Learning to Drive
Tue, Sep 4, 2007
by Geoff Young
Hard to offer meaningful commentary on a game that wasn’t televised. I assume from the 10 runs and five homers that the offense performed well. Either that or Micah Owings pitched like… well, you get the idea.
As you know, I’ve been doing some work with Ballhype of late. Just wanted to give everyone the heads-up on something that I should have pimped a long time ago: a group for Padres fans. This is one more way to connect with folks who dig the Friars as much as we do. Give it a spin if you’re so inclined…
It seems weird that a guy with 10 home runs this late in the season could have three multiple-homer games, but that’s Brian Giles for you. And congrats to Adrian Gonzalez for establishing a new career high with 25 homers.
Gonzalez had a tough stretch earlier in the year after he fouled a ball off his foot, but otherwise he’s been just as good in his second season as he was in his first. Actually, he’s been better in ‘07. Forget batting average, and focus on these:
| Year | PA | P/PA | BB/PA | ISO | XB/H | G/F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Statistics are courtesy of ESPN and are through games of September 3, 2007. | ||||||
| 2006 | 631 | 3.90 | .083 | .196 | .364 | 1.42 |
| 2007 | 601 | 3.79 | .092 | .219 | .432 | 0.92 |
Most of this is pretty straightforward. Gonzalez is drawing more walks this year and hitting the ball with greater authority.
One number I find fascinating is the P/PA. Gonzalez is seeing fewer pitches per plate appearance and yet his on-base skills have improved. This seems like the patiently aggressive philosophy in action: Let ‘er rip or let it go.
The other number that stands out to me is Gonzalez’ groundball-to-flyball ratio. First off, how does a guy with his “speed” break a .300 batting average while hitting a ton of grounders? Second, the fact that Gonzalez is hitting so many more balls in the air this year reinforces what the increased ISO already suggests: he is still learning to drive the ball.
Kinda scary when you think about it…
by Peter Friberg
You will not see much more minor league baseball. The San Antonio Missions and Lake Elsinore Storm are each head to the playoffs. And I’m not entirely certain what’s going on with the Eugene Emeralds…
[Ed note: The Emeralds have games at home Tuesday and Wednesday night. They are 21 games out of first place, so the post-season appears to be out of the question. ;-)]
Friday, August 31, 2007
AAA
Yordany Ramirez: 3 AB, 2 R, 3 H, 1 RBI; 3 BB
Clay Hensley: 5.0 IP, 11 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR
Jared Wells: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR
AA
Chase Headley: 4 AB, 1 R, 3 H, 1 RBI; HR
Nick Hundley: 3 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 1 RBI; BB
Mike Ekstrom: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 SO, 0 HR
High-A
Postponed…
Low-A
Aaron Breit: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 0 HR - thank you
Short Season-A
Luis Durango: 4 AB, 0 R, 3 H, 0 RBI; BB, 2 CS - NWL BA leader (.371)
Kellen Kulbacki: 4 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; 2B
Rookie
Season complete.
Commentary:
I’m encouraged to see Yordany Ramirez post better numbers after being promoted (skipping a level no less): .269/.298/.385 in High-A and .315/.353/.433 in Triple-A.
[Ed note: Beware of small samples; Ramirez still isn't much of a hitter.]
Likewise after struggling for most of the season, Aaron Breit allowed 1 earned run in his last two starts (10.2 IP). Breit has a nice arm and everyone liked him coming into this season. If he resumes his 2006 level of dominance (3.08 ERA) in 2008 he’ll reinsert himself into the Padres long-term plans.
