Report from yesterday for those who might have missed it:
I went to the Iron Pigs game last night. Abel pitched and left the game with a lead that Nick Nelson surrendered, although the Pigs won at the end aided by a Darick Hall 3-run blast.
Abel looks like a kid on the mound, like a 14-year-old snuck into the game through the back gate. He was honestly awful, every FB he threw was either ripped hard (mostly for outs due to really good defense from the IPs) or a foot high. Lots of wasted pitches nowhere close to the zone. His only success was with his breaking ball, which got a lot of swings and misses and takes for strikes. I don't think Charlotte (White Sox) swung and missed a single Abel FB. In my humble opinion he is not close to even being ready for AAA. FB sat 93 t95, and, as I said was tattooed. Two diving catches, a guy thrown out at 2B after a laser off of the RF wall, and a couple of at-em balls.
Offensively the Pigs were scrappy all game and also could have scored more. Muzziotti seemed stronger than last year, hit a couple hard. Dahl looks like he can hit, too. Quiroz and Garcia battled and stayed in the zone drawing walks. Lots of AAAA players on the field.
Interestingly, Cal Stephenson, who looked completely lost at the plate all game, drew a walk in the 8th and stole 2nd and 3rd and scored the winning run. Stephenson was good in AAA for Oakland and the Phils last year, though, and has hit before in AAA and should be a good AAAA guy at age 27.
Lehman, who pitched the 8th, looked very good, and Ruiz got an easy save pitching a quiet ninth.
Lenyn Sosa, the White Sox' 2B who played against us in the major league series but is now back in AAA, hit everything hard including a long HR off of Nelson and a ringing double off of Abel. He looks like a MLB player to me, but he's struggled so far in the majors. The Sox should just play him in the big leagues and let him develop while they struggle.
