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Only three games last night with two wins and a horror show.

Albuquerque 3    Las Vegas 4

I was all set to make an Albuquerque Isotopes joke and then remembered they actually are the 'Topes. I love the minors. In any event, the 51s managed but five hits and only two of them came from noteworthy prospects (Eric Thames and Adam Loewen both singled). Travis Snider was 0-for-2 with a walk, strikeout, and RBI.

Mike MacDonald started and was perfectly fine allowing two runs on five hits and three walks over six. Winston Abreu picked up the win in relief while Wil Ledezma secured the save.

 

New Hampshire 8    Reading 5

Big day for Travis D'Arnaud who went 2-for-4 with a three-run homer in the 8th. It was the second of D'Arnaud's abbreviated season. Mike McDade and John Tolisano each contributed a pair of hits while Adeiny Hechavarria and Anthony Gose each went 1-for-5. Hech's hit was a double. Neither stole a base.

What's the consensus on McDade anyway? Are we ready to call him a prospect? I'm eternally confused by guys like him and I just know as soon as I declare, "Yup, this guy's for real" the wheels will come flying off.

Zach Stewart certainly didn't have his best stuff allowing five runs on nine hits in six innings. He didn't walk anybody but struck out just one. That's now just 20 strikeouts in 41.1 frames for Stewart.

 

Dunedin @ Fort Myers- POSTPONED. Unless someone tells me otherwise, I'm reporting it as a rain out.

 

Lansing 2    Great Lakes 4

Seven errors for the Lugnuts. The Edmund Fitzgerald didn't fare as badly on the Great Lakes. Fittingly, none of the errors were committed by the error-prone Gustavo Pierre who actually had a fine day going 2-for-2 with an RBI and a walk. He was caught stealing, though. Markus Brisker went 2-for-4 with a double and his sixth stolen base. Jake Marisnick was 0-for-3.

Drew Hutchison started and was pretty good, all things considered though he did contribute to the error party. Hutchison went 4.2 and allowed three runs (one earned) on five hits while walking one against six strikeouts. Marcus Walden went the final 3.1 allowing a run on three hits.

 

 

Three Stars:

3rd Star: Gustavo Pierre- 2-for-2, BB

2nd Star: Markus Brisker- 2-for-4, 2B, R, SB

1st Star: Travis D'Arnaud- 2-for-4, HR, 3 RBI

The Wreck of the Lansing Lugnuts | 16 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Mick Doherty - Friday, May 13 2011 @ 09:42 AM EDT (#234710) #

Oooh, great headline. I glanced at it and thought, " Hm, could that be an EEdmund Fitzgerald reference? Nahhh ... nobody references Gordon Lightfoot these days  ..." But it was! And you did! Hip-hiip!

The legend lives on
From the Chippwea on down
To the big lake they call
Gitcheegoomee ... 

Mike Green - Friday, May 13 2011 @ 10:03 AM EDT (#234713) #
Sure, McDade's a prospect. He is more than holding his own in the Eastern League having turned 22 last Sunday.  To put that in perspective, Adam Lind was the top Blue Jay prospect after his big year in New Hampshire at age 22 where he hit .310/.357/.543 with 25 walks, 87 strikeouts and 19 homers in 378 PAs.  Lind was actually 10 months older than McDade is, and McDade might very well end up posting fairly similar numbers. 

The key difference is that Lind had been a better hitter prior to New Hampshire, and that his development was in power rather than in plate discipline. 

To summarize, McDade is a switch-hitter who hits well from both sides.  He has now at various times shown good power and decent plate discipline.  He seems to field first base (and run) well for a man of his size.  There is no guarantee that he will put all the attributes that he has shown together and there never is with a prospect, but he is at the right age and development stage to have a fairly good chance to do so.

China fan - Friday, May 13 2011 @ 10:14 AM EDT (#234717) #
Snider's SLG is lower than his OBP this year -- both at the major-league level and at the minor-league level.  Over the past 10 games, his SLG is .333, which is also Mike McCoy's SLG this season.  His swing is not fixed.  But it was unlikely to be a quick fix anyway.
bpoz - Friday, May 13 2011 @ 10:28 AM EDT (#234720) #
Errors can DO A LOT.
Total pitch count goes up. And as explained by AA 30 pitches in 1 inning is dangerous, could lead to injuries, frustration etc...
So I suppose similar to the PCL effect, this error thing makes the stats unreliable to a degree.
I keep wondering about A Sanchez getting to Lansing soon (my unrealistic expectations), this can harm him. D Huchison had to deal with errors in the 1st & 4th inning, looks like he got a good sized pitch count in so at least he got his work in.

IMO Litsch & Cecil have an ability to pitch out of trouble. I don't think it is luck but some kind of a skill. Both have been getting a lot of work at it this year due to injury recovery & velocity loss. There are stats kept ..unwritten?, about how often a pitcher has to pitch games when his stuff is not at his best level, and for no reason.
92-93 - Friday, May 13 2011 @ 10:45 AM EDT (#234724) #

His swing is not fixed.

It's amazing how someone who has likely never even seen one of Snider's AAA swings can proclaim this. Especially when, in the other thread, he makes a point to quote our GM on that very subject.

“I started out without knowing anything about evaluating,” Anthopoulos said. “I thought I could evaluate just by looking at numbers on a page.....”

