Post by redsfanman on May 15, 2016 13:56:49 GMT -5
I'm having a boring day (including watching Reds vs Phillies). I thought I'd go back through the minor league system and look for interesting - good or bad or just interesting - performances as of mid-May.
AAA Louisville Bats
3b/OF Jermaine Curtis - he doesn't matter in any way, shape, or form, but he's hitting .302 with a .433 OBP with 15 BB and 16 K. If you're going to sign scrubs to fill out a minor league roster I guess it's good to have ones who play well.
OF/1b Steve Selsky - .291 average, .407 OBP. He leads the team with 9 doubles, but has 1 HR. 19 BB and 32 K in 103 ABs, so he's striking out a lot for a high OBP guy.
OF Jesse Winker - 22 BB and 16 K.
RHP Josh Smith - 2.70 ERA through 7 GS and 40 IPs. He had one of the ugliest MLB rookie seasons that I can remember, but remains a dominant AAA starter.
RHP Keyvius Sampson - 1.37 ERA, 13 H, 5 BB, and 20 K through 19.2 IP. Three starts. Maybe he'll return to the Reds' bullpen at some point.
RHP Jumbo Diaz - 10 IP, 0 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 15 K. Last year a demotion to AAA helped him, he returned and pitched much better afterwards. He's seemingly pitching well in Louisville, rather than continuing his downward spiral.
RHP Daniel Wright - age 25, recently promoted into Louisville's rotation after dominating for 20 innings of relief in AA. Down there he had given up 10 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, and 22 K in 20 innings. After such success as a reliever I'm surprised he's even temporarily back in a rotation.
AA Pensacola Blue Wahoos
2b Tony Renda - Acquired in Chapman trade, after spending almost all his career at 2b, he's started 5 games at 2b, 3 at 3b, and 22 in the outfield corners. Particularly 21 games in LF, 1 in RF. He's had a pretty impressive season, hitting .299 with a .353 OBP. 9 BB, 10 K, 10 SB in 127 ABs. If you have as many stolen bases as strikeouts you're probably doing something well, in my opinion. Renda plays the same positions as Blandino, Jagielo, and Dixon... so I doubt it's merely defensive incompetence sending him to the OF. At 25 he's pretty old for AA, but he's seemingly deserving of a promotion to Louisville.
CF Beau Amaral - He's 25, I'm not a big fan of his but he's had a pretty good season, after a nightmarish performance last year.
2b Brandon Dixon - also acquired for Chapman, he's a 24 year old 2b who's also played a few games at 1b and RF. The raw skills sure aren't paying off, with 31 Ks in 99 ABs.
OF Phil Ervin - He's only hitting .220, but walking so much that he has a .345 OBP. He's hit 5 homeruns and stolen 13 bases in 13 attempts. All he needs to do to earn a promotion is raise his batting average, which seems like the easiest thing to do...
C Chad Wallach - He's played 18 of his 19 games behind the plate this year, after playing roughly half his games at 1b last year. He's only hitting .210, but like Ervin has a respectable OBP (.364) due to all his walks. He has 15 BB and 12 K through 62 ABs.
INF Alex Blandino - He's off to a rough start after beginning the season on the DL, hitting .208 through 96 ABs. 9 BB and 30 K. Hopefully he's like Winker last year, who adjusts to AA pitching for a strong second half.
3b Eric Jagielo - Still off to a pretty terrible start. 114 ABs, .175 average, .286 OBP, 2 HR. 17 BBs and 36 Ks. So far he hasn't shown off his trademark power. I guess it seems like his strikeout rate has been dropping lately while his walk rate has gone up.
C Joe Hudson - Despite his reputation as a good defensive catcher he's shown no signs whatsoever that he can hit at AA.
LHP Amir Garrett - He's having a great season, as everyone knows. Just a question of when he gets promoted to Louisville.
RHP Sal Romano - He was having a strong season until getting hammered on May 9th. He's quietly one of their harder throwing prospects, although he'd never struck out many batters in the past, it seemed. This year he's struck out 41 in 38 innings, with 9 BBs. He's raised his K:BB ratio from around 2:1 to more like 4:1. People have long predicted that his future is in the bullpen, but increased strikeouts are a great sign.
RHP Rookie Davis - Acquired for Chapman, he has an impressive 1.59 ERA (just higher than Garrett's) and has only allowed 22 hits in 34 innings, with 7 BBs. On the other hand, he only has 16 Ks. I don't know what to make of that. If he's so dominant and unhittable in AA I'd just expect more strikeouts...
RHP Jackson Stephens - he's come back to earth with a 3.78 ERA, but is still having a nice season.
RHP Nick Travieso - he was hurt, but he's also had some control problems and an ugly ERA.
