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Addison Barger was the main story on Friday. He hit for the cycle to help the Jays get some revenge by laying a whupping on the Yankees. Nick Fraze was dominant for the C's as they won via the shutout. The two two affiliates were rained out.

Buffalo at Scranton - postponed

New Hampshire at Somerset - postponed

Everett 0 Vancouver 3

Tampa 7 Dunedin 14


This is what I noted from yesterday's games.


Nick Fraze, a 22nd round draft pick from 2019, went six innings. He had seven K's and allowed two hits. His ERA is now 1.57. In 23 innings this season he has 24 strikeouts and just 3 walks. His WHIP is .61. Brandon Eisert pitched the seventh and eighth and Justin Maese pitched the ninth. There was one hit off each of them.

The C's had just four hits for their three runs. Three of their four hits came in the first inning where they scored two runs. The other run came on their other hit, a home run from Ryan Gold. Gold was the only hitter with two hits.


Addison Barger was the story of this game. The 22 year old from Tampa went 5-5 with seven RBI. In his first three at-bats Barger went triple, double, home run. He came to bat in the fifth needing a single for the cycle, but he homered again, his fourth of the season. His next at-bat came in the eighth. This time he hit a line drive to right field and stopped at first to complete the cycle. Barger boosted his average to .319 and his OPS to 1.013. He does have 26 K's in 72 at-bats although her has none in his last 15 at-bats. Barger DH'd in this game but he has played all around the infield.

Other bats were hot too for the Jays. Zac Cook was 2-2 with a walk, scored two and drove in three. Orelvis Martinez was 2-5, Miguel Hiraldo 2-4 with three runs scored. Steward Berroa also had two hits.

Sem Robberse started and was charged with four runs in three innings. Patrick Murphy threw one inning, just seven pitches.


Three Stars

Third Star - Zac Cook

Second Star - Nick Fraze

First Star - Addison Barger


Boxes

Barger Cycles to Seven RBI Game | 10 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
eldarion - Saturday, May 29 2021 @ 09:27 AM EDT (#398974) #
Great game for Barger, who is clearly old for the level but has also had his share of challenges. Does anyone recall his development story? Didn't he retire or consider retirement at one point...?
GabrielSyme - Saturday, May 29 2021 @ 01:02 PM EDT (#398979) #
Addison Barger was a sixth-round pick out of high school in 2018, and signed at slot. Some prospect rankers were surprised he lasted as far as he did. Incidentally, he's only 21 this year, so not really old for his level.

High school hitters, especially in the later rounds, seem to sometimes take a little while to blossom: Jansen is an example; Dalton Pompey, though his career was ended by injuries, is another. Lane Thomas also had a slow start to his pro career.

I'd ordinarily be very worried about a prospect striking out more than 30% of the time, but going 15 PA without a K suggests that part of the high strikeout rate might well be due having to shake off the rust after missing last year's development.
GabrielSyme - Saturday, May 29 2021 @ 01:13 PM EDT (#398981) #
Incidentally, in the 2019 draft the Jays signed a fair number of high schoolers whose development got significantly delayed last year, and for whom the contracted minor leagues aren't going to help. But I'm still very interested to see what guys like Masson, Nick Neal and Glenn Santiago do once the GCL gets going.
scottt - Saturday, May 29 2021 @ 01:17 PM EDT (#398982) #
Barger is listed at 6', 175lbs. He bats left.
He could become an interesting bat first prospect.

bpoz - Saturday, May 29 2021 @ 01:22 PM EDT (#398983) #
People having personal issues is sort of common.

Josh Hamilton was the #1 pick in the 1999 draft. Stuff happened in his life but he eventually made it to the ML. He had a few incredible ML seasons.

Someone like Hamilton I suppose has incredible athletic ability. I don't know if he had the discipline and dedication it takes to become a superstar.
hypobole - Saturday, May 29 2021 @ 01:24 PM EDT (#398985) #
Barger isn't really old for the league, about average, but old for a prospect. Quick perusal through the 40/35+ FV group of position players at FG, only about 25% are his age or older in Low A. Keep hitting, cut the K rate, get a promotion mid-season. He has barrelled the ball when he connects. Few IFFB's, lots of LD's so far, though still SSS.
GabrielSyme - Saturday, May 29 2021 @ 02:21 PM EDT (#398987) #
I wouldn't call Barger old for a prospect, given the circumstances of a missing 2020 minor league season. Sure, the very best 19-year-olds were playing in full-season ball in 2019, but lots of worthy prospects wouldn't move that quickly. It's also the case that FG and other prospect evaluators simply don't have the data to put the younger, lower-level breakout guys into the list at all, since (again) there was no 2020 season in which to break out.

