Big day for little Jose Ramirez, the youngest player on an International League opening day roster, bangs a pair of homers (that makes 3) and two singles, and steals his 5th base.
And a nice day for Jesus Aguillar, with his 5th homer, a single and walk for the Clippers.
Their teammate Carlos Moncrief who has started the season slowly doubled, singled, and walked.
Steady Roberto Perez with a single and walk.
For Akron, Cody Anderson continues to scuffle. 5 innings, 4 runs on 9 hits.
Doubleheader for Carolina, in game 1 Erik Gonzalez smacks a double, in the nightcap a triple.
A real gem by Ryan Merritt who dropped his April ERA to 0.37 going the 7-inning distance on merely 68 pitches! He fanned 4, walked none, allowed 4 hits and an unearned run.
The losses keep coming for Lake County, now 5-12, but some good hitting: Eric Haase his 4th homer; Dorsyss Paulino a triple. Clint Frazier drew three walks at the top of the order, made an error.
The incredibly hittable RH starter Dace Kime with another real stinkeroo. 4 innings, 9 hits, 5 runs, 3 earned. His ERA dropped to 11.25. For the season he's gone 14 1/3 innings, yielded a remarkable 29 hits. Batting avg against is .408.But there's more:
RH hitters are batting .446! against the righty; lefties a more mundane .294.
With the bases empty he retires almost no one: 27 situations with no one, he's retired 11, allowed 13 hits and walked 3
This guy was a third-rounder signed for an underslot $525,000. That makes him one heck of a better bargain than the recently retired 20-year-old Dillon Howard who received a bonus of $1.85M.
Re: Minor Matters
3347Even Tony Lastoria is having trouble finding good things to say about Tyler Naquin.
Tyler Naquin (CF, Akron): 0-for-4, 2 K. Naquin has really struggled in the early going, and most of those struggles stem from his approach as he is striking out way too much. He now has 22 strikeouts in 60 at bats which puts him at more than a strikeout in every three at bats.
Tyler Naquin (CF, Akron): 0-for-4, 2 K. Naquin has really struggled in the early going, and most of those struggles stem from his approach as he is striking out way too much. He now has 22 strikeouts in 60 at bats which puts him at more than a strikeout in every three at bats.
Re: Minor Matters
3348Another OF doing little useful this April, in fact much less than Naquin:
•Anthony Santander (DH, Lake County): 1-for-5, 3B, RBI, 2 K. Another game at DH for Santander who is still limited with a sore shoulder. The hit was his first in almost two weeks! He had gone hitless in his last nine games (0-for-33) and had not recorded a hit since April 8th.
•Anthony Santander (DH, Lake County): 1-for-5, 3B, RBI, 2 K. Another game at DH for Santander who is still limited with a sore shoulder. The hit was his first in almost two weeks! He had gone hitless in his last nine games (0-for-33) and had not recorded a hit since April 8th.
Re: Minor Matters
3349BA notes the following lines, most of which have been referenced above:
CLE AAA Ramirez, Jose 2B 5 2 4 3 .333 2 HR (3), SB (5)
CLE AAA Aguilar, Jesus 1B 3 1 2 1 .386 HR (5), BB (7)
CLE AAA Moncrief, Carlos RF 3 1 2 0 .192 2B (4)
CLE HiA Gonzalez, Erik SS 3 1 1 0 .342 3B (3)
CLE LoA Santander, Anthony DH 5 0 1 1 .094 3B (1)
CLE LoA Paulino, Dorssys SS 5 1 1 2 .230 3B (1)
CLE AA Anderson, Cody 5 9 4 4 1 1 4.50 L (1-2)
CLE LoA Kime, Dace 4 9 5 3 0 2 11.30
CLE AAA Ramirez, Jose 2B 5 2 4 3 .333 2 HR (3), SB (5)
CLE AAA Aguilar, Jesus 1B 3 1 2 1 .386 HR (5), BB (7)
CLE AAA Moncrief, Carlos RF 3 1 2 0 .192 2B (4)
CLE HiA Gonzalez, Erik SS 3 1 1 0 .342 3B (3)
CLE LoA Santander, Anthony DH 5 0 1 1 .094 3B (1)
CLE LoA Paulino, Dorssys SS 5 1 1 2 .230 3B (1)
CLE AA Anderson, Cody 5 9 4 4 1 1 4.50 L (1-2)
CLE LoA Kime, Dace 4 9 5 3 0 2 11.30
Re: Minor Matters
3350Holy crap, this guy for real civ?CLE AAA Aguilar, Jesus 1B 3 1 2 1 .386 HR (5), BB (7)
"I've suffered a great many tragedies in my life....most of them never happened". Mark Twain
Re: Minor Matters
3351Well, he didn't do nearly that well in Akron last year, although he set a team record with over 100 RBI. He's big and hulking so he apparently doesn't look like a good fielder, but the write-ups suggest he's better afield that you'd guess. He has never been particularly high on the prospect lists, I think he edged into the Tribe Top 10 after 2012, but fell down to the mid-teens with BA this spring; no one rates him among the game's upcoming big power-hitting stars.
RH power bats are considered among the most difficult thing to find or develop and anyone who fits that profile seems to be downplayed as a prospect regardless of minor league success.
Joe reported on Aguillar's topnotch winter ball results. In his first spring training with the Tribe he went hitless. And then caught fire at Columbus. I like his walks vs. strikeouts for a big swinger which have improved gradually as he has faced better pitching:
2011 mostly in Low A 46 bb vs 126 K [2.9/1]
2012 mostly in High A 58 bb vs 115 K [2/1]
2013 in AA 56 bb vs 107 K [1.9/1]
2014 in AAA 7 bb vs 12 K [1.7/1]
OPS however has declined as he has ascended:
865 --- 833 --- 776 . I don't think he can expect his April 1.170 to last!
