10 (Jesus Montero; Brandon Laird; Manny Banuelos; Daniel Brewer; Austin Romine; Gary Sanchez)

Minor Leagues Report — By Tom K on September 2, 2010 10:46 pm

Scranton:

Are these the final days of Jesus Montero, the Minor Leaguer? Are these the last days of Jesus Montero, the property of the Yankees? (Hey, I hope not – but they did offer him for significant players last offseason and during this season).

Anyway, Jesus Montero doubled and drove in three runs, while Juan Miranda hit his 15th home run of the season as Scranton pulled away to a 9-2 victory.

Montero now has 32 doubles to go along with his 19 home runs. He is slugging .505 now on the season. He has a 1.076 OPS since the All-Star Break. I guess if you want to find one “flaw”, it is the fact that after walking plenty in July, his rate has slowed since. But when a guy has a 1.076 OPS, do we really care much about that? He does have 46 walks in 120 games, which isn’t exactly Nick Johnson but is plenty good enough.

Brandon Laird went 3-for-4 with a double in the victory. He is only at .238/.264/.333 in 105 at-bats since his promotion. Perhaps grandpa needs to have a talk with him.

Kei Igawa started, so who cares about that. George Kontos is now up in Scranton, and he gave up two runs in 2.2 innings of relief tonight. Kontos, if his arm is healthy, can be a factor at some point in 2011. ———————————– Trenton:

Free Pat Venditte! Venditte made his Double-A debut tonight, winning the game with a scoreless inning of relief as Trenton took a 3-2 decision.

Manny Banuelos went 4.2 innings, allowing both runs (none earned) on five hits. He walked two and struck out six. He is pretty much at that point in the season where he is just throwing as many pitches as the Yankees are limiting him to, and is then taken right out of the game. He has a 3.52 ERA in 15.1 innings for Trenton, allowing 15 hits while walking eight and striking out 17. He’ll probably be the highest ranked prospect in 2011 who did not even win a game in 2010.

Daniel Brewer (wow, I am typing that name a lot lately) went 2-for-4 with a run batted in, while Austin Romine doubled and also drove in a run in the victory.

Brewer is at .269/.345/.403 in 491 at-bats with 32 doubles, 10 home runs, and 78 RBI. He has stolen 28 of 38. He has just enough power and speed to make himself interesting. Romine is at .265/.322/.389 with 28 doubles, nine home runs, and 65 RBI. He has 37 walks and 92 strikeouts on the season. Hard to remember the fact that through May, Romine was outhitting Montero – by a decent margin, at that. ———————————————— Tampa:

A slugfest erupted tonight in a traditional pitcher’s league, as Tampa took a 13-6 decision.

As always, I hate it when I see a score like this, and then notice that the offense wasn’t really generated by prospects. Bradley Suttle managed a 1-for-3 night with two walks and a run scored, while Addison Maruszak scored a run and drove in two more without generating a hit. He drew a walk as well.

Zolio Almonte went 1-for-4 with a double, two runs, a walk, and a stolen base (8th with Tampa; 15-for-22 overall). He is hitting .260/.324/.357 in 227 at-bats with Tampa (.278/.341/.485 in 227 at-bats in Charleston earlier this season). His numbers have been trending upward, which is what you like to see out of a young prospect getting his first look at High-A pitching.

I will give a shout out to Myron Leslie, who had the biggest night with three hits, a home run, and five runs batted in. The problem is that Leslie is 28 years old and barely cracks a .700 OPS in High-A ball. Organization filler at its best.

Preston Claiborne threw a scoreless inning of relief, allowing two hits (6.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K since joining Tampa; 30 IP, 26 H, 11 BB, 35 K overall between Tampa/Staten Island. He skipped past Charleston)

Craig Heyer made the start, giving up five runs on eight hits in five innings of work (8-4, 3.52 ERA, 92 IP, 92 H, 1 HR, 6 BB, 66 K, 1.99 GO/AO). He’ll probably find himself trying out Trenton next year, where control specialists can find out if they REALLY can get advanced hitters out. —————————————————– Charleston:

This team sometimes just cannot hit. A 1-0 loss tonight.

Luke Murton had two of the hits to raise his line to .280/.361/.463. Given his advanced age (24) and good power, I can see him becoming a guy like Shelley Duncan or maybe Shane Spencer – a player who gets a bit of a late start, but ends up being somewhat useful in the majors. He has a .908 OPS vs. left-handed pitchers. (Only 88 at-bats though)

24-year old Mike Solbach started, going 4.2 innings, allowing one unearned run on four hits. He walked one and struck out five (4-6, 3.90 ERA, 99.1 IP, 109 H, 23 BB, 95 K, 4 HR, 1.20 GO/AO). ——————————————————- Staten Island:

Two losses tonight – a heart-breaking 2-1 loss and a dreadful 15-1 loss.

Gary Sanchez went 2-for-3 in the opener to raise his Staten Island average to .273. A few good nights in a row can do wonders when you have a small sample size; he is now at .273/.327/.455 with Staten Island in 44 at-bats. He has struck out 14 times in those 44 at-bats. Overall, he is at .331/.395/.558 in 163 at-bats.

Kyle Roller and Rob Segedin each went 1-for-5 with a walk in the double-header. Segedin’s hit was a double, while Roller drove in a run.

Not a good night for reliever Dan Burawa, who didn’t record an out while giving up five runs. In five games, he has an ERA of 9.00 (a game like tonight will do that to you). He has allowed eight hits, walked seven and struck out eight in six innings.

Mike Recchia didn’t fare any better, giving up six runs in two-thirds of an inning. The 21-year old had a bit more of cushion to work with, so his ERA only jumped to 4.96 (32.2 IP, 27 H, 1 HR, 12 BB, 29 K)

22-year old lefty made his 2010 debut, pitching a third of an inning. In 2009, he put up a 5-1, 0.62 ERA line for Staten Island (43.1 IP, 27 H, 24 BB, 48 K, 1 HR, 3.00 GO/AO – I guess he walked the ballpark, then got out of it with strikeouts and double plays. I love it). I will assume he was injured to begin the season.