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Syracuse Chiefs – 9-16 (Last in Int’l League North)
Offensive Player of the Week
First baseman Chris Marrero continues to rake with multi-hit games in five of his last seven outings. He ranks second in the International League in home runs (6) and fourth in RBI (20). The Chiefs’ cleanup hitter, Marrero leads the team in both categories and is third in runs with 11 on the season. He also ranks second with a .354 average this year with a team-leading OPS of 1.048.
Pitcher(s) of the Week
The Chiefs have three relief pitchers in the middle of solid seasons at the Triple-A affiliate. Lefties J.C. Romero and Fernando Abad, plus right-hander Erik Davis have given Syracuse a trio of reliable options out of the bullpen. Romero has a 0.82 ERA through ten appearances with 14 strikeouts in 11 innings pitched. Abad holds a 1.93 ERA through ten games and Davis is even better with a 1.64 mark and two saves.
*Chris Young had another rough outing after his unfortunate debut, giving up five earned runs in 5 2/3 innings to Durham. Through two appearances, ten total innings, Davis has a 9.00 ERA with ten earned runs, 17 hits, and five walks. Opponents are hitting .395 off of him.
*Starter Ross Ohlendorf is also having trouble this season with 17 earned runs through six games (5.46 ERA). The only starting pitcher on the Chiefs having a good year is lefty Danny Rosenbaum (2-1, 1.14 ERA).
Harrisburg Senators – 13-14 (3rd in Eastern League East)
Offensive Player of the Week
Outfielder Justin Bloxom, 25, is heating up as of late with a five-game hit streak and six RBI in his last eight games. He has helped fill the void of an injured Steven Souza, Jr. who hasn’t played since April 13 because of an injured shoulder. Bloxom is behind his 21-homer pace of last season, but does have two in his last eight outings.
Pitcher of the Week
25-year-old Caleb Clay has put in four nice starts since a rocky debut against Bowie. He has allowed just three earned runs over his last four appearances to lower his ERA to 2.17 on the year. He leads the Senators' staff in ERA, wins (3), WHIP (1.07), and is second in innings pitched (29.0).
Notes
*Lefty Ian Krol, acquired in the Michael Morse trade from the Athletics, has terrific numbers through his first ten games with a 0.61 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 14 2/3 innings.
*Center fielder Brian Goodwin has seen his average dip to .261 in recent games as he continues to search for consistency. When he does get on base, however, he makes things happen with a team-best 18 runs and five stolen bases on the year.
Potomac Nationals – 12-14 (3rd in Carolina League North)
Offensive Player of the Week
Offense has been an issue for the P-Nats so far this season, but second baseman Cutter Dykstra has been a standout. He is hitting .303 on the year with a .379 on-base percentage and has four RBI in his last five games. Dykstra is showing patience with 11 walks compared to 14 strikeouts in 24 games this season.
Pitcher of the Week
Lefty Matt Grace has been solid out of the bullpen in recent weeks having not allowed a run since April 10, a span of five games and 11 innings. The 2010 8th round draft pick is now 2-0 with a 2.57 ERA through seven outings. Those numbers include a forgetful season debut when he gave up three earned runs in 2 1/3 innings to Lynchburg.
Notes
*Potomac’s trio of young pitchers – Taylor Hill, Robbie Ray, and Taylor Jordan – finally saw one of its members have an ERA above 2.00. Hill allowed three earned in 5 2/3 innings to the Mudcats on April 30 and now has a 2.43 ERA on the year. Still a good mark, but quite on the level of his teammates anymore (Ray: 1.85; Jordan: 1.59).
*Center fielder Billy Burns leads the Eastern League in runs scored with 21 on the season. He is hitting just .261, but also leads the P-Nats in stolen bases with 11.
Hagerstown Suns – 14-11 (1st in South Atlantic League North)
Offensive Player of the Week
Outfielder Wander Ramos leads the Suns with 17 RBI in 17 games this season after hitting seven in his last nine outings. He is hitting just .259 on the year but has a .397 on-base percentage thanks to 12 walks. Ramos, 23, is playing in his first season at the Single-A level.
