Bowling Green Hot Rods Playoff Schedule, Ticket Info

The Bowling Green Hot Rods have announced plans for the second playoff appearance in franchise history. After winning the First Half Wild Card in the Midwest League’s Eastern Division, the team will host Games 2 and 3 (if necessary) in the first round of the Midwest League playoffs.

The first round of the 2012 Midwest League playoffs begins on September 5th, two days after the regular season ends. The Hot Rods will play the first game of the postseason away from Bowling Green Ballpark against the Eastern Division Second Half Champions. The best-of-three series will then continue at Bowling Green Ballpark with Game 2 on Thursday, September 6th, followed by Game 3 on Friday, September 7th, if necessary.

The Hot Rods have the capability to play as many as seven games at Bowling Green Ballpark in the 2012 Midwest League postseason. Fans have the opportunity to purchase 2012 Playoff Ticket Strips that include seats for all seven potential home playoff games plus a free 2012 Hot Rods Playoff T-Shirt. To order your 2012 Playoff Ticket Strips, contact the Hot Rods Front Office at (270)-901-2121 or visit BGHotRods.com.

This season’s playoff strips can be purchased in two variations: Premium Box Seats and Box Seats. Premium Box Seat packages, which are located directly behind home plate, are available for $84. Box Seat packages are just $70. For any games not played, fans receive credit for 2013 tickets. Group and company outings are also available for Hot Rods playoff games. Single-Game Suites, the Party Deck, Home Run Grill, and box seat groups are on sale now, based on availability. Individual playoff tickets will be made available in early August.

2012 Midwest League Playoff Schedule

(dates and times subject to change)

Round 1 – Quarterfinals – best of three series
Game 1: Wednesday, September 5th – Bowling Green at 2nd-half Eastern Division winner
Game 2: Thursday, September 6th at 7:05 p.m. – 2nd-half Eastern Division winner at Bowling Green
Game 3 (If necessary): Friday, September 7th at 7:05 p.m. – 2nd-half Eastern Division winner at Bowling Green

Round 2 – Eastern Division Championship Series – best of three series
Location to be determined
Game 1: Saturday, September 8th
Game 2: Sunday, September 9th
Game 3 (if necessary): Monday, September 10th

Round 3 – Midwest League Championship Series – best of five series
The Hot Rods would be “Eastern Division Champions” and would host games 3-5.
Game 1: Wednesday, September 13th – at Western Division Champion
Game 2: Thursday, September 14th – at Western Division Champion
Game 3: Saturday, September 15th – at Eastern Division Champion
Game 4 (if necessary): Sunday, September 16th – at Eastern Division Champion
Game 5 (if necessary): Monday, September 17th – at Eastern Division Champion

Batting Leaders and Trailers

BurGi will update the advanced metrics on Thursday, in the mean time here are the batting leaders (and trailers) in the traditional stats. Through games from last night.

Plate Apps        Hits             High Average      Low Average       High OPS
Lee        486    Lee       118    Paez      .357    Thomas    .209    Segovia   .961
Morrison   464    Morrison  116    Anderson  .315    Torrez    .222    Paez      .935
Vettleson  422    Wrigley   115    Wrigley   .313    Motter    .228    Wrigley   .906
Dietrich   421    Vettleson 111    Garko     .305    Brignac   .230    Sale      .884
Glaesmann  413    Anderson  109    Tinoco    .302    Coon      .233    Garko     .844
                                                                       Anderson  .833
                                                                       Vogt      .833
Doubles           Triples          Home Runs         Slugging %        Malm      .819
Wrigley     32    Dietrich    9    Wrigley     17    Segovia   .566    Glaesmann .813
Seitzer     29    Lee         8    Glaesmann   15    Wrigley   .543    Kang      .809
Malm        26    Morrison    7    Kang        12    Paez      .513    Seitzer   .808
Sheridan    21    Paez        7    Malm        12    Sale      .485    Figueroa  .803
Dietrich    21    Mahtook     7    2 tied      11    Glaesmann .478    Dietrich  .802
                                                                       
                                                                       
Walks             Hit By Pitch     On-Base %         Stolen Bases      Low OPS
Lee         45    Torrez     15    Paez      .422    Lee         37    Caminero  .569
Kang        42    Price      15    Sale      .399    Brett       36    Thomas    .574
Malm        41    Dietrich   12    Garko     .396    Morrison    26    Querecuto .595
3 tied      39    Glaesmann  11    Segovia   .395    Goeddel     24    Guevara   .611
                  2 tied     10    Seitzer   .382    Vasquez     21    Torrez    .615
                                                                       O'Malley  .637
                                                                       Feliciano .652
Total Bases       RBI              Strikeouts        GIDP              Coon      .655
Wrigley    200    Wrigley    70    Kang       100    Seitzer     15    Motter    .659
Glaesmann  178    Glaesmann  59    Glaesmann   95    Feliciano   14    Wunderlich.664
Dietrich   174    Dietrich   58    Malm        93    Luna        14    Sheridan  .665
Vettleson  166    Hager      57    Morrison    89    Vettleson   12    Rogers    .665
Malm       161    Vettleson  53    Vettleson   87    Anderson    12    Brignac   .684

Minimum 200 plate appearances for rate stats. Players no longer in the organization are not included.

Future Considerations Podcast (Episode 29: Minor-League Promotions, Big-League Trades)

Removed temporarily due to technical difficulties.

Wrigley Reaches 200

With a single and a double last night for the Durham Bulls 1B/DH Henry Wrigley has reached 200 total bases on the season. Since his promotion from Montgomery on May 11th he's put up a .340/.375/.556 line for the Bulls. After a rough debut in May, Wrigley has hit .364/.402/.580 in June and an incredible .402/.432/.644 so far in July.

With 35 games left on the Durham schedule Wrigley is on pace to reach a fairly exclusive milestone: 250 total bases. Since the Rays began fielding minor league teams in 1996, only 24 players have reached 250 total bases in a season (some multiple times). If Wrigley makes the club, he will be only the fourth player to accomplish the feat in the past five years, joining Chris Richard (2008), Stephen Vogt (2011), and Russ Canzler (2011).

Here are the 24 players in Rays minor league history to reach 250 total bases in a season:

Player            Year     Level    Age   Games     TB
Steve Cox         1999       AAA     24     134    314
Delmon Young      2005    AA/AAA     19     136    294
Matt Diaz         2004       AAA     26     134    287
Ryan Royster      2007         A     20     125    285
Reid Brignac      2006     A+/AA     20     128    281
Kevin Witt        2006       AAA     30     128    280
Scott McClain     1998       AAA     26     126    278
Delmon Young      2004         A     18     131    276
Ozzie Timmons     2000       AAA     29     137    273
Luke Wilcox       1999    AA/AAA     25     129    269
B.J. Upton        2005       AAA     20     139    267
Matt Diaz         2001        A+     23     131    267
Aubrey Huff       1999        AA     22     133    260
Jonny Gomes       2002        A+     21     134    256
Chris Richard     2008       AAA     34     131    255
Jason Pridie      2007    AA/AAA     23     134    255
Matt Diaz         2003    AA/AAA     25     127    254
Earl Snyder       2005       AAA     29     130    253
Scott McClain     1999       AAA     27     137    253
Stephen Vogt      2011    AA/AAA     26     128    252
Evan Longoria     2007    AA/AAA     21     136    252
Ryan Jackson      2000       AAA     28     139    252
Russ Canzler      2011       AAA     25     131    251
Francisco Leandro 2005      A/A+     24     133    250
...
Henry Wrigley     2012    AA/AAA     25      96    200

Game Photos from 7/27: GCL Rays at GCL Orioles

Click on the photo to view the photo gallery from Friday's GCL Rays win over the Orioles at Ed Smith Stadium.

Weekend Notes

Rob Finneran

Dave Gil de Rubio has written an extensive profile of 37th round pick RHRP Rob Finneran of the Hudson Valley Renegades. From his birth in Queens through graduate school at Bentley University to the Renegades bullpen, it is a must-read for Finneran aficionados:

With a number of teams showing interest in Finneran, the last two clubs left standing were the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays, both of which had scouts attending the aforementioned SNH game. Tim Alexander was Tampa’s representative, who couldn’t help but be impressed with what he saw that day.

“You have some certain level of expectations based on the background work you’ve done on an individual along with information that you’ve gathered from colleagues. Then when the kid throws a little bit better than your expectations, you’re pleasantly surprised, which doesn’t happen very often,” Alexander admitted. “Most of the time it’s the opposite way. He showed very good fastball command, his changeup was very good and he was pitching against the best team in the league and I think he had double-digit punchouts. He pitched pretty well, so he’s given himself a chance.”

Catcher Taylor Ward was one of only three Rays 2012 draft picks who did not reach an agreement by the July 13th signing deadline. The 31st rounder explains why:

“The Rays (didn't offer) me enough money, so I decided to go to Fresno State. That was the better deal,” Ward said. He will be receiving a full scholarship to play baseball at Fresno State, turning down the $150,000 signing bonus offered by Tampa Bay.
...
Although Ward has been to Fresno State to visit the campus, he's unsure of what his academic plans there will be. “It's a nice college town. It was raining when we went up but when the sun came out it was really nice,” he said. “I'm not sure what I'll be studying yet.”

If you're wondering if the 150k figure is real, it just may be. In another interview with Ward he indicates the decision not to sign was made on July 12th. By the deadline the Rays were left with $49,200 of unspent bonus pool. As a 31st round pick the Rays could have signed him for up to $100,000 without using any of the bonus pool budget. So the Rays could have offered him up to $149,200 without incurring any penalties or tax consequences under the new collective bargaining agreement. Regardless, he's off to sunny Fresno to find a major.

The Rays have sold the rights to Durham Bulls OF/1B Brandon Allen to the Fukuoka Softball Hawks of the Japanese Central League. He hit .262/.295/.451 in 122 at-bats for the Bulls and had a home run and a single in 13 at-bats for the Rays. Leading up to the sale Allen had been on the Durham temporary inactive list since July 24th.

Another 2012 draft pick, 4th rounder RHP Nolan Gannon, has now thrown 14.0 innings without an earned run for the GCL Rays. He has allowed only eight hits three walks while striking out 11.

The Rays have signed 18 year-old Dominican RHP Roquely Ortiz and assigned him to the DSL Rays. In his debut earlier today he gave up three runs in two innings.

On another DSL note, back on July 2nd the Rays signed catcher Erick Maria for $300,000. The 18 year-old f.k.a. Eric Otanez made his pro debut on Thursday and is now 1-8 in two DSL games.