He apparently has a great arm, haven't found much else about him.
85bluejay - Saturday, May 29 2021 @ 02:28 PM EDT (#398990) #
Barger also had only 58 PA in 2019 before he was put on the restricted list - so he's missed almost 2 seasons.
greenfrog - Saturday, May 29 2021 @ 06:54 PM EDT (#399002) #
There have been some disappointments on the farm in the early going -- partly due to injuries -- but a few excellent performances as well. Manoah, Moreno, Lopez and SWR have been stellar so far. Orelvis (still only 19) has been pretty good. Hopefully Martin and Groshans will start heating up in the coming weeks.

For an idea of how hot Moreno has been, Guerrero Jr.'s wRC+ in the majors this year is 196. Moreno's wRC+ in AA is 197.
John Northey - Saturday, May 29 2021 @ 08:52 PM EDT (#399004) #
Looking in the minors age is #1 always.  Then level, then performance.  A 30 year old cannot be as good a prospect as a 19 year old.  The difference even a single year makes is massive.

So who are the youngest kids? Age for 2021 season (as of July 1st)

Teens...
Rafael Ohashi: 18: 3 starts, 8 IP 7 H 6 R 5 ER 5 BB 13 SO - K's are there, but the walks are killing him.
Orelvis Martinez: 19: A: 259/344/424 at SS/2B - so far so good.  Not 'wow', but solid.
Sem Robberse: 19 A: 3 starts, 1 relief.  9 2/3 IP 10 H 11 R 9 ER 6 BB 16 SO - same as Ohashi
Winder Garcia: 19 A: 3 starts, 10 2/3 IP 9 H 8 R/ER 8 BB 10 SO - ugh.  3 HR too, lots of work needed here.
Jiorgeny Casimiri: 19 A: 7 relief 10 IP 13 H 13 R 9 ER 7 BB 12 SO - 3 HR also, tiny bit better than Garcia but needs tons of work

20 year olds...
Simeon Woods Richardson: AA 4 starts, 19 IP 14 H 7 R 5 ER 8 BB 31 SO.  Nice, now pitching for team USA
Jose Rivas: A, faced 2 batters, 1 out, 1 hit, 3 for 9 as a hitter, plays 2B
Alejandro Melean: A 5 relief 1 start 11 1/3 IP 15 H 10 R 7 ER 7 BB 16 SO - no HR at least, but geez Dunedin games must be torture to watch with all these walks
Adam Kloffenstein: A+ 4 starts 15 2/3 IP 12 H 8 R/ER 12 BB 13 SO - too low in K's too high in BB's, not a good sign at all.
Jhon Solarte: A 145/263/232 CF/RF/LF
Glenn Santiago: A 0 for 4 with a walk
Leo Jimenez: A 180/328/200 7 HBP (ouch) at SS/2B
Miguel Hiraldo: A 274/344/405 5 SB-1CS at 2B/3B

Gabriel Moreno is 21 in AA, 393/457/639 12 games at CA 3 at DH.  In 2019 he hit 280/337/485 in A ball.
Addison Barger also 21 in A 319/388/625 at 2B, DH, SS. 3B, 1B.  Guess he is trying for the Biggio path.  In rookie ball he hit 215/324/348 so he is an early contender for biggest improvement.
Otto Lopez is 22 in AA 366/418/488 at 2B, CF, LF

Lots of older guys doing gangbusters in low A and the like.  But they are unlikely to be more than an 8th man in the pen someday.  I suspect with the robo umps in low A we'll see some issues as I suspect umps used to call close stuff strikes just to keep games moving along but now if it isn't a strike, it isn't a strike.  Should be interesting to see how the end results are of this experiment.
Barger Cycles to Seven RBI Game | 10 comments | Create New Account
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