Saturday, September 1, 2007
AAA
Will Startup: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 0 HR
AA
San Antonio 5, Corpus Christi 1
Nick Hundley: 5 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; 2B, SO
Wade LeBlanc: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR
High-A
Lake Elsinore 12, Inland Empire 1
David Freese: 3 AB, 2 R, 1 H, 0 RBI; BB, SB
Kyle Blanks: 4 AB, 2 R, 3 H, 2 RBI
Mike Baxter: 4 AB, 2 R, 2 H, 3 RBI; HR, BB, SO
Corey Luebke: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR
Low-A
Game 1: Great Lakes 6, Fort Wayne 4
No significant performances…
Game 2: Fort Wayne 11, Great Lakes 2
Eric Sogard: 4 AB, 1 R, 3 H, 3 RBI; 2B, SF
Short Season-A
Drew Cumberland: 4 AB, 0 R, 1 H, 0 RBI; BB - Eugene debut
Kellen Kulbacki: 5 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 1 RBI; 2B, SO
Commentary:
If you aren’t paying attention to Eric Sogard, you aren’t paying attention.
Sogard’s college stats (ASU):
.400/.488/.612 with 12 2B, 4 3B, and 11 HR, 39 BB, 24 SO
Sogard’s minor league numbers:
.255/.336/.365 with 11 2B, 0 3B, and 4 HR, 24 BB, 31 SO
Don’t be surprised when his numbers take a positive jump in ‘08 — and no, this isn’t because Keith Law likes Sogard — I’ve been including Sogard in these reports for weeks — it’s because he’s good.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
AAA
Cedric Hunter: 0 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 1 RBI; BB - AAA debut: bases-loaded walk
Jared Wells: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR - 3.00 ERA as reliever
AA
Corpus Christi 5, San Antonio 2
Chad Huffman: 4 AB, 0 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; SO
Will Inman: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 10 SO, 1 HR
High-A
Inland Empire 10, Lake Elsinore 1
David Freese: 3 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 0 RBI; 2 SO
Low-A
Eric Sogard: 5 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 3 RBI; HR, SO
Short Season-A
No significant performances…
Commentary:
The more I see of Will Inman’s stats, the more I think he probably should/will be back in Double-A San Antonio for at least the beginning of ‘08. He’s easily one the top pitchers in the system, but he isn’t dominating Double-A the way he has dominated every other level.
Inman’s San Antonio statistics:
3-3 with a 4.17 ERA in 41.0 IP with 33 H, 6 HR, 19 BB, 40 SO, and a .224 BAA
Inman’s composite Double-A statistics:
4-8 with a 4.80 ERA in 80.2 IP with 71 H, 13 HR, 35 BB, 82 SO, and a .241 BAA
[Ed note: The main issue with Inman right now appears to be his control. There aren't enough data points to make any firm conclusions, but this wasn't a concern with Inman in '05 or '06, so hopefully it's just part of the learning curve.]
Monday, September 3, 2007
AAA
Final regular season game…
Cedric Hunter: 3 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; HR, SO
AA
Final regular season game - playoffs begin Wednesday @ Frisco
San Antonio 6, Corpus Christi 4
Matt Antonelli: 3 AB, 2 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; BB, SF
Chase Headley: 5 AB, 0 R, 4 H, 1 RBI; 2B
High-A
Final regular season game - playoffs begin Wednesday @ Inland Empire
Lake Elsinore 7, Inland Empire 2
David Freese: 4 AB, 0 R, 2 H, 2 RBI
Kyle Blanks: 3 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 2 RBI; HR
Jose Lobaton: 3 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 2 RBI
Ernesto Frieri: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR
Low-A
Final regular season game…
No significant performances…
Short Season-A
Drew Cumberland: 4 AB, 3 R, 3 H, 0 RBI, BB
Yefri Carvajal: 5 AB, 2 R, 3 H, 2 RBI; SO
Mat Latos: 4.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 SO, 0 HR - only 1 HR all season
Commentary:
Happy Labor Day! System Sweep!
Thanks, Peter. Game 2 of the showdown in Arizona starts at 6:40 p.m. PT. We’ll have the IGD up and running about an hour before then. With luck, the first-half version of Chris Young will show up and lead the Padres to victory…
Picking up where last year's version left off, the Ducksnorts 2008 Baseball Annual provides in-depth analysis of and commentary on the San Diego Padres. Get your copy today.
