Batter's Box Interactive Magazine Batter's Box Interactive Magazine Batter's Box Interactive Magazine
Francisco Rosario has his groove back as the Fisher Cats break out the sparkling wine. Russ Adams is hot as he leaves Syracuse, Guillermo Quiroz and Eric Crozier are not. Ryan Glynn, who has a degree in business economics, delays his retirement plans. Plus bonus coverage for the same low price.

Every team won and Auburn lost (the back end of a doubleheader).


Scranton 3 Syracuse 5

Dave Maurer got the start and gave up a 2 run home run in the first. Howie Clark homered to lead off the second to make it 2-1. Later in the inning Simon Pond doubled home Julius Matos to tie the game. Talley Haines followed Maurer and let up one run in three innings. The Chiefs got that back and more in the sixth on a Russ Adams single, a double from Howie Clark and a home run by Matos. Jason Kershner and Mike Nakamura pitched the last three innings.

Russ Adams finished his Syracuse season going 3-4 with a double. Guillermo Quiroz and Eric Crozier had 0-fers.

Game Story, and details on Ryan Glynn postponing his retirement decision.


Norwich 1 New Hampshire 2

Franky, may I call you Franky? Franky was dealing last night, seven innings, eight punch-outs, only one walk and six hits. In his last four starts Rosario has pitched 24.1 innings, allowing 16 hits, 5 walks while recording 28 strikeouts. So what has happened? Last week Rosario talked about confidence, finally feeling comfortable in throwing his curveball. As an amateur psychologist I hereby declare Rosario was feeling tentative through most of this year, not letting it all go on the mound, still carrying the mental scars from his surgery. It now looks like he is not tentative any longer. It will be interesting to see how Franky does in the the AFL, a strong showing could leave him challenging for a major league spot next year.

Norwich scored in the second on a couple of hits and that was it until the bottom of the seventh. John Ford Griffin led off with an infield single and, with two outs, Justin Singleton singled moving the runner to third. Paul Chiaffredo singled to tie the game and a throwing error by the right fielder let the winning run come across. The win clinched the division title for the Fisher Cats, a great start for the franchise, it is all downhill from here.

Game Story


Fort Myers 1 Dunedin 10

Dunedin scored eight runs in the first three innings which was more than enough for all-star Ismael Ramirez. With the big lead Izzy was pulled after five innings having allowed one run on seven hits.

Jayce Tingler homered to lead off the game and drove in Dunedin's second run with a sac fly. The first five hitters in the third inning reached base and all scored.

Five hitters had two hits, Tingler, Cota, Vito, Negron and Waugh.


Charleston 2 Kannapolis 0

Eric Rico started and was outstanding, six innings four hits and a walk. Rico's ERA at Charleston is 1.93, pretty good for an outfielder.

Charleston took the lead in the sixth, Robinson Diaz doubled and went to third on a single by Jermy Acey. With one out Acey stole second and Diaz was able to come home on a fielders choice. The score remained 1-0 until the ninth when Willie Rivera reached on an error and Diaz singled him home.

Diaz and Rodney Medina registered two hits each while Joey Reiman walked three times.

Game Story


Jamestown 6 Auburn 7
Jamestown 5 Auburn 2

In game one Auburn took a 6-1 lead only to have Jamestown tie it in the sixth. Casey Janssen pitched into the sixth inning allowing four runs on three hits and a walk. Jason Armstrong carried the big stick in game one going 3-3 with three runs scored and two RBI's. Greg Powers and Eric Nielsen also drove in two runs each. Jayson Rodriguez allowed two inherited runners score plus two runs of his own but vultured the win. Danny Hill continued his fine pitching to record the save. Ryan Klosterman had a game to forget, 0-4, 2 K's and three errors.

In the nightcap Jamestown scored two in the first inning off Brian Grant who was making his first start at A ball. Grant pitched 4.2 innings allowing four runs, two earned, on six hits. Auburn only had five hits in the nightcap, Adam Lind drove in both on a groundout and a double. Eric Nielsen had two hits.


Our Three-Star Selection

The 3rd Star: Robinson Diaz, scored the first run, drove in the second, two hits
The 2nd Star: Eric Rico, six shutout innings
The 1st Star: Francisco Rosario, seven shutout innings


Bonus Coverage

I was in Buffalo at the Syracuse game earlier this week. Here are some comments from the Chiefs:

Marty Pevey gave a scouting report on Raul Tablado, thinking back to when he managed him in the instructional league. Toolsy kid, great body, big square shoulders, long arms, big hands, long and lanky, great extention over the plate. He was just learning how to play."

Marty managed Gustavo Chacin last year in New Haven. He recently got to see the 2004 Chacin when Gus was recalled to start some games for the Chiefs. Chacin has added a couple of mph on his fastball. The second thing is he has improved his cutter and can pitch inside to righthanders. The third thing is his changeup has become much better.

