SB Nation - Evan MacLane

DBack To The Future - The Weekly Minor League Report

paqs — Tue, 05 May 2009 11:24:13 -0000

More photos » by Ed Andrieski - AP

Josh Whitesell is wondering what needs to happen for him to get called up.

Since we can agree a bit of a break from the exploits of our DBacks would do us a great deal of good, I'm pleased to bring you this week's minor league report. Jim and I agreed it should be a weekly thing where I recap the week for all the levels, and focus on one level each week, starting with AAA. It will probably be a Thursday fixture going forward, but since I wrote it yesterday, we figured I'll put it up and plan the next one for the following Thursday.

First of all, though, a small recap of the minor league moves made last week. Somewhat strangely, all of them are related to pitching.

RHP Leo Rosales was promoted to the majors in place of the injured Tom Gordon. He had a good 0.90 ERA in 10 IP in Reno, but he can't strike anyone out and will pretty much get smoked in the majors. Fine, this was written after the game last night, but his performance wasn't a shock by any means.
AAA LHP Evan MacLane was dealt to St. Louis for future considerations. He came over in 2006 in the Shawn Green trade and hasn't really impressed, with an ERA of 7.70 in 2007 and 4.96 last year. Unbelievably, I couldn't find any mention of this on milb.com or by Piecoro.
In his place, RHP Hector Ambriz was called up from AA. He had an ERA of 2.17 after 5 starts, with 32 strikeouts and 6 walks in 29 innings. Piecoro says it's not clear whether he'll start or pitch from the bullpen. Reno already has 5 starters, in Barnette, Blackley, Buckner, Etherton and Valdez, but if Ambriz has a shot at starting in the majors, it makes sense to start him in AAA. It's not as if any of the starters is doing well.
Ambriz vacated a spot for our No. 1 prospect, Jarrod Parker, who was promoted to AA after 4 starts in Visalia (19 IP, 0.95 ERA, 21 K, 4 BB). He wasn't dominant in his first start for Mobile (4.1 IP, 8H, 3ER) but he allowed only one extra base hit, with 5 strikeouts and a walk.
RHP Reid Mahon made his season debut for AA, after staying in extended spring training to get his mechanics straightened out after a rough spring training.
In Parker's place, RHP Cristian Beltre, who was delayed by shoulder fatigue in spring training, made his first start for Visalia last night. He allowed 1 earned run in 3 innings. He showed promise in South Bend last year, going 13-8 in 26 starts, with a K/BB of 4.5 in 155.1 innings.

A full recap of the four levels follows after the jump.

AAA Reno Aces

The Aces played 6 games last week, dropping 2 against Fresno, and taking 3 out of 4 against Portland. The PCL is a very batter friendly league, but the Aces take it to the extreme. Only one player has an OBP below .350 and only one starter has an ERA below 6.40

At the plate:

At some point, I will grow tired of touting Josh Whitesell. But not just yet. He had a good week (his 305th good week in a row), going 9-19 with 6 walks, 2 doubles and a homer to get his overall line to .368/.500/.592. His work this week included a 4-5 night and a 2-2 night with 4 walks. In his spare time, he comes up with catchy slogans and nicknames for teammates, as well as dying his hair gray and growing a beard.
Alex Romero is 10-19 in his last four games, to improve to a line of .314/.404/.477 on the season.
Trent Oeltjen was on fire last week, going 10-21 with 8 extra base hits and 3 walks. His line for the season is .297/.381/.486
Agustin Murillo cooled off somewhat, going 5-16 this week and .309/.380/.485 on the year.
Rusty Ryal batted 8-22 with 3 walks and a homer to bring his line up to .324/.367/.473
Luke Carlin went 4-12 with 2 walks. His line stands at .325/.413/.450
Brandon Watson went 7-18 with 2 walks and a homer to improve to .351/.370/.392
Chris Roberson is the player mentioned above as the only one with an OBP below .350. He went 2-14 last week to lower his line to .232/.306/.429

On the mound:

Seth Etherton had a good start on Friday, going 7 innings and allowing 3 runs on 4 hits, with a walk and 5 strikeouts. His ERA after 5 starts is a tidy 3.41 but there isn't much to like here. His K:BB numbers are 14:9 in 29 IP. Add the fact he is an extreme fly ball pitcher, and that he allowed 7 (!!) homers already, we're unlikely to see him put on a big league uniform.
After two terrible starts last week (8.1 IP, 12 ER), Tony Barnette had a good one on Thursday, going 6.2 innings and allowing 1 earned run on 5 hits, 2 walks and 4 strikeouts to get his first win of the year. His ERA is now 6.46 in 23.2 innings, but he has been let down by his defense, as his FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) is a much better 4.43.
Travis Blackley made 2 starts last week, and the results were not pretty: 9 IP, 15 H, 10 ER to bring his ERA all the way up to 8.31 in 21.2 IP. His K:BB is at a very good 20:5 but he's way too hittable, allowing 34 hits (4 HR).
Billy Buckner also made his first two starts of the season last week, after pitching out of the bullpen, with equally disappointing results (8 IP, 7 ER). His ERA on the season is 6.75.
Bobby Korecky pitched 4.1 IP last week, allowing one run to lower his ERA to 3.38 in 5.1 innings since being sent down.
Doug Slaten struck out 3 batters in 1.1 innings of work, allowing just one hit.

