Prospect Poll: #4 Pitcher

Jeremy Hellickson wins the Rays #3 Pitching Prospect with 65% of the vote. Jeff Niemann and Matt Moore tied for second with 9%. Replacing Hellickson in the poll for #4 is RHRP Ryan Reid, our 2006 7th round pick out of James Madison. For pitcher statistics (you'll have to search by name) see Baseball-Reference, First Inning, StatCorner, or Minor League Baseball. Here are links to the StatCorner pages for each candidate for you tRA fans: Barnese (they don't do A-), Cobb, Houser, Lobstein (DNP), McGee, Moore (they don't do Rookie), Niemann, Reid, Rollins, Talbot.

Results:
1. David Price (78% of the vote)
2. Wade Davis (58%)
3. Jeremy Hellickson (65%)

Organizational Batting Leaders: Batting Average

Batter	Age	Level(s)	Avg.
Guillen, Cesar	19	DSL	.343
Otero, Elias	20	R	.332
Torres, Alejandro	19	VSL	.316
Ruggiano, Justin (pictured)	26	AAA	.315
Jefferies, Jacob	20	A-	.315
Johnson, Dan	28	AAA	.307
Corder, Jason	22	A-	.306
Salem, Emeel	23	A	.301
Nowak, Chris	25	AA, AAA	.297
Sexton, Gregory	23	A	.294
Richard, Chris	34	AAA	.293
Cuello, Juan	19	DSL	.293
Vogt, Stephen	23	A	.291
Eldridge, Rashad	26	AA	.290
Reynolds, Burt	19	R	.289

Note: Minimum 100 AB's to qualify.

AFL Blogging

Mike Wlodarczyk has updated his Arizona Fall League blog:

On the flip side, during my next appearance I put up 2 scoreless frames. It's always easier said than done, but pitching to contact rather than trying to paint the corner makes for a lot less work for yourself in the long run. Besides keeping your pitch count down, it also forces hitters to swing at your pitch because they know you have been throwing strikes and they might not get another good pitch that they think they can handle during the context of the at-bat.

The highlight of my most recent appearance was facing Sean Doolittle. Not only is he a good hitter, but he is also a fellow Shawnee High School graduate in New Jersey, where we attended high school. After falling behind in the count 3-0, I battled back to bring the count full. After fouling off a pitch or two, Sean hit a soft fly ball to shallow left field which I thought was going to drop in for a hit; but Desmond Jennings came out of nowhere to make a nice sliding catch for the second out of the inning.

Thursday AFL Action

The Peoria Javelinas (10-10) lost their third straight game today by a score of 7-1 to the Phoenix Desert Dogs (12-8). The loss drops the Javelinas 2 games back of the first place Dogs in the AFL National Division. The only Rays player in action was J.T. Hall who went 0-4 with four strikeouts. The Javelinas play the Mesa Solar Sox tomorrow at 2:35 pm EST.

Prospect Poll: #3 Pitcher

Wade Davis wins the Rays #2 Pitching Prospect with 58% of the vote. Jeremy Hellickson was 2nd with 16% and Matt Moore 3rd with 11%. Replacing Davis in the poll for #3 is LHP James Houser, our 2003 2nd round pick. For pitcher statistics (you'll have to search by name) see Baseball-Reference, First Inning, StatCorner, or Minor League Baseball.

Results:
1. David Price (78% of the vote)
2. Wade Davis (58%)

Winter League Stats

Rays players Winter League statistics through Wednesday's games:

Batter	Lg	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	Avg	OBP	SLG
Andrus, Erold	VWL	14	2	4	1	1	0	1	0	3	.286	.286	.500
Gimenez, Hector	VWL	27	4	6	1	0	0	4	6	7	.222	.364	.259
Hall, J.T.	AFL	46	5	11	1	1	0	5	4	12	.239	.300	.304
Hughes, Rhyne	AFL	66	12	28	4	3	2	16	4	17	.424	.451	.667
Jennings, Desmond	AFL	19	4	5	1	0	1	4	2	6	.263	.364	.474
Loyola, Maiko	DWL	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	.000	.333	.000
Spring, Matt	AFL	29	3	6	1	0	1	6	2	7	.207	.250	.345
Suarez, Cesar	VWL	8	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	2	.250	.250	.250

Pitcher	Lg	G	GS	IP	ERA	FIP	DIPS	SO/9	BB/9	H/9	HR/9
Hendrickson, Ben	VWL	2	1	6.2	4.05	5.30	5.20	9.5	6.8	9.5	1.4
Mason, Chris	AFL	7	0	7.1	8.59	4.56	4.59	1.2	4.9	12.3	0.0
Phillips, Heath	MPL	3	3	19.0	1.42	3.94	4.13	6.2	4.3	3.8	0.5
Reid, Ryan	AFL	6	0	7.1	4.91	1.97	2.25	11.0	3.7	8.6	0.0
Townsend, Wade	AFL	3	3	10.2	8.44	5.54	5.38	6.8	4.2	11.8	1.7
Wlodarczyk, Mike	AFL	7	0	7.2	3.52	4.37	4.31	9.4	4.7	11.7	1.2

AFL = Arizona Fall League, MPL = Mexican Pacific League, DWL = Dominican Winter League, VWL = Venezuelan Winter League, PRL = Puerto Rican League.

BA Draft Report Card

This is a little bit old, but for people who may not have seen it, BaseballAmerica did their 2008 draft report card on the Rays. It's insider-only, so I'll just post some of the interesting stuff here:

BEST PURE HITTER: SS Tim Beckham (1), the No. 1 overall pick, slumped early but batted .275 in the final month and the Rays believe he'll be a five-tool player. They're also enthused about the lefty bats of C Jake Jefferies (3), 1B Mike Sheridan (5) and OF Anthony Scelfo (8).

