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I spent a lot of time on the Peoria and State College victories.They both were given to us. Incredible finishes.
In the Peoria game, bottom of the 9th down 3-1, the Quad City reliever was starting his third inning…. bottom 3 in the order coming up…. he walks all three. Mike Fennel bounces one off the 2nd baseman… 2 score. Fennell takes second, Robertson Ks (1 out). They intentionally walk Mendoza to get to Hudzina… who singles in the walk-off.
State College won in the away ninth on an error and C Joe Gomez’ (-.100) second XBH of the season. Funny game, this baseball.
Any moves the Cards make are like the Leake deal. A surprise. So anyone you all think the Cards will try to acquire most likely won’t happen. Something will come down, but not what is expected.
This Leake thing is like the more you think you know the more you find out how much you don’t know. It’s all in Mozeliak’s head…. no one can predict what’s in there.
I’ve said for nearly two seasons that Leake is not a good fit for this team. Just as I was getting used to the fact that he’d be here because of his sweet contract… swooosh he’s gone. A salary dump or to clear room for Flaherty, probably both. Do we really need a guy like Ascanio? Did we take him because he’s not wanted in their organization? It appears that he has very little or no value at all. He’s almost a JMartinez(SS) clone only with an even weaker bat.
Maybe the worst catcher in their organization would have been better. Jesse Jenner (MEM) just went on the DL, so here we go again with the musical chairs. Maybe Knizner will be sent to AAA to replace Lino as the starter?
I found this quote today.
according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
While the St. Louis Cardinals, Texas Rangers and Philadelphia Phillies have also inquired into Stanton’s availability, the Giants have expressed the “strongest interest” in acquiring the 27-year-old, Nightengale reported.
How about Charlotte…. they have NFL and NHL already…. growing area. Tampa Bay to Carolina might make more sense… more moderate climes. I went to an Expo’s game during their 1st season in late May, there was still piles of snow just off the field. They played the other 1st year team the Padres in the old Parc Jarry Park. That town starts with hockey in Sept and ends in June…. not enough sports fans in the area. And the French is always a problem…. then two national anthems (I love both of them), but they might be a detraction for the phone-users.
Many game-goers today don’t even watch the game or know what’s going on. These are the people that MLB is trying to attract. There must be a lot of that ilk in Charlotte.
No pitcher in the system has had a better month than Austin Gomber’s August.
W/L=5-0 ERA=0.80 IP= 33.2 K=33 BA=.117 WHIP= 0.68 GS avg 5 starts= 72.0
I wonder what those #s would look like at Memphis.
Peoria’s Evan Kuczynski and Anthony Shew, State College’s Andy Summerville and Johnson City’s Alvaro Seijas also had great month’s.
Shew’s achievement comes after being promoted from State College (short-season A) where he made 4 starts from June 22nd to July 11th. He’s made 8 starts for Peoria and his GS avg for the 6 games he started in August= 66.2.If you all want to know more about Knizner read this:
Improving in All Phases, Knizner’s Prospect Status is Soaring
I know this interview was about the pitchers but I kind of wished that Derek would have asked about how Knizner is with handling the pitching staff.
bc… this is my opinion, Knizner is better than Kelly was at age 22 both offensively and defensively (Kelly was converting to catching). He has really come on strong in both of his pro seasons.
Pinder’s future is to early to tell. You put up some pretty good names there to match and they are way further advanced. Pinder is standing out at his level.Ramon Santos(PB) has had a great Aug. except for one dip on the 14th… 5.0 inn. GS=33. Kruczynski(PEO) is another having a great AUG…. avr GS=62.8. State College’s Andy Summerville has been lights out in 5 starts GS avr=66.6. Seijas has really turned it around at Johnson City and has had his best month of his young pro career.
But Gomber’s Aug. has been extraordinary…. an avg GS of 72 in 5 starts has him quieting some of his detractors because of some very average months early on. He’s back, baby. Go Lefty.Ramon Santos(PB) has had a great Aug. except for one dip on the 14th… 5.0 inn. GS=33. Kruczynski(PEO) is another having a great AUG…. avr GS=62.8. State College’s Andy Summerville has been lights out in 5 starts GS avr=66.6. Seijas has really turned it around at Johnson City and has had his best month of his young pro career.
