Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Minor League Update: August 4

4 wins, a doubleheader and 3 grand slams are featured in today’s update.

Syracuse 3, Buffalo 2 - Game 1

The Buffalo Bisons got to Cam Reimers early in the opener with a two run homer after a 2 out error by Russ Adams making both runs unearned. Reimers would cruise through the next four and two thirds innings striking out 4 and walking none. It was also the in-game debut of Reimer’s new curve.

Gabe Gross tied it up in the 6th on a double that drove in Adams and Guillermo Quiroz. Jason Kershner held the Bisons down long enough for Adams to redeem himself by hitting an RBI double in the first extra frame. Bob File pitched a perfect eighth inning for the save.

Box score

Syracuse 3, Buffalo 6 - Game 2

The Bisons got the better of the Skychiefs in the bottom half of the doubleheader as Aquilino Lopez was rocked for 4 runs in only one third of an inning. Meanwhile, Dave Maurer continued turning heads going 4 solid innings of 1 run ball in his first spot start. A slow start to the season has caused the former major leaguer to go widely unnoticed after missing all of last season due to an elbow injury that required the infamous Tommy John surgery. Maurer now boasts a 3.63 ERA with a 54/22 K/BB ratio and more than a strikeout per inning.

Adam Peterson was touched for a run over the final 1.2 innings but struck out 3. Howie Clark was the only Skychiefs to reach base more than once with a single and a double.

Box score
Doubleheader story

Bowie 8, New Hampshire 6

Francisco Rosario has shown flashes of his pre-Tommy John form but he’s not all the way back yet. The Fisher Cats pitcher’s night started double, single, single, sac fly, home run. He then went on to strike out the next two Baysox batters. Rosario completed the next two innings yielding only an unearned run.

Dominic Rich had 3 hits for the good guys and John Hattig belted his 3rd homer as a Fisher Cat and his 15th of the year. Dan Jackson gave up two runs in his inning of work to allow Bowie to pull away. Jordan De Jong pitched two shutout innings with 4 strikeouts.

Box score
Game story

Dunedin 5, Clearwater 4

Rack up another home run for Raul Tablado. It wasn’t just a regular shot either. Tablado hit his 17th of the year with the bases loaded in the bottom of the first. Vito Chiaravallotti hit his 12th long ball of the year to notch what would be the winning run in the fifth.

Ismael Ramirez pitched another solid game going 6.1 innings and giving up 4 runs, only 2 earned and 2 scored after he left the game. Bubbie Buzachero finished up the last 1.2 innings for his 20th save.

Box score

Charleston-WV 9, Charleston-SC 10

It was a slugfest in Charleston and for the first time in a while Tom Mastny was the victim. 5 runs on 5 hits and 4 walks in 5 innings for the usually nasty Mastny. Erik Rico made his Charleston debut (as a pitcher that is) and was banged around for 3 runs without retiring a batter.

For the offense it was Joey, Joey and Jermy who swung the big bats as Reiman, Wolfe and Acey all homered. Acey’s shot was a grand slam in the 7th.

Box score
Game Story

Mahoning Valley 3, Auburn 10

Ho hum, another win for the Doubledays. Chip Cannon fell a triple short of the cycle while 5 of his team mates reached base at least twice. Casey McKenzie started the game for Auburn and pitched 5 solid innings with only 1 run coming on a solo home run. Joey McLaughlin pitched one solid inning in relief but came on and struggled in his second allowing two to score and leaving one on with only one out. Justin Maureau came on and induced a pair of ground balls to strand McLaughlin’s final runner. Kristian Bell finished up the final 1.2 innings with a pair of strikeouts.

Box score

Bluefield 6, Pulaski 18

Jon Ashford hit the third grand slam of the night for the Blue Jays affiliates in another rookie ball romp that capped an 8 run inning. Yuber Rodriguez and Tim Land also homered and second baseman Greg Badger showed some patience, walking 4 times.

Pitchers Yesson Berroa and Brian Grant both struggled early but Canadian lefty James Pidutti was able to stop the bleeding and get the team past the 5th inning to earn the win. Joseph Charron pitched two strong innings striking out 2 to put the Orioles out of their misery.

Box score

Three-Star Selection!

It was all about the salamis last night.

The 3rd Star Raul Tablado: Grand slam, hit-by-pitch, 4 RBI
The 2nd Star Jermy Acey: Grand slam, single, 4 RBI
The 1st Star Jon Ashford: Grand slam, single, 5 RBI

Posted by Ryan01 on Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 10:21 AM EDT.

