Melky walks off

July 19, 2008 by Mike Axisa 50 Comments

PeteAbe’s got an update on the negotiations with some high profile draft picks. Check it out.

Triple-A Scranton (2-1 win over Lehigh Valley)
Alberto Gonzalez: 1 for 4, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K
Eric Duncan: 1 for 5, 1 RBI, 2 K – tied the game up in the top of the 9th after going 0 for 2 with the bases loaded earlier in the game
Matt Carson: 3 for 5, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 SB – drove in the go-ahead run with 2 outs in the top of the 9th
Juan Miranda: 0 for 5, 1 K
Cody Ransom: 0 for 4
Ben Broussard & Jason Lane: both 2 for 4, 1 K
Chris Stewart: 2 for 3 – taken out for a pinch runner (Chris Basak), who eventually scored the tying run
Nick Green: 1 for 4
Brian Bruney: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K – I imagine they’ll want him to work back-to-back days at least once before returning to the big league club
IPK: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HB, 11-8 GB/FB – 56 of 89 pitches were strikes (62.9%)
Scott Strickland: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

Double-A Trenton
Game 1 (5-4 win over Portland in 7 innings) this was the makeup of yesterday’s rain out
Reegie Corona: 1 for 3, 1 3B, 1 BB
Ramiro Pena: 1 for 3, 1 R, 1 2B
Austin Jackson: 2 for 3, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SB – gave Trenton the lead with a solo shot in the top of the 7th
Chris Malec: 2 for 4, 1 RBI
Colin Curtis, Edwar Gonzalez & James Cooper: all 0 for 3 – Curtis drew a walk, scored a run & was caught stealing
PJ Pilittere: 1 for 3, 1 R, 2 RBI – another solid season
Cody Ehlers: 1 for 3, 1 2B, 1 RBI
Eric Hacker: 4 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 4-3 GB/FB – picked a runner off first
Mark Melancon: 3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 6-0 GB/FB
Game 2 (3-0 win over Portland in 7 innings)
Reegie Corona: 1 for 4
Walt Ibarra & James Cooper: both 0 for 3 – Cooper K’ed twice
Austin Jackson: 2 for 3, 1 R, 1 2B – 20 for his last 38 (.526) … I’d call that, well, inspiring ;)
Chris Malec, Edwar Gonzalez & Joe Muich: all 1 for 3 – Malec doubled, K’ed & committed a fielding error … Edwar scored a run, drove one in & K’ed twice … Muich drove in 2 runs & K’ed twice
Cody Ehlers: 0 for 2, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP – 28 for his last 179, which means he’s hitting .156 since May 15th … yikes
Phil Coke: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 10 K, 1 WP, 5-3 GB/FB – 27 IP, 11 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 9 BB, 33 K in his last 4 starts … wowza
Eric Wordekemper: 1 IP, zeroes, 1 K

High-A Tampa (10-3 win over Jupiter)
Luis Nunez: 0 for 5, 1 E (throwing)
Eduardo Nunez: 2 for 4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 HBP, 1 E (fielding) – and with that, he equals the number XBH he had all last year (19)
Kevin Smith: 1 for 4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB
Josh Kreuzer: 2 for 5, 2 R, 2 K
Andres Perez: 3 for 3, 3 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI – 13 for his last 29 (.448)
Jose Gil: 4 for 5, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 PB – had been 2 for his last 31 (.065)
Mitch Hilligoss: 2 for 5, 1 R, 2 2B, 1 RBI – 5th multi-hit game in his last 8 contests
Tim Battle: 0 for 4, 1 K
Tom Baldridge: 0 for 3, 1 RBI, 1 BB
Ivan Nova: 6 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HB, 6-9 GB/FB
Rob Semerano: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 1-3 GB/FB
Wilkins Arias: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Low-A Charleston (3-1 win over Kannapolis)
Abe Almonte: 0 for 5, 3 K – tore the cover off the ball the first two month, but has slumped since, just like Ajax in 2006
Bradley Suttle: 1 for 5, 1 R
Austin Romine: 2 for 5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 K – breaks out of a little 0 for 14 slump
Jesus Montero: 2 for 3, 1 BB, 1 K – closing back in on .300
Brandon Laird, Carmen Angelini, David Williams & Austin Krum: all 1 for 4 – Laird drove in a run & K’ed … Angelini doubled & K’ed twice … Williams drove in a run & K’ed twice … Krum was picked off first
Justin Snyder: 2 for 4, 1 2B, 1 K
Dellin Betances: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 7-6 GB/FB – progress
Ryan Zink: 0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K – gave up a homer, then a walk … luckily it wasn’t in the reverse order
Chase Vacek: 2 IP, zeroes, 1 K, 1 HBP, 4-1 GB/FB
Jon Ortiz: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K – 66 K in 46.2 IP