----------------------------------- Saturday -----------------------------------

Derek Dietrich

SS/2B Derek Dietrich has been promoted to the Montgomery Biscuits from the Charlotte Stone Crabs. The 23 year-old was hitting .282 for the Stone Crabs and leading the team in doubles (21), triples (9), home runs (10) and RBI (58). His 174 total bases led the Florida State League, and his nine triples and 40 extra-base hits were both third in the league.

Hak-Ju Lee has been Montgomery's shortstop all season and Shawn O'Malley has been the second baseman since his recent demotion from Durham. No word on the Biscuits plans, but unless there is another roster move I'd expect Lee at SS, Dietrich at 2B and O'Malley at 3B, with Greg Sexton backing up 3B and Omar Luna backing up all three plus playing the outfield. What Montgomery really needs is another relief pitcher and one less outfielder.

To fill the open roster spot created by Dietrich's promotion the Stone Crabs have activated catcher Alejandro Torres.

Durham Bulls catcher breakdown:

Catcher     W/L   SB  CS   CS%  PB      ERA (ER/Inn)
Acosta      4-3    5   2   40%   1    3.46(25/65.00)
Albernaz   9-12   16   6   38%   1   5.08(100/177.2)
Ashley     5-11   12   1    8%   0   6.99(101/130.0)
Lobaton     2-2    3   0    0%   0     3.44(13/34.0)
Gimenez   19-14   33  10   30%   5   4.76(155/293.1)
Vogt      11-16   14   7   50%   1   4.51(122/243.2)

Durham Bulls projected starters for four-game series at Norfolk Tides:

Saturday: RH Chris Archer 5-8, 4.64 ERA
Sunday: RH Matt Torra 8-6, 4.37 ERA
Monday: RH Lance Pendleton 6-4, 4.63 ERA
Tuesday: LH Cesar Ramos 3-3, 2.56 ERA
Wednesday: off day

The Charlotte Stone Crabs are 43-58 on the season. The only innings they have outscored their opponents this year are the 8th, 9th, and 10th. Here is a breakdown of their runs scored by inning:

Inning -->    1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12+  Total
Stone Crabs  50 52 40 63 39 42 23 55 35  4  1   1    405
Opponents    58 65 69 70 63 45 43 54 22  2  1   8    500

Ben Kline was 3-5 with an RBI and two runs scored for the GCL Rays today. He also stole two bases and committed two errors. Kline is hitting .425 (31-73) on the year.

LHRP Chris Rearick hasn't allowed a run or even a hit in three appearances since his promotion to Montgomery. Over five innings he has struck out five and walked two.

----------------------------------- Sunday -----------------------------------

Robby Price

Charlotte Stone Crabs infielder Robby Price has a seven-game hitting streak and has hit safely in 13 of his last 14 contests. Over that stretch he is batting .346 (19-55) with 10 RBIs and seven runs scored.

Stone Crabs OF/1B Steve Tinoco had three more hits last night and is batting .345/.398/.393 over 22 games in July, boosting his season average to .298.

Charlotte's projected starters:

Sunday: RH Albert Suarez 5-6, 3.81 ERA
Monday: LH Enny Romero 4-5, 4.06 ERA
Tuesday: RH Victor Mateo 5-3, 4.50 ERA
Wednesday: LH C.J. Riefenhauser 7-7, 4.68 ERA

There are three pitchers who have thrown at least nine innings this season and have yet to allow an earned run, and they all are with the GCL Rays. LH Oscar Armenta is up to 21.1 IP, RH Nolan Gannon is at 14.0 IP, and LH Luke Goodgion has thrown 9.0 scoreless.

The 18 year-old Armenta is in his second season with the Rays organization:

Year   Age    Teams W L  ERA  G GS   IP  H ER HR BB SO  WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2011    17 DSL Rays 4 2 3.12 12  6 52.0 41 18  4 11 51 1.000 7.1  0.7  1.9  8.8
2012    18 GCL Rays 0 1 0.00  5  4 21.1 14  0  0  2 21 0.750 5.9  0.0  0.8  8.9
2 Seasons           4 3 2.21 17 10 73.1 55 18  4 13 72 0.927 6.8  0.5  1.6  8.8

Since his mid-June promotion from Montgomery LHRP Frank De Los Santos is 3-1 with a 1.56 ERA in 14 games for Durham. Over 17.1 innings he as struck out 17 and walked only three, two intentionally. FDLS has made six straight appearances without allowing a run. He wasn't bad earlier in the year for Montgomery either, posting a 2.06 ERA over 48.0 innings.

Highlights from the Princeton Rays vs. Bluefield Blue Jays series played July 26th-28th at Hunnicutt Field:



More to come throughout the weekend.

Minor League Breakdown: The Hitting Prospects

Overall state of the farm

Some trends:

• The system as a whole has been excellent over the last week (30 wins, 13 losses). Especially Hudson Valley (perfect week) and Montgomery (5:1) have been thriving.
• The Durham Bulls are 44:38 since a 6:18 start to the season. Their above average performance since a horrid start is driven by the Bulls excellent offense (check out the hitting-trend graph for the full season ball affiliates below). 
• The Biscuits pitching staff - led by Alex Colome - has gone from 10th best in the league at the end of June (4.11 ERA) to 4th (3.86 ERA) now.

OPS-CH and ERA-CH stands for the OPS and ERA change since the last minor league breakdown.
  

OPS of each full season affiliate over the course of the season (OVERALL includes ALL affiliates).

Prospects stats overview

Here is the data (the horizontal black line shows you where the average Rays MiL hitter would be ... sorted by wOBA):

The following lists are no prospect rankings. They just show which players have been hot/cold and/or show positive/negative trends over the last 2-4 weeks.

Prospects on the rise

1. Andrew Toles ... What a strong debut by this year's 3rd round pick. His performance is mostly driven by a high batting average, though. The walk-rates and power showings are below average. Nevertheless, it's very encouraging to see a high positional draft pick with a very good start to his pro career.
2. Alejandro Segovia and Henry Wrigley ... Both have also been on the last list. Both have to be mentioned here again. Over their last 96 PA's they combined for a 1.051 OPS.
3. Cameron Seitzer ... Steady improvements over the season make him a candidate to move up to Port Charlotte soon.
4. Derek Dietrich ... His late June and early July struggles are behind him. A 1.044 OPS over the last 67 PA's suggest that he could be the one to take site-favourite Tyler Bortnick's place in Montgomery.
5. Tommy Coyle ... His hot bat is one of the reasons for Hudson Valley's excellent record. 
6. Stephen Vogt ... Like Wrigley, he is very loud knocking on the big-league door.

Honorable mentions: Josh Sale, Hak-Yu Lee, Leslie Anderson, Mayobanex Acosta, Reid Redman, Rich Thompson, Mikie Mahtook, Leonardo Reginatto, Marty Gantt.

Prospects to be falling

1. Ryan Garko and Kyeong Kang ... After dominating AA pitching over their first 200 PA's, they only have a combined OPS of .473 over their last 89 PA's.
2. Jeff Malm ... While still being solid over the course of the season, he has been very cold as of late (.507 OPS, .240 wOBA in 54 PA's).
3. Oscar Hernandez and Darryl George... Two weeks ago they were on the list above this one. Since then: 39 PA's, .460 OPS, .248 wOBA (Hernandez), 33 PA's, .333 OPS, .166 wOBA (George).
4. Brandon Allen ... Falling behind Henry Wrigley or Stephen Vogt on the depth chart with performances like that: 40 PA's, .369 OPS, .158 wOBA
5. Justin O'Conner ... New year, same problems: High K-rates, below average BB-rates. His last 55 PA's: .403 OPS, .202 wOBA.

Glossary

All of the stats provided above are excluding the stats from the previous day. I preferrably use FanGraphs as source for the stats. Click on each stat for its explanation:

• Traditional stats: AVG, OBP, OPS, BB% and K%.
• Newer stats: ISO, wOBA, wRAA, BABIP and Spd.

Monday Moves

Mikie Mahtook

The Rays assigned RHRP Matt Nevarez to the Charlotte Stone Crabs. He was purchased on Friday from the Wichita Wingnuts of the independent American Association.

The Montgomery Biscuits placed DH/1B Ryan Garko on the 7-day DL with an oblique injury. He is batting .305/.396/.448 in 56 games since being signed out of indy ball this spring.

Outfielder Mikie Mahtook was promoted from Charlotte to the Montgomery Biscuits. He didn't play on Monday so expect him in Montgomery soon. He leaves Charlotte with a .290/.358/.419 line in 341 at-bats. Of his 99 hits, 27 went for extra bases (15 2B, 7 3B, 5 HR).

Todd Glaesmann

Outfielder Todd Glaesmann was promoted from Bowling Green to the Charlotte Stone Crabs. Like Mahtook, Glaesmann also didn't play Monday. He's also tied with Mahtook at 99 hits on the year, but he's hit for more power with 35 XBH (17 2B, 5 3B, 13 HR). He batted .281/.338/.469 over 352 at-bats for the Hot Rods this season.

Over the offseason Mahtook played in the Arizona Fall League and Glaesmann in the winter Australian Baseball League.

The Biscuits and Stone Crabs rosters are now full at 25, but the Hot Rods are one short and need an outfielder. Nothing official, but I'm going to guess it will be Kes Carter, who has been rehabbing with the GCL Rays. In six Gulf Coast League games he's hitting .412 in 17 at-bats.

Season stats for Garko, Mahtook and Glaesmann:

Batter            Age Team  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
Ryan Garko       31.5  MTG 210 32 64  9  0  7  36  0  0 26 44 .305 .396 .448 .844
Mikie Mahtook    22.6  CHA 341 44 99 15  7  5  37 19  6 29 71 .290 .358 .419 .777
Todd Glaesmann   21.7  BWG 352 57 99 17  5 13  53  8  3 22 89 .281 .338 .469 .806

Future Considerations Podcast (Episode 28: Buy Or Sell, "Competitive Balance," Interesting Seasons)

Removed temporarily due to technical difficulties.

