DotF: Bird returns in Tampa’s comeback win

May 7, 2014 by Mike Axisa 36 Comments

Both 1B Greg Bird (back) and IF Anderson Feliz (unknown) were activated off the DL and added to the High-A Tampa roster, the team announced. Hooray for that.

Triple-A Scranton (3-1 win over Indianapolis)

1B Ramon Flores: 0-3, 1 RBI, 1 K — played 23 games at first in 2011 but this is only the third since
SS Dean Anna: 1-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K
LF Zoilo Almonte: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 HBP
RF Adonis Garcia: 2-4, 1 K, 1 SB — 12 hits in his last 30 at-bats (40%)
RHP Brian Gordon: 7 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 8/6 GB/FB — 55 of 85 pitches were strikes (65%)
RHP Jose Ramirez: 1 IP, zeroes, 1 K, 1 HB, 0/1 GB/FB — seven of his 13 pitches were strikes (54%) … season debut after being sidelined by an oblique problem … the team has moved him to the bullpen permanently, remember
RHP Matt Daley: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 1/0 GB/FB — nine of 15 pitches were strikes (60%)

Double-A Trenton (6-4 win over New Britain in 12 innings)

CF Mason Williams: 1-5, 2 K
LF Ben Gamel & 3B Rob Segedin: both 0-5 — Segedin struck out
C Gary Sanchez: 1-5, 1 R, 2 K, 1 E (catcher interference)
1B Kyle Roller: 2-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K — 15-for-38 (.395) in his last ten games, and that’s his ninth homer in only 20 games
2B Rob Refsnyder: 1-5, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 K
LHP Jeremy Bleich: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 6/6 GB/FB — 56 of 94 pitches were strikes (60%), plus he picked a runner off first
RHP Branden Pinder: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 3/0 GB/FB — 27 of 40 pitches were strikes (68%) … blew the save in the bottom of the ninth
RHP Jairo Heredia: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 1/2 GB/FB — 34 of 50 pitches were strikes (68%), though the walk was intentional … that’s quality long relief right there

High-A Tampa (2-4 win over Lakeland)

CF Jake Cave: 1-4, 1 K
DH Dante Bichette Jr.: 1-4, 1 2B
1B Greg Bird: 1-4, 1 R, 1 RBI — first game of the season after being sidelined by a back problem
RF Peter O’Brien: 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K — homer number ten on the season
3B Eric Jagielo: 2-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI — went back-to-back with O’Brien in the eighth for the come from behind win
2B Angelo Gumbs: 1-2, 1 BB
SS Cito Culver: 0-3, 1 K — down to .209/.262/.252 on the year
LHP Eric Wooten: 7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 7/3 GB/FB

Low-A Charleston (5-4 loss to Rome)

DH Abi Avelino: 4-4, 2 2B, 1 RBI — got picked off first twice … 8-for-16 (.500) with four doubles in his last four games
SS Tyler Wade: 0-4, 3 K — 4-for-28 (.143) with eleven strikeouts in his last seven games
3B Miguel Andujar: 0-3, 1 BB, 2 K
1B Mike Ford: 2-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K
RF Michael O’Neill: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 K — ejected for arguing balls and strikes in the seventh
RF Aaron Judge: — replaced O’Neill
2B Gosuke Katoh: 0-4, 1 K — down to .200/.327/.325 with a 36.7% strikeout rate
RHP Rookie Davis: 4 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 0 K, 7/4 GB/FB — ewww
RHP Jaron Long: 4 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 6/2 GB/FB

Dicka24

Um, it’s time for Cito to give the mound a try. He surely isn’t going anywhere as a position player.

I know Roller is considered to be more of an organization depth type guy, but he is outright mashing. Shouldn’t he get promoted at some point soon. What’s the worst that happens.

It seems like Jairo Herredia has been in the system since the Clinton administration. Talk about a name that just never goes away.
- http://secondavenuesagas.com Benjamin Kabak
  
  He was a pitcher — and a good one — coming into the draft. I don’t know what the Yanks have to lose trying it at this point.
- W.B. Mason Williams
  
  I understand being skeptical because of his age, but the numbers don’t lie.
  - Cool Lester Smooth
    
    It’s pretty easy to make numbers lie, actually, if you take them out of context.
    
    For example, one might use a player’s hitting .386/.457/.814 to argue that he is a legitimate prospect, by removing the context of his being a 26 year old 1B in AA, and not mentioning the exceedingly small sample size of 20 games.
    
    Hypothetically speaking, of course.
    - emac2
      
      God forbid we risk promoting a prospect who isn’t considered legit by a bunch of English majors that decided to cover baseball because they aren’t very interesting.
      
      Let production decide instead of trying to to outsmart reality.
      - Cool Lester Smooth
        
        Who does consider Roller legit, other than anonymous commenters on the internet who don’t know shit about prospects?
        
        I’ll wait.
- Troy
  
  Agree on Culver. They will probably wait until at least mid-season but giving up switch hitting is not working. Just give up hitting.
  