BEST SECONDARY PITCH: RHP Shane Dyer's (6) knuckle-curve. (Kyle) Lobstein and RHP Jason McEachern (13) also have good curveballs, and LHP Josh Satow (25) owns a deceptive changeup.

CLOSEST TO THE MAJORS: Beckham and Lobstein should move fast for high schoolers. Gorgen may not need much time to get ready for big league bullpen duty.

BEST LATE-ROUND PICK: McEachern or Gorgen. McEachern was throwing just 82-84 mph in the summer before his high school senior year, but he's now up to 88-92 mph and there's more projection remaining with his body and delivery.

I was a huge fan of McEachern of at the time of the pick, and he had a solid enough pro debut. He's almost a full year younger than a lot of other HS draftees(he didn't turn 18 until October), so he'll be back at Princeton in 2009, likely as part of the rotation.

Organizational Batting Leaders: Stolen Bases

Batter	Age	Level(s)	SB
Loyola, Maiko (pictured)	22	A	45
Perez, Fernando	25	AAA	43
Ross, Michael	21	A-	30
O'Malley, Shawn	20	A	28
Salem, Emeel	23	A	25
Tweedy, Jason	21	A-	24
Eldridge, Rashad	26	AA	24
Powell, Pedro	24	A+	23
Ruggiano, Justin	26	AAA	20
Luna, Omar	21	A	19
Suarez, Cesar	24	A+	18
Fronk, Reid	21	A	18
Dorville, Edward	19	DSL	16

Prospect Poll: #2 Pitcher

As expected, David Price was the runaway winner for the Rays #1 Pitching Prospect with 78% of the vote. Jeremy Hellickson was a distant 2nd with 7%. Replacing Price in the poll for #2 is LHP Kyle Lobstein, our 2008 2nd round pick out of Coconino HS in Flagstaff, AZ. For pitcher statistics (you'll have to search by name) see Baseball-Reference, First Inning, StatCorner, or Minor League Baseball.

AFL: Javelinas lose 3-2

Last night in the Arizona Fall League the Peoria Javelinas fell to the Scottsdale Scorpions 3-2. J.T. Hall drove in both runs with a triple in the 8th. He was 1-3 with a walk. Rhyne Hughes was 1-4 (double) with a strikeout. Matt Spring was 0-4 with a strikeout. Ryan Reid went 2 scoreless innings giving up 2 hits and striking out 4. Twenty-two of his thirty pitches were strikes. Chris Mason also came on in relief and pitched a third of an inning with a walk and a strikeout.

Today the Javelinas (10-8) play the Phoenix Desert Dogs (10-8) at 2:35 pm EST in a battle of the National Division leaders. Phil Hughes (NYY) will start for the Javelinas as they try to snap the Desert Dogs four game winning streak.

UPDATE 2:35 pm: Stephen Kahn of the Mariners organization is now scheduled to start for the Javelinas. Rays in the starting lineup include Desmond Jennings in LF batting 9th and J.T. Hall in RF batting 5th.

Prospect Poll: #1 Pitcher

While we're working on our Rays Top Prospects lists, separate ones for batters and pitchers, I thought it would be interesting to see what our readers' lists would look like. We'll start with pitchers, with candidates listed alphabetically. As the poll winner becomes obvious, I'll take it down and put up a new one with another player added in the winner's place. The previous winners list will appear in each new post. Not sure how much interest there is in this, can we make it to a Top 20? Feel free to add Comments supporting your pick (that's why I didn't put this on the sidebar).

AFL: Hughes leads Javelinas to victory

Rays 1B Rhyne Hughes went 3-4 (single, double, triple) with an RBI and 2 runs scored in the Peoria Javelinas 6-3 victory Monday over the Scottsdale Scorpions. J.T. Hall DH'd and was 1-3 with a walk and a strikeout.

Hughes leads the AFL in hits with 27, total bases with 42, and is 3rd in batting at .435. He is also tied for the lead in RBI with 16. He has hit safely in 13 of 15 games with 9 multi-hit games. His only down notes are strikeouts (16, T-4th) and fielding: committed 2 errors Monday, both fielding, giving him 3 in 15 games.

The Javelinas (10-7, 1st in the National Division) play the Scorpions (5-12, 5 straight losses) again tonight at 9:05 pm EST.

Organizational Batting Leaders: Strikeouts

Batter	Age	Level(s)	SO
Perez, Fernando	25	AAA	156
Fields, Matthew (pictured)	22	A+	134
Richard, Chris	34	AAA	127
Stewart, Quinn	24	A, A+	115
Hughes, Rhyne	24	AA	112
Royster, Ryan	21	A+	110
Martinez, Gabriel	25	AA	107
Johnson, Elliot	24	AAA	104
Hall, J.T.	24	A+, AA	103
Guzman, Joel	23	AAA	103
Fronk, Reid	21	A	103
Weber, Jon	30	AAA	99
Groce, Garrett	25	A+	97
Loyola, Maiko	22	A	96
McCormick, Michael	21	A	93

Bowling Green (A) Announces Team Name

Bowling Green Pro Baseball officially unveiled the new identity of the Rays' new Class-A affiliate Monday night at Circus Square Park in downtown Bowling Green. They will be known as the Bowling Green Hot Rods.

"This is an historic day for Bowling Green professional baseball, as we come together to celebrate the beginning of the Bowling Green Hot Rods," said Hot Rods General Manager/CEO Brad Taylor. "We are very excited to develop the Hot Rods brand, which connects the spirit and heritage of this region's automotive industry with a creative name and logo associated with the fun of minor league baseball.