But Gomber’s Aug. has been extraordinary…. an avg GS of 72 in 5 starts has him quieting some of his detractors because of some very average months early on. He’s back, baby. Go Lefty.Chase Pinder was drafted in the 7th rd. of the ’17 draft. He is having a very good rookie season… has stayed in the .320 range all season. He’s a speedy CF with above average defense. At this point, IMO he should make the top-50 in the 40-50 range, possibly higher.
Andy Knizner was drafted in the 7th rd. of the ’16 draft. He started the season at Peoria (low-A) and was promoted to AA early on. He continued to maintain his BA at SPRF and is a solid defender. There has been mentioned that Kelly is trade chip now because Knizner fits into the Molina exit schedule better… ETA=’19. If I had to pick between the two, Knizner is not a bad option. He has climber rapidly on TCN prospect list and could be top-10 material soon.
Neither are just average prospects by no means. Pinder will have to show how he can do for a full-season team next year. Being an OF he could advance quickly because there is an OF window after AA, Carlson being the only serious prospect at Peoria and the PB OF is very ordinary.thej… what do you think that indicates, because I wondered about that also. Apparently not an injury. Was Mejia on his way to STL, or did they need more speed?
CC… pretty much a stretch.
Career #s
Knizner C 520AB 32-2B 2-3B 18-HR .310BA .478SLG 22y.o Springfield 6’1″-200
Pinder OF 166AB 9-2B 1-3B 3-HR .319BA .440SLG 21y.o. Johnson City 6’1″-190As with the Cards, our affiliates have fallen into mini-slumps. Memphis has lost 4 of 5, Springfield lost last 3, PB lost last two (after winning 5 of 6.), Peoria has lost 4 of 5, State College has bucked the trend winning 3 of 4, JC has lost 3 of 5, GCL-Cards have lost 6 in a row. It has been a tough week.
It’s disappointing that Harrison Bader has been hitting so poorly after being sent back down to Memphis. I’m thinking that Jack Flaherty might be challenging AlReyes for the #1 prospect. Matt Pearce continues to stuggle at AAA. Gomber is certainly the front runner for Aug. POtM (GS= 81-73-65-61)
Springfield’s Andrew Knizner has put himself in the running for the system’s POtY award. Certainly the front-runner for position player of the year.
RHP Derian Gonzales is back from the DL for Palm Beach. He may get a short-stint start or two before the season ends…. With Sosa being placed at PB, they will be going with 12 pitchers and the rehabbing Siegrist.Ramon Santos has been very good (GS = 60-85-33-71-61) since entering the Palm Beach’s rotation. He started the season at Peoria. Evan Mendoza is having a rough time adjusting for the PEO Chiefs after a stellar season at State College.
The Peoria starters have had the best month of all the affiliates. Evan Kruczynski is a candidate for POtM… Warner and Shew have been very consistent in August, Parra had only one super-blip, on the flip side, Oxnevad has had a poor month as he continues a very up and down season.
Andy Summerville (candidate for POtM) and Danny Castano have been holding up the SC Spikes rotation, both having solid months. And Johan Oviedo has recently put together a couple of strong starts. Scott Hurst and Yariel Gonzalez are finishing up attention grabbing seasons.
Chase Pinder has been extraordinary all season for Johnson City while others have had disappointing years… Balbuena, Murders, Whalen and Robbins. Newcomers Evan Guillory and Zach Prenergast have tightened up the JC rotation and Seijas has put together a string of 6 effective starts.
Noel DeJesus has been the only solid and consistent starter for the GCL-Cards. Rain and off days have continued to hound the team all month. Jonathan Machado has been far and away the team’s best hitter all season. He’ll certainly find himself moving up in the prospect rankings.
bccran wrote:
O’Neill or Bader indeed may not be ready in 2018. Or at least until the second half of the season. However, if you go out and sign a FA, they’re going to want a multiple year contract. Which means he may block O’Neill and/or Bader from 2019 on for a few years even if they’re obviously ready. That’s a quandary. It would be another Molina/Kelly situation.
***********************************************************************************************************Didn’t we already do that with the Fowler signing? How many OF positions can we clog-up? I think that Piscotty can throw out ’17 with his problems on the field because of problems off the field. I think that with a fresh ’18, Piscotty will be the guy he was before this season.
For Springfield, Alcantara missed his start on Wednesday and could start today. Otherwise it should be Gomber.
Nearly all the games were close. Is Summerville leading candidate for POtM? This guy has been superb.
Flaherty………starter
Hudson………..starter
Pearce………..BP
ArReyes……….BP
Montgomery…….BP
Bader…………either
O’Neill……….or starter
Valera………..bench
Voit………….?
