Notes from Trenton/Altoona 4/14

[81omar]

   I got to see the Curve play last night and figured I'd share my impressions from the game.
   First I was disappointed that James Boone was the DH again last night,thats the 2nd time I've seen him play about both times he wasn't in the field. I really like this guy though,he has pretty good speed,very patient at the plate and doesn't mind taking a walk. His boxscore shows 0-2 with 2 walks and a caught stealing but he really got the short end of 2 bad calls. On the caught stealing he was definitely safe and he wasn't happy about the call. In fact the Curve had 3 steals,2 were called safe and Boone was the only one of the 3 that wasn't close enough where I knew(i should say i thought i knew) before the umpire called it. The other bad call was a strike three above the letters in his last AB,that pitch wasn't called a strike to anyone else last night and again he wasn't too happy with the call.

  Jonel Pacheco hit a home run the other way in the first to give the Curve an early lead. He's got a nice swing from what I've seen both last night and in the past. He also made a real nice running over the shoulder catch out in LF on the warning track. Hes not known for his glove but that was a nice play and I thought he didn't have a chance off the bat. His other AB's didn't go well although in the 8th he hit a line drive to the 2nd baseman that was caught.

  Jason Delaney was a pleasant surprise in that he looked real good in the field at 1b. He made some nice picks on short hop throws,at least 3 that I remember. He also hit a nice opposite field line drive double off the wall which is basically his strength. I think I've seen him get a hit like almost every game of his I've seen,probably not but it just seems that way.

  Brad Corley was himself 3 of the 4 AB's,his first he swung at all 3 pitches before popping up to 2nd. His next AB he swung at 3 of the 4 pitches,with the one non-swing being way out of the zone before lining out. In his 4th AB he swung at the first pitch and got a broken bat single. The 3rd AB I don't think was actually him at the plate, he actually took 4 pitches including a strike! and worked the count full,luckily he was able to ground out before he took that first walk of the season. Its a shame that I make a joke like that because hes a big guy,looks like a natural athlete,can play OF and takes some big swings but he just refuses to be patient and he knows his major flaw and is quite ok with it.

  The other batter of note is Anthony Webster who might not be a career minor leaguer yet,unless i caught him on a good day. He used to be considered a prospect and at 25(turned it on April 10) is still rather young. He hit a nice home run in the 2nd inning right down the RF line,made some nice catches in center and after leading off the 5th with a single,he stole 2nd base on a pitch out. I was impressed with him overall.

  Josh Hill who is in his first year in the organization pitched the game. He had a good boxscore, 5 innings,1 hit,2 walks,no runs but he wasn't really impressive. He had some good fielding behind him and some balls were hit hard right at people. He also had 2 K's,both on the same batter,Matt Carson ,who is a free swinger,struggling at the beginning of this year. He also only lasted 5 innings I'm pretty sure due to his pitch count,and that was due to the fact he was going deep in counts and getting alot of foul balls. Unfortunately they don't have a radar gun reading in Trenton so I have no idea with pitch speeds but he didn't look like anything special in that regard.

  Brian Rogers came in after him and he basically proved he's not a AA pitcher,he looked like a ringer out there. In 2 innings he worked to 7 batters and made all 7 look bad at one point during their AB. I'm willing to bet he had more swing and misses than Hill. The only hit he gave up was to Austin Jackson who is a top prospect with the Yankees,and even that was pure luck,he had him reaching and out in front on an off-speed pitch which was hit softly back to Rogers,but hit off his back leg,probably would've been fielded by the SS if that didn't happen. I read an article praising our GM for cutting guys who weren't good and it mentioned Rogers as being basically dead weight who was now in AA which is sugar coating it. He was dominant late last season in AAA last year,probably would've got a September callup if he didn't do so bad with the Pirates in his very brief mid-season trial, and hes definitely not a AA pitcher,plus hes still only 25.

  As for game notes,catcher Miguel Perez looks like hes going to miss time,inuring his shoulder diving back to first on a pick off attempt that he didn't have to dive back on. He had to be helped up off the field and his shoulder was basically hanging there as he walked off,didn't look good.

  In the 5th inning with the score 3-0,Altoona had a chance to break the game open and basically blew it with stupidity. After the pitcher walked a batter,they had the 9th place hitter(Reyes who came in for Perez) sacrifice the runners over to 2nd and 3rd. James Boone then took a walk so basically 2 straight batters walked and that loaded the bases. Melvin Dorta came up and popped out on the first pitch! If that wasn't bad enough on the next pitch Pacheco grounded out to SS,inning over. If I wasn't on the 1st base side I would've been yelling at both of them for that. I absolutely hate seeing multiple guys get walked and then the next batter(in this case 2!) swinging at the first pitch.

