A couple of transactions to pass along: Quad Cities RHP John Neely retired. Greeneville 1B Tyler White promoted from GCL White, the Astros' 33rd-round pick out of Western Carolina last month, hit .365/.474/.556 with 1 home run and 15 RBI in 18 games with the GCL Astros.
Mark Appel's Quad Cities debut: <iframe src='http://www.milb.com/shared/video/embed/embed.html?content_id=28922871&width=400&height=224&property=milb' width='400' height='224' frameborder='0'>Your browser does not support iframes.</iframe> Midwest League Traveler: On Appel's debut The Midwest League Traveler, Craig Wieczorkiewicz, on his about page, was first attracted to the league when Kane County began play in 1991. He also had the pleasure of witnessing a young Albert Pujols play in Peoria. He has been to all 16 parks, and is currently writing a book about all of them. His Twitter account is @MWLtraveler.
Monday Stories Colton Cain's remarkable turnaround continues. Short-season sweep! Recap AAA All-Star Break The Redhawks will return to action on Thursday, when they travel to Memphis to begin a 4-game series. Corpus Christi 4, Midland 1 It was the Hooks' turn to silence the Rockhounds' offense, as an Anthony Aliotti solo homer was the lone run that Corpus pitchers allowed tonight. Bobby Doran served it up in the 1st. That was the only run he allowed in his 6 innings. He also scattered 6 other hits (all singles), walked 1, and struck out 1. Chia-Jen Lo retired all 4 batters he faced. Pat Urckfitz got 2 outs in the 8th and the first out of the 9th. He walked 1 and struck out 1. Jorge De Leon worked around a hit to close out the game. Max Stassi put the Hooks on the board first with a solo homer (6) in the 1st. He added a sac fly in the 3rd. Later in the inning, Preston Tucker hit an RBI single. Drew Muren was 2-3 with a double scored. He stole 2nd (4, 5 season) in the 5th and an error allowed him to score. Game 3 of this series has Ross Seaton facing Drew Granier. First pitch is at 6:30. Modesto 12, Lancaster 7 The Jethawks blew a 7-1 lead. What more is there to say? Also not helping was the offense taking an early siesta. They did not have a hit after the 5th inning. In fact, after the 5th, they had 2 baserunners, both coming off walks. Ugh. David Rollins had a bare minimum quality start, allowing 4 hits, walking 3, and striking out 5. Jonas Dufek threw 1 2/3 and allowed 2 runs (both inherited) on 2 hits and struck out 2. Travis Ballew lost it, as he got the final out of the 8th (via strikeout) and failed to retire anyone in the 9th. He gave up 6 runs (1 inherited) on 5 hits (2-run homer). Michael Dimock allowed a run on 3 hits and walked 1 in the 9th. Delino DeShields scored on a Nolan Fontana GIDP in the 1st. Telvin Nash was 2-4 with a 2-run homer (16) in the 2nd. Good news: he didn't strike out. At all. In the 4th, Ryan McCurdy hit an RBI single, and in the 5th, M.P. Cokinos clubbed a 3-run homer (10). That shot turned out to be the last Jethawks hit. Brandon Meredith and Chris Epps joined Nash in the 2-hit club. The Jethawks will have Tuesday off, and then they'll be off to Inland Empire to begin a 3-game series on Wednesday. Dayton 5, Quad Cities 1 Colton Cain's season has literally done a complete 180 since April, when he was just plain garbage. On the other hand, he was just brilliant today, as he shut out the Dragons for 7 innings and allowed 2 hits, walked 2, and struck out 5. Unfortunately.... his effort was wasted as Juan Minaya failed miserably in the 8th. He got 2 outs in the 8th and allowed 5 runs on 5 hits and walked 1. Juri Perez had to clean that mess up, and he allowed a hit and fanned 1 over 1 1/3 innings of work. Jesse Wierzbicki scored as Rio Ruiz grounded into a double play in the 4th. He hit a double to lead off the inning. They both had 2 hits today. The River Bandits will have a travel day on Tuesday, as they get set to kick off a 12-game roadtrip. First stop: Fort Wayne for 3 against the TinCaps. Tri-City 8, Batavia 4 The ValleyCats got the sweep as they scored 5 unanswered