Mormon Baseball

Archive for the ‘Weekly Updates’ Category

In a bit of a bind when forced to use Sunday’s starter on Saturday, the Phillies activated Roy Halladay from the DL rather than have him pitch another rehab game in the minors. And Halladay pitched fairly well, giving up just 2 earned runs in 6 innings while striking out 2 and earning a win. Since the Phils have still 32 games to play, Halladay could still start 5 or 6 games, bring his win-loss record into positive territory and perhaps even bring his era down below 5.00. Of course, all that assumes that he is back in his best form—a big assumption.

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The Marlins’ promising prospect in the AA Southern League, Matt Neil, pitched a gem last week, but failed to get a win when his team didn’t score during his 5-inning service. Neil gave up just 3 hits and struck out 6 in the first of his two outings last week. He also pitched 2 innings of relief last night, giving up a run and two walks. Still, his season era, including 9 games in AAA, is now 3.95, while his era for AA this year is 3.05.

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Despite his team’s poor performance, Matt Lindstrom is still managing to perform well. This past week he gave up just 3 hits and one walk while striking out 5 over 4 2/3rds innings. And despite struggling a bit earlier this month, Lindstrom’s season era is just 3.26.

But all this doesn’t mean that Lindstrom will be able to stay with the White Sox, as he would like. The team is second from the bottom in the American League, and third from last overall, which has led it to make many of its players available for trade, including Lindstrom, who cleared waivers this week. But his relatively low salary should have let him be claimed off waivers if there was any interest, so perhaps he will stay with the White Sox.

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Adjusting to a new league can be difficult sometimes. Taylor Mangum has found that out over the past few weeks. After pitching well in the Midwest League (A)—3.35 era, Mangum was promoted to the A+ Florida State League in late July, and immediately struggled. He gave up 3 runs in 2 innings in hist first start in the new league on July 31st and another 3 in 2/3rds of an inning on his second start. But his third start was different. Mangum went 3 1/3rd innings in which he gave up just 1 hit and 1 walk. Perhaps he will now be able to handle the new level.

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Adam Rosales hasn’t had much fun during the past month. As the Oakland As have tried to improve their team and maintain a lead as the season winds down, Rosales has become more of a liability. But instead of simply going back to AAA, Rosales has ridden a roller coaster between the majors and AAA and halfway across the country as well.

To understand the roller coaster, it helps to understand MLB’s rules for demoting players. As I understand it, teams must first “designate a player for assignment,” which allows other major league teams an opportunity to claim the player first. If no one claims the player, on the 5th day the player can then be assigned to the minors.

Rosales’ trouble started on July 8th, when the As designated him for assignment and then sent him to AAA Sacramento on the 12th to make way for Grant Green. But he was brought back to the majors just 11 days later when Green didn’t work out. Then on the 31st, he was designated for assignment again when the As acquired Alberto Callaspo. But this time the Texas Rangers thought he might be useful, and claimed him on waivers August 2nd, though the As would have preferred to keep him in their AAA stable. But the Rangers didn’t even give Rosales a chance to play, and designated him for assignment on August 5th. But in the mean time Alberto Callaspo was injured, and the As claimed Rosales back. He saw one at bat last week on August 9th, and the As designated him for assignment again on August 10th.

For Adam and for the As the question remains: Will he clear waviers and stay in the As system? Or will someone else claim him?

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The Sacramento River Cats’ Shane Peterson is hot once again. After all but taking over spring training as a personal showcase, he cooled down during the season, settling into a sub-.250 batting average. But this past week Peterson has become hot again. In games against Albuquerque and Round Rock Peterson has exploded, going 10 for 22 with a home run, 5 rbis, 4 runs scored and six walks. In the process he has raised his season average to .241. With Oakland leading the AL West and expecting to make the post-season, they will want another hot bat on the bench when the roster expands to 40 on September 1st. Will Peterson be ready?

Another 40-man roster candidate is the Yankee’s Nik Turley, currently playing in the AA Eastern League for the Trenton Thunder. Turley has steadily improved over the past few weeks and could also be ready for the expanded roster on September 1st. This past week he was stellar, giving up just 1 run in 11 innings (0.82 era), striking out 9 and posting a WHIP of 1.00. For the season the lefty’s era is down to 3.77 and his WHIP stands at 1.31, and given the doubts about the Yankee’s pitching, he may make his first appearance in the majors this Fall.

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Over his past 5 starts, the Kansas City Royals’ Jeremy Guthrie has a 4-1 record, improving his season totals to 11-7 and putting him tied for 11th in the majors in wins. Does this mean that Guthrie has turned around his performance? Can we expect solid pitching for the rest of the year?

The answer isn’t quite clear. Guthrie’s struggles have kept everyone guessing, with the best guess being that he will pitch well one game and then struggle the next. And looking behind the wins at his era and performance each game, Guthrie’s performance is still not something you can count on. In the last 5 games, he first pitched well, and then twice gave up 5 earned runs, but somehow managed to win one of those games. The most recent two games were solid—he gave up first 1 earned run, and then 2 last week. His era for these 5 games was still 3.98, just a little below his season era of 4.22. So its hard to make much of the last 5 games. But give me another strong outing or two in a row? Well, the Royals will be much happier and much more confident in him.

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Former BYU Cougar Jaycob Brugman, who was drafted in the 17th round this past summer, is starting to make his mark in the New York-Penn League. After a slow start, Brugman’s stats are improving, and this past week he was stellar, hitting 9 for 27, scoring 3 times and earning 4 rbis.
This week he also reached the top of the league stats, when his 22 rbis reached the top ten.

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If you thought the Home Run Derby and All-Star break might leave Bryce Harper off his game for a little while, you weren’t correct. If anything, the experience has sparked Harper, making him play better. In the first full week after the break Harper was 9 for 25 (.360) with 4 runs scored and 6 rbis. AND, Harper hit his 14th and 15th home runs during the week.

The week wasn’t without a downside for the 20-year-old. He once again aggravated his left knee, took a day off and then by the end of the week aggravated the knee again. But while the knee has bothered Harper all year, he has still managed to play well, and often play brilliantly.

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The Lansing Lugnut’s Taylor Cole has struggled this season, but seems to be slowly improving, especially in July, given Cole’s  2.52 era for the month. This past week he was even better, earning a 1.64 era over 11 innings, despite winning 1 and losing the other of the two games he pitched. Overall he has a sub-4.00 era and a 5-9 record with 71 strike outs. He must be showing coaches what they want to see because they keep starting him and keeping him in the games—he now is 9th in the league in innings pitched at just over 100, more than his totals in either of his previous two seasons in the Northwest (A short season) league.

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