DDJ wouldn't be a clear guy for the Top 100 anyway. Just a possible. Yeah, I'm not sure how he can say he didn't separate himself from other power hitters. He had over 40 steals. No other power hitter had close to that. Springer has also had rave reviews about his defense, but Manuel treats him like he is an average defender.
Two teams left. Lancaster lost 4-3 in 15 innings to Inland Empire in game 5 of the California League South Division series. Quad Cities is up 1-0 on South Bend in the Midwest Legaue Championship after a 3-2 win. And Tri-City forced a deciding game 3 with State College in the NYPL Championship with a 5-4 win.
Instructional League rosters coming out. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Among the names at <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Astros&src=hash">#Astros</a> IL: RHP Michael Feliz, LHP Josh Hader, OF Teoscar Hernandez, OF Danry Vasquez, INF Tony Kemp.</p>— Jason Cole (@LoneStarDugout) <a href="https://twitter.com/LoneStarDugout/statuses/378261974670270464">September 12, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Thursday Stories <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Congrats to the Tri-City <a href="https://twitter.com/ValleyCats">@ValleyCats</a>, 2013 <a href="https://twitter.com/nypennleague">@nypennleague</a> champs! <a href="https://twitter.com/astros">@astros</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MLBPipeline">@MLBPipeline</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23valleycats&src=hash">#valleycats</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23astros&src=hash">#astros</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MLB">@mlb</a> <a href="http://t.co/2MzVL30hN5">pic.twitter.com/2MzVL30hN5</a></p>— MiLB.com (@MiLB) <a href="https://twitter.com/MiLB/statuses/378350576171380737">September 13, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Quad Cities on the brink. Recap Midwest League Championship, Game 2: Quad Cities 5, South Bend 0 Quad Cities leads 2-0. The River Bandits are one win away from their 2nd Midwest League crown in 3 seasons after blanking the Silver Hawks. They swept the road portion of this series and will have 3 chances to close it out in Davenport. Bobby Borchering opened the scoring with a solo homer (1, 8 reg. season/playoffs) in the 2nd. In the 4th, Danry Vasquez drew a 1-out walk, and 3 wild pitches later, he scored. The 3rd wild pitch doubled as a walk drawn by Borchering, who scored on a double from Rio Ruiz. The River stole 3rd and scored on a sac bunt from Jordan Scott. Ruiz hit another double in the 6th and scored the River Bandits' final run on a single from Roberto Peña. They had 2 hits apiece. Joe Bircher pitched 5 shutout innings and allowed 6 hits, walked 2, and struck out 2. Jamaine Cotton followed with 6 strikeouts over 3 perfect innings, and J.D. Osborne finished off South Bend with a 1-2-3 9th inning. The River Bandits will have Friday off before getting their first chance to clinch the championship. Josh Hader will face Aaron Blair on Saturday. First pitch is at 7:00. New York-Penn League Championship, Game 3: Tri-City 4, State College 3 Tri-City wins series 2-1. The ValleyCats won their 2nd NYPL title, and their first since 2010. They busted out for their 4 runs in the 6th, but they wound up having to hang on at the end in order to win it, thanks to the efforts of Mason Katz, who went 3-4 and drove in all 3 Spikes runs. Ronnie Mitchell led off the 6th with a bunt single, and Chan-Jong Moon sacrificed himself to get Mitchell over to 2nd... but he reached anyway. They both advanced a station on a sac bunt from James Ramsay. Jack Mayfield tied the game at 1 with an RBI infield single, and a wild pitch brought Moon home with the go-ahead run. Brian Holberton grounded into an RBI force out, and an error brought another run home. Kyle Westwood went 6 innings and allowed a run on 6 hits, walked 1, and struck out 4. He induced 12 groundouts. Chris Munnelly walked 1 and fanned 1 as he threw a scoreless 7th. He led off the bottom of the 8th with a walk, which prompted Gonzalo Sanudo's entrance. Sanudo allowed a 1-out single in a scoreless 8th, but then Katz hit a 2-run shot off of him to make it a 1-run game. That was the first homer that Sanudo served up since joining the ValleyCats. He then allowed a single to Luis Perez, who advanced to 2nd on a sac bunt. However, he recovered and clinched the championship by striking out Steven Ramos and Cesar Valera. In 2 innings, Sanudo allowed 2 runs on 4 hits (2-run homer) and struck out 4. Now, all of the ValleyCats will be returning to their homes as champions, and, unless they were summoned for instructional league, they'll be getting some R&R before heading to Kissimmee next spring. This was undoubtedly a summer that they'll never forget.
