Minor League Game Thread

RoDaddy

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Brentz > Chris Young
Castillo > Chris Young

I read that Carson Smith used to sit 93-95 when he was healthy, and saw a chart of one game where he sat 95 for most of the outing. So "topping out" at 91 seems well below what he likely needs to be effective in the bigs
 

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I read that Carson Smith used to sit 93-95 when he was healthy, and saw a chart of one game where he sat 95 for most of the outing. So "topping out" at 91 seems well below what he likely needs to be effective in the bigs
He's still building arm strength. You don't have to look much further than Brandon Workman's first stint this year with the Sox where he was topping out at 91 and comes back a few weeks later topping out at 95. Still hopeful he can help in the playoffs.
 

RoDaddy

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Based on . . . ?
Well, OPS for one. You can argue Young is in the bigs and then other two AAA, but there's the counterargument that Young is given a big advantage in facing a much higher percentage of lefties than the other two. Brentz and Castillo also bring other things to the table - Brentz outstanding power, which has been a weakness with the big club this year, and Castillo speed and defense. I mean, what exactly has Young provided this year? He's not even hitting lefties, which is pretty much the only thing that he is really asked to do
 

Plympton91

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Well, OPS for one. You can argue Young is in the bigs and then other two AAA, but there's the counterargument that Young is given a big advantage in facing a much higher percentage of lefties than the other two. Brentz and Castillo also bring other things to the table - Brentz outstanding power, which has been a weakness with the big club this year, and Castillo speed and defense. I mean, what exactly has Young provided this year? He's not even hitting lefties, which is pretty much the only thing that he is really asked to do
I'm going to repost from a response to another poster in a different thread:


Why do you think that we should only use the 91 at bats against lefties Young has had this year to evaluate his likely future production? Given how small a sample size 91 at bats is in the grand coin flip of baseball games, should you at least put a reasonable amount of weight on his statistics from last year, and a lesser but still meaningful among on his stats from 2015? Or is there a reason to think that Young has all of a sudden changed his skill set / approach in such a way that he's no longer effective against lefties, while hitting righties as well or better than he always has? His OPS against righties is above 800.

That said, I agree that Brentz has earned another shot. His numbers since mid-May are simply eye-popping. He also had a little slump from which he's now emerged hot again, which suggests that perhaps he was able to adjust once already to how pitchers were attacking his new leg kick. Hopefully, he'll see some time at DH in September.

Castillo has had a. Ice bounce back season. However, he's still been unable to stay healthy and is not drawing walks at an acceptable rate. Those weaknesses in his armor combined with the luxury tax hit if they bring him up seal his fate.
 

RoDaddy

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Scouting report on Tanner Houck from a friend who went to last Friday's game:
They no longer post pitch speeds at the stadium so I can’t speak to how hard he was throwing but he pitched three innings and gave up one hit. What I was VERY impressed with was his off-speed pitches. He was not just getting swings and misses on them… The hitters weren’t even CLOSE to them. He had one very slow curve ball he threw that landed a good three feet in front of the plate that had the batter lunging after it. He seemed to throw mostly off-speed pitches (curveballs and sliders/changeups) that had a LOT of movement to them. The one hit he gave up was a double with two outs. He struck out the next hitter on three pitches to end the threat. The one thing that stood out to me is he seems very fidgety on the mound and didn’t look very comfortable with the mound. Don’t know if that’s part of the adjustment he’s trying to make to pro ball, nervousness or what but he seemed to have pretty good stuff on Friday. I could see him being an option for the Sox in a couple years. I can see him pitching Fall Ball then starting next season in Regular A, possibly getting a mid-season call-up to AA at some point depending on how he progresses. He is HUGE and has the body to be a pitcher. Once his talent catches up he could be REALLY good. I could possibly see He and Groome being the cornerstones of the rotation in 4 or 5 years.
 

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Good write up by your buddy. In searching for a bit more info about Houck this article popped up and these two young men sound promising as well.

Denyi Reyes replaced Houck and allowed just one run, three hits and no walks while striking out eight over 6 innings.

The 20-year-old Reyes, a righty from the Dominican Republic, is 8-0 with a 1.55 ERA and 0.97 WHIP in 14 relief outings (58 innings).
Hildemaro Requena continues dominance

Hildemaro Requena, a 20-year-old righty from Venezuela, allowed just one unearned run, four hits and one walk while striking out four over 7 innings. He earned the victory in Low-A Greenville's 3-1 win over Augusta.

He's 10-3 with a 2.12 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in 31 outings (seven starts).

The Red Sox moved him to the starting rotation July 24. He has allowed no earned runs in five of his seven starts. He has pitched at least 6 innings in his past four starts.

In his seven starts, he's 6-0 with a 0.68 ERA, 0.93 WHIP and .164 batting average against.
http://www.masslive.com/redsox/index.ssf/2017/08/tanner_houck_boston_red_sox_20_2.html
 

Cesar Crespo

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That said, I agree that Brentz has earned another shot. His numbers since mid-May are simply eye-popping. He also had a little slump from which he's now emerged hot again, which suggests that perhaps he was able to adjust once already to how pitchers were attacking his new leg kick. Hopefully, he'll see some time at DH in September.

Castillo has had a. Ice bounce back season. However, he's still been unable to stay healthy and is not drawing walks at an acceptable rate. Those weaknesses in his armor combined with the luxury tax hit if they bring him up seal his fate.
Since adding a toe tap to his swing on 5/24, Brentz is slashing .311/.378/.625 in 349 PA. 19 doubles, 1 triple, 26 HRs. 33bb/75k.