  The final note is on Luis Cruz who was also brought in this offseason. I wouldn't call him a prospect but at age 24 and with AAA experience I guess he could still be a future backup infielder. Anyway,he looked sure-handed in the field,hit the ball hard a couple times including 2 rbi singles and he also stole a base. After seeing that and realizing he's probably the everyday SS all year(unless Brian Friday plays so well they move him up) it should be interesting to see what he does all year and what they do with him. I don't expect much from him but the way he played last night I'd take him over Rivas anytime. Of course I always say,its tough to get a read after just one game,I've seen McCutchen play 7 games and came away very unimpressed but its hard to go against what everyone else sees.

[magnumo]

Thanks much for that report, omar.  It's always good to get first-hand impressions on our minor-league guys.

I've never seen McCutchen play, but I'm getting the same uneasy feeling as you.  Let's hope that our doubts are unfounded..... and that the observers who are high on McCutchen are right.

[GoBucs21]

The Potomac pitcher who is staying with us thinks Boone is very good and Delaney is good.

[wvbucco]

Omar, what is your overall impression of Jonel Pacheco?  Is he making himself into a legit prospect?  How about his power?  He is listed as 5'9, 170#, which seems pretty small for a power guy. 

[MAL]

I read today that Shelby Ford could be out up to three weeks with another hip flexor that isn't related to his previous problem...

[befubashi]

http://www.newsadvance.com/lna/sports/minors/article/nats_hurdle_hillcats/3891/

(excerpt)
The Pirates’ new upper brass has a rule, one from which they won’t waver: If a pitcher throws more than 30 pitches in an inning, he’s won’t come out for another. End of discussion.
The reasons are two-fold. First, it minimizes the risk of an injury, an understandable priority for an organization that has seen six of the last eight pitchers it has drafted in the first round go under the knife. Second, it lets the organization’s starters know they have to be efficient with their pitches.
The drawback is that occasionally you run into nights like Monday, when the Hillcats were forced to send backup middle infielder Greg Picart to the mound to finish off a 10-4 loss to Potomac.
. . . .
It’s kind of frustrating because you feel like you can battle back,” said Holliday, who didn’t know about the rule until he got back to the dugout after the first inning. “It was kind of new to me. But they had to do what they had to do. It wasn’t on them.”
Pitching coach Bob Milacki paid Holliday a visit during the first inning. A few minutes later, reliever Derek Antelo got up in the bullpen.
“I was kind of surprised,” Antelo said. “I didn’t think he was having that bad of an inning. I was worried about Holliday. I thought he had actually gotten hurt.”
He wasn’t, but he wasn’t coming out for another inning either, putting the Hillcats’ bullpen in a bind. Lynchburg relievers had been outstanding prior to Monday, posting a 0.57 ERA in the season’s first nine games. But eight innings was too much to ask.

[WTM]

Melvin Dorta came up and popped out on the first pitch! If that wasn't bad enough on the next pitch Pacheco grounded out to SS,inning over.

What's DL's phone number in Chicago?

[FLORIDAPIRATE]

From what I saw of Jonel Pacheco this spring I kind of like the guy, too.

[81omar]

Omar, what is your overall impression of Jonel Pacheco?  Is he making himself into a legit prospect?  How about his power?  He is listed as 5'9, 170#, which seems pretty small for a power guy. 

   I've seen Pacheco 5 times,4 times last year and this game. I like the way he drives the ball,seems to get some good swings and definitely has some power,especially opposite field. I think he has to weigh over 170,and hes probably closer to 200 than 170. Last year he seemed to be too good for the level and in reality he shouldve been in Lynchburg to start the year,i think thats why they skipped him this year. He didnt look like much of an outfielder last year but looked good last night at least on that one play. I dont think there was anything else hit to him. This year will show if hes actually a prospect or just an overaged player beating up on lesser pitching.

 

[WTM]

Omar, what is your overall impression of Jonel Pacheco?  Is he making himself into a legit prospect?  How about his power?  He is listed as 5'9, 170#, which seems pretty small for a power guy. 

   I've seen Pacheco 5 times,4 times last year and this game. I like the way he drives the ball,seems to get some good swings and definitely has some power,especially opposite field. I think he has to weigh over 170,and hes probably closer to 200 than 170. Last year he seemed to be too good for the level and in reality he shouldve been in Lynchburg to start the year,i think thats why they skipped him this year. He didnt look like much of an outfielder last year but looked good last night at least on that one play. I dont think there was anything else hit to him. This year will show if hes actually a prospect or just an overaged player beating up on lesser pitching.

If nothing else, he's certainly left Jon Benick in the dust.