Minor League Games - Tuesday, April 23, 2019

[kikutaro]

Lehigh Valley IronPigs (13-4) @ Pawtucket Red Sox (7-10) 6:05 pm | Gameday
Nick Pivetta (1-0, 6.00) vs. Chandler Shepherd (0-3, 5.63)

Final (Bottom 9)
Lehigh Valley 9, Pawtucket 4

Notable

Shane Robinson 3-4, R, BB
Sean Rodriguez 0-5, 3 K
Dylan Cozens 1-4, R, 3 RBI, HR, BB, 3 K, SB
Deivy Grullon 2-4, 2 R, RBI, HR, BB, K
Lane Adams 1-3, R, RBI, HR, 2 K
Malquin Canelo 1-2, 2 R, RBI, BB

Nick Pivetta (W, 1-0), 6.0 IP, 5H, 4R, 4ER, 3BB, 9K, game score: game_score
Edgar Garcia (H, 3), 1.0 IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 1K

Reading Fightin Phils (8-7) @ Richmond Flying Squirrels (7-9) 6:35 pm | Gameday
David Parkinson (2-1, 4.02) vs. Logan Webb (1-2, 2.14)

Final (Bottom 9)
Reading 5, Richmond 2

Notable

Ali Castillo 3-5, R, 2 RBI, K, SB
Mickey Moniak 1-4, 2 K
Adam Haseley 1-3, R, 2 BB
Austin Listi 0-5, 2 K
Darick Hall 2-4, R, 2B, 2 K
Luke Williams 0-4, 3 K
Henri Lartigue 2-3, R, RBI, BB
David Parkinson 0-2, 2 K

David Parkinson (W, 2-1), 5.2 IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 3K, game score: game_score
JD Hammer (H, 2), 1.1 IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 1K
Luke Leftwich (H, 4), 1.0 IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 2K
Addison Russ (S, 2), 1.0 IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 2BB, 2K

Florida Fire Frogs (7-12) @ Clearwater Threshers (7-12) 7:00 pm | Gameday
Hayden Deal (1-1, 1.50) vs. Spencer Howard (1-1, 2.25)

Final (Top 9)
Clearwater 1, Florida 0

Notable

Nick Maton 1-4, RBI, 2B, 2 K
Simon Muzziotti 1-4, 2B
Jhailyn Ortiz 0-3, 2 K
Colby Fitch 1-2, BB, K

Spencer Howard 5.2 IP, 4H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 11K, game score: game_score
Grant Dyer (W, 1-1), 1.1 IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 1K
Jonathan Hennigan (S, 3), 2.0 IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 4K

Lakewood BlueClaws (6-13) @ Rome Braves (6-12) 7:00 pm | Gameday
Victor Santos (2-1, 2.50) vs. Jose Olague (1-3, 4.58)

Final (Bottom 9)
Lakewood 3, Rome 2

Notable

Rafael Marchan 3-4, R, 2B, K
Matt Kroon 0-2, 2 BB
Carlos De La Cruz 2-3, R, BB
Cole Stobbe 2-2, R, 2 RBI, 2B, 2 BB, CS
Jake Holmes 1-4, 2 K

Victor Santos (W, 2-1), 5.0 IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 6K, game score: game_score
Francisco Morales (H, 1), 3.0 IP, 2H, 0R, 0ER, 2BB, 7K
Robinson Martinez (S, 2), 1.0 IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 3K

(click on the start time for box scores)

[allentown]

Quite a nice 5 IP by Spencer Howard. Don't know if he's going to pitch more, but 11Ks and 0 BBs with only 3 hits is really impressive.

[bigegypt0417]

Ended up getting 2 more out and no runs.

Not bad.

[teabag259]

Bohm maintaining his start notwithstanding, is Howard arguably our top prospect?

[schooldoc]

He's putting himself squarely in the conversation.

[schillingfan]

And the good news is all four teams won tonight.

[Austinfan]

Grullon is quietly tearing up AAA, SSS but .400 with power for a catcher . . .
Meanwhile Leftwich is off to an off the wall start.

[LoneStarPhan]

Good to have competition for the top prospect spots.

[el-pietro]

Not an ideal night for Pivetta. Would be really positive if he can figure out what is going wrong for him and can force his way back into the rotation.

[fish]

Grullon is quietly tearing up AAA, SSS but .400 with power for a catcher . . .

If he’s still successful after 200 ABs I’d call him up and cut loose Knapp. Oddly, he hasn’t thrown anyone out yet.

[Squire]

Mr. Three True Outcomes with his 6th HR. Has a .192 AVG and a .945 OPS

[teabag259]

Lmao. Mr Three True Outcomes.

[andyb]

Joey Gallo has a .209 career batting average with an .835 OPS and 6.5 WAR in 1,347 career plate appearances. Now he is better than Cozens because he got to the majors a couple of years earlier, but this approach can work in today's game. Dave Kingman just never drew enough walks for it to work with him.

[xogfog]

Adam Dunn had a long career and Cozens is a better athlete, but he needs to up his walk rate.

[andyb]

Adam Dunn had a long career and Cozens is a better athlete, but he needs to up his walk rate.

The hidden point is that he may have done that. 10.7% in 2017. 13.2% in 2018. 19.7% in the early going this year. All those stats are from AAA. Hoskins was 13.5% in 2017 in AAA when he was the same age as Cozens in 2018. Cozens strikes out more, but he has raised his walk rate.

[xogfog]

He has, but to be able to hit .200 in the big leagues, you better hit 30-35 HRs drive in 90-100 RBI's and walk 90-100 times.

[julio]

He has, but to be able to hit .200 in the big leagues, you better hit 30-35 HRs drive in 90-100 RBI's and walk 90-100 times.

Two-thirds of this make sense. The '90-100 RBIS' part, though...If a player hits .200, with 30-35 HRS, and doesn't drive in 90 runs... that's because his club has him batting without runners on base, and that's not HIS failing.

RBIs are NOT an individual stat. If you care enough, it's possible to track down "RBI Percentage" data - e.g., percentage of runners in scoring position that a player has driven in; I recommend making the effort, because it can be eye-opening about which players are really good "RBI guys" and which ones just benefit from a GM's skill at roster construction.

https://www.baseballmusings.com/cgi-bin/RBIPCT.py

[zambonir]

If you hit 30-35 HRs you're probably going to get those RBIs even on a bad team. Howard only had 23 HRs and a .690 OPS in 2014 and stilll had 95. Also - again not an individual stat - if you walk 90-100 times with 30 HRs (and some hits too) you're going to score 100 runs.

Probably simpler to just note that Cozens has a 1.017 OPS and if that actually translated to a 900 OPS in the big leagues he's a player (and still probably a bench player or DH if it's .800).

[Austinfan]

Problem is as we've seen with Walding, players who struggle with contact in AAA often are totally lost in the Show, where everyone has film on you and will attack a glaring weakness.