league he’s in. Right now he’s the same age as the HS seniors that were just drafted and are playing their first season in the pros.
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
Well there’s a couple key issues there. 1) you don’t “develop” raw power you have it, and yes raw power is potential power, not game power, you’ll frequently hear scouts say that the development issue is getting a player to translate their raw power into game power, the two things are considered quite distinctly separate (Schierholtz for instance has tremendous raw power, but for whatever reason I think we have seen that he’s completely unable of translating that to game power at the major league level); and 2) power is one of the most important tools a prospect can have, so when they talk about what a find he is from a 5 tools perspective, then power is an important aspect of that.
Also, surely Cookyman is correct that your above post heavily implies that you watched him take BP in DR on more than one occasion, which is if nothing else, given the close reading you were giving to the verb tenses of a non-native English speaker, a lesson in and of itself of the ambiguities involved in interpreting what people meant from what they said.
My Bucardo is better than yours.
A hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter's myth, it is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money.
You’re right, that power is one of the 5 tools, and that people scouting RafRod at the time of his signing were quoted saying that he was a 5-tool athlete. However, these same people were quoted at the same time as specifically saying he has power potential or projectable power. That says to me that he had 4 of the 5 tools, but not the power tool. This wouldn’t be the first time that people threw that term “5-tool” around quite imprecisely.
Secondly, you wrote:
your above post heavily implies that you watched him take BP in DR on more than one occasion
I dispute that I implied any such thing. I made no implicit contention that I was speaking from what I witnessed with my own eyes. What I did do was synthesize what I had read from people that had actually watched RafRod’s BPs. These would be Alou, Barr, and the un-named scout from the 2 articles I linked to above. When AnVil and ToJo were signed, and since they’ve been in the Giants farm system, I’ve read numerous accounts of their awesome displays of raw power in BP sessions, and actually seen vids posted of them slamming HRs in BP or hitting contests. With RafRod, I’ve never seen or read any accounts of people extolling his displays of HR hitting in BP. Not when he was signed, and not in the 2 years since he’s been in the Giants farm system. Since he’s never displayed raw power in an actual game while in our system, I don’t think that it’s a stretch to assume that if he was putting on power hitting displays in BP that we wouild have heard about it by now from some witnesses in AZ, or at least in rumors, since he is a well-documented bonus-baby.
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
I made no implicit contention that I was speaking from what I witnessed with my own eyes
Meet my good friend Context:
He certainly has never exhibited raw power anywhere that he’s played.
I’m not sure how you could know that he has never exhibited raw power, unless you watched him take BP in the Dominican Republic or something
RafRod has never displayed raw power, whether in BP or against live pitching. He’s never been one to put on a HR display in BP, even in the DR
I was promised lasagna.
Also, worth noting, you quoted Alou saying “he hits golf balls in BP” but apparently you don’t understand what that phrase means. “To hit golf balls” in baseball terms, is to hit balls so far that they look like tiny golf balls against the sky. In other words, that quote is saying that he put on power displays in BP.
My Bucardo is better than yours.
A hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter's myth, it is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money.
I don’t think that there’s 1 commonly-accepted interpretation of the term “hitting golf balls” in referral to baseball. I’ve always interpreted it to mean that the batter is hitting the ball on the screws and it goes screaming off the bat like a golf ball of a golf club. In other words, the batter is always squaring up the baseball on his bat like a golfer does on the driving range (which is easy to do since the golf ball isn’t moving when you swing at it). While I don’t dipute that you’re interpretation makes logical sense too, the term that I’ve always heard to describe what you wrote is “moon shot” – as in that guy was hitting moon shots in BP. Although, I’ll be the first to admit that interpreting Felipe Alou’s quotes is not something that I’ve ever been adept at – nobody is ever going to get the idea that English isn’t his 2nd language after hearing from him.
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
Yeah, you interpret that one wrong. It means to make baseballs look tiny. And generally speaking, all idiomatic phrases have commonly accepted connotations — that’s what makes them idioms.
My Bucardo is better than yours.
A hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter's myth, it is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money.
OK, you just don’t know what “raw power” means. You could have made this clear in the first comment; it would have saved both of us some time.
I do find this amusing, though:
As anybody can read for themselves, all of the scouts quoted in these 3 articles back up my contention, not yours.
Not just because it’s silly and pretty dickish, but also because of what it followed. Some quotes:
“It is my contention that the guy who wrote the article, misunderstood or mistranscribed what was being said, and reported that RafRod "has raw power" at the time of his signing.”
“This is Alou’s way of saying he makes great contact and has a good eye.”
“he’s going to get bigger and stronger in the future, which is Alou’s way of saying he should develop power in the future.”
“Granted, some excitedly projected raw power from him because of his size and strength, and that’s what the BA blurb that you quoted is trying to say.”
This is just from your last 2 comments. You very clearly don’t think people can read for themselves. You don’t think they can speak or write for themselves either, for that matter. You act like everything the scouting reports say is in another language that you have to translate for us. And, surprisingly, once you translate it back to English, it suddenly supports you claims.
