6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog: Minor League Scorebook

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Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Minor League Scorebook

News

Jeremy Brown was activated today, so for those of you Moneyball-haters out there, pipe down, wouldja? (Just kidding.)
Matt Kemp updated his journal today.
Dallas McPherson returned to the bigs, and MILB.com has an article on that, including a quote from Casey Kotchman about his move to the DL:
"It is hard for me to admit that something is not right. I try to be optimistic a lot in life as far as your well being and your health and be optimistic," Kotchman said. "It is hard to admit you're hurt, and right now that is how I feel and there is not an improvement."
...
"Casey has to get his stamina back," manager Mike Scioscia said. "It started to cut into his practice and it started to have an effect on him being the player he knows he can be."
I missed this in yesterday's Scorebook, but Blake Dewitt, Delwyn Young, and Willy Aybar were all "In The Team Photo" in Monday's Prospect Hot Sheet, as is former Angel Alexi Casilla, who's batting .325/.361/.452 in small samples; already, they're calling him a possible "shortstop of the future". Rafael Rodriguez made the "Not So Hot" list for the second week in a row.
Kevin Goldstein takes a look at the Angels' minors as part of his AL West "Future Shock" column:
- Triple-A Salt Lake (6-4 in last 10 games; 18-11 overall)
  Dallas McPherson's struggles were well documented by Jay Jaffe in a recent Prospectus Notebook, but those struggles may be no more, as the third baseman has homered in four straight games, including a two-home run game on Sunday. He's still hitting .232 with 48 strikeouts in 95 at-bats, but with just four of his 22 hits being singles, he's slugging .579. Draw any conclusions you want from this, but since Howie Kendrick moved up to the bigs, Erick Aybar is batting just .244. At least 2004 first-round pick Jered Weaver has been dominant in four of six starts, with a 46/6 K/BB ration in 35 IP despite still occasionally struggling against lefties. Acquired for Alberto Callaspo prior to the season, flamethrowing righthander Jason Bulger has 22 strikeouts in 14.2 innings, and has limited righthanded hitters to an .087 average. Although the back end of the Angels' bullpen has generally been outstanding, the struggles of Esteban Yan could open a slot for Bulger.
- Double-A Arkansas (5-5; 13-16)
  Going back to the beginning of 2005, Brandon Wood has played in 163 regular season games and amassed 210 hits, 51 home runs and 141 RBI. However, his strikeout rate is up significantly this year (one per 2.9 ABs), the primary reason he's batting just .269. After allowing just one run over 17 innings in three starts for Rancho Cucamonga, hard-throwing righthander Rafael Rodriguez has given up 15 runs over 13 innings in three starts for the Travelers. Beginning the year in the closer role, former Southwest Missouri State star Bob Zimmerman began the year with four scoreless innings and a pair of saves in three games, but has a 16.50 ERA since, allowing 19 hits in 8.2 innings while striking out just three.
- High-A Rancho Cucamonga (5-5; 16-14)
  In a pre-season look at potential league breakouts, I noted shortstop Sean Rodriguez and outfielder Drew Toussaint as a pair of Angels who could take a statistical jump forward in the friendly hitting confines of the California League. While Toussaint has struggled to keep his average above the Mendoza line, Rodrugez leads the Quakes in home runs (4) and total bases (57), and batting .339/.381/.523 despite an inexplicable bout of impatience at the plate. Entering the season with a career rate of one walk every 6.7 at-bats, Rodriguez has just four in 109 at-bats this year. Jose Arredondo is a 22-year-old Dominican righty in the process of becoming interesting. A converted shortstop, he's understandably raw, but he can get it up into the upper 90s, and has recorded 49 strikeouts in 31.1 innings.
- Low-A Cedar Rapids (5-5; 15-15)
  The offense has little to talk about, as first baseman Mark Trumbo is hitting more like an 18th-round pick (.203/.256/.354) than an 18th-round pick who signed for nearly $1.5 million. The rotation is where it's at for the Kernels, as Nick Adenhart continues to look like a $710,000 bargain with a 1.96 ERA in six starts, and Tommy Mendoza (2.95 ERA in six starts) continues to look like a fifth-round steal. Stephen Marek has posted a 2.75 ERA, and continues to flash one of the best fastballs in the Midwest League.
Finally, thanks to Travelerocity for the nice words about Friday's game slide show.

Scores

2006-05-09: Salt Lake 5, Omaha 2 #

Aybar, E: 1-4, 1 2B
Willits, R: 1-2, 2 RBI, 1 BB
Gorneault: 0-4, 2 K
Morales: 1-4, 1 RBI
Mathis, J: 2-4, 2 2B, 1 K
Eylward: 1-4
Olenberger: (W, 2-0), 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 3 K, 3 BB, 2.91 ERA
Jones: 2.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 3 K, 2 BB, 1 HR, 7.02 ERA
The Dallas-deprived Bees did all right for themselves as Reggie Willits drove in two while taking that ever-so-unusual walk. Jeff Mathis went 2-4, bringing his average up to .368 in the land where sliders don't. Kasey Olenberger, presumably off the DL, returned to strike out three while surrendering zero runs over six innings.

