Month: October 2012

Rule 5 Pick Brad Meyers Returned

Multiple online sources are reporting that Brad Meyers, who was picked by the New York Yankees in the December 2011 Rule 5 draft, has been returned to the Washington Nationals and assigned to the Syracuse Chiefs.

Meyers was placed on the 15-day DL in early April with a strained labrum and transferred to the 60-Day DL in late May. Meyers made one appearance during the year, a disastrous eight runs given up to 14 batters faced on April 9th for High-A Tampa Yankees of the Florida State League.

The 27-year-old was originally drafted by the Washington Nationals in the 5th round of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft, rising as high as AAA with 95⅔ IP for the Syracuse Chiefs in 2011 but missed most of 2010 with foot and heel injuries.

Offline sources have reported that Meyers has undergone shoulder surgery, but I have not been able to confirm this with a reputable online source.

AFL Update: Oct. 31, 2012


After falling behind 3-0 in the 3rd, a pair of runs in the 6th and 8th innings vaulted Salt River to its fifth straight win, 4-3 over Surprise.

It was a light night in terms of the Nationals — just one starter on offense and one reliever made into the scorebook.

Anthony Rendon batted third, played third and extended his modest hit streak to four games. The 22-year-old Texan went 2-for-4 with a run scored on offense and had a putout (foul pop) and an assist (5-2-5-1 rundown on a grounder) on defense.

Cole Kimball worked around a single and an error to turn in a scoreless frame in the 6th. He threw 11 pitches, seven for strikes while facing four batters, and had no walks or strikeouts.

Salt River remains in first place in the AFL East, but just a game in front of the Scottsdale Scorpions.

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From the PR machine in Scottsdale… Brian Goodwin was named the AFL Player of the Week. He’ll be joined by Rendon and Aaron Barrett this Saturday night for the AFL Rising Stars game, which will be televised on the MLB Network at 8:00 p.m. Our zombie copyeditor awaits the assignment…

AFL Update: Oct. 30, 2012

Ryan Perry tossed another five scoreless innings as the Salt River Rafters paddled the Phoenix Desert Dogs, 9-2 for their fourth straight win.

Perry allowed just one hit and no walks while striking out three. He needed just 42 pitches, 30 of which went for strikes, to get through the outing.

Former pro scout Bernie Pleskoff (@BerniePleskoff) had this to say, however, on Twitter:

Slow, over the head windup for Perry results in quick rush at finish. Breezes through first inning in order. Won’t miss many bats.

Brian Goodwin and Anthony Rendon also appeared in the game. Matt Skole did not, which appears to confirm an eyewitness account that he had tweaked something in his leg prior to being lifted for a pinch-hitter on Saturday.

Goodwin had a tough game, going 0-for-5 with two strikeouts and was picked off first after reaching on an error in the 7th. Pleskoff on Goodwin when I asked about him via Twitter:

Like him. Hits ball hard. Makes good contact. Solid accurate arm from LF. Have to see how he hits vs. better pitching in AA.

The 21-year-old North Carolina native had four putouts in left, and as Pleskoff alluded, gunned down a runner trying to stretch a single into a double.

Rendon went 2-for-5 with a double, an RBI, and a run scored. He made a single assist while playing third base. Pleskoff on Rendon:

Rendon loves fastballs. Seeing more off-speed pitches now. Timing them much better. Especially those that get too much plate.

Defense was broached in the second part of Byron Kerr’s two-part feature on Rendon, but Pleskoff noted that Rendon is moving well and appears motivated. I saw no such “lollygagging” in Rendon’s brief time in Woodbridge, just a bit of rust on a throw to first that went “unscooped” by defensive convert to the position (Stephen King).

With the win, Salt River improves to 10-7 in the AFL East, a full game in front of the Scottsdale Scorpions. The Rafters play host to the Saguaros tonight, their first evening game in nearly a week.

Season Review: 2012 Potomac Nationals

The 2012 Potomac Nationals will most likely be remembered by those that watched them closely (*ahem*) for two things: (1) the team that couldn’t win on the road (2) underachievement. You can argue against the latter to a certain extent, but it’s pretty hard to argue against the former: A 10-26 mark in the first half, a 12-21 mark in the second for a combined 22-47 mark that was third-worst in affiliated ball (Louisville, 22-51; N.W. Arkansas, 22-48).