Tailpipe Silver, Racing Yellow, Fire Red and Tire Black make up the club's official colors. A Hot Rod burning rubber is the centerpiece of the identity, surrounded by a chevron in the club's Primary Mark. Silver tailpipes are bent into the letters "BG" to make up the cap designation.

Bowling Green will be in the Southern Division of the South Atlantic League in 2009 before moving to the Midwest League in 2010. Lexington will move to the Southern Division and Kannapolis will move to the Northern Division to open up a spot for Lexington. Here is the new team web site.

Big League Payroll Analysis: Rays Win

If you are interested in the business side of the game, The Biz of Baseball has released their annual report detailing how efficiently and effectively each of the 30 clubs spent their player payroll.

The report, using the Marginal Payroll/Marginal Wins, shows that spending the most does not always mean a return on investment in the standings. "If there was anything to be learned this year it was that teams comprised of low player payroll could go toe-to-toe with teams that were stocked with high-dollar free agents," said Maury Brown, president of the Business of Sports Network, which runs The Biz of Baseball.

Key findings include:
-The most teams that got the most bang for the buck were the Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers.
-The teams that got the worst return on investment were the Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers.
-The team that spent the most per marginal win was the Tigers at $5,030,126.

Make sure to check out the PDF document showing payroll information for all 30 clubs, including the "bang for the buck" metric used to determine who spent wisely, who spent poorly, and all points in-between.

By the way, this site should be regular reading for anyone with an interest the business of major and minor league ball. For information on the Rays individual contracts go to Cot's.

Organizational Batting Leaders: Walks

Batter	Age	Level(s)	BB
Johnson, Dan	28	AAA	84
Fronk, Reid	21	A	74
Jaso, John (pictured)	24	AA, AAA	72
Merrill, Ronnie	29	AA, AAA	67
Eldridge, Rashad	26	AA	64
Nowak, Chris	25	AA, AAA	62
Perez, Fernando	25	AAA	58
Asanovich, Josh	25	AA	58
Loyola, Maiko	22	A	56
Richard, Chris	34	AAA	55
Andrus, Erold	23	AA	53
Ashley, Nevin	23	A+	49
Martinez, Gabriel	25	AA	49
Fontaine, Chase	22	A, A+	48
Vogt, Stephen	23	A	47

Winter Leagues

Mexican Pacific League
Lefthander Heath Phillips had another good start in the Caneros de los Mochis 3-2 victory last night. He went 7.0 innings giving up 5 hits and 1 earned run with 2 walks and 8 strikeouts. In 19.0 innings over three starts in the MPL he's only allowed 3 earned runs.

Arizona Fall League
Desmond Jennings is starting in CF for the Peoria Javelinas in this afternoon's game against the Peoria Saguaros. Three Rays in today's lineup:

Henry RF
Russo 3B
Miranda 1B
Hughes, R DH
Valaika SS
Turner 2B
Spring C
Cain LF
Jennings CF
SP is Marquez

Catcher: Jacob L. Jefferies

From the Hardball Times, with video:

Jefferies can get very pushy with his swing where it looks as if he pushes his hands out to the ball. Making matters worse, Jefferies looks to be working on this during his batting practice. Jefferies has a quick bat and keeps the bat head in the hitting zone for a very long time leading to a high contact rate, but it comes at the expense of a higher power output.

Tampa needs to work with him on letting the hands and hips turn together instead of pushing the hands out in front of the hip rotation. His swing is short enough to add a little length if needed. Jefferies could also increase his power output by continuing to fill out his frame.

Luckily for Jefferies, as a catcher, his bat will have much less pressure on it to succeed. He's more athletic than your typical catcher, but his arm is considered pretty fringy.

Winter League Stats

Rays players Winter League statistics through Thursday's games:

Batter	Lg	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	Avg	OBP	SLG
Andrus, Erold	VWL	5	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	.200	.200	.200
Gimenez, Hector	VWL	19	0	3	0	0	0	1	3	4	.158	.273	.158
Hall, J.T.	AFL	35	5	8	1	0	0	3	2	8	.229	.270	.257
Hughes, Rhyne	AFL	56	9	23	2	2	1	12	4	16	.411	.450	.571
Jennings, Desmond	AFL	12	4	4	1	0	1	4	2	4	.333	.467	.667
Loyola, Maiko	DWL	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	.000	.333	.000
Spring, Matt	AFL	23	3	6	1	0	1	6	2	6	.261	.308	.435
Suarez, Cesar	VWL	8	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	2	.250	.250	.250

Pitcher	Lg	G	GS	IP	ERA	FIP	DIPS	SO/9	BB/9	H/9	HR/9
Hendrickson, Ben	VWL	2	1	6.2	4.05	5.30	5.20	9.5	6.8	9.5	1.4
Mason, Chris	AFL	5	0	5.0	12.60	4.40	4.37	0.0	3.6	16.2	0.0
Phillips, Heath	MPL	2	2	12.0	1.50	4.12	4.42	3.8	5.3	2.3	0.0
Reid, Ryan	AFL	5	0	5.1	7.06	3.00	3.17	8.8	5.3	8.8	0.0
Townsend, Wade	AFL	3	3	10.2	8.82	5.65	5.44	7.1	4.4	12.4	1.8
Wlodarczyk, Mike	AFL	5	0	5.1	3.53	4.77	4.73	7.1	1.8	10.6	1.8

No VWL stats for SS Jorge Velandia because he was released by Durham.

AFL = Arizona Fall League, MPL = Mexican Pacific League, DWL = Dominican Winter League, VWL = Venezuelan Winter League, PRL = Puerto Rican League.