Minor League Update: August 4 | 32 comments | Create New Account

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

Gerry - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 10:27 AM EDT (#45799) #

I was in Buffalo for the doubleheader yesterday. Some additional comments.

Dunn Tire Park is a great place to watch a game.

Cam Reimers pitched well in game one but was consistently pitching behind in the count, but he always was able to throw a strike when he really needed one.

Gross has been playing LF every day and reports no problems with the elbow. He still babies it a little but he threw a strike to Quiroz to throw out Jason Tyner and save game one for the Chiefs.

Russ Adams was hitting the ball hard. In game one he had a hit in the inning where Syracuse tied the score. He laced a line drive just past Jason Davis's head in centre field. In extra's he hit a line drive to the right centre field wall to drive in the winning run.

Adams made an error in the first on a fairly routine play, he looked back as though the ball had taken a funny hop but I did not notice it. His range looks to be fine, he made a couple of nice plays behind the second base bag. The knock on Adams defense is his arm, and he did have one play on a slow hit ball, on the infield grass, between short and third, where he got nothing on the throw. If Adams can make the play in the hole he can play SS in the majors, but as of now, that is his weakness.

Jason Davis, who was with the Indians for much of the season, started game one for the Bisons. Through five innings he had thirteen ground ball outs, one K and one fly ball. In the sixth he allowed two runs on three outfield hits, two fly balls and a K. He could be a bullpen candidate, he was throwing 94 with his fastball.

Gabe Gross may platoon next year and so it is useful to look at his platoon splits:

  
          Ave.    OBP    SLG
vs LHP    .227    .341   .347
vs RHP    .307    .387   .474

Dave Maurer was excellent in game 2. Aquilino Lopez and Adam Peterson were the opposite. Lopez has problems throwing his fastball, AND his slider for strikes. When he falls behind he is being hit. Peterson is still learning to pitch, he still threw 90% fastballs last night.

_Ryan01 - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 10:41 AM EDT (#45800) #

Great stuff Gerry, thanks.

_mendocino - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 11:00 AM EDT (#45801) #

http://www.roanoke.com/sports/baseball/8744.html
pulaski's derek tate and brian bormaster going to auburn, catcher josh lex off dl. COMN for pulaski game story.

Pistol - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 11:00 AM EDT (#45802) #

Gabe Gross may platoon next year and so it is useful to look at his platoon splits:

LHP: .114 ISO OBP, .120 ISO SLG
RHP: .080 ISO OBP, .167 ISO SLG

Does anyone have a reasonable explanation for this? Is it just luck (or sample size) that his average against lefties is so low? It strikes me as odd since his walk rate against lefties is actually better than righties.

_Jordan - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 11:15 AM EDT (#45803) #

Just an FYI that the July Farm Report will be up in the next day or two.

_Brian W - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 11:24 AM EDT (#45804) #

A small typo: the score in the New Hampshire game was actually 8-6 for Bowie instead of the 6-6 tie listed in the summary.

_Ryan01 - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 11:39 AM EDT (#45805) #

Oops. Thanks Brian, it's fixed now.

Mike Green - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 11:57 AM EDT (#45806) #

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/minors/stats/2003/eastnewhavenltrt/
COMN for Gross' 2003 lefty-righty splits in New Haven. The batting average numbers are similar to 2004. He seems to have much more trouble making contact against lefties. He's certainly not unique in that.

Gerry, that's excellent stuff. One adaptation that shortstops with weak arms make on the play on the hole is the intentional one bounce throw to the first baseman. It's a more reliable approach on turf.

_greenfrog - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 01:27 PM EDT (#45807) #

It's good to see Rosario pitching, at least. If he's healthy, and can log some consistent innings over the next year, I expect he'll start to regain his form.

On a different injury note: if Gross can make even average throws from LF, he's doing extremely well. Earlier this year he wasn't expected to start throwing until the off-season, and surgery was being considered as a last resort.

_Frank - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 01:34 PM EDT (#45808) #

And Peterson's line looks much better than it actually was. He gave up a few of Lopez's runs. He looks really clueless and out of place right now at AAA and Lopez has been equally bad. File pitched ANOTHER perfect inning for the save and now has his AAA ERA at 0.38 giving up 1ER in about 24IP.

