Minors Thread - 8/30 - Lone Star Ball

Minors Thread - 8/30

by FirebatM3 on Aug 30, 2008 8:55 PM CDT

No great pitching prospects going tonight, so let's focus on the hitters.

Max and TT playing together again in Oklaholma. Neither of them did too well, but TT did have his 7th homer of the year tonight.

The Frisco Roughriders take on fellow Giant of the Texas League, the Midland Rockhounds of the Athletics organization.

Borbon is currently 0-2, Elvis is 1-2 with a walk and his 52nd steal, Vallejo is 2-3 with his 16th steal.

Bakersfield goes later today against Modesto.

Clinton is currently up 5-1. Engel Beltre is 3-3 with 3 singles, Mitch Moreland is 1-2 and Justin Smoak is 1-2 with a walk. Smoak is now above .300 for the year.

Spokane is in the 2nd and it's still scoreless. Eric Fry has a HBP, while the 17 year old Martin Perez has finished 1 inning with 2 Ks.

The Baby Rangers already destroyed the hopes and dreams of their Brewers counterparts, beating them 14-4. There were tears. Young Clark Murphy went 2-2 with 2 BB. The young 1B/DH/LF is now hitting .358/.435/.526 with 12BB and 19Ks and 11 XBH in 95 ABs.

Discussion Question of the Night:

Who do you think is the best position prospect at every level of the Ranger's system.

0 recs | Comment 53 comments

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Comments

Elvis is 1-2...Who Cares?

if he goes 0-4…My Gosh has he made some great plays in the field tonight! Wow!

"...my balls are really like a veiny flesh color" blueballlefty on Jun 4, 2008 7:44 PM EDT
"you gonna lose your horse. seriously." FX2
"If you ain't got no money, ain't nobody calls you honey," Bo Diddley

by Rodney on Aug 30, 2008 9:00 PM CDT 0 recs

He's been impressive at the plate too.

His walk came after he fell behind 0-2, took a couple of close pitches along the way.

by LiamP on Aug 30, 2008 9:04 PM CDT up 0 recs

Tommy Hunter and Martin Perez

are pretty good pitching prospects.

Hunter with 8 great innings tonight.

Warner Madrigal makes Ezequiel Astacio look downright handsome.

by tricer on Aug 30, 2008 9:16 PM CDT 0 recs

oh yeah

and Omar Poveda ain’t bad either.

Warner Madrigal makes Ezequiel Astacio look downright handsome.

by tricer on Aug 30, 2008 9:20 PM CDT up 0 recs

yay

there’s tricer with the contrarian dick move.

Ok, no fantastic top 5 pitching prospects going tonight. Happy?

by FirebatM3 on Aug 30, 2008 9:38 PM CDT up 0 recs

funny

Warner Madrigal makes Ezequiel Astacio look downright handsome.

by tricer on Aug 30, 2008 10:11 PM CDT up 0 recs

Steal Home sez

IAMfucking mor n

ustupid AS holes

by Rodney on Aug 30, 2008 10:15 PM CDT up 0 recs

position prospects at each level

spo – bianucci
cli – smoak
bak – lemon
fri – elvis
okc – max

Warner Madrigal makes Ezequiel Astacio look downright handsome.

by tricer on Aug 30, 2008 9:20 PM CDT 0 recs

Agreed.

by LiamP on Aug 30, 2008 10:07 PM CDT up 0 recs

Agreed on top position prospects per team

How about prospect #2:
Spo – West
Cli – Beltre
Bak – Osuna?
Fri – Borbon
OK – Teagarden

by spurdynasty on Aug 30, 2008 10:10 PM CDT up 0 recs

frisco

borbon / vallejo is kinda close, ain’t it?

Warner Madrigal makes Ezequiel Astacio look downright handsome.

by tricer on Aug 30, 2008 10:14 PM CDT up 0 recs

Not really

Borbon is better in every category and he plays a more defensively-demanding position just as well.

by FirebatM3 on Aug 30, 2008 10:16 PM CDT up 0 recs

yeah

you’re right on this one there Mr. Touchy-feeley.

