In response to Delino DeShields being placed on the DL, Joe Sclafani was promoted to Lancaster. Sclafani, 23, was a 14th-round pick last year out of Dartmouth.
The only knocks on Cosart are his immaturity (@ least on social media) and that he can't go longer than five to six innings per start (101 pitches in 5.2 innings). Though I'd rather see Cosart here instead of retreads like Humber, Bedard, etc. I fully expect Cosart to be the first of the "blue-chippers" to start making their way to the big leagues. Singleton will probably be here after the all-star break, and a couple of guys could get a cup of coffee in September.
I think Cosart has been saying the right things for a while. Singleton will be eligible around June 1st. Will be interesting to see how he comes back.
Tuesday's Story Jarred Cosart gunning for a spot on the Astros with a real nice outing. Recap Oklahoma City 6, Tacoma 1 Another day, another stellar pitching performance in the system. This time, it was Jarred Cosart. In 5 2/3 shutout innings (101 pitches, 61 strikes), he allowed 6 hits (all singles), walked 3, and struck out 10. Josh Zeid followed by retiring all 4 Rainiers he faced, striking out 2. Rhiner Cruz had a 1-2-3 8th, striking out 1. Carlos Peguero spoiled the shutout, as he took Kevin Chapman deep for a solo shot in the 9th. Cody Clark opened the scoring with an RBI groundout in the 3rd. Jake Elmore finished a home run shy of the cycle. He had an RBI triple in the 3rd. Brett Wallace, the AAA Slayer, had an RBI single in the 3rd and a 2-run homer (4) in the 8th. Marc Krauss hit a solo homer (7) in the 4th. Che-Hsuan Lin went 2-3 with a double and a run scored. Game 2 of the series pits Brad Peacock against James Paxton. First pitch will be at 11:05. San Antonio 10, Corpus Christi 5 The Hooks will have to settle for a split. The game started out well enough, as they got 2 2-run singles from Enrique Hernandez and Jonathan Meyer to jump out to a 4-0 lead. Domingo Santana added a consolation RBI double in the 8th. George Springer went 1-3 with a walk, 2 runs scored, and 2 steals (9). Austin Wates was 2-3. Unfortunately, Matt Heidenreich immediately gave all 4 of those runs back to the Missions in the bottom half of the 1st. He only lasted 1 1/3, allowing 6 runs (2 inherited) on 7 hits and walking 1. Andrew Robinson went 1 2/3 and allowed an unearned run on 2 hits, walking 2 and fanning 3. R.J. Alaniz then went 3 innings, and he allowed 2 runs on 5 hits, walked 1, and struck out 2. Pat Urckfitz allowed a run on 3 hits and struck out 1 in the 7th. Jorge De Leon was the only Hooks pitcher to not allow a run, as he worked around 2 singles to retire the side in the 8th, striking out 2. The Hooks will head back down I-37. They'll have Wednesday off, then Frisco comes to town for 4. Jake Buchanan and Carlos Quevedo will be the pairing for Thursday; they'll take on Neil Ramirez. Lake Elsinore 8, Lancaster 5 The Storm put up 3 in the 8th and 1 more in the 9th to take the series opener. Not a night to remember for Carlos Perdomo, as he dropped 2 popups. He also had an RBI single in the 5th, which was his 1st RBI of the season. Nolan Fontana was 0-5, but he had an RBI fielder's choice in the 2nd. While he did reach on the fielder's choice, his OBP has dropped under .500. It now stands at .487. His OPS is still above 1 (1.030), though. Preston Tucker had a double and drew a bases-loaded walk in the 1st. Andrew Aplin went 2-5 and led off the bottom of the 7th with his 3rd homer of the season. His other 2 home runs have been grand slams. Tyler Heineman also went 2-5 and had a double and an RBI fielder's choice. Telvin Nash went 0-3, but he did not have a hat trick. Instead, he walked twice and struck out once. David Rollins went 5 innings and allowed 4 runs (1 earned) on 5 hits and struck out 6. Tyson Perez tagged in, but only lasted 2 1/3, allowing 3 runs (2 earned) on 6 hits and striking out 1. Kenny Long finished the final 1 2/3, allowing an unearned run (the first run he's surrendered this season) on a hit (also the first hit he's allowed this season) and striking out 2. As I posted earlier, Joe Sclafani was promoted from Quad Cities to provide some reinforcements in the infield. A doubleheader will be played tomorrow starting at 5 Pacific. Luis Cruz will match up against Frank Garces in game 1, and Tom Shirley will take the mound against Brandon Alger. Why a doubleheader? Well, a dust storm postponed a scheduled game between Lancaster and Lake Elsinore on April 8. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>More wind and dust… <a href="http://t.co/aSLNqHdk2U" title="http://twitter.com/jasondschwartz/status/321366063575089152/photo/1">twitter.com/jasondschwartz…</a></p>— Jason Schwartz (@jasondschwartz) <a href="https://twitter.com/jasondschwartz/status/321366063575089152">April 8, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Quad Cities was off In fact, the entire Midwest League was off. Cedar Rapids comes to town for 3, with the first pitch coming at 7 PM. Brian Holmes and Jordan Jankowski will take on Brett Lee. Three Stars 3. Andrew Aplin, CF, Lancaster 2-5, HR (3) Aplin's luck is still crap. However, he is drawing walks at a better rate than he did last half-season. A poor BABIP has characterized his time in Lancaster. In his 24-game cameo last year, it was .282 (Cali League average: .325). This year, it's dipped to .250 (entering this game; Cali League average: .315). Once everything normalizes, he could challenge for a spot in Corpus by midseason. 2. Jake Elmore, 2B, Oklahoma City 3-4, 2B, 3B, RBI, 2 R So, when will he be in Houston? I'm tired of Ronny Cedeño now. 1. Jarred Cosart, P, Oklahoma City W(4-0), 5.2 IP, 6 H, 3 BB, 10 K Don't read too much into those 6 hits; they were all singles. Cosart has looked like the pitcher we all expected him to be. Before he sees Houston, though, I'd like to see him go at least 6 innings. He's always been able to induce weak contact throughout his career. The strikeouts seem to be coming back to him. Honorable Mentions Jorge De Leon, P, Corpus Christi: For being the only Hooks pitcher to not get scored on. Che-Hsuan Lin, CF, Oklahoma City: He's a great defender who's got good on-base skills and good speed. Solid outing at the plate for him. George Springer, CF, Corpus Christi: No homers, but he made his presence felt on the basepaths. Goats Matt Heidenreich's struggles continued as he immediately surrendered the lead that he was staked to. Carlos Perdomo flubbed 2 routine plays in the field. A very forgettable night for him in that respect... Dishonorable mention: If Jio Mier continues to scuffle, he could find himself backing up Nolan Fontana by the end of the month.