I mean, seriously, read this again:
“The 2 BA articles that you cite are basically getting their info from John Barr and Felipe Alou, and what they said at the time of RafRod’s signing. It is my contention that the guy who wrote the article, misunderstood or mistranscribed what was being said, and reported that RafRod "has raw power" at the time of his signing.”
Do you not realize how ridiculous this looks? It’s beyond grasping for straws. This one so blatantly contradicts you, that you actually claim that it was written by mistake. Based on what, exactly?
I was promised lasagna.
Is there anything my son cannot do?
Needs to work on lowering his WHIP though.
Proud Adoptive Parent of Jesus Guzman, who has been resurrected and has returned to..(reads)...Fresno? And is also an outfielder now.
Bochy: What’s this fancy stat here?
IT Guy: That’s how often they get on base. I do not know why you keep asking me, I am here to fix your server.
Nothing matters. We will never be good again. I hate baseball.
Sometimes, there's a man...well, he's the man for his time and place.
Always look on the bright side of life
If this keeps up BS and BB probably get fired in the offseason, and the incoming new braintrust gets a better draft position in a draft year that his supposed to be loaded and deep.
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
This is, realistically, now our best hope.
"Row(and) will come out of this. You stay with your guys and he is one of our guys." - Bruce Bochy 05-31-10
"...and with Titanic's transverse bulkheads and watertight doors, it renders this vessel practically unsinkable." - "Shipbuilder" magazine, 1912
In the past 6 days alone we’ve slid from #21 to #15. At that rate, in about 5 more weeks we should be competing with Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Cleveland for the right to draft Rice’s Rendon next June!
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
Also, another bright point. Just like in 2008, the worse it gets the more likely it is that the vets like Bengie, Rent, Burrell, and Rowand get benched and youngsters like Posey, Nate, and Bowker get significant time starting at their natural positions.
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
Marvin Barrios
Keep your eyes on this young Panamanian. He’s a total bean-pole (6’3", 145 – the batter’s probably can’t even see him when he stands sideways on the mound), but obviously has hot stuff. I only worry if he has the physique to stand up to the physical demands of being a starter. He might have to end up in the pen.
Also, Steve your math is wrong. Barrios is only 17.75 years old. He’ll be 17 for the entire season, then turn 18 on Sept. 23rd. In other words, if he was an American he’d have just graduated from high school last month – although he’d have been one of the youngest guys in his class.
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
Leonardo Fuentes
I just noticed that you got his age wrong too. He’s only 17.6 years old (DOB=11/29/92).
I think that I see what you’re doing. The age of these Caribbean prospects have been falsified so often that you’re adding in your own fudge-factor. LOL
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
i think he’s going by [Yr.Mo] like [IP]
by TimLaser and MattyC on Jun 30, 2010 11:22 AM PDT up reply actions
Oh, now I see the year.month thing. I was wondering what Steve was doing. I’ll just vote now that I hate that designation, just as much as I hate the 1.1 and 1.2 designations for fractions fo innings pitched. If they don’t want to use decimals, then don’t use decimal points. Whomever started that a million years ago was an a$$. I know, it was to save ink and type-space for newspapers, but 1#1 and 1#2 would work, as would 1_1, 1_2, just as well.
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
Interesting to see how this conversation evolves. When I first started adding DSL lines to this series what I think was a couple years ago, I began by always remarking the player’s age (e.g., “the 17-year-old Fuentes …”). Comments (unsolicited) I then received suggested going to this alternative to save keystrokes (e.g., “Fuentes (17.7 y.o.) …”). I’ve converted to that convention and have continued doing so since.
My impression is that age is very important when evaluating the context of DSL stats and performance, so I try to always include it. The same argument could probably also be made for the AZL, but there I generally don’t include age. I think I came up with this quip several years ago: “If the player is old enough to legally buy beer, his AZL stats are meaningless.” I think that is generally true, but I would put several qualifiers on that.
I will also note that I calculate the age every time I post it, so there are likely to be mistakes. I also start rounding off a bit sometimes. So for example, if a player had a birthday on 07/04/1992, I might refer to him as (18.0 y.o.) although he has not actually reached his 18th birthday yet.
I am also a bit surprised at the comments about those who dislike listing innings in #.1 or #.2. I and most of the people I personally know prefer it that way.
I didn’t mean any of this to reflect on your work. You do a yeoman’s job and it’s much-appreciated around here, if not always stated. I just had no idea that the year.month method was something that was common use by you and on other sites. This was the first I was aware of it. If I had ever seen a 17.10, 17.11, or 17.12 posted I would have figured it out on my own.
As for the innings thing, I’m probably way in the minority there, but I use numbers and math so much in my work that I hate it when I have to re-interpret a decimal point while read baseball “statistics.” Would it have killed them to write it as 1,1 or 1,2 or something equivalent so that it wouldn’t be confused with the decimal point that is used in every other baseball statistic that is printed and published before and after it, when it first became accepted practice more than a century ago?