_JohnnyS99 - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 01:46 PM EDT (#45809) #

Lopez needs to get demoted to AA, to sort out some things.

_Marc - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 02:07 PM EDT (#45810) #

I think File's problems are two-fold.
1) The Jays insisted on using him for more than an inning when he has always been a one-inning guy coming up in the minors
2) He lacks a solid out pitch, which he seems to get away with while in the minors. I think his injuries also took a couple miles off his fastball

Lopez needs to get demoted to AA, to sort out some things.
I don't know if demoting him would help. He completely dominated AAA in 2002 and did very well in the majors in 2003. All his problems are mental and pitching against younger hitters just might encourage his problems; they'd be more apt to chase his wild pitches.

_JohnnyS99 - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 02:16 PM EDT (#45811) #

"I don't know if demoting him would help. He completely dominated AAA in 2002 and did very well in the majors in 2003. All his problems are mental and pitching against younger hitters just might encourage his problems; they'd be more apt to chase his wild pitches."

I disagree, who cares if he dominated in in 2002, hes getting rocked now. He needs to build his confidence up, and this seems to be the best option. Remember Halladay? Fredrick also got rocked in AAA last year and was demoted to work on his problems. AAA is not helping him any either.

_Marc - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 02:32 PM EDT (#45812) #

A demotion could help, but I don't think it is necessarily always the perfect go-to solution. Halladay was demoted, not simply for wildness, but to restructure his entire delivery and approach.

_JohnnyS99 - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 02:39 PM EDT (#45813) #

Something needs to done, cause he seems to have lost it.

_Marc - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 02:42 PM EDT (#45814) #

Maybe he needs a new intro song...

_Frank - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 03:15 PM EDT (#45815) #

1. Tosca used File ENTIRELY wrong. He was NEVER a long relief guy and was mainly a set-up man/closer all through the minors and had really good numbers. Basically he was thrown into games where the outcome was pretty much known and most of the time he was coming in after a SP got lit up and they tried to use him to get through 2-3 innings. Not exactly how you treat a RP coming off major surgery who NEVER was a long reliever. Plus, it is entirely different pitching against major league hitters who have no pressure and already are in a groove b/c they are up 8-1 in the 3rd inning and they already have 2 hits.

2. File's velocity was slowly coming back and by the time he was sent down, he had it up to 91-93 MPH. I just think he was used as a scapegoat for the bullpen's problems and sent down while other relievers had worse or similar numbers who were in the pen still (Speier/Lightenburg/Nakamura).

I am not saying none of this is File's fault, but Tosca's management of the bullpen has been horrendous all year and he put File in a situation he was never suited for.

_JohnnyS99 - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 03:38 PM EDT (#45816) #

Tosca used file in low pressure situations, which was the best scenario for File to get on a roll no?

_Frank - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 03:55 PM EDT (#45817) #

He used him as a long reliever which is not what File is or ever has been. And it is not like any of the other MRs were lighting the world on fire besides Chulk. Why not a chance to pitch a 6th or 7th inning in a 2-4 run game instead of Light-me-up-enburg or Speier or Adams (when he was still here)? It would have helped his confidence instead of running him out every 4th-5th day when the game was 10-1. Tosca has NO clue how to run a bullpen and that does not only include File.

_ainge_fan - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 03:58 PM EDT (#45818) #

While Chip Cannon was the most impressive Doubleday hitter in last night's Auburn v. Mahoning Valley game, he wasn't the player who came closest to hitting for the cycle.

The honor goes to Mahoning's #9 hitter, Brian Finegan, who after a 4-4 night raised his average all the way up to .192. He went single, double, double, homer to fall one base short.

Ryan Klosterman looks like a steal. Justin Maureau is getting results, but really is struggling to find his command.

_Jordan - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 04:01 PM EDT (#45819) #

Klosterman and Brian Hall are definitely the surprises at Auburn thus far. This organization sure has a good eye for middle infield talent.

Mike Green - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 04:15 PM EDT (#45820) #

Hall has definitely been a pleasant surprise. Klosterman was a smart 5th round pick, but I can't say that I'm surprised by his performance. I expected him to be good, and .313/.399/.490 with 9/1 SB/CS and solid defensive play at short is just about right. It was a bad year for my longshot fave Juan Peralta not to take a step up, because it looks like Klosterman will jump over him on the organizational ladder next year.

_R Billie - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 04:36 PM EDT (#45821) #

It strikes me as odd since his walk rate against lefties is actually better than righties.