after falling behind 4-3. They got 3 in the 2nd thanks to a 2-run homer from Jon Kemmer (2) and Thomas Lindauer's first pro homer, a solo shot. That was just Lindauer's 2nd hit of the season, too. Ernesto Genoves finished 3-5 with a 2-out bases-clearing double in the 7th that gave the ValleyCats a 6-4 lead. He also had an RBI single in the 9th. Before that, James Ramsay hit an RBI single too. He and Tony Kemp both went 2-4. Kevin Comer went 3 2/3 innings and allowed 3 runs on 4 hits, walked 2, and fanned 4. Charles Basford pitched an inning (final out of the 4th and 2 ous in the 5th) and allowed a run on 2 hits and struck out 1. Evan Grills finished with 4 1/3 scoreless, and he gave up 2 hits, walked 1, and struck out 2. The ValleyCats will have Tuesday off, and then they'll head home to host Auburn for a 3-game series beginning Wednesday. Greeneville 3, Elizabethton 1 Greeneville swept the defending Appalachian League champions out of Pioneer Park, payback for getting swept in their first home series of the season. Making it even sweeter was the fact that the Appy Astros took over first place in the division from the Twins with the sweep. Jandel Gustave threw 5 innings and allowed a run on 2 hits, walked 2, and struck out 5. Gerardo Ramirez allowed a hit and struck out 1 in a scoreless 6th. J.D. Osborne threw 2 scoreless, allowing a hit, walking 1, and striking out 2. He has yet to allow a run in 14 innings. Now that I've said that, he'll probably give up 2 in his next outing. Gonzalo Sanudo struck out 1 in a 1-2-3 9th to get the save. Everybody in the lineup drew a walk except for Ariel Ovando, who was 0-4 with a strikeout. Tanner Mathis hit an RBI single in the 2nd. In his Greeneville debut, Tyler White went 3-4 with an RBI single in the 4th, and Juan Santana scored on an error in the 5th. The Appy Astros will also have Tuesday off, and they'll wrap up their homestand by hosting Princeton for 3 beginning on Wednesday. GCL Astros 9, GCL Pirates 4 The Kissimmee Stros got the bats working and although the pitchers gave up 4, they also only allowed 3 hits in the process. Ambiorix De Leon got the start and went 3 innings. He allowed 3 runs on 2 hits, walked 4, and struck out 3. Troy Scribner wiped the field with the Buccos, as he allowed a hit and struck out 6 over 3 innings. If you're keeping track, his K-BB ratio is now 26-1 in 17.1 innings. Raul Rivera allowed an unearned run, walked 1, and struck out 1 in the 7th. Jorge Perez finished it out with 2 scoreless, and he walked 1 and fanned 2. Jake Nottingham got it started in the 1st with an RBI single. He finished 1-3 with 2 walks and 3 runs scored. Also in the inning, Luis Reynoso hit an RBI groundout and Brett Booth had an RBI single himself. Booth was at it again in the 3rd, when he hit a 2-run triple. Jose Solano was 2-5 with 3 RBI and a run scored; the first of those 3 RBI came in the form of a solo homer (2) in the 4th. Booth was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the 7th, which gave him 4 RBI on the day. Then, later in the 7th, Solano hit a 2-run single. Booth finished 2-3. Yonathan Mejia and Alex Gonzalez both had 2-hit days as well. The GCLstros will head back to Kissimmee, where they'll play this very same Pirate team at noon Eastern. DSL Rays 6, DSL Astros 3 The Academy got 3 in the 8th to get on the board and make it a 4-3 game, but the Rays pulled away with 2 in the bottom half of the inning. Jean Estrella hit a sac fly, and Arturo Michelena hit a 2-run triple. Alex Melendez was 2-4 with a run scored. Edwin Villarroel went 1 2/3 and gave up 2 runs on 5 hits (solo homer), walked 1, and struck out 1. Gerardo Juarez pitched 5 innings and allowed 2 runs (1 earned) on 5 hits and struck out 6. Rauldison Rodriguez threw 2/3 of an inning and allowed 2 runs on 2 hits and struck out 1. Yonquelys Martinez retired both Rays he faced, striking out 1. The Academy will head back and will welcome the Indians to their place. First pitch is at 10:30 AM Atlantic. Three Stars Been a while since I've gotten around to posting this section. 