Mitchell & Banuelos shine in losses
ByOne year ago today, Austin Jackson officially became a bust when he failed to homer in his fifth consecutive game.
Short Season Staten Island’s season starts tomorrow; here’s the roster. The Rookie GCL Yanks start their season next Tuesday.
Triple-A Scranton’s doubleheader was washed out. The Mud Hens don’t come back to town the rest of the year, so they’re going to make these games up in Toledo.
Double-A Trenton (2-0 win over Connecticut)
Austin Krum, Chris Malec & Jesus Montero: all 1 for 2 – Krum drew a walk, swiped a bag & drove in a run … Malec walked twice … Montero doubled
Noah Hall: 1 for 3, 1 RBI
Eduardo Nunez: 1 for 4
Kyle Anson & Justin Snyder: both 0 for 2 – Anson K’ed
Marcos Vechionacci: 2 for 3, 1 R, 1 2B
Ryan Pope: 5.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 1 Balk, 1 HBP, 3-8 GB/FB
Wilkins Arias: 1.1 IP, zeroes, 2-2 GB/FB
JB Cox & Amaury Sanit: 1 IP, zeroes, 1 K
High-A Tampa
Game 1 (5-1 loss to Palm Beach in 7 nnings) makeup of yesterday’s rainout
Jack Rye, Eric Fryer, Seth Fortenberry & Matt Cusick: all 1 for 3 - Rye scored a run & K’ed
Damon Sublett & Walt Ibarra: both 0 for 2 – Sublett K’ed
Austin Romine: 1 for 3, 1 R, 1 RBI – allowed a stolen base
Brandon Laird: 0 for 3, 1 K
Mitch Hilligoss: 0 for 1
DJ Mitchell: 7 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 8-6 GB/FB – he was cruising along just fine until he tired a bit in the 7th … 2 walks, 3 singles, 4 runs in the frame
Game 2 (3-2 loss to Palm Beach in 7 innings)
Jack Rye & Seth Fortenberry: both 0 for 3 – Fortenberry K’ed twice
Walt Ibarra, Damon Sublett & Mitch Hilligoss: all 1 for 3 – Ibarra was caught stealing … Sublett scored a run & K’ed twice … Hilligoss drove in a run & K’ed
Brandon Laird: 2 for 3, 2 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K - first multi-XBH game of the season
Brian Baisley & Jose Gil: both 0 for 2, 1 BB – Baisley scored a run & K’ed twice
Humberto Sanchez: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 1-1 GB/FB
Adam Olbrychowski: 3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 4-2 GB/FB – longest outing of the year
Noel Castillo: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 2-3 GB/FB
Jon Hovis: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 1-0 GB/FB
Low-A Charleston (3-1 loss to Savannah)
Jose Pirela: 1 for 5, 2 K
Abe Almonte: 0 for 5, 2 K – 1 for 16 (.063 since coming off the DL)
David Adams: 0 for 3, 1 BB, 1 K
Dan Brewer: 1 for 4, 2 K – 13 for his last 27 (.481)
Melky Mesa: 0 for 2, 1 R, 1 K, 1 HBP – threw a runner out at home from RF
Corban Joseph: 1 for 2, 1 BB, 1 HBP – picked off first
Mitch Abeita: 2 for 4, 1 RBI, 1 E (throwing)
Manny Banuelos: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 P, 6-9 GB/FB
Brandon Braboy: 2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 2-0 GB/FB – can you quietly have a 0.91 WHIP?
Jon Ortiz: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1-1 GB/FB
So Montero’s power didn’t disappear. Congrats to him for his first AA XBH.
Banuelos midseason callup? Good to see that Montero’s not struggling in AA.
I’m hearing that Montero had to leave the game tonight with a leg injury. I guess we’ll find out soon enough about how serious.
dammit. he always seems to get little leg injuries.
Montero’s first AA XBH?
Gotta love the pitching.
congrats on montero’s first XBH
Thanks for posting the staten island roster, i was actually lookin for it tonite. We should all try and hit up an SI game, beers mad cheap and the seats are mad close.
Humberto staying in the bullpen, or is he just waking his arm up after the injury?
Willing to bet money he’s started his last game, with all these injuries.
Well maybe he can be a good reliever. He had a good outing tonight.
What does everything think about KLaw saying that Slade might be what AJax could have been? I don’t think it was a major swipe at AJax, but he is either extremely lucky with his BABIP this year or he has great coordination. His k rate would make you think he is lucky.
I don’t place much value on what KLaw has to say about Yankee prospects.