Warner Madrigal makes Ezequiel Astacio look downright handsome.

by tricer on Aug 30, 2008 10:22 PM CDT up 0 recs

Blow it out of yer hole

by FirebatM3 on Aug 30, 2008 10:25 PM CDT up 0 recs

what's wrong fire crotch?

Seriously, WTF is your problem? I mention that a couple of pitching prospects that I like are going tonight and you start acting like a teen age girl that got jilted on prom night.

Warner Madrigal makes Ezequiel Astacio look downright handsome.

by tricer on Aug 30, 2008 10:32 PM CDT up 0 recs

The "Master of Divinity"

pissed him off in another thread?

Dunno…it sure happened to me.

by Rodney on Aug 30, 2008 10:43 PM CDT up 0 recs

Master of Divinity?

I don’t get it.

Warner Madrigal makes Ezequiel Astacio look downright handsome.

by tricer on Aug 30, 2008 10:52 PM CDT up 0 recs

Who is the Master of Divinity? Tricer?

I just get tired of guys like Cahill and tricer sometimes. It might be fun to constantly be contrarian, but it’s little fun for other people to read.

Give me some time, I’ll get over it.

by FirebatM3 on Aug 30, 2008 10:58 PM CDT up 0 recs

Beltre not

I would take Moreland over Beltre at this point.

Nolan Ryan should be the Rangers president, GM, manager and pitching coach.

by RangerMad on Aug 30, 2008 11:25 PM CDT up 0 recs

really?

Beltre is 4 years younger.

by FirebatM3 on Aug 30, 2008 11:26 PM CDT up 0 recs

I like Moreland

but that’s a stretch.

O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!
Sondern laßt uns angenehmere anstimmen,
und freudenvollere.

by t ball on Aug 31, 2008 7:35 AM CDT up 0 recs

Oh man do I disagree with that sentimony

Oh, won’t somebody please think of the toolsy children!

The 40 Trumps All!!!

by thedirkatron on Aug 31, 2008 1:32 PM CDT up 0 recs

Engel Beltre

with walk #3 in 2 nights.

by FirebatM3 on Aug 30, 2008 9:58 PM CDT 0 recs

yay

Offense doesn't doubt me, but my first and primemost thing is defense and punt return and kickoff return

by zywica on Aug 31, 2008 3:20 PM CDT up 0 recs

Martin Perez

6.0 6 1 1 1 7

Warner Madrigal makes Ezequiel Astacio look downright handsome.

by tricer on Aug 30, 2008 10:12 PM CDT 0 recs

Looks like

he’s on his way to a tough-luck loss

by FirebatM3 on Aug 30, 2008 10:14 PM CDT up 0 recs

Holy Shizz!

by Rodney on Aug 30, 2008 10:16 PM CDT up 0 recs

And

7:4 G:F

Go Strangers.

by hightowersmith on Aug 30, 2008 11:39 PM CDT up 0 recs

Which team fields the worse group of position prospects.

Spokane or Bakersfield?

by FirebatM3 on Aug 30, 2008 10:18 PM CDT 0 recs

Bakersfield

Spokane is third in the NWL with a 745 OPS. It seems that a few guys from the Indians emerge as legitimate prospects after putting up uninspiring numbers in the NWL. In contrast, Bakersfield has been robbed of its most interesting hitting prospects (Borbon, Vallejo, Tracy, Whittleman) while receiving very few compelling promotions (Gac and Osuna are the highlights).

by spurdynasty on Aug 30, 2008 10:46 PM CDT up 0 recs

Especially considering

that your A+ team is usually much more loaded than a short season roster.