Weekend Moves, Open Thread

The Montgomery Biscuits have finally put RHP Joseph Cruz (forearm) on the 7-day DL. A 30th round pick in the 2007 draft, Cruz had a nice start to his career until injuries started taking their toll in 2011:

Year   Age      Teams  W  L  ERA  G GS    IP   H  ER HR  BB  SO  WHIP  H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2007    18  Princeton  2  0 0.00  3  0   9.0   5   0  0   3  13 0.889  5.0  0.0  3.0 13.0
2008    19  Princeton  1  3 3.17 13 13  54.0  61  19  5  14  62 1.389 10.2  0.8  2.3 10.3
2009    20  BowlGreen  5  8 4.04 21 21  98.0 110  44  5  26  99 1.388 10.1  0.5  2.4  9.1
2010    21  Charlotte 13  6 2.85 25 25 142.0 137  45  6  39 131 1.239  8.7  0.4  2.5  8.3
2011    22   GCL Rays  2  0 0.00  4  1  13.2   6   0  0   2  16 0.585  4.0  0.0  1.3 10.5
2011    22  Charlotte  1  0 5.14  3  3  14.0  12   8  1   6   6 1.286  7.7  0.6  3.9  3.9
2011    22 Montgomery  3  5 8.43 11 11  47.0  75  44  8  20  42 2.021 14.4  1.5  3.8  8.0
2012    23 Montgomery  6  6 4.60 18 15  78.1  64  40  7  54  64 1.506  7.4  0.8  6.2  7.4
6 Seasons             33 28 3.95 98 89 456.0 470 200 32 164 433 1.390  9.3  0.6  3.2  8.5

The Rays have purchased RHRP Matt Nevarez from the Wichita Wingnuts of the independent American Association. The 25 year-old was a 10th round pick of the Texas Rangers back in 2005. Nevarez had 45 strikeouts in 26.1 innings this year as the closer for the Wingnuts. He was just signed yesterday so he hasn't been assigned to an affiliate yet, but Stacy Long says it going to be Charlotte, so we'll go with Charlotte.

Year Age     Teams Lev  W  L  ERA   G GS    IP   H ER HR  BB  SO  WHIP  H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2005  18   Rangers  Rk  2  1 1.61  10  3  28.0  18  5  1  13  24 1.107  5.8  0.3  4.2  7.7
2006  19   Rangers  Rk  0  0 9.00   1  0   1.0   2  1  1   0   2 2.000 18.0  9.0  0.0 18.0
2008  21   Spokane  A-  4  2 4.36  16  7  43.1  39 21  3  43  50 1.892  8.1  0.6  8.9 10.4
2009  22   Hickory   A  1  4 2.83  34  0  35.0  22 11  1  15  50 1.057  5.7  0.3  3.9 12.9
8/18/09 - Traded along with Jose Vallejo from Texas to Houston for Ivan Rodriguez.
2009  22 Lexington   A  1  0 0.00   8  0   8.1   3  0  0   0  13 0.360  3.2  0.0  0.0 14.0
2010  23 CoChristi  AA  2  1 3.76  36  0  38.1  30 16  1  46  41 1.983  7.0  0.2 10.8  9.6
2011  24 CoChristi  AA  0  2 9.00  17  0  21.0  22 21  0  25  23 2.238  9.4  0.0 10.7  9.9
2011  24   Wichita Ind  0  1 2.76  18  0  16.1   8  5  0   6  19 0.857  4.4  0.0  3.3 10.5
2012  25   Wichita Ind  3  2 3.08  25  0  26.1  17  9  2  11  45 1.063  5.8  0.7  3.8 15.4
7 Seasons              13 13 3.68 165 10 217.2 161 89  9 159 267 1.470  6.7  0.4  6.6 11.0

I'll add to this if there are more transactions over the weekend. Feel free to use the comments as an open thread to discuss any teams or players.

This is pretty well done by the Princeton Rays:



The Rays placed DH Luke Scott on the 15-day DL with a mild right external oblique strain. This unfortunately means Hideki Matsui is still with the team.

The Rays recalled LHRP Cesar Ramos from the Durham Bulls to replace Scott on the 25-man roster, which is full.

Catcher Craig Albernaz was assigned to the Bulls from the Hudson Valley Renegades, not that he's ever been there.

In more bad news involving the Rays and Japanese players, RHSP Alex Cobb had to leave tonight's start at the end of the second inning after Ichiro Suzuki lined a ball off Cobb's right shin. The Rays say x-rays are negative and it is only a bruise.

After the game Ramos was optioned back to Durham. Another pitcher will be called up on Sunday.

-------------------- SUNDAY --------------------

The Rays recalled RHRP Brandon Gomes from the Durham Bulls on Sunday morning.

LHRP Adam Liberatore has been promoted from Montgomery to Durham. He already appeared in one game for Durham earlier this year:

Year   Age         Teams  W  L  ERA  G GS    IP   H ER HR BB  SO  WHIP  H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2010    23 Hudson Valley  2  1 2.63 17  0  27.1  32  8  1 12  33 1.610 10.5  0.3  4.0 10.9
2011    24     Charlotte  6  5 3.09 38  1  90.1  88 31  3 31  70 1.317  8.8  0.3  3.1  7.0
2012    25        Durham  0  0 0.00  1  0   1.0   1  0  0  1   1 2.000  9.0  0.0  9.0  9.0
2012    25    Montgomery  3  4 2.94 33  0  52.0  53 17  4 20  27 1.404  9.2  0.7  3.5  4.7
3 Seasons                11 10 2.95 89  1 170.2 174 56  8 64 131 1.395  9.2  0.4  3.4  6.9

Infielder Shawn O'Malley has been transferred from Durham to Montgomery.

Year   Age         Teams   AB   R   H 2B 3B HR RBI  SB CS  BB  SO   BA  OBP  SLG   OPS
2006    18     Princeton  160  28  34  4  1  1  10  10  3  16  38 .213 .310 .269  .579
2007    19 Hudson Valley  161  21  39  6  4  0  10  12  3  20  40 .242 .344 .329  .673
2008    20      Columbus  334  48  79 14  3  0  23  28 14  34  77 .237 .325 .296  .622
2009    21     Charlotte  366  73  98  9  2  1  27  40 14  58  80 .268 .388 .311  .699
2010    22      GCL Rays    8   1   3  0  0  0   1   2  0   0   0 .375 .400 .375  .775
2010    22     Charlotte   25   8   8  2  2  0   3   4  0   4   2 .320 .469 .560 1.029
2010    22    Montgomery  144  18  26  1  3  0   7   9  1  16  32 .181 .289 .229  .518
2011    23    Montgomery  308  55  85  8  5  1  23  24 13  42  58 .276 .369 .344  .713
2012    24        Durham  216  32  53  4  2  2  18  11  1  17  49 .245 .304 .310  .614
7 Seasons                1722 284 425 48 22  5 122 140 49 207 376 .247 .344 .309  .653

LHRP Chris Rearick has been promoted from Charlotte to Montgomery.

Year   Age         Teams  W L  ERA  G GS    IP   H ER HR BB  SO  WHIP  H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2010    22     Princeton  3 1 4.72 13  1  40.0  59 21  0  7  29 1.650 13.3  0.0  1.6  6.5
2011    23 Bowling Green  7 2 1.66 50  0  81.1  49 15  3 16  89 0.799  5.4  0.3  1.8  9.8
2012    24     Charlotte  2 3 1.79 34  0  45.1  35  9  0 15  59 1.103  6.9  0.0  3.0 11.7
3 Seasons                12 6 2.43 97  1 166.2 143 45  3 38 177 1.086  7.7  0.2  2.1  9.6

The Durham Bulls have placed RHRP Romulo Sanchez on the 7-day DL. He has a 6.22 ERA in 33 relief appearances this season for Durham.

The Durham Bulls have activated catcher Nevin Ashley from the DL. He completed his rehab assignment with the GCL Rays. Ashley hasn't played for the Bulls since he broke his hand in April.

After Sunday's game the Rays have optioned RHRP Brandon Gomes back to Durham. Doesn't sound like there will be a corresponding move until Tuesday.

Batting Leaders and Trailers

BurGi has the advanced metrics covered, so here are the batting leaders (and trailers) in the traditional stats. Through games from last night.

Plate Apps        Hits             High Average      Low Average       High OPS
Lee        449    Lee       111    Paez      .347    Thomas    .215    Wrigley   .917
Morrison   429    Wrigley   107    Wrigley   .317    Querecuto .224    Paez      .891
Bortnick   398    Morrison  105    Anderson  .315    Torrez    .228    Vogt      .853
Dietrich   395    Anderson  100    Vogt      .306    Brignac   .229    Malm      .844
Vettleson  383    Dietrich   99    Garko     .305    Motter    .233    Garko     .844
                                                                       Glaesmann .823
                                                                       Anderson  .823
Doubles           Triples          Home Runs         Slugging %        Kang      .822
Wrigley     30    Dietrich    8    Wrigley     16    Wrigley   .553    Dietrich  .811
Seitzer     26    Bortnick    8    Glaesmann   13    Glaesmann .480    Figueroa  .811
Malm        25    Morrison    7    Kang        11    Malm      .479    Seitzer   .798
Sheridan    21    Lee         7    Malm        11    Paez      .479    Mahtook   .780
Dietrich    20    Mahtook     7    2 tied      10    Vogt      .478    Vettleson .768
                                                                       
                                                                       
Walks             Hit By Pitch     On-Base %         Stolen Bases      Low OPS
Bortnick    44    Torrez     14    Paez      .412    Brett       36    Thomas    .564
Malm        40    Price      14    Garko     .396    Lee         34    Querecuto .569
Kang        40    Dietrich   11    Seitzer   .384    Morrison    23    Guevara   .582
Lee         39    Glaesmann  11    Vogt      .374    Bortnick    23    Caminero  .584
Coon        36    2 tied     10    Figueroa  .372    Goeddel     22    O'Malley  .614
                                                                       Torrez    .634
                                                                       Feliciano .653
Total Bases       RBI              Strikeouts        GIDP              Motter    .664
Wrigley    187    Wrigley    63    Kang        93    Seitzer     15    Coon      .665
Dietrich   165    Dietrich   55    Glaesmann   88    Feliciano   14    Wunderlich.674
Glaesmann  164    Glaesmann  53    Malm        86    Luna        12    Tinoco    .677
Malm       151    Hager      49    Morrison    85    3 tied      11    Sheridan  .681
Vettleson  146    Bortnick   48    Mangini     83                      Brignac   .682

Minimum 200 plate appearances for rate stats. Players no longer in the organization are not included.

Minor League Breakdown: The Pitching Prospects

Overall state of the farm

The system as a whole remains to be mediocre. Bright spots continue to be in Bowling Green (league-best, top prospect driven offense with an excellent, and very balanced pitching staff), in Montgomery (very balanced offense with Ryan Garko and Kyeong Kang leading the way) as well as in Hudson Valley (excellent pitching around Guerrieri and Henderson), Princeton (Andrew Toles, Omar Narvaez and Reid Redman lead the way) and the GCL Rays (Armenta, Gannon, De la Cruz, Havlicek as well as older relievers like Michael Quist and Jordan Harrison lead the way).