Only been 14 games, but Telvin Nash has strikeouts down relatively (under 25% per plate appearance), highest BA, Highest OBP, highest BB% of any season of his. Also, this is the first time that over 75% of his hits are singles. I don't know if that last statement is a compliment, a criticism, a meh. If you can't hit in Lancaster, you better be good at pitching.
Relatively? He's at 24.2% in SSS after having a 44.1% K-rate last year. That's a monster improvement. I looked at his other peripherals on fangraphs though, and it does look like he's changed his approach a lot. BB-rate up almost 6%, K-rate down 20%, ISO way down .120, BABIP up to .441. His BABIP is unsustainably high; so his numbers are due for a regression. I think that drop in ISO is a red flag. .157 is not an acceptable number for a bat only first-baseman. .200 is the level where you're considered a power-hitter. I think the team-vibe has a huge impact on his approach. Last year the Jethawks had highest total K-rate in the Cali league led by four feast-or-famine strikeout artists (Springer, Santana, Castro, Nash). This year the team is comprised of high-OBP guys (Fontana, Aplin, DDJ) and the team is first in OBP and only 6th in strikeouts. *side note it's probably no coincidence that Corpus Christi is #1 in strikeouts in the Texas league with Springer, Santana and Castro. Nash needs to find a happy medium between power and discipline. I'm really happy he's flashing a different side of his game but what he's showing now won't get him to the show either.
I think as his BABIP regresses towards mean (his BABIP has always been pretty high because he hits the ball hard), his Iso will progress towards the mean. I should have said his strikeout rate is relatively low instead of relatively down. I think 25% is still on the high side for A+ ball, but that 25% is awesome for Nash. I do think the change towards more plate discipline at least keeps him as a prospect even if he needs more work.
I agree he's keeping himself in the discussion. But he'll have to mash from here on out in his career because this year is his age-22 season and fifth year in pro ball. He's now older than average level and moving closer to an Erik Castro career than a Jon Singleton career.
Can't wait to see Cosart in Houston, but unless he gets more efficient with is pitch counts he seems like an ideal closer candidate. Strikes out a ton of guys and induces week contact, just can't be counted on to eat up innings.
Depends on how bad it gets. If he averages 5 2/3's ip per start you leave him in the rotation. Cuz that's 181 1/3 ip over 32 starts, which is way more valuable than 60/70 ip for a closer.
I wonder if that 60/70 could be increased by using him in most high leverage innings, like some have advocated with Craig Kimbrel. Regardless, this won't matter if he can last 5+ innings at the big league level. I just have fears that he'll be hitting 90-100 pitches pretty quickly and averaging around 4 IP per start.
I'm confident he'll be able to average 5+ innings; his reputation right now is a guy who can induce a lot of contact and grounders. The K's are just gravy right now.
Wow...I had no idea he is only 22. Seems like we've been hearing about him forever, so I figured he was 24-25. The way things seem to be moving the minors with promotions & such, perhaps he will be in CC before too long. It'll be interesing to see how he does against good AA level pitching.
Bud Norris has averaged: 5.2 6.0 & 5.2 in his 3 full seasons, and 5.1 this season. At worst that is where Cosart would sit.
Wow. OKC rallied from a 6-0 deficit to beat Tacoma 7-6 in 10 innings. All 6 runs they needed to tie came in the 9th, and Jonathan Villar capped that off with a grand slam that finally tied it. All 6 of those runs also came with 2 outs.
I don't know if I'd rather have Elmore take Cedeno's spot as the backup, or Villar taking the starters role with Gonzalez backing him up.
He seems to have the clutch gene. That's a bunch of 9th/extra inning game tying or go ahead hits for him this year. Can't do much more than a grand slam when down 4 with 2 outs in the 9th.
