7/30 Minor League Wrap-Up

- First of all, apologies in advance for the lack of team links with the stats today: server space holding Baseball Reference's minor league pages crapped out right as I finished compiling (I have no idea why the front page and the rest of B-R will load but not this), and my crappy work browser, for some reason, didn't cache the pages so they were lost. I have links for Tacoma and Round Rock but no one else. Anyone feeling ambitious can check it out directly and see if they'll load once you read this. We'll hopefully be abck to normal tomorrow, and I'll see about adding links tonight and rendering this opening paragraph moot.

- So we and others have already discussed, at length, the Arthur Rhodes trade to the Marlins for quality pitching prospect Gaby Hernandez.

Gaby is an SP that can miss bats and possesses a reasonable ability to locate four useful pitches, fronted by a 90-93 heater and a cutter. He just finished an understably poor stint in the launchpad of AAA Albuquerque, having returned to AA before being dealt. He will likely land in Tacoma and help out that depleted rotation, and Cheney Stadium will probably treat him far better than Isotopes Park did. LATE EDIT: According to KOMO, they'll send him to AA West Tenn. Meh, but not the worst decision they could have made. Given that was his last successful level, why not see what you've got and if some new coaching can produce some results before testing him in AAA?

While Gaby walks a few too many batters for comfort, not a Woerman-like amount but just a bit too many, his ability to miss bats and work extended innings without disaster gives him a shot at an eventual back-end rotation spot in MLB... though if his control doesn't improve, his more likely prognosis will be in the bullpen as a quality setup guy. However, as of now he IS a full-time starter, he is only 24 22, and it will take an extended stretch of flatlined non-development over a couple years for the M's to consider honing him into relief work.

- Surprise in Peoria: Austin Bibens-Dirkx made a rehab outing with the Peoria M's yesterday. ABD went strikeout, grounder (single), grounder (single), flyball, line drive and pop up, ultimately allowing 2 runs on 3 hits, but two of those hits came on groundballs that could have gone either way, plus one of the runs came on the flyout as a sac fly. So far so good, and I'm not discouraged by his line at all (and neither should he be).

- The Everett Aquasox have allowed 5.86 runs per game, most in the Northwest League, and their .616 defensive efficiency is lowest in the NWL by a fair margin: Boise is next to last with .639 and league average is .645. The pitching has one of the higher walk totals with 185, but also one of the higher strikeout totals with 334. Basically, while the pitching hasn't been good, the runs allowed haven't been nearly all their fault. I'll have to dig deeper for defensive numbers, but I can say that shortstop has been a weakness whether it's been George Soto or Anthony Phillips (and Phillips was an upgrade coming in), and Nate Tenbrink has the footspeed but may need work on his fundamentals, as he has 10 errors and has one of the lesser range factors among 3Bs in the NWL.

- The Human Temp Agency was on the move again: Kevin Reynolds joined the High Desert Mavs last night and went 1 for 5 with a K in the Mavs' 12 inning loss to Lake Elsinore.

- Mike Wilson strikes again: With the game tied in the bottom 9th and a man on with two out, Wilson took Kanekoa Texeira deep for a walkoff 2 run blast to seal a 6-4 win.

This followed a rare blown save by Shawn Kelley, which wasn't entirely his fault: he walked CJ Lang with one out in the top 9th, watched Robert Valido beat out a grounder, then watched pinch hitter Stefan Gartrell line a single that LF Brent Johnson misplayed to allow the tying run. Kelley did get touched up a bit, but forces aligned against him as well in that top 9th. He did immediately get a double play out a Victor Mercedes to end the frame.

- Ryan Rowland-Smith's 2nd start last night went 90 pitches (65 for strikes). He got lucky during one stretch where he gave up three straight line drives, but all of them found fielders for outs. The last three batters he faced all popped out, and needless to say, going 7 innings on only 90 pitches and allowing only 3 hits was a huge plus, even given some good luck with line drives. as were the consistent strikes and only one walk. Hyphen can totally do this starting thing, each successful start making a statement that he deserves the opportunity to do so.