 OPS-CH and ERA-CH stands for the OPS and ERA change since the last minor league breakdown. Overall ERA and OPS are from ALL affiliates (including DSL, VSL and short season ball affiliates)

Prospects stats overview

Prospects on the rise

1. Oscar Armenta ... Could he be the next Rays top pitching prospect out of South America? His state-side start looks encouraging.
2. Josh Lueke ... As of late, he is dominating in AAA with a 2.05 FIP, 11.1 K/9 and 1.2 BB/9 over his last 14.2 IP.  
3. Taylor Guerrieri ... Despite the little injury, this is what we were all hoping for: Excellent command as well as dominant stuff resulting in low hit- and high K-rates.
4. Brandon Henderson ... He continues to reach excellent results with his pin-point control and finesse pitching.
5. Stepan Havlicek ... No red flags to be seen. He even was a tad unlucky (low LOB%, higher ERA than FIP, above average BABIP)
6. Jeff Ames and Blake Snell ... Both 2011 1st supplemental-round selections look excellent so far. 
7. Merrill Kelly ... Despite a decreasing groundball rate, he seems of having found his niche in the pen. 
8. Honorable mentions:  Roberto Gomez, Chris Rearick, Marquis Fleming.

Encouraging signs from players with <15 IP: Ryan Garton (36.1 K%, 2.8 BB%), Jordan Harrison, Nolan Gannon, Jose Molina, Zach Butler.

Prospects to be falling

1. Bryan Augenstein ... While his stats still look excellent on the season, he is trending downwards with a 4.73 FIP (5.16 ERA) and mediocre. 
2. C.J. Riefenhauser ... Are A+ guys figuring him out? Only 5.6 K/9 and a 5.87 FIP (7.57 ERA) over his last 22.2 IP are not what we were used to see from him.
3. Enny Romero ... Is he ever going to find the strike-zone?
4. Romulo Sanchez ... Not the dominating AAA/major league depth pitcher the Rays were hoping for.

Discouraging signs from players with <15 IP: Damion Carroll, Lenny Linsky.

Glossary

All of the stats provided above are excluding the stats from the previous day. I preferrably use FanGraphs as source for the stats. Click on each stat for its explanation:

• Traditional stats: AVG, BB%, K%, K/BB-ratio, HR/9, WHIP and ERA.
• Newer stats: FIP, BABIP and LOB%.

2012 Draft: Rays Final Numbers

The Rays ended up spending a total of $4,427,300 on bonuses for the 37 picks who signed according to Baseball America. With the changes under the new CBA, slotting was eliminated and a bonus pool amount was created, with individual amounts for each player selected in the first 10 rounds and a $100,000 max for picks in rounds 11-40. The Rays total bonus pool was $3,871,000, and they ended up spending all but $49,200 of that total. By staying under budget they avoid paying any taxes or losing any picks in 2013.

Of the individual picks, only 3 players signed for over their budgeted bonus pool amount: Bralin Jackson (5th round), Damion Carroll (6th round), and Taylor Hawkins (12th round). Eighth rounder Luke Maile was the only player to sign for the exact budget figure. That means 33 of the 37 picks signed for under their bonus pool max, including first rounder Richie Shaffer, who signed for $1,710,000, $15,000 less than his max.

Here is a chart showing the total amount the Rays have spent on the top 10 rounds of the draft for the past eight years. The "#" column is the number of players who signed from the first 10 rounds, which varies each year due to compensation picks and unsigned players.

Year           $ Top 10 Rounds             #           Top Pick To Sign - $ Bonus
2012            $  3,649,300              10           Richie Shaffer - $1,710,000
2011              11,309,400              19           Taylor Guerrieri - 1,600,000
2010               6,328,300              11           Josh Sale - 1,620,000
2009               3,285,000               7           Todd Glaesmann - 930,000
2008               9,357,000              10           Tim Beckham - 6,150,000
2007               7,172,000              10           David Price - 6,500,000
2006               4,987,500               9           Evan Longoria - 3,000,000
2005               3,425,000               9           Wade Townsend - 1,500,000

Notes: Beckham's bonus was spread over multiple years under the MLB provisions for two-sport athletes. Price signed a major league contract with a total of $8,500,000 guaranteed in MLB salaries and roster bonuses.

All 37 signed players have been assigned to one of the Rays U.S.-based short-season affiliates: 11 to the Hudson Valley Renegades in the New York-Penn League, 11 to the Princeton Rays in the Appalachian League, and 15 to the Gulf Coast League Rays. Unlike last year when 5 signed picks never took the field, all 37 2012 signees are expected to play this season.

As always, for info on past drafts or individual picks just click on the "June Draft" tab at the top of every page. Now that the 2012 draft is in the books, the build-up to the 2013 draft starts at around 2:45 today when MLB announces the results of the new competitive balance draft lottery.

[Update]: Rays lose the lottery, no extra picks in 2013.

Rays Minor League Records

With the minor league season past the half-way point, let's see who is on pace to add their names to the Rays single-season minor league record book in 2012. Organization leaders for 2011 are also noted for reference:


Home runs:

Kevin Witt (2006) - 36
Scott McClain (1998) - 34
Dan Johnson (2010) - 30
Ryan Royster (2007) - 30
Jonny Gomes (2002) - 30
Earl Snyder (2005) - 29
Ozzie Timmons (2000) - 29
Luke Wilcox (1999) - 29
Midre Cummings (2004) - 27

2012: Hank Wrigley leads the way with 16 between Durham and Montgomery. He could make the list if he stays hot and isn't called up. Todd Glaesmann is next with 13, followed by Kyeong Kang with 11.

2011: Derek Dietrich led the organization with 22 for Bowling Green.

Henry Wrigley

RBI:

Steve Cox (1999) - 127
Delmon Young (2004) - 115
Scott McClain (1998) - 109
Stephen Vogt (2011) - 105
Scott McClain (1999) - 104
Ozzie Timmons (1999) - 104
Chris Nowak (2006) - 103
Wes Bankston (2004) - 101
Reid Brignac (2006) - 99
Kevin Witt (2006) - 99
Delmon Young (2005) - 99

2012: Wrigley again leads with 61, Glaesmann has 52, and Derek Dietrich has 49.

2011: Stephen Vogt made the list with 105 for Durham and Montgomery, followed by Phil Wunderlich with 86 for Bowling Green.

Hak-Ju Lee

Hits:

Steve Cox (1999) - 182
Delmon Young (2005) - 176
Joey Gomes (2005) - 172
Matt Diaz (2001) - 172
Matt Diaz (2003) - 170
Carl Crawford (2000) - 170
Fernando Perez (2006) - 168
Reid Brignac (2006) - 167
Matt Diaz (2004) - 167
B.J. Upton (2005) - 165

2012: Hak-Ju Lee has 105 for Montgomery, followed by Ty Morrison with 102 for Montgomery and Charlotte and Wrigley with 101.

2011: Stephen Vogt led the org with 152 between Montgomery and Durham.


Batting average (minimum 316 PA):

Jason Pridie (2002) - .368
Matt Diaz (2003) - .354
Stephen Vogt (2010) - .345
Steve Cox (1999) - .341
Toby Hall (2001) - .335
Joey Gathright (2003) - .334
Toby Hall (2000) - .333
Matt Diaz (2004) - .332
Rocco Baldelli (2002) - .331

2012: Jose Paez is hitting .365 in the VSL, but probably won't reach the required number of plate appearances. Other probable non-qualifiers include Chris Gimenez at .338 for Durham and Alexander Simon at .316 in the DSL. Of players who have already qualified, Wrigley is at .316, Leslie Anderson is at .311 for Durham, and Ryan Brett is hitting .310 for Bowling Green.

2011: Among qualifiers Russ Canzler led at .314 for Durham.


Runs scored:

Fernando Perez (2006) - 123
Steve Cox (1999) - 107
Scott McClain (1999) - 106
Jason Pridie (2004) - 103
Jonny Gomes (2002) - 102
Reid Brignac (2006) - 100
Ozzie Timmons (2000) - 100
Carl Crawford (2000) - 99
Hak-Ju Lee (2011) - 98
B.J. Upton (2005) - 98
Francisco Leandro (2005) - 97

2012: Hak-Ju Lee leads with 55 for Montgomery. Glaesmann is second with 54 for Bowling Green, followed by teammate Drew Vettleson with 53.

2011: Lee made the list with 98 for Montgomery and Charlotte, followed by Tyler Bortnick with 96 for Charlotte.

Ryan Brett

Stolen bases:

Alex Sanchez (1997) - 92
Joey Gathright (2003) - 69
Ty Morrison (2010) - 58
Fernando Perez (2005) - 57
Carl Crawford (2000) - 55
Alex Sanchez (2000) - 54
Desmond Jennings (2009) - 52
Irwin Centeno (2001) - 48
Alex Sanchez (1999) - 48

2012: Ryan Brett has 33 for Bowling Green, Hak-Ju Lee is next with 32.

2011: Tyler Bortnick led with 43 for Charlotte.

Ryan Carpenter

Wins:

Heath Rollins (2007) - 17
Chris Mason (2007) - 15
Andy Sonnanstine (2006) - 15
Richard De Los Santos (2010) - 14
Jeremy Hall (2009) - 14
Andy Sonnanstine (2005) - 14
Chris Seddon (2004) - 14
Scott Autrey (2003) - 14

2012: Ryan Carpenter is out in front with 9 for Bowling Green. There is a three-way tie for second at 8 wins between Jake Floethe and Roberto Gomez at Bowling Green and Matt Torra in Durham.

2011: George Jensen led with 13 for Bowling Green.

Felipe Rivero

ERA (minimum 130 IP):

Chad Gaudin (2003) - 1.81
Matt Moore (2011) - 1.92
Jason Standridge (1999) - 2.02
Darin Downs (2009) - 2.23
Chad Gaudin (2002) - 2.26
Todd Belitz (2002) - 2.42
Luis De Los Santos (2002) - 2.42
Wade Davis (2007) - 2.50
Heath Rollins (2007) - 2.54
Chris Mason (2007) - 2.57
Jason Hammel (2004) - 2.64

2012: Of pitchers with at least 80 innings pitched so far Felipe Rivero leads at 2.37 in 87.1 innings for Bowling Green. Rivero is part of a piggyback spot in the Hot Rods rotation now so he probably will not end up with enough innings to qualify. Next is Roberto Gomez, also with Bowling Green, with 2.81 in 96.0 innings. In third is another Hot Rods starter, Ryan Carpenter, at 3.48 in 103.1 innings.

2011: Only seven pitchers met the innings pitched requirement in 2011. Matt Moore made the list at 1.92 for Durham and Montgomery. C.J. Riefenhauser was 2nd at 2.80 for Bowling Green and Charlotte.


