Reds Minor League Thread for Saturday, 05/08/2021

[texasdave]

LOUISVILLE - 7:PM EDT - 1-3 - It's 'Party in the Park Night' for the Bats. Louisville hasn't posted a winning record since 2010, but, hey, party on, dudes! Bo Takahashi will be making his first appearance as farmhand for the Reds. Previously, he has been a member of the Diamondbacks organization. A little blurb on Bo:

Takahashi is a grinder, and has been putting up consistent results for years. His solid line in 2019 was actually a tick down from his normal numbers. His 22 K% and 7 BB% totals are slightly down from 2018 as well. The ceiling for Takahashi is as an innings eater type in the majors, but is more likely organizational depth.

He has a 90ish fastball. Takahashi is from Brazil, and has played for Brazil in the WBC. If or when he makes the bigs, he will be just th 7th Braziian to do so. That's nuts! Babe Rodriguez is lighting things up in the early going to the tune of .538/.566/1.094. After 4 games, Louisville is 10th (of 20) in pitching with a 3.50 ERA. They rank 18th (of 20) in hitting with a .592 OPS. Pet Peeve: They have changed the name of all the leagues. What is up with that? The International League is now the Triple A-East. That is silly.

[texasdave]

CHATTANOOGA - 7:15 PM EDT - 2-2 - Game 5 in this 6-game series is on tonight, and no word on the starting pitcher. Matt Pidich has been placed on the 7-day IL with a "cervical strain/thoracic outlet, whatever that means. Ryan Lillie has been called up to his spot. Wennington Romero, there's a blast from the past, is on the 60-day IL. Chattanooga is tied for 2nd (of 8) in the league (Double A-South. Still silly.) with a .983 OPS. Mark Kolozsvary is OPSing a staggering 2.833. Pitching is a surprising 7th (of 8) with an ERA of 6.27. Given the starts by Lodolo and Greene, that ERA seems a bit high. Once the starters go out, all bets are off. The only team trailing the Lookouts in ERA is the Trash Pandas at 6.39. If you like offense, well........

[texasdave]

DAYTON - 6:05 PM EDT - 3-1 - The Dragons are 3-1 to open the season. The only blemish is a 1-0 rain-shortened contest. Ricardo Antonio 'Ricky' Salinas gets the nod. Salinas was a college teammate of Evan Kravetz at Rice University. He has pitched two seasons in the Reds system, compiling mediocre results. He was pretty mediocre in college as well, although he was injured in most of his junior and senior seasons. I haven't found anything, but I imagine he must have pretty good stuff. Obviously, that's just an uneducated guess. The Dragons have signed two players out of the service acadamies: Jacob Hurtubise (West Point - Army), and Jake Gilbert (United States Air Force Academy). Dragons pitchers rank 3rd (of 11) with a 2.81 ERA. And they are 2nd (of 11) in hitting with an OPS of 7.87. Dayton no longer plays in the Midwest League. They are in the High A Central. Nope, still isn't growing on me. Brian Rey leads the league in home runs (2), RBI (7) and is 3rd in OPS at 1.333. In an oddity, his OBP is lower than his batting average. Walks?? We don't need no stinking walks!!

[texasdave]

DAYTONA - 6:30 PM EDT - 2-2 - Interested in seeing how the starting pitcher Case Williams performs. He will be making his minor league debut. Williams was drafted by the Rockies last season, and came over in the Robert Stephenson deal. Reportedly, the Reds were interested in drafting Williams, but Colorado snatched him up just 3 picks before the Reds were going to select him. So, the Reds traded for him. He went under the radar, apparently. One scouting service did not have him listed in their Top 500. but he was chosen at 110. He fastball is mid-90s.

[JaxRed]

TD - Do you know the reason for all the league name changes? If not I'll let you know. It's weirdly satisfying to me at least.

For some reason I'm oddly optimistic on Takahashi. I think he can be an an innings eater in the pen. Do me proud, Bo.

Really interested in seeing what Williams does. Reds obviously like him, and he ended up in Daytona as opposed to the Gulags of Arizona.

[Bourgeois Zee]

It's been about a week, and every time I read texasdave's posts, they put a smile on my face.

This is the baseball board at its best, IMO.

[RED VAN HOT]

Doug has a great interview with Hurtubise on his site. I came away with the feeling that he will find a way to succeed. He's one of my early favorites.

