SB Nation - Chris Kroski

Farmers Only: Homer and Edwin rock AAA, and a rookie ball preview

BK — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:00:28 -0000

Louisville beat Gwinnett 11-5 on tremendous performances by Homer Bailey and Edwin Encarnacion. After giving up a leadoff HR to Reid Golecki, Homer settled down to keep the tally to one run over 7 innings of work. He struck out 8 in the process. In his second start in his rehab stint, Edwin Encarnacion hit an absolute bomb for a 3-run homer. The big bat on the evening, however, belonged to Darnell McDonald, who went 3-for-5 with two solo HRs. Kevin Barker and Luis Bolivar also went deep for the Bats, and Norris Hopper had three hits and drove in two runs. Up next: Edwin and the Bats roll on against Charlotte at 7:15. No starter listed, but it should be Justin Lehr's turn.
Jeremy Horst's AA debut didn't go so well, as Carolina got dismantled 10-2 against Jacksonville. Carson Kainer led the way in his Carolina debut, going 2-for-4 with a 2-run HR and Jake Kahaulelio got a hit in his first game as a Mudcat. Chris Heisey had the day off as Shaun Cumberland stunk up the joint in CF, going 0-for-3. Horst didn't fare too well in his start, going 5 2/3 innings and giving up 5 runs on 5 hits, while striking out 5. The Suns broke the game open off of Jerry Gil, who gave up 4 runs in one inning. Up next: The Mudcats take on Jacksonville again at 7:15. Travis Wood should get the start.
Sarasota shut out Palm Beach 5-0 behind an excellent start by Matt Klinker. Klinker went 6 innings of shutout ball with 9 strikeouts and no walks, and Mace Thurman and Enerio Del Rosario pitched 2 and 1 inning respectively to preserve the shutout. Behind the shutout, the S-Reds outfield had a field day, with Justin Reed and Denis Phipps having 2 hits each and Keltavious Jones having his 2nd hit of the season. All-Star catcher Devin Mesoraco went 2-for-4 to raise his All-Star average to .207. Up next: Sarasota takes on Palm Beach at 6:35 with no starter listed, but it's Luis Montano's turn.
Dayton is on their All-Star break.
Billings takes on Great Falls on their opening day at 9:05 ET. Former Dragon Leonardo Astorga will get the start.
The GCL Reds are also beginning their season today at noon ET against the GCL Orioles.
Roster Moves: Cody Puckett and Stephen Chapman have earned the callup to Sarasota after putting up huge numbers in Dayton. We should see some replacements in Dayton soon as well. As previously mentioned, Jeremy Horst takes the open rotation spot in Carolina and Carson Kainer joins the Mudcats as Chris Kroski goes on the DL and Denis Phipps goes back to Sarasota.

Rookie ball also starts today, and the rosters are starting to shape up. Here's a quick overview of the Pioneer League affiliate, the Billings Mustangs. (Keep in mind, these rosters are subject to change, especially later on today after the teams play.) More after the jump!

Manager Julio Garcia, hitting coach Delino DeShields, and pitching coach Bob Forsch will bring back an interesting mix of old and new to Billings. A couple of familiar names that have played elsewhere this season:

Leonardo Astorga (1-3, 15.43 ERA in 18.2 innings in Dayton)
Mike Bohana (0-2, 8.22 ERA in 15.1 innings between Dayton and Sarasota)
Tony Brown (.229/.309/.325 between Dayton and Sarasota)
Yen-Wen Kuo (.174/.174/.217 in Dayton)
Tom Cochran (1-0, 3.20 ERA in 19.2 innings in Carolina)
Misael DeJesus (1-4, 9.85 ERA in 28.1 innings in Carolina)
Humberto Sosa (.241/.302/.335 in Dayton)
Justin Walker (0-0, 0.00 ERA in 1 inning in Sarasota)
Tyler Stovall (.164/.215/.230 in Dayton)

And of course, the true rookies that were drafted this year:

James Walczak (RHP, 15th round)
William Stramp (3B, 33rd round)
Forest Cannon (RHP, 34th round)
Mark Serrano (RHP, 6th round)
Christopher Richburg (1B, 23rd round)
Derrick Lowery (1B, 24th round)
Jason Braun (RHP, 29th round)
Donnie Joseph (LHP, 3rd round)
Shane Carlson (SS, 32nd round)
Trey Manz (C, 26th round)
Adian Kummet (RHP, 31st round)

