Batter's Box Interactive Magazine

Just one win on the farm, a 1-0 win for Dunedin, thanks to a walk off single by Kacy Clemens. Lansing and Buffalo were hammered. New Hampshire lost a close one, and their 13 hits was the best part of the night.

Gwinnett 11 Buffalo 2

Shawn Morimando gave up five runs in four innings, Conor Fisk gave up five in two innings. Buffalo were 10-1 down after six innings.

Buffalo had just four hits. Alford was 1-3 with a walk to keep his flicker of turning around his season alive. Alford scored one run and drove in another. Cavan Biggio had a double. Lourdes Gurriel was 0-4 and his hitting has cooled off. His OPS in May is .492. With the demotion of Teoscar Hernandez and Socrates Brito the following players can play the outfield in Buffalo; Teoscar, Gurriel; Biggio; Alford; Revere; Brito; Fields; Patterson and Guillotte. Playing time might be short for some players.

New Hampshire 3 Hartford 4

Hartford scored an unearned run off Jonathan Cheshire in the bottom of the eighth to get the win. It was a Vinny Capra error that led to the unearned run. Hector Perez started and had a decent start for him. Perez went six innings with three runs allowed on seven hits.

NH out hit Hartford 13- 10. Kevin Smith was 3-5 with a double. Brock Lundquist stayed hot with a 2-2 with two walks night. Chad Spanberger also had two hits. Christian Williams was 3-5 and is hitting .385 in a small sample since his recent promotion.

Jupiter 0 Dunedin 1

This was Dunedin's second walk-off win in a row. This walk off was started by last night's walk-off hero, Ryan Noda. Noda walked, Alejandro Kirk singled as did Kacy Clemens with the game winning RBI single. This was a pitching dominated contest, the Jays had six hits. Kirk was the only hitter with two.

Graham Spraker started and did well to keep Jupiter off the scoreboard. Spraker did have nine men on base in his 5.2 innings. Two were thrown out by Kirk, a double play helped out and twice Spraker left runners at third base. Connor Law and Emerson Jimenez pitched well in relief, just one hit allowed over 3.1 innings. Spraker had just three K's, he has 29 in 37 innings.

Lansing 0 Fort Wayne 9 - 6 innings

This game was shortened to six innings by rain. Lansing had just one hit, a single by Rafael Lantigua.

Sean Wymer was charged with all nine runs in 5.2 innings. Fort Wayne scored three runs in three separate innings.

3 Stars

3rd star: Kevin Smith

2nd star: Kacy Clemens

1st star: Brock Lundquist

Boxes

Posted by Gerry on Friday, May 17 2019 @ 07:29 AM EDT.

Clemens Delivers | 25 comments | Create New Account

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

scottt - Friday, May 17 2019 @ 07:56 AM EDT (#374183) #

They should dump Revere. He's not hitting and he's 31.
Guillotte has been struggling mightily too. OPS of .460.

New Hampshire uses Spanberger in right field and Kacy Clemens at 1B.
Palacios is on the IL.

Shoeless Joe - Friday, May 17 2019 @ 08:04 AM EDT (#374185) #

So Lansing has played 39 games and Dundein has played 37 games, so Griffen Connine should be eligible to make his full season debut in about a week and a half to two weeks time.

Jonny German - Friday, May 17 2019 @ 08:24 AM EDT (#374188) #

Brock Lundquist started his AA-career with an 0-for-19 in his first 5 games. Since then he's played 27 games and has hit .307/.419/.443 in 105 PA. Cheat a little more on the endpoints and you get .356/.486/.559 over his last 19 games (74 PA), with walks matching Ks at 15 each.

The overall line is still way short of where he needs to be as a corner outfielder, and he's 23 years old. But he's getting interesting.

Jonny German - Friday, May 17 2019 @ 08:25 AM EDT (#374189) #

Have there been any reports on Alejandro Kirk's physique and/or defence this season?