AFL Update

Mike Wlodarczyk has updated his blog:

As the Arizona Fall League finishes up it's third week of play, the Javelinas are in midseason form. Thursday's loss broke a four game winning streak to bring us in at 9 - 6 as we head into an off day for the All Star Game on Friday.

The biggest adjustment for me with the Fall League was getting used to the change in scheduling. As most of you know, the majority of the games here are in the afternoon rather than in the evening like during the regular season, so it is much more like a 9 to 5 job rather than the awkward hours that we usually have to work with.

The 'All Star Game' Mike is referring to is tonight's third annual AFL Rising Stars Showcase. RHRP Ryan Reid is the only Rays player and will play for the National Division team. The Rising Stars Showcase is on Gameday. Here are the starting lineups:

American Rising Stars
Burriss SS
Ford 2B
Murphy DH
Flowers C
Morrison 1B
Huffman, C LF
Wallace 3B
Wells RF
Reddick CF
SP is Tommy Hanson (ATL, pictured)

National Rising Stars
Jackson, A CF
Triunfel 2B
Wieters C
Doolittle 1B
Hodges DH
Halman RF
Stubbs LF
Ryal 3B
De Jesus SS
SP is Phil Hughes (NYY, pictured)

Organizational Batting Leaders: Runs Batted In

Batter	Age	Level(s)	RBI
Martinez, Gabriel	25	AA	93
Richard, Chris	34	AAA	88
Sexton, Gregory	23	A	87
Fronk, Reid (pictured)	21	A	83
Johnson, Dan	28	AAA	83
Nowak, Chris	25	AA, AAA	81
Guzman, Joel	23	AAA	72
Jaso, John	24	AA, AAA	67
Stewart, Quinn	24	A, A+	62
Wrigley, Henry	21	A	60
Andrus, Erold	23	AA	59
Royster, Ryan	21	A+	58
Fields, Matthew	22	A+	57
Eldridge, Rashad	26	AA	55
Vogt, Stephen	23	A	54

World Series: 1 = 1

Hughes, Jennings help lead Peoria

Rhyne Hughes and Desmond Jennings each collected 3 of the Javelinas' 21 hits, helping lead the way in the victory.

Jennings, who got the start in LF, collected his 3 hits in 5 at-bats, including a double, a home run, and 3 RBIs. Hughes singled three times in 6 at-bats, driving in two.

It wasn't as pretty on the mound, where Wade Townsend continued to struggle. He allowed 5 earned runs on 7 hits in just 3.2 innings, striking out 2 and walking 2. His ERA is now 8.44 in AFL action. Ryan Reid pitched a scoreless inning of relief.

Wednesday news

Bowling Green (A)
Bowling Green Pro Baseball will unveil its official team name and logo on Monday, October 27th at 5:30 p.m. at Circus Square Park in downtown Bowling Green. The event is open to the public and official team merchandise will be available for purchase during the event. The formal announcement is scheduled for 6:05pm.

Arizona Fall League
RHRP Ryan Reid has been selected to play in the third annual AFL Rising Stars Showcase on Friday night. Reid was the only Rays player selected and will be on the roster of the National Division team. The Showcase features current AFL participants selected by scouting and Minor League directors from every organization, along with input from AFL Executive Director Steve Cobb. Fifty players were chosen to represent the newly realigned and renamed National and American Divisions. Reid pitched for Vero Beach (A+) and Montgomery (AA) in 2008, and was named a Florida State League Mid-Season All-Star.

Organizational Batting Leaders: Home Runs

Batter	Age	Level(s)	HR
Richard, Chris	34	AAA	26
Johnson, Dan (pictured)	28	AAA	25
Guzman, Joel	23	AAA	20
Martinez, Gabriel	25	AA	20
Fields, Matthew	22	A+	18
Fronk, Reid	21	A	17
Nowak, Chris	25	AA, AAA	15
Hughes, Rhyne	24	AA	14
McCormick, Michael	21	A	13
Weber, Jon	30	AAA	13
Jaso, John	24	AA, AAA	12
Stewart, Quinn	24	A, A+	12
Ruggiano, Justin	26	AAA	11
Hall, J.T.	24	A+, AA	10

A+ News: Charlotte Stone Crabs

Ripken Baseball announced this afternoon that the Rays new A+ affiliate located in Port Charlotte will be named the Charlotte Stone Crabs. The team said that with the stone crab being indigenous to Gulf Coast waters and having ties to the Charlotte County community, Ripken Baseball felt it was a fun and unique baseball moniker that represented the local area. The team also announced that they will share the same color scheme as the Rays with blue, light blue and gold serving as their team colors. The team has yet to announce a logo and jersey design but plans to do so in the coming weeks.

Durham Bulls

Fans interested in getting together to watch the Rays play the Phillies in the World Series can head to Tyler's Taproom on the American Tobacco Campus in Durham. During each game anyone wearing Durham Bulls or Rays gear will receive half-priced appetizers.

2009 Bulls Mini Plans will go on-sale Monday, October 27th. These are 9-game plans with Terrace Reserved seats and include free gifts featuring Rays such as Evan Longoria, BJ Upton, David Price, James Shields, Carl Crawford, and Scott Kazmir. To order: (919) 956-BULL.

Ballpark Corner has 20% off Tampa Bay Rays jerseys during the World Series. Home and road replicas, and authentic batting practice are available. For the discount, use Coupon Code: GORAYS.

In case you missed it

Our own Kevin Gengler wrote a nice piece on the Rays system at The Hardball Times last week:

The Rays wound up winning 97 games and captured the division title. They dispatched the Chicago White Sox in the ALDS and are battling the Boston Red Sox for AL pennant. And how's this for a scary thought: This could be the least talented team they field for the next five or six years.

