Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Minor League Update: July 27

4 hits above Rookie ball? Believe it.

Syracuse - Off Day

New Hampshire – Off Day

Vero Beach 4 @ Dunedin 0

A nice start from Shaun Marcum went for naught as the A+ Jays were shut out by the Vero Beach Dodgers. Marcum went 8 innings, allowing 3 runs on 8 hits, striking out 5 and walking none. 2 of the runs went in the unearned column as SS Raul Tablado and RF Jason Waugh each committed errors in the top of the 7th. The 22-year-old Marcum now sports an absurd 46/3 K/BB ratio at High-A, and a nifty 2.28 ERA for his 43 innings since being promoted.

The offence was full measure for being shut out, mustering more walks (5) than hits (4) and coming up empty in the extra-base-hit department. LF Jayce Tingler accounted for both a hit and a walk, while RF Jason Waugh was the only other D-Jay to reach twice, on 2 walks.

Boxscore - MinorLeagueBaseball.com.

Charleston 0 @ Hickory 1

Not to be out-done by their cousins up in High-A, Alley Cat hitters didn’t. That’s right, didn’t. Zero hits. None. Zip. LF Mike Galloway and 3B Eric Arnold each drew a walk. That’s it. 13 strikeouts. 2 walks. No hits. Congratulations to Crawdad pitchers Brian Holliday (7-1/3) and Chris Demaria (1-2/3) on the feat.

The good guys did a little pitching themselves, as 21-year-old lefty Davis Romero dominated for 5 innings, allowing just 2 singles while striking out 8, walking 3. He surrendered an unearned run, no less, in the 5th. An error by 2B Willie Rivera combined with two walks and a sac fly to push across the lone run of the game. Felix “The Other” Romero took over and turned in 2 scoreless innings, and Matt Dalton oversaw an uneventful 8th.

Aside: Schedule-makers are funny folk. Why do the Alley Cats play the Crawdads every Monday?

Boxscore - MinorLeagueBaseball.com. Recap - Charleston Gazette.

Jamestown @ Auburn - Postponed

The Doubledays and Jammers were rained out, making today a “Two Games For The Price Of NONE” event, thanks to Senator Michael Nozzolio.

Pulaski 5 @ Bluefield 6

The Pulaskis didn’t win, but at least they hit the ball! CF Yuber Rodriguez and Monday-fave 1B Charles Anderson each managed more individually than the totals of the other clubs in the minor league system; Chuck & Yube each homered and singled. DH Brian Bormaster continued his hot hitting of late with a double in 4 trips.

Lefty Chi-Hung Cheng went 5 strong innings, but caught no slack from his teammates went he departed the game in the 6th with the bases loaded and one out. Eddie Rodriguez relieved, and the bases were cleared on an error by 3B Tony Garibaldi, a base knock, and a passed ball by catcher Gooby Gerlits. Bryan Gale kept his professional ERA at zero, allowing a hit and a walk over 2 innings, striking out 2. Cheng’s line for the night came out to 5-1/3 innings, 5 runs (2 earned) on 7 hits and a walk, 7 Ks.

Boxscore - MinorLeagueBaseball.com.

Three-Star Selection!

The Third Star: Chi-Hung Cheng, Pulaski. 5-1/3 innings, 7 hits, 7/1 K/BB.

The Second Star: Davis Romero, Charleston. 5 innings, 2 hits, 8/3 K/BB.

The First Star: Shaun Marcum, Dunedin. 8 innings, 8 hits, 5/0 K/BB.

Honourable Mentions:Pulaski's Yuber Rodriguez and Charles Anderson, each with a homer and a single on a night of very little offence.

Posted by Jonny German on Tuesday, July 27 2004 @ 01:31 AM EDT.

Minor League Update: July 27 | 25 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

Pistol - Tuesday, July 27 2004 @ 09:09 AM EDT (#48311) #

The 22-year-old Marcum now sports an absurd 46/3 K/BB ratio at High-A, and a nifty 2.28 ERA for his 43 innings since being promoted.

I'm suspect it would be a little premature at this point, but it looks like Marcum should be in AA.

_Jordan - Tuesday, July 27 2004 @ 09:35 AM EDT (#48312) #

Shaun Marcum's combined lines from Charleston and Dunedin this year:

122 IP, 0.87 H/IP, 0.15 BB/IP, 1.05 K/IP, 6.78 K/BB, 12.2 IP/HR

David Bush's combined lines from Dunedin and New Haven last year:

158 IP, 0.87 H/IP, 0.17 BB/IP, 0.93 K/IP, 5.28 K/BB, 15.8 IP/HR

Marcum has been working in much easier pitchers' circuits, and Bush was dominant at Double-A. But Marcum is also two full years younger. Barring injury, I can't see any reason why Marcum won't follow directly in Bush's footsteps.

