Dragons vs. Silverhawks Review

[EddieMilner]

I went to the game last night (Tuesday April 10) between the Dayton Dragons and the South Bend Silverhawks. I got there at the end of the 2nd inning, and stayed through the end of the game. Here were my observations:
1. The Dragons were heads above the Silverhawks with ability. It seriously looked like a AA team playing a rookie ball team. I don't know if that says more about the Dragons or the Silverhawks, but none the less the difference between the squads was large.
2. Scott (Dayton's Manager) was coaching 3rd base. I was sitting about 10 feet from him. When the score became 11-0 (4th inning) he yelled into the bench, "CALL OFF THE DOGS." From that point forward Dayton scored 0 runs. Rojo hit a screamer a couple of bats later and Scott yelled into the dugout again and simply stated, "NO". If the Dragons got any hits after that, they were all on the ground. I wasn't a big fan of this, since I came to watch my future Reds and see what they could do, but with the cold, I could see that he just wanted to get his kids out of there with no injuries.
3. Gonzalez pitched and he was impressive. He got into a couple of jams (walking guys) but straightened himself out and got out with strike outs.
4. I was not impressed with Drew Stubbs defense. He didn't seem very fast in the outfield either. He dropped a routine fly ball in center field that would've ended the inning (hit his glove and popped out). After the inning he was running in from the outfield, took his glove off right before the dugout threw it and screamed the mother of all curse words. He didn't see the field after his next at bat. Hitting wise though, he made good contact just hit it right to the Silverhawks players a couple of times.
5. Francisco can rake. He hit the ball all over the field.
6. Turner made some great plays at defense. On one he was running towards RF and caught a pop fly while in full stride, turned and gunned the guy at 1st that hadn't tagged up.
7. If these are the reds of the future, the future looks good.

[dougdirt]

Great recap.
Drew Stubbs has some serious turf toe going on and he may need surgery after the season to fix it.... doesn't explain the dropped ball that should have ended the 5th inning, but might explain the speed a little bit.

[camisadelgolf]

Thank you very much for the review. That's very interesting and good insight.

[Blue]

What exactly is turf toe?

[OesterPoster]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turf_toe

You'd think a little ol' toe wouldn't cause such trouble, but turf toe really sucks.

[Doc. Scott]

Hmmm. Arizona's system is supposed to be one of the better ones in MLB, but it sounds like their MWL affiliate is running a skeleton crew or something at the moment.

[EddieMilner]

Originally Posted by Doc. Scott

Hmmm. Arizona's system is supposed to be one of the better ones in MLB, but it sounds like their MWL affiliate is running a skeleton crew or something at the moment.

I thought the same thing. Are most of the guys at Dayton college kids? I was thinking that if the Dayton kids had 3 or so years on the South Bend kids, that could make a difference.

[Doc. Scott]

Originally Posted by EddieMilner

I thought the same thing. Are most of the guys at Dayton college kids? I was thinking that if the Dayton kids had 3 or so years on the South Bend kids, that could make a difference.

Yes, the Dragons are mostly last year's Mustangs, so they're 2006 college draftees. The average age in the Midwest League tends to be 21-22, with a 23-24 year-old being "old" and 19-20 being "young". Most of the Dragons' starting lineup is 22, with a couple like Valaika (21) and Francisco (19) a tad bit younger than that.

What does that mean? Basically this: a lot of these guys' prospect status doesn't have a year to blow (a la BJ Szymanski or Adam Rosales). Sure, your career doesn't end if you fall behind, but it's an uphill climb to get back into a club's plans if you're 24-25 and not at least to Double-A. Your value to the organization drops because you're not as desirable in trades, either, which is another major source of a farm system's value to clubs.

Anyway, a cursory glance at the South Bend roster doesn't show a group much younger overall- mostly 22- and 23-year-olds with a couple of 20-21s and the odd teenager. In fact, these guys might even be older than the Dragons.

The only name I instantly recognize is right-handed pitcher Jason Neighborgall, who's famous for throwing like 100 mph but can't do it in the direction of home plate.

[camisadelgolf]

Jason Neighborgall threw 46 walks and 22 wild pitches in 13 innings last year.

[ochoa30]

Originally Posted by camisadelgolf

Jason Neighborgall threw 46 walks and 22 wild pitches in 13 innings last year.

thats unbelievable, hurts the eyes to see those numbers