I think KLaw is generally pretty fair.
KLaw’s very fair. I appreciate his brutal honesty.
absolutely. he’s the best guy espn has over there. and, btw, it was a definite swipe at ajax. basically said that he’s very unlikely to become the star it looked like early on he might become.
he is no different than all of them. he is making a conservative guess at what austin will project to. he is nowhere near a finished product
Mike A kissing K-Law’s ass… what a shock
I think Jackson’s star is really dimming. He’s striking out way too much and not hitting for much power at all. At this point, I’m not sure I see star potential for him. Some might call him a bit uninspiring. I do think he will be a solid regular, but right now he is getting insanely lucky with a BABIP near .500
I do think he will be a solid regular
See, this is what the ceiling of expectations for A-Jax needs to be. People expecting him to be a superstar CF need to throttle down the expectations. Like we discussed in the Scheppers thread earlier today, A-Jax will probably be Mike Cameron Lite or Marlon Byrd Heavy.
Which isn’t too bad in my opinion.
Oh not at all.
Yeah, I analyzed Jackson’s numbers today and if he was hitting around his career BABIP, his slash line would be a very pedestrian .268/.347/.380. Those barely even suggest solid regular, but I’m optimistic that he’ll improve. He’s still young for Triple-A at 21 years old.
Word, I think the power will come along. It’s always the last thing to come around in a young hitter (see: Hanley Ramirez).***
*** I’m not saying A-Jax will develop power like Hanley did but I’m just using Han-Ram as an example of a young guy whose power developed late.
Yeah, as I said, I’m optimistic that he will improve. I just think it is important to note that his numbers so far this year are a mirage, and there is no getting around that.
Yeah, I hear what you’re saying. But considering how high his BABIP has been for his career, isn’t at least semi-reasonable to say that he hits the ball hard and that helps the BABIP a little?
Hanley slugged .562 as a 23 year old, I think you might want to pick a better example of a guy developing power late.
What’s your take on Jackson’s season, Mike?
It’s … interesting. The high batting avg is great, but it’s unsustainable with that BABIP and strikeout rate. I think he’s more than held his own considering his age and experience level (relatively new to baseball), but you’d like to see some adjustments made. Hopefully we see them in the second half.
mike, this may exaggerate things a bit, but i personally wouldn’t mind him go into an 0 for 30 “slump”, but only striking out 4 or 5 times.
You? Ants? Picnic? Ringing any bells?
Jackson is 21 – that means he has two years to get there – and oh by the way, his SLG ain’t so terrible right now, homers notwithstanding.
It is possible that he’s improving as a player and the increase in BABIP is real improvement, and not just a fluke.
career figure was high (.365ish) to begin with. no way you can maintain a BABIP close to .500
It’s a darn good thing stats don’t have sharp edges.
Few of you know how to play with toys you barely understand.
cameron lite? hmmm, where did i hear that one before
Hehe. The Congressman isn’t around, is he?
Why do people use AJax k rate to say he’s lucky with his BaBIP? They have nothing to do with each other. He might strikeout a bunch, but when he hits the ball, he hits it hard. Does luck play a role in why it’s so high? Sure, but he has been keeping it up for nearly 3 months nows. Eventually people have to give him some credit for being one of the top hitting prospects in the IL.
Well, it is impossible to sustain a .476 BABIP. It has never been done before. Jackson’s career BABIP in the minors is still a very good .366, which is a realistic expectation for him.
and if he hits at that # for the rest of the year, and doesn’t cut down on his Ks, his BA for the season will be right around .300. pretty good, but a precipitous drop from the .340 he’s at now
And that means his overall numbers would still be somewhat luck-driven.
I just want him to keep that BB% around 9-10 and keeps and IsoD around what it is now (.068), I’ll be happy.
yeah, he definitely needs to keep drawing those walks. and if somehow he can cut down on his Ks from once every 3.6 ABs to around 1 in 4-4.25, he’d be so much better off
You know, I remember the talk about Swisher last year with his .219 BA. All these stats guys made that .219 sound great, or “unlucky.” Now, you have a guy like AJax hitting .348 and, listening to people, he sucks, or is just “lucky.”
Gone are the days when .219 is simply .219 and .348 is simply .348. I understand being disappointed by the lack of power, but isn’t .348 even slightly impressive anymore?
If he’s there at the end of the year, then we can talk about that.
.348 in June don’t mean nuthin’
(Well, it’s better than being at .248 in June, but there’s lots of season left)
What game are you playing where hitting 350 doesn’t mean anything?