Pitcher of the Week
Hagerstown also has a relief pitcher off to a great start this year. 6-foot-6 right-hander Travis Henke hasn’t allowed a run in his last 9 2/3 innings and now has a 0.87 ERA on the year. He has proved a reliable option out of the bullpen to eat multiple innings on a given night.
Notes
*Bryan Harper, Bryce’s older brother, holds a 1.59 ERA through three relief appearances this season. He has seven strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings with no walks.
*Brandon Millier, a 4th round pick in 2012 out of Samford, is really struggling this season with a .194 ERA in his first 23 games. He does have four home runs and 11 runs scored, but needs to get closer to the .292 clip he posted at Auburn last year.
24 comments:
I forgot about Chris Marrero. I love you ALR but if you are injured, and you look it, let's give him one last try. Is that mean? I hope not.
I wonder how hard Bryan Harper throws.
LaRoche has started to come around a bit this series, I think - that double last night probably would've been a home run on a less windy night. Hopefully he can continue to come around this weekend. AJ Burnett may be good for him that way; he's been a very good pitcher this year so far, but lefties are hitting him at a .288/.432/.373 rate this year. He's been murder on righties, though, with a SO/BB rate of 10/1 and an overall line of .145/.181/.246.
Players with an OPS over .600 against Burnett: Ramos, Werth, LaRoche, Harper, Suzuki, Span. No one else has a positive track record against him at all.
Responding to a couple of comments:
Maybe if he stopped grinning he'd throw strikes
How do you explain the grinning _and_ the strikes last year? In fact, I recall that Detwiler cited Gio and his positive attitude as a significant factor that helped Detwiler's attitude while pitching.
MZ/Chase wrote:
*Lefty Ian Krol, acquired in the Michael Morse trade from the Athletics, has terrific numbers through his first ten games with a 0.61 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 14 2/3 innings.
Well, that sounds pretty cool. Anybody know anything about him?
1st pitch he swings at if it's close. You pitch him fastball inside off the plate so he either swings or misses or fouls it off to get him 0-1.
On the next pitch from a RHP throw him a slider near the inside of the plate under his hands for Strike 2. Now 0-2.
On the 3rd pitch, throw him a heater out of the strike zone over the middle of the plate at shoulder height and he will swing out of his cleats for that swing & miss.
Arggh!! I was having a flashback about Rick Ankiel!!
Number of games played against teams in 2013 that finished at or below .500 in 2012:
Braves: 18
Nats: 9
Nice catch -- a useful reminder of what many of us knew going into the season: that the Nats have a killer first month or so of a schedule. Things will even out later.
Thanks, Mark. This is an excellent feature.
Yeah, and I'll tell you what, I'd rather start off fighting than cruising. Nothing like adversity to remind you of the need to stay sharp at all times.
Update on Opening Day Starters, including some under achievers.
Starters after 6
http://ladyandthenats.blogspot.com/2013/05/six-packs-opening-day-starters.html
A DC Wonk said...
Number of games played against teams in 2013 that finished at or below .500 in 2012:
Braves: 18
Nats: 9
Nice catch -- a useful reminder of what many of us knew going into the season: that the Nats have a killer first month or so of a schedule. Things will even out later
I love that stat!
The Nats can beat any team when they play mistake free baseball and that includes fielding errors, mental errors, baserunning mistakes, and failures to execute fundamental plays.
One of the biggest plays in Strasburg's loss was his own failure to execute a bunt that turned into a doubleplay when Tracy got picked off 2nd. It went from no outs with men on 1st and 2nd to 2 outs and a runner on 1st.
This team has been its own worse enemy in losses.
I'm still looking for that spark when the Nats do fall behind to show they can make a great comeback and win a game. That may be the biggest thing missing is the "fight" in these guys.
"I'm still looking for that spark when the Nats do fall behind to show they can make a great comeback and win a game. That may be the biggest thing missing is the "fight" in these guys."
