Prospect Watch 8/28/08

Less than a week of minor league ball is left. Of particular interest tonight is the game between the first place AZL Giants and the AZL Padres who trail them by half a game. It is The Giants last game of the season.

Fresno

2B Travis Denker: 0 for 4, BB, 2 K

RF Nate Schierholtz: 4 for 5, 2B, 2 HR, CS (3)

1B John Bowker: 2 for 4, 2B, BB, 2 K

LF Brian Horwitz: 3 for 4, HR, K

SP Erick Threts: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 6 K

Connecticut

1B Elizer Alfonzo: 3 for 5

C Adam Witter: 2 for 5, K

LF Mike Mooney: 3 for 5, 2B, HR

RP Paul Oseguera: 3 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 2 K

RP Kelvin Pichardo: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 BB, 2 K

San Jose

LF Bobby Felmy 2 for 4, 2B

2B Matt Downs: 2 for 4

SP Clayton Tanner: 5 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 3 K

RP Mike Musgrave: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K

Augusta

2B Nick Noonan: 0 for 2, BB

DH Thomas Neal: 0 for 4, K

1B Angel Villalona: 0 for 4

SP Oliver Odle: 8 IP, 5 H, 0 BB, 7 K, HR

RP Andy De LA Garza: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K

Salem-Keizer

3B Conor Gillaspie: 2 for 4, BB

RF Francisco PEguero: 0 for 4, K

2B Ryan Lormand: 3 for 4

SP Mike Loree: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 5 K

AZL Giants

CF Wendell Fairley: 2 for 3, 2 2B, BB

C Buster Posey: 1 for 3, BB, K

SP Kelvin MArte: 5 IP, 4 H, BB, 4 K

RP Ryan Woodruff: 2.2 IP, 3 H, 0 BB, 4 K

RP Chris Wilson: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K

Notes

LHP Clayton Tanner

Tanner is your typical control lefty who works in the high 80s and reaches 91 with his fastball. His two greatest assets are his age relative to league (he is 20 years old in the California League) and his command (3.00 BB/9). He was compared to Lowry on draft day because of his commitment to Pepperdine, but he lacks Lowry’s plus plus change. I expect his lack of a plus pitch will hurt him down the road, perhaps as early as next year in AA. I don’t have much confidence in him to become anything more than a back of the rotation starter. He’s still young though, so he might add a few ticks to that velocity.

Prospect Watch 8/27/08

I know what you’re thinking.  Lines from two days ago?  I can barely remember yesterday! If it’s any consolation, I can barely remember yesterday either.

As a memory jogger, this is the day where Madison Bumgarner dominated the competition, but Angel Villalona did NOT strikeout.  Also Salem-Keizer was blown out by Eugene 21-4.

Fresno

CF Ben Copeland: 0 for 5

2B Travis Denker: 2 for 5, 2B

RF John Bowker: 1 for 3, 2B, BB, K

SP Steve Hammond: 5 IP, 8 H, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HR

