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Post by Giants »

4/7 Edition

Chris Davis is at again, through five games at AA Frisco his OPS is 1.087, meanwhile Ben Broussard is hitting .191 for the Rangers. Let the countdown begin.

All Antonio Bastardo does is strike people out. After striking out 12 in 5 innings in his High A debut last September (a game which clinched a playoff berth for Clearwater), he picked up right where he left off in his first start, striking out 7 and giving up only 1 run in 5 innings in his first start of the year.

While Jose Contreras' ERA is back over 7, 2005 first round pick Lance Broadway may be pitching his way into the discussion in Chicago, after throwing 7 innings of shutout ball while striking out 4 and walking none for the AAA Charlotte Knights

Michael Stanton is off to a hot start in the SAL, the Marlins top power prospect according to BA is hitting .385 for the Greensboro Grasshoppers and has driven in 4 runs in his first 4 games.

After missing the first couple of games of the season Angel "Big V" Villalona is hitting .333 for Augusta. This kid still isn't 18 yet but look at this:



Image

He's going to be a Miguel Cabrera sized monster.
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Post by Rangers »

I was worried about Big V (for my own sake in another league, heh) after he didn't appear in the first game, but he's present now and ready for a monster season.
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Post by Giants »

Me too. I still have no clue why he didn't play, I listened to the broadcast on milb.com and the Augusta announcer just said he wasn't playing, no reason given.
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Post by Rangers »

Must have just been a little reminder to behave or something. I know that Engel Beltre was benched after his first at bat the other day because he swung at the first pitch of the game.
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Post by Giants »

I guess V was so aggressive at the buffet table it made Nick Noonan cry. These things happen.
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Post by Pirates »

Being benched after swinging at the 1st pitch is the lamest thing ive ever heard
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Post by Giants »

I should have waited until the end of games that day to make that 4/7 post. Dustin Richardson and Mitch Boggs made their 2008 debuts, Richardson for AA Portland and Boggs for AAA Memphis. Richardson literally pitched lights out, he struck out the first 5 he faced and the stadium lights went out in the second inning, causing a 20 minute delay. He finished with 1 run on 3 hits in 5 innings with 10 strikeouts. Mitch Boggs followed that up with 6 innings, giving up only an unearned run on 3 hits and striking out 2, but the stat of the week has to be that through one start his GB/FB ratio is 16!
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Post by Giants »

4/11 Notes

There were 3 IBC A's pitchers starting tonight, would have been four if West Virginia's game wasn't rained out.

Clayton Mortensen was dealing through 3 1/3 when he nailed Adam Fox in the wrist which according to the radio was pretty ugly. Unfortunately he and the rest of the Springfield Cardinals became unnerved after that, allowing 5 runs to score in an inning which included 2 errors and a pop up dropping between three Cardinals. So that wasn't great.

On the other hand:

For A+ Clearwater Antonio Bastardo pitched 5 innings, allowing no runs on three hits while striking out 10. That's 17 K's in 10 innings this year for Bastardo, and 27 k's in 15 A+ innings in his career.

For AAA Charlotte Lance Broadway allowed 1 run on 5 hits in 7 innings, another quality start for the 2005 First Round pick. He had a 0.87 ERA in 10 1/3 for the White Sox last year, with striking out 14 and walking 5 in that span. Broadway has given up 1 run in 14 AAA innings this year, while the White Sox starters sport ERA's of

Beuhrle - 8.31
Vazquez - 5.25
Danks - 8.00
Contreras - 7.20 and being lit up as I type this
Floyd - 4.50 (not terrible but mitigated by the fact that he's Gavin Floyd).

Come on White Sox fans, where's the call to bring this kid up?
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Post by Giants »

4/14 Notes (AKA I've got nothing to do at work so what the hell)

The A's 3 AAA starters, Kevin Mulvey, Lance Broadway, and Mitch Boggs, have combined to allow a mere 3 runs in 37.2 innings. That's a 0.71 ERA, I think we can work with that.