The rest of the roster is filled with guys who played somewhere in the organization last year. A few highlights:

LHP Shea Snowden - A 16th round pick last year, posted a 1.50 ERA in 36 innings in the GCL.
RHP Clayton Shunick - The Reds 5th rounder out of NC State, is repeating Billings after a lackluster season last year.
LHP Ezequiel Infante - Pitched in the Dominican Summer League last year, posting a 0.19 ERA (!) in 47 innings out of the bullpen. Infante or Joseph should be the closer in Billings.
RHP Hector Santana - Put up a 2.90 ERA between 3 levels last year.
RHP Evan Hildebrandt - 6th round pick from 2007. Hasn't panned out yet.
LHP Luca Panerati - One of the Reds Italian imports, pitched well in the GCL last year and for the Italy team in the WBC.

The GCL Reds have a tenative roster up as well, but it's nowhere near finalized yet (unless they plan on playing with 5 position players). More info on them as it comes up.

Farmers Only: Homer gets knocked down, but he gets up again, you're never gonna keep him down

BK — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:00:43 -0000

The Reds minor leaguers followed up the Reds sweep of the Astros with an off-day sweep of their own! Let's see if I can make it through a full post without someone calling me out on nitpicky grammar mistakes that have nothing to do with the content of the post!

Homer Bailey got knocked around a little bit, but prevailed to get the win as Louisville won 5-2 over the PawSox. In Homer's 6 innings of work, he only gave up two runs, despite giving up 11 hits and walking 3 hitters. Robert Manuel has been quietly coming on lately out of the pen, pitching two innings of one hit scoreless ball. He's gone his last 7 1/3 innings without giving up a run, and has dropped his ERA down to 2.57. Danny Dorn was the offensive star, going 3-for-4 with a 2-run HR. Craig Tatum, Wes Bankston, and Danny Richar also had two hits apiece. Up next: The Bats take on Scranton-WB at 7:05. No starter is listed for the Bats at the moment, but it should be Sam LeCure.
Travis Wood had a bit of trouble early for Carolina, but managed another solid outing to beat Montgomery 7-2. Wood went 7 innings of 2 run ball, and didn't walk a batter on the evening. Derrik Lutz had a perfect inning of work to bring his ERA below 2. Chris Kroski and Sean Henry both had 3 hits for the Mudcats, and Todd Frazier was 2-for-5 with a triple. Up next: Jordan Smith tries to keep his record perfect against Montgomery at 8:15.
Sarasota beat Dunedin 3-1. Is Jerry Gil starting to get it? Gil had his second good outing in a row, going 6 innings and only giving up 1 run and striking out 5. Offensively, Neftali Soto must have been listening to what I had to say about him, as he went 2-for-4, and Yonder Alonso hit his 7th HR of the season. Oh yeah, and the guy with the best name in the Reds system right now got his first hit of the season. Congratulations, Mariekson! Up next: Travis Webb takes on Dunedin at 7.
Dayton shut out Wisconsin 5-0 with a little help from Matt Fairel. He went 6 innings of shutout ball for the second outing in a row, and Mark James and Aguido Gonzalez gave up two hits total in relief to preserve the shutout. Fairel hasn't given up more than 3 runs in a game this season. Carlos Mendez hit his 2nd HR of the season, and Kevin Coddington also had two hits for the Dragons. Up next: Josh Ravin takes on Cedar Rapids at 7.

Farmers Only: A Horst is a horse, of course, of course

BK — Fri, 22 May 2009 11:00:17 -0000

Louisville lost to Syracuse 7-4. Adam Pettyjohn got a quality start, but the offense didn't get anything together until the game was out of reach. Federico Baez got a not-so-warm welcome to AAA, giving up 2 runs in his 2/3 of an inning of work, and Jonny Gomes kept hitting with a double on the night. Drew Stubbs is also hitting, as he went 2-for-3. Up next: Matt Maloney takes on Syracuse at 7:05.

Smit

Carolina beat Chattanooga by the same score, 7-4. As was expertly predicted in these parts yesterday, honkballer Alexander Smit(.com) made his first start of the season for the Mudcats, and was pretty solid. Smit(.com) went 5 innings and gave up 2 runs on 4 hits, while striking out 6 and walking none. He also got plenty of offensive help, as Chris Heisey showed that he's back in the groove by going 2-for-5 with a double. Chris Kroski was 2-for-4 with a HR, Zach Cozart and Juan Francisco both had two hits, and Sean Henry belted his 3rd HR of the season. Up next: Zach Stewart makes his AA debut against Chattanooga at 7:15.