September 4, 2007 at 8:24 am
I watched the condensed game on MLB.TV last nite (they show every out and run scored, most of the hits). Game looked pretty solid. Adrian absolutely crushed that ball to center. Khalil and Kouz almost went back-to-back, but Khalil’s ball was caught by Byrnes at the wall (would have been a double). Kouz made sure Byrnes couldn’t catch his as he put it about five rows deep.
What does everyone think about Jake possibly pitching on short rest tomorrow? I assume this will only be done if we lose tonite. Given CY’s history in AZ, and his recent struggles, Jake may well toe the rubber tomorrow nite. I personally don’t think it’s worth the risk. At this point in the season, the extra day of rest he could get by waiting until Thursday seems like it would be more valuable. Thoughts?
September 4, 2007 at 8:30 am
Found a couple of good links already this morning…
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....d=tab2pos1
Jerry Crasnick talks about the Padres Bats
http://www.baseballamerica.com.....64780.html
New “Non-Prospect Diary” with Dirk Hayhurst
I also didn’t get a chance to say anything on friday but it was nice to see Keith Law visit the site and have some of you guys absolutely kill him. His argument was weak at best. One minute he uses small sample sizes to support his argument and another minute he is using small sample numbers to bash someone. His PETCO bashing is really over-stated at this point and the way he acts like all of our pitchers are garbage is totally assinine. Petco gives us an advantage obviously but the way he seems to have such contempt for the Padres team, park or front office really shows through in all his writing. Anyways good job guys and congrats Geoff for getting a big scale national guy out here.
September 4, 2007 at 8:49 am
1.
Yeah I don’t like Jake pitching tomorrow if we win tonight for sure and I don’t know that I am really hot on him pitching if we loose but I really do think we need to win this series. So basically… Win tonight and it’s a non-issue!
September 4, 2007 at 8:49 am
1: Agree. We’re a better team than Arizona. Jake pitching blindfolded and left-handed is a better pitcher than Cassell, but I don’t like the risk and I don’t like the smell of desperation. If they did have this in mind they should have pulled him an inning sooner in his last start.
BP currently gives us an 80% chance of making the playoffs. No reason to throw ourselves out of whack.
September 4, 2007 at 9:01 am
The Pad’s have 25 games left with only 2 off days, the 6th and the 10th, meaning they close the season with games on 20 straight days w/o a break. Looking at the remaining schedule for the Pads, D’backs, Dogs, and Phillie’s, and assuming everyone takes 2 of 3 at home and splits (or splits +1) on the road, then it would appear that 90 wins takes the division and 88 wins would take the wild card. That being said, with their schedule, the Pads need to take 2 of 3 from the D’backs and should go for the sweep if they have the chance. Skipping #5 and pitching Peavy on short rest this series isn’t such a bad idea with the off days on the 6th and 10th. The only scheduling quirk that looks to be helpful to the Padres is the fact that the D’backs and the Dogs still have 6 games left to play head-to-head (3 home and 3 away).
Finally, the Pad’s end the season with 4@ the Brewers, which may give the Pad’s some say over who their first round opponent would be in the playoffs. Here’s a question: if the Pad’s have locked up a playoff spot heading into the Brewer series, while the Brewers are locked in a struggle for the last playoff spot with the Cardinals, how hard do you try to win?
September 4, 2007 at 9:28 am
5: I don’t think the Brewers still have a shot in the Central. The Cubs will probably end that discussion in a few weeks.
4: Totally agree with the desparation sentiment. Hopefully CY will be his usual dominant self and that Wednesday will work itself out.
Also, OT, but I am now the proud owner of a 20-game Plan X package for 2008. My parents have had season tickets for ages, but this is my first time owning tickets, so I’m pretty stoked about it. I’m sitting in Section 128, so it’s prime HR territory. Who knows, maybe I’ll catch a bomb by Khalil sometime.