Offense doesn't doubt me, but my first and primemost thing is defense and punt return and kickoff return

by zywica on Aug 31, 2008 3:22 PM CDT up 0 recs

Poveda through 5 innings

6H, 1ER, 0BB, 8K.
Poveda’s last four strikeouts have come on curveballs. Although he has pitched fewer than 100 innings this year, Poveda appears to be the graduate from the 2007 Clinton rotation (along with kiker, Reed, and Phillips) who has made the most progress in Bakersfield. He is now liberally using his curve to complement a good fastball and plus change-up. Despite a 4+ ERA, Poveda is maintaining pretty solid peripherals and I would not be surprised to see him emerge next year as a very nice prospect as a 21 yo in AA.

by spurdynasty on Aug 30, 2008 10:32 PM CDT 0 recs

good call

Warner Madrigal makes Ezequiel Astacio look downright handsome.

by tricer on Aug 30, 2008 10:35 PM CDT up 0 recs

"good fastball"

he’s still in 88-90 range. I think if he succeeds, he’ll never exactly have a good fastball, but succeed off of his off speed stuff like a Justin Duscherer.

by FirebatM3 on Aug 30, 2008 10:49 PM CDT up 0 recs

Poveda's fastball

I rely primarily on radio broadcasts to get information on most of the Rangers minor league pitchers, so my information might not be particularly accurate. With that said, Poveda was apparently throwing 90-93 MPH in the second half last year and when I’ve heard velocity mentioned this year, it has typically been above 90 MPH. Is that not accurate?

by spurdynasty on Aug 30, 2008 11:01 PM CDT up 0 recs

somewhere around it

He’s got great separation between FB and change regardless, but it’s usually around that 90mph mark.

by FirebatM3 on Aug 30, 2008 11:05 PM CDT up 0 recs

Poveda's 2008 season appears to be done

Omar hopefully saw his High A career end with a bang tonight with a final line of 7IP, 7H, 1ER, 0BB, 9K. His 2008 ERA will be 4.47 in 90.2 IP in the Cal league. His almost 10K/9IP is extremely encouraging as is his WHIP of ~1.25. His walk rate rose to almost 4BB/9IP.

by spurdynasty on Aug 30, 2008 11:14 PM CDT up 0 recs

with Frisco pitching

the likes of Hodges and Schalact once a turn, you don’t think Poveda gets some AA time?

by FirebatM3 on Aug 30, 2008 11:24 PM CDT up 0 recs

Poveda in AA this year?

I would definitely like to see Poveda pitching in the Texas League playoffs next week but assume that it is too late for promotions and unlikely that Frisco would drop a pitcher who had helped the Roughriders get to the playoffs.

After our discussion last night regarding Poveda’s fastball, I wanted to be sure that I had not mis-heard/mis-remembered what Poveda throws. Toward that end I scanned last night’s radio broadcast and at the 1:08 mark in the broadcast, the announcer clearly states that Poveda gets his heater up to 93 to 94 MPH.

by spurdynasty on Aug 31, 2008 8:11 AM CDT up 0 recs

whose broadcast was that

cause just this year they said “around 90mph”

by FirebatM3 on Aug 31, 2008 11:27 AM CDT up 0 recs

Use the link below via milb.com

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/media/player/mp_tpl.jsp?w=http3A//web.servicebureau.net/conf/meta3Fi3D111302828526c3D1466726m3Dwas26u%3D/w2.xsl&w_id=97575&pid=milb_ga&type=a_sub&_mp=1

The comment comes at 1:07:45.

by spurdynasty on Aug 31, 2008 11:53 AM CDT up 0 recs

Hindman says

that Poveda’s FB velocity has increased from high 80’s to “92ish, touching 94 on occassion” in the last 18 months.

http://rangersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/08/ffg-rangers-minor-league-report-831.html

Warner Madrigal makes Ezequiel Astacio look downright handsome.

by tricer on Aug 31, 2008 2:50 PM CDT up 0 recs

Hindman also

calls the breaking pitch a slider, rather than a curve.