A+ Daytona Tortugas
OF Aristedes Aquino - I've always been a skeptic, but he has 6 HR, 12 BB, 38 K. .214 average, .295 OBP in 131 ABs. Still, he's earned some attention this year.
SS Blake Trahan - Drafted last year and aggressively assigned to Daytona, he's now raised his average to .200. 16 BB and 23 Ks in 135 ABs. He's had pretty good numbers as far as plate discipline, but kept making outs, I assume as a matter of bad luck/low BABIP.
3b Taylor Sparks - Back for a second goaround in Daytona, he's doing worse in most ways. He's lowered his strikeout rate a bunch, but he's hitting .197 after hitting .247 there last year. 8 BB and 2 HRs.
OF Brian O'Grady - As a polished college player who lacks raw skills, he really needs to hit well to fight off the naysayers. He's hitting .184.
RHP Tyler Mahle - He's done really well, I suspect his (young) age and the AA logjam are what's keeping him in Daytona. That, and they don't want to promote him too aggressively.
RHP Keury Mella - His last start out was by far his best. He has an impressive 2.97 ERA. Through 7 starts he has allowed 41 H, 17 BB, and 33 K in 39.1 IP. Those peripheral numbers are a little worse than I expected from a guy I thought would start at AA. Mella and Nick Howard (15) are leading Daytona in BBs.
RHP Tejay Antone - He's also done pretty well, 3.26 ERA. Similar numbers to Mella, but he's walked fewer batters.
LHP Seth Varner - Last year he walked 11 and struck out 134 in 138.2 innings between Dayton and Daytona. So far he's already walked 8 (so, only 3 fewer than all of last year) and struck out 20 through 25.1 innings. He's played 10 games, but only started 3 (as in his most recent 3 games).
RHP Jimmy Herget - He was the Reds' 6th round pick last year, and recorded 15 saves for the Billings Mustangs. He's pitched 17.2 innings in 14 games with 9 H, 2 BB, and 28 Ks. You'd think he's due for a promotion to AA Pensacola soon.
RHP Nick Howard. 15 BB in 9.2 IPs. I think they're wasting their time with pitching coaches when they should be hiring a psychiatrist.
A Dayton Dragons
C Tyler Stephenson is about the only guy on the whole team who interests me, at this point. Along with Gavin LaValley, who was just activated days ago. Stephenson recently came off the DL and is now hitting .151. No homeruns, 7 BBs, and 15 Ks in 53 ABs. He's young, so I'm absolutely not ready to panic. I just hope to see improvements from Stephenson as the season goes on.
AAA Louisville Bats
3b/OF Jermaine Curtis - he doesn't matter in any way, shape, or form, but he's hitting .302 with a .433 OBP with 15 BB and 16 K. If you're going to sign scrubs to fill out a minor league roster I guess it's good to have ones who play well.
OF/1b Steve Selsky - .291 average, .407 OBP. He leads the team with 9 doubles, but has 1 HR. 19 BB and 32 K in 103 ABs, so he's striking out a lot for a high OBP guy.
OF Jesse Winker - 22 BB and 16 K.
RHP Josh Smith - 2.70 ERA through 7 GS and 40 IPs. He had one of the ugliest MLB rookie seasons that I can remember, but remains a dominant AAA starter.
RHP Keyvius Sampson - 1.37 ERA, 13 H, 5 BB, and 20 K through 19.2 IP. Three starts. Maybe he'll return to the Reds' bullpen at some point.
RHP Jumbo Diaz - 10 IP, 0 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 15 K. Last year a demotion to AAA helped him, he returned and pitched much better afterwards. He's seemingly pitching well in Louisville, rather than continuing his downward spiral.
RHP Daniel Wright - age 25, recently promoted into Louisville's rotation after dominating for 20 innings of relief in AA. Down there he had given up 10 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, and 22 K in 20 innings. After such success as a reliever I'm surprised he's even temporarily back in a rotation.
AA Pensacola Blue Wahoos
2b Tony Renda - Acquired in Chapman trade, after spending almost all his career at 2b, he's started 5 games at 2b, 3 at 3b, and 22 in the outfield corners. Particularly 21 games in LF, 1 in RF. He's had a pretty impressive season, hitting .299 with a .353 OBP. 9 BB, 10 K, 10 SB in 127 ABs. If you have as many stolen bases as strikeouts you're probably doing something well, in my opinion. Renda plays the same positions as Blandino, Jagielo, and Dixon... so I doubt it's merely defensive incompetence sending him to the OF. At 25 he's pretty old for AA, but he's seemingly deserving of a promotion to Louisville.
CF Beau Amaral - He's 25, I'm not a big fan of his but he's had a pretty good season, after a nightmarish performance last year.