AA Mobile BayBears

The Bears went 4-3 this week, dropping 2 of 3 to Birmingham, but winning 3 of 4 against Jacksonville.

At the plate:

After a slow start to the season, OF Cyle Hankerd had an unreal week, going on a 5 game multi hit streak, 15-24 with 5 doubles, 3 taters and 4 walks. His line for the season now stands at .377/.459/.609 in 76 PA.
Gerardo Parra went 3-5 with a homer last night, and 10-27 with 3 walks on the week, to get his line to .375/.476/.489. Also of note, in a small sample size, he hits lefties just as well as righties.
Orlando Mercado made a good start to the season, hitting .353/.405/.529 while splitting time behind the dish with Skelton.
James Skelton (3-17), Evan Frey (2-27), Yunesky Sanchez (2-19) and Pedro Ciriaco (3-21) have been ice cold last week.

On the mound:

Hector Ambriz bid farewell to AA with a dominant start on Friday. He struck out 6 and scattered 3 hits with no walks in 7 innings.
Brian Augenstein is a candidate to step into the big league rotation, according to Piecoro. He wrote that should Petit struggle again on Sunday (yesterday), we could see Brian take his place. He certainly did his chances no harm with his two starts last week, a combined 12.2 innings with 12 strikeouts, 9 hits and 4 walks. He is 5-0 after 5 starts with a 0.95 ERA in 31.2 IP.
Matt Torra had his third good start in a row on Thursday, allowing 1 run in 6 innings with 2 walks and 7 strikeouts to lower his ERA to 4.
Jason Urquidez (1 ER, 6 K in 6 IP), Scott Maine (0 ER, 5K in 4.1 IP) and Dan Schlereth (1ER, 4K in 3.2 IP) had good weeks out of the pen.

A+ Visalia Rawhide

Visalia went 5-1 last week to cement their spot at the top of the division.

At the plate:

Ollie Linton is on a 14 game hitting streak, hitting 10-20 with 2 walks during the last week. His overall line is .354/.485/.443
Ryne White batted 8-16 with 4 walks last week to bring his line to .329/.440/.408
Catcher Konrad Schmidt hit 9-19 with 2 walks to up his line to .292/.370/.361

On the mound:

Pat McAnaney had a two good starts on the week, for a total of 11 shutout innings with 15 strikeouts, to lower his ERA to 2.08 in 26 innings.
Wes Roemer went 5 shutout innings on Saturday, allowing 2 hits and 4 walks with 2 strikeouts, while keeping the ball on the ground. His ERA is 1.46 in 24.2 innings.
Jordan Norberto (3.2 IP, 0 ER, 2 K) and Bryan Henry (8.1 IP, 0 ER, 4 K) had good weeks out of the pen.

A South Bend Silver Hawks

The Hawks went 4-3 last week, going on a three game losing streak followed by a three game winning streak over the weekend.

At the plate:

Catcher Rossmel Perez only started his season last Sunday, but he's off to a scorching start (.444/.545/.500 in 22 PA).

On the mound:

Trevor Harden made two starts last week, throwing 7 shutout innings for the win on Tuesday (3 H, 1 BB, 3 K) and 6.2 innings for another win yesterday (3 ER on 4 H, 2 BB and 5 K). He is 4-1 with an ERA of 2.64 in 30.2 IP.
Ryan Cook improved to 3-0 on Friday, allowing 3 runs on 8 hits in 6 innings, with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts. He has an ERA of 2.16 in 25 IP, with a K:BB of 14:4.
Terry Hose (3 perfect innings with 5 strikeouts) and Bryan Woodall (4.1 IP, 1 ER, 8K, 0 BB) had good weeks in relief.

I apologize if this turned out too long, but there's really no short way to recap a week's worth of games for four team, and I didn't want to leave any important stuff out. If you have any questions or suggestions please let me know. Sorry about the title as well, it's all I could think of :)

Winter Wonderland

Jim McLennan — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 19:52:03 -0000

The pro baseball season may have finished, even here in Arizona, but it's been going strong in South and Central America, with a large number of Diamondbacks prospects (and some current players), both pitchers and hitters, seeing action. Leagues have been going on in Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and Hawaii, so with most of the seasons now over or winding-down, let's take a look and see what the results have been like so far.

