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Buffalo scored five runs in the first inning, New Hampshire scored six runs in the second inning, Dunedin scored four runs in the first inning. All of them used their early leads to cruise to a win. Vancouver scored just two runs in the first inning but they needed to score two in the eighth to get their win. An org sweep!

Omaha 0 Buffalo 7

Hartford 2 New Hampshire 8

Everett 4 Vancouver 6

Dunedin 12 Clearwater 4


Three Stars

Third Star - RJ Schreck

Second Star - Lazaro Estrada

First Star - Manuel Beltre


Boxes


NOTES


Buffalo scored five runs in the first inning. The big hit was a grand slam by Riley Tirotta. That was good because the Bisons had only five hits in the game. Nathan Lukes and Luis De Los Santos each had two hits.


Jake Bloss started and went three innings. He had some command issues. He used 65 pitches, 35 strikes and 30 balls. He walked three. He also struck out three. That's three starts for Buffalo now and Bloss is being kept on a short leash. If he does get called up by the Jays he might be only allowed to throw 60-70 pitches. Andrew Bash followed and also threw three innings. He needed 39 pitches versus Bloss's 65.


RJ Schreck homered leading off for the Fisher Cats in the first inning. The Cats added six runs in the second inning with a four player cycle. Schreck singled to drive in two runs and make it 3-0. He was followed by Ryan McCarty who doubled in Schreck. Next up Charles McAdoo tripled to make it 5-0. Then Rainer Nunez homered, 7-0. Schreck, McCarty and Nunez each finished with two hits.


Lazaro Estrada started and went six innings. The only run he allowed was unearned. He struck out eight with no walks.


Vancouver scored two runs in their first inning, Peyton Williams with the two run home run. With the game tied in the eighth inning, Jay Harry doubled to score two runs and deliver the win for the C's. Harry had earlier singled in a run giving him three RBI in the game. Jackson Hornung also had two hits. Jace Bohrofen had the night off.


Connor O'Halloran started and went five inning. He gave up three runs, two earned and struck out six.


Dunedin scored four runs in their first inning. Aaron Parker and Manuel Beltre each hit a two run home run in the first inning. Eddie Micheletti doubled in a run in the second inning. The Jays added eight more runs, but no more home runs. Beltre had the biggest game, a single, triple and home run with six RBI. Micheletti, Parker and Arjun Nimmala had two hits each.


Daniel Guerra made his fourth start for Dunedin and it was a good one. Five shutout innings with five K's. Guerra had 11 whiffs, eight on his fastball which topped out at 96 mph.


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Ducey - Friday, August 23 2024 @ 09:26 AM EDT (#451733) #
So far Schreck is looking pretty good. His MLB prospect profile says he is limited to LF as he is slow.

But getting him for the corpse of Justin Turner was good business. Turner has an OPS+ of 69 for the Mariners.

jerjapan - Friday, August 23 2024 @ 10:27 AM EDT (#451737) #
I'm no fan of the 'corpse of' phrasing, but I agree Ducey, Shreck for Turner has played out as well as most salary dumps might.   Shreck is fun, and he's off to a great start for us in AA.  He's only in his second year, and has plenty of time to figure out his bench-bat ceiling. 

Am I the only person who thinks Estrada has back-end / depth starter potential? 
Marc Hulet - Friday, August 23 2024 @ 11:09 AM EDT (#451741) #
I absolutely think Estrada will be a big league pitcher... and should be protected from milb FA/Rule 5. But he's a (smallish) two pitch pitcher and relies on the FB 80-90% so he's very like a reliever long term. But his two pitches have great characteristics
and grade out excellent under the STUFF rankings
bpoz - Friday, August 23 2024 @ 11:39 AM EDT (#451743) #
I try to be optimistic about the farm.

I am now on the Nimmala bandwagon. That power is very impressive but he has things to work on like bb/k. I have hope that Barger will also provide power. He has to work on his bb/k major league results and the D at 3B or OF.