For all you computer geeks out there Marty carries a laptop that contains a lot of proprietary information. The laptop is left unattended while the game is on so the Blue Jays have to make sure the computer does not fall into the wrong hands. The solution is a biometric pad that Marty has to use to verify his thumbprint before he can unlock the system.

I talked with Eric Crozier about his minor league career. After attending Norfolk State University Crozier was drafted in the 41st round by the Indians in 2000. His first two minor league years do not show on the baseball cube but he assured me he played in the New York Penn League in 2000 and in Columbus, Georgia, in 2001. Crozier played in the Carolina league in 2002 and was an all-star, hitting .326 with 9 home runs, and earned a promotion to AA where he hit .296 in 43 games. After a break-out 2002, 2003 at AA Akron was a disappointment. Eric's average dropped to .245 although he did hit 19 home runs. Eric had a couple of explanations. I had some fractures in my spine, the doctors thought they were old, from a couple of years earlier. I aggravated it last year, I had worked hard in the off-season to add 18 pounds to my body and that might have been a part of it. I only missed seven or eight days but most days I woke up feeling really stiff. So I took it easy last off season. Eric had another explanation for 2003. I was not very smart, I eliminated half the field trying to hit everything out to right. I learned from it and I have been blessed this year. As an aside Crozier is one of the softest talkers I have met, "speak softly and carry a big stick" sums him up well.
Minor League Update: September 3 | 22 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Pistol - Friday, September 03 2004 @ 09:43 AM EDT (#37206) #
Excellent nuggets as always Gerry.

Glynn, a right-hander, compiled an 8-16 record in 41 games for Texas from 1999-01. He felt he deserved a call-up but didn't know if the Blue Jays would add him to their 40-man roster, which they had to do to promote him.

Was someone(s) taken off the 40 man roster?
_Dan - Friday, September 03 2004 @ 09:45 AM EDT (#37207) #
de los santos was moved to the 60 day dl that made room for glyn
Pistol - Friday, September 03 2004 @ 10:18 AM EDT (#37208) #
Didn't Adams and Crozier need to be added as well?
_whizland2000 - Friday, September 03 2004 @ 10:19 AM EDT (#37209) #
BA has their rankings up for the best SS prospects in the minors. Do you guys know what ranking they gave to Hill and Adams.
Craig B - Friday, September 03 2004 @ 10:23 AM EDT (#37210) #
Hill and Adams were not in the Top 10, though both weergiven honorable mentions. I don't know how many honorable mentions there were.
_Kevin Pataky - Friday, September 03 2004 @ 10:34 AM EDT (#37211) #
Hill and Adams were listed in the "Other to Consider" list. The list had 10 names in it...
_whizland2000 - Friday, September 03 2004 @ 10:39 AM EDT (#37212) #
Wow this is concerning, wouldn't you guys say so? I remember a few weeks back Hill was being compared to Nomar on this site and poeple were thinking of him as a potential All-Star. Is his stock lower than we think and has he performed that much worse than the other shortstops in the minors to not even be ranked in the top 10.
_Ryan01 - Friday, September 03 2004 @ 10:44 AM EDT (#37213) #
I'm not concerned at all. It's rather expected actually. BA has made it known that they don't think either will stay at the position. That's fine, it's a reasonable stance. But the Jays are the ones who will ultimately make that decision. Even if they do move positions doesn't make them suddenly worthless. They can both still hit.
_Ducey - Friday, September 03 2004 @ 11:08 AM EDT (#37214) #
The BA top 10 list has some guys that are comparable to Hill - at least with the bat. For example #7 Joaquin Arias from Texas hit .296/.340/.386 this year with 3 homers in high A ball. You could argue that Hill's numbers are better but at AA. All of the guys in the top 10 are young and "project" to be good players based on age and tools. They are looking at 20 year olds and saying "decent numbers now, just wait 'til that guys adds another 25 pounds, and some more experience, then lookout".

This is a different philosophy than the Jays or Baseball Prospectus have. Maybe BP would put Hill in the top 10. Maybe there are defensive concerns. At any rate you can bet that at least 3 of the BA top 10 will flame out along the way and will not meet the "projections" set for them. Hill and Adams are more likely to make it to the majors, they just may have less upside than the others when they get there.
_Jordan - Friday, September 03 2004 @ 11:27 AM EDT (#37215) #
Having made the original Hill-Garciaparra comparison here, at comment #228631, let me reaffirm what I said there:

I'm not expecting a Garciaparra-like breakout for Hill; everyone who's seen him expects 20-HR, not 30-HR power down the road, and Garciaparra really leaped ahead at age 23 (he batted .343 with a .733 SLG in 172 Triple-A at-bats that year before getting the call). But it is an excellent comparison for showing that (a) Hill is doing really well for his age and level, and (b) a player's eventual performance can sometimes far outstrip his minor-league showing.

