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With the short seasons now fully underway, there's now much more to report on, especially with a full turn through the rotation to cover. Unfortunately at the lowest levels, there's almost nothing qualitative to report, so it'll basically be just the chart with high level box score data summarized. Before getting right into things, including a trio of excellent performances, a brief check in the pair of rehabbing relievers.
Brett Cecil and Franklin Morales each made another rehab appearance in Dunedin, before being moving to Buffalo. Both of Cecil's outing were effective, in which he threw about 15 pitches and totaled two strikeouts. WIth good good rehab outings, hopefully he's about ready. Morales was a bit different, his first outing was an involved 27 pitches to 5 batters, though the second one was only 9 pitches in a clean outing.
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Buffalo/New Hampshire
| IP | TBF | R | H | BB* | K | BB% | K% | GB% | PU% | TP | Stk | Whf | Ahd | Bhnd | Call% | Cntct% | |||
| MLB Average | 8% | 20% | 45% | 6% | 50% | 39% | 33% | 79% | |||||||||||
| D. Hutchison | 6 | 26 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 12% | 27% | 19% | 25% | 101 | 67 | 14 | 54% | 27% | 36% | 71% | ||
| D. Barnes | 3.2 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0% | 20% | 25% | 25% | 46 | 29 | 6 | 50% | 50% | 26% | 74% | ||
| S. Dawson | 5 | 22 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 14% | 14% | 33% | 13% | 92 | 48 | 4 | 36% | 45% | 28% | 87% | ||
| T. Cole | 6 | 25 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 8% | 20% | 47% | 0% | 98 | 59 | 13 | 48% | 48% | 26% | 70% |
Notes:
- Drew Hutchison's velocity was the usual 93-94, touching 95, and also as usual he missed bats. He was dominant the first time through the order (six strikeouts), but less effective the second half of the outing with a poor contact profile
- Danny Barnes was finally promoted to Buffalo and had a couple of quality, if not totally overwhelming, multi-inning relief appearances. In the, first he hit 93-94 on the Louisville stadium gun
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Dunedin
| IP | TBF | R | H | BB* | K | BB% | K% | GB% | PU% | TP | Stk | Whf | Ahd | Bhnd | Call% | Cntct% | |||
| MLB Average | 8% | 20% | 45% | 6% | 50% | 39% | 33% | 79% | |||||||||||
| C. Rowley | 5 | 19 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 5% | 32% | 58% | 0% | 65 | 46 | 14 | 74% | 21% | 24% | 65% | ||
| S. Reid-Foley | 6 | 21 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0% | 14% | 78% | 6% | 77 | 55 | 8 | 52% | 38% | 31% | 82% | ||
| F. Rios | 6 | 25 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 8% | 0% | 17% | 9% | 82 | 49 | 2 | 48% | 40% | 26% | 95% | ||
| J. Shafer | 6.2 | 30 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 7% | 13% | 58% | 17% | 99 | 62 | 11 | 37% | 47% | 27% | 77% | ||
| C. Greene | 4 | 21 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 19% | 10% | 33% | 7% | 74 | 39 | 4 | 29% | 52% | 22% | 86% |
Notes:
- Chris Rowley has another excellent outing, and would have probably gone another inning or two if not for the need to find innings for relievers that Cecil and Morales were taking. Efficient and effective: missed bats, got ahead, dominated contact.
- Sean Reid-Foley following that up with his own brilliant outing. He didn't pile up the strikeouts despite premium fastball velocity of 92-97 MPH, but dominated contact with 14 of 18 balls in play being ground balls. With a popup and two "gliners", there was really only one hard hit ball in the air. He also got some whiffs on his low-80s curveball.
- Francisco Rios turned in a decent line, but it really wasn't one of his better outings as he barely missed any bats and didn't strike anyone out while allowing a ton of contact in the air. Which, to be fair, didn't hurt him much. On the plus side, he touched 94-95 late in the outing after sitting more low 90s early
- Justin Shafer had another positive outing, thanks to a ton of weak contact both on the ground (typical) and in the air (not so typical) despite mediocre peripherals.
- Conner Greene had his first rough start in a while, but no broadcast in Lakeland so there's nothing to add beyond the numbers, of which there's not really anything position to take away.
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Lansing
| IP | TBF | R | H | BB* | K | BB% | K% | GB% | PU% | TP | Stk | Whf | Ahd | Bhnd | Call% | Cntct% | |||
| MLB Average | 8% | 20% | 45% | 6% | 50% | 39% | 33% | 79% | |||||||||||
| R. Borucki | 8 | 27 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 0% | 30% | 56% | 11% | 100 | 70 | 14 | 56% | 30% | 33% | 75% | ||
| J. Romano | 2.2 | 15 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 20% | 13% | 60% | 0% | 57 | 33 | 5 | 33% | 53% | 29% | 78% | ||
| T. Robson | 2 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 9% | 27% | 29% | 29% | 43 | 27 | 3 | 45% | 45% | 24% | 86% | ||
| T. Saucedo | 9 | 37 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 5% | 11% | 47% | 10% | 109 | 67 | 7 | 32% | 41% | 25% | 87% | ||
| J. Harris | 5.2 | 26 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 8% | 12% | 43% | 0% | 95 | 67 | 11 | 46% | 46% | 31% | 80% |
Notes:
- Ryan Borucki was another standout last Thursday, and checked all the boxes in terms of process and outcomes with all but a couple batters striking out or making weak contact. His fastball touched 93-94 on the Lansing gun.
