10 (Hector Noesi; Adam Warren; Jairo Heredia; Cito Culver; Gary Sanchez)

Minor Leagues Report — By Tom K on June 29, 2010 10:37 pm

Scranton:

Pawtucket crushed Scranton tonight, 7-1, and there really isn’t very much to report on.

Jesus Montero went 1-for-4 on the night. Mark Melancon didn’t make much of a case for himself to be promoted any time soon (0.2 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 1 K). Seriously, what the heck is up with the walks this year? Last year, he walked 11 and struck out 54 in 53 minor league innings. This year, his K-BB ratio is 51/24 in 44.2 IP. Strikeouts are still strong – GB% is still strong – but the walks are a much alarm bell. ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————– Trenton:

Hector Noesi pitched a complete game shutout in Game 1 of a double-header (should be noted that minor league teams play 7-inning games when they have double-headers) as Trenton split two games tonight. Noesi allowed five hits, walked nobody, and struck out four. In 8 starts for Trenton, he is now 5-1 with a 1.90 ERA (52 IP, 41 H, 9 BB, 48 K, 5 HR, 0.68 GB/FB). He is now 10-3 overall with a 2.27 ERA (95 IP, 76 H, 15 BB, 101 K, 8 HR, 0.78 GB/FB). Not sure what else to add about this guy; he is a pitching machine.

In the double-header, Brandon Laird went 3-for-6 with three RBI to raise his average to .297. He has 79 runs batted in on the season. Austin Romine actually played both games (one as the DH) and went 2-for-4 with two walks and two runs scored. Romine seems to have turned up the plate discipline recently. (not to mention his offense overall) Austin Krum went 2-for-6 with three runs scored and a home run. The usually powerless Krum has three home runs in his last ten games. ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Tampa:

Adam Warren pitched six shutout innings of his own to help Tampa shut down Lakeland, 5-0. Warren allowed three hits, walked one, and struck out three. He is now 7-5 with a 2.61 ERA (13 starts, 69 IP, 63 H, 15 BB, 51 K). Interestingly enough, Warren really isn’t pitching that deeply into games – and I don’t see a logical reason for it. I don’t have his pitch counts handy, but his stat line doesn’t appear to suggest that he is throwing a lot of pitches. But perhaps he is, or perhaps the Yankees are just limiting his outings for some reason.

George Kontos pitched two scoreless innings in relief. The 25-year old righty now has pitched six consecutive scoreless innings and I will assume that his move to Trenton or Scranton must be coming sometime in the near future.

Corban Joseph went 2-for-5 with an RBI in the victory. —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————– Charleston:

Neil Medchill went 2-for-4 with a triple and a home run while Jairo Heredia went six strong innings in a 4-2 victory. Medchill is hitting .318/.348/.682 in six games since his demotion from Tampa, where he was not hitting at all (.178/.260/.267 in 180 at-bats). The 11th round pick in the 2009 draft has plenty of pop, and hopefully he’ll be able to figure how High-A ball sooner rather than later.

Heredia, who was demoted earlier in the year, allowed one run on three hits. He walked two and struck out seven. Since his demotion, the 20-year old righty is 3-1 with a 4.07 ERA (42 IP, 43 H, 13 BB, 34 K). Obviously, no real shame in being demoted at the age of 20, but Heredia actually already pitched very well at this level in 2008…so you can see why the Yankees want him to make the next step in his development. He’s had his share of injuries, only starting 10 games and throwing 38.1 innings in 2009 (after being shelved for elbow stiffness for a month in 2008), but there is a lot of potential with this kid.

JR Murphy went 2-for-4 with a run scored (.250/.294/.331) to help the winning cause. ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Lower Minors:

Cito Culver proved that he should replace Derek Jeter now, as he went 4-for-5 with two runs scored, a double, an RBI, and a stolen base for the GCL Yankees tonight…In that same game, Gary Sanchez continues to show why maybe the GCL is not for him; he homered for the third time in 26 at-bats and has a 1.416 OPS in that small sample…..2009 16th-rounder Bryan Mitchell pitched four scoreless innings, allowing a hit while walking one and striking out one. Don’t be too fooled by the 16th round designation; the Yankees paid him very well ($800,000) to sign….21-year old shortstop Jose Mojica went 3-for-5 with a run scored for Staten Island tonight to raise his average to .366. Signed in 2007, he hit .278/.321/.369 for the GCL Yankees last year. He was a $300,000 international signing….