As I said yesterday, Hill could reasonably have been placed in the 7-10 range on the BA list, considering his youth; but with his power yet to fully emerge and his reported defensive limitations, it's not outrageous that BA put him in the HM category. I'm not in the least worried about Aaron Hill.
_Mylegacy - Friday, September 03 2004 @ 12:00 PM EDT (#37216) #
You have to feel terrific for "Franky." Such a wonderful future and then BANG the arm goes. Surgery, rehab and slowly building the arm back, never knowing for sure if it'll get all the way back. The results in these last 24.1 innings, plus what he does in the AFL are going to go a long way to him having a great off-season and be rearing to get going in the spring.
_R Billie - Friday, September 03 2004 @ 01:44 PM EDT (#37217) #
A biometrically secured laptop. Now that's cool.

I like the scouting report on Chacin as it explains a lot about his improvement and doesn't suggest fluke as I was fearful of earlier in the year. His emergence is a huge boost for the system which is suddenly looking fairly deep at the AA/AAA level in 2005.

Crozier is an interesting player. It seems like he's only had the one bad season in the minors and even then carried a fair bit of pop. He strikes out quite a bit but if he uses the whole field and continues to take his walks he should be alright in the bigs.
Craig B - Friday, September 03 2004 @ 02:03 PM EDT (#37218) #
A biometrically secured laptop. Now that's cool.

Tell me about it. It's also the ultimate Baseball Geek challenge. I need to rope me up Joe and a crack team of operatives from UWaterloo and pick up the gauntlet that the Blue Jay organization has thrown down.

Anyone happen to know the Charlie's Angels? :)
_Moffatt - Friday, September 03 2004 @ 02:04 PM EDT (#37219) #
Tell me about it. It's also the ultimate Baseball Geek challenge. I need to rope me up Joe and a crack team of operatives from UWaterloo and pick up the gauntlet that the Blue Jay organization has thrown down. :)

Here's the press release announcing that the Jays use the DigitalPersona's Pro system.
Joe - Friday, September 03 2004 @ 03:39 PM EDT (#37220) #
http://me.woot.net
You don't need me to crack this biometric thing. Chances are, you can pop open his laptop, grab the hard drive and copy the data.

If the Jays' IT guys are smart, however, the data is encrypted, with that same biometric scanner as a "passphrase" of sorts. Then, gentlemen, I am afraid you are out of luck. DigitalPersona's Pro system only mentions authentication, though, so it's very possible that physical access will give you all the data.

(This also assumes the data is stored on the laptop, which isn't a sure thing. If he's accessing it over a network, and it requires the biometric scanner for authentication before it'll give the data, then we're out of luck again. Unless the network is wireless and they don't use SSL. Etc etc. There are lots of ways to break this, not that I'm particularly interested in doing so. :)
_Anthony - Friday, September 03 2004 @ 05:52 PM EDT (#37221) #
The Florida State League has cancelled all remaining regular season games due to Hurricane Frances.

The playoffs will take place as previously scheduled with Tampa and Dunedin being the teams for the Western Division.

Ramirez will start on Tuesday against Tampa in game one.
Mike Green - Friday, September 03 2004 @ 08:25 PM EDT (#37222) #
Anthony, do you have a source for that? Thanks.

On my holiday, I missed great starts from Purcey, Rosario and Arnold. Lots of good news, along with some bad. Congratulations are in order to the Fisher Cats on a successful first season. Good luck to 'em (and the D-Jays, Alley Cats and Doubledays) in the playoffs.

Now, if I can convince my family that Syracuse, Auburn and Concord, New Hampshire are the gastronomic equivalents of Montreal and Quebec City, I might have a first-person report next year.
_My Names not Ry - Friday, September 03 2004 @ 10:50 PM EDT (#37223) #
just from perusing the box score, Looks like Chacin had another good game, all though not as dominant, and Hattig still looks like a more than grand larceny for Terry Adams.
_Anthony - Saturday, September 04 2004 @ 12:17 AM EDT (#37224) #
Mike, Sorry can't reveal source but it is reliable.
_Anthony - Saturday, September 04 2004 @ 12:45 AM EDT (#37225) #
Mike,

Auburn has a really good restaurant called Lasca's with award winning desserts. The best ever New York Style Cheese Cake that I have ever had.

Dinosaur BBQ in Syracuse is a must if you go there.

The Ballpark in Auburn has good food as ballparks go. I did not make it to Syracuse as they were playing on the road when I was there.
_Smack - Saturday, September 04 2004 @ 01:14 AM EDT (#37226) #
I can just picture the Yankee scouts pulling a mission impossible, using a severed finger to gain access to the Jay's vital information.
_Rob - Saturday, September 04 2004 @ 01:25 AM EDT (#37227) #
Steinbrenner: Hey, Pevey! Red light! Green light!
Minor League Update: September 3 | 22 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.