September 4, 2007 at 9:32 am
5: You try hard because 1) you dont want to see the Cards in the playoffs ever again and 2) you want to 3-peat the division, not just get into the playoffs.
September 4, 2007 at 9:34 am
#6
Congrats on the tickets, that area of Petco is my favorite place to sit in the park (Sections 126-132). The Brewer thing was speculation on my part…personally I’d rather face the Brewers than the Cubs or the Cardinals in the playoffs.
September 4, 2007 at 9:34 am
7: Yep. And on that note, the Magic Number for the West is 24. Pretty awesome that we could conceivably get that all the way down to 20 at the end of this series.
A good read from MLB.com on the five most important figures in baseball to determine the playoffs. Not surprisingly, CY is listed.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/articl.....p;c_id=mlb
September 4, 2007 at 9:36 am
CY has never really been his “usual dominant self” on the road and especially in AZ. I hope we get the win tonight, but I kind of like the idea of sending Jake out there tomorrow. Jake just OWNs the D-Backs this year and is near flawless on the road and was perfect in his last outing at Chase this year (the 16 K game). Its our last game vs the D-Backs and the way they are struggling, a sweep may just throw them into a losing spiral until the end of the season.
September 4, 2007 at 9:38 am
#7
I agree about the trying hard, but let me ask the hypothetical question more precisely: if push comes to shove would you be willing to sacrifice your 2) to ensure your 1)?
September 4, 2007 at 9:39 am
7: Trying hard only works for one of those outcomes. I think what Ranger was asking is if you’d concede a few games to the Brewers to improve the chances of NOT seeing the Cardinals. But Phantom is probably right, the Wild Card doesn’t look like a Central team. They’re six out behind 5 other teams. Could happen, but not that likely.
September 4, 2007 at 9:40 am
6: Enjoy your tickets. Mine are in the first row of 133, tickets in the OF are just more fun than anywhere else it seems like.
September 4, 2007 at 9:43 am
#12
There is no way any team from the NL Central takes the wildcard, it’s the west or the east. Still, the Brewers are only 1.5 games behind the Cubs for the NL Central lead with the Cards .5 games behind the Brewers.
September 4, 2007 at 9:43 am
11: Yes, but I really dont see the Cards making it this year. Its going to come down to the brewers or the Cubs and the WC comes from the east or west. The good part is, if we dont play the Cards in the playoffs, history tells us we are going to the World Series haha.
September 4, 2007 at 9:53 am
14: You’re right, the Central race is closer than I thought.
I’d play scrubs in those games if only to avoid hearing Tim McCarver talk about Tony LaRussa in October.
September 4, 2007 at 9:55 am
13: Thanks! I love those RF seats too. They just didn’t offer them for the 20 game package we wanted.
16: lol. But Tony’s like, teh smartest manager ever!
September 4, 2007 at 10:05 am
#16
I agree, get the “F Troopers” some playing time and you may not have to hear about Pinella either.
September 4, 2007 at 10:23 am
1 - Jake only went 99 pitches in those 7IP the other day, btw. I say absolutely pitch him - he has owned the Dbacks this year.
- Win tonight and you have a chance for Jake to essentially wrap up the division via a morale-killing sweep (those DB’s are young, to me it seems it takes vets to get over big morale blows, like our guys after that Dodgers 5HR debacle last year).
- Lose tonight and you’d better take that last game - season series is on the line and it wouldn’t be inconceivable to finish tied w/ AZ. We’re even after last night’s game I believe.
Our last two off days are grouped close together within 5 days of each other, a unique opportunity to get some extra rest for Jake to compensate.
September 4, 2007 at 10:36 am
Anyone else hear about this?
