Ft. Wayne Lefty-Righty Splits for 2001

by Geoff Young on Mar 06, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Because I find this sort of thing fun, I spent some time over at MinorLeagueBaseball.com looking at splits last year for some of the Pads’ prospects. Today, Ft. Wayne…

Hitters

Vince Faison, OF

        AB  H 2B 3B HR BB SO  BA OBP SLG
vs LHP  25  5  0  0  0  4  8 200 310 200
vs RHP 115 23  5  0  1 14 27 200 287 270

Pitchers

Justin Germano, RHP

        AB  H 2B 3B HR BB SO  BA OBP SLG GB FB
vs LHP 105 31  9  0  1  6 20 295 333 410 35 17
vs RHP 160 49  6  2  6 10 35 306 347 481 46 28

Oliver Perez, LHP

        AB  H 2B 3B HR BB SO  BA OBP SLG GB FB
vs LHP  76 24  4  0  2  5 16 316 358 447 17 17
vs RHP 290 60 11  3  7 38 82 207 299 338 57 89

Mark Phillips, LHP

       AB  H 2B 3B HR BB SO  BA OBP SLG GB FB
vs LHP 27  5  1  0  1  5  9 185 313 333  8  4
vs RHP 82 14  2  1  0  9 18 171 253 220 29 20

Habañero Pistachios and D’Angelo Jimenez’ Move to Second Base

by Geoff Young on Mar 05, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

USD moves up a notch in the BA poll to #23 after their weekend sweep of Michigan.

New culinary discovery: habañero pistachios. If garlic and Mexican food burn your mouth, steer clear; but if you like Thai food or Indian vindaloo, you’ll do just fine. Man, they rock. Found ‘em at Trader Joe’s.

Early returns on D’Angelo Jimenez’ move to second base aren’t encouraging. The brass hasn’t been thrilled with his agility this spring. Damian Jackson, arguably the best defensive second baseman in the NL, is trying to keep his job. Damian is infuriating in his insistence at swinging at pitches out of the strike zone, but he sure is fun to watch in the field.

If you’re anything like me, you have about a half-dozen or so sites you visit all the time, and a few others you get to every once in a while. I rediscovered Minor League Baseball the other day. They’ve done some real nice work there, especially in terms of information such as box scores and stats. For example, you can now find out that Sean Burroughs hit .349/.400/.434 against lefties last year and .312/.374/.471 against righties. Pretty cool.

A Day at Tony Gwynn Stadium

by Geoff Young on Mar 03, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Toreros beat Michigan again yesterday, 9-4. I couldn’t make that game but I did get out to Tony Gwynn Stadium for the first time this year. They’ve redone the scoreboard. It now includes a video screen for replays, crowd shots, etc. Pretty cool. The only negative is that it’s the scoreboard is a very bright red, and the digital display is also red. It probably looks really good at night but during the day it’s almost unreadable.

We sat just to the left of home plate. Ate sunflower seeds, drank lemonade. Not a cloud in the sky (which made for some interesting fly ball adventures). Rory Shortell on the mound. Ranked #57 by Baseball America among college prospects, Shortell was firing bullets yesterday. Good life on his fastball, decent breaking pitch. He battled his control and his emotions but settled down in the middle innings and generally looked good. Helps when your opponent is 1-15 on the year.

Anthony Gwynn and Taber Lee (#64 on the BA list) were solid as usual. Lee drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the fifth that basically signalled the beginning of the end. Down 2-1, the Aztecs sent 18 men to the plate and tallied 13 runs. This was also the Double-Double inning. Thanks to the kind folks at In ‘N’ Out if any Aztec batter hit a double, everyone in our section received a coupon good for a free burger. About four or five batters into the inning, someone hit a sinking liner to center that dropped in for a base hit. The throw back to the infield missed the cutoff man and went straight to the plate, sending the baserunner to second. Somehow this was ruled a double and, hey, burgers for everyone. Woo-hoo! As it turned out, the inning was just getting started. Later on, there was a legitimate double and more coupons for everyone. Guy next to me says, "You can make money coming to these games."

Man, I love this time of year…

Padres Prospects, Ron Gant, and Phil Nevin

by Geoff Young on Mar 02, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

This just in: The Baseball America Top 100 prospects. The Padres are well represented, with six players (only the Cubs, with seven, have more).