3. Ernesto Genoves, C, Tri-City 3-5, 2B, 4 RBI Unfortunately, Genoves turned out to be a casualty of the sudden depth at catcher in the system. A shame, really. 2. Troy Scribner, P, GCL Astros W(3-0), 3 IP, H, 6 K It appears the GCL hasn't been much of a challenge for the undrafted free agent from Sacred Heart. I'd really like to see how he fares against more appropriate competition. 1. Colton Cain, P, Quad Cities 7 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 5 K It's an absolute shame that he didn't come out with a victory. Cain has been borderline elite since that horrid April. Honorable Mentions Jandel Gustave, P, Greeneville: The early returns suggest that Gustave is keeping his walks in check. Another solid start from him. Tyler White, 1B, Greeneville: He's back in what's pretty much his home region. He hasn't quite rediscovered his power yet, but he's been a hitting machine to begin his career. Telvin Nash, 1B/DH, Lancaster: Nash has gotten himself back on track by blazing out of the gate to start July. I'm pretty sure he had like 130 strikeouts at this time last year. He's also been hitting much better with runners on base this season. Bobby Doran, P, Corpus Christi: He's been so reliable in the Corpus rotation. I'd imagine that he takes one of the OKC rotation spots that'll be available in August. Goat See post #1925. Also, that post could apply to Travis Ballew.
So MP Cokinos... Is this fantastic season he is having a result of playing at the Hangar and in the Cali league? I may not be able to give a for sure answer, but he has been an RBI machine regardless. With almost 1 per game, I went to look at his season stats, and I noticed that though he is on a decent run right now, they have have been spaced out pretty well during the season. What is slightly important is to look at his home and away stats: Sure, 7 homers in the Hangar is going to be inflated compared to the 3 he has on the road, but look at the other splits. His OBP is a full 60 points higher on the road. The OPS is better at home, but 4 extra long balls is going to help that out. Lastly, he has struck out 22 times to 31 walks in 68 games. MP's game has been beyond crisp this year, and hopefully the 23 year old can display this outside of the friendly confines of the Hangar.
The entire Cali league is generally hitter friendly, so home/away stats are pretty imperfect. The stats are certainly encouraging. Of course, so was J.D. Martinez, who was similarly a later round choice from a small school. Would love to see him play. Clearly he isn't a catcher. Don't know how he has performed at 1B.
ah, got it. Well, coming up in a separate thread, I'll be looking at the current state of the system.
I am under the impression that there were two stadiums (High Desert is one I think) as hitter friendly as Lancaster, three stadiums that played neutral, and then the rest were in the slight to moderate hitter friendly category.
He is a hard worker. Like I've stated before, I played with the kid, and I think he has a real shot at working his way up to the Houston squad in another year or two. Kid was catching Clemens at about 14 or 15 years old during the offseason in Houston. Grossman and Cokinos used to play on the same select team when they were 13. Just weird that they both are shooting up the minors.
That could be accurate. Lancaster and High Desert are extreme hitters parks, and we share the same division with High Desert.
Lancaster... look at our team stats: We are BLOWING everyone else out of the water when it comes to runs scored, OPS, and most other categories. Part of it is the park, but the other part seems to be how good the team is. Just last season, SEA outscored us by more than a hundred runs and averaged .77 more runs per game than us. This year? We are a full run ahead of any other teams in the runs per game category...
According to this, http://razzball.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Minor League Park Factors.xls, it looks like my memory is wrong.