The pitching injuries have been horrible. Starting the year at Dunedin with 4 young pitchers in Barriera, Maroudis, Perez and Perry and college arms Watts-Brown, O'Hallaran and Rogers was good enough for me. Perez and the 3 college arms did V well IMO. Perry too except for the unknown injury. For Dunedin next year maybe Stanifer starts in Dunedin. Add D Guerra, C Castro and L Torres who all throw in the high 90's which makes 4 young SPs that can go 4-5 innings. E Flores can also be added but may not be as good. 2-3 college pitchers probably also start off in Dunedin.

That is quite a large quantity which could yeild something.

jerjapan - Friday, August 23 2024 @ 01:05 PM EDT (#451756) #
Glad to hear it Marc.  
Every year there is gnashing of teeth around who to protect in the rule 5, but Estrada strikes me as the sort of guy who would actually get picked if exposed. 

I've been wondering about projecting pitchers in this new era of guys who provide 'length'.  I stick Estrada in a 'depth starter / long man' category in my brain, but is that the right category?
How do you project a multi-inning reliever, versus a one-inning guy? 

Nimmala is one of my favourite draft picks of the current regime.  It was Uglyone who convinced me I need to consider age even more than I did at the time, so I take the Ks with a grain of salt.
Anyone have a sense that he might be able to stick at SS? 


metafour - Friday, August 23 2024 @ 01:13 PM EDT (#451758) #
Some examples of current MLB hitters who had ~30% K-rates in the lower minors:

Gunnar Henderson: 29.3% in A-ball at age 20, 30.1% in A+ at age 20.
Marcell Ozuna: 32.1% in Low-A at age 19.
Brent Rooker: 29% in A+ at age 22.
Elly De La Cruz: 31% in A-ball at age 19, 30.7% in A+ at age 20.

This isn't a fatal flaw for Nimmala; he is still only 18 years old and the K-rate has been slowly improving as the season has progressed. The main thing here is that he is showing absolutely elite power progression. Even if he forever remains a high-strikeout hitter, that profile will still play given the elite power he is already showing. Especially if he sticks at SS, which seems expected.
Kelekin - Friday, August 23 2024 @ 01:49 PM EDT (#451761) #
Additionally, Nimmala has an .833 OPS against righties as a righty. Still too early in his career for splits to be meaningful, but it's a good sign.

Checking in on our draftees - in all too small sample sizes:

Aaron Parker (21) - 181 wRC+
Eddie Micheletti Jr (22) - 173 wRC+
Nick Mitchell (20) - 153 wRC+
Carter Cunningham (23) - 131 wRC+
Brock Tibbitts (21) - 119 wRC+
Sean Keys (21) - 89 wRC+

Aaron Parker has a .321 ISO and 0.92 BB/K.
GabrielSyme - Friday, August 23 2024 @ 02:43 PM EDT (#451766) #
Schreck is up to a 144 wRC+ in slightly over 100 PA in AA between Arkansas and New Hampshire. Not quite as exciting as McAdoo, who is a year and a half younger, but a similar story - later round college draftees in 2023, who have hit a tonne this year both in A+ and AA, both with decent power (17 HRs for McAdoo, 16 for Schreck) and similar BB & K rates.

The Jays went after hitters at the deadline, and they generally look pretty good (Josh Rivera excepted).

Jacob Sharp has an excellent combination of contact ability and power, he's very interesting to me.

GabrielSyme - Friday, August 23 2024 @ 02:53 PM EDT (#451767) #
Elsewhere, someone pointed out that Nimmala's strikeout rate had been slowly coming down. It's still been 30% after he came back from his time at the complex, and I was curious if the relative improvement was due to just more aggressiveness or better contact ability. Turns out his contact rate has improved over the season.

Apr/May: 66.5% (then back to the complex)
Jun/July: 67.3%
August: 74.3%

Even 74% is fairly low, but it's a substantial improvement on the first three quarters of his season.
Marc Hulet - Friday, August 23 2024 @ 05:03 PM EDT (#451773) #
Adrian Pinto is back on the IL
Kelekin - Friday, August 23 2024 @ 06:22 PM EDT (#451776) #
Rojas with another great performance - 6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 9 K.
Glevin - Friday, August 23 2024 @ 09:02 PM EDT (#451778) #
Schreck cannot be stopped. 2/3 with a 2B and a HR so far. That'll do, that'll do.
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