AAP: Michael Blanke, C

[basebllrcks]

 

Full Name: Michael G. Blanke

Born: 10/17/1988

Birthplace: Granby, QC

College: Univ. of Tampa

Height: 6' 4"

Weight: 220

Bats: R

Throws: R

Drafted by the White Sox 14th Round (428 overall) in 2010 Draft.

 

Current Team: Winston Salem Dash

 

College Stats:

 

Blanke played for Seton Hall University his freshman year. In 2008 he played in 13 games getting 4 RBI.

 

Blanke's sophmore year was spent at St. Petersburg College. During his sophmore compaign he hit .329 with 10 home runs and 70 RBI.

 

Yet another transfer for Blanke's Junior year, transfering to University of Tampa. Blanke hit .377 with 9 home runs and 65 RBI. Was selected as the tournament MVP for the NCAA Division II South Region.

Edited June 19, 2011 by gfbaseball

[basebllrcks]

Blanke caught in tonights game. Nothing exciting on the defensive side of things. Nobody stole on him and there were no plays at the plate. Blanke was potentialy robbed of a monster home run down the left field line in his first at bat. It was a tough call for the umpire because it cleared Centene Stadium way above the foul pole. My unofficial guess would put it at about a 420' shot. Regardless it went in the book as a foul ball. Blanke made up for it in his second at bat going for about 400' over the left field wall. Both shots were monsters right off the bat.

 

With 5 games left til the halfway point of the season, Blanke's batting .319 and leading the Voyagers with 5 home runs and third on the team with 17 RBI. Blanke is getting most of the starts at catcher for the Voyagers with basically a 2-1-2-1 rotation with Rob Vaughn and Jose Ramos.

Edited July 25, 2010 by gfbaseball

[basebllrcks]

Voyagers finished up the first half of their season tonight. They clinched the Pioneer League Northern Div 1st half championship a couple nights ago. With that, they punched their ticket to the post season at the end of the season.

 

As for Michael Blanke, he finished up the first half of the season 3rd on the team in average batting .321 and leads the team in home runs (6). He's also tied for second on the team in doubles (9) and RBI's (19). He's got 14 K's to 10 BB and holds a .563 slugging percentage, tops on the team. Blanke is still getting the majority of the starts at catcher and is often in the lineup as DH when not catching.

 

Michael is putting up some of the best numbers we've seen out of a catcher in Great Falls in a few years.

[basebllrcks]

Blanke won the Most Valuable Player for the 2010 Great Falls Voyagers and is the Pioneer League Allstar selection at catcher. They do not play an allstar game, so it's just an honorary selection. Two regular season games left, before the Voyagers start the playoffs. I'll post his final regular season stats Friday.

 

Last nights game was a great curtain call for the newly selected MVP. Top of the 9th he held onto the ball for the third out on a throw from home and collision at home. Then knocked in the game winning run in the bottom of the ninth. Blanke has been very clutch this year producing time after time in clutch situations.

[basebllrcks]

The regular season is over in Great Falls, now off to the playoffs. GO VOYAGERS!!!

 

Blanke finished the regular season second on the team in average at .329 second to Ryan Lee (.331) who moved to Kannapolis a couple weeks ago. Blanke finished first on the team in hits (79), 2B (20), HR (7), RBI (43), TB (122), & SLG% (.509).

 

For the season Blanke batted .392 against left handed pitchers and .312 with runners on base. His stats did take a bit of a dip the last couple weeks, but we seem to see that quite often in Great Falls for first year players. Between college and short season, they put in equal to a full season for the first time.

 

Overall a great rookie season for Blanke capped off with his MVP award and hopefully a Pioneer League Championship in a few days.

[Ozzie Ball]

From Baseball America's Pioneer League top 20 list (Blanke's ranked #7):

Blanke stood just 5-foot-9 as a high school junior, but in the course of his college career at Seton Hall, St. Petersburg (Fla.) JC and NCAA Division II Tampa, he grew seven inches. His physical maturity and defensive prowess got him drafted in the 14th round in June, and he would have gone much earlier had clubs had any inkling that he would show plus power, arm strength and receiving skills in his pro debut.

 

Blanke barrels the ball and uses the whole field. Like any player with long arms, he has holes on the inner half of the plate, but he projects as an average hitter with 15-20 home run pop.

 

His arm is his best tool and helped him erase a league-leading 35 percent of basestealers. He also committed just four passed balls in 48 games.

 

"For a big kid, he folds up real nice behind the plate," Cron said. "He receives great and has a super arm. He swings the bat aggressiv

http://www.baseballamerica.com/online/pros...10/2610716.html

[maggsmaggs]

Definitely seems like a great draft pick. Always nice to see great offense with a guy so good defensively. Let's hope he doesn't become next in line of White Sox catching prospects who bust: Mark Johnson, Francisco Hernandez, Tyler Flowers this year. Anyone else?

[SoxAce]

From Baseball America's Pioneer League top 20 list (Blanke's ranked #7):

http://www.baseballamerica.com/online/pros...10/2610716.html

 

So you hoppin on the bandwagon with me with this kid Jeff or what? I'll even let you ride shot gun.

 

Always liked the reports comming out from him and at the time, praised the pick (especially since it was so late). He could easily struggle of course going higher, but I like his intangibles.

