4/30 Minor League Scores

[Bourgeois Zee]

AAA Louisville Bats @ Columbus Clippers
Randy Wynne pitches for the Bats. He has a middling (at best) 4.87 ERA. Wynne has really struggled with fooling anyone-- and his walk rate has doubled so far this young season. He's only K'ing 4.9/9. That's not a recipe for success. When you compound that with a 2.7 BB rate (last season was 1.1) and more hits than innings pitched, you have a recipe for bad baseball. Wynne's opposed by Tobias Myers, who's had his own struggles this year, as that 5.56 ERA can attest. Myers' issue has been his BB rate-- more than 5/9. Something's gotta give. You can show up to Columbus at 4:05 to find out what.

AA Tennessee Smokies @ Chattanooga Lookouts
Chattanooga was the Dickensian model of a baseball team last night, seeing the best of times (Hopkins' HR), the worst of times (choking away a two-run lead in the 9th), and ending up victors in the end of a marathon game, 9-8. I think Carson Spiers will go tonight. His uncle is Bill Spiers, who absolutely crushed Reds' pitching-- to the tune of a Ruthian .329/ .429/ .483/ .911 line. The younger Spiers has a great interview from fangraphs. Read it if you have time. Scouting reports indicate he has four pitches, three of which are above average. The fourth is his 93 - 95 mph fastball. Not bad for a UDFA.

High A Dayton Dragons @ Fort Wayne Tin Caps
James Marinan has, to put it kindly, struggled so far this season. The starter opposing him actually has worse numbers so far this year. Nearly 12 BB/9 isn't awesome, for sure. Heck, half that is problematic. (Sure, it's only 6.1 innings, but I can extrapolate.) The Dragons are in first place by three games despite leading in only one category offensively or on the pitching side of the ledger. They top the Midwest League only HR and saves. Statistically, they're near the bottom of just about every category, yet they lead their division by three games as April nears a close. Not sure if that screams regression or (because of the obvious talent on the team) a cause for hope. You can judge for yourself at 1:05.

Low A Daytona Tortugas @ Port St. Lucie Mets
Daytona looks to even its seasonal record at 10. They've been stuck on that .500 rut pretty much all season. Tonight, they turn to Javi Rivera to stem the tide. He might be a good one-- the peripherals are among the best in the Red pipeline. A shiny 1.64 ERA. A microscopic 1.6 BB/9. A 12.7 K/9. 5.7 H/9 too. All of those are exceptional. What's not exceptional is the Daytona offense. It's the worst in the league, as attested by the overall .200/ .305/ .272/ .577 line. Lots of underachievers so far this year. Perhaps today's the day they catch fire. It's a late game-- 6:15. You can make it if you get in gear. Tickets are available.

[Bourgeois Zee]

Dayton's doing some odd things with their roster. I suspect most minor league squads are doing something similar, but the Dragons seem to be taking it to another level.

Jose Torres is one of the Reds' top prospects. Elly De La Cruz is as big-time a prospect as the Reds currently have in the minor league system. You typically see the parent club get those guys as many PAs as possible in order to develop them for the major leagues. The positions don't matter all that much, especially if there's a DH in the league. (And there is.)

Yet, Cincinnati has decided to only play Torres 12 games (of their now 20) and 48 ABs and De La Cruz 15 games and 58 ABs. Instead, we get a steady diet of Jonathan Willems (5 games) and Nick Quintana (8 games) at the keystone position. It's baffling, honestly. You've got two of the brightest stars in the system, and the Reds have chosen to dim their light by playing them both at the same position-- and rarely switching positions beyond. Two of the better Dragons hitters-- and two of the top prospects-- have played together on the field in only 8 of the Dragons' first 20 games.

Perhaps that's part of the study Williams did in terms of rest, but it makes absolutely no sense when it comes to in-game development-- and it totally screws paying fans yet again. (What else is new?)

Today, Torres, Hinds, Nelson, and Quintana are sitting the bench.

Yesterday, it was De La Cruz, McGarry, and JV Martinez.

The day before, Torres had a day off.

That'd be really hard to get into a rhythm, IMO, not playing every day.