Groundballs: 5
Flyballs: 6 (1 HR)
Line Drives: 5
Pop Ups: 4
Walks: 1
Strikeouts: 3

- Remember yesterday's impromptu home run derby? Let's DO IT AGAIN. Same story, different locale (Round Rock, TX):

Victor Diaz went yard with two on in the 1st. WLAD smacked a solo shot in the 3rd. Tuglett jacked one off of the laughably familiar Runelvys Hernandez in the 7th. Shawn Garrett followed suit later that inning with a 2 run, 2 out shot of his own. Ray Sadler (271/329/569) gave RRS a parting gift in the bottom 7th with a solo shot, and JR Towles (294/368/588) took tomato can for hire Randy Messenger deep for a 3 run bomb in the 9th to make an 8-2 rout into a more respectable 8-5 final.

- WLAD started in left field for the Rainiers yesterday. Read into that for all you wish :P

Okay, stats below.

VENEZUELA~! VSL Astros 3, VSL Mariners 1
VSLMs: 40-25... VSL Astros: 35-30
(League: 254/336/342... 3.46 ERA)

Erasmo Ramirez: 4 IP, 2 H, K (11 GS +2, 2.86 ERA, 63 IP, 2 HR, 9/46 BB/K)
Ricardo Pereira: 2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 walks, K, wild pitch
Johalbi Chourio: 2 IP, 2 H, (1 R) 0 ER, 2 K, hit batter (11 app, 3.97 ERA, 22.2 IP, 13/8 BB/K)
Yidid Batista: 1-4, RBI (254/304/287)
rest of VSLMs lineup: 2-27, walk, 11 K

Dominican: DSL AthleticsUno 4, DSL Mariners 2
DSLMs: 31-17... DSLA2s: 22-20
(League: 236/338/320... 3.72 ERA)

Miguel Celestino: 1 IP, 2 ER, 2 walks, K, 2 wild pitches, hit batter (10 GS +1, 2.45 ERA, 44 IP, 10/35 BB/K)
Enrique Rosario: 4 IP, 3 H, (2 R) 1 ER, 2 walks, 4 K, wild pitch, hit batter (11 app, 3.25 ERA, 27.2 IP, 14/31 BB/K)
Jose Perdomo: 3 IP, 2 H, walk, 2 K (14 app, 6 GS, 3.92 ERA, 41.1 IP, 1 HR, 7/25 BB/K)
Marbin Beltre: 3-4, R (299/424/346)
Ameilis Carvajal: 1-3, RBI, walk (281/410/421)
Rudy van Heydoorn: 0-3, sac fly RBI (224/413/383)
Axel Wel: 2-4 (263/356/316)

Rk-AZL: Giants 12, Mariners 4
(League: 267/350/385... 4.48 ERA)

Austin Bibens-Dirkx: 1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, K
Ariel Alcantara: 3 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, walk, 5 K (4 GS +2, 6.94 ERA, 23.1 IP, 3 HR, 17/27 BB/K)
Jean Tome: 2 IP, 6 H, (7 R) 2 ER, walk, 3 K, wild pitch
Philip Hann: 2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 walks, 3 K
Chris Kirkland: 1 IP, 1 H
Jharmidy De Jesus: 2-3, solo HR (363/424/637)
Robert Rodriguez: 1-4, double, R, RBI, K (276/289/374)
Randy Molina: 2-4, triple, R, RBI (175/279/263)

Rk+: Danville 4, Pulaski 3
PMs: 25-16... DAN: 23-19
(League: 262/334/391... 4.23 ERA)

Fabian Williamson: 3 IP, 1 H, (2 R) 1 ER, walk, 3 K, wild pitch (9 GS, 4.69 ERA, 40.1 IP, 6 HR, 20/51 BB/K)
Andres Esquibel: 3 IP, 2 H, 2 K (10 app, 2.25 ERA, 20 IP, 2 HR, 3/10 BB/K)
Brandon Pullen: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 K, hit batter (11 app, 2.95 ERA, 18.1 IP, 2 HR, 2/18 BB/K)
Blake Nation: two outs, 2 H, 1 ER (11 app, 3.60 ERA, 15 IP, 1 HR, 6/16 BB/K)
George Soto: 2-4, R, K (239/299/254)
Gabriel Noriega: 2-3, double, triple, R, RBI, K (159/205/203)
rest of PMs lineup: 3-27, 2 walks, 10 K

A-: The Aquasox (16-26... 261/343/375... 4.98 ERA) had Wednesday off, and are in Eugene for a series with the Emeralds (20-22... 262/367/388... 4.41 ERA).