Cedric Hunter promoted to AAA Portland hits home run.
http://www.baseballamerica.com.....cts/?p=573
September 4, 2007 at 10:55 am
Re: 20 maybe the Pads are going to stick Hunter in CF next year - j/k
September 4, 2007 at 11:00 am
19: The race is too tight and there are too many games left for us to wrap it up tomorrow.
This would be the best time to do it because of the upcoming off-days, but I wish they’d been thinking ahead more on Saturday night.
September 4, 2007 at 11:19 am
Re: 10 The D-Backs owned Maddux going into yesterday’s game, and the Padres won going away. The team is playing well, Jack Cassal beating Livan Hernandez would be more demoralizing.
September 4, 2007 at 11:20 am
22 - you’re right of course, there’s a lot of games to be played. The assumption I’m making is the Pads keep playing good ball here on out. If they don’t then win or lose this series won’t matter.
So, assuming consistent play…getting a 3 game lead, winning the season series vs AZ and demoralizing a young team by taking 6 of 7 head to head in a week seems to me very worth a risk (a risk that has some mitigation in terms of days off coming up).
September 4, 2007 at 11:20 am
Re: 19 not 10
September 4, 2007 at 11:25 am
#2 re: The Crasnick article.
Odd that he would have used McCullers and Seminara as the “random bad pitchers” examples. McCullers was one of the better Padre relievers of all time, and Seminara had quite a good rookie season (7th in ROY voting). Both flamed out post-Padres, but both were pretty good pitchers for them
September 4, 2007 at 11:31 am
Tim Brown @ Yahoo has a piece saying Peavy *asked* to pitch on Wednesday:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/ne.....eavy090307
If it’s all true, lots of interesting stuff in here.
September 4, 2007 at 11:31 am
24: If you’re willing to assume consistently good play, then we’re winning the division regardless of who pitches tomorrow.
All the arguments in favor of using Peavy assume that he’s going to be, what, 90% effective v. normal on 3 days rest? Are we really sure that’s the case? What does it do to our confidence if we throw our ace on short rest and he gets clobbered?
September 4, 2007 at 11:37 am
28: That’s a great counter-point. Everyone assumes that Jake would be lights out. Hell, what if Jake doesn’t get clobbered but we can’t eke out anything against Hernandez? I think that’s the worst case scenario. Waste a great and risky start for nothing.
September 4, 2007 at 11:51 am
27.
That article sounds great but it might be a perfect example of “over-aggresive” Jake. He might go out there and kill but he might go out there trying to throw 100mph and could ruin his cy young bid and his teams ws contender bid. TW also brings up a great point about if he goeas out and looses or gets knocked around. I think it all depends on tonights game.
September 4, 2007 at 11:53 am
20 … yes, Cedric put a nice cap on his season with a AAA home run! Despite that, and what he says, I’ll bet y’all will get a good look at him at Lake Elsinore next season. 19 years old, imagine that!
September 4, 2007 at 11:56 am
30 - agreed. Personally, I’d rather stick to the regular rotation.
* We’re not going to clinch a playoff spot on September 5th
* There are many games still to be played
* The risk of Jake pitching out of turn does not justify the reward at this point in time
* Cassel impressed me enough to the point where I would start him again
September 4, 2007 at 12:07 pm
29: Yeah. It seems like we’re automatically counting any game Jake starts as a win. That’s not the case under optimal circumstances, let alone late in the season on short rest. He could throw an 80 pitch gem and lose 2-0.
If we’re going for the psychological death-blow, winning tonight and then throwing Cassell feels like a “we can beat you any day” message.
September 4, 2007 at 12:11 pm
If Peavy pitches in his regular slot, then he’s pitch the first game in Col and the last game in LA. If he pitches tomorrow, then he skips Col and pitches the middle game in LA on the 12th with nearly a full week of rest. Frankly, I like that scenario better when they have to play a string of 20 straight to end the season.
September 4, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Padres sign Brett Tomko.
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7189444
September 4, 2007 at 12:13 pm
35: I think everyone saw this coming… He might be a decent spot starter though.
