Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Catching Up With the Lugnuts

There was quite a bit of rain in the minor leagues on Monday night. None of it affected the Blue Jays' affiliates. What did affect the affiliates, however, was the absence of games on the schedule. Las Vegas was the only affiliate in action, and they lost what must have been a pretty boring game, especially after Sunday´s thriller.

Sacramento 6 at Las Vegas 5

This game was over by the top of the 3rd inning. Well, not really, since it was still a close game, but after going down 6 to 4 thanks to a poor start from former-former-Jay Zach Jackson, the 51s would only score 1 more run, wasting a fine effort from the bullpen - Steven Register and Sean Henn combined to throw 5 shut-out innings with 5 base-runners.

Offensively, I was pretty excited for Brett Wallace to have a big day after seeing that he homered in his first at-bat, but he went 0-4 with a K the rest of the way. 1-5 with a 2-run bomb is still a good day though, and Wallace is up to 8 jacks on the year. Aaron Mathews and The Big Lubanski also homered, while JPA doubled, walked and K´ed twice in 5 trips.

Three Stars

3. Brett Wallace - 2-run homer

2. Aaron Mathews - solo homer, RBI single

1. Steven Register - 3 shut-out innings, 2 base-runners

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The Fisher Cats' website has a tiny little off-day feature on Darin Mastroianni. Among the key pieces of information contained is that Mastroianni is "picking up where he left off". The article also features a poorly-photoshopped Mastro-Collage that makes it look like his helmet has wings made of the NH logo. That could explain all the stolen bases - as the article points out, Darin had the 3rd-most steals in the 2009 Eastern League despite only playing half a season, and has jumped out to a big lead this year with 11 steals already.

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MILB's official site has articles on their Pitchers and Hitters of the Week. No Junior Jays made the cut, though Canadian and former-possibly-almost-Jay (and now-Phillie) Phillippe Aumont took home Eastern League pitching honours by throwing 17 innings of 1-run ball over the course of the week. Other recognizable names to take home accolades include a couple of Royal Mikes: Montgomery and Moustakas.

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And finally, I thought it would be fun to give a little report on one team in the Jays' organization each week, so let's start with the Lansing Lugnuts. The 'Nuts are 3rd in their division (of 8), with an 11-7 record, 3 games behind Lake County.

Hitters

The big story of the year has been A.J. Jimenez who, after missing the first couple weeks of the season, has been absolutely on fire. Jimenez has hit for average, power, shown good plate discipline, and perhaps most amazingly, has stolen 6 bases in just 6 games. Small sample size warnings obviously apply, but the fact is 6 unbelievable games are already in the books for the soon-to-be 20-year-old catcher (his birthday is on Saturday) and nothing can take those counting stats away.

After Jimenez we've got a bunch of older players: Bradley Glenn, Mark Sobolewski and Brad McElroy are all having fine seasons at the plate but all were born in 1986 or 87 and we'll need to see them at higher levels before we get too excited. Oliver Dominguez, on the other hand, is a just-21-year-old who has gone from a .628 OPS in the GCL last year to an .879 OPS through his first 31 at bats this year. He's got an ISO approaching .200, has walked more than he's struck out, and has 7 steals.

Kenny Wilson has a solid slash line through 17 games, but the 24 strike-outs are worrisome. Sean Ochinko has cooled off since his torrid debut last year while Ryan Schimpf has been mediocre. At the bottom of the table, Ryan Goins, Eric Eiland and Balbino Fuenmayor have been pretty awful.

Player	POS	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	AVG	OPS	E
Bradley Glenn	OF	13	54	8	21	5	0	3	10	35	3	7	3	0	.421	.648	.389	1.069	0
A.J. Jimenez	C	6	26	7	10	4	0	1	9	17	2	3	6	1	.414	.654	.385	1.068	0
Mark Sobolewski	3B	14	51	7	17	5	0	2	9	28	4	10	0	1	.375	.549	.333	.924	3
Brad McElroy	CF	6	27	6	9	3	1	0	5	14	2	5	1	0	.379	.519	.333	.898	0
Oliver Dominguez	2B	13	31	7	9	3	0	1	7	15	6	4	6	2	.395	.484	.290	.879	2
Kenny Wilson	CF	17	64	14	19	2	1	0	1	23	10	24	7	2	.438	.359	.297	.797	0
Ryan Schimpf	2B	15	60	12	15	4	1	1	10	24	8	18	2	0	.361	.400	.250	.761	2
Sean Ochinko	C	16	64	6	18	6	0	1	6	27	4	8	0	0	.333	.422	.281	.755	1
Chris Hopkins	LF	6	12	2	3	1	0	0	2	4	4	0	1	0	.412	.333	.250	.745	0
Karim Turkamani	C	6	16	3	5	0	0	0	1	5	3	3	0	0	.421	.313	.313	.734	2
Jon Talley	C	7	22	2	6	2	0	0	3	8	3	5	0	1	.360	.364	.273	.724	0
Ryan Goins	SS	15	56	9	15	1	0	1	7	19	8	14	0	3	.359	.339	.268	.699	5
Eric Eiland	CF	17	63	9	18	3	0	0	5	21	3	15	2	1	.318	.333	.286	.652	2
Balbino Fuenmayor	3B	18	69	4	14	5	1	1	7	24	3	22	0	0	.236	.348	.203	.584	1
Kevin Nolan	SS	10	35	1	6	3	0	0	8	9	3	5	3	1	.256	.257	.171	.514	3