In AA Dustin Richardson followed his 10 strikeout debut with a 6 inning, 1 hit appearance. Opponents are now batting a robust .086 against him.

After starting out 0-10 Wladimir Balentien is 7-20 with 2 doubles and 2 home runs and 10 RBI. After a slow start of his own, teammate Matt Tuiasosopo broke out over the weekend, going 4-10 and driving in his first 3 runs of the season.

In the SAL Angel Villalona hit his first home run and drove in five runs on Sunday. He's currently sporting a .310/.364/.517 line. Not to be outdone, the powerful Michael Stanton is sporting a .425/.467/.700 with six XBH in 40 at bats.

Oh yeah, and then there's Chris Davis .355/.375/.581 for AA Frisco. Expect to hear a lot about Chris Davis.
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4/23 Notes (Back in town)

All Antonio Bastardo does is strike people out. Last night he pitched 7 strong (his longest outing on any level) allowing 2 runs on 4 hits with 12 K's and 0 walks (first time he's not given up a walk this season). This was his third double digit strikeout game in five High A starts.

Bastardo's teammate and newest IBC A Matt Spencer went 1-3 with 2 walks. The big lefthander is another power prospect, a 22 year old drafted in the 4th round last year who is skipping the SAL and making his full season debut in high A. He's working a .297/.376/.500 line for the season, and Spencer is already showing pop with 8 XBH in 74 ABs, after having 19 XBH in 179 ABs last year across 3 levels, including 9 home runs.

Michael Stanton who will someday soon play the other corner opposite Spencer, is working a .318/.370/.530 line in the SAL, plate discipline is still a question mark since(24 K/4 BB), but remember that he won't even turn 19 until after the season and he's already hitting the ball at the full season level.

And then of course there's Chris Davis: .344/.403/.672.
Meanwhile Ben Broussard: .175/.254/.333

Let the Chris Davis countdown begin.
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Post by Giants »

We may have to change this section from A's Prospect Notes to the Antonio Bastardo section. I'll just let the numbers speak.

Date OPP W L ERA SV IP H ER BB SO
Apr 27 @TAM 1 0 0.00 0 8.0 2 0 1 13

His 4th double digit strikeout game in 6 high a starts, Bastardo now leads the minor leagues in strikeouts with 47 in 30.1 innings. Here's what his manager, Razor Shines has to say about him:

"I would be shocked completely if this kid throws another start for me," Shines said. "He's good enough to pitch on a much higher level."
"He's got the gamut," Shines said. "Fastball, slider, change that he can throw for strikes on any count he wants. His changeup has really come along this spring and he's causing a lot of problems for opposing batters."
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Post by Giants »

After missing some time with a knee injury, Wladimir Balentien is back, hitting 3 home runs last night including an inside the park job. That's 6 homers in 60 AB, come on Mariners fans you know this guy is at least worth the at bats Jose Vidro is getting.

Also, John Mayberry is showing signs of breaking out of his early season slump, he's hit .317 with 2 HR and 7 RBI in his last 10 games.

Mitch Boggs struggled in his previous two starts, but came back strong last night with 5 shut out innings, striking out 6 while allowing only three hits.
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Post by Tigers »

Athletics wrote:After missing some time with a knee injury, Wladimir Balentien is back, hitting 3 home runs last night including an inside the park job. That's 6 homers in 60 AB, come on Mariners fans you know this guy is at least worth the at bats Jose Vidro is getting.

There is no excuse for the M's to have been or to continue running Jose "Turbo" Vidro out at DH and the Brad Wilkerson/Willie "Boom Boom" Bloomquist platoon in RF.

If they were serious about winning ball games they would have Jeff Clement and "A Little Bad" Wlad taking over DH and RF duties immediately.
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Post by Giants »

Bloomquist might be the worst player in baseball right now not currently playing for the San Francisco Giants. By the way what's he doing on your roster?
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Athletics wrote:Bloomquist might be the worst player in baseball right now not currently playing for the San Francisco Giants. By the way what's he doing on your roster?