RH power bats are considered among the most difficult thing to find or develop and anyone who fits that profile seems to be downplayed as a prospect regardless of minor league success.
Joe reported on Aguillar's topnotch winter ball results. In his first spring training with the Tribe he went hitless. And then caught fire at Columbus. I like his walks vs. strikeouts for a big swinger which have improved gradually as he has faced better pitching:
2011 mostly in Low A 46 bb vs 126 K [2.9/1]
2012 mostly in High A 58 bb vs 115 K [2/1]
2013 in AA 56 bb vs 107 K [1.9/1]
2014 in AAA 7 bb vs 12 K [1.7/1]
OPS however has declined as he has ascended:
865 --- 833 --- 776 . I don't think he can expect his April 1.170 to last!
Re: Minor Matters
3352LOL, I don't think so but maybe something DID click over the winter (hopefully not steroids).
"I've suffered a great many tragedies in my life....most of them never happened". Mark Twain
Re: Minor Matters
3353Hasn't been caught yet and they're doing a better job of testing.
At 6-3 250 he should be able to generate some power, even unenhanced.
At 6-3 250 he should be able to generate some power, even unenhanced.
Re: Minor Matters
3354Had an opportunity to impress with an invite to big club ST and completely bombed. If he gets another opportunity this year to show what he can do, he can't do an Andy Marte or Matt LaPorta.
Re: Minor Matters
3355He might have been pressing and relaxed after being sent down. Hopefully anyways.
"I've suffered a great many tragedies in my life....most of them never happened". Mark Twain
Re: Minor Matters
3356I think that's awfully likely. He did not come to camp to win a job, he had never played beyond AA. But I guess LaPorta and Marte do represent the challenge of RH power hitters. Why is that a tough role to fill? Because most pitchers are RH and that gives lefties an advantage? Something else involved?
Re: Minor Matters
3357From a post back in January----
With all the emphasis being directed towards Alex "The Sumurai" Cabrera this winter, Jesus Aguilar seems to have become the forgotten man. While Cabrera ended the regular phase of the Venezuelan winter ball season with a total of 21 homers, breaking Bo Diaz's 30+ year record of 20, Aguilar ended his season with 18 homers.
Thus far during the round robin tournament, Aguilar has 3 homers as opposed to only 1 by Cabrera.
Overall Cabrera has 22 homers leading Aguilar by 1. Aguilar posted his 21st homer last night. With 5 games remaining in the playoff season for Aguilar, it appears he has a very good shot of at least tying Cabrera if not overtaking him.
[Aguilar ended up hitting his 4th playoff homer thus tying Alex Cabrera for the overall lead in homers with 22. Aguilar's stats in Columbus are pretty consistent with his winter ball stats. Note---Only 2 errors in 68 ball games at first base.]
With all the emphasis being directed towards Alex "The Sumurai" Cabrera this winter, Jesus Aguilar seems to have become the forgotten man. While Cabrera ended the regular phase of the Venezuelan winter ball season with a total of 21 homers, breaking Bo Diaz's 30+ year record of 20, Aguilar ended his season with 18 homers.
Thus far during the round robin tournament, Aguilar has 3 homers as opposed to only 1 by Cabrera.
Overall Cabrera has 22 homers leading Aguilar by 1. Aguilar posted his 21st homer last night. With 5 games remaining in the playoff season for Aguilar, it appears he has a very good shot of at least tying Cabrera if not overtaking him.
Code: Select all
Regular Season:
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB SAC OBP SLG AVG OPS E
58 226 49 74 7 0 18 50 160 27 43 0 0 .403 .708 .327 1.111 2
Playoffs:
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BA BB SO OBP SLG AVE OPS E
10 41 8 14 2 0 4 11 34 5 11 .438 .829 .341 1.267 0
“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again. That's the way life is, with a new game every day, and that's the way baseball is.”
-- Bob Feller
-- Bob Feller
Re: Minor Matters
3358Bauer has another nice game going. 5 INN, 1R, 4H, 2W, 2K. He's pumped! Pounding his fist into his glove of several occasions tonight. Clippers lead Gwinnet 5-1 after 4.5 innings
Last edited by joez on Tue Apr 22, 2014 8:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again. That's the way life is, with a new game every day, and that's the way baseball is.”
-- Bob Feller
-- Bob Feller
Re: Minor Matters
3359Aguilar is 2-3 and just pounding the ball all over the park. This last hit was a screaming line drive to right field. I think Nick Swisher should start looking over his shoulder if he continues to slump.
“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again. That's the way life is, with a new game every day, and that's the way baseball is.”
-- Bob Feller
-- Bob Feller
Re: Minor Matters
3360Don't think they're quite ready to dump Nick Swisher's long term contract quite yet.
And the Indians don't rush guys up to the majors in any case.
Aguillar could arrive in July if he stays on track and get time mostly at DH and some 1st base. Elliot Johnson, who may still be on the team [is he? he hasn't played in week or two] would lose all his playing time, except there isn't any. Santana could lose time as DH and Swisher a game a week or two.
And the Indians don't rush guys up to the majors in any case.
Aguillar could arrive in July if he stays on track and get time mostly at DH and some 1st base. Elliot Johnson, who may still be on the team [is he? he hasn't played in week or two] would lose all his playing time, except there isn't any. Santana could lose time as DH and Swisher a game a week or two.