Pitchers

Lansing's rotation consists of Ryan Shopshire, Dave Sever, Chad Jenkins, Matt Fields and Ryan Tepera. Shropshire and Fields have been the best, each with a WHIP of 1.24 and an ERA in the mid-3s. Jenkins has been a little disappointing for what you'd expect from a first-round college pitcher, but it's very early and even in this small sample there are reasons for optimism: a 13-4 K/BB ratio in 16 innings, and a 1.75:1 GB:FB ratio.

Dustin Antolin and Matt Slover have been great out of the pen but these are single-A relievers we're talking about. Don't hold your breath.

Player	W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	HB	BB	SO	WHIP	HLD	GF
Ryan Shopshire	2	0	3.47	4	4	0	0	0	23.1	20	10	9	1	0	9	15	1.24	0	0
Dave Sever	1	1	3.71	3	3	0	0	0	17.0	18	9	7	2	2	8	7	1.53	0	0
Chad Jenkins	0	1	5.63	3	3	0	0	0	16.0	21	12	10	1	0	4	13	1.56	0	0
Matt Fields	1	1	3.52	3	3	0	0	0	15.1	18	11	6	1	1	1	12	1.24	0	0
Ryan Tepera	1	0	5.40	3	3	0	0	0	15.0	18	9	9	0	0	4	9	1.47	0	0
Aaron Loup	2	0	0.66	6	0	0	0	1	13.2	9	1	1	0	1	6	18	1.10	0	1
Scott Gracey	0	0	4.15	6	1	0	0	0	13.0	14	6	6	0	1	5	7	1.46	0	2
Evan Crawford	0	1	4.38	5	1	0	0	0	12.1	16	7	6	0	1	1	11	1.38	1	3
Brian Slover	2	0	1.64	6	0	0	0	0	11.0	6	3	2	0	1	1	7	0.64	1	3
Dustin Antolin	1	0	0.00	6	0	0	0	0	10.2	4	1	0	0	0	3	12	0.66	0	1
Nestor Molina	1	1	9.00	6	0	0	0	0	9.0	13	11	9	1	0	2	7	1.67	0	0
Steve Turnbull	0	2	4.15	8	0	0	0	4	8.2	11	6	4	0	1	2	5	1.50	0	8
Matt Wright	0	0	0.00	1	0	0	0	0	2.1	2	0	0	0	0	1	2	1.29	0	0

Posted by Dave Rutt on Monday, April 26 2010 @ 11:39 PM EDT.

Catching Up With the Lugnuts | 12 comments | Create New Account

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Hodgie - Tuesday, April 27 2010 @ 02:41 AM EDT (#214245) #

In other affiliate news for those that may not have noticed, with another BB and 2B tonight JPA has put together a nice little 10 game stretch for Las Vegas. In that time he is hitting .306 with 3 2B and 2 HR, but most encouriging is the .405 OBP largely driven by a 6 BB/10 K ratio. With small sample size warnings duly noticed, is it too much to hope that he has begun to take a more patient approach and is beginning to feel more comfortable after his off-season corrective eye surgery?

Oh, and on the Challenge Trade undercard of the Sacramento/Vegas game, 23 year old Brett Wallace went 1-5 with his 8th HR of the oh so young 2010 season while 24 year old Michael Taylor went 0-4. For what it is worth, the OPS totals to date for Wallace and Taylor are 1.046 and .723 respectively.

katman - Tuesday, April 27 2010 @ 08:23 AM EDT (#214256) #

Goins' stats don't look awful, they look average.

The team's collective OBP is kind of stunning, though. It would be mind blowing if they kept that up, let's see where they all are in a month or 2.

Ducey - Tuesday, April 27 2010 @ 09:27 AM EDT (#214263) #

JPA, a RH hitter, is hitting .188 vs LH and and .314 vs RH. Not sure what that means but he likely won't be part of a platoon any time soon.

Gerry - Tuesday, April 27 2010 @ 11:28 AM EDT (#214289) #

Obviously Bradley Glenn has been the biggest hitting surprise this season for the Lugnuts. He was hitting well in spring training too so he should keep it up. Jimenez has had a hot start too but with very few ab's. Jimenez is a bit of a hacker, his strikeouts and walks are usually low, so we will see if he is finding holes or if he has improved that much. He is young so he has the potential to improve rapidly.

