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With the just settled after the trade deadline, there was minimal disruption to our weekly rundown, especially relative and last year and considering that Drew Hutchison wasn't really a prospect at this point anyway. On a personal note, Hutchison was one of the first prospects whose ascent through the minors I tracked, though the better might be rocket trip considering how fast he moved from low-A to the majors. That's one thing in particular I won't miss about the change in front office.
Another prospect who made a pretty quick ascent is Conner Greene, who went from Bluefield to New Hampshire in a calendar year last year. After half a season back in Dunedin, he made it back to New Hampshire. His last time out was easily his best start, a complete game 7 inning shutout. Last weekend, he followed that up with an outing that started out brilliant, before imploding.
Working with a fastball in the 94-96 range on the stadium gun and touching 97, Greene rolled twice through the Flying Squirrel lineup, taking a no hitter into the 6th on just 63 pitches with almost all weak or routine contact and just a walk on the board. He got a leadoff popup in the 6th, but that would turn out out to be the last out he got. A walk, two ground ball singles, a run scoring wild pitch followed by a 3 run home run ruined a great start. Another walk, and Greene's outing was done. Still, on the plus side, that's 12 great innings over his last two outings.
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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% | |||||||||||
| P. Venditte | 4 | 17 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0% | 24% | 27% | 0% | 68 | 45 | 8 | 59% | 29% | 39% | 73% | ||
| T. Cole | 6 | 23 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 0% | 30% | 63% | 0% | 91 | 59 | 11 | 57% | 39% | 37% | 72% | ||
| C. Greene | 5.1 | 22 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 14% | 14% | 50% | 6% | 94 | 56 | 7 | 41% | 55% | 30% | 83% | ||
| J. Gabryswzski | 5 | 22 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 14% | 18% | 20% | 13% | 95 | 57 | 11 | 41% | 50% | 24% | 75% |
Notes:
- With Drew Hutchison now gone, Pat Venditte gets the spotlight from Buffalo this week, once again turning in a pretty decent spot start for a second time considering he's usually a reliever.
- Another nice start for Taylor Cole. No details since there was no broadcast available, but with over 40 AA starts and Buffalo's rotation depleted, when does he get a shot there?
- That overall line for Greene looks pretty mediocre in the end, certainly belying how good the first five innings were.
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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% | |||||||||||
| J. Harris | 7.2 | 28 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 7% | 14% | 50% | 14% | 92 | 62 | 7 | 39% | 36% | 39% | 83% | ||
| S. Reid-Foley | 6.2 | 23 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 17% | 39% | 33% | 0% | 99 | 61 | 17 | 48% | 43% | 37% | 56% | ||
| F. Rios | 5 | 23 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 17% | 30% | 55% | 9% | 88 | 54 | 8 | 52% | 35% | 36% | 76% | ||
| J. Shafer | 5 | 20 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 5% | 35% | 73% | 0% | 85 | 56 | 9 | 50% | 45% | 38% | 76% |
Notes:
- Jon Harris turned in a better start in his second FSL outing, typical of his 2016 with good contact management if unspectacular otherwise. Fastball 93-94, touching 95; slider around 87; curve around 82.
- Sean Reid-Foley was working on a mediocre start one turn through the order (1 hit, 2 walks, just 1K). Then he dominated, striking out 7 of the last 10. His fastball started out 92-94 in that first part, but the second half he found another gear, bumping up to 94-96 touching 97 a couple times. And threw a slider at 90. Impressive.
- Another uneven start for Rios. On the plus side, nice to see the strikeouts and missed bats. On the negative side, some wildness early and late, and touched up for some hard contact (2B and HR allowed). Fastball touched 95 a couple times, curveball in 80-81 (I think this is a distinct pitch from the slider seen as the Future's Game).
- I don't know what was in the water in Dunedin, but Justin Shafer was ridiculous the first time through the order with 6 strikeouts, mowing batters down with slider after getting ahead with his normal 92-93 fastball. Maybe it took a lot out of him, because the second time through didn't go as well, including a home run allowed.
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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% | |||||||||||
| J. Romano | 4 | 17 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0% | 0% | 29% | 6% | 63 | 43 | 2 | 47% | 47% | 33% | 94% | ||
| A. Perdomo | 5 | 23 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 4% | 22% | 12% | 24% | 96 | 66 | 12 | 57% | 39% | 36% | 76% | ||
| R. Borucki | 7 | 25 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 0% | 12% | 55% | 9% | 80 | 54 | 8 | 40% | 44% | 32% | 81% | ||
| J. Maese | 5.1 | 23 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 0% | 17% | 37% | 11% | 84 | 57 | 16 | 43% | 43% | 21% | 68% | ||
| T. Robson | 5 | 25 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 4% | 20% | 44% | 6% | 92 | 58 | 10 | 48% | 28% | 29% | 78% |
Notes:
- Romano didn't have great fastball velo, 88-90 on the Bowling Green stadium gun. It was also a short start, and he didn't miss many bats as all batters put the ball in play but he mostly scattered 6 hits.
- Angel Perdomo was his usual confounding self, alternating between dominating and getting hit pretty hard. Fastball was only 89-90 (on a Fort Wayne gun plugged into a Trackman system, so should be accurate). He really seemed to have put things together in June, but July was a step backwards.
- Ryan Borucki worked an efficient 7 innings, scattering hits while allowing no free passes. Just one velo reading, 94 in the 1st inning.
- It appears Justin Maese is mixing up his gameplan, to mixed results. In Vancouver, he dominated with his low 90s sinker, the last couple outings he's mixed in a lot more 4 seamers, so he was more in the 93-95 range. As a result, he has missed more bats, including an impressive 16 this outing, but the tradeoff has been a lot less groundballs, and he's given up quite a few hits. But that's part of the development process.
- Tom Robson made two extended relief outings. In the first, following Romano, he scattered 7 baserunners, with his fastball velo all over the place (I heard 88 to 96). The second outing was much better, 4K over 2 innings, very fastball heavy in the 93-95 range, with a few curves mixed in.
***
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% | |||||||||||
| D. Rodriguez | 4 | 21 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 14% | 29% | 42% | 8% | 79 | 48 | 6 | 52% | 29% | 37% | 80% | ||
| P. Murphy | 5.2 | 25 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 4% | 12% | 62% | 0% | 85 | 57 | 3 | 44% | 32% | 33% | 93% | ||
| L. Sanchez | 5.2 | 22 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 9% | 23% | 33% | 7% | 83 | 55 | 11 | 45% | 41% | 30% | 74% | ||
| Z. Jackson | 1 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 19 | 11 | 1 | 40% | 60% | 11% | 90% |
Notes:
- Another messy outing for Dalton Rodriguez, in which he nonetheless kept damage mostly off the board. Fastball in the 91 range. Really, at this point, there's enough data to say he's probably on the org guy end of the spectrum.
- Patrick Murphy had a really nice outing, piling up a lot of weak grounders for large stretches. Fastball 94-95, at least early, with an effective curveball.
- Luis Sanchez worked in the 90-92 range, as usual. One of better outings, a little wild early but got offset against some strikeouts. Tailed off later, hard hits at the end.
- 2nd rounder Zach Jackson worked an unremarkable inning