Aja Barto & Eric Fry are in Bakersfield, and the Noocher is in Hickory.

Someone please agree with me that doesn’t make a lotta sense.

But I wouldn’t be surprised to see Kiker make the pen sometime next year.

Matt West drives in Hollander with an RBI single and Nooch thrown out at home on the play.

3-2 Kannapolis through 4

Frisco trails 6-1 in 6th inning

Like he suggested getting him time during August. I think I read that in the game thread. Anyone have a link?

-Caught stealing 3rd base
-Picked off of 2nd base
-9th error of the season

Frisco now down 6-4

We are thinking about goin tomorrow, didn’t know if it was worth a damn or not.

to make BA’s Top 100 prospect list next year.
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/ask-ba/2009/268219.html

Why is Purke undoubtedly vastly superior to what Neil Ramirez was his draft year? Purke is left handed but Ramirez was very highly thought of. The reality is Ramirez has serious control issues and Purke has yet to pitch a pro inning? Can you really judge him as one of the top 100 players in America not in the MLB from high school?

Purke
SCOUTING PROFILE (3/1): Purke has a long, slender build with an extremely loose left arm, a combination that leads scouts to believe he isn’t close to reaching his physical peak. The scouts who think that Purke still has plenty of improvement ahead of him in his raw physical skills generally have him graded as the No. 1 prep prospect in the 2009 class. Purke’s velocity curve over the past few years has been ideally consistent as he’s steadily improved from a mid-80s thrower into a power pitcher who touched 95 mph at the 2008 Aflac All-American High School Classic. He has an easy three-quarters release with minimal effort in his delivery. Purke’s breaking ball is a low-80s slider that will flash plus potential at times, and he has a pretty good feel for a changeup. Pitching at the highest level of Texas prep competition, Purke went 12-1, 0.37 as a junior at Klein High in 2008, striking out 147 in 77 innings. He helped Team USA to a silver medal at the World Junior championship during the summer, but suffered the loss in the gold-medal game when he allowed six runs on eight hits in four innings. In two appearances, he went 1-1, 4.15 with a walk and 18 strikeouts in 13 innings. His innings have been carefully managed as he’s developed as a prospect, and his health background is completely clean. Purke commited to Texas Christian in the NCAA early-signing period.-DAVID RAWNSLEY
UPDATE (5/15): Purke was solid this spring, regularly touching 95 early in the spring with a sharp curveball. He routinely attracted large groups of cross-checkers and quickly pulled even with California’s Tyler Matzek as the top prep southpaws in the country. The cancellation of two weeks of Texas high-school games in late April/early May, a result of the Swine Flu epidemic, came at an opportune time for Purke as he was beginning to show signs of fatigue and had recently lost two games. Purke’s high-school team, however, subsequently didn’t even make the district playoffs when play resumed, leaving Purke with an uncomfortably long seven-week period between his last game and the June 9-11 draft. His name is regularly mentioned with teams in the top 8-15 picks, but he could slide from that area as he has told local scouts that he is looking for a major-league contract in excess of the $7-million plus deal that Detroit Tigers 2007 first-rounder and current big leaguer Rick Porcello engineered.-DR

