5/11 MILB Thread

Going to see him tonight in New Britain. Try to post some info after I get back.

D-Cubs lost to Tampa 8-3 in a shortened 6. Nothing much to note – team has been struggling offensively of late, although sweet swinging Ryan Keedy is up there now (went 1/3). A personal favorite, Jovan Rosa, has been struggling a bit. Had an injury, but I think it’s just swing issues he’s working through. Went 1/3.

Smokies lost 4-3 to West Tennessee in 13. Russ Canzler went 3/4 with 2 RBI and a BB, but he’s a fringe prospect at best. Marquez Smith went 3/6 with a double/2 Runs. Another fringe guy, although a bit more versatile than Canzler, which should help. Tony Thomas went 1/4, but it was good to see 2 walks from him. Darwin Barney went 1/5 with a 2b and a bb, both good signs for him.

for posting these. obviously, i love to hear how our prospects are doing. semms smoak is all he was cracked up to be

maybe i should just go over to AN, but how did Chen get hurt? I was looking forward to seeing more of him in AAA – 5 game hit streak I think.

Not sure if it had to do with the game starting at 62 degrees and ending around 54 or maybe just jitters, but Bumgarner’s stuff just didn’t jump out at me. The fastball was nice (sat around 91-92 almost all game and then dropped to 89-90 in the 6th) but his curve only came out maybe three or four times and wasn’t located all that well. He was throwing another pitch (pitches?) that were in the 80-82 range but I could not really tell if it was a slider or a change. Either way, the pitch did not have much movement on it and due to this Bumgarner didn’t really have a pitch that missed bats.
He got tagged on a couple of knee high fastballs, one of which was spanked by Yancarlos Ortiz for a triple. Bumgarner has three liners hit right back to him, including one which he turned into a double play. Really, his saving grace would have to be the anemic offense of New Britain. In general, both teams had weak lineups with maybe one or two solid hitters.
The most noticeable player in the game had to be Brandon Crawford, the SS for Connecticut. Went 3-5 just missing the cycle by a HR. He slapped a nice single in the first and then absolutely slammed his double in the sixth. The ball hit about two feet from the top of the wall in left center. Even though he was showing the opposite field power and contact, New Britain played him as a semi-pull hitter. When he came up in the 8th, he laced one into the left field corner and legged out an easy triple. On defense, he made some solid plays and had one great play where he ranged all the way behind second and threw out the runner with a powerful off balance throw.

I mean, I thought he was good, but I thought there would be some more inconsistency, but he’s been solid.

He did have a decent amount of groundouts as well as some high popups, but at the same time, there were a few balls that were just drilled. The game should have been a 2-1 final but the ump missed a call at home where the runner tripped over the catcher and missed the plate entirely. I was in the second row behind home plate and you could see the guy miss home by about 2 feet. The ump flinched avoiding a flailing leg and just called him safe.
Then one of the Rock Cat relievers had an easy groundball back to him and attempted to go to second for the double play. He threw it into center and the center fielder proceeded to throw it into the third base dugout scoring two runners. If nothing else, the game was amusing.

Benson broke his hand and is going on the DL. That’s what caused Bigley to get called up to the Miracle. Also, Hicks is in Fort Myers this morning participating in Extended Spring Training, so while it’s still possible he might be the one getting called up to Beloit, it’s unlikely.