Tuesday 5/8/2012 Minor League Updates

[Edd Roush]

The rain officially ended the game in Mississippi. Lotzkar will take the loss despite having a "quality start."

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by Edd Roush

Wow the Dragons lost in the 16th inning. They did not get a hit in seven extra innings. Woof. Theo Bowe with an 0 for 6 to drop his BA to 189.

Part of a double header. Minor League double headers only go 7. So they played 9 extra innings.

[mace]

Justice French looking sharp in his first start for Bakersfield after being promoted. So far: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K. The Blaze are tied 0-0 in the fifth.

[VottoFan54]

The second game of Dayton's doubleheader is tied at 2 after 3 innings. Radhames Quezada is pitching for the Dragons.

[dougdirt]

Bakersfield won 3-2. Lutz hit a solo HR in the 9th.

Dayton won 4-2 in their second game.

[RedLegsToday]

Is Blazin' Billy back in Bakersfield?

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by RedLegsToday

Is Blazin' Billy back in Bakersfield?

Yes, has been for 2 games now. 1-9 since coming back.

[Scrap Irony]

Fun with numbers:

Donald Lutz has taken over the team OPS lead from Billy Hamilton and now stands in at 1.020 for the season. Three Blaze still have OPSes well over 900 (Lutz, Hamilton, and Vidal).

Among those that have 75 ABs, the following Blaze are among offensive league leaders:

Donald Lutz
OPS-- 2nd
SLG-- 1st
TB-- 1st (T)
RBI-- 1st
HR-- 1st (T)
2B-- 7th
H-- 7th
R--6th
Comment: 28th in the league in Ks leads the team. That may sound like a negative until you realize he was 9th in the Midwest League last season. So far this season, he's cut five percent off his K rate, an incredible number. His career obp is almost 350. That .350 number is key, IMO-- it's the lowest number at which a player can still be considered a viable impact offensive prospect.

David Vidal
OPS-- 7th
SLG-- 6th
OBP-- 13th
TB-- 13th
BB-- 14th
RBI-- 15th
HR-- 5th
R-- 15th
Comment: All of this and a supposed great glove as well. Love his youth. (Though he's only a year younger than Lutz. Odd how the perceptions change with one year.) Career minor league line: .280 .351 .495 .845 would certainly play at 3B in Cincinnati.

Billy Hamilton
OPS-- 5th
SLG-- 11th
OBP-- 2nd
TB-- 13th
BB--11th
SB-- 1st
3B-- 1st
H-- 4th
R-- 2nd
Comment: Cooling off a bit after funeral/ death in the family. Still, notice the K rate trend? 22% to 15%, a decrease of not only 7 percentage points, but 150%! Walking almost as much as he's King at this point (14:19), with a more than respectable 11% BB rate. Oddly, if you extrapolate last season's second half numbers, this is pretty much what Hamilton was doing then (aside from the power bump). Shows that doug was right in one respect-- the California League doesn't seem to help Hamilton as much as it might someone like Vidal or Lutz. Good to know. Still only 21. 8 errors on the season is way too high (though to be taken with a grain of salt, as Bakersfield's field is notoriously poor).

Devin Lohman
OBP-- 12th
BB-- 9th
SB-- 5
Comment: Has anyone seen Lohman and Janish in the same room together? Not really. You know who I see when I look at Devin Lohman? A poor man's Zach Cozart. The numbers are pretty close when you consider age and experience. It's crazy to think that a Cozart clone could be the fourth best middle infield prospect in the Cincinnati pipeline. Nice to see, that.

[mace]

Lutz's career path is remarkable. We all know that he was raised in Germany and came to the game very late. The learning curve is definitely reflected in his numbers. At 19, he had an inauspicious start in the GCL. I don't know what happened in his second GCL season (2009). He played in only 16 games and did next to nothing. He showed distinct improvement in Billings the next season, but not enough to beat out Dominic D'Anna for the first-base job at Dayton last year. It was after D'Anna was hurt that Lutz took off. Between last year and this year, he now has 30 HR in 637 PA--about a full season's worth. For all we know, he could still be just scratching the surface. A very exciting prospect, in my view.

[mace]

Justice French finished with six shutout, 2-hit innings in his first start for Bakersfield. Very encouraging.

Another guy who has definitely piqued my interest is Brooks Pinckard, who, after arriving in Dayton (sent down from Bakersfield), has this line through five games: 9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 11 K. He is reputed to be an excellent athlete and top-notch guy. Somebody to track.