Scheppers
SCOUTING PROFILE (3/1): With a fastball that was clocked consistently at 92-97 mph last spring, Scheppers not only emerged as a premium prospect for the 2008 draft but may have had the best raw arm strength of any pitcher on the West Coast. His fastball peaked at 99 mph in his lone relief appearance of the season in early May, when he was used to close out a game. He took his regular turn in the rotation for the finale of a Western Athletic Conference series two days later and threw 136 pitches over 6 2/3 innings, and rumblings of a sore arm soon cropped up when Scheppers didn’t make his scheduled start the following weekend. Sure enough, he was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his shoulder and didn’t pitch again over the balance of the 2008 season as the draft came and went, and Fresno State made an unexpected run to a College World Series title without Scheppers in the lineup. Scheppers was targeted to go in the top 10 picks until his unfortunate shoulder injury, and ended up sliding to the second round (48th pick overall). The Pittsburgh Pirates took a calculated risk that he would be healthy enough to sign by the Aug. 15 deadline, but weren’t comfortable with his progress in a workout in Pittsburgh just prior to the deadline and the two sides weren’t able to agree on a deal. Scheppers gave little consideration to returning to Fresno State for his senior year as hard feelings developed between the righthander and the FSU coaching staff over the way he was used late in the 2008 season, and he ended up signing with the St. Paul Saints of the independent American Association in late September. He should get 4-6 starts with the Saints for scouts to scrutinize him prior to the 2009 draft. If 100 percent healthy, it’s entirely possible he could re-establish his priority position in the draft from a year ago. In addition to his overpowering fastball, Scheppers has an 86-87 mph slider that he threw more consistently for strikes last year while assembling an 8-2, 2.93 record with 109 strikeouts in 71 innings. He also walked 34, but his control was not construed as a negative, considering his velocity. Prior to his shoulder injury, scouts liked his loose, clean, quick arm action and the limited effort in his delivery. The ball jumped out of his hand and his fastball had good downhill plane and heavy sink. He also made significant strides with the cutting and spinning action on his slider and the bite on his 82-84 mph curveball, an average pitch when he gets out front with it. His changeup, clocked at 81-83 mph, is still in the development stage. Until his junior year at Fresno State, Scheppers flew largely under the radar as he enrolled in college as predominantly a middle infielder. He worked in only 15 innings as a freshman, but jumped to 93 innings as a sophomore, making 15 starts after starting the season in the bullpen. He went 7-5, 4.74 with 32 walks and 94 strikeouts. -ALLAN SIMPSON
UPDATE (5/15): Scheppers’ return both to health and the draft market was determined to be a success this spring. Even before arriving in Minnesota in April to join the independent St. Paul Saints, Scheppers pitched in a number of scrimmages for the benefit of scouts at Golden West (Calif.) JC, where he had been working out. While Scheppers is still considered slender in his lean 6-foot-4 frame, he has added 15 pounds of muscle since a year ago. He threw steadily in the 94-96 mph range throughout May, and topped out at 98. His arm action and delivery remained smooth and effortless, and his curve showed consistent spin and action, although he didn’t appear to develop the feel and command of the pitch that he had last spring or will need in pro ball. Scouts have generally ignored his mundane performance numbers to open the 2009 season (0-1, 3.86 in 14 IP), attributing his sluggish start to accumulated rust. Scheppers was mentioned initially as a candidate to go as high as No. 2 in this year’s draft, a pick held by the Seattle Mariners. That lofty ranking didn’t hold for long, but there appears little doubt he’ll be a top-10 pick, based on his raw talent. There is some concern still that his medical is a lingering issue, although respected Los Angeles Angels team doctor, Dr. Lewis Yocum, reportedly examined him, cleared him and sent out a clean bill of health to clubs in late April.-DAVID RAWNSLEY

Mendoca
SCOUTING PROFILE (3/1): Fresno State got burned in 2007, when third baseman Beau Mills transferred to Idaho’s Lewis-Clark State for his junior year and proceeded to set an NAIA single-season home-run record on his way to becoming a first-round pick of the Cleveland Indians. A silver lining in the wake of Mills’ untimely departure, though, was the emergence of the lefthanded-hitting Mendonca, who got a chance to play every day at third base for the Bulldogs as a freshman. With that year of experience under his belt, he blossomed as a sophomore, overcoming a slow start to lead Fresno State with 19 homers while earning MVP honors at the College World Series as the Bulldogs made their unexpected run to a national title. That performance, in turn, opened the door for Mendonca to become a late add to Team USA’s national-team roster, and he played a role in that squad going 24-0 on the summer, culminating with a gold medal at the World Collegiate Baseball championship in the Czech Republic. His whirlwind 2008 season helped to jack up his prospect value for this year’s draft, as well, and he’s viewed as a solid second- or third-round candidate. Mendonca has huge lefthanded power in his strong, athletic frame, but that power is mostly pull power and it comes with lots of empty swings, as Mendonca fanned a college-record 97 times in 2008. Inconsistent contact is the only real flaw in his game, though, as he is an excellent defensive third baseman with good instincts around the bag and a powerful arm. He is also an average runner, by corner-infield standards. Mendonca hit .a respectable 285 with 70 RBIs during his breakthrough sophomore season for Fresno State, but didn’t overly distinguish himself at the plate for Team USA, hitting .231-2-7 with a team-high 26 strikeouts in 52 at-bats. But typical of his propensity to shine when the stakes are highest, he went 4-for-4 in the gold-medal game at the World University competition.-ALLAN SIMPSON
UPDATE (5/15): While Fresno State’s fortunes plummeted this spring after last year’s whirlwind CWS title run, Mendonca’s own fortunes continued to rise. He was hitting a resounding .349-25-76 as the Bulldogs entered the Western Athletic Conference-and one last crack at salvaging a disappointing 2009 season. While Mendonca’s 25 homers placed him among the national leaders, the most important thing for him this spring has been shortening up his swing and significantly cutting down on his strikeouts. He was “down” to 55 K’s in 215 at-bats. He still gets caught guessing and is vulnerable to lefthanders with good breaking balls because of a serious arm bar in his swing, but his quality swings are way up and the empty at-bats way down. Scouts attribute the evolution to Mendonca’s improved hand-eye coordination, and to his outstanding makeup and desire, which have enabled him to understand the adjustments he needs to make. There are two significant areas of his game that remain constants. First, he is a potential Gold-Glove level third baseman in the mold of Oakland A’s oft-injured third baseman Eric Chavez, with all the defensive tools and skills to impact the game with his glove and arm. The second is that when he does make contact with a quality swing, the ball travels a long way.-DAVID RAWNSLEY