Mike Green - Tuesday, July 27 2004 @ 09:39 AM EDT (#48313) #

One other note from the Pulaski game. Badger was back in the lineup after missing a fair number of games (I did not see any report of an injury). He led off and went 1-3 with a walk. Man, the organization has plenty of leadoff hitters.

I was surprised that Marcum went 8 innings last night. As Jordan pointed out after his last start, he has pitched many more innings this year than ever before in his career. Perhaps, he was pitching very efficiently, and his pitch count was low. Interestingly, he seemed to get stronger as the game went along (despite the 2 singles and 2 errors in the 7th), getting 2 strikeouts and 2 pop-ups in his last 2 innings.

_MatO - Tuesday, July 27 2004 @ 09:59 AM EDT (#48314) #

Around May 1 last season it looked like HLH just decided that he would not be issuing any more walks that season (slight exaggeration). The same thing seems to have happened with Marcum's promotion to Dunedin. He's the minor league version of Maddux. Will he have more walks or wins at Dunedin? Right now he's behind 3-1 (only 1 win in 7 starts).

Mike Green - Tuesday, July 27 2004 @ 10:43 AM EDT (#48315) #

Two other items of note. Josh Banks is scheduled to pitch today for New Hampshire according to milb.com. Gustavo Chacin was named Eastern League Pitcher of the Week after 2 fine starts. Congratulations, Gustavo.

_Finn McCool - Tuesday, July 27 2004 @ 12:49 PM EDT (#48316) #

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/news/040726adenhart.html
Anaheim made a nice pickup today signing Nick Adenhart to a contract COMM

_Jordan - Tuesday, July 27 2004 @ 12:57 PM EDT (#48317) #

The updated list of 2004 draft signings is up at Baseball America (COMN). A couple of notes:

- With the exception of injured 6th-rounder Cory Patton, the Jays have now signed every one of their Top 15 picks. By contrast, none of the other AL East teams have signed all of their top ten picks, and only the Yankees have signed their first-rounder (Boston didn't have a first-round pick).

- Lest you think the Blue Jays have completed their signings so quickly because they're drafting and paying lesser players, the organization actually spent more money on signing bonuses for their top ten in 2004 ($3.974M) than in 2003 ($3.596M), and that's without the Patton signing.

I know a number of people were concerned about the Jays' inability to sign their draftees, and I hope these reuslts go some way to removing that concern. The organization is clearly committed to the draft process, and the money is there to back that commitment.

_Brian B. - Tuesday, July 27 2004 @ 01:01 PM EDT (#48318) #

Still no sign of Zach Jackson or David Purcey pitching or even on the roster at Auburn, but they have this short news item on the front page of the Auburn Doubledays web-site (there's even a nifty picture of David Purcey in his Auburn uniform):

Doubledays Load Up On Lefties As Top Two Picks Sign

A week after the Doubledays were assigned the Blue Jays second pick, Zack Jackson out of Texas A&M, they picked up the number 1 pick of the Jays, David Purcey of Oklahoma. Purcey arrived in Auburn on Sunday. Purcey is a 6'5" lefthanded pitcher who had 9-5 record and a 3.11 ERA this season at Oklahoma.

Take a look

_Jordan - Tuesday, July 27 2004 @ 01:08 PM EDT (#48319) #

My understanding is that Purcey and Jackson will pitch solely and sparingly in relief for the D-Days, to conserve the arms -- not that that juggernaut needs any more help. I don't know much about Doubledays attendance, but I hope Auburn fans appreciate the tremendous squads they're seeing these days. Ditto for Pulaskites.

Gerry - Tuesday, July 27 2004 @ 02:05 PM EDT (#48320) #

Neither Jackson or Purcey have been pitching since the end of the season, it will take 2-4 weeks to get their arms in shape to get in a game.

_Anthony - Tuesday, July 27 2004 @ 03:01 PM EDT (#48321) #

Below is the attendance for the Toronto minor league teams (as of Friday or Saturday).

AAA Syracuse 4,699 12 of 14 teams
AA New Hampshire 2,964 11 of 12
A+ Dunedin 566 12 of 12
A Charleston 1,872 13 of 16
Short A Auburn 1,969 11 of 14
R Pulaski 845 9 of 10

Auburn's stadium seats less than 2,500 so they are filling up the ballpark pretty well. It is a really nice park, I visited there last year on a fireworks night. It is always fun to go to Minor League games. There are always great promotions.