Good riddance to those days, Todd. What matters is not what Jackson or Swisher has done. It’s what they are likely to do in the future. In the long run there is no way to bat .350 when you hit 2 or 3 homers and strike out 170 times. If he can pull off anything remotely like that for a career or even a few years, he will be the most talked about anomaly in the sport. I don’t think he is that kind of player.
Short sighted. It is also unlucky that he hasn’t hit a HR. Fact is, the guy can hit, he’s young for his level, he has 5 tools, and he’s hitting .348 at AAA. BA still means something, despite what arrogant statheads pushing their superiority might think.
.348 is great, yes. but what the “arrogant statheads” are saying is that there is very little chance he maintains that average, unless he cuts down on his strikeouts.
How did you get a WHIP of 0.91 for Braboy? I have him at 1.05(40/38.1).
I suck at math, that’s how I got it. My bad.
Ajax is purposely not hitting for power. He is trying to cut down on his K rate.
it’s not working
Montero doubled.
Just saying I like Montero.
I don’t understand why people are so dead set on focus on A-Jax’s flaws. KLaw mentioned that today and in the same chat that people should not right off Lars Anderson because he is only 21 and in AA.
It is not uncommon for a player to develop power and cut down on K’s after the age of 21. If Austin had a K rate of 1 every 10 AB and were hitting .260 I would be worried.
think i’d rather have that line myself
because then his BABIP would be so ridiculously low that he’d have to improve
Isn’t it possible that his high K rate is raising his BABIP? If he takes some of those K’s and turns them into ground puts it would normalize his BABIP without affecting his BA.
+1
Agreed BABIP is only a good stat for pitchers. If the player has a .300 average and doesn’t strike out alot, his BABIP should be low, and if he strikes out alot it should be high.
Extreme scenario.
A player is batting .450. He strikes out 50% of the time and has no homeruns. Would you take his batting average at face value or think he had been rather lucky?
i’d consider a .900 BABIP a bit lucky, unless of course he’s done that his whole career. then it’s his norm.
Gosh. Could that mean that being good enough not to swing at bad pitches makes you look bad to “hard core stat heads”?
Why? I think it is easier to learn to cut down on K’s in AAA than it is to learn to hit.
but he hasn’t learned. his K rate has increased as he’s moved up each level.
Haven’t you read the game threads? Flaws are all some “fans” see.
I like AJax as a prospect and his potential. That being said, I would like to start the keeping AJax in AAA fro 2010 campaign. He can work on getting his K rate respectable, and tune his game up. He is relatively new to baseball. He need to fine tune it all before we can expect him to play in the bright lights of Yankee Stadium.
Offer Damon arb. If he accepts, great keep AJax in AAA for 2010. If he doesn’t, snag some good picks and sign Holliday. Offer Nady arb (hopefully he will still have a type A or B), and same thing.
Basically, what I am saying here is that we don’t want AJax to become Francouer. Frenchie was rushed and paid the price. His first love was football, and he never fine tuned his game. Now it’s too late, and the Braves are dying for OF’ers.
I’m not sure on the other stuff, I’d really have no aversion to keeping Jackson in AAA in 2010, but I’m very much against offering Damon arbitration. I definitely think he’d accept and he’s not worth getting a raise on that $13MM salary.
I guess I like having the flexibility of having someone on a one year deal. I don’t think you have no trade protection on an arb deal, right?
I don’t think you will need a campaign.
I can’t see them going into 2010 with an OF of Swisher-Aj-Gardner/Melky.
The lack of power would be disturbing and this is the Yankees here. Holliday would look good hitting 5th.
jason bay would be a better fa pickup than holiday nfor a lot less money
Except that AJax can take a walk. Let’s just take the worst example of a failure, and use it to keep a guy hitting .348 at AAA from advancing? K rate respectable? A lot of great MLBers have high K rates, perhaps the best baseball player in the world, ARod, included. What is respectible is his .348/.416./.459 line. All these people are clamoring for Mirhanda and Shelley to be called up, and Jackson has superior numbers. In fact, his SLG is only .034 from Mirhanda’s. I really don’t understand the hating going on right now…
Have any of you critics seen A-Jax’s line drive rate while you blindly talk about his BABIP.
24% according to MiL Splits.
Yes, he’s hitting line-drives 24% of the time, which means his BABIP is supposed to be .360, which, not coincidentally, is right in line with his career BABIP of .366, and not the .476 mark he’s posted this year.
The highest 20 LD rates for the last 5 year in the majors for a full season have never had someone have a BABIP over .400. And only one had a BABIP of over .364. And that was Chone Figgins.