Don't forget that these minor league championships don't mean a thing ... <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/XUnc_Jsa3Nc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Congrats ValleyCats! A night to remember.
I couldn't find the midwest league playoff stats, so a i had to go add the box scores myself. Correa and Ruiz are absolutely tearing it up, so far in 7 playoff games. Correa has a .385/.452/.731 line for an 1.183 OPS Ruiz has a .375/.464/.708 line for an 1.172 OPS In fact after posting an increasing OPS throughout the season, he posted a .900 OPS in August, and an 1.172 OPS in 9 september games (2 regular season). He will still only be 19 when next season starts. Correa has overshadowed him, but combining his age and 2nd half performance he's becoming quite the blue chip himself.
Yeah I know, I just mentioned that because I saw he said 6 guys but only listed 5. I didn't notice Springer wasnt mentioned, I assumed he was implied due to all the springer questions
Quad Cities with the sweep! They defeated South Bend 4-2 in Game 3 of the Midwest League Championship for their 2nd Midwest League title in 3 seasons. Tony Kemp singled to lead off the 1st and scored the first run of the game on an error. Teoscar Hernandez was credited with a sacrifice bunt and made his way to 3rd on the error. Hernandez would score on a single from Danry Vasquez. Rio Ruiz led off the 2nd with a homer (1, 13 reg. season/playoffs), and Kemp, who went 3-4, lashed an RBI double. Josh Hader pitched 7 shutout innings, allowing 3 hits, walking 1, and striking out 8. Mitch Lambson walked 1 and struck out 2 in a scoreless 8th. Andrew Walter was able to shake off a 2-run homer from Rudy Flores in the 9th to clinch the championship. He allowed 2 hits, walked 1, and struck out 1 in the inning. And that's a wrap.
So now that a bow has been put on the season. Hitter rankings Greeneville 1st in walks, 9th in K's 10 teams Tri City 2nd In walks, last in K's 14 teams Quad Cities 1st in walks, 8th in K's 16 teams Lancaster 1st in walks, last in k's 10 teams Pitcher rankings Greeneville 3rd in K's, next to last in walks Tri City 2nd in K's, last in walks Quad Cities 3rd in K's, last in walks Lancaster 6th in K's, last in walks The moneyball approach is showing up extremely well, out hitters walk and out pitchers throw strikes. I don't really care about the titles, but I sure care about this. Should start filtering up to the high levels next year.
Thanks all for the posts. It is nice to keep up with minor league performance, especially during the dark times.
McTaggart: Instructional league roster By the way, I just searched his name on Twitter. Woof.... I never realized he was that much of an ass. Pitchers Michael Feliz Devonte German Reymin Guduan Jandel Gustave Josh Hader Chris Lee Jordan Mills Zach Morton Joe Musgrove Austin Nicely J.D. Osborne Jorge Perez Francis Ramirez Juan Carlos Santos Kyle Smith Catchers Ernesto Genoves Ricky Gingras Alfredo Gonzalez Brian Holberton Jake Nottingham Jake Rodriguez (rehab) Infielders Conrad Gregor Tony Kemp Thomas Lindauer Jack Mayfield Chase McDonald Chan-Jong Moon Adam Nelubowich Luis Reynoso Tyler White Outfielders Leo Heras Teoscar Hernandez Jon Kemmer Jason Martin Ronnie Mitchell Ariel Ovando Brett Phillips James Ramsay Danry Vasquez
These are mostly players in the low minors. AFL players are mostly from Double-A and Triple-A, although teams can send 2 players below Double-A.
Instructional League is largely about fundamentals. I think I posted last year that the guys at MLB Network felt Instructional League was vital to their successes.
Don't know about the other minor league affiliates, but the Hooks have a sale on merchandise right now. Bought two fitted '47 Brand hats for $11 each on their website. I'm guessing there's at least a few of you who are interested given that we're all part of 1,000 or so who watch Astros games at this point. Go 'stros and eff you if you're in this thread and don't agree with that sentiment