  On Roller, Fangraphs had an article on best Major League Equivalencies. Roller was #1.
  
  http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/minor-league-batting-leaders-according-to-steamer-mles/
  
  No, I doubt he will be a star but push him to AAA and see how he does. He might be a good role player. Maybe a Kevin Maas type for a short period.
Naved

And so it begins. AAA death by bullpen. Jose & Monty show. Anyone got velocity report on Ramirez’s fastball tonight?
- zs190
  
  https://twitter.com/RailRidersTT/status/464221847874449408
  - pat
    
    Oooo daddy likes.
The Other Matt

A lot of positives in the DotF tonight:

1. Season debuts by both Jose Ramirez and Greg Bird, with decent results.
2. My man Refsnyder goes yard! (Campaign for Yankees 2B 2015: Rob Refsnyder)
3. Roller continues to mash. I know a lot of people don’t consider him a real prospect due to his age, but the guy has been arguably the best hitter in all of the minor leagues this season. That has to count for something.
4. O’Brien and Jagielo go back-to-back. And Jagielo added a double to go along with it.
5. Eric Wooten with another solid outing. He has quietly put together a nice start to the season, so far. Though he is 24 in A ball, whatever that amounts too.
6. 4-4 by Avelino, with two extra base hits. Though being picked off twice when your team loses by one run, can’t feel good.
7. “The Princeton Prince” Mike Ford continues to swing the bat well. Out of all the guys down in Charleston, he seems to have impressed the most.

All in all a pretty good night.
- IRememberCelerinoSanchez
  
  It is fun to watch minor league numbers, but they, alone, don’t really tell you whether a guy has the ability to do it at the MLB level.
  
  I remember reading on RAB a couple of years ago a scout’s take on Segedin and Roller, and despite their big numbers, the scout said the guys had big holes in their swings and would not be MLB players. And Ford is an undrafted college player playing in low A.
  
  If minor league numbers alone were predictors of MLB success, Shelley Duncan would be in RF for the Yanks tonight and Jorge Vazquez would be at first.
  
  I think it is fun to see guys like Ford, Roller and Segedin do well, but if you are watching the minor leaguers to see who could be headed to the Bronx, it is more important to see how Jagielo, Judge and Sanchez do.
  - Wolfgang’s Fault
    
    Right, and scouts are almost never wrong, and the scout you reference above IS never wrong. Talk about confirmation bias.
    - Cool Lester Smooth
      
      Okay big shot, name the last major league regular that spent significant time in AA at the age of 26.
      
      If Roller can be Shelley Duncan without the contact or defense, we should be absolutely pumped.
    - Spaceman Spiff
      
      Look I agree with you that the best scouts are wrong all the time. That being said, @IRememberCelerinoSanchez is right. Theres a reason why these guys are much older than the competition they are playing. The one exception- SwP Pat Venditte- next Mariano.
      - Jorge Steinbrenner
        
        Exactly, except for one small little thing there….
        
        Yan Solo
        
        I think he made an honest mistake there. Here’s the edited version:
        The one exception- ~~SwP Pat Venditte~~ Scott Sizemore– next Mariano.
  - The Other Matt
    
    Granted, I know certain prospects are touted for a reason, while others are viewed as nothing more than “organizational filler”. Still in all, it’s encouraging to see guys such as Roller, Segedin, and Wooten, amongst others, do well for the sake of the farm. Those guys may never become stars in the Major League, or even make it at all. Yet when those guys do well, along with the “touted prospects”, it does show a level of progress throughout the farm system.
    
    You never know when one of those guys may end up making an impact, possibly. I’m sure not too many people raved about the performances of Yangervis Solarte while he was in the minors for the Rangers and Twins. I know that is just one example of success out of many failure, but it just goes to show that guys like Roller have an opportunity to make it to the big leagues one day as a guy like Gary Sanchez does. And it begins with having success in the minors. You sure aren’t going to be noticed as one of the lower-level guys for not doing well.
Rick

Jagged it?
- vicki
  
  dammit, rick.
http://www.staggeringbeauty.com/ ALZ

Lineup in Tampa is pretty good now.
Cave leading off, then you got Bichette, bird, o’brien, jagielo.
W.B. Mason Williams

It seems like every other night Kyle Roller goes 2-4 with an XBH.
hornblower

I saw Tampa play in Dunedin last Sun. Jagielo (ja-guy-lo) will be the Yanks 3rd. baseman sooner rather than later. Lefty bat perfect for the Stadium and he moves well in the field. Cave in CF is an excellent prospect but further away.
Cool Lester Smooth

Fuck yeah, Abi. He just put his ISO over .100!
YankeePankee

Hi Folks:

Thinking about the Scranton rotation, say sometime in June…..

Whitley
Greene
Banuelos
Nuding
De La Cruz
(What’s the update on Turley?)
No bad. All farm guys. No old retreads.
Can everyone tell me what each has as best pitches, what velocity do they top out at, etc.?
How do they project? Is Banuelos the only potential No. 1? Greene a No. 2?
Thanks.
- Poconos Adam
  
  Turley was released….his ‘idiot tool’ was apparently his best….have not googled him, but something beyond the diamond was obviously amiss there.
  - Cool Lester Smooth
    
    He was injured for the foreseeable future and taking up a 40 man roster spot.
Poconos Adam

Ah — should have googled him. Turley was hurt and may be re-signed. I thought when the Yanks released him there was an ‘untold story’ — my apologies to Nik (like he cares what I think anyway).
John C

now we just need Slade to return
Pinstripe Glory

How does nobody mention Dan Fiorito’s game winning home run in the 12th inning for Trenton?
- CS Yankee
  
  Maybe his sister just dumped Mike?
- pounder
  
  Played 1st base.Good player,has holes.He’s from Yonkers and we all know nothing good comes from that.LOL.
PFOJ

Ay yo, what up, Bird?
- Cool Lester Smooth
  
  ietc.
pepes pizza

An O’Neill who argues balls and strikes. Who woulda thunk it.
Wayne

How old is Joel De La Cruz? What the scouting report on him. I never heard of him before this year.