China fan - Friday, May 13 2011 @ 12:02 PM EDT (#234733) #

If we're discussing what's amazing, I'd say it's amazing that so many people were so quick to proclaim that Snider would immediately destroy AAA pitching and nobody would learn anything from his performance at AAA.  He hasn't demolished AAA pitching so far.  Quite possibly he eventually will.  He hasn't done it yet.

I totally agree with your larger point that I shouldn't rely solely on the numbers.  I'm not in a location where the Internet connection speed is fast enough to provide live video of the MILB feed of Las Vegas games.  If anyone can provide some detailed analysis of Snider's performance in Las Vegas -- based on what they see with their eyes over the course of several games -- I would totally keen to see their comments. 

In fact, is there anyone on Twitter or elsewhere who is monitoring Las Vegas games and providing regular analysis on them?  Is there any Las Vegas equivalent of "Lugnut Fan"?  Is it possible maybe to ask someone in the Las Vegas media to provide an occasional commentary to Da Box on what they're seeing from the players?  It would be greatly appreciated by everyone here, I'm sure.

uglyone - Friday, May 13 2011 @ 12:12 PM EDT (#234735) #
So is it time to move Stewart to the 'pen yet or what?

Carreno even with his slow start is looking much better than him in AA already, and Carreno is well down our prospects list.

Can't see how Stewart's going to be able to stay ahead of those Dunedin arms on the SP depth charts for much longer, either.
China fan - Friday, May 13 2011 @ 12:13 PM EDT (#234736) #

Just checked the 51s page of the Las Vegas Sun website.  Top of the page is a story on Randy Ruiz and the exciting news about his promotion to the Blue Jays....    So, not much up-to-date information there.  My sympathies to the Minor League Update crew -- I'm starting to realize how hard it is for them to find reliable sources, beyond the boxscores, for analyzing the 51s.  And Gerry's scouting reports, which are extremely valuable and appreciated by everyone here, are much harder to do from a city in Nevada which is not exactly driving distance from Toronto....

ramone - Friday, May 13 2011 @ 04:44 PM EDT (#234764) #

Some Blue Jay nuggets from BA today, first the bad news from their chat today:

    Clint (BC, Canada): I thought Zack Stewart had a strong finish last year, but this year he seems pretty mediocre for a 24 year old repeating AA. His K rate is down from last year and I heard at the start of the year his velocity was sitting around 88-92mph. Is my hope of seeing him in the Jays starting rotation this year unrealistic?


Ben Badler: I think his future is in middle relief.

And now for the somewhat good news, their mock draft is up, I like their choice for the Jays:

21. BLUE JAYS: Toronto spent $11.6 million on its first draft under GM Alex Anthopoulos last year, going over slot several times to sign high-ceiling prepsters. Doing so again would land them Bell, the most talented player remaining in this scenario, or Baez, who has similar offensive potential.

Projected Pick: Josh Bell.

Mike D - Friday, May 13 2011 @ 05:26 PM EDT (#234765) #

Sure, McDade's a prospect. He is more than holding his own in the Eastern League having turned 22 last Sunday.

Agreed.  And he's holding his own from both sides of the plate at that age.  He's actually a month younger than Hechavarria, who himself is young enough that AA struggles aren't overly worrisome yet.

I do wonder why the F-Cats trot out such an old rotation by AA standards.  Carreno just turned 24, which is still more or less age-appropriate for AA, but then there's Stewart (25 in Sept), Gonzalez (26 in Nov), Beck (already 26) and LaMura (already 30).  I would understand if there's an AAA-aged starter the club wanted to shield from the PCL environment, but that's likely only true of Stewart.

Ryan Day - Friday, May 13 2011 @ 05:53 PM EDT (#234766) #
Stewart did the same thing last year - struggled for a couple months, and everyone talked about whether he belonged in the pen or even on prospect lists. The he had a stellar second half and everyone loved him again.

He's been much better this spring, though his Ks are down. I don't know if he doesn't like cold weather, or has a lousy off-season program, but I won't start worrying until August.

ramone - Friday, May 13 2011 @ 06:16 PM EDT (#234767) #
Didn't realize they had radio for the Dunedin Jays this year for every game but apparently they do, I'm even listening to it on my Iphone.  Anyway, Jimenez sounds like one exciting catching prospect, so far he's 2 for 2 today with a double and single, both line drive shots, he also stole thrid after his double.  His defence sounds like it's a plus as well.  I think he's going to have a serious rise through BA's top 30 Jays prospects this year.
ayjackson - Friday, May 13 2011 @ 06:58 PM EDT (#234770) #
Jiminez is Spanish for Johnny Bench.
TamRa - Friday, May 13 2011 @ 07:36 PM EDT (#234774) #
Projected Pick: Josh Bell.



FANGASM. Definitely my first choice.
Lugnut Fan - Saturday, May 14 2011 @ 07:05 AM EDT (#234794) #
Jimenez pretty much tore up the MWL last year and has a cannon for an arm.  His defense is a definite plus.  He is a very good looking player and I don't know why he hasn't received more pub.
hypobole - Saturday, May 14 2011 @ 09:19 AM EDT (#234801) #
After Travis Snider's 0 for 5 last night (and 0 for his last 16), he's hitting .238/.283/.310 in his last 10 games with the 51's.
Sigh.
The Wreck of the Lansing Lugnuts | 16 comments | Create New Account
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