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Re: 2012 Minor League discussion

Posted: May 5 12, 8:10 pm
by pioneer98
Article about Virgil Hill:
http://qctimes.com/sports/baseball/prof ... 963f4.html

It shows you how elite these players are even in the minors:
The son of U.S. Olympic medalists Virgil Hill Sr. and Denean Howard-Hill, the River Bandits outfielder finds inspiration in the competitive drive of his parents.

His father earned the silver medal in boxing in Los Angeles in 1984, the same year his mother earned the first of her three Olympic medals in the 400 relay, a gold that was followed by silvers in 1988 and 1992.

“I’ve always said I get my speed from my mother and my conditioning from both my father and mother,” Hill said. “I understand the work that it takes to compete at the highest level, and I am committed to getting that done.”
Hill was a four-sport standout at Valencia High School, where he had a scholarship offer from Boise State as a receiver, multiple offers in track, was the starting point guard in basketball and was drafted by the Marlins in the 28th round following his senior year in 2007.
And despite all that, his chances of making it are still slim. According to Twitter tonight though he hit one into the Mississippi River for a HR. QC leads Peoria 15-0 in the 6th inning as I type this.

Re: 2012 Minor League discussion

Posted: May 5 12, 8:25 pm
by AWvsCBsteeeerike3
Baseball is its own world. Some of the best athletes in the world can't hit a curveball. And at the same time, some guys who look like they oughta be driving a truck for a living end up making hundreds of millions of dollars mashing pitches thrown by other guys that look like they oughta be delivering mail.

Not to say baseball doesn't have ridiculously amazing athletes, but it isn't a pre-requisite to be a baseball player as much as it is to be a wide receiver or a NBA player.

Re: 2012 Minor League discussion

Posted: May 6 12, 5:51 am
by pioneer98
The River Bandits beat Cubs affiliate Peoria 20-5 last night. Several guys obviously had banner nights: Box score

Roberto De La Cruz: 4 for 6, HR, Double, 4RBI, 3R
Tyler Rahmatulla: 4 for 6, 2 doubles, 4RBI, 2R

Colin Walsh hit his 7th HR last night, and according to this, he leads the MWL with 18 extra-base hits.

Re: 2012 Minor League discussion

Posted: May 6 12, 11:22 am
by phins
So, I sat in a perfect spot to watch Rosenthal pitch Friday night, section H, row 6, right behind home plate and not too low to have my view obstructed. Here is a photo of Rosenthal making top prospect Wil Myers look silly.

Image

Rosenthal is a nicely built kid with broad shoulders and an athletic frame. Just from looking at him, you can see how he could have been a position player with nice athleticism. His delivery is very sound and repeatable, and he doesn't show the ball to the hitter too early, or tip pitches in an obvious way.

From watching Rosenthal it's clear that arm strength is his best attribute. The stadium gun is notoriously fast in Hammons (for instance, it had Mark Mulder throwing 97 on a rehab assignment there once), but evne with a fast gun you could tell that Rosenthal throws hard. He registered 100 on the gun twice, which tells me he was sitting 94-97 with his four seamer. He likes to use it up in the zone, and while it has great velocity, it doesn't seem to be a pitch that is unhittable. Batters routinely fouled off well placed four seamers to wait on a better offering to hit. Rosenthal did throw a few good curveballs with downward break (it's more a slurvy pitch than a true slider or curveball), but I wouldn't call it even an average major league pitch right now due to inconsistency.

Athletic on the mound, he moves well, has control of his emotions, sems to respond well to giving up base runners, and fields his position well. He's merely average (or a tick below) at holding runners. Didn't see him throw over much, which is usually an indication of a pedestrian move.

The entire time I'm watching Rosie pitch, I kept thinking, "this kid should not be giving up so much hard contact with this stuff." He struggled throwing strikes, as the line will tell you, but a lot of his problem was an inability to put away hitters. Hitters would continuously get a piece of pitches to stay alive and eventually he'd lose the zone. I thought the strike zone was fine, and did not play into his line.

His velocity is good, but it's fairly straight. When he goes to the two seamer and gets ground balls, he had better results in my opinion. He needs continued development of his secondary pitches to remain a solid big league starter. If he relies solely on velocity in short stretches, and doesn't add consistency to his breaking stuff, he will have to transition to the bullpen in my view.

Young for the level, we're a long ways away from having to make that move, but at the moment, he's along way from the big leagues. Impressive arm, solid prospect, this outing did nothing to raise or lower his stock in my mind. He's a great arm with a #3 ceiling, and a 7th inning floor.

Re: 2012 Minor League discussion

Posted: May 6 12, 12:27 pm
by go birds
Whats the story on Rahmatulla? Is he a legit ss (?) prospect?

Re: 2012 Minor League discussion

Posted: May 6 12, 4:42 pm
by pioneer98
Another day, another Peoria beatdown.

Colin Walsh hit 2 HR today. Depending on how the other guys did, he may have moved into 1st place in that category in the MWL, with 9HR.