2b Brandon Dixon - also acquired for Chapman, he's a 24 year old 2b who's also played a few games at 1b and RF. The raw skills sure aren't paying off, with 31 Ks in 99 ABs.
OF Phil Ervin - He's only hitting .220, but walking so much that he has a .345 OBP. He's hit 5 homeruns and stolen 13 bases in 13 attempts. All he needs to do to earn a promotion is raise his batting average, which seems like the easiest thing to do...
C Chad Wallach - He's played 18 of his 19 games behind the plate this year, after playing roughly half his games at 1b last year. He's only hitting .210, but like Ervin has a respectable OBP (.364) due to all his walks. He has 15 BB and 12 K through 62 ABs.
INF Alex Blandino - He's off to a rough start after beginning the season on the DL, hitting .208 through 96 ABs. 9 BB and 30 K. Hopefully he's like Winker last year, who adjusts to AA pitching for a strong second half.
3b Eric Jagielo - Still off to a pretty terrible start. 114 ABs, .175 average, .286 OBP, 2 HR. 17 BBs and 36 Ks. So far he hasn't shown off his trademark power. I guess it seems like his strikeout rate has been dropping lately while his walk rate has gone up.
C Joe Hudson - Despite his reputation as a good defensive catcher he's shown no signs whatsoever that he can hit at AA.
LHP Amir Garrett - He's having a great season, as everyone knows. Just a question of when he gets promoted to Louisville.
RHP Sal Romano - He was having a strong season until getting hammered on May 9th. He's quietly one of their harder throwing prospects, although he'd never struck out many batters in the past, it seemed. This year he's struck out 41 in 38 innings, with 9 BBs. He's raised his K:BB ratio from around 2:1 to more like 4:1. People have long predicted that his future is in the bullpen, but increased strikeouts are a great sign.
RHP Rookie Davis - Acquired for Chapman, he has an impressive 1.59 ERA (just higher than Garrett's) and has only allowed 22 hits in 34 innings, with 7 BBs. On the other hand, he only has 16 Ks. I don't know what to make of that. If he's so dominant and unhittable in AA I'd just expect more strikeouts...
RHP Jackson Stephens - he's come back to earth with a 3.78 ERA, but is still having a nice season.
RHP Nick Travieso - he was hurt, but he's also had some control problems and an ugly ERA.
A+ Daytona Tortugas
OF Aristedes Aquino - I've always been a skeptic, but he has 6 HR, 12 BB, 38 K. .214 average, .295 OBP in 131 ABs. Still, he's earned some attention this year.
SS Blake Trahan - Drafted last year and aggressively assigned to Daytona, he's now raised his average to .200. 16 BB and 23 Ks in 135 ABs. He's had pretty good numbers as far as plate discipline, but kept making outs, I assume as a matter of bad luck/low BABIP.
3b Taylor Sparks - Back for a second goaround in Daytona, he's doing worse in most ways. He's lowered his strikeout rate a bunch, but he's hitting .197 after hitting .247 there last year. 8 BB and 2 HRs.
OF Brian O'Grady - As a polished college player who lacks raw skills, he really needs to hit well to fight off the naysayers. He's hitting .184.
RHP Tyler Mahle - He's done really well, I suspect his (young) age and the AA logjam are what's keeping him in Daytona. That, and they don't want to promote him too aggressively.
RHP Keury Mella - His last start out was by far his best. He has an impressive 2.97 ERA. Through 7 starts he has allowed 41 H, 17 BB, and 33 K in 39.1 IP. Those peripheral numbers are a little worse than I expected from a guy I thought would start at AA. Mella and Nick Howard (15) are leading Daytona in BBs.
RHP Tejay Antone - He's also done pretty well, 3.26 ERA. Similar numbers to Mella, but he's walked fewer batters.
LHP Seth Varner - Last year he walked 11 and struck out 134 in 138.2 innings between Dayton and Daytona. So far he's already walked 8 (so, only 3 fewer than all of last year) and struck out 20 through 25.1 innings. He's played 10 games, but only started 3 (as in his most recent 3 games).
RHP Jimmy Herget - He was the Reds' 6th round pick last year, and recorded 15 saves for the Billings Mustangs. He's pitched 17.2 innings in 14 games with 9 H, 2 BB, and 28 Ks. You'd think he's due for a promotion to AA Pensacola soon.
RHP Nick Howard. 15 BB in 9.2 IPs. I think they're wasting their time with pitching coaches when they should be hiring a psychiatrist.
A Dayton Dragons
C Tyler Stephenson is about the only guy on the whole team who interests me, at this point. Along with Gavin LaValley, who was just activated days ago. Stephenson recently came off the DL and is now hitting .151. No homeruns, 7 BBs, and 15 Ks in 53 ABs. He's young, so I'm absolutely not ready to panic. I just hope to see improvements from Stephenson as the season goes on.