Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Amazing Alvarez Jolts Jupiter

Henderson Alvarez cruised through seven shutout innings Friday night. He gave up five hits but recorded 14 of his 16 non-strikeout outs via groundballs. Mike McDade popped two home runs. And in the "glimpse of the future" department, in the sixth inning Adeiny Hechavarria, Tyler Pastornicky and Travis D'Arnaud had consecutive hits to score two runs. Jesse Litsch was pretty good for six innings in AAA on Friday but the bottom fell out fast in the seventh. Las Vegas went on to lose. Kyle Drabek had a not so good start and the hitters were shut down by Bowie. Lansing were rained out.

Las Vegas 4 Albuquerque 10

This was a battle of major league pitchers, Jesse Litsch versus James McDonald. Another ex-major leaguer, Jay Gibbons, hit a two run home run off Litsch in the first inning. But then Litsch settled down and kept Albuquerque off the scoreboard while allowing a hit here and there.

Las Vegas tied the game in the fifth, Jorge Padilla, Jarrett Hoffpauir and Jesus Merchan each singled to score one run. Brett Wallace then doubled to drive in a second run.

In the sixth inning Brian Dopirak singled. Chris Aguila had an rbi triple and Hoffpauir an rbi single and the 51's led 4-2.

Litsch ran out of gas, or luck, in the seventh. Chin-Lung Hu hit a three run home run off Litsch. Litsch gave up three more hits and a run before Zach Jackson came on to give up a home run to score three more runs and make it a seven run inning.

Litsch was charged with eight runs on eleven hits in 6.2 innings. But if we break it down Litsch gave up two runs on five hits in 6 innings, and six runs on six hits in .2 of an inning.

Las Vegas had ten hits. Hoffpauir, Merchan and Dopirak had two each.

New Hampshire 1 Bowie 5

New Hampshire were held to 5 hits, one of them a Shawn Bowman home run that gave the Fisher Cats the lead in the fourth inning. Kyle Drabek was not at his best, he gave up ten hits, three walks and all five Bowie runs, in 5.2 innings. Tim Collins pitched 1.1 perfect innings.

Dunedin 5 Jupiter 1

Henderson Alvarez dominated this game. He went seven innings and gave up four hits with no walks. He had 5 strikeouts and got 14 of 16 outs via the groundball. Alvarez ERA is now 1.40.

Dunedin scored first in the third inning, Wellinton Ramirez doubled in Daniel Perales. In the fourth Mike McDade homered to make it 2-0. The Jays got a glimpse of the future in the sixth, Adeiny Hechavarria tripled, Tyler Pastornicky doubled in a run and Travis D'Arnaud singled in Pastornicky. McDade hit a second home run to make it 5-0 in the eighth.

Pastornicky, McDade and Ramirez had two hits each. Jupiter scored their only run off Chad Beck in the eighth.

Great Lakes at Lansing - rained out

Game will be made up with a doubleheader on Saturday.

Three Stars

3rd star - Jarrett Hoffpauir
2nd star - Mike McDade
1st star - Henderson Alvarez

Posted by Gerry on Saturday, May 22 2010 @ 12:23 AM EDT.

Amazing Alvarez Jolts Jupiter | 16 comments | Create New Account

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Sneeps - Saturday, May 22 2010 @ 12:52 AM EDT (#215415) #

Mike McDade is starting to turn into a prospect. The 20 year old is on a tear over his last 10:

16 for 40, .400, 3 doubles, 4 homers, 8 rbi's, 1.175 ops

His season totals now are:

140 ab's, .286, 7 doubles, 7 homers, 18 rbi's, 8 walks, 38 k's, .808 ops.

metafour - Saturday, May 22 2010 @ 01:40 AM EDT (#215416) #

McDade's issue is his very unimpressive walk-to-strikeout rate. You need to walk a lot more than he has if you want to make 38 strikeouts acceptable, especially when you're a first baseman who isn't adding any speed to the table.

Sneeps - Saturday, May 22 2010 @ 02:47 AM EDT (#215417) #

You're right, he needs to work on his discipline. He's young though, and patience is something usually learned with age.