[Old school 1983]

Dayton's doing some odd things with their roster. I suspect most minor league squads are doing something similar, but the Dragons seem to be taking it to another level.

Jose Torres is one of the Reds' top prospects. Elly De La Cruz is as big-time a prospect as the Reds currently have in the minor league system. You typically see the parent club get those guys as many PAs as possible in order to develop them for the major leagues. The positions don't matter all that much, especially if there's a DH in the league. (And there is.)

Yet, Cincinnati has decided to only play Torres 12 games (of their now 20) and 48 ABs and De La Cruz 15 games and 58 ABs. Instead, we get a steady diet of Jonathan Willems (5 games) and Nick Quintana (8 games) at the keystone position. It's baffling, honestly. You've got two of the brightest stars in the system, and the Reds have chosen to dim their light by playing them both at the same position-- and rarely switching positions beyond. Two of the better Dragons hitters-- and two of the top prospects-- have played together on the field in only 8 of the Dragons' first 20 games.

Perhaps that's part of the study Williams did in terms of rest, but it makes absolutely no sense when it comes to in-game development-- and it totally screws paying fans yet again. (What else is new?)

Today, Torres, Hinds, Nelson, and Quintana are sitting the bench.

Yesterday, it was De La Cruz, McGarry, and JV Martinez.

The day before, Torres had a day off.

That'd be really hard to get into a rhythm, IMO, not playing every day.

That’s really freaking weird.

[Tony Cloninger]

This nonsense stops once they go to AA. Right??

[Bourgeois Zee]

This nonsense stops once they go to AA. Right??

Seems to. Their best prospects play much more often, it seems. (The lesser guys get lots and lots of breaks-- it's one way to recognize who they think may help the parent club, I suspect.)

[Bourgeois Zee]

Red farm teams go 3-1 on the day. That'll work. The highlights:

- Don't look now, but Louisville has righted itself a bit. They're 8-15 (which sounds awful, of course), but have gone .500 over their last 10. That's progress. They won 4-3. The Bats had 10 hits, including TJ Friedl's 2nd HR on the season. Cordoba hit one as well. Dawson and Lopez had two hits apiece, Dawson with a BB included. Randy Wynne was nails. Six innings, 5 H, 6 Ks, and zero walks. That'll do, Wynne. That'll do.

- Chattanooga won a pitcher's duel, 3-2. They scratched out 9 hits and a walk, but only three runs. Chuckie Robinson had two of those, including his first homer of the season. He's hitting very well in a small sample-- .367 with a 939 OPS. Robbie Tenorowisz had three singles to raise his BA to .222. He's a Jeckyll and Hyde hitter-- maybe this is the start of a hot streak. TJ Hopkins hit his 6th HR too. Carson Spiers went 5. He allowed 6 hits and a walk, but had 7 Ks as well. That lowers his ERA to 5.25. Michael Byrne got the win with 1.2 innings of shutout baseball. He's yet to allow a run this season... in Chattanooga. (He did in Louisville.)

- Dayton, as is their wont, won again. They're 10 games over .500. 15-5. 21-year-old Justice Thompson had three hits. Dayton has suited him quite well after an early-season bump in level. He's at .375 after only seven games. Elly De La Cruz had a couple of hits, runs, and RBI (and Ks). Alex McGarry also had a couple hits, both of them doubles. Cerda had a hit and a walk. Manuel Cachutt can close the door on a perfect April-- he didn't give up a run all month. In this one, he went three innings on two hits, a walk, and a K. Yoeman's work, that.

- The odd team out, if you've been paying attention (and I like to think there are at least some people who pay attention to these little posts), is Daytona. They lost 6-3 and are now 9-11 on the season. Jay Allen had a couple of hits and a walk in the loss. Michel Triana, O'Guinn, and Hayden Jones had two hits apiece as well. The Tortugas had 11 hits on the game and were 3-9 with RISP. Not enough power. Rivera and Cooper gave up three ER apiece in the loss.

[camisadelgolf]

Jonathan Willems is a free agent at the end of the year iirc. He has some tools, so you want to give him every chance you can before you give up on him. But at this rate, he'll probably get his walking papers soon after the draft unless he has exceptional makeup.