Warner Madrigal makes Ezequiel Astacio look downright handsome.

by tricer on Aug 31, 2008 2:51 PM CDT up 0 recs

I saw that, too

The radio announcer that does the milb broadcasts thinks the pitch is a curve.

by spurdynasty on Aug 31, 2008 3:55 PM CDT up 0 recs

To be fair

it’s probably a little difficult to determine the type of pitch wild announcing a minor league game. As long as they move in the same mph range, does it really matter which pitch it is?

by FirebatM3 on Aug 31, 2008 5:17 PM CDT up 0 recs

they don't necessarily have to drop a guy

with september callups taking guys from OKC (Littleton, Loe), it’d make sense for some Frisco guys to move up, allowing Poveda to move to Frisco, which he probably deserves at this point.

by FirebatM3 on Aug 31, 2008 11:28 AM CDT up 0 recs

I hadn't considered that

I hope that you’re right. Poveda and Kiker joining Feliz, Holland, and Jones for the AA playoffs would be great fun. I might have to make the three hour drive up I-35 to catch a game or two.

by spurdynasty on Aug 31, 2008 11:58 AM CDT up 0 recs

Justin Duchscherer throws his FB in the 84-86mph range, so that's a bit extreme

Guys can succeed with 89-90mph FB’s as long as they have a decent breaking pitch, and especially if they have great separation between the FB and the CH like Poveda does.

Keeping that k/9 above 9 for the season despite the early struggles really makes me excited about the kid. If he can get his BB rate back down to where it was last year he’ll take off like a pretty pink rocket ship next year in Frisco.

The 40 Trumps All!!!

by thedirkatron on Aug 31, 2008 1:31 PM CDT up 0 recs

Idle Question

Last summer Spokane had a pretty nice rotation, consisting of Tommy Hunter, Derek Holland, Fabio Castillo, Jake Brigham and Ryan Tatusko (plus cameos from Feliz, Main and Reed). Baseball America ranked Castillo as the #5 prospect in the eight team Northwest League last year, Hunter #7, and Brigham #20.

I wonder how Ramirez/Boscan/Perez/Pimentel/Bleier do this year? I haven’t given a lot of thought to what type of talent the league has this year, but I really expect to see Ramirez, Perez and Bleier on the list. I tend to think that Ramirez will be listed highest of the three, but I have no idea where. I’m anxious to see it. Unfortunately I think they rank short season leagues after all of the full season leagues now, so it might be two months before we see how they rank them.

I’m also curious to see where/whether Wieland and Clark Murphy show in the AZL.

Offense doesn't doubt me, but my first and primemost thing is defense and punt return and kickoff return

by zywica on Aug 31, 2008 6:14 PM CDT 0 recs

but I really expect to see Ramirez, Perez and Bleier

Sorry, that obviously is supposed to be Boscan, not Bleier.

Offense doesn't doubt me, but my first and primemost thing is defense and punt return and kickoff return

by zywica on Aug 31, 2008 6:37 PM CDT up 0 recs

and I guess you could throw Tim Murphy in there

even though he wasn’t a starter while with them

Offense doesn't doubt me, but my first and primemost thing is defense and punt return and kickoff return

by zywica on Aug 31, 2008 6:59 PM CDT up 0 recs

NWL rankings

The NWL All-Star team was announced a few days ago and the names on the list are primarily 22-23 year-olds drafted this year or last out of college. The exceptions are Josh Vitters (19 yo 3rd baseman) and Wilfredo Boscan (RH SP). I assume that BA will rank Boscan and Vitters 1 and 2.

NeRa finished the regular season with a 52 strikeouts and a 2.66 ERA which would rank him among the league leaders if he had pitched enough innings. Given his age, performance, and stuff, I would not be surprised to see him ranked in the Top 5.

Perez and Murphy seem like good bets to be among the Top20.

by spurdynasty on Aug 31, 2008 11:15 PM CDT up 0 recs

Boscan #2

I doubt that greatly. Just between him and Ramirez, Ramirez has well documented plus stuff. Watching Boscan pitch, he has sutbler, more refined talent. That doesn’t necessarily project to a better ranking in something like that.

Having said all of that, I’d love to see Boscan ranked that high for selfish reasons.

Looking through the league leaders I’m not seeing many big names, but I still kind of doubt that Murphy makes it, particularly if three members of his own rotation are already on it.

Offense doesn't doubt me, but my first and primemost thing is defense and punt return and kickoff return

by zywica on Aug 31, 2008 11:26 PM CDT up 0 recs