China fan - Saturday, May 22 2010 @ 04:05 AM EDT (#215418) #

Very nice to see Hech getting the triple. The first extra-base hit of his professional career. Here's hoping that this is a sign of power to come. A shortstop who hits triples: excellent.

As for Jesse Litsch -- he should be ready for his major-league rotation slot as soon as he's eligible to come off the DL. Aside from the 1st-inning homer by Gibbons, he was lights-out until the 7th inning, and he didn't allow a single BB in the entire game. Only question now is -- does he replace Eveland or Morrow?

Other notes: Arencibia struck out 4 times in 4 at-bats yesterday, and his OPS has sunk alarmingly to .671. His slugging average has dropped to .382. Meanwhile, Jeroloman is sporting an OPS of 1.012 and an OBP of .475. Is it time to move Jeroloman ahead of Arencibia on the prospect list?

Jarrett Hoffpauir continues to rack up the hits, but he's playing at 2B now, instead of 3B, which makes him look like a utility player rather than anything else. And he didn't get the call when Ruiz departed. Is he going to become the next Dopirak: a favorite of Bauxites but not of the Jays?

Shawn Bowman, after a rocky start, has been on fire lately. His OPS is up to .865 and over the past 10 games his OPS is an impressive 1.306. Just speculation on my part, but he might be heading for Las Vegas quite soon, especially since the 51s have only placeholder Kyle Phillips at 3B.

greenfrog - Saturday, May 22 2010 @ 07:16 AM EDT (#215419) #

Another very impressive performance from Alvarez. Over his last two starts (both on the road), he's posted a combined line of 13 IP, 8 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K. He still hasn't allowed a HR this season (in 45 IP).

A disappointing start for Drabek, who has had a respectable but not great season so far. A big part of the problem is walks. His BB:9 IP ratio (4.6) is up from last year (2.9). Hopefully this is because he's working on his repertoire and not because of makeup/mental issues.

mamboon - Saturday, May 22 2010 @ 08:01 AM EDT (#215420) #

Hey Sneeps... ditto on Mike McDade. I've seen him several times in Dunedin recently. He's a real beast. 280 lbs if he's an ounce. But he moves well and hits the ball like a rocket. Strikes out a bit much, but he's nimble for his size and seems to have a good glove. But the neatest thing is his attitude. He's likeable, has a good head on his sholders, and acts like a real pro.

bpoz - Saturday, May 22 2010 @ 09:50 AM EDT (#215425) #

Sneeps & Mamboon I read that he was a very highly regarded catcher before being drafted. He turned 21 on May 8th, and is a switch hitter. Any baseball similarities to Cecil Feilder ? That would be great.

tstaddon - Saturday, May 22 2010 @ 12:08 PM EDT (#215430) #

Could be fun to watch McDade grow over the next couple of years. If he can improve his discipline/selectivity at the plate, he'll jump up the depth chart. Pretty clear that David Cooper is a bust at this point. Arencibia's been prone to monstrous slumps before, so I'm willing to see if he can battle his way through this. Pretty clear that Jeroloman deserves a shot though.

When Ruiz was released, Cito said a couple of guys were kept in Vegas and Reed recalled because they wouldn't have seen much playing time. Obviously, he's talking about Wallace, but likely Hoffpauir, too. His chance could come next year when Encarnacion and Bautista may be with other organizations.

Mike Green - Saturday, May 22 2010 @ 12:46 PM EDT (#215431) #

Alvarez allowed only 1 homer in 124 innings last year in Lansing, so this year's 0 in 45 innings doesn't seem like a fluke. Alvarez has a GO/AO over 2, so putting Hechevarria/Pastornicky behind him has got to help.

92-93 - Saturday, May 22 2010 @ 02:14 PM EDT (#215432) #

Only question now is -- does he replace Eveland or Morrow?