Mike Green - Friday, May 17 2019 @ 10:22 AM EDT (#374196) #

I haven't seen anything from 2019, but this video from July, 2018 from 2080.com gives a good flavour for him. He's 5'9" and bats out of a deep crouch and generates a lot of power from very strong legs. His receiving looks quite smooth to my amateur eyes. I'd like to see him pouncing on bunted balls and chasing foul pop-ups and wild pitches.

It's easy to see why he's such a tough hitter for pitchers to deal with. He's got a small strike zone, and can generate a lot of power.

Nigel - Friday, May 17 2019 @ 10:40 AM EDT (#374198) #

FWIW all the scouting reports I�ve read on his defence (there�s not much out there) basically say �we think he�s going to be a poor defender due to his physique but right now he�s actually pretty decent�. In other words, his body size is going to make objective reporting a challenge as he moves along.

uglyone - Friday, May 17 2019 @ 11:09 AM EDT (#374202) #

fwiw, that's the exact opposite of what the scouting report always on a guy like Swihart. i.e. "he kinda really sucks back there but he's so athletic that he's bound to figure it out"

he never figured it out.

uglyone - Friday, May 17 2019 @ 11:24 AM EDT (#374204) #

ok maybe so i'm not as hyped about my Otto-Mookie comp as I was as Otto is just not showing any power so far.

but I may have just been looking at the wrong jay.

Age 19

Betts (A-): 202pa, 11.0b%, 10.3k%, 15.4swst%, 16.6ld%, .298bip/.267avg, .040iso, 103wrc+
Kirk (Rk+): 244pa, 13.5b%, 8.6k%, 5.1swst%, 22.1ld%, .354bip/.354avg, .204iso, 160wrc+

More impressive line for Kirk across the board, but the higher level for Betts probably balances it out for the most part.

Age 20

Betts (A): 340pa, 17.1b%, 11.8k%, 5.0swst%, 21.6ld%, .322bip/.296avg, .181iso, 160wrc+
Kirk (A): 96pa, 18.8b%, 8.3k%, 6.0swst%, 12.9ld%, .299bip/.299avg, .221iso, 172wrc+

The similarities across the board continue, with Kirk's lower line drive rate at this level probably a small sample outlier.

Betts (A+): 211pa, 10.9b%, 8.1k%, 10.6swst%, 14.7ld%, .346bip/.341avg, .211iso, 166wrc+
Kirk (A+): 28pa, 14.3b%, 14.3k%, 5.2swst%, 20.0ld%, .500bip/.417avg, .208iso, 232wrc+

Kirk's line is obviously babip inflated, but still compares well across the board even if that babbip comes way down.

hey now that is a real interesting comp right there. Especially since if Kirk can stick at catcher, he has a shot to match Mookie's defensive value, too.

Shoeless Joe - Friday, May 17 2019 @ 11:49 AM EDT (#374207) #

I may have reached on Lopez comparisons leading into the season, but I am also firmly on the Kirk bandwagon right now. His bat is so good I don�t even think he needs to stick at catcher.

PeterG - Friday, May 17 2019 @ 12:04 PM EDT (#374210) #

Kirk seems dedicated to improving himself as he lost 20 pounds over the off season. The only thing (other than injury) that might prevent him from being a full time catcher in the show is the presence of Moreno.

Mike Green - Friday, May 17 2019 @ 12:26 PM EDT (#374213) #

It should be noted that Danny Jansen is fast for a catcher, and seems to have a very quick first step. He has position options if his bat returns too. For the time being, I want him to get regular at-bats.

bpoz - Friday, May 17 2019 @ 01:11 PM EDT (#374220) #

Betts is faster than Kirk.

I wanted to compare Kirk to 36 year old Miggy. I cannot compare now because Miggy has 1 HR in 151 ABs. But if Miggy could do 30 Hr and 10 RBI then he is still a 1B/DH with no speed. Miggy may be heavier than listed at 249 lbs.

Kirk just turned 20 11 days ago. He has financial incentive, set for life, if he can lower his weight to 180 lb. The money will come if he hits a lot of doubles and maybe 20 HRs with good bb/k and BA. All possible. He is young and seems well coordinated to me looking at the video of last year thanks to Mike Green.