September 4, 2007 at 12:13 pm
#35
So, that essentially means that we “traded” Wells for Tomko.
September 4, 2007 at 12:14 pm
34: Yeah, I’m not dead-set against Jake going tomorrow. I just don’t want to minimize the risks.
September 4, 2007 at 12:18 pm
With Tomko’s stuff I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him have a very good run out of the pen in Petco.
September 4, 2007 at 12:21 pm
#38
There may also be a “Submitted for your consideration” aspect to Jake starting in AZ on short rest. If he looks good and wins, then he’ll have more cache with the Cy Young voters. If he looks bad and loses, then he may get a “pass” for being on short rest. And he avoids having to pitch in COL.
September 4, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Seems like Bud Black has gotten ahead himself and created a distraction for the team. I would prefer he just focus on today’s game.
September 4, 2007 at 1:16 pm
We lost Laforest - in my opinion it seems like it would have been best to keep him but his age and defensive skills apparently made him expendable.
ATLANTA (TICKER) — The Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday claimed catcher Pete Laforest off waivers from the San Diego Padres.
Laforest, 29, appeared in 10 games for the Padres this season, batting .360 (9-for-25). He was designated for assignement Friday.
In 86 games at Class AAA Portland, Laforest batted .230 with 29 homers and 72 RBI.
September 4, 2007 at 1:36 pm
42: Seems like a move that should have been further down the list. Our backup catcher has stunk and just got over a concussion.
This team shouldn’t be worried about whether LaForest has a place on a future Padre team. The question should have been, will he help the Padres more in September than one of the scrub AAA relievers we’ll promote?
September 4, 2007 at 1:44 pm
Re: 43 I hope the Padres have a plan for a backup catcher next season.
September 4, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Re: 44. The Padres have a pretty good track record of pulling backup catchers (hell, even starters) out of thin air. (e.g Olivo, Bard, etc.)
September 4, 2007 at 2:20 pm
http://www.baseballamerica.com.....64796.html
Little bit more love for Matt Antonelli over at BA.
September 4, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Re: Jake pitching on 3-days rest - perhaps it’s a test to see how he fares in case they need to do it in the playoffs? I’d rather they try it now and find out whether he can handle it, then try it in the play-offs, especially it’s game 4 of the DS.
September 4, 2007 at 2:57 pm
47: I don’t see them doing it as an experiment. Jake’s arm is worth millions to the Padres and he’s their biggest weapon when it comes to the playoffs, even though he hasn’t pitched well in October before.
If they do it it’ll be because they think he can handle it and they want the win more than they’re worried about the dangers. I really wish they’d been thinking about it on Saturday, though.
September 4, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Don’t like the idea of Jake pitching tomorrow. Especially since the idea came from Jake. We all know how’s he’s been a little too aggressive and a little less than honest about his physical state in the past. If you put the control of the team’s strategy in his hands, you let passion and the heat of the moment take over.
Let Cassel pitch and tell the regulars to bring their bats out again.
September 4, 2007 at 3:39 pm
46 … “little bit”? Ha, check out this description of Matt Antonelli from BA: “the top second-base prospect in the minors” … now that, my friend, is *love*!!! Thanks for the link, KRS1 …
September 4, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Anyone have some good links at what the data says about 3 v 4 days rest? My gut says NO, but what about the data?
September 4, 2007 at 3:50 pm
#51: Jake has started on 3 days rest once in his career, in 2004: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 7 SO, W.
September 4, 2007 at 4:12 pm
Thanks, GY. I was thinking more along the lines of the chapter in Baseball by the Numbers, which wrote about it. I read it awhile back, and the general summary was that teams ought to do it more often. I hoped there was a similar, online version of that or similar analyses.
But that single data point is pretty encouraging…
September 4, 2007 at 4:35 pm
I’m a little worried about our catcher situation as well. Bard needs to be kept fresh, and we all know what happens when Barrett starts.
