Mormon Baseball

Posts Tagged ‘Matt Neil’

Most of the minor leagues completed their seasons this past week, and the majors expanded their rosters to 40, leading to shuffling among the minor leagues. Two Mormons in the minors were promoted as a result, one went back to the majors, and a total of 7 Mormons may play in the various minor league post-season games.

Among the best last week was Matt Neil, who was one of those promoted. Leaving the Jacksonville Suns (Southern, AA), Neil started this past week for the New Orleans Zephyrs (Pacific Coast, AAA) and turned in a strong performance, blanking the Albuquerque Isotopes over 6 innings, striking out 6 and walking just 1. Neil also pitched for the Zephyrs earlier in the season, but this was probably his strongest performance there. With luck, he will start the year next year in New Orleans.

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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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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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Sometimes just when things are going well, that’s when something goes wrong. Mitch Maier was very hot last week, hitting .571 with 2 runs, 3 rbis and 2 walks. And for the season he has also done well—he sports a .315 average with 3 home runs in 108 at bats. But halfway through the week he injured his oblique and ended up back on the DL—Maier already spent much of the season on the DL and only has half the at bats of most other players. As a result he doesn’t qualify for the stats leaders boards, but if he did he would be among the top ten in batting average, on base percentage and OPS in the International league.

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How long does it take before a player becomes accustomed to a new level of play? And how do you tell when they just need more time to get acclimated, or have reached the most of what they can do? Managers and players alike must wonder as they ponder when to promote or demote those who are struggling or performing well. Take Taylor Cole, for example. He pitched very well last year for Vancouver in the Northwest League (A short season), earning a 0.81 era. This year he is still fairly good (3.99 era), but has struggled at times, basically alternating a good start with a start in which he struggled — kind of like his first year in Vancouver (5.88 era).

Given this past week’s performance, it looks more like Cole is just becoming better accustomed to the new league. He struck out 7 in 7 innings without giving up a walk and just 2 earned runs (both solo home runs) for his 4th win of the season. Keep it up, Taylor, and managers will have to believe you’ve become accustomed to this level of play.

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Matthew Neil

Former BYU pitcher Matt Neil was promoted by the Marlins to their AAA club, the New Orleans Zephyrs, and pitched well in his first AAA start, lasting six innings while giving up just 2 hits and 1 run. The move puts Neil on the same team with vetran pitcher Mitch Talbot (also Mormon), who has returned to the U.S. after playing in Korea. Talbot is currently on the DL, and hasn’t played since April 7th.

Neil’s pitching performance was matched by another prospect, but in the AA Eastern League. Nik Turley, currently with the Yankees’ affiliate Trenton Thunder, also lasted 6 innings and gave up just 1 run, but Turley struck out 6 and walked 2 in his outing. And with Turley on the Yankees 40-man roster, he seems more likely to make an appearance in the majors.

Also pitching well this week was the Blue Jay’s Josh Johnson, who lasted 3 innings in a rehab assignment with the Dunedin Blue Jays (Florida State League, A+) and gave up just 1 run while striking out 5.

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There might be more to say about the Mormons in the minors this week if so many weren’t on the disabled list. A week ago Bryan Harper and Mitch Talbot were on the 7-day list, and this past week they were joined by Cale Iorg and Mitch Maier. And only Harper seems ready to return to play.

And while they are out, there isn’t too much to focus on.The best performance was from Jacksonville Suns’ pitcher Matt Neil, who gave up just 1 earned run in 5 innings, but failed to earn hist first win of the year when his team lost the game after he left the field. Neil has brought his era down to 4.79 and seems to have settled down to his standard pitching form, we hope.

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