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
FWIW, I think I probably shared many of your initial reactions, and now I am just used to those conventions. If I’m not mistaken, don’t many Europeans use a comma where we use a period for a decimal point? Just noting that a lot of this is convention, and there is some inevitable confusion where we employ a fairly limited number of symbols, use those same symbols in different ways, and only context can inform of us of the way it is being used.
Fuentes is really having a nice little season in the DSL. Very strong OBP, and not bad SLG for a 17 year old. Not quite on the level of Miguel Sano, who’s 6 months younger and putting up a .997 OPS, but still Fuentes .275/.359/.450 is piquing my interest. I’ll be interested to see what he can do in the AZL next year.
I had Armando Paniagua on my watch list this year and he’s definitely proving watch worthy. Kendry Flores (also on my personal list), not so much.
Also, please play Izturis every day somewhere. That is all.
My Bucardo is better than yours.
A hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter's myth, it is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money.
Flores
With Flores it’s early in the season, and it could just be jitters. He’s young and away from his country for the 1st time.
The thing that worries me about him is his mechanics. Check out these 3 pics showing different aspects of his delivery. What I see from these pics is:
1. He has a short stride towards the plate.
2. He plants his front foot quite early in his motion.
3. His lower body is very stiff throughout his delivery.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joepun/4731274485/in/set-72157624226575429/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joepun/4731920860/in/set-72157624226575429/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joepun/4731919960/in/set-72157624226575429/
Because of this he seems to be throwing mostly with his arm and not getting much out of his lower body. He obviously has an athletic build and natural flexibility, but he’s not taking advantage of it. I bet if they worked on his mechs that he could easily add 3-5 mph to his velocity.
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
FLA
He’s just using the . as a divider between years and months. So someone who is 17 years and 11 months old would be “17.11”
Thus, “17.9” is, in fractions, 17 3/4.
"Row(and) will come out of this. You stay with your guys and he is one of our guys." - Bruce Bochy 05-31-10
"...and with Titanic's transverse bulkheads and watertight doors, it renders this vessel practically unsinkable." - "Shipbuilder" magazine, 1912
Flying Squirrels in the All-Star Game!
On a happier note, 4 of the Richmond Flying Squirrels have been selected to play in the AA Eastern League All-Star Game, scheduled to be played on July 14th in Harrisburg, PA.
Thomas Neal
Brandon Crawford
Darryl Maday
Rafael Cova
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
Are Crawford and Neal great on defense, cuz their offense does not WOW me?
The money lies in the RBIs
-- Jeff Kent
wow, looking at the Eastern League batting stats, we see that Jaxon Williams is just ahead of Beau Mills, who is repeating this level. And some of us threw ourselves down elevator shafts when the Giants didn’t draft Mills.
proud, yes I said proud, adoptive papa of "Geno" Eugenio Velez
by foothillsfan on Jun 30, 2010 12:03 PM PDT up reply actions
Crawford is supposed to be fantastic at SS
I believe Neal is around average.
Juan "Doesn't Cheat The Game" Perez, please keep hitting.
Fantastic?
I’ve never heard anything like that. Reports seem to range from solid to good.
I was promised lasagna.
Considered to be plus defensively
I guess if you don’t want to call that fantastic, and only reserve that for plus-plus, then fine.
Juan "Doesn't Cheat The Game" Perez, please keep hitting.
I believe the consensus is that Crawford is above-average to plus at SS. Meanwhile, Neal is above-average in LF, but has a plus arm. Some evaluators tend to devalue Neal’s D because he played a full year at 1B and DH in 2008 while at Augusta. They think that signals the fact that he is a weak defender. However, that was done solely to protect his re-habbed shoulder (that caused him to miss basically all of the 2007 season). Neal has wheels and great range for a LF.
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
Neal
11th in the league in RBIs, 23rd in slugging , 27th in OPS. That, plus his reputation, gets him into the allstars.
proud, yes I said proud, adoptive papa of "Geno" Eugenio Velez
by foothillsfan on Jun 30, 2010 11:50 AM PDT up reply actions
looking at other shortstops in the league—
some of them are old: Mayerson and Luis Hernandez
the only youngish ones hitting better than Brandon are Danny Espinosa and Yamaico Navarro.
proud, yes I said proud, adoptive papa of "Geno" Eugenio Velez
by foothillsfan on Jun 30, 2010 12:00 PM PDT up reply actions
Nice to see TPJ go to Fresno
Still somewhat optimistic about Klimas
Why is Joey a reliever?
Proud father of Mike Krukow (who is more than 3 times my age)
Grab Some Pine, Meat
Still cheering for Kevin Frandsen
John Bowker: One of the 3 best OF's on the Giants roster
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on McCovey Chronicles
Related FanShots on McCovey Chronicles
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
