Friday, August 19, 2011

Down on the Farm: 8/19/2011

Generally on the day of a tough loss, it's nice to dream about the future while perusing the minor league box scores, but several of the Giants minor league teams got shut out today too. Not a particularly good day to be a Giants fan.

AAA Round Rock Express flattened the Fresno Grizzlies 12-2:

Andres Torres(CF)- 1 for 5, HR(2). BA= .208.
Emmanuel Burriss(2B)- 1 for 5. BA= .309.
Brandon Crawford(SS)- 1 for 4. BA= .317.
Brad Eldred(????)- 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 0.00.

Impressive emergency pitching appearance for Eldred. At 6'6", 270 lb, he'd be an imposing presence on the mound.

AA Akron Aeros blanked the Richmond Flying Squirrels 4-0:

Justin Fitzgerald(RHP)- 7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 7 K's, GO/AO= 11/1. ERA= 3.38.

Stromsmoe and Culberson had 2 hits each out of a total of 5 for the Squirrels.

High A San Jose Giants beat the High Desert Mavericks 5-1:

Andy Reichard(RHP)- 7.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 9 K's. ERA= 2.88.

Reichard has a 2.25 ERA since moving to starter over his last 6 games. He's 26 yo which is old for a SP prospect, but he's a big strong guy who seems to get better with more work. Cavan, Burg and Flores had 2 hits each. Parker, Joseph, Cavan and Ciriaco each had a double. BTW, Tommy Joseph made #4 on BA's Hot Sheet this week and Ehire Adrianza, surprisingly, was #9.

Low A Charleston River Dogs squeaked past the Augusta Greenjackets 1-0:

Shawn Sanford(RHP)- 8 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K's, GO/AO= 17/2. ERA= 2.73.
Seth Rosin(RHP)- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 3.67.

Pretty ridiculous ground ball rate there for Sanford.

Short Season Eugene Emeralds topped the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes 5-1:

Lorenzo Mendoza(RHP)- 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 4.02
Rafael Martinez(RHP)- 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 7.17.

Rookie AZL Giants defeated the Padres 5-2:

Kelby Tomlinson(SS)- 2 for 4, 3B. BA= .327.
Eric Sim(DH)- 2 for 4, SB(5). BA= .339.
Mike Merganthaler(RF)- 3 for 4, 2 2B, HR(4). BA= .366.
Clayton Blackburn(RHP)- 5.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K's, 2 HBP. ERA= 0.32.
Derek Law(RHP)- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's, Save(2). ERA- 3.38.

The 2 HBP's were the only baserunners Blackburn allowed. Law has 14 K's against just 2 BB in 13.1 IP.

13 comments:

  1. Very impressive stats being put up by 18 year old RHP Clayton Blackburn in rookie ball. 28 IP 13 hits 3 walks 26 K's. He's a 16th round draft pick out of the 2011 draft. I like his size 6'3" 220..

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  2. Yup, right now, Clayton Blackburn is looking like the steal of the draft. He has a crazy ground ball rate to go with the great K and BB numbers. Demondre Arnold has been impressive too. Kyle Crick has kind of disappeared after 1 rough outing. Hope he's not hurt.

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  3. I am wondering with all of the injuries as of late that we havent tried to call up anyone to help. My first thought is Pill. He is having a great year and I have seen him play some second base. Also, I am about sick of seeing Rowand. DFA Burrell, Rowand, and DeRosa. We can't get anything for them and won't be a factor next year. Peguero is on the 40 man roster. Let's see what he can do. Cannot be any worse than Rowand. Huff is awful. Belt needs to play at least 3 times a week until Huff shows something. Sanchez is probably not going to be a Giant next year. His stuff is dirty but his mental game is horrible. Try either Surkamp or Verdugo. I really like Sanford in A and am excited with Blackburn in Rookie ball. See you in 2-3 years.

    Let's get this team going. I think we need some drastic changes to boost moral.

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  4. You have to remember that PCL offensive numbers are enormously inflated. They always look bright and shiny until they get to the majors and then they can't hit their way out of a paper sack. I am impressed by Peguero's numbers in Richmond and wouldn't be opposed to playing him instead of Rowand.

    What this team needs, much more than a shakeup, it to get well!