Yes, agreed, although I think it's not so much missing as it is overshadowed by the self-imposed pressure to over perform.
That may be the last great unconquered frontier remaining for us in the early season: a gritty, claw-back win.
Update on Opening Day Starters...
NatsLady, I think that's a cool series, and am looking forward to it all season long. Thanks.
Very strange about Matt Cain. I mean: it's strange enough that he's having such an awful season, but what's really odd is that his season opener was 6 inning of shut-out ball.
Ian Kroll was the guy suspended from baseball for a while because of using anti gay slurs on social network.
"That may be the last great unconquered frontier remaining for us in the early season: a gritty, claw-back win."
Er, that and beating the freaking Cardinals ;).
Wonk, thanks. I'm kind of getting the hang of it. Profile one or two guys (mostly random), check out the injuries and trends. The hardest part is formatting the tables. It's endlessly frustrating because what you see is NOT what you get, even if you use the HTML commands as described.
There are various theories on Matt Cain, including that he's not as bad as it looks, but no one has come up with the answer.
Cain is definitely an interesting case. SO/BB ratio not down too much, strikeouts up, walks about the same - just more hittable, and with an HR/9 that's gone over *2,* which is to say at least two home runs a game. Which is kind of insane.
Gio has a similar problem - after allowing 9 home runs over all of his starts last year he's allowed 4 in 6 starts. He almost certainly couldn't have kept his ratio as low as it was last year, but it's odd to see it regress so severely. Hopefully it's a small sample size fluke for both of them.
emdash, gio's main and maybe only problem is walks.
Gio seems to lose his focus for at least one inning per game. If he is not given the strike zone on his curve he gets all bumfuzzled and frazzled.
Faraz Shaikh said...
emdash, gio's main and maybe only problem is walks.
Yes, walks have been a big issue in those games he lost. Look again at the Mets and 2 Atlanta games. He got hit hard by the RH batters which was more than usual.
I think he needs to rethink coming inside like Detwiler does on the Righties. Gio may have to keep the fastballs outside. The Braves have a lot of hitters like Uggla and Gattis and JUp that crush fastballs inside.
The Braves RH batters appeared to step up in the box and were bashing his fastballs. His curveball was still effective.
Atlanta "thinks" they have figured Gio out and that's why they were very succesful. Sit on the inside fastball while also hoping for a mistake pitch.
Look at this chart for Gio's game 3 nights ago.
Leadoff HR to Andrelton Simmons:
http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/cache/numlocation.php-pitchSel=461829&game=gid_2013_04_30_wasmlb_atlmlb_1&batterX=4&innings=yyyyyyyyy&sp_type=1&s_type=3.gif
RBI double to Gattis:
http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/cache/numlocation.php-pitchSel=461829&game=gid_2013_04_30_wasmlb_atlmlb_1&batterX=8&innings=yyyyyyyyy&sp_type=1&s_type=3.gif
Chris Johnson RBI single down the middle:
http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/cache/numlocation_io.php-pitchSel=461829&game=gid_2013_04_30_wasmlb_atlmlb_1&batterX=17&innings=yyyyyyyyy&sp_type=1&s_type=3.gif
nats guy said...
Gio seems to lose his focus for at least one inning per game. If he is not given the strike zone on his curve he gets all bumfuzzled and frazzled.
Focus is a key and when you give up a leadoff HR to the 1st batter you face, it will mess with your focus and that's what happened Tuesday night.
Laddie Blah Blah said...
Thanks, Mark. This is an excellent feature.
I'm sure he'll mention that to Chase the next time he sees him.
; )
I like this feature as well.
There was a poster on here who I have stopped reading that informed us all that Syracuse was as good as some major league teams. Not sure that has worked out so well as far as wins and loses.
Also not sure how important wins and loses really are in the minor leagues. To me, its all about player development and I think Rizzo gets a check plus for that. Do you all remember what we were stuck with when this team came to DC. It was horrible.
Great posts in the last two articles and I especially liked the data on Atl vs. Washington on strength of schedule etc.
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