  • 4. Sean Burroughs, 3B
  • 16. Dennis Tankersley, RHP
  • 28. Jake Peavy, RHP
  • 39. Xavier Nady, 1B
  • 54. Mark Phillips, LHP
  • 77. Jake Gautreau, 2B
  • 92. Ramon Vazquez, SS

In other news, despite the presence of Derek Jeter on the cover, All Star Baseball 2003 for the Playstation 2 rocks. Picked it up last night, been playing ever since. Well, except for work. And sleep. And quality time with the wife.

Word from Peoria is that Ron Gant is making a good early impression, while Wiki Gonzalez could stand to lose a few pounds. Phil Nevin is looking comfortable at first base. After initial trepidation, he’s handled the situation with a lot of class. It helps that Sean Burroughs has been deferential to the veterans who’ve been forced to move to accommodate the youngster.

Nevin said something in an interview the other day that I haven’t heard many big-leaguers say. He mentioned that he was grateful for the opportunity the Padres gave him and that there are any number of players in the minor leagues who are as talented as or more talented than those in the Show.

Remember where Nevin has been. He was the number one pick overall in the 1992 amateur draft after a decorated college career at Cal State Fullerton. He then proceeded to talk and hit his way out of Houston and Detroit. By the time he returned to SoCal, as a member of the Angels, he had moved behind the plate in an effort to salvage his career. In spring training 1999, two events occurred that led to what to this point has been Kevin Towers’ shining moment as GM of the Padres. The Angels’ Gary DiSarcina suffered an injury just before Opening Day. On the other side, San Diego lost catcher Carlos Hernandez for the year due to a ruptured achilles tendon. The Angels needed to fill a hole at shortstop, the Pads behind the plate. And thus Nevin was dealt straight up for Andy Sheets.

Nevin found himself in the lineup more often than not in 1999, behind the plate or 90 feet to the left of it, and ended up knocking 24 homers, 15 more than his previous high. He followed that up with 31 and 41 homers the following two years and even made his first All-Star team in 2001. In just a few years, Nevin has gone from underachieving #1 pick to overachieving former first-round bust. It’s a credit to the guy that he’s been able to apply himself and get the most out of his talents. Sure it might’ve been nice to see him figure it out a little sooner, but then, some guys never do get it right.

But getting back to the interview, Nevin understands his place in the big leagues. Yeah, he’s worked his tail off to get to where he is today. But he’s also caught some breaks. And he knows that there a lot of guys working just as hard in pursuit of their dream. Some of them will make it, others won’t. And some of that will be due to talent, but timing and dumb luck will also play a role. Nevin is an All-Star now with a big contract. But to hear him talk, he remembers what it’s like to be struggling just to make it.

I don’t want to read too much into what was said in a single interview, nor do I wish to suggest that a player’s comments are necessarily predictive of any future performance. But I will say this: For a guy coming off a career season at age 31, he sure sounded hungry. Nevin clearly believes he’s got a lot of good baseball left in him. And I think he just might be right.

New Article and Cool Site

by Geoff Young on Feb 27, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

It’s been a while since I’ve posted an actual article, and I’ve been feeling kinda guilty about it. So I went and whipped up a little something for you. It’s called In the Driver’s Seat: Making Contact and Hitting the Ball Hard. Enjoy!

Found a cool site while researching the article: Sports-Wired.com. I haven’t checked out the entire site but the link in the previous sentence takes you to a searchable database of pro sports draft information for baseball, basketball, football, and hockey back to 1977. Hey, where else are you gonna find out that Dell Curry and Johnny Newman are the only players selected in the 1986 NBA draft still active? Pretty neat…

Baseball Books Arrive

by Geoff Young on Feb 26, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Cool new site worth checking out: www.baseballjunkie.net. Put together by some Baseball-Primer regulars, it offers a sensible, less militant brand of sabermetrics. I guess that’s what some folks might call kinder and gentler. I call it good. Have a look for yourself.

Hit the mother lode today, with Baseball Prospectus, Sickels, and STATS Player Profiles all arriving. Sickels on Jake Peavy:

Grab this one… His velocity has jumped into the 90-93 MPH range, and since he already knew how to pitch, he now is an excellent prospect. His slider and changeup are strong and he throws strikes… He has good mechanics and should be durable, provided the Padres don’t run him into the ground. Peavy is one of the best pitching prospects in the game, though he doesn’t get as much attention as some people.

