I understand that running a minor league team is a constant swirl of promotions and shucking your heart out, but still I just have to say...
The Jumanji Jerseys are in! Check these out in person next Thursday. Tickets: http://t.co/SBxKVyS61G pic.twitter.com/RRSXEMswfi
— Squirrels Baseball (@GoSquirrels) June 18, 2015
STOP THIS, SQUIRRELS! STOP THIS RIGHT NOW! Jumanji night indeed!
This is a subscriber only piece (subscribe to BP, it's like the cost of a latte at Starbucks once a month!), but Doug Thorburn has a couple pieces looking at the bio-mechanics of all the pitchers taken in the first round of this year's draft. It's in two pieces but this is the one with the bit on Bickford. Very interesting. I'm ready to be enthused. Bickford gets a very very high mark for his ability to repeat his fastball delivery.
HIGHLIGHTS: Ryder Jones went 2 for 3 with a triple and a walk. Aramis Garcia Homered and walked twice. Eric Sim struck out the side in his first appearance as a full-time Pitcher.
Sacramento lost to Reno (Diamondbacks), 6-4
|
Name |
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
SO |
SB |
CS |
Other |
RF |
Brett Jackson |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
SS |
Ehire Adrianza |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
HBP |
3b |
Adam Duvall |
5 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
E (12) |
C |
Hector Sanchez |
4 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
LF |
Ryan Lollis |
4 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
2b |
Carlos Triunfel |
4 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Name |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
K |
HR |
HB |
WP |
ERA |
Nik Turley |
6.1 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
8.34 |
Cody Hall |
0.2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2.97 |
Braulio Lara, BS, L, 0-5 |
0.0 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
9.26 |
#RiverCats drop the series opener to the Reno @Aces 6-4. http://t.co/1sTkL1t5lb pic.twitter.com/MluNPeLx2n
— River Cats (@RiverCats) June 19, 2015
Sacramento started this game with a four run outburst in the top of the 1st. Back to back doubles from Hector Sanchez and Ryan Lollis were the thrust of the rally, which featured four of the RiverCats nine hits for the game as well as Adrianza's walk which began it. Of course, there are doubles and then there are doubles...
Unfortunately, the team would not fulfill Johnny Doskow's (? I'm assuming Johnny's the PxP voice on their TV feed) hopes for a big breakout game as the offense would mostly go dormant the rest of the night. They produced five more hits (all singles) and four walks but no more runs. Though six of the starting eight got hits on the night, Travis Ishikawa took the 0fer, breaking his modest nine game hitting streak.
Ryan Lollis, organizational swiss army knife, continues to have a fantastic 2015. Across three levels he's hitting .355/.431/.483. And Evan would warmly approve of his 25 BB to 33 Ks peripherals. He's also played all three OF positions, and all of them pretty well. He's a guy I would really love to see get a big league debut at some point.
It looked for most of the night like that first inning outburst would hold up, however, as Nik Turley had, perhaps, his best start of the year. It was his longest outing for Sacramento and he also recorded a season high in Ks. It might have been a better outing had it not been his longest of the year, however, as he was ineffective going out for the 7th. He allowed a single, a line drive out, a WP, a two-run HR, and a walk before Cody Hall relieved him. Hall closed out the 7th, but those two runs were the start of a late inning rally that exploded in the 8th against Braulio Lara and Cody Gearrin. Lara didn't retire any of his three batters, though his final batter hit a grounder to 3b that Adam Duvall missed allowing two runs to score. That tied the game and Gearrin would allow two more to score before the inning was over for a tough late inning loss. With Broadway and Strickland in SF, the Sacramento bullpen which was the strength of the team for the first two months, looks much more vulnerable.
Richmond lost to Harrisburg (Senators), 7-6
winning their three game series, 2-1
|
Name |
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
SO |
SB |
CS |
BA |
SS-2b |
Kelby Tomlinson |
4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
.335 |
LF |
Devin Harris |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
.256 |
CF |
Daniel Carbonell |
4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.146 |
P |
Tyler Beede |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.500 |
Name |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
K |
HR |
HB |
WP |
ERA |
Tyler Beede, L, 1-1 |
4.2 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3.06 |
Phil McCormick |
0.0 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2.05 |
Stephen Johnson |
2.1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4.15 |
At the end of 4 innings, the Squirrels social media folks sent out this tweet:
Tyler Beede is settling in nicely in his 3rd AA start. He is through 4 innings and has retire the last seven batters he's faced. 4-1, RVA.