Lynch - I fondly remember both Dave Staton and Ray McDavid…I remember begging my uncle to draft Staton on his fantasy baseball team, telling him he was gonna be the next McGwire, etc.
Needless to say, it didn’t work out. Although, he did draft him…
We had some teams in the lower levels back in those days - the High Desert Mavericks, etc. Matt Mieske, Bryce Florie, McDavid, Staton, Jay Gainer (another masher), Ray Holbert, Paul Faries, Jason Hardtke, Scott Sanders, Tim Worrell, Lance Painter, Darrell Sherman, Brian Johnson, Mark Ettles, Candy Sierra…etc.
Awesome!
September 4, 2007 at 4:45 pm
53: They had a study on that in The Book. They looked at all starts made by pitchers with at least 800 PA against from 1999-2002, eliminating starts with fewer than 18 batters faced. On three days’ rest, these pitchers had a wOBA against of .369. On four days’ rest, these pitchers has a wOBA against of .352. This difference represents 1.75 standard deviations.
September 4, 2007 at 5:16 pm
54 … wow, dig deep, Masticore! Candy Sierra? Ya, he was “the next big thing” on the mound!
And from the “where are they now” basket, here’s an update on Matt Mieske …
http://www.ourmidland.com/site.....&rfi=6
My Dave Staton story is pretty good … I went to see him play in San Jose in 1990 when he was playing for the Padres A-ball team in Riverside … I asked him to sign my program “Kiss My Triple Crown!” (because he’d won the Triple Crown in the Northwest league in 1989) … he looked at me and said “Really?” and just laughed and signed it … I’ll bet I still have that program stuff’d away … he was a big boy (6′ 5″) …
September 4, 2007 at 5:45 pm
You guys remember Brad Pounders? What about Shawn Abner (reputedly the “jewel of the Mets’ farm system” before we got him for Kevin McReynolds)? And Robbie Beckett, a lefty who could hit 99 on the radar gun but couldn’t find the plate!
What ever happened to Dave Staton anyway? I know he came up for a few games with the Padres (in ‘93 or ‘94, I believe).
Jimmy Jones, Stanley Jefferson, I could go on and on!!!
September 4, 2007 at 5:46 pm
One more on Dave Staton … he was a Cape Code STUD …
http://www.capecodbaseball.org.....June04.htm
“Staton won the home run crown while playing against more celebrated long-ball hitters and fellow Hall of Famers Frank Thomas and Mo Vaughn.”
September 4, 2007 at 6:16 pm
57 … sure, I remember Brad Pounders … he was at Witchita with Roberto Alomar (and Jerald Clark and Thomas Howard) …
http://www.thebaseballcube.com.....0435.shtml
re: Abner … man, was he a *bad* major league ballplayer
re: Beckett … flame thrower … he was Mark Phillips before Mark Phillips …
re: Jefferson … I don’t think of him without thinking of Shane Mack … who was one of the few to have a nice MLB run …
September 4, 2007 at 6:25 pm
#59: Phillips didn’t throw as hard as Beckett and had much better control. Beckett’s inability to throw strikes is virtually in a class by itself.
September 4, 2007 at 7:15 pm
I still have my Brad Pounders, Alomar brothers, Randall Byers Whichita AA cards.
I believe KT pitched for that team as well, but I could be wrong.
Shawn Abner. What a bust.
I thought Candy Sierra and Staton were gonna be the next big Padre stars. Yikes.
September 4, 2007 at 8:39 pm
61 … Nope, KT played AA at Beaumont in ‘83/’84/’85 …
http://www.thebaseballcube.com.....wers.shtml
Perhaps you are confusing him with Kevin Brown? Check out that link in #59 for the ‘87 Wichita roster …
September 5, 2007 at 3:50 am
I know I have a minor league card of KT’s with the Alomars. It must have been from 1988 Las Vegas then.
That team had Rob Nelson on it, another guy that seemed sure to mash…