The Rays' talent-laden system might begin with top picks Tim Beckham (drafted on June 5) and David Price (made his ML debut on Sept. 14), but that's hardly where it ends. If you threw a dart at the team's organizational depth chart, there's a good chance you'd hit a name that has impact potential.

Two make Winter League debuts

Outfielder Erold Andrus (.255/.331/.388 at AA Montgomery in 2008) is playing for the Navegantes del Magallanes in the Venezuelan Winter League. So far he is 1-4 with 2 strikeouts, .250/.250/.250.

Infielder Jorge Velandia, who was acquired from the Indians for future considerations and added to AAA Durham's roster on 9/4/08 (didn't play in the regular season, only in IL playoffs), is playing for the Tiburones de La Guaira in the VWL. He's 2-12 (both doubles) with a run scored, a walk, and four strikeouts, .167/.231/.333.

Organizational Batting Leaders: Triples

Batter	Age	Level(s)	3B
Perez, Fernando	25	AAA	11
Wrigley, Henry (pictured)	21	A	10
Scelfo, Anthony	21	A-	8
Kang, Kyeong	20	A-	7
Otero, Elias	20	R	7
Andrus, Erold	23	AA	7
Merrill, Ronnie	29	AA, AAA	7
Eldridge, Rashad	26	AA	6
Cuello, Juan	19	DSL	5
Johnson, Elliot	24	AAA	5
Contreras, Ruben	20	DSL	5
Raburn, John	29	AA	5

We interrupt this blog to remind you....

THE TAMPA BAY RAYS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES

Winter League Stats

Rays Winter League statistics through Saturday's games:

Batter	Lg	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	Avg	OBP	SLG
Gimenez, Hector	VWL	10	0	1	0	0	0	1	2	1	.100	.250	.100
Hall, J.T.	AFL	22	2	5	0	0	0	1	2	4	.227	.292	.227
Hughes, Rhyne	AFL	41	6	16	2	1	0	6	4	10	.390	.444	.488
Jennings, Desmond	AFL	7	1	1	0	0	0	1	2	2	.143	.333	.143
Loyola, Maiko	DWL	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000
Spring, Matt	AFL	19	0	4	1	0	0	4	1	5	.211	.250	.263
Suarez, Cesar	VWL	6	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	2	.333	.333	.333

Pitcher	Lg	G	GS	IP	ERA	FIP	DIPS	SO/9	BB/9	H/9	HR/9
Hendrickson, Ben	VWL	1	0	4.0	2.25	0.95	1.29	13.5	2.3	6.8	0.0
Mason, Chris	AFL	3	0	3.0	12.00	5.20	5.07	0.0	6.0	15.0	0.0
Phillips, Heath	MPL	2	2	12.0	1.50	4.12	4.42	3.8	5.3	2.3	0.0
Reid, Ryan	AFL	4	0	4.1	8.31	2.28	2.56	10.4	4.2	10.4	0.0
Townsend, Wade	AFL	2	2	7.0	6.43	6.49	6.44	7.7	3.9	9.0	2.6
Wlodarczyk, Mike	AFL	4	0	4.1	2.08	4.35	4.39	8.3	0.0	8.3	2.1

AFL = Arizona Fall League, MPL = Mexican Pacific League, DWL = Dominican Winter League, VWL = Venezuelan Winter League, PRL = Puerto Rican League.

System News

Charlotte County
Ripken Baseball plans to officially announce the team name and colors for the Rays’ new A+ affiliate in Port Charlotte on Tuesday, October 21st. The team says it took careful consideration in choosing a name that reflected both the local community of Charlotte County and the fun and entertaining aspects of minor league baseball. Day-to-day operations of the team began immediately after the announcement by Ripken Baseball and the Rays that the team was moving to Port Charlotte on August 25th, but the team has operated since then without an official team name or color scheme. The Charlotte County team is the third team owned by Ripken Baseball, along with the Aberdeen Ironbirds and the Augusta Greenjackets. The Ironbirds have soldout every home game since their inception seven years ago, and the Greenjackets have seen attendance go up more than 40% in the three years since it became a Ripken franchise.

Dominican Winter League
Outfielder Maiko Loyola has begun playing for the Estrellas de Oriente in the DWL. Through two games he's gone 0-2 with a strikeout. Originally signed as a non-drafted free agent by the Pirates on May 23, 2002, Loyola was acquired by the Rays via the Rule V draft (AAA phase) from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Venezuelan Winter League
Infielder Cesar Suarez is playing for the Tiburones de La Guaira in the VWL. Through two games he's 2-6 with an RBI and a strikeout. Suarez was signed by the Rays as a Minor League free agent on June 3, 2005.

Arizona Fall League
Catcher Matt Spring checks in from the AFL with a blog post:

To be honest with you i may be enjoying my time here too much. That being because it is home for me. I grew up in Peoria, and have been watching the AFL since I was a little kid. It has been really nice for my family to be able to come and watch all of my games. A nice change from the season mainly because all of our affiliates are east of the Mississippi. I am sure that the ticket office looks at the pass list everyday and is amazed at all the tickets I am leaving for friends and family. They have been great about it too, they haven't said anything to me yet!

It has been a whirlwind last couple of months for me in my career. It started when my manager called me into his office to inform me that I would be representing the Rays in the AFL, which was a huge honor. Then my teammates and I in Montgomery Alabama (the Biscuits) were in a playoff race for all of August until being nudged out at the end by the Braves affiliate in Mississippi. Right before the last game of the season my manager (Billy Gardner) called me into his office one more time. This time to tell me that I would be joining the Durham Bulls in the International League Playoffs. The whole experience would have been great had I just sat on the bench, but I got an opportunity to play and helped contribute in both the first and championship rounds of the playoffs. We lost to some of my Fall League teammates who played for the Scranton Wilkes Barre Yankees in four games but it was a lot of fun. And yes they remind me often! But I would have done the same thing to them.