On another note, Lin has resorted back to old Lin in Pawtucket which is depressing. He did hit a HR the other day though. Sam Travis has been awful for awhile now as well.

Chad De La Guerra is looking like he may develop into Carlos Asuaje or at least a guy who will make the majors, be it a cup of coffee or not.

Ockimey is starting to hit again, slashing .615/.684/.923 in his last 5 games, 19 PA. It's brought his season line at Portland to a respectable .265/.374/.422 line in 99 PA with 15bb/29k. Lots of strikeouts, lots of walks.

Since hitting his last HR on 8/9, Chavis is slashing .182/.260/.273 in his last 73 PA with 6bb/22k. For the year in AA he is at .256/.317/.485 in 252 PA with 19bb/53k, 16 doubles, 12 HRs.

Jake Cosart continues to pitch SIGNIFICANTLY better than he was, 16 games, 23.2ip, 14h, 5r, 3er, 8bb/29k. 1.14 era, .165/.250/.306 slash line against. His prior 24.1 ip, 13h, 18r, 14er, 32bb/21k. 5.18 era, .159/.398/.280 slashline. The walks were just destroying him. He's the most tantalizing of all our MR prospects so this is nice to see.

One of my new binkies Victor Acosta continues to hit well after skipping Greenville, slashing .301/.356/.430 in Salem over the course of 101 PA. 8bb/14k.

Over his last 28 games, 110 PA, Tate Matheny is slashing .327/.370/.564 on an insane .419 BAbip. 6bb/25k. It's making his season numbers look semi respectable but given his age, meh.

Darwinzon Hernandez has been phenomenal of late: 5 games, 27.1 ip, 15h, 10bb/33k with hitters slashing .155/.248/.247 off him in that period. 30.3% K rate, 9.2% bb rate.

Tyler Hill has a surprising 9 HRs on the year, slashing .272/.342/.390 for the year with 37bb/74k in 513 PA. 42 sb, 8cs. Not exactly young for the league but he's hit for more power than was expected last year and this year, although .118 ISO isn't exactly amazing. Still, with his speed it's something to keep an eye on.

Roldani Baldwin has had a pretty rough August, slashing .195/.271/.351 in 84 August PA.

Bobby Dalbec is slashing .340/.426/.617 in his last 11 games. 6bb/18k in 54 PA though. Over his last 40 games and 174 PA he's slashing .233/.335/.447 with 20bb/69k, 8 doubles, 8 HRs. He's at least walking a lot and hitting for power. Even for the year he's at an 11.2% BB rate which is pretty good, just not accompanied with the 36.6% K rate. If people are curious, 50.7% of his PA end in a BB, walk or HR which I'm pretty sure leads the system by a long shot. Ockimey is at 44.5% (an absurd 15.5% BB rate, 26.5% K rate).

And lastly, my favorite binky Pedro Castellanos is hitting .346/.387/.464 across 199 PA in the Gulf League. He now stands at 9bb/15. He's the reverse Dalbec, with a Rob Deer % of 13.1%. I can't wait to see how his swing and approach play out at a more advanced level to see if he's someone actually worth getting excited about. Last year, the guy hit .328/.396/.500 with 20bb/26k in 260 DSL PA. Probably not shocking to anyone paying attention but I love box scores and stats. In my 20+ years of following the Redsox farm system closely, I don't remember a prospect like Castellanos. I remember being on the Youkilis train long before anyone else because of him being a box score anomaly. Not equating the two in talent in anyway whatsoever and Castellanos has a loooong way to go. He's just a very unique player.
 

Plympton91

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I don't worry too much about minor leaguers who slump in August, like Chavis. He's never played this much baseball ever. He missed parts of 15 and 16 with injury. This year he's played everyday and switched leagues and held his own on average/obp at the higher level with elite power. Even if he repeats AA next season to start, he's right on schedule as a high school draftee in AA for an age 22 season.

By the same logic, that makes Ockimey's resurgence in August even more impressive.
 

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Plympton91

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Daniel Gonzalez has put up monster numbers at Greenville and Salem since switching to the rotation full time as well. But all scouting reports say he's a control artist who sits 86-88 with his fastball. So, maybe it's just a lucky string of BABip making him look like a prospect. Though, he's also 6'5", so perhaps he leverages his bill to get more deception.
 

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According to this article by Kevin Thomas - http://www.pressherald.com/2017/09/03/on-baseball-henry-owens-taking-small-steps-in-regaining-command/ - Henty Owens making incremental steps with his new delivery.

On Saturday, Owens retired seven straight batters at one point, needing only 10 pitches in the fourth inning and nine pitches in the fifth.

Then Owens began the sixth with a four-pitch walk.

“That’s what we talk about – the consistency,” Walker said. “Sometimes it’s attacking the zone. Other times, it’s being a little too fine and getting out of what you’re doing well.”

In that sixth inning, Owens issued two walks but also got a strikeout, a foul out to first and a shallow fly ball to right.

“The thing I’ve noticed lately is he’s been able to make that adjustment when (a lack of command) happens and not let things snowball,” Walker said.

"He understands what he’s doing and gets back in the zone. That’s a step in the right direction.”
 

Plympton91

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Greenville is up 2 games to 1 in the best of 5 SAL championship. Hadn't realized that a minor league affiliate was still playing.