Horst

Jeremy Horst pitched a complete game, but was the tough luck loser to Jupiter 1-0. Horst went 8 innings and gave up 1 run on 3 hits, and struck out 6. The S-Reds had trouble getting runs in though, as Alex Buchholz, Yonder Alonso, and Neftali Soto having two hits each, but no runs were scored on the night. Up next: Justin Walker makes his first start of the season against Jupiter at 7:05. Who's Justin Walker, you ask? He's a 41st round pick out of Lamar who pitched in relief in 3 games for the GCL Reds last year. Umm... we'll see how this goes.
Dayton won 8-5 on a big night for the Dayton offense. Carlos Mendez and Humberto Sosa were both 3-for-5, and Cody Puckett had two hits including his 7th HR of the season. David Sappelt and Miguel Rojas also had two hits each. Lance Janke started for the Dragons, and was solid, but the bullpen did a great job keeping them in the game. Mace Thurman and Aguido Gonzalez combined to pitch 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. Up next: J.C. Sulbaran takes on Quad Cities at 8.
Roster Moves: Kyle Aselton was somehow acquired by Carolina from Birmingham (White Sox). Not sure if it was a trade of a free agent signing, but I'm sure we'll find out soon. it's not the most exciting signing, a former 11th round pick of the Twins, but it's something. Also, Mike Bohana and Josh Beal are now in Sarasota, after starting the season in Dayton and nowhere respectively. Both of them pitched in Billings last year.

Farmers Only: What the heck happened to Pedro Viola?

BK — Wed, 20 May 2009 11:00:15 -0000

Louisville lost 7-2 to Norfolk, as for some reason Daryl Thompson left after pitching three scoreless innings. No word yet if it's an injury or not. Ben Jukich relieved him, and gave up 3 runs in 1 2/3 innings, but the all-of-a-sudden-terrible Pedro Viola gave up 4 runs to balloon his once spotless ERA up to 5.17 on the season. Drew Stubbs' first HR of the season was responsible for both of the Bats runs, and Kevin Barker and Craig Tatum both had two hits each. The offensive stars of the night for the Tides will be guys Reds fans know, as Matt Wieters (who was supposed to take over for our very own Ramon Hernandez) and Justin Turner (who was sent over in the Freel deal) both had two hits against Bats pitching. Up next: The Bats are off today.

Smith

Jordan Smith was excellent, as Carolina blanked Jacksonville 3-0. Smith went 6 innings and gave up 3 hits, no runs, no walks, and struck out 4. Ramon Geronimo and Sean Watson both pitched hitless relief out of the bullpen to secure the win. Chris Kroski went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI and Todd Frazier was 2-for-4 to lead the offense. Demote Chris Heisey! Okay, not really, but he's 0-12 in his last 3 games. Up next: James Avery takes on Jacksonville at 7:15.

Webb

Sarasota won 4-2 as Travis Webb had a good outing and Sarasota's 3-8 hitters all had a hit to contribute to the cause. Webb went 6 2/3 innings and gave up 1 run on 3 hits while striking out 4. Enerio Del Rosario had another great outing to lower his ERA to 1.54, and Philippe-Alexandre Valiquette notched his 3rd save of the season with a 1-2-3 9th with 2 Ks. Neftali Soto and Alex Buchholz both had two hits on the night. Up next: Sarasota plays a doubleheader against Jupiter, with Luis Montano scheduled to pitch Game 1 and Rafael Gonzalez making his first start of the season in the nightcap.
Dayton lost 2-1 to Lansing. David Sappelt and Byron Wiley had two hits each, but the rest of the Dragons couldn't get much going. Josh Ravin gave up 2 runs in 5 1/3 innings in his start, and Steven Otterness pitched another 2 2/3 of scoreless relief to keep his ERA at 0.00 on the season in Dayton. Up next: Curtis Partch takes on Quad Cities at 8.

Farmers Only: Everyone wins except Dead Last Dayton

BK — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:00:18 -0000

Wood

Louisville mounted a 5-run rally in the 9th to steal one in Durham 7-6. The 5 run inning was capped off by a two-run double by Jonny Gomes, who also hit a homer off of David Price on the evening. Drew Stubbs also continued his hot hitting by going 2-for-5 to bring his average up to .333, a far cry from where it was a few weeks ago. Pedro Viola pitched another scoreless inning in relief to bring his ERA down to 0.61 and earn his second save of the season. Up next: Homer Bailey takes on Durham at 7:05.

