Durham Bulls (2-2) at Charlotte Knights (4-0, Chicago White Sox)
LHP Alex Torres vs. RHP Brandon Hynick
Montgomery Biscuits (1-3) host Birmingham Barons (3-1, Chicago White Sox)
RHP Nick Barnese vs. RHP Nevin Griffith
Charlotte Stone Crabs (2-2) at Palm Beach Cardinals (1-3, St. Louis Cardinals)
RHP Alex Koronis vs. RHP Eric Fornataro
Bowling Green Hot Rods (3-1) host Fort Wayne TinCaps (3-1, San Diego Padres)
LHP C.J. Riefenhauser vs. LHP Andrew Werner
Bowling Green SS Derek Dietrich was kept out of Sunday's game after leaving Saturday when he was hit by a pitch in the back of the head. He says he's feeling fine but there is no word on when he will return to the Hot Rods lineup. Dietrich is 4-12 (plus a walk) at the plate with 2 doubles and a homerun.
Catcher Luke Bailey made the biggest jump of any Rays prospect to start the season. The 2009 4th-rounder skipped from the GCL Rays last summer to the Hot Rods this season, bypassing both the Princeton Rays and Hudson Valley Renegades. Bailey has handled the transition to full-season ball well at the plate, going 7-14 with 2 walks, 2 doubles and a homerun through 4 games. The only concern is that in 3 games behind the plate he has allowed 9 stolen bases in 11 attempts, an 18% caught stealing percentage.
With Dietrich and Bailey leading the way the Hot Rods are averaging 8.0 runs per game, tops amongst Rays affiliates. Looking at the weather radar it appears tonight's home opener may be a little wet in Bowling Green.
One last note, we are happy to announce that a new writer will be joining us later this week. I'll let him introduce himself, but you should recognize his name from the comments here and from his previous work at another Rays blog. I'm confident he will be a great addition to RaysProspects.
Billy Hamilton was 5 for 5 off Bailey, right? He's quite possibly the fastest player in the minors, so if you take him out then it's 4 out of 6 which isn't bad.
ReplyDeleteHamilton stole 4 off Bailey, 1 off Holloway, so minus Hamilton 5-7 were safe off Bailey in 3 games. Even if we remove really fast basestealers, 5 in 3 games by not-really-fast basestealers is a concern. Holloway allowed 3-4 to steal in his game, btw.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying Bailey can't handle catcher, way too early and all against Dayton (plus skipping 2 levels), but I think we need to keep an eye on this. Doug Dirt/Gray of the Reds prospect site was at at least one game and tweeted me that Bailey wasn't impressive behind the plate. I don't know how to find old tweets but iirc at least one of the steals was on a pitchout.
Nice to see BG's offense off to a great start, let by a SS and a C. The rotation is what worries me, Romero should be fine and Lara shouldn't hurt, but the rest... Wilking Rodriguez will be a boost when he comes off the DL, but how long will he stay in BG (assuming he comes back healthy and pitches well)? My guess is not long before he's in Charlotte.
Can't expect 8.0 runs/game to last, and even with a nice bullpen, the rotation is the weak link for BG to me.
I was at the Durham Bulls v. Charlotte Knights game last night. I was very impressed with pitcher Alex Torres however, i was not impressed with top prospects Anderson and Jennings. Both looked extremely lazy in the outfield and didn't appear to hustle too much. There was a ball I really think Anderson should have caught but he just jogged to and missed it. I really was expecting more out of them in the field. Jennings did have a nice hit.
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