Here’s what BP has to say about Peavy:

Peavy might have the best raw stuff of any Padres pitching prospect, and he knows what to do with it, striking out a ton of batters.

Yep. He’s gonna be a lot of fun to watch when he gets here.

Baseball America Ranks Padres Prospects

by Geoff Young on Feb 25, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Sean Burroughs ran the fastest timed mile the other day in camp. Came in at just over 5 minutes.

The Baseball America Prospect Handbook showed up on Saturday. Among the comments on #11 ranked Ben Johnson was this interesting nugget: "His numbers were boosted by The Diamond at Lake Elsinore, where he hit .332 as opposed to .221 on the road…" What I find fascinating about this is the fact that The Diamond is one of the more extreme pitcher’s parks in the Cal League. Last year, 8.2 runs per game were scored there, while 9.1 were tallied in Storm road games. Of course, some of their road games were at High Desert and Lancaster, which are off the charts for offense. My guess is that Johnson wasn’t helped all that much by his home park and this was just a fluke.

Guys who made their Padres Top 30 but not mine, along with my comments:

  • 17. Jeremy Fikac, RHP — I like him but have a bias against reliever prospects. He could be a better version of Donne Wall.
  • 19. Andy Shibilo, RHP — Another reliever but with better stuff than Fikac. Think Dan Miceli with control.
  • 20. Mike Nicolas, RHP — Another reliever. This one is interesting. He has absolulely electric stuff and apparently is a tireless worker. His command is wobbly. Think Marc Kroon.
  • 25. Ryan Baerlocher, RHP — Rule 5 draftee from the Royals’ organization. Has a good chance to stick with the big club as a long reliever. His upside is pretty similar to that of Brett Jodie, whom I ranked 23rd.
  • 27. Pedro de los Santos, 2B — I have to come clean on this one: I’d never heard of him but there’s a good reason. Assuming the birth certificate is accurate, he is just 18 years old and has 46 North American at-bats to his credit. May move to the outfield.
  • 28. Kory DeHaan, OF — Could be a useful big-leaguer but I don’t consider him a prospect at this point.
  • 30. Todd Donovan, OF — Positives: Runs well, knows the strike zone. Negatives: Injury prone, no power. He might be a safer bet than guys like Doc Brooks and Marcus Nettles, but his upside isn’t as high.

Deivi Cruz Ages Three Years in One Day

by Geoff Young on Feb 23, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Recently acquired utility infielder Deivi Cruz is 29 years old, not 26 as earlier reported. Minor-league infielder Bernabel Castro, thought to be 20, now is believed to be somewhere between 21 and 24. Both players remain in the Dominican Republic as they try to straighten out their paperwork.

Meantime, Puerto Rican shortstop Ramon Vazquez, who definitely is 25, is making some solid early impressions and is solidifying his status as the projected starter.

More Mike Darr

by Geoff Young on Feb 22, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

More about Mike Darr’s untimely passing.

Padres.com

SignOnSanDiego.com

In other, happier news, we have tickets for Opening Day against the Giants! About 30 of us from work will be taking the afternoon off to watch from the nosebleed seats. Hey, it’s Opening Day. Get me in the park and give me a hot dog, and I’m good to go.

Relievers Tom Davey and Kevin Walker are progressing nicely in their rehab from surgeries. Davey is expected to miss the first few weeks of the regular season, while Walker should be ready to go near the All-Star break. Right-hander Jeremy Fikac has been recovering very quickly from January hand surgery and is now expected to be ready around Opening Day. For a guy who relies on command and movement, he might struggle at first as he works to regain a feel for his pitches. But it sure is nice having a pitcher with his style working under the master of deception, Trevor Hoffman.

Phil Nevin is working out at first base with Wally Joyner, now an aide to GM Kevin Towers. Early reports are promising. Between his experience behind the plate and at third, and under the tutelage of Joyner, Nevin should make the transition to the right side of the diamond without a hitch.

Trust Fund for Sons of Mike Darr

by Geoff Young on Feb 20, 2002 (Comments Off) Comments

Just a quick heads-up to anyone who might be interested, a trust fund has been set up for the young sons of Mike Darr. Donations may be sent to the following address:

The Mike Jr. and Matthew Darr Fund
c/o The San Diego Padres
P.O. Box 122000
San Diego, CA 92112

Thanks.