RP Geno Espineli: 1 IP, 4 H, 0 BB, 0 K, 0 HR

Connecticut

CF Antoan Richardson: 2 for 3, 2 BB, 1 K

C Eliezer Alfonzo: 2 for 4, 2B, HR, BB, 2 K

SP Joey Martinez: 5 IP, 6 H, 3 BB, 4 K, 1 HR

RP Justin Hedrick: 2 IP, 0 H, 1 BB, 2 K

San Jose

3B-2B Matt Downs: 1 for 4, K

1B Andy D’Alessio: 2 for 4, HR, K

SP Jesse English: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 5 K

RP Joe Paterson: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K

Augusta

2B Nick Noonan: 3 for 4

DH Thomas Neal: 2 for 5, 2 K

1B Angel Villalona: 1 for 4

SP Madison Bumgarner: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 9 K

RP Wilmin Rodriguez: 2 H, 0 BB, 4 K

Salem-Keizer

3B Conor Gillaspie: 2 for 3, 2 2B

RF Francisco Peguero: 0 for 4

DH Michael Ambort: 2 for 3, 3B, HR

RP Jonathon Pannell: 2 IP, 3 H, BB, 5 K, 2 HR

RP Joseph Edens: 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K

AZL Giants

CF Wendell Fairley: 1 for 4, BB, K

DH Buster Posey: 2 for 4, BB

RP Aaron King: 3 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 4 K

RP Jose Casilla: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K

RP Andrew Bowlin: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K

Notes

LHP Madison Bumgarner

How good is this kid?  In the month of August, he struck out 41% of all batters he faced.  There are hot streaks, and then there are hot streaks.  Also, he leads the Sally League in Wins (15), ERA (1.46) Strikeouts (164), and WHIP (0.93).  He has no drastic lefty-righty splits or home/road splits.  By all reports, he is a “humble kid” and has “excellent makeup”.  Detractors bring up his lack of secondary pitches, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  It just means that he has a higher ceiling, and a lower floor.  In other words, if he’s dominating the competition to such a degree with only a fastball, think how dominant he will be once he has a couple of offspeed pitches to work with.  Certainly, there is a chance that he will never develop an viable offspeed pitch, but there is just as high a chance that he will get injured and flame out in AA ball.  There is always risk involved when you’re talking about a 19 year old pitcher.  I expect him to rocket up the minors next year.

Prospect Watch 8/25/08

Content will be a little slow/late this week, as the school year has just begun. Anyway, here are the games from a couple of days ago. Fresno was “rained out” and the Baby Giants had the day off. Also Ben Snyder can hit some.

Prospect Watch 8/24/08

Suddenly there are hitting prospects everywhere. Brandon Crawford makes his Salem-Keizer debut after going 6 for 14 in Arizona; Travis Denker and Ben Copeland continue their hot hitting; Wendell Fairley collects a rare extra-base hit.

Prospect Watch 8/23/08

An early post for once, as all of the minor league games finished before I went to bed (though this may be more a factor of me staying up late than the teams finishing early). The night included some dominating pitching performances in the lower minors and more plate appearances by Posey and Gillaspie in short season ball. Wendell Fairley collected an 0-fer and snapped his nine game hitting streak. The lines:

Prospect Watch 8/22/08

I had a confusing moment of deja vu when I looked at Fresno’s box score which was eerily similar to the score from the night before. Damn you John Bowker and your 1 for 5’s. And a round of bravos for Erick “Sudden SP Depth” Threets. Other nicknames include: “At least I’m not Pat Misch” and “Yes, I’ve maybe become a part of the future.” Well done Erick/Giants management.

Prospect Watch 8/21/08

Sorry for the lateness of this post. There was a medical emergency this morning involving a good friend of mine and his renegade gall bladder. The good news is he’s fine. So now that I’m back home, life turns back to minor league ball…

And boy, another dominating performance by Bumgarner. One interesting note was that he shut down White Sox draftee Gordon Beckham who has been absolutely on fire since he signed. As I’ve said before, my knowledge of college baseball is quite limited, but my draft board for the Giants in the last draft was 1. Alvarez, 2. T. Beckham, 3. Justin Smoak, 4. Gordon Beckham, and 5. Buster Posey. Onto the lines!

Prospect Watch 8/20/08

A dismal day in the minors as the Arizona Giants had the day off and only Salem-Keizer was able to come through with a victory.

Prospect Watch 8/19/08

Another good day in the minors as Fresno and Salem-Keizer were the only losers. Connecticut shut out Akron 8-0, but they still remain 4 games out of second place with 14 games to go. The Giants sent down Eliezer Alfonzo to help out the offense, and Notgardo has been taking up the challenge admirably. Unfortunately, second place Portland has shown no signs of letting up as it has won five of its last six games.

Prospect Watch 8/18/08

In the process of updating the Minor Transactions page, I discovered that the Giants had activated Henry Sosa off the DL and sent him to Augusta. He hasn’t appeared in a game yet, so I suspect he’s working with a coach down there. I’m inclined to give his performance a mulligan for this season, but the injury definitely hurt his prospect stock.

In more exciting news, Brandon Crawford makes his debut for the AZL Giants in a night where the Baby Giants shut out the Baby Brewers and the Little Giants outslugged the Visalia Oaks. Connecticut had the day off.