This, of course, would be unremarkable except that in Woodbridge, the 64-win P-Nats were 42-28 — third-best in the Carolina League behind 74-win Myrtle Beach (42-26) and 87-win Winston-Salem (48-23). When I dug into it in early June, I discovered that at least some of it was attributable to the offense hitting nearly 100 points better on the road than at home, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense since the Pfitz generally comes up as neutral in ballpark effects. Other factors are surely at play here, but it’s interesting (at least to me) nevertheless.

Underachievement is a little more in the eye of the beholder. It’s often the disconnect between expected and actual performance. While as a fan (disclosure: see first sentence in “About” below), I feel like this team underachieved, as prospect follower I have to allow for the alternate, more objective interpretation that perhaps some of these guys simply hit their ceiling. There just aren’t very many guys that finished in Woodbridge in August that I don’t expect to see again next April; nearly everybody that deserved a bump up to Harrisburg got one.

So let’s take a look at the first P-Nats team to miss the Carolina League playoffs since 2009:
HITTING

PITCHING

There are two things that strike me when I look at these two comparisons: (1) How similar Potomac’s pitching totals were to Hagerstown’s (2) How much better the hitting was than I would have guessed (nearly mediocre vs. subpar). What didn’t shock me was the low OBP. Francisco Soriano, Blake Kelso and Michael Taylor shared the team lead with 40 walks drawn in 87, 106 and 109 games. David Freitas was next with 39 — in 78 games. Seemed like every time I would fill out my scorecard, I’d be filling in OBPs with numbers that looked like batting averages.

That’s a natural segue to the Top 13* batters (* for 2010 Draft Picks, ** for DSL graduates). Full team statistics can be found here. *Another “extra” to catch a notable

There are some bright spots if you look for them — Kevin Keyes and Jason Martinson’s power, for example. Ricky Hague demonstrating he can play second base (.983FA in 35G). Michael Taylor living up to the hype for his defensive skills in center. But there are also things to pick that aren’t nits — Taylor, Martinson, and Keyes whiffed a lot. The team’s left fielders gave the team’s centerfielders ample opportunity to show off their range.

As aforementioned, none of this is unusual — it’s emblematic of the level: players too good for Low-A, but not quite good enough for AA. The question is whether or not there’s a “yet” in that sentence. This is often where some players repeat… and many will stall (see: Peacock, Brian; Martinez, Carlos).

On to the pitchers…

Well, at least there wasn’t much in the way of mediocrity. The pitchers were either good or they were bad. And even some of the “bad” were pitchers had their moments of “good.” The Matts are a good example of this. Swynenberg was terrific in April, pitching one of the best games of the year on the final Sunday of the month. Grace finished the season strong, capping off his season with eight shutout innings against playoff-bound Wilmington on the final Saturday of the season, a game that Steve Souza won with an 11th-inning grand slam.

Enough has been “said” about how good Nathan Karns was this season. Unfortunately, that leaves us with discussing how disappointing Robbie Ray’s season was. Most of the damage was done in the second half — 1-9, 7.67 vs. 3-3, 4.89 — with the southpaw becoming particularly prone to giving up the longball (10 in his last 10 appearances). Perversely, I was almost wishing to learn that he had been hurt; easier to give him a pass, so “speak.”

Unfortunately, I don’t have the magic bullet as to the why (and if I did, I wouldn’t tell 😉 As the season progressed he struggled with his command, issuing nearly double the walks and seemingly always falling into hitter’s counts and it was usually in the early going, not the middle innings. He turned 21 four weeks ago, so it’s not the end of the world, but it’s the primary reason he still makes the…

OBLIGATORY TOP FOUR LISTS
I thought about only listing three apiece, but decided to go with four as an acknowledgement of the bias that comes with being a disappointed fan of the team. There’s more projection here than usual, as alluded in the discussion of Ray, and I’m giving some props to the guys that finished the season strong.

Batters
1. Michael Taylor
2. Kevin Keyes
3. Ricky Hague
4. Adrian Sanchez
HM: Randolph Oduber

Pitchers
1. Nathan Karns
2. Neil Holland
3. Rob Wort
4. Robbie Ray
HM: Matt Grace

AFL Update: Oct. 28, 2012

The Salt River Rafters scored in six of nine innings on Saturday to double up the Mesa Solar Sox 12-6 for their third straight win.

Highlights from the four Nats that saw game action…

…Paul Demny got right back on the horse and tossed a scoreless inning in the 7th, though he gave up a hit and a walk.