Rahmatulla got hit by a pitch and left the game. I hope he is OK. He was 1 for 2 before that.

Robert Stock probably had his best outing of the season. He threw 2 innings, 1H, 2K, 0R. Stock was hitting 92 on the gun.

Re: 2012 Minor League discussion

Posted: May 8 12, 6:02 pm
by Cronos
Image

Among others, Pete Kozma brandishing his World Series ring.

His drafting is officially justified! :P

Re: 2012 Minor League discussion

Posted: May 11 12, 7:09 am
by pioneer98
Samuel Gaviglio last night had this line for QC: 8IP, 3H, 2R, 1ER, 1BB, 6K

It was his best start so far.

Re: 2012 Minor League discussion

Posted: May 14 12, 9:56 pm
by Slider
Got to see the Springfield Cards play the Travelers tonight alongside AWvsCB

Great company, had a really good time. It went extra's so I left in the top of the 10th. AW stayed for the whole game he can fill in details.

Wong...short, quick stroke (no pun intended). It was a pleasure to watch him swing. He keeps swinging like that and he will be a welcomed addition to the roster in a couple of years. First ab struck out without ever swinging the bat. AB's 2 and 3 shots up the middle. AB 4 deep line drive out to CF AB 5...just missed his pitch and popped it up. Pretty impressive.

Oscar...nice diving play in RF going across his body for a backhanded diving catch. Made it look easy.
Had one hit tonight and it was a rope down the line. Has a very nice swing though.

He was thrown out at the plate on a weird play. I missed the second half of the play due to my kid needing me. Hopefully AW can describe it and discuss the tactical part...interested if it was instinct or a taught play.

Other than those 2 guys, the offense is really lacking at AA. After seeing Carpenter, Cox, Adams, Chambers, Jackson and others the last two years there is not much to look forward to.

There is one reliever putting up pretty impressive numbers...can't remember his name #51 on the roster...throws high 90's. Phins any info on him?

Letting my boy skip school tomorrow to watch Trevor R. pitch tomorrow at 11am should be fun. Hope to have a quick run down of the game.

Re: 2012 Minor League discussion

Posted: May 14 12, 10:11 pm
by AWvsCBsteeeerike3
Slider and I went to the Springfield/Arkansas game tonight. Cards won 3-2 in the 11th. Wacky game.

One play, in particular, stands out. With a man on 1st and Taveras on 3rd and no outs, the batter fouls out to the catcher who was maybe a foot from the screen behind home when he caught it. The guy on 1st takes off for 2nd. The throw goes to 2nd. He would have made it. Instead, though, the throw is cut by the SS who guns home to nail Taveras by a good 5' at the plate. There's no doubt in my mind it was a designed play. I hope Matheny isn't preaching to the minor league coaches that we need to be teaching t-ball baseball tricks to the minor leagues.

Also, Wong, who looked really good at the plate, was thrown out attempting to steal 2nd on what was most assuredly a missed hit and run. He would have scored later in the inning.

The end of the game was pretty sweet. In the bottom of the 10th (score tied 2-2), the Traverlers loaded the bases with no one out. And, the Cardinals (38 was pitching) got out of it. Then after quickly making two outs in the top of the 11th, garcia walked, stole 2nd and the throw went to the outfield so he took 3rd. Then, of all people, Xavier Scruggs knocked him in after being behind in the count the entire at bat.

Then in the bottom of the 11th, with 1 out and a man on 1st, a pinch runner was put in. He attempted to steal 2nd but on a snazzy pick out of the dirt and tag by Wong, he was out. Making it two outs and no one on. The batter walked and the next guy lined out to Wong...except Wong dropped it and everyone was safe. Then the next batter his a groundball to 2nd and Wong bobbled it. Bases loaded with two outs. The manager for the Travelers got ejected because the umpire literally called a ball in the dirt a strike. The batter pops out to SS. Game over.

Except the Travelers are still pissed, rightfully so, at the home plate ump for being an idiot. So, then as they all walk down the line to the locker rooms you can hear the bench coach or whoever for the Travs telling the home plater umpire what a [expletive] he is. Then they start talking about who bumped who first and this that anda the other and it ends with a lot of F bombs being hurled at the ump by the Travelers coach and the players had to separate him. It should be noted that the ump may have had his wrist/hand/leg or balls broken by a pitch in the 10th inning that was fouled off and went off the catcher. he went down and the game stopped for a couple minutes. Or he was just being a pansy which is more likely.

Crazy crazy crazy ending.

Taveras went something like 1-5 but crushed the ball all night. Hit a ground rule double, probably had another ground rule double if not a home run snagged and had two line drive outs to right field. Wong hit like 15 line drives up the middle, a couple of which found holes. #51, who has a funky last name, looked good. He was a relief pitcher who came in and chucked it up there (97 on the stadium gun) and had a pretty decent looking breaking pitch that kept hitters off balance. Gast was the starter and went 7 innings but didn't look all that amazing.

Really though, as slider pointed out and was spot on, the AA team sucks outside of Wong/Taveras/Rosenthal.