[texasdave]

DAYTONA - A rough introduction in the play-for-pay arena for Case Williams. A walk and a home run from the first two hitters that he faced. He gave up a single and another walk, but limited the damage to 2 runs. Daytona trails 2-zip after one.

[texasdave]

DAYTON - Ricky Salinas is wobbly out of the gate. He walked the first three Loons to come to the plate. A force out has plated one run, as Great Lakes continues to bat in the first. And now a home run has made it 4-0 ballgarme.

[kaldaniels]

LOUISVILLE - 7:PM EDT - 1-3 - It's 'Party in the Park Night' for the Bats. Louisville hasn't posted a winning record since 2010, but, hey, party on, dudes! Bo Takahashi will be making his first appearance as farmhand for the Reds. Previously, he has been a member of the Diamondbacks organization. A little blurb on Bo: He has a 90ish fastball. Takahashi is from Brazil, and has played for Brazil in the WBC. If or when he makes the bigs, he will be just th 7th Braziian to do so. That's nuts! Babe Rodriguez is lighting things up in the early going to the tune of .538/.566/1.094. After 4 games, Louisville is 10th (of 20) in pitching with a 3.50 ERA. They rank 18th (of 20) in hitting with a .592 OPS. Pet Peeve: They have changed the name of all the leagues. What is up with that? The International League is now the Triple A-East. That is silly.

No winning record since 2010? Yikes.

Minors W-L records aren’t that important but there is something to having a winning culture. Ending the night in the L column more often than not for over a decade seems suboptimal.

[Tom Servo]

No winning record since 2010? Yikes.

Minors W-L records aren’t that important but there is something to having a winning culture. Ending the night in the L column more often than not for over a decade seems suboptimal.

Firing Rick Sweet really was a bizarre move that had some bad consequences.

[texasdave]

After a losing night at poker, let's go!

LOUISVILLE - The Pride of River City fall to 1-4, getting doubled up 6-3. Louisville was 3-0 through 4, until the wheels fell off. Bo Takahashi was whitewashing the Clippers until the 5th. Then things went south. Jose De Leon might have great stuff, but retiring batters seems to be a problem for him. Shane Carle and R.J. Alaniz each held in Columbus for an inning apiece.

Scott Heineman singled twice and walked, scoring two runs.
Nicky Delmonico double twice and drove in a pair.
Alfredo Rodriguez keeps on hitting, for at least one more day, with 2 base knocks and a walk. His OPS is a heady 1.172.

[texasdave]

CHATTANOOGA - 'NOOGA sneaks over the .500 mark tonight with a earning a 6-4 nod.

Connor Curlis spun six innings of one-hit baseball. Recently recalled Ryan Lillie made things interesting by allowing 3 runs in an inning of relief. Strong relief over the final two innings from Julio Pinto (4 Ks) and J.C. Keys (1 K) closed the lid on the Trash Pandas.

Alejo Lopez contributed 2 singles and a base on ball, raising his average to .450.
Jose Garcia singled, doubled, walked and drove home a pair.
T.J. Hopkins singled twice and tripled. He is now sporting a .438 batting average.

[texasdave]

DAYTON - They trailed 4-1 early, only to rally for a 6-5 victory. They move to 4-1 for the year.

Ricky Salinas was pulled in the second inning after being charged for 4 runs. Spencer Stockton held the Loons in check for 4.1 innings, permitting the Dragons hitters time enough to get to work. Jake Gilbert did not allow a hit for 2 innings. Johnnie Schneider must own stock in Pepto Bismol, walking four in the bottom of the 9th.

Brian Rey is a one man wrecking crew here in the first week of the campaign. He launched two solo shots, numbers 3 and 4.
Mike Siani has average back up to .300, courtesy 2 singles and a walk.

[texasdave]

DAYTONA - Pitching took the night off in an 18-8 Tortugas' victory. They are now 3-2.

Not much positive to say about the pitching. Ricky Karcher worked a 1.2 innings, and struck out 4. Oft-injured Nick Hanson shut down Palm Beach in the 9th.

Tyler Calihan laced three singles.
Alan Cerda doubled, homered (2), walked, was hit by a pitch, scored 3 runs and drove home 3 more. His OPS has rocketed to 1.444.
Ivan Johnson homered (1), walked twice, scored 3 times and plated a couple of runners.
Alex McGarry made his season debut tonight. He homered (1), singled and walked.
Danny Lantigua was a triple shy of the cycle. He singled, doubled, homered (1), crossed the plate twice and collected 4 RBI.