Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - AJ Has a Day; Harris Blows Them Away; And More!!

AJ Has a Day; Harris Blows Them Away; And More!!

It was close to a perfect night on the farm. AJ Jimenez went 4-4 and drove in four runs to lead the Bisons to victory. KC Hobson and Matt Dean each drove in three runs for New Hampshire. Anthony Alford drove in three for the D Jays. Jon Harris punched out eleven hitters but didn't get the win, Lansing won in extras.

Toledo 5 Buffalo 7

What a day for AJ Jimenez. In the first inning he came to bat with runners at second and third and two outs. He singled in both runners. In the second inning he came to bat with the bases loaded and he singled in two more. He lead off the fifth and doubled, later scoring on a Junior Lake single. In the seventh he doubled and again scored when Lake singled. Jimenez was 4-4 on the day with two doubles, two runs scored and four RBI. Junior Lake also had a nice day, 3-3 with a walk and two RBI. Finally Darrell Cecilliani had two hits as he tries to regain his form.

Roberto Hernandez got the (cheap) win. He was hit around some, seven hits and five runs over five innings. Ryan Tepera nailed down a two inning save. Anthony Gose went 1-4 and is hitting .250 for Toledo.

New Hampshire 8 Portland 2

The Fisher cats scored four runs in the first inning, a KC Hobson bases loaded triple was the big hit. Rowdy Tellez singled home Jorge Flores in the second. Jason Berken started but was pulled after four innings and 64 pitches. Hew Hampshire led 5-2 at the time so no win for Berken. Matt Dean added a three run home run in the sixth. Dwight Smith and Hobson led the offense with two hits each.

After Berken left, both Danny Barnes and Murphy Smith pitched two perfect innings. Wil Browning walked a hitter in the ninth to ruin the streak.

Fort Myers 3 Dunedin 5

Kyle Westwood has had a rough start to the season, he is 0-5, and when he left this game the Jays were trailing 3-0 and it was looking like another loss. But in the sixth the Jays put a couple of runners on when Anthony Alford doubled them both home. LB Dantzler doubled in Alford and then Michael Reeves singled in a run to give the Jays a 4-3 lead. Alford singled in an insurance run in the seventh. In total the Jays had 14 hits, Alford, Dantzler, Leblebijian and Loveless had two each. Ryan McBroom had three. In addition to his hits, Alford didn't strike out.

Conor Fisk pitched two perfect innings for the win. Adonys Cardona pitched a shutout inning. After Matt Dermody loaded the bases in the ninth, Carlos Ramirez got the last two outs for the save.

Lansing 1 Fort Wayne 0 - 10 innings

Something different this way comes in the form of Jon Harris. Last years first round pick had pitched 18.2 innings for Lansing prior to yesterday and had 12 strikeouts. Yesterday, in seven innings, Harris had eleven K's. He dominated the TinCaps with only four hits and one walk. Harris has lowered his ERA to 1.05. Josh DeGraaf pitched two innings to get the win, Dusty Isaacs pitched the tenth for the save.

The Lugnuts too didn't have much going on at the plate, they only had three hits through nine innings. But in the tenth Gunnar Heidt hit a ground rule double with one out. Then with two out Ryan Hissey pinch hit and grounded the pitch to first base. It bounced off the fielder and Hissey made it there before the ball. Meanwhile Heidt never stopped running and scored the winning run. Heidt had two hits.

3 Stars

3rd star: Anthony Alford

2nd star: Jon Harris

1st star: AJ Jimenez

Boxes

Posted by Gerry on Wednesday, May 18 2016 @ 09:53 PM EDT.

AJ Has a Day; Harris Blows Them Away; And More!! | 4 comments | Create New Account

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

cybercavalier - Wednesday, May 18 2016 @ 10:38 PM EDT (#323320) #

Given this batting performance, the batting order seems to be working for Lake and Jimenez. Casilla, Dominguez also performed, Burns leading off was 1-of-5 and Kotchman was 1-of-4. Montero and Brown gave zero across the box scores except a Brown's walk. Given the stats of individual performance,

2B Adams
1B/DH Kotchman
3B Dominguez
DH/1B Montero
LF Burns
C Jimenez
RF Brown
CF Ceciliani
SS Casilla

Jimenez' performance possibly solved which player to slot into the 6th. Adams and Kotchman getting on base early in a game and thus getting the opposing SP to more pitches before the heart of the order due up. A 5th slot for Burns gives him ample chance to driving in runs and getting on base while not being the cleanup hitter -- a good opportunity to getting used to leading off to get on base and pinch hit in Toronto. Brown and Ceciliani could regain their form at the bottom of the order. Casilla rounds up the order while he essentially does not draw walks. Lake or Pompey can pinch hit or run for Adams and Kotchman after 3 to 4 PAs; the latter two get rest for next game. Pompey leading off when he starts, Adams slides to 2nd. Kotchman takes whichever slot vacant by Ceciliani or Brown -- 7th.

If Tony Sanchez is the starting catcher, does pinch hitting for him in late inning and let Montero catch an inning make sense ?

John Northey - Thursday, May 19 2016 @ 01:11 AM EDT (#323325) #

Montero is not ever going to catch again. I think everyone needs to accept this - his last time catching at any level (even winter) was 2013 when baserunners when 23-1 stealing vs caught stealing. If he is behind the plate every runner is better than Tim Raines. In the majors lifetime he caught only 14% of runners, minors 21%. That makes Mike Piazza look fantastic (23% lifetime in majors, worst was 12% his final season).

Mike Green - Thursday, May 19 2016 @ 11:12 AM EDT (#323333) #

The Buffalo Bisons' twitter feed advises that for Devon Travis' debut tonight tickets and Labatt's beer are "at par". Changing Tubmans for QE2s might be a common banking request someday...if the Herd can work on their beer selection.

cybercavalier - Thursday, May 19 2016 @ 01:59 PM EDT (#323337) #

So judging Montero on caught stealing percentage is accurate and the first statisitcs to be looked at if Montero is ever going to catch again. This is my understanding from the last post.

From posts in previous seasons about Andy Burns, he does not draw walks or be struck out much.

http://www.bluebirdbanter.com/2012/10/12/3490578/lineup-optimization-part-1-of-2

Adams and Kotchman draw much walks this season; their performances increase chances of runners on base for subsequent PAs in the order. Their hitting for power favors performance when the order makes a cycle. Having Burns batting 5th would relieve his task to get on base because runners are likely on base when Burns bats. If Jimenez' performance solves the 6th slot issue, then 7-9th slot are available for Brown, Ceciliani and other batters not Adams, Kotchman, Montero, Dominguez and Burns. Would pinch hitting the 1st and 9th batters in the order in late innings help these other batters improve in OBP ? 7th to 9th slots are just better than the leadoff in having runners on base at PAs; Putting some batters in those slots hides their weaker OBP performance. In a nutshell, Adams or Kotchman leads off -- the idea of Kotchman leading off seems weird to me. Ceciliani or Brown as LHBs bats 6th against RHSP while Jimenez against LHSP. Either Casilla or Pompey is starting, he bats 2nd where switch hitting is useful.

Obviously if the opposing SP is known to give up walks and hit, loading Adams and Kotchman at 1st and 2nd allows the heart of the order to possible remove the SP early in the game, at the expense of the batters at the bottom of the order.

The above is just random thoughts to dissipate mental energy after an evaluation today. Thanks for reading.

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