Thursday 7/9/09 minor league updates

[OnBaseMachine]

Louisville - 7:00 - LHP Adam Pettyjohn

Carolina plays a doubleheader with game one starting at 6:05.

Game one - LHP Travis Wood

Game two - LHP Camilo Vazquez

Sarasota - 7:05 - RHP Rafael Gonzalez

Dayton - 8:00 - RHP Curtis Partch

Billings - 9:05 - RHP Leonardo Astorga

The GCL Reds and DSL Reds have already played.

[Benihana]

It's southpaw night in the upper minors. Hopefully that means Wood can make a smooth transition in replacing Pettyjohn in the Louisville rotation sometime in the near future.

[OnBaseMachine]

The GCL Reds won 6-1.

Bowe: 0-for-3
Buchholz: 0-for-4
Morrison: 1-for-4 double
Hernandez: 0-for-2 two walks
Y. Rodriguez: 2-for-4 double, triple
Duran: 1-for-4 double
C. Rodriguez: 2-for-3 walk, 2 RBI
Cech: 1-for-2
H. Rodriguez: 2-for-3 walk

Villarreal: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K

Molina: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K

Pizziconi: 1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 1 K

[Benihana]

Villareal belongs in Billings. Tyler Cline probably does too. Both should see time in the Dayton rotation next year.

[Scrap Irony]

Nice to see Yorman exhibit some power. Hitting pretty well for a 16-year-old. (265/321/327/648)

[mace]

It's southpaw night in the upper minors. Hopefully that means Wood can make a smooth transition in replacing Pettyjohn in the Louisville rotation sometime in the near future.

This is interesting. Last night, with Carolina off, the top four clubs started lefties (Jukich, Horst, Fairel and Justin Walker at Billings, who was the only one who didn't fare well).

[mace]

Yorman also had two assists from the OF today, one at first and one at third. And an error.

[mace]

Incidentally, Evan Hildenbrandt is listed on the Billings roster. Is that new? Might it mean he'll pitch?

[Benihana]

This is interesting. Last night, with Carolina off, the top four clubs started lefties (Jukich, Horst, Fairel and Justin Walker at Billings, who was the only one who didn't fare well).

Of all the lefty starters in the system, IMO there are five to really keep an eye on:

Matt Maloney
Travis Wood
Jeremy Horst
Matt Fairel
Shea Snowden

You could make a case for Travis Webb. Everyone else seems to be roster fodder from what I can tell.

[mace]

Of all the lefty starters in the system, IMO there are five to really keep an eye on:

Matt Maloney
Travis Wood
Jeremy Horst
Matt Fairel
Shea Snowden

You could make a case for Travis Webb. Everyone else seems to be roster fodder from what I can tell.

Prolly right. I would make a case for Webb. Jukich, not so much, although he seems to have pitched much better as a starter than reliever. I guess I'm not ready to write him off. And I don't know that they've declared Alexander Smit one way (starter or reliever) or the other, have they? I think he's still worth watching.

[OnBaseMachine]

Baseball America updates on each NL teams top prospect:

Cincinnati Reds, 1B Yonder Alonso: After Alonso made a promising debut in his first full pro season, a broken right hamate bone last month will keep him out of the lineup until August at the earliest. When healthy, Alonso showed advanced pitch recognition, power and the ability to use the whole field at high Class A Sarasota and Double-A Carolina.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/...5445#more-5445

[Benihana]

Prolly right. I would make a case for Webb. Jukich, not so much, although he seems to have pitched much better as a starter than reliever. I guess I'm not ready to write him off. And I don't know that they've declared Alexander Smit one way (starter or reliever) or the other, have they? I think he's still worth watching.

I agree Smit is worth watching, more so than Webb. I just figured him for a reliever.

[OnBaseMachine]

Carolina is in a rain delay.

[OnBaseMachine]

The DSL Reds boxscore from last night's game is finally up. The DSL Reds won 5-2.

Junior Arias went 2-for-3 with a walk and 2 RBI.

Luis Machuca: 8.2 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

Porfio Martinez: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K

[OnBaseMachine]

Junior Arias got off to an awful start but he's been crushing the ball lately. He finally started to hit in the last week and a half of June and has carried it over into July. He's got a 1.153 OPS in 20+ plate appearances this month.