4/14 Games

[NorthSideSox72]

Columbus @ Charlotte, 6:15pm CDT, Charlie Haeger gets his 3rd start of the season (1-1, 5.79)

 

Mississippi @ B-Ham, 7:05pm CDT, Richard starts for the Barons (1-1, 4.00)

 

Winston-Salem @ Myrtle Beach, 6:05pm CDT, Ely gets his second start (first start: 6 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 4 K)

 

Hickory @ Kanny, 6:05pm CDT, J Rice with the start for the Intimidators (0-1, 2.45)

 

[scenario]

Check out the stat line on Tommy Hanson, the pitcher Winston-Salem is going up against tonight.

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/st...&pid=462102

 

In two starts this season, he has given up ONE HIT. Has 20 strikeouts vs. 3 walks in 11 innings pitched.

 

Yikes.

 

Another good looking young pitcher in the Atlanta system.

Edited April 14, 2008 by scenario

[scenario]

Charlie Haeger has pitched much better than his ERA suggests.

 

He's only had one bad inning, I think, in his two starts.

 

So far, on the season, he has 12K's and only 3 BB's in 14 innings.

 

I hope his improved control continues. That will be critical for him if he's going to make it and stick at the big league level.

 

(Historically, his K/BB is about 1.5, and a BB/9 > 4.00, which isn't going to cut it. Difficult to see him achieving league average ERA or lower with those ratios.)

 

 

Edit: Turned out that Ohka pitched tonight, not Haeger.

Edited April 15, 2008 by scenario

[scenario]

Winston-Salem scored a run in the first inning, without getting a hit, or without the pitcher giving up a walk.

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/st...wswafa_myrafa_1

 

Don't see that happen every day.

 

Since the opposing pitcher has only given up one-hit all year, it's a good thing we can manufacture runs out of thin air when we have to.

Edited April 15, 2008 by scenario

[maggsmaggs]

Ely is cruising once again. 4 inn, 3 hits, no runs, no walks and 3 Ks. He probably the most complete pitcher in the Sox system. Great command and pretty solid stuff. Guarantee he beats Poreda to the bigs.

[Capn12]

Josh Fields gets the oft received Golden Sombrero tonight.. 0-4, 4 Ks

Tomo Ohka finally pitches a good game, and gets 1 run of support for his cause.

[scenario]

Nice closer outing for Jon Link at Birmingham.

 

1 inning... 3 up... 3 K's...

 

I think he might be worth starting to pay attention to.

 

He did a nice job for us last year after we acquired him (from San Diego for Mackowiak).

 

And this year, 4 saves, 8 strikeouts, 1 walk, in 6 games... with a 1.59 ERA.

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/st...&pid=456899

[JPN366]

Nice closer outing for Jon Link at Birmingham.

 

1 inning... 3 up... 3 K's...

 

I think he might be worth starting to pay attention to.

 

He did a nice job for us last year after we acquired him (from San Diego for Mackowiak).

 

And this year, 4 saves, 8 strikeouts, 1 walk, in 6 games... with a 1.59 ERA.

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/st...&pid=456899

 

Richard pitched well, but the bullpen let the M-Braves back in it. Link is good, kinda bulldoggish. He did give up a double, but closed it out. Nanita is en fuego, already has 10 RBI's on the season, two of which were tonight. Plus he stole a base and hustled on a sac fly by Schnurstein. Gartrell also manufactured a run.

[Heads22]

Ely's gonna be the s***.

[scenario]

Richard pitched well, but the bullpen let the M-Braves back in it. Link is good, kinda bulldoggish. He did give up a double, but closed it out. Nanita is en fuego, already has 10 RBI's on the season, two of which were tonight. Plus he stole a base and hustled on a sac fly by Schnurstein. Gartrell also manufactured a run.

 

Ahhh... thanks. I missed the hit against Link when I looked earlier.

 

You've been to a couple of the Barons games so far, right?

 

What do think about the players you've seen so far?

[JPN366]

Ahhh... thanks. I missed the hit against Link when I looked earlier.

 

You've been to a couple of the Barons games so far, right?

 

What do think about the players you've seen so far?

 

I have season tickets, 6 for 6 so far. I think that the Barons could have one of the best rotations in the Southern League. Clayton Richard has pitched well since his shaky first start. Brian Omogrosso was impressive in his first start, didn't waste pitches & hustled to the mound. Cassel and Harrell will do fine. McCulloch is the one to worry about. He is the only player on the entire team who concerns me.

I'm not holding my breath that Valido will ever hit. His errant throws are also annoying. He works counts well and is fundamentally sound, but just doesn't hit. Collaro hasn't jacked one yet, and that's all he's good for. For some reason, he hasn't played outfield yet this season. He looks like a lame horse when he walks. Schnurstein is doing alright. Kinda off to a slow start, but he hasn't played here since 2006. He's starting over. But, his defense at first base is first rate. He's saved a lot of throwing errors from occuring. And, he's showing a lot of leadership. Nanita's off to a hot start like I said. Mercedes is the ultimate sparkplug. Always gives 110%. Armstrong isn't hitting much, but doing well behind the plate. So far 6-5, but all close games. The Barons have been blown out a lot over the past two seasons.

[DBAHO]

Good to see Ely's had a good start to the season.

 

Hopefully he can move up to B-Ham by season's end.

[scenario]

McCulloch is the one to worry about. He is the only player on the entire team who concerns me.

 

What do you see (or not see) with McCulloch?

 

Pitches?

Command?

Mound presence?

 

Anything specific that concerns you? Or a combination of things?

[JPN366]

What do you see (or not see) with McCulloch?

 

Pitches?

Command?

Mound presence?

 

Anything specific that concerns you? Or a combination of things?

 

I've seen him make one start this year, and a handful last season. He hasn't gone past 5 innings. He's gotten lit up in all but one of the starts. None of the tangible stuff seems to be an issue. I don't think he's ready for the Southern League. The jury's still out, but I don't think he'll turn out to be any good.

Edited April 15, 2008 by JPN366

[scenario]

I've seen him make one start this year, and a handful last season. He hasn't gone past 5 innings. He's gotten lit up in all but one of the starts. None of the tangible stuff seems to be an issue. I don't think he's ready for the Southern League. The jury's still out, but I don't think he'll turn out to be any good. Plus he's kind of a d**k.

 

I've had some conversations with a guy from Texas on another board who's met Kyle several times. Says Kyle works at baseball camps for kids and helped teach his son to pitch. Says he's a great guy.

 

Could be that he's just struggling with the adjustment since his promotion late last season.

 

He looked pretty good in the Carolina league where he won Pitcher of the Week 3 times. Of the 17 different pitchers who won the award last season, only 3 of them won it more than once. And McCulloch was the only guy who won it more than twice.

Edited April 15, 2008 by scenario

[JPN366]

I've had some conversations with a guy from Texas on another board who's met Kyle several times. Says Kyle works at baseball camps for kids and helped teach his son to pitch. Says he's a great guy.

 

Could be that he's just struggling with the adjustment since his promotion late last season.

 

He looked pretty good in the Carolina league where he won Pitcher of the Week 3 times. Of the 17 different pitchers who won the award last season, only 3 of them won it more than once. And McCulloch was the only guy who won it more than twice.

 

I'm glad he works with kids, but he may reserve his niceness for them. That was just a quick first impression though. But, that's neither here nor there. Yeah, I think he's struggling a little bit in AA. The Southern League is a hell of a lot tougher than the Carolina League. But, like I said, the jury is still out. He's pitching tonight, so we'll see. The M-Braves are the worst team in the league.

Edited April 15, 2008 by JPN366