Heisey

Carolina got the bats going, as they beat Birmingham 12-5. What more does Chris Heisey need to do to get called up to Louisville? He was 3-for-5 with a double to raise his average up to .374, and continues to lead the league in OPS at 1.097. Eric Eymann also added his 3rd 3-hit game of his last 4 games, along with his first home run of the season. Everybody in Carolina was hitting, as Zach Cozart, Todd Frazier, Logan Parker, Chris Kroski, and Jose Castro all had 2 hits each to lead Carolina to 18 on the evening. Oh yeah, and Featured Farmhand Travis Wood started the game for the Mudcats, pitching 7 strong innings of 1-run, 7 strikeout ball. He's 2-3 on the season with a 1.36 ERA right now. Up next: Justin Mallett takes on Birmingham at 12:05.

Perales

Sarasota spanked Fort Myers 11-2 behind 13 hits for the S-Reds. Dan Perales led the way for the Sarasota offense with two hits and 4 RBI. You may remember him as the guy the Reds acquired early in 2008 from the D-Backs for LHP Jon Coutlangus and countless jokes to be named later. Carson Kainer went 3-for-5 with two doubles for the S-Reds, and Neftali Soto, Devin Mesoraco, and Denis Phipps all had two hits each to lead the Sarasota attack. Up next: Zach Stewart takes on Fort Myers at 7:05.
Dayton lost to West Michigan 9-4 to drop 8 of their last 10. The Dragons are now 8-23 on the season. On the bright side, Juan Carlos Sulbaran was great, pitching 5 innings of 1 run ball, striking out 8. Cody Puckett led the way for the offense, going 4-for-4 with 2 doubles. Stephen Chapman hit his first HR as a Dragon as well. Up next: Matt Fairel takes on West Michigan at 7.

Farmers Only: Dayton lets the Baby Dragon out of the basket!

BK — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 11:00:13 -0000

Dayton!

Our top story tonight... Dayton wins 7-5 to snap their 11 game losing streak! Byron Wiley went 2-for-3 with 4 RBI to lead the Dayton offensive attack, and Mace Thurman pitched well out of the bullpen, giving up no hits or runs in his two innings of work, striking out 5. Congrats, Dragons! Up next: Maybe I'm getting cocky here, but I think they can make it a two game winning streak tomorrow in South Bend. That one starts at 2 ET.
Louisville's blows a good start by Matt Maloney to lose 5-4 to Toledo in 10 innings. Maloney went 6 innings, gave up 5 hits and 1 run, and struck out 7 while walking 0. Arguably, he's pitching the best baseball in Louisville right now. He left with a 4-1 lead, which was blown when Josh Roenicke gave up 2 runs in the 9th for his 2nd blown save of the year. Adam Pettyjohn gave up the winning run in the 10th. Offensively, Adam "Pete" Rosales extended his hitting streak to 8 games, going 2-for-5 with a double. He's still batting over .400. Chris Valaika was 2-for-5 with a solo HR, Norris Hopper went 2-for-5 with a triple, and Kevin Barker went 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI. Up next: TheBobblehead takes on Toledo, game time 7 ET.

Wiley

Carolina loses to Huntsville, 12-9. Errors were pivotal in this one, as the Cats gave up 5 unearned runs. A pivotal error by pitcher Federico Baez led to 3 runs given up by the Mudcats, which isn't good in a tie game in the 9th. Starter Misael DeJesus wasn't much better on the mound, giving up 9 R (6 ER) in 3 1/3 innings of work. The offense was decent, with Chris Heisey having a big night going 3-for-6 with a HR and 3 RBi, and Zach Cozart making up for his defensive miscues (2 errors at SS) by going 3-for-5. Logan Parker had two hits, including his 2nd HR of the season, and El Nino Destructor Juan Francisco claimed his third life of the season with one of his two hits. Chris Kroski also had two hits and a homer, but with the pitching as bad as it was, the Mudcats couldn't hang on. Up next: Dallas Buck takes on Tennessee, 7:15 ET start.
Sarasota lost big time to Palm Beach, 10-3. Jerry Gil keeps proving that the Rick Ankiel experiment doesn't work as well the other way around, giving up 4 runs in 5 to drop to 0-3 on the season. Alex Buchholz and Neftali Soto had two hits each, and Dan Perales had two hits and an RBI. Up next: Sarasota takes on Palm Beach again, 6 ET.