Erlin
SCOUTING PROFILE (3/1): Erlin is an undersized lefthander who caught the attention of northern California scouts right out of the gate this spring with his increased velocity and incredible consistency. His fastball was just 84-87 mph at the Area Code Games last August, but he showed a clean, athletic delivery, good command and two quality off-speed pitches. At the time, he looked like a very solid upper-level college prospect and ended up commiting to Cal Poly, where his brother Tommy is a pitcher. In his first three seasons at Scott Valley High, Erlin went 15-7, 1.12 overall with a combined 40 walks and 207 strikeouts in 150 innings. He underwent a transformation, of sorts, leading up to his senior year as his fastball bumped up to 92 mph and yet he still maintained his same fluid mechanics. His big, sharp-breaking, mid-70s curveball is still his best pitch and his changeup continues to be a potential plus pitch. He earns high praise from scouts for his competitive approach.-DAVID RAWNSLEY
UPDATE (5/15): Erlin’s consistent 89-90 mph fastball this spring, coupled with his sharp breaking ball and fluid mechanics, brought in cross-checkers in significant numbers all spring. Teams that normally avoid slender high school pitchers are probably not among the those who will pay much attention to Erlin in the draft, but his raw stuff and the way he uses it warrant strong top-5 round consideration. Though he didn’t pitch against the highest level of competition, his performance this spring matched his stuff as Erlin ran off a 46-inning scoreless streak that was finally broken in the second week of May.-DR

Doyle
SCOUTING PROFILE: Even though he had sound credentials from high school (14-1 as a senior), summer ball (4-1, 2.83 in the Cape Cod League in 2007) and his first two seasons at OU, Doyle never really seemed to register with scouts until this year. He steadily grew on them all spring to a point that he could be a surprisingly-high draft, perhaps by the third or fourth rounds. He became the type of pitcher that scouts comfortably wrote up as a “50” (in their on-field performance grade on the standard 20-80 scale), meaning that Doyle grades out at major-league average-and he does so across the board with his pitches, command and movement. Doyle’s fastball showed more zip this spring than in the past, and regularly touched 93 mph. In his best outing of the 2009 season against Baylor, he even reached 95. Generally, he worked at 90-91 and maintained his velocity despite a heavy workload in an offensive-oriented OU environment. He went 8-4, 4.21 on the season, with 23 walks and 65 strikeouts in a staff-high 92 innings. His slider and changeup were both quality secondary pitches that project to average at the big-league level, and Doyle has the pitching aptitude to mix them up and throw them all for strikes. His biggest improvement this season, and the single biggest factor in his enhanced draft value came with his command. He walked 42 in 2008 (nearly double his total this season), while leading the Sooners staff in wins (9), innings (99) and strikeouts (72) -DAVID RAWNSLEY / ALLAN SIMPSON

Better Draft class – Main, Beavan, Borbon and Hunter or

Purke, Scheppers, Mendonca and Erlin?

Nooch goes 2-3 with a single, HR, and BB and has the average at .355
West and Santana both with a pair of singles
Wasn’t listening but Tufts winds up with 3 IP, 6 R, 1 ER….solid defense

Lemon and Moreland both 2-5, Whittleman 2-3 with a BB
Lemon also with 2 errors (15 on season) and Craig Gentry stole his 21st base…he is kind of fast
Tanner Roark walked three in 0.2 IP in his AA debut…another arm you totally forget about sometimes

their lineup is gross…Beltre 1-2 with a 3B

Murphy: 4 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 2 HR (one by Mr. Posey)

Oh, and Edwin Garcia has beaten out Lemon and Kaase for the error champion of the night by having already committed THREE fielding errors in 4 innings. So for those of you who had Garcia in the "Our Minor League defense Sucks’ Pool….congrats

Texas is probably working out the details but he’ll be one of the first kids to put his name to a contract. Good for him and good for the Rangers. Somewhere around slot I would suspect.

Local Paper article

Richard Durrett on the DMN live blog.

“Jon Daniels was just up in the press box. The Rangers picked 18 pitchers out of their 27 picks today, I believe. It’s a deep draft on pitchers and Daniels said that speaks more to the difficulty in finding position players in this draft than anything else. They are excited about Ruben Sierra’s son, who has a ton of speed, is very athletic and projects to be a CF or RF.”