— Squirrels Baseball (@GoSquirrels) June 19, 2015
That turned out to be unfortunate timing, because stuff proceeded to happen in the 5th. It wasn't really bad stuff, mostly a couple ground balls through the hole. But he hurt his cause with two walks, one to start the rally on 5 pitches, and one on a long battle with Brian Goodwin that ended his night. The usually reliable Phil McCormick allowed both inherited runs to score and a 4-1 lead entering the inning was suddenly a 7-4 deficit coming out of it. The Squirrels scored twice in the 9th on a Kelby Tomlinson triple and an error on a Mac Williamson groundball, but they couldn't get the tieing run in and hopes for a sweep were gone.
Tomlinson, who had a BB in addition to the triple has reached base in 14 consecutive games and 26 of the last 28. Quite a first half for Kelby, who seems certain to make the EL All Star Game.
Richmond's two-run rally in the second came in spectacularly unexpected fashion. Jackson Williams started things off with a single before Dan Carbonell knocked him in with a triple, only his 6th XBH of the year. Then Beede, in his very first professional PA, ripped a booming double to bring in Carbonell. Was this Beede's first time at bat since High School? Seems likely. Proud father Walter Beede had things to say!
Maybe @VandyBaseball may have wanted to let Tyler Beede hit a few times? Just saying ,he can RAKE! #LetTyhit http://t.co/N9iYEwnfbn
— walter beede (@baseballifer11) June 19, 2015
If you click on Walter's facebook link in the tweet, you can see Tyler's double in all its (fuzzy) glory.
San Jose lost to Inland Empire (Angels), 6-4
|
Name |
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
SO |
SB |
CS |
BA |
CF |
Seth Harrison |
5 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
.278 |
DH |
Hunter Cole |
5 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.323 |
2b |
Austin Slater |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.293 |
3b |
Ryder Jones |
3 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.291 |
Name |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
K |
HR |
HB |
WP |
ERA |
Jose Reyes, L, 0-2 |
5.2 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
9.45 |
Christian Jones |
1.1 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4.71 |
Jake Smith |
2.0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2.91 |
The news continues to be pretty bleak from Muni. The Giants did knock out 10 hits in this game, with Harrison, Jones, and Brandon Bednar (subbing for a resting Arroyo) all recording two hits, and they added two walks. But they couldn't put much together in terms of scoring. Of their four runs on the night, three scored in the 9th on a bases clearing dropped fly ball (sadly for Jesus Galindo he wasn't in Sacramento where they apparently would have scored it a double).
The best line on the night was certainly Ryder Jones'. With two hits and one of the team's two walks, he was the only SJ hitter to reach base three times, and he also recorded the only SJ XBH on the night with his first triple of the year. Ryder has 2 hits in 6 of his last 10 games.
On the mound, SJ continues to struggle to fill the hole in the rotation that Beede left with his promotion. Andrew Leenhouts, who was bombed in his two starts was shipped down to Salem-Keizer, and Jose Reyes has had very little success in his three SJ starts since coming up from Augusta. His K9, which was nearly 9 in Augusta (8.74) is down to 4.05 in SJ. He's also surrendered 4 HRs in just 13 IP in the Cal League, and rather amazingly all 4 have come at home in the Muni, the league's toughest HR park (it's amazing because he also had a start in High Desert, in which he didn't have a HR).
Another guy who's had a touch of homeritis this year is Jake Smith, but when he keeps it in the park he's having a fantastic year in the SJ pen, probably the best reliever other than Slania on the team. At 25, Smith is significantly old for A+, but he's shown good velo and a sharp slider this year in boosting his K9 up to 10.88.
Augusta beat Lexington, 11-6
winning their three game series, 2-1
|
Name |
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
SO |
SB |
CS |
BA |
CF |
Johneshwy Fargas |
4 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
.298 |
RF |
Cristian Paulino |
4 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.299 |
C |
Aramis Garcia |
3 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.222 |
3b |
Jonah Arenado |
5 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.282 |
1b |
Skyler Ewing |
5 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.223 |
DH |
Dylan Davis |
4 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.216 |
SS |
Jeremy Sy |
3 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
.221 |
LF-RF |
Andrew Cain |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.194 |
Name |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
K |
HR |
HB |
WP |
ERA |
Pat Young |
4.0 |
6 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
4.44 |
Rodolfo Martinez |
1.0 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3.92 |
#AGJ keep their 1st half championship hopes alive with a 11-6 win tonight! #CatchTheBuzz http://t.co/iL1GUttsS7… pic.twitter.com/bb3nQY0Mvc
— Augusta GreenJackets (@GreenJackets) June 19, 2015
Augusta had the only Win for the Giants' affiliates in the states yesterday, and in doing so they climbed back to .500 for the season and staved off elimination for another day. So here's their situation with regards to the first half division title. Augusta sits in third place, 2.5 games behind both the Greenville Drive and Savannah Sand Gnats. Savannah is actually coming to town tonight for a three game series to end the first half. Augusta needs to sweep that series AND hope that Greenville gets swept by Lakewood, a tall order. At least they're in the right division; in the northern division they'd be 10 games out and eliminated.