Organizational Batting Leaders: Doubles

Batter	Age	Level(s)	2B
Nowak, Chris	25	AA, AAA	37
Richard, Chris (pictured)	34	AAA	32
Sexton, Gregory	23	A	32
Martinez, Gabriel	25	AA	29
Fronk, Reid	21	A	29
Andrus, Erold	23	AA	27
Hughes, Rhyne	24	AA	27
Brignac, Reid	22	AAA	26
Hall, J.T.	24	A+, AA	26
Johnson, Elliot	24	AAA	26
Fields, Matthew	22	A+	25
Weber, Jon	30	AAA	24
Guzman, Joel	23	AAA	23
Johnson, Dan	28	AAA	23
Vogt, Stephen	23	A	22

Rhyne Hughes: 5 multi-hit games in Arizona

Rhyne Hughes was the only Ray to see action yesterday, but for the 5th time in 8 games for the Javelinas, Hughes collected at least 2 hits. He's now hitting .406 for Peoria, and has also drawn 4 walks. Hughes hit .268/.356/.448 in 107 games for Montgomery in 2008.

OT: Popeye

Nice story about our senior advisor:

"Wherever we go, he's the most popular man in uniform," said Rays first baseman Carlos Pena. "He has more fans than everyone on the team combined."
...
As a scrappy infielder who overcame a near-death beaning in the Minors, Zimmer, who has a steel plate in his head as the result of a later beaning, played for five teams during his 12-year career in the Majors and made the National League All-Star team in 1961.

Leading off and playing center field...

It's Desmond D. Jennings! He made his debut yesterday in the AFL for the Javelinas going 0-3 with two walks and a strikeout. Surprisingly he attempted to steal second after one of the walks but the batter fouled off the pitch. Guess the shoulder is healed. Jennings is on the taxi squad so he will only play in two games per week.

Elsewhere in the winter leagues Hector Gimenez and Ben Hendrickson have begun playing in the Venezuelan Winter League. Gimenez has gone 0-7 with a walk and a strikeout for the Tigres de Aragua. Hendrickson pitched four innings in relief for the Leones del Caracas, allowing no ER's on three hits with six strikeouts and a walk.

Organizational Batting Leaders: Hits

Batter	Age	Level(s)	Hits
Nowak, Chris	25	AA, AAA	153
Perez, Fernando	25	AAA	147
Sexton, Gregory (pictured)	23	A	144
Martinez, Gabriel	25	AA	141
Richard, Chris	34	AAA	137
Loyola, Maiko	22	A	132
Eldridge, Rashad	26	AA	126
Suarez, Cesar	24	A+	124
Fronk, Reid	21	A	123
Johnson, Dan	28	AAA	121
Andrus, Erold	23	AA	119
Vogt, Stephen	23	A	114
Royster, Ryan	21	A+	113
Merrill, Ronnie	29	AA, AAA	113
Fields, Matthew	22	A+	110

Free Agent: Scott Dohmann

The Rays have granted free agency to RHRP Scott Dohmann, who they signed as a free agent on January 22, 2007. His 2008 stats:

Team	G	GS	IP	ERA	FIP	DIPS	SO/9	BB/9	H/9	HR/9
Tampa Bay	12	0	14.2	6.14	4.77	4.70	7.4	4.3	11.0	1.2
Durham (AAA)	33	0	41.2	3.46	2.41	2.52	10.6	2.6	7.6	0.4

Rays International Signings

During the summer international signing period, the Rays gave four players bonuses in excess of $100,000 according to BA:

SS Julian Morillo, Dominican Republic, age 16, $210,000. "At around 5-foot-10, 165 pounds, Morillo is a good defensive shortstop with good hands, good first-step quickness and a good arm."

SS Hector Guevara, Venezuela, 16. "Guevara improved his stock leading up to July 2, improving his speed from 7.25 seconds in the 60-yard dash to 6.9 upon signing."

C Omar Narvaez, Venezuela, 16. "Narvaez, a switch-hitting catcher, is around 5-foot-11, 170 pounds and projects to hit for some power. He has good hands and agility behind the plate."

RHP Wilmer Sabala, Venezuela, 16. "Sabala is a 6-foot-2 righthander who could gain another inch or two. Some scouts saw him working at 85-86 mph, but his fastball has been up to 88-89 mph at his best with some movement."

Wednesday Winter Leagues

In the AFL today the Javelinas (3-4) play the Mesa Solar Sox (4-3). The Rays Wade Townsend will start for the Javelinas, who have lost their last four games.

Rays Winter League statistics through Tuesday's games:

Batter	Lg	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	Avg	OBP	SLG
Hall, J.T.	AFL	18	2	5	0	0	0	1	2	4	.278	.350	.278
Hughes, Rhyne	AFL	24	2	9	1	0	0	3	3	7	.375	.444	.417
Spring, Matt	AFL	11	0	2	0	0	0	1	1	4	.182	.250	.182

Pitcher	Lg	G	GS	IP	ERA	FIP	DIPS	SO/9	BB/9	H/9	HR/9
Mason, Chris	AFL	2	0	2.0	18.00	6.20	5.52	0.0	9.0	22.5	0.0
Phillips, Heath	MPL	1	1	5.0	0.00	5.40	6.11	3.6	9.0	0.0	0.0
Reid, Ryan	AFL	3	0	3.1	2.70	1.70	1.99	10.8	2.7	8.1	0.0
Townsend, Wade	AFL	1	1	3.0	9.00	7.87	7.59	12.0	9.0	9.0	3.0
Wlodarczyk, Mike	AFL	3	0	3.1	2.70	5.30	5.19	8.1	0.0	10.8	2.7

AFL = Arizona Fall League, MPL = Mexican Pacific League, DWL = Dominican Winter League, VWL = Venezuelan Winter League, PRL = Puerto Rican League.