Mejia…………?
and Diaz could find his way back as a starter, DeJong back to 3B.Tip of the cap to whoever moved DeJong to SS as insurance for Diaz.
AND accolades to Wong, who made some out-of-character remarks earlier in the season concerning his situation with the team. To someone saying that, you tell him to put up or shut up. Kolten is putting up.If you want an all-around power bat from within the system: take the body of Voit- the speed of Bader- the BA of Martini- the defense of Sierra and the age and AAA power of O’Neill. That there is a solid prospect. I say we would need to go outside to find something like that, but all we really need is a guy that puts fear into opposing teams. Anything other qualities would help.
Finding an all-star major-league caliber player before he becomes one is no easy shot. A lot of highly ranked prospects never convert their potential to MLB. There are many other things to consider besides raw talent and like raw talent some important ones cannot be taught. If you feel that one should go solely on 1.0 to 10.0 subjective numbers of “experts” (power is one of them) I guess that’s one way of ranking prospects and looking for a power bat.
Listen to Wagee….
LOL, Wacha has a bad outing and here we go again with the trade Wacha BS. The Cardinals are not going to trade Wacha, period, end of story.
Two of our affiliates have home day games today, and plan to celebrate “Eclipse Day” in opposite fashion. Memphis will be hosting the New Orleans Baby Cakes (MIA) and will play through the darkness. Peoria will be hosting the Clinton Lumber Kings (SEA) at Dozer Park and will halt the game during the darkness “for the players’ safety”. The Chiefs had planned to pass out special eclipse viewing glasses but they were lost in transit. I wonder what will happen if the show up one day in the future??? It’s certainly a PR nightmare. OUCH!
As already mentioned in Erin’s Johnson City Notebook, the mountain birds are in a close play-off race. The 8-2 victory last night over Elizabethton surely helped their cause. Edwar Ramirez picked a good time to pitch his best game of the season (GS=60) He went 6.0 innings for only the second time this season in 10 starts. Ramirez made an emergency appearance in last Monday’s 2:37 rain delayed loss to Elizabethton. Evan Guillory had pitched 2.0 innings before the game was holted. Due to the lengthy stoppage the Cards brought in Ramirez to “relieve”. He was ineffective in that game but turned it around on Sunday.
With Wadye Ynfante’s injury sidelining him, Walker Robbins will be getting more OF playing time and perhaps a chance to reclaim the ’17 season which has been very disappointing to date. Starlin Balbuena who finished strong last season for the GCL-Cards has been a no-show this season batting well below .150. You can also throw in the names J.D. Murders, Franyel Casadilla, Paul Salazar and Brady Whalen onto the list of disappointments.
On the plus side Julio Rodriguez, Luis Bandes (a viable candidate for comeback player of the year), Irving Lopez and Chase Pinder have had remarkable hitting seasons. On the mound Jacob Patterson, Brett Seeeburger, Jake Walsh, Evan Guillory and Jacob Schlesener have pitched very well this season and are names to keep in mind.The reference to dog fighting should not be a welcomed remark and veers off from political correctness. Dog fighting is one of the most explicit examples of man’s inhumanity. Excuse my going off-topic.
Carpenter-Wong-DeJong seem right now to be set. Diaz is a big question mark because he is currently struggling at Memphis… can’t tell if he’ll be back in ’18. I agree on 3B being a power bat position. With what we have now and what we have coming up, there doesn’t seem to be that big swatter anywhere. Perhaps one emerges from Piscotty, Grichuk- O’Neill (I don’t see Wisdom being that guy). Kelly is struggling in St.Louis. We have power by committee but not someone that strikes fear into opposing pitchers and to be our bona fide clean up bat. That is a big hole in our lineup.
bc…. that was a little humor. Please don’t take offense. I know that time constraints only allow us to prioritize our daily “baseball fix”. I read the box scores for all of our teams everyday also and I can tell from what you post that you keep up with what’s actually happening also. I like reading your thoughts and find them similar to mine.
Anyway, BW didn’t mention any names in his comment but I found it humorous because you and I contribute most of the dialogue to this topic. I don’t read all the notebooks because some are just rehashes of what I’ve already know from reading the box scores. Hell, I’ve been reading Cardinal box scores for 60 years. Some like the recaps and some prefer the box scores to know what’s going on. Happy eclipse day! 🙂
ps…. I didn’t see your most recent “top” list.
