Since April 23, Matt Ruppenthal has thrown 12.2 ip with 22k, 5bb, 2 er, 1 hr for AA Corpus. Probably one to watch as a potential middle relief arm.
Transitioning to relief has made Ruppenthal look semi-interesting. Jose Betances walked the bases loaded to start the 9th for Asheville and he followed that up with two strikeouts and a groundout to close out a 4-3 win for the Tourists.
Random thoughts: I think Arrighetti and McDermott have a shot to break out once they get out of Asheville. I think Palma has a shot to break out once he gets to Asheville. Whitaker and Gonzalez each need to be moved down a level. They are not competitive at their current level. I'd like to see Abreu and Valdez get 200 AAA pa this season. I'd like to see Matijevic get 200 MLB pa. I've kinda backed off on wanting to see Lee and Leon in the majors this season. I think both have another step they need to take so spending all of 2022 in AAA might be best.
That’s honestly pretty shocking to think about. Does AAA team really has better stuff than MLB average? I wonder how much his model captures and if he has command+ for AAA.
Meanwhile, in Asheville, the following players have homered: Chad Stevens (twice, 3 on the year) Luis Santana (first) Jordan Brewer (5th) Nerio Rodriguez (7th) Is Rodriguez (C/1B) a legitimate prospect? Up to a .288 avg and 1.005 OPS. His father, also named Nerio, is a former pitcher who played in the big leagues from 1996-2002. He's off to a good start. Stevens had a 4-hit night (2 doubles in addition to the 2 aforementioned homers). Does anyone know how he projects defensively? I'm not sold on his bat (as of yet) but I've heard good things about his defense. He was drafted as a SS but has played all across the infield, and could make it to the big leagues as a glove-first utility player. Here are some defensive highlights from Stevens.
Yeah- I mean I’d happily promote Brown, Solomon or Bielak right now to a spot in the rotation if it was needed and feel like they’d all have a chance to be average or better, and I expect the same out of Whitley if/when he gets healthy. So, seeing they have better than average MLB level stuff isn’t super hard for me to believe. I guess what’s harder for me to believe is how we rank in the bottom 5 in everyone’s farm rankings when what I said is true. Are we lacking in can’t miss stars? Probably. But every year it’s like a damn assembly line of average or better players filling in at the big league level on a contending team. That has to count for something I would think. Guess not. Shrugs.
All I know is Nerio is @tellitlikeitis homeboy and it’s lookin like a good call. Need to see him in AA but he’s a legit sleeper
Every offseason we report on here about farm rankings and player rankings. Every year (recently) we are towards the bottom and have no top 50 players. Every year we graduate a new rookie of the year and multiple good supporting players.
The Space Cowboys have a fun box score today.... Hensley was 2 for 5 raising his average to .305 and his OPS to .930 Matijevic had 2 hits, 3 RBIs, and a HR raising his numbers to .329 AVG, 8HR, 1.192 OPS Leon was 1 for 3 with a 2B, sac fly, and only struck out 1 time Mushinski still hasn't allowed a run the whole year in AAA and struck out 4 in 1.2 IP Paredes- only needed 12 pitches for the save.... 1 IP, 1K, 0 BB and his ERA is down to 0.64 Korey Lee had a bad night at the plate..... 0-4 with 2K
A Space Cowboy ticket sales rep called me yesterday wanting me to buy another flexbook this year. I told him I hate the name change about as much as I could possibly ever hate a name change and wouldn't buy tickets because of that. I doubt it makes an impact, but it felt good.
https://theathletic.com/3308635/202...intriguing-stuff-in-the-pacific-coast-league/ Hunter Brown scoring as top stuff in PCL among pitchers without MLB experience.
I don't hate it because it's corny or quirky. I hate it because it is Cowboys. Give me ANY other name that doesn't have freaking Cowboys in it. Edit: For reference, had it been "Space Wranglers" I would have been totally on board.