Ryan Schimpf is off to a slow start, he was the most highly touted of the hitters coming into the season. With Dominguez hitting well, and also being a second baseman, there is a competition brewing there for playing time.

Sean Ochinko also got off to a slow start but he has been hitting better over the last few days, perhaps he put too much pressure on himself early.

Eric Eiland has been doing OK, his average is OK, it's just that he hasn't shown power or the ability to walk, but he is better than 2009.

The top four hitting prospects on the roster coming into the season were Schimpf, Jimenez, Wilson and Ochinko. The results so far for these guys have been mixed. It is early but none are pushing for a promotion yet.

On the pitching side Matt Fields and Dave Sever are now on the DL. Jenkins has been disapointing, but hopefully he learns fast and figures out the hitters. in general relievers are second class prospects in the minor leagues. Top prospects generally get to start so they get regular innings. Having said that Loup has been pitching well and Antolin is one to watch. He is the youngest pitcher on the team at 20 and he has a live arm.

Mike Green - Tuesday, April 27 2010 @ 12:26 PM EDT (#214297) #

Schimpf is the one that you really want to get rolling. He's 22, and was a good hitter in college, so he really ought to be out of the Midwest League very soon if he is going to go places. I liked his batting stroke, and thought that he had a chance.

Jimenez and Wilson have both improved significantly. They are young and there is plenty of time to allow them to consolidate those gains.

92-93 - Tuesday, April 27 2010 @ 12:32 PM EDT (#214298) #

In that time he is hitting .306 with 3 2B and 2 HR, but most encouriging is the .405 OBP largely driven by a 6 BB/10 K ratio. With small sample size warnings duly noticed, is it too much to hope that he has begun to take a more patient approach and is beginning to feel more comfortable after his off-season corrective eye surgery?

I know at least 2 of these walks came with first base open, so they may have been of the unintentional-intentional variety. Either way, with DÁrnaud around I'm not even concerned about Arencibia's discipline, seeing him as a placeholder who needs to be no better than a Buck/Barajas/Molina type, guys with power who can drive in runs but overall aren't very good hitters. If JP can be that type of guy at controlled costs I'd consider that a pretty successful pick at #21. Cito would love getting his hands on Arencibia.

Dave Rutt - Tuesday, April 27 2010 @ 12:53 PM EDT (#214301) #

katman, you have to remember that Goins is a college player, so we can´t compare him to other recent Lansing shortstops like Pastornicky and Jackson. A college player shouldn´t have much trouble with the MWL. Goins has an okay OBP, but he has struck out quite a bit for a guy with a 339 slugging percentage.

trey2589 - Tuesday, April 27 2010 @ 06:26 PM EDT (#214324) #

Gerry - Tuesday, April 27 2010 @ 08:00 PM EDT (#214326) #

Brad Emaus and Kevin Ahrens are off the DL tonight. Shawn Bowman has been promoted to New Hampshire. With Bowman in town Emaus is playing second base.

Zach Stewart's break has helped, so far. He has thrown three perfect innings.

Mike Green - Tuesday, April 27 2010 @ 08:21 PM EDT (#214327) #

...and Chad Jenkins has had a nice outing, too.

Dave Rutt - Tuesday, April 27 2010 @ 08:53 PM EDT (#214329) #

I don't see how you can classify Eiland's performance as awful, he's hittiing .286, tied for second on the team in hits, tied for for third in runs scored and that's hitting at the bottom of the lineup. I think a better description is, he's much improved.

Sure, you can make him look better by cherry-picking information. Yeah, he's much improved from last year when he put up a .549 OPS in low A Auburn. But the year before that he played half a season at Lansing, the level he's at now (once again... that's 2 years ago we're talking about) and this year he isn't noticeably better than he was then. He's different... his average is way up while his walks and steals are way down. If you think high-batting-average-poor-plate-discipline is a better prospect profile, I suppose you could make the claim that he has improved. But not much, and once again, it's been 2 years since he put up similar numbers at the same level.

This is a silly debate though, for this reason: 67 at bats. I'm not writing off Eric Eiland, and his stock hasn't dropped much (if at all) in my eyes. The analysis was meant to give a general picture of how Lansing (the team) is doing, and Eiland has undeniably been one of the worst hitters on the team.

trey2589 - Tuesday, April 27 2010 @ 10:34 PM EDT (#214330) #

I agree 63 AB's is a small sample, but one of the worst hitters on the team is absurd ! His K rate is down to 23%, which is probably one of the lowest of players on the team with at least 50 AB's. And as far as cherry picking, it appears you're only looking at OPS, but ONLY TIME WILL TELL.

Catching Up With the Lugnuts | 12 comments | Create New Account

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