Defensive depth. He can backup everyone.
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Post by Giants »

Yeah but doesn't it turn your stomach just a little every time you see his name in a box score? I had that feeling with Thomas last year but at least he hit 50 home runs.
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Athletics wrote:Yeah but doesn't it turn your stomach just a little every time you see his name in a box score? I had that feeling with Thomas last year but at least he hit 50 home runs.


Only when my idiot manager decides to pinch hit him for someone, like Ankiel late in a close game. I need to adjust his player setting to "ZERO AB's" and make him Delgado's personal pinch runner. I think I need to recommend a "Personal Pinch Runner" setting to BP to include in the SIM next season.
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5/3 Notes

It was a week of debuts for A's prospects. The biggest was first rounder Blake Beavan debuting for Clinton. Well, if early returns are any indication the moral of that story is that if you can get a big hard throwing high school righty from Texas you do it, because they tend to pan out. In what was his professional debut Beavan threw 6 shut out innings, allowed 3 hits and walked none with 3 strikeouts. What was really amazing was that it was known before the game that Beavan was going to be on a strict pitch count of about 60, and he pitched like he knew it, getting through 6 on something like 68 pitches (sorry I don't remember the exact number and don't feel like looking it up). This is Beavan's age 19 season, I'm hoping he forces his way up to Bakersfield so I can check him out in person in San Jose.

Meanwhile, phenom Antonio Bastardo made his AA debut for the Reading Phillies. The minor league strikeout leader went 5 2/3 allowing 1 run on 5 hits and striking out 4. The only concern was that the walks were back (he had 3 of them), but hopefully he can recapture the command he had in his last few starts in High A.

Also, the first first rounder I ever took, John Mayberry Jr, was promoted to AAA to fill Brandon Boggs's spot and he has been mashing to the tune of 5 XBH in his first 16 ABs, he's now sporting a .625/.667/1.125 line for the Oklahoma RedHawks.

Not a debut, but it is also worth mentioning that the future Chris Davis has homered in 3 straight and he's got 9 on the year now. I'll be stunned if he doesn't show up in Texas by September.
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5/21 Notes
It's been awhile, let's catch up with the A's farm system

So Chris Davis pretty much rules all. For the month of May the 22 year old has put up a line of .362/.407/.637 with 5 home runs in 80 ABs. More encouraging, after striking out 27 times in 92 ABs in April (thats a 29.4% strikeout rate), he's only gone down 14 times in 80 ABs (17.5%), which should portend well for future growth. He doesn't get as much love as some of the bigger names like the centerfield crew of Rasmus and Bruce, but Davis could well be the best lefty power prospect in the high minors.

Blake Beavan has basically alternated good starts with bad starts his first 5 outings, with tonight being one of his good starts. He threw 4 2/3 perfect innings before giving up a hit and ending his night after 5 shutout with 3 strikeouts and no walks. I'd love to see more strikeouts from the big righty, but it's really impressive for a 19 year old making his professional debut in full season ball to go out there and allow only one walk in 25 innings. They are keeping him on a pretty strict pitch count, and it seems to effect the way he pitches, as they stretch him out more I predict more strikeouts for the big righty. The test for him is to try and string together back to back strong starts.

In his first 83 AB of AAA John Mayberry is hitting the ball hard to the tune of .325/.360/.602, with 13 XBH. He's played both corner OF spots and a little 1B, and his versatility should help him find his way to the big club by September. Interestingly, he's shown a reverse platoon split, struggling a little against lefties compared to righties, which is probably just a sample size fluke. Anyway, he's good.