 

Definitely seems like a great draft pick. Always nice to see great offense with a guy so good defensively. Let's hope he doesn't become next in line of White Sox catching prospects who bust: Mark Johnson, Francisco Hernandez, Tyler Flowers this year. Anyone else?

 

Hard to be a bust when you were drafted in the 14th round. Anything we can get out of him is a bonus. I still think he will be our best catching prospect next season (whether that is because our catching depth is so weak/bad, Tyler graduates from prospect status/or is traded, or he hits... we'll see)

Edited September 27, 2010 by J.Reedfan8

[bigruss]

Definitely seems like a great draft pick. Always nice to see great offense with a guy so good defensively. Let's hope he doesn't become next in line of White Sox catching prospects who bust: Mark Johnson, Francisco Hernandez, Tyler Flowers this year. Anyone else?

Miguel Gonzalez was a dissappoint this year.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

So you hoppin on the bandwagon with me with this kid Jeff or what? I'll even let you ride shot gun.

 

Always liked the reports comming out from him and at the time, praised the pick (especially since it was so late). He could easily struggle of course going higher, but I like his intangibles.

 

 

 

Hard to be a bust when you were drafted in the 14th round. Anything we can get out of him is a bonus. I still think he will be our best catching prospect next season (whether that is because our catching depth is so weak/bad, Tyler graduates from prospect status/or is traded, or he hits... we'll see)

 

Phegley?

[SoxAce]

Phegley?

 

Read that thread I put up. Not sold on him yet and this is comming from someone who actually liked the pick at the time. I still like Miguel Gonzalez however. (I know Dan is a huge fan of his) He is the most major league ready defensively. Just gotta hope the bat catches up.

Edited September 28, 2010 by J.Reedfan8

[danman31]

Hard not to have doubts on Miguel at this point. The scouting reports are starting to lag a bit too.

[SoxAce]

Hard not to have doubts on Miguel at this point. The scouting reports are starting to lag a bit too.

 

He's still only 19 in low A. I'd give him another year before shuffling the deck.

[winninguglyin83]

Josh Paul was another bust who was taken fairly high -- although he helped us win the ALCS with his performance behind the plate in Game Two.

[basebllrcks]

Blanke is coming on after a slow start in Kannapolis. He started the season 2 for 18 the first four games of the season. Since then he's got a four game hit streak going 7 for 17 during that streak with a game winning home run worked in. No surprise on the game winning home run, Blanke as always been a clutch hitter in clutch situations.

Edited April 17, 2011 by gfbaseball

[basebllrcks]

Blanke has finished up the first half of the season with the Dash. He was promoted to the Dash after 47 games with Kannapolis, batting .259 with 18 HRs and 18 RBIs with the Intimidators. He's played in 12 games with the Dash batting .220. Overall for the season Blanke is batting .246 between Kannapolis and Winston Salem.

[Balta1701]

Gonzo

Knowing how painful it has been for White Sox fans to watch opponents steal bases with great frequency, Michael Blanke hopes to get an opportunity someday to put a stop to that with an admittedly unorthodox style.

 

Blanke, 23, is trying to polish the rest of his defensive skills in the Arizona Fall League while displaying a strong arm that has caught the attention of Sox officials.

 

"I'm going to take chances because I'm trying to throw guys out," Blanke said.

 

Blanke said many of the 18 errors he committed while catching 103 games for Class A Kannapolis and Winston-Salem in 2011 occurred on throwing miscues. But he nailed opponents on 37 percent of their stolen-base attempts — considerably better than the 22 percent success rate by Sox catchers in 2011.

 

"That's just the way I play, and that's going to happen once in a while," Blanke said of his throwing errors. "Maybe if there's a chance I can't throw him out, I'm still going to throw it and take that chance because once in a while I do get them out. Sometimes you will catch a bad break, but I'm going to keep throwing and not let that affect me."

 

While participating in the Arizona Instructional League in early October, Blanke was selected to Mesa's taxi squad in the AFL to take the roster spot of Josh Phegley, who was sidelined because of a left wrist injury. Blanke is eligible to play on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and he continues to work on all facets of his defense and hitting.

 

"We tend to forget this has been his first full (professional) season, and to be in this league after your first full season is tough to do and he's handling his own," Mesa manager Joe McEwing said.

 

The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Blanke, a 14th-round selection in 2010, made a favorable impression Wednesday in a 10-5 victory over Scottsdale. Blanke ripped his second home run of the AFL season and drew praise for his handling of Pirates prospect Gerrit Cole, the No. 1 pick in the 2011 draft who possesses a 100 mph fastball.

 

"He did great, especially for catching me," Cole said. "I throw a little different than most guys with the approach and my stuff. We got together before the first inning and tried to break down a couple hitters. Then we got in a flow and got the hang of things."

 

The AFL invitation has enabled Blanke to devote more time to the nuances of calling a game as well as work on his hitting. John Orton, the Sox's roving catching instructor, worked with Blanke after the Instructional League ended two weeks ago.

 

"He's got a ways to go in his development and calling a game," McEwing said. "He's doing a great job. He did a great job with Cole.

 

"As you go through the years and see more pitchers, you develop your own style. He made a lot of adjustments at the plate and has swung the bat well."

[NorthSideSox72]

Converted to pitcher, now with Great Falls.

 

[knightni]

Acquired by DBacks.