2 years ago when he broke out. He went 11% LD with a .395 BABIP can someone explain that to me?
Statistical anomolies. It is possible, although rare, to be very, very lucky in seasons of close proximity. In fact there has to be players that exhibit this luck, just not many of them.
I thought you were making the argument that his LD% has a positive correlation to his BABIP. This statistic would seem to point that the two are unrelated.
Bottom line, he is not going to lead the league in BABIP in the majors every single year. It doesn’t happen.
Probably 90% luck, but perhaps he had a bunch of bunt hits as well. Also he can leg out infield hits.
You can’t leg out as many infield hits when you strike out 25% of the time.
Ks are excluded from BABIP, thus the BIP part (Balls in Play)
And how reliable are LD% for the minors? These are all from MiL scorers, only slightly less reliable than MLB scorers. Not exactly robust statistics.
Finally someone making sense of almost nonsensical minor league #’s.
I’m sorry for not asking the official scorer. So how would you have scored them…oooooo that’s right.
Is DJ Mitchell for real? He’s been putting up numbers this year. Does anyone have a scouting report on him?
He’s legit, sinker-slider guy. Might only be a reliever long term, but a damn good one.
Austin Jackson is definitely not a .350 avg player, but I think many of us here are seriously underestimating him when he say he’s just lucky. Austin Jackson is a serious 5 tool guy who has improved every year overall as a baseball player. HanRam didn’t get above 10 hrs before he debuted as a 23 year old. He’s definitely been a statistical mystery this year, and we really don’t have all the information. Does he go deep into counts? Can he hit a decent breaking pitch now?
By luck, I mean luck relative to a prospect’s own skill set. He is still a hell of a prospect. Pujols can have a lucky year and hit .393 with 55 homers and 175 RBI’s. That doesn’t mean he sucks because he got more lucky in one year than another. It just means thing went his way a little bit more in one year.
I am just sayin that AJax has gotten more lucky. I still think he is going to be one heck of a player. The Yanks say he has a great work ethic and a commitment to the game. Gotta love that.
My curiosity would rest on whether he beats out a lot of infield hits. These could be deemed legitimate and expectable (word?) hits because his speed will not decrease and the major league level. Unless he’s getting infield hits due to less than spectacular defensive plays.
His power #’s leave a lot to be desired from.
he’s getting his doubles, projected to be 30+ at his current pace for this season. i dont think anyone projects him to have more than average power anyway.
Huh?
What are you expecting out of him? 30 HR power? He ain’t going to be a Grady Sizemore. Even if he DOES develop into a 20 HR guy, it’ll likely be when he’s closer to 27 than 21.
Lower your fucking standards – the Yankees aren’t going to be able to field a lineup of 9 future HOFers.
What do you mean? Are you saying that he isn’t Willie Mays?
What exactly does 5 tool mean anyway? He has 27 homers in 1929 career ABs. That’s like 7 per season. If that qualifies him for posseessing the power tool, I’m gonna go ahead and say “5 tools” is a useless label that means “good athlete” and has almost nothing to do with baseball.
you hit the nail on the head. he’s not a 5-tool guy.
think we’ll be happy if he settles in with 4 tools
Was this Pope’s first start since Jesus’ call-up? That is, was this the first appearance of the Holy Battery?
Btw, Jorge Arangure (ESPN) tweeted that the Yankees could make a HUGE splash on July 2nd (IFAs), though he doesn’t think they get Sano.
Huge splash = a lot of money spent.
Except he left out the ‘HUGE’ part…
Any word on the GCL roster?
Didn’t see this posted here (from Times beat writer John Nalbone):
Team sources have confirmed that right-hander Christian Garcia (2-0, 0.71 ERA) is at the Yankees’ minor-league facility in Tampa, but it is not known whether Garcia has been cleared to resume baseball activities after having his injured right elbow examined by Dr. James Andrews Monday in Birmingham, Ala
have to comment on Ajax -
i watched 2 Scranton games on TV (one late last year, one this year). Ajax had like 3 hits in one game, 4 in the other. he looked very impressive and didn’t (by my count) have one ‘lucky’ hit. he lined a curveball between the 1b & 2b for a clean single. he took an outside fastball and lined it over the 2b. he turned on a inside FB for a line drive double. he even hit an outside pitch to the warning track in RF (just missing a HR) – i was surprised, the announcers were surprised.* a .476 BABIP is not sustainable, but we should surely be encouraged by a fine season.
* obviously its just 2 games, but its a microcosm of his ability.