Minors Report for 8/7/10 (Montero Goes Yard; David Phelps Impressive; Daniel Brewer Stays Hot; Dellin Betances; Josh Romanski; Alcantara Makes his GCL Debut)
Minor Leagues Report — By Tom K on August 7, 2010 9:56 pmScranton:
Jesus Montero hit his 12th home run of the season, while David Phelps bounced back in a big way to lead Scranton to a 6-1 victory over the future HOF’ers wearing Pawtucket uniforms.
Phelps went 6.2 shutout innings, allowing five hits. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out six to improve his record to 2-2 with Scranton and 8-2 overall. In 38.1 innings with Scranton, he has allowed 46 hits while walking seven and striking out 33. Overall, he has pitched 126.2 innings, giving up 109 hits while walking 30 and striking out 117.
Phelps was a little shaky in his last three starts, allowing 10 earned runs in 14 innings of work.
Montero is now hitting .272/.349/.467. Once he started getting on a roll after his horrific April & May, he has pretty much been the prospect we expected to see.
Kevin Russo went 2-for-5 with a double and a run batted in while Juan Miranda smashed a three-run home run in the victory. It was Miranda’s 11th home run of the season. ——————————————————————————– Trenton:
No offense tonight for Trenton as the next Dwight Gooden (or was it Mariano Rivera?) threw 4.1 shutout innings at them in a 5-1 loss. (Of course, I am referring to Jenry Mejia, who the Mets felt was a good idea earlier in the season to bury him in the big league bullpen rather than let him start in the minors).
Daniel Brewer had two more hits (now hitting .256/.335/.393 and .315/.361/.427 since the All-Star Break). Brewer is making a final push to get to Scranton next year – with his speed and with enough power to be useful, he can be an interesting backup outfield option for the team next year or the year after. Corban Joseph went 1-for-3 with a walk.
On the hill, Adam Warren struggled…pitching five innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on six hits. He walked one and did strike out an impressive eight in the loss. He is 3-2 with a 3.76 ERA for Trenton (26.1 IP, 27 H, 9 BB, 24 K, 1 HR). Overall, he is 10-7 with a 2.60 ERA (107.1 IP, 99 H, 26 BB, 91 K, 3 HR). His GO/AO rate has dipped a bit since moving to Trenton from Tampa, and he has lost some of his early season sharpness. This is not to say he has been terrible, but his last few starts do indicate that he is struggling a bit to find what he had earlier. ————————————————————————————— Tampa:
Dellin Betances pitched five innings, allowing three runs on three hits but it was enough to help Tampa to a 6-4 victory. Betances walked three and struck out five to improve his record to 7-1 with an ERA of 1.60 (12 starts, 62 IP, 34 H, 18 BB, 73 K, 1 HR). Right-handed hitters are hitting .105 off of this guy; lefties give him all kinds of trouble – as they bat over 100 points better (.210).
Melky Mesa went 1-for-4 with a run scored and his 29th stolen base (.274/.342/.486; 21 doubles, 16 home runs, 64 RBI, 29-for-37 stealing bases) ————————————————————————————— Charleston:
They played two games today and ended up splitting them.
In Game 1, Sean Black was brilliant, pitching a complete game (seven innings) shutout as Charleston took a 7-0 victory. Black allowed four hits, walked nobody, and struck out three. On the season, he is 6-7 with a 4.02 ERA (105.1 IP, 103 H, 37 BB, 81 K, 1.41 GO/AO, 5 HR). In seven starts since the All-Star Break, Black has pitched very well: 2-1, 2.35 ERA, 38.1 IP, 29 H, 10 BB, 33 K, 0 HR, 1.60 GO/AO. He was a 7th round pick out of Seton Hall in last year’s draft, and was very strong for Staten Island last year (6-0, 1.62 ERA in ten starts). For a youngster who had an ERA of 6.66 coming out of April, he has turned around his season nicely.