I think it just has to do with how well he sees LHP versus RHP. When you're seeing pitches better and have more confidence that you can hit them, I think you are more likely to swing the bat even at pitches that may be borderline.

The sample size issue may be relevant too but I think platoon splits affect pure hitting and power more than patience. Gabe can still hold up on pitches out of the zone against LHP but just can't hit them as well when he does swing.

I'd like to see his B/KK breakdown between LHP and RHP as well. In any case, he's looking like a good candidate to be a platoon outfielder next year.

The thing with Bob File this year is that he's striking out no-one. I think that's a far bigger problem than how many innings he is used for or what the score is at the time. Back in 2001 he had that "Nintendo" slider and while he still didn't strike out a lot of guys he could really keep hitters honest with it. This year I've seen fastball after fastball out of him without a lot of quality sliders. He wasn't striking anyone out in the minors this year and it's not much of a surprise that he has been struggling against big leaguers after a deceptively good start.

Bob needs to figure out why he's not striking out hitters anymore whether that's a mechanical issue or simply a loss of stuff after coming back from a long injury layoff. I don't mean velocity but the life on his pitches. What's his out pitch this year? The slider hasn't looked as effective. I personally wouldn't let him near a close game until he shows he can miss some bats because it's very hard to retire big league hitters without fooling them or overpowering them at least some of the time.

Mike Green - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 09:13 PM EDT (#45822) #

After last night's romp, Pulaski decided to do it again. It's 13-0 after 6. Mercy rule, please.

Mike Green - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 09:51 PM EDT (#45823) #

We join the NH-Bowie game. It's 2-2 going to the bottom of the ninth.

JF Griffin grounds out to the pitcher. Hattig is plunked and advances to second on a wild pitch. Danny Solano pinch-runs for Hattig. Mikael Jova grounds out to the pitcher; Solano advances to third. Justin Singleton is intentionally walked to get to Chiaffreddo, who makes 'em pay with a ground ball single to left to score Solano.

3-2 F-Cats final.

_Frank - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 10:57 PM EDT (#45824) #

I was told that an ex Blue Jay who is now with Pawtucket and is still friends with File said that after a game the entire Pawtucket locker room was talking about how there is no way File should be in AAA after facing him and that his ball was moving what seemed to be 8 feet and they were no where near hitting him. This came from guys like Brian Daubach. They could not see how he was not in the majors with the stuff he had and the horrible pen the Jays have. If you look at his past numbers File has never been a strikeout pitcher. He is not a K pitcher.

_JohnnyS99 - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 11:21 PM EDT (#45825) #

File always had more striketouts and his K rate declined as he moved through the minors. Ex blue jay, who knows file hmmm...Scott Casidy.

_johnnnyS99 - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 11:31 PM EDT (#45826) #

http://www.dunedinbluejays.com/
Jason Arnold will be starting for Dunedin Tommorow. COMN

_DJ - Wednesday, August 04 2004 @ 11:59 PM EDT (#45827) #

Frank, if Bob File is so good, why did big league hitters hit .348 off him this year?

Craig B - Thursday, August 05 2004 @ 08:32 AM EDT (#45828) #

Hey, in Bob File's defense, I will cite our favorite bugaboo... Small Sample Size.

File faced just 103 batters this season. The league hit just .220 off him in 2001 in a much bigger sample.

I don't think anyone can deny that File didn't look good in Toronto this year; but on the other hand, he has looked good in the minors. He's going to get a full shot with someone next year (probably not the Jays, but youneverknow...) and I suspect he will be bouncing between the minors and majors for several years to come. Lots of guys put together a lot of MLB service time doing exactly that!

_johnnnyS99 - Thursday, August 05 2004 @ 08:57 AM EDT (#45829) #

Craig B, 2001, was 3 years ago, and alot of pitchers are never the same after surgery so it doesnt really matter what his stats were from 2001. The era may look pretty and all from this year, but the very low k rate is pretty scary, espcially coming from a setup type guy.

_Jordan - Thursday, August 05 2004 @ 09:11 AM EDT (#45830) #

File is coming back from injury too, and shouldn't be expected to have all his touch and command back. I don't actually think he'll be in Toronto's bullpen last year, but his performance at Syracuse shows that he has something left in the tank. He'll get another chance, and I think he'll do better.

Minor League Update: August 4 | 32 comments | Create New Account

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