Short Season Staten Island (5-4 win over Brooklyn, walk-off style)
Ray Kruml: 0 for 4, 2 K – having the best debut amongst hitters drafted this year
David Adams: 2 for 4, 2 R, 1 3B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K
Brain Baisley, Jack Rye & Dan Brewer: all 1 for 4 – Baisley drove in a run & was caught stealing … Rye K’ed twice … Brewer once
Braedyn Pruitt: 2 for 4, 1 R, 1 K – 9 for his last 28 (.321)
Mitch Abeita: 0 for 2, 2 BB
Taylor Grote: 0 for 2, 2 K – threw a runner out at home from LF … left the game for an unknown reason
Melky Mesa: 1 for 2, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI – took over for Grote in LF, then he hit a walk-off 3-R homer … nice
Casey Erickson: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 6-1 GB/FB
Tim Dennehy: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
Dan Kapala: 2 IP, zeroes, 1 K, 4-1 GB/FB – 1 ER allowed in 12.2 IP this year
Andy Shive: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K – held it down in the top of the 9th, setting it up for the Melk Man

Rookie GCL Yanks (9-6 win over GCL Jays)
Corban Joseph: 3 for 4, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 1 E (throwing) – 13 for his last 33 (.394) with 8 XBH … congrats on the first career homer
Jimmy Parades: 5 for 5, 2 R, 1 RBI
Mike Jones: 0 for 4, 1 K – .184-.273-.286 for the former Sun Devil
Chad Gross: 1 for 5, 1 RBI, 1 K
Zoilo Almonte: 1 for 3, 1 RBI, 1 BB
Chase Weems: 0 for 2, 1 K, 1 PB, 2 E (catcher interference, throwing) – left the game in the bottom of the 5th for an unknown reason
Chris Smith: 2 for 3, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HBP
Humberto Sanchez: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1-1 GB/FB – stretchin’ out
Manny Banuelos: 2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
Ronny Marte: 2.1 IP, zeroes, 2 K, 3-2 GB/FB
Shawn Joy: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Mike Obradovich: 1.1 IP, zeroes, 1 K – lowers his WHIP to 0.12

Reggie C.

Best line of the night belongs to Delin Betances. To see him get into 6 innings is a sign that he’s actually figuring out how to put guys away other than the K. I hope the competitive juices are flowing strong as he sees guys like De la Rosa and Heredia continue to pitch well.
Ivan

Well Mike ever since you A-Jax an uninspiring prospect, he has been on a tear.
Greg G.

Gotta like the line by IPK. Perhaps he’ll replace Rasner at some point soon?
- giselle
  
  do you think he’ll get another shot to pitch in the majors this year? i hope so, but he’s got a lot of haters right now…
  - http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
    
    I think so. At the very least he’d be a Sept. call-up.
    - Steve
      
      But by September we’re supposed to have Wang, Hughes and (takes a deep breath) Pa. . . . Pa . . . . . OK, 1-2-3 PAVANO back. So we won’t need him by then. Unless Girardi wants to give Moose some time off to recharge his arm for the playoffs. Or maybe skip Joba here and there to keep his innings down.
      
      OK, maybe we will need him. Thanks for clearing that up for me.
  - Greg G.
    
    True ’nuff. More importantly, Girardi was pretty blunt in evaluating his ugly performances earlier in the year. Then again, Rasner’s getting shakier and shakier, and I could easily see them wanting to shift him out of the rotation before Hughes is ready.
    
    A couple more performances by IPK like tonight, and he’ll make himself noticed. There’s talent there, for sure.
    - Relaunch
      
      Awesome news! Kennedy has had his chance. He should be no more than a Sept call up. Haven’t we scene this before this year from him?
      