JR Murphy went 1-for-3 with a triple and three runs batted in, while Slade Heathcott went 1-for-3 with a walk and run scored. DeAngelo Mack hit his 11th home run of the year, and went 2-for-3 overall. Murphy didn’t play in the nightcap. He is hitting .252/.304/.359 on the season. His OPS in the second half (.715) is 110 points higher than it was in the first half, as the power numbers have started to creep up.
The bats went to sleep in the nightcap however, as they took a 4-1 loss. Slade Heathcott drove in the only run with a sacrifice fly. Josh Romanski went five innings, allowing one run on seven hits. He walked one and struck out six. He is 7-3 with a 3.25 ERA in 13 starts (74.2 IP, 74 H, 15 BB, 65 K, 8 HR). He is an interesting prospect, as I have stated before. The Brewers drafted him in the 4th round in 2008, but he didn’t pitch due to an injury. (They actually did let him hit though, as he batted 15 times). He missed 2009 due to a fracture in his pitching elbow and needed a pin placed into his elbow. So after giving him a signing bonus and paying for two big surgeries, the Brewers released him before he even threw one regular season pitch for the organization. He is 23, left-handed, and showing some ability in his first professional season. He isn’t a huge prospect by any stretch, but the kid does have talent. ————————————————————————————- Staten Island: Up 8-2 entering the 6th, Staten Island’s bullpen imploded in route to an 11-9 loss. Professional Hitter Kyle Roller went 1-for-4 with a double and two runs batted in, while Eduardo Sosa went 1-for-3 with two runs scored and a walk.
Garrison Lassiter went 1-for-4 with an RBI and a walk.
Chase Whitley, who has been brilliant as Staten Island’s closer, allowed three runs in the top of the ninth to seal the loss. His ERA rose from 0.76 to 1.82. —————————————————————————————- GCL:
Gary Sanchez had his first 0-for-4 game since the day he was born in a 4-3 loss. Yes, I am kidding..but I am probably not off by too much.
Ramon Flores (18, OF/1B) went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs batted in. (.333/.437/.483 in 120 at-bats)
18-year old Jorge Alcantara (19 within a few days) made his GCL debut, and went 0-for-4. He hit .331/.433/.534 for the DSL squad before being promoted. He is playing third base now, but his future position is up in the air; some think he may end up in the outfield. Regardless, he is another prospect to keep your eye out for. He was not originally slated to taste the GCL this season, but performance won out and here he is.
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2 Comments
I made the long trek down to Trenton for the Thunder game this evening. Disappointed to have missed Brandon Laird, who is on to bigger and better things in Scranton, but it was nice to get an up close and personal look at Austin Romine, Corban Joseph, and Adam Warren. I was a bit disappointed that the team looked so sloppy tonight, however. Warren was just not at all sharp; Joseph, while putting some nice swings on the ball, committed a throwing error on a routine groundball to start the game which led to an unearned run, then swung at an awful 3-2 pitch in the 5th that prevented Romine from batting with the bases loaded in a 4 run game.
Joseph muffed another grounder in the 9th, failing to bend over far enough to put a glove on an easy chopper. He wasn’t charged with an error, but the scoring was generous. Overall, I came away unimpressed with Trenton’s defense, particularly in the outfield where players seemed consistently out of position and failed to cover much ground. One bright spot, however, was a fantastic diving play in the 9th by Austin Krum in center.
Mejia looked pretty good, though he was pitching mainly off his explosive fastball which he throws hard enough to dominate AA hitters. I didn’t see much in the way of him developing secondary pitches; he seemed to mix in only a few sliders while sticking with the fastball which was really working for him tonight.
All in all, it seems like I picked a pretty poor night to make the 3 hour round-trip commute to Trenton. But it was nice to see some players I’ve only to this point read about. Romine, while he did go 0-4, made a fantastic throw to nail a runner attempting to steal second. And sitting about 4 feet away from Andrew Brackman for most of the game, I can say without any reservation that he is a monster.
Thanks for the first hand look Ian. I love to keep tabs on the “baby” Yankees when I can. We have several players who have worked their way into prospect status this year. Laird, as you mentioned, Phelps, and Shaefer Hall, to name a few. Nice report.