A: Lansing 4, Wisconsin 2
WIS: 11-28... LAN: 21-18
(League: 253/324/374... 3.70 ERA)

Brett Lorin: 4 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 walks, 7 K, 2 wild pitches
Natividad Dilone: 2.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 4 K (15 app, 5.68 ERA, 19 IP, 2 HR, 10/17 BB/K)
Jose Escalona: 2.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 K, wild pitch (27 app, 4.96 ERA, 32.2 IP, 5 HR, 17/32 BB/K)
Denny Almonte: 2-4, K (270/315/468)
Juan Diaz: 2-4, double, R, 2 K (244/288/316)
Maximo Mendez: 1-3, triple, 2 RBI (245/336/348)

A+: Lake Elsinore 8, High Desert 6, 12 innings
Mavs: 15-24... Lake: 19-20
(League: 273/342/413... 4.58 ERA)

Anthony Varvaro: 5 IP, 9 H, 5 ER (2 HR), 5 walks, K (21 GS +2, 6.53 ERA, 100.2 IP, 20 HR, 72/96 BB/K)
Bryan Harris: 1 IP, walk (29 app, 7.32 ERA, 35.2 IP, 9 HR, 9/23 BB/K)
Justin Souza: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 K (6 app, 2.03 ERA, 13.1 IP, 1 HR, 3/15 BB/K)
Aaron Cotter: 3 IP, 3 K, hit batter (42 app, 3.33 ERA, 54 IP, 4 HR, 13/51 BB/K)
Steven Richard: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 walks, K (19 app, 4.45 ERA, 28.1 IP, 1 HR, 17/28 BB/K)
Jamie McOwen: 2-5, double, 2 R, RBI, walk, SBs #16 & 17 (261/318/399)
Carlos Triunfel: 2-6, double, 2 run HR (276/325/393)
Ronnie Prettyman: 2-5, solo HR, walk, K, SB (352/386/600)
Travis Scott: 1-5, solo HR, 2 K (274/330/473)
Joe Simokaitis: 1-5, double, K (286/333/514)

AA: West Tenn 6, Birmingham 4
WTN: 16-23... BIR: 20-19
(League: 262/340/396... 4.15 ERA)

Travis Chick: 5 IP, 3 H, 3 ER (2 HR), walk, 2 K, hit batter (26 app, 10 GS, 4.05 ERA, 91 IP, 7 HR, 42/71 BB/K)
Marwin Vega: 1 IP, 2 H, K (37 app, 5.57 ERA, 53.1 IP, 3 HR, 37/36 BB/K)
Justin Thomas: 1.2 IP, 1 H, walk, K, hit batter (17 GS +3, 110.2 IP, 11 HR, 49/101 BB/K)
Shawn Kelley: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 walks, K (20 app, 0.99 ERA, 27.1 IP, 12/24 BB/K)
Johan Limonta: 2-4, double, R, RBI, walk, 2 K, SB?! (296/378/515)
Marshall Hubbard: 2-4, solo HR, some other RBI, K (321/440/563)
Mike Wilson: 2-5, walkoff 2 run HR (288/384/571)
Adam Moore: 1-2, double (324/397/510)
Erick Monzon: 1-4, double, R, 2 K (176/247/243)

AAA: Tacoma 8, Round Rock 5
TAC: 56-55... RR: 52-60
(League: 276/347/442... 4.84 ERA)

Ryan Rowland-Smith: 7 IP, 3 H, 2 ER (HR), walk, 3 K
Randy Messenger: 2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER (HR), K (35 app, 4.59 ERA, 51 IP, 5 HR, 18/40 BB/K)
Tug Hulett: 3-4, 2 doubles, solo HR, 2 R, 2 RBI (309/387/540)
WLAD: 2-3, double, solo HR, 3 R, walk (257/352/561)
Victor Diaz: 1-3, 3 run HR, walk, K (291/373/556)
Shawn Garrett: 2-4, 2 run HR (292/322/440)
Prentice Redman: 1-4, double, R, 2 K (311/374/549)
Luis Valbuena: 2-4, K (245/343/362)