Is this really a dilemma? Eveland is repeating his 2009 where he walks more guys than he Ks, and his start every 5 games is the only one I do not have much interest in watching. He's been an effective placeholder, but that's all he is, and I look forward to Litsch or Tallet booting him from the rotation. As much as I want the Jays to win every game, a part of me wants Eveland to get shelled in Arizona's bandbox tonight, with hope that the Jays would use the Thursday May 27th off day to skip the #5 spot, giving Tallet the next start in that spot vs. TB on June 1. Perhaps Tallet will be given an extra day off before his next start to keep this as a possibility.

For all the hype Kyle Drabek has received I still consider Henderson Alvarez to be our best pitching prospect until proven otherwise, as most considered him prior to the trade. Give me the wormkiller with command everyday over the flamethrower with attitude and control issues.

cybercavalier - Saturday, May 22 2010 @ 02:26 PM EDT (#215435) #

Meanwhile, Jeroloman is sporting an OPS of 1.012 and an OBP of .475. Jarrett Hoffpauir continues to rack up the hits, but he's playing at 2B now, instead of 3B, which makes him look like a utility player rather than anything else. And he didn't get the call when Ruiz departed. Is he going to become the next Dopirak: a favorite of Bauxites but not of the Jays?
Shawn Bowman, after a rocky start, has been on fire lately. His OPS is up to .865 and over the past 10 games his OPS is an impressive 1.306. Just speculation on my part, but he might be heading for Las Vegas quite soon, especially since the 51s have only placeholder Kyle Phillips at 3B.

I think I could recall a fan here quoting his still high K/BB ratio (35/24 over 118 PA, 120/62 over 432 PA in 2009 AA season). Personally I would leave him at AA until he proves he can mold his newly learnt slugging ability (4 HRs 118PA on pace for mid-10s HRs over 432 PA). Hoffpauir appears to be a good trading chip. For Bowman, he reminds me of John Hattig, a non-American guy 3B acquired from farm systems of another MLB team. Hattif made it to AAA at age 25 while Bowman is still in AA this season. Hattig even had a better OBP than Bowman in their respective first professional season with the Red Sox farm system. In the end, Hattig could not make it to MLB. Bowman could be a good prospect but be conservative of his future development. In hindsight, the Hattig scenerio also showed the difficulties making to MLB.

cybercavalier - Saturday, May 22 2010 @ 02:28 PM EDT (#215436) #

Obviously I meant Bowman played in the Mets organizations

metafour - Saturday, May 22 2010 @ 07:19 PM EDT (#215441) #

McDaddy just hit another HR.

greenfrog - Saturday, May 22 2010 @ 07:41 PM EDT (#215442) #

McDaddy--love it.

The weird thing about McDade's hot streak is that he's been striking out significantly less (5 times in his last 40 AB, or 12.5%), as opposed to his overall K rate of 27%, but he's also stopped walking completely (0 walks over that stretch). I'm not sure if this is a good or bad trend--a bit of both I guess.

cybercavalier - Saturday, May 22 2010 @ 09:44 PM EDT (#215443) #

McDaddy--love it also.

Regarding development of our minor league position players and prospects, fans are delighted when Randy Ruiz, Mike McCoy and others who play with their full effort and finally graduated into MLB after many seasons in the minors. But are there better way to develop young players or developing prospects involves some luck? Take the current season in Las Vegas as an example. Jarrett Hoffpauir is showing good plate discipline and batting performances whereas Lubanski is hitting well but not performing as well in plate discipline. Given none of Arencibia or Dopirak is performing satisfactorily in cleanup to protect Wallace, is it worthwhile to put Hoffpauir as the cleanup? Lubanski replacing Hoffpauir in leadoff for majority of Lubanski's plate appearance so Chris can face as many pitches as possible and improve his plate discipline.

TamRa - Sunday, May 23 2010 @ 02:04 AM EDT (#215447) #

Ray Gonzalez got absolutely massacred tonight, 10 runs in 5.1 IP

On another note, Randy Boone is outpitching the rest of the AA rotation. Even though he's too old to be a prospect, once the rehab train has finished up for a while in Vegas, I'd like to see him rewarded with a promotion and Broadway shipped off to the pen (or out of town)

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