2006-05-09: Corpus Christi 4, Arkansas 1 #

Peel, A: 2-5, 1 2B, 2 K
Rodland: 2-5, 1 K
Wood: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 BB
Aspito: 1-3, 1 HR, 1 RBI
Wilson: 0-3, 1 K
Porter: 2-3, 1 BB, 1 K
Holcomb: (L, 0-4), 7.1 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 3 K, 2 BB, 1 HR, 4.38 ERA
Pullin: 1.2 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 K, 4 BB, 4.15 ERA
It wasn't even close as Hunter Pence homered again today. James Holcomb took the loss; that's all he's been taking.

2006-05-09: Visalia 8, Rancho Cucamonga 5 #

Sutton: 2-5
Remole: 3-4
Rodriguez, S: 1-4, 1 RBI
Collins: 1-3, 1 BB
Lopez: 1-4, 1 RBI, 1 K
Toussaint: 0-4
Leblanc: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K
Green: (L, 3-2), 5.0 IP, 7 ER, 11 H, 5 K, 1 BB, 2 HR, 4.70 ERA
DeLoizaga-Carney: 1.2 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 K, 1 BB, 4.50 ERA
Torres: 1.1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 K, 1 BB, 3.86 ERA
Nick Green's second tough outing in a row, he gave up a pair of homers to Shaun Cumberland, the Devil Rays' 17th ranked prospect according to Baseball America.

2006-05-09: Cedar Rapids 9, Dayton 0 #

Statia: 2-4, 1 BB
Coon: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 BB, 1 K
Renz: 3-4, 1 3B, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K
Trumbo: 1-5, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 K
Schlichting: 0-3, 2 BB, 1 K
Madrigal: 2-5, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K
Adenhart: (W, 5-0), 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 9 K, 1 BB, 1.65 ERA
Another fine outing by Nick Adenhart, who struck out nine over seven innings and has a 9.48 K/9 and a 4.60 K/BB ratio. He would have been eligible for wins in all his starts (had his offense given him the lead), and he has pitched quality starts in all but one of his outings. Yes, it would certainly seem that a promotion is in the offing.

Good news: Mark Trumbo is striking out in only 23% of his at bats.
Bad news: He's only hitting .193.

2006-05-09: AZL Angels did not play

2006-05-09: Orem did not play

2006-05-09: Memphis 12, Las Vegas 11 #

Valdez: 3-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB
Aybar: 3-5, 3 RBI, 1 BB
Guzman, J: 2-5, 2 RBI
Young, D: 1-5, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 K
Bellorin, E: 2-4, 1 2B
Loney: 1-2, 1 RBI
Billingsley: 1.1 IP, 6 ER, 6 H, 3 K, 3 BB, 3.44 ERA
Kuo: 0.2 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 K, 2 BB, 2.25 ERA
Carter: (BS, 1)(L, 0-1) (in relief), 1.1 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 0 K, 0 BB, 1 HR, 1.80 ERA
And speaking of bad news: this is why the Dodgers called up Aaron Sele and not Chad Billingsley, who didn't get out of the second. Lance Carter, pretending to be a major leaguer, got a blown save and rightfully the loss as 27-year-old, .181-hitting, non-prospect John Nelson crushed one of his fastballs over the fence.

Hong Chih Kuo barely did better, as a James Loney fielding error, a double by Skip Schumaker, and a walk Kuo surrendered to Junior Spivey loaded up the bases. Kuo then struck out the next two batters, precipitating the ejection of Redbirds right fielder Chris Duncan. Kuo then walked in a run, which chased him in favor of Carter. Mistake!

2006-05-09: Carolina 1, Jacksonville 10 #

Hu: 0-4, 1 BB
Abreu: 1-4, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
Kemp: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
LaRoche: 1-2, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 3 BB
Brazell: 2-5, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 K
Ruggiano, J: 1-5, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K
Raglani: 1-1, 1 HR, 2 RBI
Totten: (W, 3-1), 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 7 K, 1 BB, 3.19 ERA
Miller: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 3 K, 1 BB, 0.90 ERA
Heath Totten comes back from his last, bad, outing, and homers from Justin Ruggiano and Anthony Raglani help power the Suns to a rout over the Mudcats.

2006-05-09: Dunedin 10, Vero Beach 1 #

Dewitt: 2-4, 1 2B
Denker, T: 3-4, 1 2B, 1 K
Dunlap: 0-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB
Hoffmann: 0-4
Malone: (L, 1-2), 5.0 IP, 8 ER, 10 H, 4 K, 2 BB, 1 HR, 4.68 ERA
Wright: 3.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 4 K, 2 BB, 2.51 ERA
Ryan Klosterman very nearly single-handedly annihilated the Dodgers, driving in six including a grand slam. Blake DeWitt scored the only run.

2006-05-09: Columbus 2, Kannapolis 3 #

De Jesus: 0-5, 1 K
Pedroza: 2-3, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
Mooneyham: 1-2, 1 RBI, 2 BB
Leach: 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 7 K, 3 BB, 2.75 ERA
Sanfler: (BS, 2)(L, 0-4) (in relief), 0.1 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 0 K, 1 BB, 8.10 ERA
Miguel Sanfler couldn't hold on to the Catfish's one-run lead in the eighth, and gave up the go-ahead runs on a series of walks and singles punctuated by a sac bunt.

2006-05-09: GCL Dodgers did not play

2006-05-09: Ogden did not play

// posted by Rob @ 12:37 AM link // 2 comments