We'll start in Hawaii where, as noted elsewhere, Hawaiian Winter Ball looks unlikely to continue, having not extended its contract with MLB, meaning this could therefore be its final year. Three Diamondbacks were members of the West Oahu CaneFires this season, with Mark Hallberg perhaps the most impressive. The infielder, who turned 23 last month, had been nothing special at High-A Visalia, batting .283, but enjoyed his time in the 49th state, batting .362 with a .906 OPS. The best raw numbers went to Cyle Hankerd, however, with a line of .318/.392/.545, leading the team in HR and RBI (5 and 33 respectively, in 25 games). That's the same number of homers as he had in 125 games for Double-A Mobile. Finally, our new catcher, James 'Jack' Skelton also took part, and continued his habitual on-base tear, with an impressive .405 OBP.

The Mexican Winter League had two Arizona starting pitchers - though one, Edgar Gonzalez, may or may not make it back to the team in 2009, having been released by the club. He went 4-1 for Hermosillo in seven starts, posting a 4.46 ERA. New Australian left-hander Travis Blackley made ten starts for Mexicali, including a complete game, and went 2-3 with a decent 3.88 ERA in those games [a couple of bad bullpen outings inflated his overall figure to 4.24]. Of particular note was a good K:BB ratio of 3:1 as a starter. No Arizona hitter has appeared in more than six games so far, and the regular season is now in its last week, so we'll move rapidly on.

The Dominican League saw our players appear for Estrellas de Oriente, and was similarly pitcher-heavy. Evan MacLane pulled double duty, appearing both here and Venezuela: between the two, he had twelve starts and a 4.00 ERA. He struggled a bit more in the DWL, being winless in nine outings there, though showed excelled control, allowing eight walks in 41 innings and just nine in 63 overall, compared to 52 strikeouts. Jailen Peguero made 18 apperances out of the 'pen and had a 3.00 ERA, with three saves in five changes. However, he did walk too many people - fourteen in only eighteen innings, along with three wild pitches. On the plus side, opposing hitters batted only .190 off Peguero, but Estrellas still missed the playoffs, winning only 16 of 50 games, so their season is over.

The same issues plagued young southpaw Jordan Norberto, with 14 walks in 17.2 innings of work, but a .212 average against. He only just had his 22nd birthday on December 8th, so is still young enough. He spent both 2007 and 2008 at Class-A South Bend, and having had an ERA above five both times, needs to step things up this year. The other Diamondback to pitch a significant (ten-plus) number of innings in the DWL was Esmerling Vasquez, who made six appearances all told, totaling 13.1 IP, with a 3.38 ERA. He began as a starter, but was shifted to a relief role after walking five batters in his first six innings. That seemed to help, as his K:BB ratio was 6:2 in the remaining 7.1 frames, with only one earned run allowed. He was our minor-league Pitcher of the Year in 2007, but struggled in Tucson last season, where his ERA was 6.82 in 83 innings.

Finally, we move to the Venezuelan Winter League, with a number of fine performances by AZ players. Leading hitter is probably Jesus Merchan, shortstop for the Sidewinders last season. His success is not unexpected, since he batted .339 for Tucson, but his on-base skills were notable. Merchan has given his team a .423 OBP, and decent wheels [4 triples in 79 at-bats], help his OPS reach .980. My first thought was, move to 2B this year in Reno, with the aim to replace Lopez in 2010. However, he'd then be 29, and his defense seems poor [21 errors in 107 games at SS last year]. Miguel Montero had an interesting winter. He started off very poorly, going just .185 (5-for-27) at the beginning of the year, with Bravos de Margarita. However, after a trade took him to Caribes, Miggy has been en fuego, giving his new team a line of .302/.358/.530, with eight homers in just 149 at-bats. Could probably do with some more walks, and he's K'd more than three times as often, worse than in the majors last season.

Gerardo Parra (above) also impressed observers; he is only 21 but batted .329 for Aguilas de Zulia, leading the team with 124 total bases and 15 SB, on his way to a .908 OPS. He had almost as many walks as strikeouts (31:36), giving him an OBP above .400, and is seen by some as the most likely internal prospect to replace Byrnes [if EB stays his contract]. Our well-known 2008 outfielder, Alex Romero, went one better, getting more walks than strikeouts (19:18), to tack onto a .311 average. However, his familiar lack of power - five extra-base hits in 44 games - means his SLG is lower than his OBP, and the overall OPS of .754 is disappointing.

Moving on to the pitchers, we've already covered Evan MacLane, but the one who stands out was Juan Gutierrez. As noted previously, he had a one-hitter among his 13 starts, for a 5-2 record and 2.63 ERA; even that's after a bad outing last time, before which it was 2.30. His K-rate is good - 56 in 65 innings, compared to 20 walks - and he is keeping the ball in the park. Gutierrez has allowed only a pair of home-runs, one in that most recent start, to franchise-mate Javier Brito. That can't be said for Yusmeiro Petit, who continues to be plagued by the long-ball, to the tune of seven in just 39 innings. Hitters overall are enjoying the Petit Unit, to the tune of .316, and he is still winless after eight starts. His last three outings have resulted in a total of 23 hits and 11 earned runs over 13.1 innings of work. Maybe picking up another starter is a wise idea...