…Jason Martinson singled, walked, and scored a run while playing third base (no defensive chances).

…Matt Skole was on the other side of the diamond on defense (five putouts) and drew two walks and scored twice, going 1-for-2 before being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the 8th.

…Brian Goodwin pushed his average to .349 with a pair of triples. He scored twice and drew two walks while playing centerfield, where he snagged three flyouts.

Salt River resumes play with a visit to Phoenix tomorrow afternoon. Ryan Perry is expected to get the start.

AFL Update: Oct. 27, 2012

Three big innings carried the Rafters past the Javelinas as Salt River held off a late charge from Peoria for an 8-7 win yesterday afternoon.

Just two Nationals got into the game.

Anthony Rendon batted fifth in the lineup and played third base. He drew a walk in the and stole second, scoring a run as part of Salt River’s three-run outburst in the first. He drove in a run on a sac fly in the 5th and doubled in the 7th for a 1-for-2 afternoon. Defensively, he had busy day — six assists, including a 5-4-3 DP in the 4th and a bunt attempt in the 6th.

Aaron Barrett (pictured above) gave up a leadoff single in the 8th but had it erased with a double play on the next batter. The fortune quickly became misfortune after another single then a home run cut the three-run lead Barrett was protecting to one. He still earned the hold by getting third out on another grounder.

With the win, Salt River returns to first in the AFL East with an 8-7 mark. They close out the week with another day game this afternoon, visiting the Mesa Solar Sox.

Minor-League Signings

It’s been largely quiet on the transaction front thus far in the offseason, but there were a couple of signings released in this week’s dispatch from Baseball America for the week of Oct. 16-23:

• C Carlos Maldonado re-signed

• C Jeff Howell re-signed

Maldonado, along with erstwhile OF Brett Carroll, had elected free agency earlier this month.

Maldonado has twice been recalled then outrighted to AAA for the Nationals in the past three seasons, playing four games in late May/early June of 2010 and four games this past May when the Nationals catchers were doing their best impersonation of Spinal Tap drummers.

Howell saw time at each level from High-A to AA to AAA in 2012, playing a total of 53 games — not bad for a guy that spent 52 games in the independent American Association in 2011. Both catchers can be described as glove-first backups, with fielding averages of of .990+ for both backstops.

Other former Nationals that have recently re-signed include Michael Martinez and Pete Orr with Philadelphia and Shairon Martis and Aaron Thompson with Minnesota.

AFL Update: Oct. 26, 2012

It was another four-run 6th, but this time the Salt River Rafters put the hurt on with a 6-3 win over the Phoenix Desert Dogs.

Brian Goodwin once again led off and played centerfield and doubled twice while going 3-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored to push his batting line to .333/.409/.667 for the fall. Defensively, he had one putout.

Matt Skole’s rough patch continued with an 0-for-5 afternoon with three whiffs, as the 2011 fifth-rounder has gone 1-for-10 this week with eight K’s. He turned in another error-free game at first base, handling all nine chances.

Anthony Rendon (pictured above) had an RBI double while going 1-for-4 and put the tag on an attempted steal of third for his lone putout.

Cole Kimball, who was featured by Byron Kerr on MASN earlier this week, turned in high-wire inning by loading the bases on three consecutive singles in the 7th, but got the goose egg with a lineout to short and double-play ball in his sole inning pitched.

With the win, the Rafters float back to .500 at 7-7, but still remain a ½ game out of first place behind the Scorpions in the AFL East.

AFL Update: Oct. 25, 2012

A dropped popup in the 6th proved to be an incredibly costly error as the AFL-best Peoria Javelinas took full advantage to score four in the frame and take a 6-5 lead en route to a 7-6 win over the Salt River Rafters.

Jason Martinson was the sole National to get the start, but broke up his hitless streak with a two-run double while going 1-for-4 from the #7 slot in the lineup. Defensively, the 24-year-old handled both defensive chances at third base, including turning a 5-4-3 double play in the 4th.

Paul Demny made an appearance in relief and gave up an unearned run on two walks and a hit while pitching the 7th inning.

Matt Skole and Brian Goodwin were both called on to pinch-hit in the 9th but neither made it to first base safely.

With the loss, Salt River drops below .500 at 6-7 and into second place in the AFL East, a ½ game behind Scottsdale. The Rafters play host to Phoenix this afternoon and Peoria tomorrow before finishing the week in Mesa.