Innings pitched:

Pablo Ortega (1997) - 188.2
Andy Sonnanstine (2006) - 185.2
Jim Magrane (2001) - 182.0
Dan Wheeler (1998) - 181.0
Andy Sonnanstine (2005) - 180.2
Mark Malaska (2001) - 174.2
Jason Standridge (2002) - 173.0
Jim Magrane (2000) - 173.0
Jim Magrane (2006) - 172.1
Matt White (2002) - 172.1

2012: Carpenter leads the way 103.1, followed by Torra at 102.1 and Gomez at 96.0.

2011: Alex Colome had 157.2 innings for Charlotte and Montgomery.

Chris Archer

Strikeouts:

Matt Moore (2011) - 210
Matt Moore (2010) - 208
Andy Sonnanstine (2005) - 178
Matt Moore (2009) - 176
Jake McGee (2007) - 175
Neal Frendling (2000) - 174
Jake McGee (2006) - 171
Wade Davis (2007) - 169
Wade Davis (2006) - 165
Seth McClung (2001) - 165
Mark Malaska (2001) - 165

2012: Chris Archer leads with 98 for Durham, followed by Kyle Lobstein with 88 for Montgomery. Carpenter and C.J. Riefenhauser are tied for third with 87.

2011: Matt Moore broke his own record with 210 for Durham and Montgomery. Alex Torres was second with 156 for Durham.

Chris Rearick

Saves:

Evan Rust (2002) - 31
Lee Gardner (2003) - 30
John Daniels (1997) - 29
Josh Parker (2003) - 28
Eddy Reyes (1999) - 27
Neal Frontz (2008) - 26
Billy Taylor (2000) - 26
Eddie Gaillard (1999) - 26
Zach Quate (2010) - 25
Greg Dupas (2006) - 25

2012: Chris Rearick has 18 saves for Charlotte. Austin Hubbard is next with 13 for Bowling Green and Dane De La Rosa has 10 for Durham.

2011: Zach Quate in Montgomery and Chris Rearick in Bowling Green tied for the lead with 20.

Looking Back At The Rays 2010 Draft

In 2010 the Rays selected 53 players over 50 rounds, signed 35 of those picks, and have 27 players left in the system two years later.

Of the 27 remaining players, 3 have reached AA Montgomery, 10 are with high-A Charlotte, 6 are in low-A Bowling Green, 7 are with short-season A Hudson Valley, and 1 is with the rookie league GCL Rays.

Here are how the players still in the organization have done statistically:

1/17 - OF Josh Sale ($1,620,000 signing bonus) - Bowling Green Hot Rods

Year   Age         Teams  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2011    19     Princeton 214 24 45 11  3  4  15  4  3 23 41 .210 .289 .346 .634
2012    20 Bowling Green 132 19 35  5  1  8  25  5  3 29 34 .265 .398 .500 .898
2 Seasons                346 43 80 16  4 12  40  9  6 52 75 .231 .333 .405 .738

1/31 - C Justin O'Conner ($1,025,000) - Hudson Valley Renegades

Year   Age         Teams  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB  SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2010    18      GCL Rays 161 18 34 13  0  3  29  1  0 18  46 .211 .301 .348 .649
2011    19     Princeton 178 18 28  8  0  9  29  4  1 17  78 .157 .234 .354 .587
2012    20 Hudson Valley  97 20 26 13  0  2  10  0  0  5  31 .268 .301 .464 .765
3 Seasons                436 56 88 34  0 14  68  5  1 40 155 .202 .274 .376 .650

1s/42 - OF Drew Vettleson ($845,000) - Bowling Green Hot Rods

Year   Age         Teams  AB  R   H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB  SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2011    19     Princeton 234 33  66 13  4  7  40 20  6 27  53 .282 .357 .462 .819
2012    20 Bowling Green 330 52  94 18  3  8  44 12  7 33  74 .285 .346 .430 .776
2 Seasons                564 85 160 31  7 15  84 32 13 60 127 .284 .351 .443 .794

2/66 - RHSP Jake Thompson ($555,000) - Montgomery Biscuits

Year   Age         Teams  W  L  ERA  G GS    IP   H ER HR BB  SO  WHIP  H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2010    20 Hudson Valley  2  1 1.35 10  7  40.0  28  6  0  6  33 0.850  6.3  0.0  1.4  7.4
2010    20     Charlotte  2  0 0.00  2  2  11.0   2  0  0  2   6 0.364  1.6  0.0  1.6  4.9
2011    21     Charlotte  5  7 2.90 22 22 114.2 114 37  4 37  56 1.317  8.9  0.3  2.9  4.4
2012    22    Montgomery  7  6 4.67 17 17  86.2  99 45  5 39  70 1.592 10.3  0.5  4.0  7.3
3 Seasons                16 14 3.14 51 48 252.1 243 88  9 84 165 1.296  8.7  0.3  3.0  5.9

2/79 - SS Derek Dietrich ($457,200) - Charlotte Stone Crabs

Year   Age         Teams  AB   R   H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB  SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2010    20 Hudson Valley 179  33  50 12  2  3  20  2  2 11  42 .279 .340 .419 .759
2011    21 Bowling Green 480  73 133 34  4 22  81  5  7 38 128 .277 .346 .502 .848
2012    22     Charlotte 332  43  89 19  7  9  48  4  2 24  74 .268 .334 .449 .783
3 Seasons                991 149 272 65 13 34 149 11 11 73 244 .274 .341 .469 .810

3/98 - 2B Ryan Brett ($341,100) - Bowling Green Hot Rods

Year   Age         Teams  AB  R   H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2010    18      GCL Rays  89  8  27  5  2  0   9 12  3  8 17 .303 .364 .404 .768
2011    19     Princeton 240 42  72 22  5  3  24 21  3 26 24 .300 .370 .471 .841
2012    20 Bowling Green 287 49  89 10  3  5  27 32  6 24 48 .310 .363 .418 .781
3 Seasons                616 99 188 37 10  8  60 65 12 58 89 .305 .366 .437 .803

5/161 - RHSP Ian Kendall ($250,000) - Hudson Valley Renegades

Year   Age         Teams W L   ERA  G GS   IP  H ER HR BB SO  WHIP  H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2010    18      GCL Rays 0 1 12.46  4  0  4.1  9  6  1  2  3 2.538 18.7  2.1  4.2  6.2
2011    19     Princeton 1 4  4.31 14 12 54.1 44 26  7 30 33 1.362  7.3  1.2  5.0  5.5
2012    20 Hudson Valley 0 0  2.35  6  0 15.1 15  4  0 11 19 1.696  8.8  0.0  6.5 11.2
3 Seasons                1 5  4.38 24 12 74.0 68 36  8 43 55 1.500  8.3  1.0  5.2  6.7

6/191 - RHSP Jesse Hahn ($525,000) - Hudson Valley Renegades

Year   Age          Team W L  ERA G GS   IP  H ER HR BB SO  WHIP  H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2012    22 Hudson Valley 0 2 6.57 5  5 12.1 18  9  0  9 14 2.189 13.1  0.0  6.6 10.2

8/251 - RHRP Merrill Kelly ($125,000) - Montgomery Biscuits

Year   Age         Teams  W  L  ERA  G GS    IP   H ER HR BB  SO  WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2010    21 Hudson Valley  1  1 2.11  7  1  21.1  16  5  0  5  19 0.984 6.8  0.0  2.1  8.0
2010    21 Bowling Green  0  1 7.16  5  2  16.1  15 13  1  8  10 1.408 8.3  0.6  4.4  5.5
2011    22     Charlotte  8  7 3.28 25 23 129.0 117 47  6 51  70 1.302 8.2  0.4  3.6  4.9
2012    23    Montgomery  5  1 3.40 21  3  50.1  45 19  1 14  38 1.172 8.0  0.2  2.5  6.8
3 Seasons                14 10 3.48 58 29 217.0 193 84  8 78 137 1.249 8.0  0.3  3.2  5.7

9/281 - C Jake DePew ($460,000) - Hudson Valley Renegades

Year   Age         Teams  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2010    18      GCL Rays  11  0  3  0  0  0   1  0  0  0  1 .273 .273 .273 .545
2011    19     Princeton 159 14 34  5  0  1  22  6  4 20 27 .214 .293 .264 .558
2012    20 Hudson Valley  55  2 10  1  0  0   4  3  0  6 11 .182 .262 .200 .462
3 Seasons                225 16 47  6  0  1  27  9  4 26 39 .209 .285 .249 .534

10/311 - OF Deshun Dixon ($125,000) - Hudson Valley Renegades

Year   Age         Teams  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2010    18      GCL Rays  50  9 11  1  1  1   3  4  0  3 13 .220 .259 .340 .599
2011    19     Princeton 199 22 42  8  4  5  20  5  3 14 49 .211 .263 .367 .630
2012    20 Hudson Valley  83  5 19  2  0  1   8  3  1  8 26 .229 .293 .289 .583
3 Seasons                332 36 72 11  5  7  31 12  4 25 88 .217 .270 .343 .614

11/341 - 1B Travis Flores ($155,000) - GCL Rays reserved list

Year   Age     Team AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2010    17 GCL Rays 11 1 2  0  0  0   0  0  0  3  1 .182 .357 .182 .539

12/371 - 1B Phil Wunderlich - Charlotte Stone Crabs

Year   Age         Teams  AB   R   H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB  SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2010    21 Hudson Valley 209  31  69 19  0  4  36  0  1  9  40 .330 .372 .478 .850
2011    22 Bowling Green 502  56 132 34  0 17  86  0  3 34  83 .263 .326 .432 .758
2012    23     Charlotte 277  36  70 15  2  6  32  1  0 14  55 .253 .296 .386 .683
3 Seasons                988 123 271 68  2 27 154  1  4 57 178 .274 .327 .429 .757

13/401 - 2B Robby Price - Charlotte Stone Crabs

Year   Age         Teams  AB   R   H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS  BB  SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2010    22 Hudson Valley 194  36  57 17  1  2  23 13  1  36  25 .294 .437 .423 .860
2011    23 Bowling Green 427  85 121 25  5  6  44 16  7  86  63 .283 .426 .407 .833
2012    24     Charlotte 241  33  60 10  1  3  20  3  7  31  27 .249 .367 .336 .703
3 Seasons                862 154 238 52  7 11  87 32 15 153 115 .276 .413 .391 .804