Miggy is no longer MVP caliber and Kirk may never be.

Mylegacy - Friday, May 17 2019 @ 05:43 PM EDT (#374229) #

"Miggy is no longer MVP caliber and Kirk may never be."

WOW - think about it. Deep in the bowels of a minor league system a 5'9" 220 pound Mexican free agent pitcher converts to catcher and the (metaphorical) beef (Vs the girth beef) with the guy is that he might never be an MVP caliber guy. AND - like the guy is really old, like, let me see, oh yes: 20!

I cannot wait until the legal papers come through and he can change his last name to "Molina." REMEMBER - YOU can never have too many Molina's!

In the mean time, in between time, I'm just goona have to call him Captain Kirk and have the announcer say - every time he comes up to bat - "Captain Kirk beam one up!"

Aye, aye, Captain. Yummy, yummy!

raptorsaddict - Saturday, May 18 2019 @ 01:32 PM EDT (#374244) #

Since others are putting forth suggestions for nicknames for Kirk, I think we should take some inspiration from Brad Marchand and call him The Little Ball of Hit.

Mylegacy - Saturday, May 18 2019 @ 02:08 PM EDT (#374245) #

raptorsaddict - that might work - Personally, I'd change it slightly to: "The Little Molina Like Ball of Hit."

Just sayin'...

raptorsaddict - Saturday, May 18 2019 @ 11:17 PM EDT (#374252) #

Mylegacy,

That could definitely work, as I am told that one can never have too many Molina's.....

Mylegacy - Saturday, May 18 2019 @ 11:32 PM EDT (#374254) #

Oh, raptorsaddict...
Be still my heart! Sigh...

ISLAND BOY - Sunday, May 19 2019 @ 06:15 AM EDT (#374255) #

" one could never have enough Molinas "

Except if you were driving them somewhere in a small car. Three Molinas would be enough. Four or more and the car would be mo-leaning over.

ayjackson - Sunday, May 19 2019 @ 09:00 AM EDT (#374258) #

*groans

Richard had a strong rehab start yesterday. Threww 55 pitches. I wonder how many he makes given the current state of affairs

(btw, keep the bad jokes coming) :)

cascando - Sunday, May 19 2019 @ 10:15 AM EDT (#374259) #

I loved that joke. A literal LOL moment.

budgell - Sunday, May 19 2019 @ 11:21 AM EDT (#374261) #

Apparently, solving for optimal Molinas (Molina?) is a function of energy (food cost), mass and (-) acceleration.

raptorsaddict - Sunday, May 19 2019 @ 02:21 PM EDT (#374264) #

Budgell,

Is it possible to solve a function when one the variables (i.e. "energy") approaches infinity? We may never know.

Mylegacy - Sunday, May 19 2019 @ 05:29 PM EDT (#374275) #

Budgell and Raptorsaddict,

I believe the number of optimal Molinas as a function of variables (incld. "energy") was solved by Einstein in his famous baseball equation: E=MC(squared).

Rumour has it, (our) Kirk helped Einstein, who in turn was helped by a former Vulcan military companion of (Star Trek) Kirk, a half blood Vulcan (full legal name) S'chn T'gai Spock.

{I'm sure you both remember in the episode where Spock's full name was revealed he said "Just call me Spock. My full name is unpronounceable to Humans."}

As (our) Kirk has been known to say: "Ask and all shall be answered." Clearly, he wide in girth, wise in physics and (unquestionably) schooled in the mysterious ways of the force.

Mylegacy - Sunday, May 19 2019 @ 05:33 PM EDT (#374276) #

Grrrrr Clearly: "Clearly, he wide in girth,..." should be "Clearly, he is wide in girth,"

I need a break. Perhaps, single malt?

budgell - Sunday, May 19 2019 @ 10:23 PM EDT (#374280) #

Mylegacy for the win..bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce....crowd goes wild!!
#singlemalt
#natch

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