_Anthony - Tuesday, July 27 2004 @ 03:18 PM EDT (#48322) #

Auburn Capacity is 2,800. I just reread Gerry's article.

Mike Green - Tuesday, July 27 2004 @ 03:25 PM EDT (#48323) #

If we have any Dunedin area readers, I'd be interested in hearing thoughts on why Dunedin's attendance is so poor. The club won their division last year, and won the first-half title this year. David Bush and Dustin McGowan were on the club last year; Josh Banks, Shaun Marcum, Big Vito and others are there this year. I doubt that it's the on-the-field product.

One thing we notice is the absence of radio and newspaper coverage of the D-Jays, although that may be common for the FSL.

Gerry - Tuesday, July 27 2004 @ 04:39 PM EDT (#48324) #

The Auburn told me the official capacity is 2800 but many of the seats are bleacher seats and with the expanding size of the fans the stadium is full with about 2600 there.

Dunedin and Clearwater are connected towns. Tampa is close by. Tampa is a draw because of the Yankee connections. I think I read that Clearwater's attendance is at record levels. Mike Schmidt is the manager and there are the Philly connections. Also I know Clearwater advertised a lot on TV in Florida with Mike Schmidt. So I assume Dunedin is the poorer sister. Also the Tampa team is as good as the Dunedin team, second place in the first half and leading the second half.

_Jordan - Tuesday, July 27 2004 @ 04:41 PM EDT (#48325) #

Dunedin is not a large centre, and that may explain the absence of any local coverage. But that still has to hurt the amount of attention that the team receives. Clearwater, just down the road, gets a fair degree of coverage for its Phillies A-Ball franchise, and nearby Tampa gives a reasonable amount of attention to the FSL Yankees.

Maybe we should set up Batter's Box Franchises in all the Jays' minor-league locations... :-)

_johnnnyS99 - Tuesday, July 27 2004 @ 04:42 PM EDT (#48326) #

"2-4 weeks to get their arms in shape to get in a game"

Are you sure, they have only been off for less then 2 months, and who knows what their workout routine was.

_Jordan - Tuesday, July 27 2004 @ 04:44 PM EDT (#48327) #

Great minds think alike; mine just thinks too slowly.

Gerry - Tuesday, July 27 2004 @ 05:14 PM EDT (#48328) #

Are you sure, they have only been off for less then 2 months, and who knows what their workout routine was.

From what I have been told neither of them were throwing while they were off. I was in Auburn last week so I heard it from the Jays staff.

_johnnnyS99 - Tuesday, July 27 2004 @ 05:19 PM EDT (#48329) #

4 weeks? isnt the season over in 5 weeks?

_Finn McCool - Tuesday, July 27 2004 @ 06:50 PM EDT (#48330) #

Big news reguarding Brandon League

Brandon League's days in the bullpen are no more. I was listening to the Fisher Cats pregame show and it was anounced that Jamie Vermilyea is going back to the bullpen and Brandon League is going into the starting rotation.

This is good news, I personally felt that League is better suited to the starting rotation, and we won't to have long to see League in this roll, his first start is tomorrow.

_Finn McCool - Tuesday, July 27 2004 @ 07:07 PM EDT (#48331) #

regarding :(

_JohnnyS99 - Tuesday, July 27 2004 @ 08:35 PM EDT (#48332) #

Great News! More work could only help him, in whatever role he has with the big club in the future.

_Wayne H. - Tuesday, July 27 2004 @ 11:24 PM EDT (#48333) #

With Brandon League's "high ceiling", it makes sense to use him in the starting rotation. Regular rotation starts will give him a chance to work on his secondary and tertiary pitches. He will need them in the future, in any big league (pun intended, of course) role. Adding more innings and experience with pitching in difficult situations will only help him too.

Jamie Vermilyea has expressed a preference for being a relief pitcher, and his innings total has to have risen while in the rotation. As an older prospect, the faster track for him to the majors would be through the bullpen.

_Sneeps - Wednesday, July 28 2004 @ 12:30 AM EDT (#48334) #

Vermilyea is 22, League is 21. Only 9 months seperate the two.

_Wayne H. - Wednesday, July 28 2004 @ 06:23 AM EDT (#48335) #

Why does it always sound like Vermilyea is older? It's probably because he was a college drafted pitcher.

Anyway, I stand corrected on the age thing. That'll teach me to make a statement without checking first. :)

Minor League Update: July 27 | 25 comments | Create New Account

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