14/431 - RHRP Austin Hubbard - Bowling Green Hot Rods

Year   Age         Teams W L  ERA  G GS    IP   H ER HR BB  SO  WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2010    22 Hudson Valley 3 1 0.39 19  0  23.1  16  1  1  9  25 1.071 6.2  0.4  3.5  9.6
2011    23 Bowling Green 5 3 2.51 46  0  68.0  62 19  2 35  68 1.426 8.2  0.3  4.6  9.0
2012    24 Bowling Green 1 5 3.55 34  0  38.0  35 15  5 14  42 1.289 8.3  1.2  3.3  9.9
3 Seasons                9 9 2.44 99  0 129.1 113 35  8 58 135 1.322 7.9  0.6  4.0  9.4

15/461 - LHRP Brandon Henderson ($125,000) - Hudson Valley Renegades

Year   Age         Teams  W L  ERA  G GS    IP  H ER HR BB SO  WHIP  H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2010    18      GCL Rays  3 0 1.59  9  2  22.2 13  4  2  3 28 0.706  5.2  0.8  1.2 11.1
2011    19     Princeton  4 2 4.30 13  7  58.2 65 28  7 15 44 1.364 10.0  1.1  2.3  6.8
2012    20 Hudson Valley  3 0 0.96  7  0  18.2 10  2  0  2 16 0.643  4.8  0.0  1.0  7.7
3 Seasons                10 2 3.06 29  9 100.0 88 34  9 20 88 1.080  7.9  0.8  1.8  7.9

16/491 - RHRP Nate Garcia - Charlotte Stone Crabs disabled list

Year   Age         Teams W L  ERA  G GS    IP   H ER HR BB  SO  WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2010    22 Hudson Valley 3 2 2.88 16  6  50.0  37 16  5 18  45 1.100 6.7  0.9  3.2  8.1
2011    23 Bowling Green 2 4 3.52 37  0  64.0  62 25  4 19  64 1.266 8.7  0.6  2.7  9.0
2012    24     Charlotte 0 3 3.58 17  0  32.2  35 13  3 14  28 1.500 9.6  0.8  3.9  7.7
3 Seasons                5 9 3.31 70  6 146.2 134 54 12 51 137 1.261 8.2  0.7  3.1  8.4

18/551 - LHRP Jimmy Patterson - Charlotte Stone Crabs

Year   Age         Teams  W  L  ERA  G GS    IP   H ER HR BB  SO  WHIP  H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2010    21 Hudson Valley  3  3 2.55  9  6  35.1  25 10  2  8  28 0.934  6.4  0.5  2.0  7.1
2011    22 Bowling Green  7  4 2.95 39  2  85.1  76 28  8 25  93 1.184  8.0  0.8  2.6  9.8
2012    23    Montgomery  0  0 2.70  1  0   3.1   5  1  0  1   0 1.800 13.5  0.0  2.7  0.0
2012    23     Charlotte  7  3 2.96 25  0  45.2  35 15  3 15  33 1.095  6.9  0.6  3.0  6.5
3 Seasons                17 10 2.86 74  8 169.2 141 54 13 49 154 1.120  7.5  0.7  2.6  8.2

20/611 - LHSP C.J. Riefenhauser - Charlotte Stone Crabs

Year   Age         Teams  W  L  ERA  G GS    IP   H ER HR BB  SO  WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2010    20     Princeton  1  0 2.84 11  0  19.0  14  6  1  6  16 1.053 6.6  0.5  2.8  7.6
2010    20 Bowling Green  1  0 1.00  2  2   9.0   7  1  0  1   4 0.889 7.0  0.0  1.0  4.0
2011    21 Bowling Green  6  5 2.31 18 18 101.1  77 26  7 25  99 1.007 6.8  0.6  2.2  8.8
2011    21     Charlotte  1  3 4.14  8  7  37.0  35 17  3 11  24 1.243 8.5  0.7  2.7  5.8
2012    22     Charlotte  7  5 4.28 20 11  80.0  77 38  9 26  87 1.288 8.7  1.0  2.9  9.8
3 Seasons                16 13 3.22 59 38 246.1 210 88 20 69 230 1.133 7.7  0.7  2.5  8.4

21/641 - LHRP Adam Liberatore - Montgomery Biscuits

Year   Age         Teams  W  L  ERA  G GS    IP   H ER HR BB  SO  WHIP  H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2010    23 Hudson Valley  2  1 2.63 17  0  27.1  32  8  1 12  33 1.610 10.5  0.3  4.0 10.9
2011    24     Charlotte  6  5 3.09 38  1  90.1  88 31  3 31  70 1.317  8.8  0.3  3.1  7.0
2012    25        Durham  0  0 0.00  1  0   1.0   1  0  0  1   1 2.000  9.0  0.0  9.0  9.0
2012    25    Montgomery  3  4 3.00 32  0  51.0  53 17  4 20  26 1.431  9.4  0.7  3.5  4.6
3 Seasons                11 10 2.97 88  1 169.2 174 56  8 64 130 1.403  9.2  0.4  3.4  6.9

25/761 - LHSP Matt Spann - Hudson Valley Renegades

Year   Age         Teams W L  ERA  G GS    IP   H ER HR BB SO  WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2010    19      GCL Rays 1 1 1.48 10  1  24.1  22  4  1  4 22 1.068 8.1  0.4  1.5  8.1
2011    20     Princeton 4 1 3.13 14 10  63.1  58 22  5 18 61 1.200 8.2  0.7  2.6  8.7
2012    21 Hudson Valley 1 2 3.12  6  5  26.0  24  9  1  9 11 1.269 8.3  0.3  3.1  3.8
3 Seasons                6 4 2.77 30 16 113.2 104 35  7 31 94 1.188 8.2  0.6  2.5  7.4

26/791 - LHRP Justin Woodall - Bowling Green Hot Rods

Year   Age         Teams W L  ERA  G GS   IP  H ER HR BB SO  WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2011    23 Hudson Valley 2 1 2.25 19  0 24.0 18  6  1 14 27 1.333 6.8  0.4  5.2 10.1
2012    24 Bowling Green 1 3 4.46 21  0 36.1 35 18  1 24 28 1.624 8.7  0.2  5.9  6.9
2 Seasons                3 4 3.58 40  0 60.1 53 24  2 38 55 1.508 7.9  0.3  5.7  8.2

31/941 - OF Kevin Kiermaier - Charlotte Stone Crabs

Year   Age         Teams  AB   R   H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB  SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2010    20     Princeton 218  44  66  8  7  2  16 17  5 24  54 .303 .380 .431 .811
2011    21 Bowling Green 402  54  97 11  8  4  39 27 10 37  99 .241 .316 .338 .654
2012    22      GCL Rays   6   0   1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   2 .167 .167 .167 .333
2012    22     Charlotte  49   8  15  2  0  0   3  7  1  9   9 .306 .424 .347 .771
3 Seasons                675 106 179 21 15  6  58 51 16 70 164 .265 .343 .367 .711

34/1031 - OF Steve Tinoco - Charlotte Stone Crabs

Year   Age         Teams  AB   R   H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB  SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2010    22 Hudson Valley 259  35  71 10  1  1  35  8  7 30  34 .274 .370 .332 .702
2011    23 Bowling Green 372  47 103 15  0  1  49  3  3 38  53 .277 .361 .325 .686
2012    24     Charlotte 172  19  52  4  1  0  18  2  1 10  14 .302 .339 .337 .676
3 Seasons                803 101 226 29  2  2 102 13 11 78 101 .281 .359 .330 .689

39/1181 - RHSP Parker Markel - Bowling Green Hot Rods

Year   Age         Teams W L  ERA  G GS    IP   H ER HR BB  SO  WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2010    19      GCL Rays 2 0 1.74  7  0  10.1   8  2  0  3  13 1.065 7.0  0.0  2.6 11.3
2011    20 Hudson Valley 3 4 3.14 13 13  57.1  42 20  3 23  44 1.134 6.6  0.5  3.6  6.9
2012    21 Bowling Green 4 5 5.35 15 15  65.2  72 39  5 19  54 1.386 9.9  0.7  2.6  7.4
3 Seasons                9 9 4.12 35 28 133.1 122 61  8 45 111 1.252 8.2  0.5  3.0  7.5

41/1241 - LHRP Chris Rearick - Charlotte Stone Crabs

Year   Age         Teams  W L  ERA  G GS    IP   H ER HR BB  SO  WHIP  H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2010    22     Princeton  3 1 4.72 13  1  40.0  59 21  0  7  29 1.650 13.3  0.0  1.6  6.5
2011    23 Bowling Green  7 2 1.66 50  0  81.1  49 15  3 16  89 0.799  5.4  0.3  1.8  9.8
2012    24     Charlotte  2 3 1.91 31  0  42.1  35  9  0 15  56 1.181  7.4  0.0  3.2 11.9
3 Seasons                12 6 2.47 94  1 163.2 143 45  3 38 174 1.106  7.9  0.2  2.1  9.6

46/1391 - RHRP George Jensen - Charlotte Stone Crabs

Year   Age         Teams  W L  ERA  G GS    IP   H  ER HR BB  SO  WHIP  H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2010    20     Princeton  1 2 2.97 12  1  36.1  38  12  5  6  30 1.211  9.4  1.2  1.5  7.4
2011    21 Bowling Green 13 4 4.28 26 26 122.0 137  58 16 42  88 1.467 10.1  1.2  3.1  6.5
2012    22     Charlotte  2 3 6.58 22  0  53.1  67  39  5 29  38 1.800 11.3  0.8  4.9  6.4
3 Seasons                16 9 4.63 60 27 211.2 242 109 26 77 156 1.507 10.3  1.1  3.3  6.6

Did not sign: 4/131 RHP Austin Wood, 7/221 OF Michael Lorenzen, 17/521 RHP Cody Anderson, 22/671 C Matthew Koch, 23/701 1B Kevin Patterson, 24/731 RHP Daniel Poncedeleon, 28/851 SS Julio Espinoza, 33/1001 RHP Scott Simon, 35/1061 RHP Spencer Davis, 37/1121 RHP Demondre Arnold, 38/1151 RHP William Anderson, 42/1271 3B Preston Overbey, 43/1301 C Ryan Hornback, 45/1361 LHP Blake Freeman, 47/1421 1B Hector Montes, 48/1451 RHP Ronald Barnes, 49/1481 1B Danny Hoilman, 50/1511 RHP Cory Maltz.

Signed but already out of the organization: 19/581 OF Craige Lyerly, 27/821 OF Chris Winder, 29/881 2B Scott Lawson, 30/911 3B Nick Schwaner, 32/971 OF Bryan Fogle, 36/1091 LHRP Robert Dickmann, 40/1211 RHRP Wade Broyles, 44/1331 RHRP Mickey Jannis.

If the bats at the top (Sale, O'Conner, Vettleson, Dietrich, Brett) don't come through this could be a very bad draft. So many relievers already. Hope to see Kendall and Henderson in the Bowling Green rotation next year.

