Norfolk Tides 5, Durham Bulls 6 (12 innings)Justin Ruggiano was 3 for 6 with a double and 2 runs scored. Leslie Anderson was 3 for 6 and drove home the game winning RBI. Omar Luna was 3 for 5 with a home run. Joe Dillon was 2 for 5 with a homer. Fernando Perez was 2 for 5. Elliot Johnson was 2 for 6 with a double. Paul Phillips was charged with a blown save but ended up recording the win. The Bulls are off on Tuesday before heading to Louisville for the first game of the playoffs.
Montgomery Biscuits 6, Jacksonville Suns 7John Matulia was 2 for 5. Henry Wrigley had a home run and 3 RBI's. Drew Anderson had a homer with 2 RBI's. Shawn O'Malley had a double. Matt Fields drove home a run. Rayner Oliveros suffered the loss. The Biscuits have concluded the 2010 season.
Charlotte Stone Crabs (day off)The Stone Crabs begin their playoff run with game one of the FSL Divisional Series against Bradenton, Matt Moore starts the opener.
Bowling Green Hot Rods 7, Great Lakes Loons 1Julio Cedeno was 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI. Dustin Biell was 4 for 5 with a double and a home run. Robbi Estrada, Ryan Wiegand and David Wendt also drove home runs. CJ Riefenhauser earned the win. Shane Minks, Matt Stabelfeld and Jake Sullivan combined to throw 4 shut-out innings out of the bullpen. The Hot Rods have concluded the season.
Mercifully the season has come to an end for the Hot Rods. After their inaugural season going 10 games below .500 they have now followed it up this year with a 17 under .500 clunker.
ReplyDeleteAs I look around at the other affiliates I see they are all over .500 with the exception of Princeton and they are only 2 games from a break even season.
To me it was obvious that the opposition had more talent not only this year but last year as well.
With the results of the past two years I am not optimistic about next season considering the high profile 2009 draftees are struggling to beat Mr. Mendoza's line.
diamondtom - Kudos for having the guts to say what too few on this site would ever say - draft slot is not equivalent to production. Draft slot is a measure of projection, plain and simple. At some point, those of you who spend all too much time ranking players based on this mythical projection of what a player might become need to actually look at what a player has accomplished on the field. Not during batting practice, not in an exhibition, but in actual games where everyone is getting paid to play. Also, I would like to see more thought given to the whole person, not just his stat line. How does he play his position? Is he a team player, doing what the situation calls for and not just swinging for the fences? What is his baseball IQ? Is he a leader on the field and in the clubhouse? I know you can't get this from box scores, but you can be sure it will figure into the discussion in the off-season between the GM, the Minor League coordinator and the other suits in Port Charlotte when they plan for next year.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the Charlotte team that just went 80-59 in the FSL is mostly made up of players from last year's BG team. Good thing the Rays brain trust saw their potential and didn't give up on them, to make room for all of the high profile phenoms that haven't done anything but look great stepping off the bus.
Just my two cents.
Draft status does affect where we rank players early in their careers. There just isn't much "production" to look at in the GCL, Princeton, and Hudson Valley. But after a couple or three years of course production (along with age-to-level, discipline issues, etc.) outweigh where a guy was picked 3 years ago. By the time they have played a year in Charlotte, where they were drafted means next to nothing.
ReplyDeleteThe reason we place some importance on where they were drafted in their first 2 or 3 years is because of the Rays record of quality talent evaluation. No team gets all it's picks correct, even in the first ten rounds, but the Rays do as well if not better than the rest, esp under the current regime. We just feel that if the Rays scouts and front office think enough of a kids talent to pick him fairly high (and put their money into a big signing bonus), then we'll trust their judgment for a while. But after a couple of seasons of full-season ball, performance does matter more than draft status.
Having said that, the name "Tim Beckham" will come up for the 100th time. While none of us here liked the pick at the time, we have consistently said to give him until the end of the 2011 season before you start using the word "bust" with his name. Why? Because even though he was a high school pick, he's been promoted by the Rays through the system the way most college picks are. So he's been young for his level and he plays a premium defensive position (although not very well I'll admit). I don't have a problem with anyone calling a #1 overall with Beckham's performance so far "disappointing", but at least give him one more season before you call him a "bust".
Enough about Beckham, except to say the reason he's been ranked so high by us and others is also due to the lack of position prospects in the Rays org. Without a whole lot of talent, esp at the upper levels, higher recent picks like Beckham have ranked higher than their stats might suggest they should. If we had more talent Beckham and others wouldn't rank as high.
The opposite is true with pitchers. Many good young arms are ranked pretty low because there are so many other talented pitchers in the org. Joseph Cruz at #13 would be top 5 on most teams Top 15 pitchers lists for ex (and he'll be higher in our next list too, but not top 5).
So I guess I see your point, but feel draft status is only a factor early on in a player's career and rankings are also dependent on the quality of the competition.
I like you point about comparing the '09 Hot Rods to the '10 Stone Crabs. May put together an article comparing guys who played primarily at BG last year and at Charlotte this year and see who improved/stayed about the same/didn't improve. Thanks for the idea.
Doug - couldn't agree more on lack of upper-level position talent. The Bulls were one of the oldest teams in the Int'l League, both for the pitchers and batters, while the Stone Crabs were one of the youngest in the FSL, although the spread from oldest to youngest is less than a year. Just to clarify, this "rant" is not about any one individual, it's just the weight you readily admit to giving to draft position. Nice to read that you agree this has a limited shelf life when it comes to prospect ranking.
ReplyDeleteLook forward your thoughts on '09 BG vs. '10 Charlotte.
This is a great site - keep up the good work.