- Jordan Romano had his least effective outing, though still got a lot of ground balls and and all the runs were unearned in a 3rd inning that spiraled. Only stadium velocity reading was a 89, which is lower than his other starts.
- Tom Robson has apparently being bumped to the bullpen to work out his struggles, and turned in a mixed couple of innings. He touched a 98 (usual caveat, probably hot gun), with others in the mid-90s, and settled in after a walk, double and triple within the first four batters.
- Taylor Saucedo doesn't usually get featured here, though he's had some strong outings in an up-and-down seasons. He outdid himself on Saturday though, with a 9 innings complete game shutout on 109 pitches. He worked in the low 90s.
- Jon Harris didn't have a great outing all told, but he was effective for most of the outing, the exception being two rough inning were all the damage was done. Velocity readings were 93-95 on Lansing gun.
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Vancouver
| IP | TBF | R | H | BB* | K | BB% | K% | GB% | PU% | TP | Stk | Whf | Ahd | Bhnd | Call% | Cntct% | |||
| MLB Average | 8% | 20% | 45% | 6% | 50% | 39% | 33% | 79% | |||||||||||
| J. Maese (I) | 6 | 29 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 3% | 17% | 61% | 4% | 72 | 51 | 9 | 38% | 31% | 32% | 77% | ||
| D. Rodriguez | 6.1 | 25 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8% | 16% | 78% | 11% | 84 | 56 | 8 | 60% | 16% | 26% | 82% | ||
| J. Higuera (I) | 2.2 | 16 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 19% | 13% | 45% | 0% | 50 | 32 | 3 | 38% | 31% | 25% | 88% | ||
| P. Murphy | 6 | 22 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0% | 23% | 35% | 0% | 73 | 50 | 6 | 50% | 23% | 39% | 83% | ||
| L. Sanchez | 3 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8% | 0% | 55% | 0% | 34 | 18 | 1 | 33% | 50% | 20% | 93% | ||
| A. Ravel | 3 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 10% | 22% | 11% | 36 | 22 | 6 | 40% | 50% | 0% | 71% | ||
| M. Ellenbest | 3 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0% | 18% | 89% | 11% |
Notes:
- Justin Maese had a solid, efficient outing, despite being letdown by defenders, which resulted in four unearned runs. His total pitch count was around 85, and his fastball 92-93 on Vancouver's gun.
- Dalton Rodriguez was a ground ball machine this time out, working in the high 80s/low 90s again. He's not missing many batsin his first couple starts, so it's all about managing contact.
- Juliandry Higuera had a rough and short outing, working 90-91 but struggling with command control as he issued free passes and got squared up frequently.
- Patrick Murphy turned in another good outing, working 6 efficient outings while sitting 92-95 on the Vancouver gun. The key was that he pounded the zone and worked ahead, allowing him to get 5 strikeouts despite not missing an overwhelming number of bats.
- Sunday saw Luis Sanchez have a short outing, I assume to accommodate 2016 draftees Andy Ravel (7th round) and Mike Ellenbest make their professional debuts. Ravel was effective, with some weird metrics: no called strikes, but he missed bats and was overall effective. Ellenbest was excellent too, with a couple of strikeouts overshadowed by a great contact profile, as he kept it all on the ground except a popout.
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Bluefield
| IP | TBF | R | H | BB* | K | BB% | K% | GB% | PU% | ||
| MLB Average | 8% | 20% | 45% | 6% | |||||||
| H. Rodriguez | 3 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8% | 8% | 60% | 0% | |
| L. Gillingham | 2 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 11% | 22% | 33% | 33% | |
| O. Gutierrez | 5 | 23 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 4% | 26% | 67% | 0% | |
| J. Espada | 4 | 21 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 10% | 0% | 50% | 50% | |
| D. Diaz | 3.1 | 14 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0% | 21% | 60% | 10% | |
| C. Eller | 3.1 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0% | 33% | 75% | 0% |
I was able to catch the broadcast for most of Denis Diaz' start, which he left with an apparent injury after throwing one pitch to the second batter of the inning, perhaps to his oblique area. He only missed 3 bats in 43 pitches, and wasn't particularly proficient at finding the zone either, though these issues didn't show up in a good pitching line.
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GCL Jays
| IP | TBF | R | H | BB* | K | BB% | K% | GB% | PU% | ||
| W. Aleton | 5 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 6% | 63% | 80% | 0% | |
| J. Espinal | 4 | 16 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 13% | 38% | 25% | 25% |
Perfect Game's Chris King reported (via twitter) the following on Wilfri Aleton: "LHP Wilfri Aleton has been impressive today. FB 91-94 [touching] 96 with late run. Pounding the zone...FB has life and he commanded the hell out of it. Secondaries still need work but is was an impressive first outing...threw an upper 70's slider that wasn't consistent and a hard straight CH in the 85-87 range"