13-4 = 3-1

Tuesday Winter Leagues

Mexican Pacific League
Rays LHP Heath Phillips (AAA Durham) and three relievers combined on a no-hitter as the Caneros de los Mochis blanked the Algodoneros de Guasave 2-0 Monday. Phillips pitched five innings, struck out two and walked five.

Phillips was released by the Yankees (AAA Scranton Wilkes-Barre) on July 19, 2008. On July 29, 2008, Phillips signed a minor league contract with the Rays. He was originally the White Sox's 10th-round pick in 2000 and was named the International League's Most Valuable Pitcher in 2006. Phillips in 2008:

Team	G	GS	IP	ERA	FIP	DIPS	SO/9	BB/9	H/9	HR/9
Durham (AAA)	9	3	22.0	2.86	4.25	4.28	7.4	4.5	9.4	0.8
Scranton W-B (AAA)	35	4	55.2	5.50	4.06	4.04	7.0	3.6	10.8	0.8

Arizona Fall League
The Peoria Javelinas (3-3) play the Phoenix Desert Dogs (3-3) in a rematch of last nights 3-2 Desert Dogs win. Updates in the Comments.

Organizational Batting Leaders: Runs Scored

Batter	Age	Level(s)	Runs
Nowak, Chris	25	AA, AAA	87
Perez, Fernando (pictured)	25	AAA	86
Johnson, Dan	28	AAA	85
Richard, Chris	34	AAA	82
Fronk, Reid	21	A	76
Loyola, Maiko	22	A	76
Merrill, Ronnie	29	AA, AAA	76
Eldridge, Rashad	26	AA	70
Martinez, Gabriel	25	AA	69
Jaso, John	24	AA, AAA	65
Sexton, Gregory	23	A	64
Fields, Matthew	22	A+	62
Andrus, Erold	23	AA	61
Stewart, Quinn	24	A, A+	59
Weber, Jon	30	AAA	58

ALCS Update

Monday AFL action

The Peoria Javelinas (3-2) take on the Phoenix Desert Dogs (2-3). Great pitching matchup with Phil Hughes (NYY) starting for the Javelinas and Max Scherzer (ARI) for the Dogs. Two Rays in the lineup: Rhyne Hughes at 1B batting 6th, and Matt Spring at C batting 7th. You can follow the action on Gameday. Updates will be in the Comments.

Organizational Batting Leaders: At Bats

Batter	Age	Level(s)	AB
Nowak, Chris	25	AA, AAA	515
Martinez, Gabriel (pictured)	25	AA	511
Perez, Fernando	25	AAA	511
Sexton, Gregory	23	A	490
Fields, Matthew	22	A+	482
Suarez, Cesar	24	A+	480
Loyola, Maiko	22	A	471
Richard, Chris	34	AAA	467
Andrus, Erold	23	AA	466
Merrill, Ronnie	29	AA, AAA	450
Guzman, Joel	23	AAA	436
Eldridge, Rashad	26	AA	435
Fronk, Reid	21	A	429
Royster, Ryan	21	A+	426
Hall, J.T.	24	A+, AA	409

Desmond Jennings in Arizona?

I'm not sure what to make of this, but Desmond Jennings is now listed on the Peoria Javelinas roster. I hadn't heard anything about him going to Arizona, and it doesn't look like he's played in a game yet, but we'll keep an eye out. If his shoulder is healthy, this is a good way to get him some playing time that he sorely needs after missing parts of the past two seasons with various injuries.

In actual AFL action, Rhyne Hughes was the only Rays prospect to play in Saturday's game, going 2-4. The Javelinas return to action on Monday.

AFL Update

The Peoria Javelinas (3-2) lost for the 2nd night in a row to the undefeated Peoria Saguaros (5-0) by a score of 5-2. Rhyne Hughes went 2-4 (both singles) with a strikeout. J.T. Hall was 0-3 with a walk and a strikeout. There is no game scheduled for Sunday.

Rays Winter League statistics including Saturday's games:

Batter	Lg	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	Avg	OBP	SLG
Hall, J.T.	AFL	15	1	4	0	0	0	1	1	4	.267	.313	.267
Hughes, Rhyne	AFL	17	2	6	0	0	0	1	2	6	.353	.421	.353
Spring, Matt	AFL	7	0	2	0	0	0	1	1	2	.286	.375	.286

Pitcher	Lg	G	GS	IP	ERA	FIP	DIPS	SO/9	BB/9	H/9	HR/9
Mason, Chris	AFL	1	0	1.0	0.00	9.20	9.28	0.0	18.0	9.0	0.0
Reid, Ryan	AFL	2	0	2.1	3.86	1.49	1.74	7.7	0.0	7.7	0.0
Townsend, Wade	AFL	1	1	3.0	9.00	7.87	7.59	12.0	9.0	9.0	3.0
Wlodarczyk, Mike	AFL	2	0	2.1	0.00	1.49	1.31	7.7	0.0	0.0	0.0

AFL = Arizona Fall League, MPL = Mexican Pacific League, DWL = Dominican Winter League, VWL = Venezuelan Winter League, PRL = Puerto Rican League.