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  5. Demondre Arnold has been impressive too 22 IP 12 hits, 5 walks 25 K's. He has a good baseball background, a highly regarding Georgia kid, drafted in the 37th round by Tampa Bay in 2010 out of high school and the 25th round by the Giants in 2011. I've never heard of a kid being drafted after playing only 1 year in college. Nice to see the Giants land good young pitching prospects like Crick, Blackburn, and Arnold.

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  6. DrB,

    Normally I would agree with the statement about the PCL statement but sometimes it doesn't hold up and we let go talent because we are afraid of the inflation. Jesus Guzman is killing it in San Diego abd his RISP is really good. We let him go for the same reason and his defense wasn't that great. Lets give Pill a hundred at bats or so and see.

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  7. Anon: Agreed on Arnold. Love that draft pick.

    Roger: I just don't think the middle of pennant race is where you just give 100 AB's to a guy who looks like a AAAA player to see what happens. I know everybody is frustrated with Huff, but given a choice between Huff and Pill down the stretch, you have to put your money on Huff. As for 2B, forget about it. From everything I've read, Pill is not going to be playing it at the MLB level.

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  8. Lets say hypothetically that we can keep Lincecum, Cain and Bumgarner for the next 5 years which may or may not be possible due to free agency. We have a small window to win and we need to win now. Dominant young homegrown pitching is hard to come by. The lack of offense needs to be jump started even if we need to call up someone who is raking. We should never lose 2 straight to a team that is the worst in baseball. You can see it on everyones faces. The confidence is gone. We need to do something drastic to let everyone know that the best players will play and not just because of status or contract. I think the first move we should do is cut Zito. He is just a distraction. This would send a shockwave through the clubhouse and let other people like Rowand, J Sanchez and Torres know that bad play is not acceptable and will not be tolerated.

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  9. Just my opinion, but the last thing in the world this team needs is another "shockwave." Rowand is not an every day player. J Sanchez was sent to Fresno under the guise of a rehab assignment. Torres was DL'd against his will and was playing on Fresno almost immediately. It seems to me the proper messages have been sent. This team needs some people to get well and needs a bit of continuity in the lineup. Another "shockwave" would probably completely destroy any chance they still have.

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  10. Just my opinion also, calling up a young rookie hitter such as Pill and expecting him to jump start an offense is more the exception then the norm. It takes a special player like a Buster Posey who helped turn the Giants from a below average to average offense last year. I didn't expect Belt to be that type of player this year, the jump to the majors is a tough one.. Veteran run producers such as Carlos Beltran are the ones that jump start offenses. I was hoping that Beltran would provide a spark similar to what Fred McGriff did when the Braves overtook the Giants to win the West. I might be wrong but wasn't it 1993? The Giants need a healthy Beltran to start hitting like he's capable of..

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  11. I totally agree that the key to the rest of the season is getting Beltran healthy and getting him hot. I realize it might not happen, but that is what needs to happen for the Giants to get back into the playoffs.

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  12. I will add that none of this discussion has anything to do with the upcoming offseason in which I totally agree there needs to be a major housecleaning. Just for starters, Tejada, DeRosa, Ross, Torres, Fonty all need to be gone. I wouldn't mind Zito being released but doubt that will happen. J Sanchez is starting to get expensive and I'm not sure I would tender him a contract. I think they will keep Rowand as a reserve OF for the last year of his contract. Huff will probably stay for his last year and they will hope he is more motivated by his walk year.

    The Giants are going to have some tough decisions about long term contracts coming up. I would say Wilson and Sanchez no, Timmy and Cainer yes, even though long term pitching contracts are always risky.

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  13. Totally agree, there will be alot of changes. Timmy's arb is going to take some $$$. Luckily Cainer and the Beard are signed in 2012. The only player mentioned I'm on the fence on is Sanchez.. They don't have a replacement on the farm (Runzler sure stunk it up today), and FA starting pitchers will cost them some $$ also, we'll see what happens. I think Belt and Crawford should be with the big club from the start of 2012.. CF might be a problem.. I've read that some in the Giants org believe that Gary Brown can make the jump to the majors sometime in 2012 similar to what the Panda did. I dunno, maybe it might be better to sign a 1 year stopgap so they don't rush G Brown..

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