Future Considerations Podcast (Episode 27: Futures Game, Signing Deadline, and Midseason Top Prospects)

Short show this week as Scott's voice isn't at 100%. We discuss the Futures Game, the draft signing deadline, and take a look at some mid-season top prospect lists.

Questions or comments? E-mail podcast@raysprospects.com

Music is from Isle of Q

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Rays Sign Shaffer, 37 of 40 Draft Picks

Here is the official release announcing the Richie Shaffer signing:

ST. PETERSBURG, FL—The Tampa Bay Rays have signed third baseman Richie Shaffer, their first round selection from the 2012 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft and the No. 25 pick overall. He will report to Short-Season A Hudson Valley.

Shaffer, 21, was ranked by Baseball America as the No. 21 overall prospect in the draft, No. 2 third baseman, No. 1 out of the state of South Carolina and No. 13 among college juniors. As a junior at Clemson University this season, he finished with a .336 batting average (78-for-232), 10 home runs, 46 RBI, 63 walks, a .573 slugging percentage and a .480 on-base percentage. He ranked 11th in the ACC in batting average, fifth in slugging percentage, tied for first in walks, third in on-base percentage and tied for seventh in home runs.

He becomes the 15th first-round draft pick out of Clemson and the first ever taken by the Rays. He played predominantly first base during his first two years at Clemson (2010-11) before moving to third base for the 2012 season. He was the first in Tigers history to be named First-Team All-ACC at two different infield positions during his career. In 2011, he was named Second Team All-Atlantic Region by the American Baseball Coaches Association and a First Team All-ACC selection.

The Flemington, N.J., native becomes the eighth New Jersey-born player drafted by the Rays. He was previously drafted in the 25th round (No. 757 overall) by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2009. The three-time AllState selection at Providence Senior High School (N.C.) was named an AFLAC All-American as a junior in 2008 and played for the USA National team in 2007.

The Rays have signed 37 of their 40 picks from this year’s First-Year Player Draft including the top 28.

2012 Tampa Bay Rays Draft Signing Board

Monday, June 4th at 7 p.m. - round 1 and supplemental 1st round.

Tuesday, June 5th at noon - rounds 2 through 15.

Wednesday, June 6th at noon - rounds 16 through 40.

Signing deadline - July 13th at 5 p.m. ET.

Click on a player's name for more information, with the latest signing news in the comments.

Some thoughts about Hak-Ju Lee and his hit streak

Hak-Ju Lee is on a 20 game hit streak! That's excellent, right. But, I think he is the only player in the world who manages to have an OPS lower than .700 and an OBP lower .320 over a hit-streak (over his last 10 games in this case). He is even batting below .260 over this stretch. Check out his game-logs over the last 10 games (by the way: Fangraphs does provide Game-Logs for minor leaguers! They emerge as the primer source for minor league stats):

The stats over this last 10 games: .256 AVG, .313 OBP, .685 OPS and a .311 wOBA. That's below his seasonal stat-line (.264 - .327 - .674 - .323) despite the hit streak. Nevertheless, while still not hitting like we would have liked and maybe even expected, he is improving over the course of the season. His rolling 10-day wOBA shows a long tale (including a very bad month of May) with a minor peak at the end of April, followed by a June and July with a wOBA which is almost exclusively higher than .350.

Bottom line: Only determining that a player is crushing the ball because he is on a hit streak is not telling the whole story AND Hak-Ju Lee is improving.

PS: His wOBA over the whole 20-game hit streak is .4042.

Looking Back At The Rays 2011 Draft

Taylor Guerrieri

With the lull in minor league games it's a good time to look back at last year's draft. The Rays selected 60 players over 50 rounds, signed 42 of those picks, and have 31 players left in the system a year later.

Of the 31 remaining players, 5 have reached high-A Charlotte, 10 are in low-A Bowling Green, 3 are with short-season A Hudson Valley, 9 are in advanced-rookie Princeton, and 4 are with the rookie league GCL Rays.

Some signed late and didn't play last year and others have battled injuries, but most have had just about a full season of professional experience at this point. Here are how the players still in the organization have done statistically:

1/24 - RHSP Taylor Guerrieri ($1,600,000 signing bonus) - Hudson Valley Renegades

Year   Age          Team W L  ERA G GS   IP H ER HR BB SO  WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2012    19 Hudson Valley 0 1 0.69 3  3 13.0 8  1  0  1 14 0.692 5.5  0.0  0.7  9.7

1/31 - OF Mikie Mahtook ($1,150,000) - Charlotte Stone Crabs

Year   Age      Team  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2012    22 Charlotte 303 38 89 14  6  4  35 17  5 25 64 .294 .355 .419 .774

1/32 - SS Jake Hager ($963,000) - Bowling Green Hot Rods

Year   Age         Teams  AB  R   H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2011    18     Princeton 193 29  52 11  1  4  17  5  7  9 26 .269 .305 .399 .704
2012    19 Bowling Green 265 33  74 17  1  4  40  5  6 20 32 .279 .331 .396 .727
2 Seasons                458 62 126 28  2  8  57 10 13 29 58 .275 .320 .397 .718

1s/38 - SS Brandon Martin ($860,000) - Princeton Rays

Year   Age     Teams  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2011    17  GCL Rays  47 10 12  1  0  1   3  5  3  7 12 .255 .386 .340 .726
2012    18 Princeton  75 15 20  4  3  2  12  5  0  7 12 .267 .329 .480 .809
2 Seasons            122 25 32  5  3  3  15 10  3 14 24 .262 .353 .426 .779

1s/41 - 3B Tyler Goeddel ($1,500,000) - Bowling Green Hot Rods

Year   Age          Team  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2012    19 Bowling Green 227 38 56 13  1  6  30 20  3 26 68 .247 .333 .392 .725

1s/42 - RHSP Jeff Ames ($650,000) - Hudson Valley Renegades

Year   Age         Teams W L  ERA  G GS   IP  H ER HR BB SO  WHIP  H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2011    20     Princeton 4 2 7.12 11  5 30.1 40 24  4  7 39 1.549 11.9  1.2  2.1 11.6
2012    21 Hudson Valley 2 0 1.12  5  5 24.0 16  3  0  7 23 0.958  6.0  0.0  2.6  8.6
2 Seasons                6 2 4.47 16 10 54.1 56 27  4 14 62 1.288  9.3  0.7  2.3 10.3

1s/52 - LHSP Blake Snell ($684,000) - Princeton Rays

Year   Age     Teams W L  ERA  G GS   IP  H ER HR BB SO  WHIP  H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2011    18  GCL Rays 1 2 3.08 11  8 26.1 30  9  0 11 26 1.557 10.3  0.0  3.8  8.9
2012    19 Princeton 3 0 0.40  5  5 22.2 10  1  0  8 26 0.794  4.0  0.0  3.2 10.3
2 Seasons            4 2 1.84 16 13 49.0 40 10  0 19 52 1.204  7.3  0.0  3.5  9.6

1s/56 - OF Kes Carter ($625,000) - Bowling Green Hot Rods disabled list

Year   Age         Teams AB R  H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2011    21 Hudson Valley 13 2  3  0  0  0   1  0  0  2  1 .231 .333 .231 .564
2012    22 Bowling Green 27 3  9  1  2  0   3  2  1  2  7 .333 .379 .519 .898
2 Seasons                40 5 12  1  2  0   4  2  1  4  8 .300 .364 .425 .789

1s/59 - LHSP Grayson Garvin ($370,000) - Charlotte Stone Crabs disabled list

Year   Age      Team W L  ERA  G GS   IP  H ER HR BB SO  WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2012    22 Charlotte 2 4 5.05 11 10 46.1 45 26  0 19 37 1.381 8.7  0.0  3.7  7.2

1s/60 - OF James Harris, Jr. ($490,000) - Princeton Rays

Year   Age     Teams  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2011    17  GCL Rays 158 17 26  6  0  0   8 13  4 13 39 .165 .257 .203 .460
2012    18 Princeton  60  8 10  2  0  1   7  3  3  7 16 .167 .265 .250 .515
2 Seasons            218 25 36  8  0  1  15 16  7 20 55 .165 .259 .216 .475

2/75 - OF Granden Goetzman ($490,000) - Princeton Rays

Year   Age     Teams  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2011    18  GCL Rays  75  8 13  3  0  0   8  6  1  8 17 .173 .262 .213 .475
2012    19 Princeton  47 10 14  5  0  1   8  7  1  4  7 .298 .346 .468 .814
2 Seasons            122 18 27  8  0  1  16 13  2 12 24 .221 .294 .311 .606

2/89 - RHRP Lenny Linsky ($392,400) - Charlotte Stone Crabs

Year   Age         Teams W L   ERA  G GS   IP  H ER HR BB SO  WHIP  H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2011    21 Hudson Valley 3 0  1.46 12  0 24.2 19  4  2  6 27 1.014  6.9  0.7  2.2  9.9
2011    21 Bowling Green 0 0  0.00  4  0  4.2  3  0  0  1  3 0.857  5.8  0.0  1.9  5.8
2012    22      GCL Rays 0 0  0.00  2  0  3.0  2  0  0  0  1 0.667  6.0  0.0  0.0  3.0
2012    22     Charlotte 0 1 11.81  4  0  5.1 10  7  1  8  3 3.375 16.9  1.7 13.5  5.1
2 Seasons                3 1  2.63 22  0 37.2 34 11  3 15 34 1.301  8.1  0.7  3.6  8.1

3/119 - OF Johnny Eierman ($550,000) - GCL Rays

Year   Age    Teams  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2011    18 GCL Rays  59  7 15  3  2  1   5  1  1  5 17 .254 .328 .424 .752
2012    19 GCL Rays  49  4 14  6  0  0   2  3  2  4 10 .286 .340 .408 .748
2 Seasons           108 11 29  9  2  1   7  4  3  9 27 .269 .333 .417 .750

4/150 - 3B Riccio Torrez ($180,000) - Charlotte Stone Crabs

Year   Age     Teams  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2011    21  GCL Rays  52  4 12  1  0  2   3  1  1  1 12 .231 .259 .365 .625
2011    21 Charlotte  31  2  6  1  0  1   6  0  0  1  2 .194 .242 .323 .565
2012    22 Charlotte 289 38 64  9  2  6  35  6  2 18 55 .221 .299 .329 .628
2 Seasons            372 44 82 11  2  9  44  7  3 20 69 .220 .290 .333 .623

