Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Mr Smith Goes to New Hampshire

The lone minor league win last night was a dramatic one as David Smith hit a walk off home run as the affiliates went 1-4-1 on the night.

Syracuse 0 @ Rochester 6

Dustin McGowan gave up 5 of the 6 runs. However, prior to the 7th inning he had only given up one run. On the night McGowan went 6.2 innings striking out 7, walking 2 and giving up a solo HR in the 5th. The Sky Chiefs managed just 4 hits on the night.

Portland 7 @ New Hampshire 9

Unlike Syracuse, New Hampshire had the bats working on Tuesday. Trailing 7-4 after the 7th inning strech the Fisher Cats scored 3 in the 7th to tie the game and 2 in the bottom of the 9th to win the game. David Smith was the hero hitting a walk off 2 run home run, his second home run of the night.

Ricky Romero had a similar night as McGowan. Through 5 innings he gave up a single run. Romero entered the 6th and gave up single, single, double, walk before being pulled. All four runners eventually scored in the inning. On the night Romero struck out 2, walked 1 and gave up 7 hits.

Schneider, Majewski, and Thigpen also had HRs for NH. Thigpen and Kratz each had 3 hits on the night while Patterson had two hits.

Adam Lind has been out of the lineup recently. According to FisherCat Fan he got hit in the jaw and is going to be out a few more days.

Dunedin 1 @ Brevard County 2

Danny Core gave up just 1 run in 7 innings striking out 7, walking 2 and giving up just 2 hits.

Matthews and Diaz each had 2 singles on a quiet night for the Dunedin bats.

Lansing 0 @ Kane County 1

Chi-Hung Cheng had a decent start for the Nuts. Cheng gave up 3 hits and 4 walks while striking out 2 over 6 innings. For the season Cheng has 102 strikeouts in 95.2 innings.

Lansing managed just 6 singles on offense.

Tri-City 5 @ Auburn 4

Matthew Liuzza went 3-3, including a home run to lead the Doubleday offense. Brandon Magee got the start and struggled, giving up 3 runs in 3 innings.

Pulaski 0 @ Bluefield 0 (suspended - rain)

Alex McRobbie was off to a fine start before the rain. In 4 innings he gave up just 3 hits while striking out 5. Pulaski managed just 2 hits in 4 innings.

3 Stars!
3 - Curtis Thigpen, 3-5 with a HR and double
2 - Matthew Liuzza, 3-3 with a HR
1 - David Smith, 2 HRs, including GW walkoff HR

Posted by Pistol on Wednesday, July 19 2006 @ 01:00 AM EDT.

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Marc Hulet - Wednesday, July 19 2006 @ 10:07 AM EDT (#150939) #

Reliever Yesson Berroa has earned a well-deserved promotion to Dunedin after a stellar first-half in Lansing. The Jays face a tough decision on the hard-thrower at the end of the season. He needs to be added to the 40-man roster but is probably two years away from the majors. That said, he is exactly the type of player teams like to take Rule 5 flyers on.

In a year where a number of Jays' prospects have taken a step backward, it's nice to see Berroa and others step up their game.

MatO - Wednesday, July 19 2006 @ 12:03 PM EDT (#150948) #

Yes Berroa has been excellent this year. In future interviews concerning the minor leagues could we find out more info on Berroa. Also 19 yr-old Dominican lefty Wilfredy Aguirre in Auburn and 17 yr-old Venezuelan OF Yohermyn Chavez in Pulaski, neither of whom have been overmatched so far.

Mike Green - Wednesday, July 19 2006 @ 12:44 PM EDT (#150950) #

Berroa overpowered the NYPL at age 22 last year, and has done the same to the Midwest League at age 23 this year. He turns 24 July 30. I doubt that he will make the 40 man. Davis Romero was a far superior prospect in my view last year, and didn't make it.

Jacko - Wednesday, July 19 2006 @ 01:54 PM EDT (#150954) #

For those who were paying attention, Mr. Smith also paid a visit to Syracuse. In the form of Mike Smith, a former Jays farmhand who was thrown to the wolves at the start of the 2002 season. He pitched a complete game shutout with 11 K's to beat McGowan last night.

He's bounced around the high minors since then, never really recapturing his form from 2001 when he posted a 2.23 ERA and 140 K's over 145 IP at A/AA.

After last night's start, his 2006 numbers look fairly decent:

3.54 ERA, 112 IP, 109 H, 38/79 BB/K

However, the Minnesota system is stacked with pitching, so it's unlikely he'll get a chance there. Hopefully he can parlay his nice season into a shot at some bullpen work next year.

If his agent is smart, he'll pick somewhere that either (a) has terrible pitching (KC and Tampa come to mind) or (b) a team that doesn't care about the "short righthander" stigma (Oakland).

MatO - Wednesday, July 19 2006 @ 03:04 PM EDT (#150960) #

That's funny Mike. My Blue Jays Official Guide has Berroa turning 23 tomorrow. Maybe he's another in the long list of Dominicans who suffer from premature off-season aging.

Those Mike Smith numbers scream non-prospect to me. H/IP, K/IP and K/W are nothing special.

Mike Green - Wednesday, July 19 2006 @ 03:59 PM EDT (#150964) #

Mat, I got Berroa's dob as July 30 1982 from the Dunedin roster on milb.com. I have no idea whether the Blue Jay official guide or milb.com has it right. FWIW, firstinning.com has the same birthdate as milb.com, but it could simply be a case of repeated error.

MatO - Wednesday, July 19 2006 @ 04:54 PM EDT (#150975) #

I remember Sandy Nin being listed in the Guide as being 19 when he was putting up pretty spectacular numbers in the NYP. Turns out he was actually 21 or 22 when MLB and US Immigration cracked down on that stuff. It wouldn't surprise me if this is another case. The Oakland fireballer (name escapes me) had 4 years added to his age this off-season. The first time I ever heard about this sort of stuff was when Junior Felix was first called up at the age of "21". Writers at the time said he looked a little grizzled to be that age.

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