Organizational Batting Leaders: Games Played

Batter	Age	Level(s)	Games
Nowak, Chris (pictured)	25	AA, AAA	136
Martinez, Gabriel	25	AA	133
Fields, Matthew	22	A+	132
Richard, Chris	34	AAA	131
Perez, Fernando	25	AAA	129
Andrus, Erold	23	AA	128
Merrill, Ronnie	29	AA, AAA	125
Fronk, Reid	21	A	124
Sexton, Gregory	23	A	124
Suarez, Cesar	24	A+	123
Loyola, Maiko	22	A	122
Hall, J.T.	24	A+, AA	120
Royster, Ryan	21	A+	118
Eldridge, Rashad	26	AA	118
Jaso, John	24	AA, AAA	116

Friday System Notes

One of the Rays is blogging about his experiences in the AFL:

"Greetings baseball fans. Thanks for joining me this week as we
open the 2008 Arizona Fall League season. For those of you who don't
know me, I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce myself.
My name is Mike Wlodarczyk, and I am coming to you from Peoria,
Arizona as I represent the Tampa Bay Rays organization while playing
for the Peoria Javelinas.
...
Now that we're caught up, I'd like to give you an inside look at
what's been going on in the weeks leading up to now.
Following the end of the regular season in early September, I had
about three weeks to relax at home before reporting to St. Petersburg
on the 25th. There we worked out with our instructional league team
for a handful of days in preparation for the first fall league workout
on October 2nd after flying in on the 1st."

In the AFL today, four Rays are in the starting lineup for the Peoria Javelinas (3-0) as they face the Peoria Saguaros (3-0) in a battle between the only two unbeaten teams in the AFL. Lineup:

Russo LF
Turner 2B
Miranda DH
Hughes, R 1B
Valaika SS
Halman CF
Hall RF
Spring C
Green 3B
SP is Townsend

In the Venezuelan Winter League, Caracas native RHRP Jose Angel Mejias (Columbus in 2008) has been added to the roster of the Leones del Caracas, joining Ben Hendrickson and John Jaso.

If you're like me and plan to make a trip to see the Princeton Rays next year, their schedule should be available the 3rd week of December.

Our new A+ affiliate, Charlotte County (replacing Vero Beach), is putting more than $27 million worth of renovations into Charlotte Sports Park. When renovations are finished, there will be more than 5,100 fixed seats with ultra-comfortable, theater-style seats in the upper and lower levels. Other features include a Baseball Boardwalk (pic) which is a walkway around the entire stadium, a Tiki Hut bar behind the fence in left-center, new press boxes, 5 luxury suites, four main concession stands, a brand new clubhouse that spans more than 45,000 square feet, state-of-the-art weight rooms, training rooms, hydrotherapy pools, player lounges, and new administrative offices for front office staff. You can click here to take a virtual tour of the ballpark renovations.

And finally, today's game against the Phillies was the Rays' final Florida Instructional League game.

Reminder: Princeton Rays Jerseys

Want game worn jerseys from the Princeton Rays? Well, tomorrow is the auction and these aren't just from the 2008 players, these jerseys have been used for 7 years:

"The road jersey tops have been in use since 2002 and over the past seven seasons have been worn by major leaguers Jason Hammel, Wes Bankston, Elliot Johnson, Jason Pridie, and Reid Brignac as well as up and coming minor league stars like Wade Davis, Jacob McGee, Desmond Jennings, Jeremy Hellickson, and Matthew Moore. A list of which players wore what jersey top numbers through the years will be provided to the auction attendees."

If you won't be in Princeton, West Virginia, on October 11th at 10:00 a.m., you're not out of luck:

"Minimum opening bid for each P-Rays' road jersey top will be $35.00. Persons from outside the local Princeton area who are unable to attend the auction in person can place an absentee bid by telephone until 12:00 p.m. (noon) on Friday, October 10. The phone-in bids will also require the bidder to supply their credit card number and can be phoned directly to Mr. Michael Eades at (304) 320-7470. Mr. Eades is the owner of Four Seasons Antiques and Appraisals of Princeton, who is handling the auction for the P-Rays."

Thursday night AFL

In the AFL tonight the Peoria Javelinas (2-0) host the Phoenix Desert Dogs (1-1). Only J.T. Hall at DH is in the starting lineup, batting sixth:

Stubbs LF
Triunfel SS
Jackson, A CF
Miranda 1B
Halman RF
Hall DH
Turner 2B
Johnson, R C
Green 3B
SP is Jeffress

Wade Townsend is scheduled to start tomorrow's game for Peoria.

Winter Leagues

In the AFL today the Peoria Javelinas (1-0) are at the Surprise Rafters (0-1). The starting lineup has only one Ray, Rhyne Hughes at 1B batting cleanup:

Henry RF
Triunfel 3B
Jackson, A CF
Hughes, R 1B
Salome C
Valaika SS
Halman LF
Johnson, R DH
Turner 2B
SP is Viola

In the Venezuelan Winter League, two players from the Rays organization have been added to the roster of the Leones del Caracas: RHSP Ben Hendrickson and C John Jaso. Some others on the team: Tony Armas, Jorge Julio, Franklin Morales, Franklin Gutierrez, and Matt LaPorta. Updates as more players are assigned.

AFL Game One

The Peoria Javelinas are taking on the Surprise Rafters in the first game of the AFL. All three Rays position players on the Javelinas roster are in the starting lineup: Rhyne Hughes batting cleanup at 1B, J.T. Hall batting 6th at DH, and Matt Spring hitting 8th and catching. Phil Hughes (NYY) is our starting pitcher. Full lineups:

Surprise Rafters
Borbon CF
De Jesus SS
Hodges 3B
Reimold, N LF
Wieters C
Dickerson RF
Tracy 1B
McFall DH
Rodriguez 2B
SP is Eyre

Peoria Javelinas
Stubbs LF
Triunfel 2B
Jackson, A CF
Hughes, R 1B
Valaika SS
Hall DH
Halman RF
Spring C
Russo 3B
SP is Hughes

Updates will be in the Comments.