6/210 - RHSP Jake Floethe ($105,000) - Bowling Green Hot Rods

Year   Age         Teams W L  ERA  G GS    IP  H ER HR BB SO  WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2011    22 Hudson Valley 1 1 1.71  7  5  21.0 21  4  0  7 15 1.333 9.0  0.0  3.0  6.4
2012    23 Bowling Green 8 1 3.92 16 16  82.2 77 36  2 19 60 1.161 8.4  0.2  2.1  6.5
2 Seasons                9 2 3.47 23 21 103.2 98 40  2 26 75 1.196 8.5  0.2  2.3  6.5

7/240 - LHSP Ryan Carpenter ($200,000) - Bowling Green Hot Rods

Year   Age         Teams  W L  ERA  G GS    IP   H ER HR BB  SO  WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2011    20 Hudson Valley  2 1 0.76  8  4  23.2   9  2  0  4  26 0.549 3.4  0.0  1.5  9.9
2012    21 Bowling Green  8 4 3.51 19 18  97.1  93 38  7 14  81 1.099 8.6  0.6  1.3  7.5
2 Seasons                10 5 2.98 27 22 121.0 102 40  7 18 107 0.992 7.6  0.5  1.3  8.0

8/270 - 1B John Alexander ($325,000) - Princeton Rays

Year   Age     Teams  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2011    18  GCL Rays  51  4 16  4  1  2  11  0  0  0 12 .314 .321 .549 .870
2012    19 Princeton  76  7 17  2  1  2  10  0  0  3 15 .224 .263 .355 .618
2 Seasons            127 11 33  6  2  4  21  0  0  3 27 .260 .286 .433 .719

9/300 - C Matt Rice ($25,000) - Bowling Green Hot Rods

Year   Age         Teams  AB  R   H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2011    22 Hudson Valley 192 25  55  7  0  3  21  5  2 22 39 .286 .376 .370 .745
2012    23 Bowling Green 167 13  48  5  0  4  20  0  1 15 27 .287 .351 .389 .740
2 Seasons                359 38 103 12  0  7  41  5  3 37 66 .287 .364 .379 .743

10/330 - RHSP Jacob Faria ($150,000) - Princeton Rays

Year   Age     Teams W L  ERA  G GS   IP  H ER HR BB SO  WHIP  H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2011    17  GCL Rays 0 1 2.87  6  2 15.2 15  5  1  1 14 1.021  8.6  0.6  0.6  8.0
2012    18 Princeton 1 1 6.00  4  3 15.0 21 10  1  4 10 1.667 12.6  0.6  2.4  6.0
2 Seasons            1 2 4.40 10  5 30.2 36 15  2  5 24 1.337 10.6  0.6  1.5  7.0

11/360 - 1B Cameron Seitzer - Bowling Green Hot Rods

Year   Age         Teams  AB  R   H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2011    21     Princeton 221 30  63 14  0 11  42  6  3 43 46 .285 .407 .498 .904
2012    22 Bowling Green 254 24  72 24  0  2  29  1  1 30 43 .283 .366 .402 .767
2 Seasons                475 54 135 38  0 13  71  7  4 73 89 .284 .386 .446 .832

17/540 - SS Taylor Motter - Bowling Green Hot Rods

Year   Age         Teams  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2011    21     Princeton 158 37 51 13  0  4  23 22  2 33 26 .323 .436 .481 .917
2011    21 Bowling Green  11  1  2  0  0  1   3  1  0  1  4 .182 .250 .455 .705
2012    22 Bowling Green 183 22 43  9  2  2  21 14  8 23 37 .235 .324 .339 .662
2 Seasons                352 60 96 22  2  7  47 37 10 57 67 .273 .374 .406 .781

19/600 - RHRP Matt Ramsey - GCL Rays

Has not played yet due to TJS.

20/630 - RHRP Garret Smith - Princeton Rays disabled list (TJS in spring 2012)

Year   Age      Team W L  ERA  G GS   IP H ER HR BB SO  WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2011    22 Princeton 0 0 0.82 10  0 11.0 8  1  0  5  5 1.182 6.5  0.0  4.1  4.1

24/750 - RHRP Charlie Cononie - Bowling Green Hot Rods

Year   Age         Teams W L  ERA  G GS   IP  H ER HR BB SO  WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2011    22 Hudson Valley 1 1 2.43 16  0 29.2 17  8  0 12 27 0.978 5.2  0.0  3.6  8.2
2012    23 Bowling Green 1 2 4.33 26  0 35.1 27 17  0 29 39 1.585 6.9  0.0  7.4  9.9
2 Seasons                2 3 3.46 42  0 65.0 44 25  0 41 66 1.308 6.1  0.0  5.7  9.1

31/960 - RHRP Isaac Gil - GCL Rays

Year   Age    Teams W L  ERA  G GS   IP  H ER HR BB SO  WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2011    19 GCL Rays 1 1 5.14 12  0 14.0  7  8  1 15 10 1.571 4.5  0.6  9.6  6.4
2012    20 GCL Rays 1 0 1.50  3  0  6.0  6  1  0  3  5 1.500 9.0  0.0  4.5  7.5
2 Seasons           2 1 4.05 15  0 20.0 13  9  1 18 15 1.550 5.8  0.4  8.1  6.8

33/1020 - RHRP Daniel Bream - Princeton Rays

Year   Age     Teams W L  ERA  G GS   IP  H ER HR BB SO  WHIP  H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2011    22  GCL Rays 0 2 3.91 14  0 23.0 27 10  2 11 21 1.652 10.6  0.8  4.3  8.2
2012    23 Princeton 1 1 2.25  6  0 12.0 11  3  0  7  9 1.500  8.2  0.0  5.2  6.8
2 Seasons            1 3 3.34 20  0 35.0 38 13  2 18 30 1.600  9.8  0.5  4.6  7.7

34/1050 - RHRP Zach Butler - Princeton Rays

Year   Age     Teams W L  ERA  G GS   IP  H ER HR BB SO  WHIP  H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2011    21  GCL Rays 2 1 1.69 16  0 26.2 19  5  1 14 17 1.238  6.4  0.3  4.7  5.7
2012    22 Charlotte 0 0 0.00  1  0  0.1  1  0  0  0  0 3.000 27.0  0.0  0.0  0.0
2012    22 Princeton 0 0 2.70  7  0 10.0  8  3  1  3 12 1.100  7.2  0.9  2.7 10.8
2 Seasons            2 1 1.95 24  0 37.0 28  8  2 17 29 1.216  6.8  0.5  4.1  7.1

38/1170 - C Brandon Choate - GCL Rays restricted list

Year   Age     Team AB R  H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2011    22 GCL Rays 51 4 14  5  0  1   3  0  0  7 12 .275 .393 .431 .825

39/1200 - LHRP Theron Geith - Charlotte Stone Crabs

Year   Age         Teams W L  ERA  G GS   IP  H ER HR BB SO  WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2011    22      GCL Rays 4 1 2.13 16  0 25.1 21  6  1  7 30 1.105 7.5  0.4  2.5 10.7
2011    22 Hudson Valley 0 1 1.80  2  0  5.0  4  1  0  0  4 0.800 7.2  0.0  0.0  7.2
2012    23     Charlotte 0 1 3.16 15  0 25.2 25  9  0  6 26 1.208 8.8  0.0  2.1  9.1
2 Seasons                4 3 2.57 33  0 56.0 50 16  1 13 60 1.125 8.0  0.2  2.1  9.6

41/1260 - LHRP Shay Crawford - Hudson Valley Renegades

Year   Age         Teams W L  ERA  G GS   IP  H ER HR BB SO  WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2011    23     Princeton 2 2 5.29 10  0 17.0 15 10  0  5 23 1.176 7.9  0.0  2.6 12.2
2011    23      GCL Rays 1 0 0.00  6  0 11.2  5  0  0  1 21 0.514 3.9  0.0  0.8 16.2
2012    24 Hudson Valley 0 0 2.16  7  0  8.1  7  2  0  3  4 1.200 7.6  0.0  3.2  4.3
2 Seasons                3 2 2.92 23  0 37.0 27 12  0  9 48 0.973 6.6  0.0  2.2 11.7

43/1320 - RHRP Stayton Thomas - Bowling Green Hot Rods

Year   Age         Teams W L  ERA  G GS   IP  H ER HR BB SO  WHIP  H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
2011    22      GCL Rays 0 0 0.00  4  0  5.2  1  0  0  0  2 0.176  1.6  0.0  0.0  3.2
2011    22 Hudson Valley 3 0 2.05 14  1 26.1 26  6  1 10 18 1.367  8.9  0.3  3.4  6.2
2012    23 Bowling Green 1 3 5.40 24  0 41.2 47 25  0 16 27 1.512 10.2  0.0  3.5  5.8
2 Seasons                4 3 3.79 42  1 73.2 74 31  1 26 47 1.357  9.0  0.1  3.2  5.7

Did not sign: 5/180 3B J.D. Davis, 12/390 1B Trevor Mitsui, 13/420 OF Tanner English, 14/450 OF Matt Young, 15/480 SS Tyler Parmenter, 16/510 SS Bret McAfee, 22/690 RHP Brad Hendrix, 28/870 C Blake Grant-Parks, 30/930 RHP Chris Burgess, 35/1080 RHP John Magliozzi, 37/1140 RHP Tanner Poppe, 40/1230 RHP Joseph Perricone, 44/1350 1B Jordan Leyland, 45/1380 C Kevin Lusson, 46/1410 C Max Rossiter, 47/1440 RHP Derek Vaughn, 48/1470 LHP Brandon Leibrandt, 49/1500 C Alan Baldwin.

Signed but already out of the organization: 18/570 RHRP Andy Bass, 21/660 3B Ryan Terry, 23/720 OF Matthew Johnson, 25/780 RHRP Brooks Belter, 26/810 2B Raymond Church, 27/840 RHRP Luke Irvine, 29/900 2B Jonathan Koscso, 32/990 RHRP Ryan Turner, 36/1110 RHRP David Kubiak, 42/1290 C Michael Bourdon, 50/1530 C Ian Tomkins.

Small sample sizes are in play since it's only been a year, but I don't see anyone below Jacob Faria in the 10th round of much interest. The Rays spent $11,309,400 in signing bonuses on the 20 players taken in the first 10 rounds, or a little less than twice as much as they paid for Tim Beckham alone.

Of the top 20 picks Guerrieri, Hager, Martin, Goeddel, Ames, Snell and Carpenter have had impressive starts. The biggest disappointments so far are the injured (Carter) and very young (Harris and Eierman) along with Torrez. The rest haven't stood out much either way.

Given that the Rays had an unprecedented number of high picks in a strong draft class (with no bonus pool limitations/penalties), how do you think they did based on the results so far?