      His talent is to be an average starter at best, which obviously is better than what any of us would do. But not promising for the yanks.
      - Greg G.
        
        I dunno…his starts in the majors last year, along with his performance in the minors throughout seemed to suggest that he’s capable of more than just average. What was weird about his performance earlier this year was how bad his control was. But that’s certainly aberrant with respect to his entire professional track record.
        
        I know his stock is pretty low right now, but I’m not ready to give up on him yet.
        
        Relaunch
        
        I hear what you are saying. I just don’t think he is really that talented to be more than a 4 or 5 at best. I think Hughes has the talent but he has become reliable as glass joe.
Manimal

IPK needs some consistancy, Rasner needs to grow balls, and Bruney needs to take Latroy’s locker.
blah

Phil Coke – future bullpen lefty?
- austinNYfan
  
  That is exactly what I was wondering. Maybe short term- lefty pen guy then starter down the road. I don’t know much about the kid. What I do know the Yankees farm system could use more lefty starters.
- Steve
  
  Maybe. He’s been very good in Trenton. He’s also getting to an age (turned 26 yesterday) where they have to figure out what to do with him.
  
  BTW-Have you seen Claggett’s #s this year? Nobody’s talking about him, but he’s dominated AA this year. Maybe its because the bullpen is so good and he’s a righty. But he has been unreal 0.95 ERA in Trenton in 19 appearances.
  
  http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/C/Anthony-Claggett.shtml
giselle

hey mike,

how soon til gerrit cole gets signed? are they waiting for the last minute to see if his demands go down a little? why not give him what he’s asking for? i think the RS signed their first round pick recently. i want ours inked, too.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  I’m guessing Cole will sign at like, 11:55pm on the August 15th deadline. Boras is going to mile the Yanks for every last cent. Last I heard was that he wanted Porcello money, which would be $3.58M up front and incentives that could push it up to almost $8M, although I doubt he gets a ML deal. Cole’s good, but he ain’t no Porcello.
  
  The Sox signed Kelly already because football practice at Tennesse is starting soon, as in this week, and if he attended (he was recruited to play QB) that would be considered “going to school,” so they would have lost his rights.
http://everythingbaseball.wordpress.com Aaron

Where’s Venditte been? I haven’t seen his name appear here lately.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  He just pitch the other day, Thursday I think. He’s fine.
- http://www.baby-bombers.com RPimpsner
  
  Venditte is fine, he has not pitched the passed few days because there hasnt been a save oppurtunity yet. The last two games they had him warming up to pitch the tenth if the game went into extra innings but the Yanks won them in walk off hits.
brockdc

Phil Coke…wow.
Brandon

In those 27 IP

Phil Coke

.119 BAA

0.99 ERA
- Brandon
  
  And Kei Igawa is still in AAA taking spots
mig 12

i think Ian is a long relief guy at best. I think both him and phil hughes were over hyped as prospects. Now we know that power arms translate to the majors. Crafty guys with average fastballs are all a crapshoot
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594331910 Jamal G.
  
  Cool, what other tales of the future do you have for us?
  - mig 12
    
    I was thinking about telling you a bedtime story considering you dont know much about baseball. You’re 5 right? oh ok. Just checking
    - Jake
      
      So you’re drawing conclusions about all pitchers based on a handful of starts by two rookies? Good call.
      - mig 12
        
        thats exactly wat im doing. Find me a young stud prospect who through 89 mph and was succesful in the major leagues. ill be here all night.
        
        DeMarcus
        
        mig 12— you are a fucking idiot… glad your up all nite fucker and got that… Phil throwing 89? what kind of an asshole are you— and to talk down to Jamal? Oh, yea, you’re a blog tough guy bitch
        
        Rich
        
        Plus he’s flat out wrong. Gameday had Hughes sitting at 92 and touching 94 throughout most games he pitched with…wait for it…a broken rib.
  - Rich
    
    Tell us more when you wake up.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  You have to remember that Hughes is just 22, and was pitching in the majors at age 20.
  - Ivan
    
    Is it me, or young pitchers are not allowed to struggle anymore.
    - http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
      
      Nope. Joba’s the only one that got the memo.
      
