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Barons 4/9 observations...


JPN366

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I don't need to tell you what happened with Beckham. He hit the ball hard and with authority, he was selective at the plate, which accounts for his two K's. He toughed it out too, he fouled a ball off his leg and was knocked down (see picture below courtesy of Mark Almond of the B'ham News) on a takeout slide to break up a double play. Viciedo needs A LOT of work on his defense. Plus, he is definitely still raw as a hitter. He hits the ball hard, but he needs a whole year in the minors. C.J. Retherford is still working on his D at second, but his homer was a bomb and clutch. A hell of a 9 hole hitter. Brandon Allen got robbed of a homer to center. It hit above the "yellow line," but he was only given a double. Although he can do the splits all the way stretching to catch a throw at first. Flowers attempted to run over the Lookouts catcher trying to score the winning run, but Lucas May held on and took it like a man. Shelby III has a cannon for an arm. The overall infield defense is a work in progress. At first glance, if they don't hit, they're in trouble. More tomorrow...

 

large_Beckham%20throws.jpg

Edited by JPN366
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A few tidbits I forgot...Apparently during batting practice, Tyler Flowers hit 6 450 foot bombs to center field, over the large speaker above the back wall. In the Barons souvenir program, For Gordon Beckham's profile, it says "David Beckham" instead. And, I'm sure you're all dying to know what his walk up music is. It's the song "I don't want to lose your love tonight," not sure what the actual title is or who the artist is, but you'd recognize it if you heard it.

 

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I really hope this team is all still together around mid-May. I'm planning on going to see them play West Tennessee in Jackson, since that's only about an hour drive for me. I would love to see these guys in person.

 

Ah, and that song is Your Love by The Outfield... Fitting for baseball, even if Beckham is an infielder, lol.

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If Josh Fields continues to play as well as he is, it really doesn't make as much sense to keep Viciedo at 3B.

 

Viciedo would be most valuable as a major league 3B, but our holes in the next couple of season are going to be RF or LF, 1B and DH. It's okay to let him play there for at least 3-4 months and see what they have (as an infielder), but I think they should let him play one of the corner outfield positions occasionally at some point down the line...it's not like we would be sticking him into LF like they had to do with Josh Fields at the major league level with almost no preparation (but working a little bit with the coaching staff and pregame drills).

 

Allen is better suited for playing 1B (at least average defensively), so, depending on where they see Quentin eventually (and logically, that's RF)...giving Dayan some PT in LF would be interesting.

 

Also, I see where Shelby is hitting leadoff and playing CF (same as Jordan Danks)...hopefully one of those guys really explodes and can make an impact this season so we don't have to make a trade out of desperation. Still, not an ideal scenario for a rookie (same as Getz, I guess, but with even less experience) to be brought into up in Chicago. Hopefully Chris can hold his own this season...Josh Fields and Alexei Ramirez would seem to be the only 2 alternatives, and both of those ideas are huge reaches.

Edited by caulfield12
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QUOTE (GreenSox @ Apr 12, 2009 -> 10:01 AM)
Are there any pitchers besides Poreda on the ML radar? The Sox look well-stocked for replacements for Dye, Konerko and Thome, but beyond Floyd, Danks and MB, our future starting pitching is a mite thin.

 

Actually, I think the pitching is becoming one of the strengths of the system.

 

Check out the SoxTalk Top 25 Prospects list that just went up today.

 

And keep an eye on the rotations for Birmingham and Kannapolis this year. Alot of names most fans won't be familiar with right now, but probably will be soon.

 

Kanny's pitching staff is extremely deep... and I wouldn't be surprised if some of those guys fast-track through the system.

 

Just as a taste... Kannapolis pitchers have given up a total of 9 hits in 24 innings in the first 3 games of the season.

Edited by scenario
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QUOTE (danman31 @ Apr 12, 2009 -> 03:30 PM)
I disagree, none of the guys other than Poreda can be slotted into a future White Sox rotation. They are all far too unproven at this point.

 

Everybody in the minors is unproven, including Poreda.

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QUOTE (scenario @ Apr 12, 2009 -> 03:45 PM)
Everybody in the minors is unproven, including Poreda.

There are levels of that though. Poreda has pitched well in AA, a big separator of prospects, and none of the guys you are referring to have yet. Unless we are talking about a first rounder or a guy with superior stuff, it's hard to assume they make it to the bigs before they show success above A ball.

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QUOTE (danman31 @ Apr 12, 2009 -> 01:30 PM)
I disagree, none of the guys other than Poreda can be slotted into a future White Sox rotation. They are all far too unproven at this point.

Not too mention none project into the front of the rotation (and that includes Poreda, who I fully believe has a far better upside as a reliever). There are a couple of live arms but they are a ways away and I think the Sox should focus on getting some hard throwing arms in this draft.

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QUOTE (danman31 @ Apr 12, 2009 -> 04:02 PM)
There are levels of that though. Poreda has pitched well in AA, a big separator of prospects, and none of the guys you are referring to have yet. Unless we are talking about a first rounder or a guy with superior stuff, it's hard to assume they make it to the bigs before they show success above A ball.

Cassel pitched AA last year and won the ERA crown.

 

Unfortunately, he's on the Charlotte DL right now for reasons unknown.

 

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The likes of Ely, Omogrosso, Santeliz and Harrell all have a lot of talent...but they just could easily end up in the bullpen in Chicago, if they make it at all.

 

The most likely happening is someone in Kannapolis really having a breakthrough type of year and emerging like Corwin Malone or Faustino DeLosSantos did in past seasons...someone in the Top 10-30 list moving to #4-5-6-7 in our Top 10.

 

Put me in the "skeptical" camp about Poreda until he proves he can control and get ahead with the slider and possibly change-up.

 

 

Edited by caulfield12
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QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Apr 14, 2009 -> 12:23 PM)
Cassel pitched AA last year and won the ERA crown.

 

Unfortunately, he's on the Charlotte DL right now for reasons unknown.

In a pitcher's with mediocre peripherals. He does have a major injury on his record. I'm not saying he isn't a prospect, but I'm not expecting him to do anything in the Majors.

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