Another A's prospect who is handling promotion well is the legendary Tony Bastard, Antonio Bastardo, who has thrown 3 quality starts in his 4 outings since being promoted to AA Reading, his K rate is down a little bit from the ludicrous numbers he had for Clearwater, but he's still struck out 20 in 23 2/3 innings, and his walk rate has stayed the same. If he continues to develop his slider to go along with a low-mid 90's fastball and plus change he could see Philadelphia by the end of the year, oh yeah and he doesn't turn 23 until September.

Big V, Angel Villalona has finally emerged from his early season slump, winning the SAL player of the week award and showing the power the Giants knew he had. He's got a .274/.325/.565 line going in May, and that includes the terrible beginning of the month he was working with. We'd all love to see a little more plate discipline from him (40 Ks and only 9 walks in 149 ABs), but the kid doesn't even turn 18 until August so he has time to learn.

Recent signing Kyle Ginley just wins. He began the year repeating A ball in the Midwest league, where he struggled some in 2006 with his command, but he responded by going 5-0 with a 1.24 ERA and a 36-6 K/BB in 36.1 innings. He was rewarded with a promotion to High A Dunedin, where is 3-0 with a 1.59 ERA and a 12/6 K/BB in 17 innings, making him 8-0 with 1.35 ERA overall. Watching this 21 year old progress in the Blue Jays system should be fun.

There is some talent down there.
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Post by Giants »

"Why the hell won't they promote me?" newest A's signee Michael Taylor AKA John Mayberry, Jr., Jr. The 6'6 250 pound 22 year old is tearing up low A, with a .429 average over his last 10 games, and a .361/.428/.568 line over all. The on-base skills have been there all season, but in May Taylor found his power stroke, slugging .711 for the month. At least put him in the FSL, he's gotta be at least as good as Wellinson Baez or Matt Spencer.

Also happy Memorial Day to Chris Davis who was promoted to AAA and is hitting .400. OK so it's 2-5 with 3 strikeouts, but that just means whenever he makes contact it's a hit.
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It's been awhile since the Chris Davis watch has posted, so let's catch up with our hero in AAA. The drafting of Justin Smoak immediately made people question Davis's future, especially after a slow start in AAA that included 12 strikeouts in his first 31 AB (ouch). Since, however, he has been on an absolute tear, like he always does, hitting .486/.550/.942 since Smoak was drafted with 4 home runs and 9 driven in. That's a beast. Smoak who?

Davis's Oklahoma teammate John Mayberry, my first ever #1 pick back when I was the GM of the Rangers, is finally starting to pay off the patience the organization has shown with him, as he his mashing in AAA to the tune of .321/.376/.564, and even more impressively has only struck out 23 times in 168 ABs, as compared to the 21 Ks he had in 82 AA at bats, which was in line with his previous career numbers (126 Ks in 489 ABs between High A and AA last year). That means the K Rate has gone from 25.7% to 13.9%, and we can live with that. Mayberry should definitely get a shot with the Rangers in September.

18 year old phenom Michael Stanton is hitting again. After a slowdown in May in which he OPSed "only" .814, Stanton has a .306/.362/.645 going in June, and has taken the SAL lead in home runs with 15.

Meanwhile, Michael "Promote Me" Taylor is still leading the SAL in OPS, posting a .361/.441/.554 with 10 home runs and 50 RBI. He's also in the league's top 10 in walks, leads the league in hits, and has stolen 10 bases. Damn shame he couldn't do that when he was at Stanford, but promote the kid Philly.

Angel Villalona is still struggling to put it all together, but he has shown pretty good pop with 8 HR and 21 XBH in 209 full season ABs at age 17. If the Giants just let the kid develop he will justify the investment. Fun fact, he just kills the ball during the day, .400/.420/.733 when the sun is out. Maybe the lights just suck in Augusta?

1st round pick Blake Beavan continues to flash his potential at Clinton, where the 6'7 19 year old is 4-4 with a 3.47 ERA and 1.09 WHIP. He's only struck out 22 in 46.2 IP, but he's also only walked 3, giving him a K/BB of 7.33:1, which is pretty damn solid.