Lots of good lines up and down the order, with six different starters reaching base multiple times. Johneshwy had a fine nights with two hits, a double, a walk and his 28th SB of the year. Aramis Garcia hit his 7th HR of the year and second in two nights and walked twice. Arenado doubled in his first at bat, giving him 6 consecutive hits, but it was his only hit of the night.
There was some concerning news though, featuring one of the brightest lights of the season:
Word from Augusta sounds like Cristian Paulino left with a leg injury of some kind.
— David Lee (@David11Lee) June 19, 2015
David Lee's been on the Braves beat the last couple of days, btw, but will be back at Lake Olmstead Stadium for tonight's showdown with Savannah.
Salem-Keizer lost to Vancouver (Blue Jays), 11-2
|
Name |
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
SO |
SB |
CS |
BA |
C |
Fernando Pujadas |
4 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.500 |
|
Rest of team |
29 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
|
Name |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
K |
HR |
HB |
WP |
ERA |
Nicholas Gonzalez, L, 0-1 |
4.2 |
6 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
5.79 |
Ramon Del Orbe |
2.0 |
7 |
6 |
6 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
27.00 |
Eric Sim |
1.0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0.00 |
We have a starting lineup:
STARTERS for the Volcanoes in the @MiLB season opener vs. @vancanadians. 6:35pm Volcanoes Live @tunein pic.twitter.com/f2Jbf74oeB
— Volcanoes Baseball (@SKVolcanoes) June 18, 2015
We have a beautiful day:
We be doing the baseball @SKVolcanoes @mkarlik97013 pic.twitter.com/XPKYKkaStA
— Lauren Marie Gile (@lauren_gile) June 19, 2015
Ew! we have an Opening Day stinker. Not too much good to say about this one, but we can focus on two performances. 23 year old Venezuelan Catcher Fernando Pujadas provided pretty much all the offense with a double and a HR in his season debut. Pujadas was named to BA's AZL all star team in 2013, mostly on the strength of his catch and throw skills though he had a fine line of .306/.389/.418 as well. He shared Catching duties in SK last year with (this year's Augusta tandem) Aramis Garcia and Jared Deacon and put up just a .669 OPS.
On the mound a former Catcher had the best line of the night.
My man @esim3400 Strikes out the side in his first outing as a Pitcher? Thrower? With the @SKVolcanoes
— SaberCoach (@SaberCoach) June 19, 2015
Eric Sim has been a Catcher in the system since 2010 but his bat was clearly going nowhere so he and the Giants decided to put that strong arm to a different use this year. Striking three of the four batters he faced was a good start to a new career (he did throw 1.2 innings last year as well).
Volcanoes social media desk probably put it best:
Not the best opening night we've ever had! Back at it tomorrow @ 6:35 http://t.co/brwBPTbIoj via @giphy
— Volcanoes Baseball (@SKVolcanoes) June 19, 2015
Can't wait for the 2015 draftees to start showing up here in SK.
DSL Giants beat the DSL Red Sox, 6-1
|
Age |
Name |
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
SO |
SB |
CS |
BA |
LF |
20.9 |
Juan Rodriguez |
5 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.381 |
SS |
18.9 |
Manuel Geraldo |
5 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.286 |
RF |
20.10 |
Sandro Fabian |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
.259 |
3b |
20.9 |
Marco Guzman |
3 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.273 |
PR-DH |
19.2 |
Jesus Tona |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.353 |
Age |
Name |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
K |
HR |
HB |
WP |
ERA |
18.7 |
Victor Concepcion, W, 4-0 |
6.2 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0.75 |
20.7 |
Reymi Rodriguez, S, 1 |
2.1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
The 6' RHP Victor Concepcion continues to prove that the DSL offers him little challenge. Over two seasons he's now K'd 101 vs 19 BBs in 89 IP. He's near perfect this year having allowed only 2 ER on 2 solo HRs in his four starts.
20 year old LF Juan Rodriguez continues to tear the cover off the ball at the top of the lineup. He's now sporting a .973 OPS, though he's well old for the league. 17 year old Sandro Fabian is holding his own with a .791 OPS. C Jesus Tona had the classic "enter the game as a PR, hit a HR" line. One of my faves!
* * *
Tonight's scheduled starters include Ty Blach, the return of Kelvin Marte, the mercurial Martin Agosta, and Matthew Gage in the start of the big Savannah series. But the pitching spotlight for tonight is probably shining on Oregon, where 2014 4th round draft pick Logan Webb makes his season debut. Webb, you may remember, was a serious late spring popup. He was a star QB in High School and his fastball velocity showed some late spring spiking, though arm fatigue had it down considerably in both the AZL and fall Instrux. Let's see where he is to start the new year.