      Hughes, IPK, Buchholz, Kershaw, Greg Reynolds, Andrew Miller, Johnny Cueto, Justin Masterson, Luke Hochevar … all busts.
      
      We should have learned from Zack Greinke, Ervin Santana, Jon Lester, Edinson Volquez, Dustin McGowan, Chad Billingsley, Gavin Floyd, Fausto Carmona and Mike Pelfrey. They all struggled early in their careers and, sadly, were never able to recover and become effective pitchers. Shame really.
Rich

I read somewhere that Girardi said they want Bruney to stay on rehab until his FB velo goes up a mph or two.
Brian

Humberto, your line is not awesome, but maybe that pickoff was. The announcer probably got picked off, too: “…Sanchez, coming back from Tommy Wha?!”
Bryan

Thanks for DotF guys, I was just wondering if it was possible to add a little info about this years draftees, just like “Random Name (1st) or (2nd Supp)” just so we can get a handle on the new guys.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  Will do.
A-Point

Buchholz had pitched a No-Hitter last year. His stuff isn’t that mind blowing, yet after he had struggled he was brought back up.

Kennedy should be given another chance. Not sure how soon, but he will get a shot.

This is what happens when you bring up rookie pitching. They have times that they are going to struggle.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594331910 Jamal G.
  
  Even though I would want to argue with you I can’t. Clay Buchholz does have mind blowing stuff. His Fastball was a lot better than I thought and you couple that with his Curveball and Changeup and you have damn good stuff.
  
  You could probably get a bunch of Scout.com, Baseball Prospectus, and Baseball America guys in a room to argue whose Curveball is better between Buchholz and Phil Hughes but outside of that, I think Buchholz has Hughes beat stuff wise. His Changeup is reportedly a “plus” pitch, his Fastball tops out at 95-97MPH but he sits in the same range as Hughes does (in the 91-94MPH area).
  
  Buchholz’s biggest drawbacks are his size (6’3″, 190lbs.) for a power pitcher and the fact that he’s a damn, dirty thief.
  - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594331910 Jamal G.
    
    “…want to *agree…”
  - Ivan
    
    I still take Hughes over Buchholz, Hughes Curve when right has a huge drop at the end and I’ll admit buccholz change is better. As for FB, well Buccholz FB is good velocity wise but it’s very straight and doesn’t command it well, and Hughes fastball has more life and commands it better and velocity is pretty good.
    
    To me their stuff is basically similar, (especially if Hughes regain his stuff at the level he usually has) but To me I’ll take Hughes. I still think Hughes as a chance to be our best pitcher (included Joba). Yes he struggled but next season I think he can really breakout, (same with Buchholz).
    - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594331910 Jamal G.
      
      I agree, I think Hughes has the potential to be the best of the bunch. He’s still the crown jewel of this organization, even with the addition of Andrew Brackman last year and potential addition Gerrit Cole this year.
A-Point

They changed the arm slot because too many were sitting on his curve ball. Buchholz has good stuff, but he had to pitch “backwards” in order to be effective. His fastball is flat.

I’m not saying he isn’t good, he is, but the real point was young pitchers will struggle and even when they show flashes of what they could be, frequently need time to adjust.

Its rare to find a pitcher like say Joba, who has made the transition fairly well. Heck, just look at Beckett this year compared to last year.

The Yankee front office didn’t allow enough leeway for when there would be these struggles.
Big Jawn

Two Melky’s in one organization. Who’d of ever thunk it?
Ivan

With A-Jax, how good of a basketball player was he before he signed with the yankees? I know he had a commitment with GT and I,ve heard he was ranked pretty highly as a basketball player. Did he had the tools be a good or even very good bastketball player?
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  He was one of the top recruits in the country, so obviously the kid had some game. GT was giving him a full ride.
- A.D.
  
  top 50 player overall and played the guard position. Saw in an interview (I believe it was Mike Ashmore) he asked him since he watches hoops now if he think he would have made it in collage….AJAX’s answer was basically yes.
  
  Our minor leagues could have a sick back-court with CJ Henry & AJAX
A.D.

Jones & Coke nice 1-2 for AA right now
swo

Don’t worry about Melancon. He’s been very efficient in his appearances. Lots of innings, yes, but not a lot of pitches, which is what really matters.
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