Recent acquisition Jonathan Kibler out of Michigan State and the Tigers system, rounds out the Low A ball studs in the A's system, the Tigers 30th round pick in the 2007 draft is playing his age 21 season for West Michigan, where he leads the league in WHIP (0.79), and opponents are hitting a ridiculous .159 against him. He's 6-2 with a 2.17, has a K/BB of 4.57:1, doesn't turn 22 until August, and at 6'5" 210 brings a low 90's fastball from the left side. Looks like Detroit found a guy in round 30.

In other A's system news Mitch Boggs has joined the Cardinals rotation due to injuries, he had one pretty good start and one not so great start. We'll see how the next one goes and if he can hold of Jaime Garcia as the Cardinals 6th starter...Fellow Cardinals hurler and IBC A's 2nd round pick Clayton Mortensen was promoted to Memphis to fill Boggs' spot in the rotation, and like Boggs had one good start and one bad one. He's struck out 10 in 10.2, but also walked 7 and allowed 13 hits. Some of that can be attributed to nerves and sample size, but it's good to see him moving quickly...After that impressive line posted in his June 6th start, Antonio Bastardo spun another strong outing in his most recent start, allowing only 1 run on 3 hits in 6 innings. The bad news has he walked 4, the kid needs to get his command straight because his stuff is unhittable (.202 BAA in AA this year). He now has a 3.11 ERA and 1.14 WHIP over 11 AA starts, but at this rate he'll have more walks allowed than hits allowed. Still a fun prospect...Sebastian Valle will be making his stateside debut. The 17 year old Mexican catcher had an OPS of .804 in the DSL last year at 16 and more walks than strikeouts, plus he hits lefthanded. I'm very excited to see him debut... The other exciting debut for the A's is lefty Drake Britton, who the Red Sox took in the 23rd round in 2007 (714 overall) and signed to a $700,000 bonus to get him away from a Texas A&M commitment (that's more than they paid any draft pick except Will Middlebrooks). According to SoxProspects.com the lefty throws 92-94 and has a 12/6 curve with plus plus potential, in addition to a developing slider and changeup. The ceiling is nuts for this kid.
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Post by Giants »

Two A's prospects debuted in the New York-Penn League

Travis D'Arnaud is 4-8 with a run scored and has been hitting 5th in the lineup for Williamsport, not bad for a catcher whose calling card is supposed to be defense.

Drake Britton is the #2 starter in Lowell's rotation behind 2007 third rounder Brock Huntzinger (who probably projects as a reliever) and is definitely the best SP prospect on the Lowell roster. In his professional debut he threw five innings, allowing one run on four hits, striking out three and walking two. I fully expect to see him at the top of prospect lists coming out of the NYPL at the end of the season.
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Post by RedSox »

The Red Sox tend to let a player play himself off a position. Britton is a fine prospect and has a bright future. However, as an elite 23rd round pick, I'd think he could be promoted through his performance without having to denigrate his teammates. Guys with that kind of stuff should dominate like-handed hitters at low levels and not give up many xbh's. Two of Britton's 4 hits were to lefties and the 4 hits were made up of: 1 single, 2 doubles, and a homerun. It could just be nerves in his debut, but I'd like to see a tout that sizzling come with a little steak too.
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Post by Giants »

Fair enough. I wouldn't say that I'm exactly unbiased in my reviews. If sabermetrics has taught us anything it's that a 5 inning sample size is utterly meaningless as a predictor of future performance, especially in short season A Ball. We'll see what happens down the line, I'm just repeating Huntzinger's review from SoxProspects.com, but as a Sox fan if I'm wrong and Huntzinger turns into Pedro and Britton turns into 2008 Barry Zito I'll still be happy.
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Post by Giants »

In his stateside debut Sebastian Valle went 2-4 with a double and a homerun. Welcome to America big guy, I sure hope your defense plays as well as your bat behind the plate.
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