Minor League Updates: Saturday - 4/20/2013

[texasdave]

Louisville Bats with some day baseball. They lead 3-zip heading into the bottom of the seventh.

Chad Reineke - moving into Tony Cingrani's slot in the rotation is doing his best Tony Cingrani imitation. 5.2IP 5H 0ER 2BB 5K. He now has a 0.61 ERA in 14.2 IP on the season. Clay Hensley came on and pitched a scoreless 1.1 innings.

Bats scored all three of their runs in the bottom of the third on singles by Fellhauer (two hits on the day), Schmidt (two hits on the day), Hamilton (who stole base number 11 and drove in a run) and a double by Felix Perez (which drove in a pair).

Justin Freeman is coming on to pitch the top of the eighth. And Justin handled his bidness.

Perez with his second hit. His batting stands exactly on the Rose Line, at an even .300. He is OPSing a cool .884.

Kevin Whalen will work the ninth in search of a marshmallow (3-run) save. Whalen has his marshmallow on a stick put can't locate a fire. He has struck out the first two batters he has faced. And, after a walk, Whalen strikes out the side. Smores will have to wait a day.

Bats win! Tha-a-a-a-a-a-a Bats win!

[texasdave]

Night games include:

Bowling Green at Dayton - Robert Stephenson (20/3 - K/BB in 12,2IP). 7:00 EDT.

Pensacola at Jackson - Ryan Dennick (2.45 ERA) on the mound. 7:05 EDT.

Bakersfield at Lancaster - Carlos Contreras (1.72) pitching. 10:00 EDT.

Some highly valued arms going tonight.

[OGB]

I was about to start this an hour ago, but had to walk to the stadium before work to buy tix for tomorrow.
Another nice day for Perez. Hamilton has been more selective about running this year. He is in a league with more polished pitchers and catchers and he's 11-12 so far.

Really looking forward to Stephenson and Contreras on the bump tonight.

[JaxRed]

Hope Stephenson can get it together tonight.

[mace]

Brodie Greene has the only hit and has scored the only run for Pensacola, which is tied in the fourth behind Ryan Dennick . . . Whoopsie. Jackson has taken the lead in the bottom of the inning.

[mace]

Stephenson so far: 4 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K. The Dragons are hitless.

[SirFelixCat]

Stephenson's BB totals are a little worrisome, but it's early and maybe he's not a fan of cold weather? And, as always, even though I don't post in here often, I read this stuff daily and greatly appreciate the time and effort you guys put in to give us mooches in the know.

[OnBaseMachine]

Stephenson had only walked 3 batters in 12.2 IP entering tonight. His final line tonight was 4.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 7 K.

His ERA might be ugly but he's been incredibly unlucky so far, as his FIP is 1.78.

[Blitz Dorsey]

Stephenson had only walked 3 batters in 12.2 IP entering tonight. His final line tonight was 4.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 7 K.

His ERA might be ugly but he's been incredibly unlucky so far, as his FIP is 1.78.

Thank you for this; had a feeling the advanced metrics were in his favor. I'm sure he'll end up with a big season. Love the K total thus far.

[lollipopcurve]

Watched Stephenson last night on milb.tv. He seems to be working w/ fastball and curveball only. Probably throwing both 2 seam and 4 seam. Announcers had his fastball at around 94 most of the time. The stuff is very good, the command was not. Cold weather may be a factor, especially with the curve. He had 3 wild pitches, all of which were with the curve, I think.

You can see that he has the potential to be excellent. But there's still work to do on consistency, command and a third pitch.

I've said it before, and will again -- though his numbers aren't good, Junior Arias has an interesting bat.

[mace]

I've said it before, and will again -- though his numbers aren't good, Junior Arias has an interesting bat.

Can you elaborate? Bat speed? Quick hands? Leverage?

[lollipopcurve]

Can you elaborate? Bat speed? Quick hands? Leverage?

Quick and strong hands and wrists. Yes, excellent bat speed. Not really a leverage hitter -- more a hands hitter. I need to see more re: how well he can spray the ball, but there's no question there's lightning to the pull side.

[mace]

Carlos Contreras didn't have a great line for Bakersfield, but it was a likable one: 5 IP, 5H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K. Blaze lost 11-4.

[mace]

Dayton scored 4 in the eighth to win 6-3. The damage was done by a row of last year's draft picks--Gelalich, Mejias-Brean (2B), Winker and Joe Hudson. Also good relief work, especially from Tony Amezcua: 2.1 IP, 0 H, 1 BB, 5 K.

[dougdirt]

Watched Stephenson last night on milb.tv. He seems to be working w/ fastball and curveball only. Probably throwing both 2 seam and 4 seam. Announcers had his fastball at around 94 most of the time. The stuff is very good, the command was not. Cold weather may be a factor, especially with the curve. He had 3 wild pitches, all of which were with the curve, I think.

You can see that he has the potential to be excellent. But there's still work to do on consistency, command and a third pitch.

I've said it before, and will again -- though his numbers aren't good, Junior Arias has an interesting bat.

The gun in Dayton last night was off quite a bit at times last night compared to the team gun. The scoreboard had Stephenson top out at 95, once and 94 a handful of times. The team gun had him at 97 more than a handful of times. There were a few change ups in there as well. Mostly FB/CV though.