TheHurl

Best pitching so far for the year...for a 2-12 record. f*** you all! You suck Farts!

How beautiful will it be to see them pull some magic out of that yarmulke.

it entertains me that people actually reported you for this. Hopefully the league parity (or parody) that I think we'll see most of the season will stop the "In the AL East" comments.

Not sure if this was posted...the Jeff Francoeur joke. Lasted a month, put it together in a nice little film http://deadspin.com/jeff-francoeurs-teammates-pulled-a-hilarious-month-lon-1562734995

probably not worthy of it's own thread. Keep the one game reactionary stuff to the game day thread please.

he's given up more HR's to the Jays (Bautista) than he has any other team.

In perfect timing Keith Law reported from the Wilmington series this week. I was going to post the Manaea part but all the reviews are worth the read. I tabbed Wilmington (Royals) and Myrtle Beach (Rangers) as two of the most loaded minor league rosters to start the season, and lo and behold, the two faced each other this week in the first home series for the Blue Rocks. I went to the first two games of the three-game series, and have the following to report about these two clubs in the high Class A Carolina League. Wilmington (Kansas City Royals affiliate) • Lefty Sean Manaea made his pro debut Tuesday night, throwing 60 pitches before he was lifted once he hit his limit. Manaea was the Royals' second pick in the 2013 draft, 34th overall, a potential top-10 pick before he suffered an injury to the labrum in his hip in a start last March at the late, unlamented Metrodome. The Royals signed him for $3.55 million, comparable to a top-five selection, after working out a below-slot deal with their first pick, infielder Hunter Dozier. Manaea hit 88 to 92 mph Tuesday night, touching 94, and dipping to 88-90 in his last inning, but the tremendous deception in his delivery had hitters swinging through his fastball for much of the outing. He walked the leadoff man, then blew through the next three hitters, filling up the strike zone for the rest of the night. His slider was big, coming in at 79-80 mph, and was a weapon for him against both left- and right-handed hitters. However, it was not a plus pitch on this particular night, because the break wasn't that sharp or late. He threw a few changeups, 81-84 mph, cutting some while others showed downward fade. Manaea's delivery isn't clean, providing him with deception but raising concerns about durability. His arm swing is long, and he's still getting his arm into position when his front foot lands. He does repeat it, though, which is how he can show this kind of above-average command, and he finishes well over his front side. If this is all the fastball there is, he's a mid-rotation starter, but he's hit 96 in the past and could raise his projection if he can show that kind of velocity on a regular basis. • Dozier is also on this loaded Wilmington roster, playing third base rather than his college position of shortstop; it's an inevitable move given his size and his footwork. Dozier had a mediocre showing in these two games (although no hitter stood out by his performance), but did show some hand strength with a hard-hit double to the opposite field when a left-handed pitcher tried to throw a 92 mph fastball over the outside corner. Dozier has above-average bat speed, but he's more of a hand-strength hitter than a quick-twitch guy. The one weakness he showed in his nine at-bats was breaking balls coming at him. Myrtle Beach threw a lot of lefties at Wilmington, and the ones who could spin something down and in to Dozier had a little more success. Dozier's a below-average runner who's capable at third base but not more than average right now, so he'll have to hit and develop some more power to profile as an average or above-average regular. • Switch-hitting shortstop Raul Mondesi hit right-handed in every at-bat but his last one in the two games I saw, which is unfortunate as he's a natural left-handed hitter. His at-bats were good overall, other than the one time he popped up a bunt attempt, but he wasn't getting the results beyond a pair of walks and a bloop single. His swings are similar from both sides, but he's visibly stronger when hitting left-handed. The one left-handed at-bat produced a bunt single; a bad bunt, right back to the pitcher, that Mondesi beat out anyway, because he reached first base in 3.68 seconds. It's worth noting that the 18-year-old Mondesi is the youngest player on Wilmington by more than two full years, and the youngest position player on the team by 30 months. • Bubba Starling, the fifth overall pick in the loaded 2011 draft, has been a disappointment in his pro career to date, and given his current setup and swing, that's not going to improve any time soon. Starling starts closed, and has no load or trigger to speak of, then drifts out over his front side before he practically throws his hands at the ball, a swing that can't produce power and is going to either put him on top of a lot of pitches or have him miss them altogether. His running speed looked average, even though his body hasn't filled out as expected when he seemed to be a physically projectable 19-year-old in high school. He drew two walks, both against a wild Rangers pitcher on eight pitches in total, but his approach overall isn't patient. All that said, Starling hit the one home run of these two games, swinging at ball four up and away and still muscling it out to right field. There's still some raw talent lurking underneath this disaster of a swing, but good luck to the Royals in trying to extract it. • Zane Evans started behind the plate Wednesday, but struggled badly with receiving before leaving the game when he took a backswing to the back of his head. Evans struggled in all aspects of receiving: getting his glove in position, especially to his right side; sticking balls he did catch; and just flat-out catching what did hit his glove, with at least five balls he should have caught that got past him or popped out of his glove. He's sharing catching duties with Cam Gallagher, who might not have Evans' bat, but nailed a runner Tuesday with a 1.88-second bullet to second base, and had far less trouble receiving. Myrtle Beach (Texas Rangers affiliate) • Catcher Jorge Alfaro is the Rangers' best prospect, boasting huge raw power and a cannon arm, the latter good enough to keep the Blue Rocks from testing it when he caught Tuesday night. At the plate, his lack of patience was a problem in both games, with four strikeouts in the two games, all pretty ugly: three were on breaking balls down and away, one was on a fastball well off the outside corner. His swing looks great, balanced throughout with plenty of bat speed, but when you're down 0-2 or 1-2 in almost every at-bat, it's hard to be a productive hitter. • Third baseman Joey Gallo is a monster, bigger than I remember him being in rookie ball in 2012, and took by far the most impressive BP of anyone on either team -- really of anyone I've seen this calendar year -- putting about 10 balls out from right field to center field. His approach at the plate isn't bad; he can differentiate a ball from a strike -- even drawing a walk with two good takes on pitches in on his hands, then a few inches off the outside corner -- but he still gets beaten by fastballs in the zone, and he's only made slight adjustments to be able to drive the ball the other way. I like his swing; it's simple and obviously very powerful. The problem is that it's just not that fast, so he has to be very precise in his timing, and he's far from having that skill right now. He was adequate at third base in the two games, a little ungainly but making some tough plays, still showing off the grade-80 arm when he can. • Nick Williams surprised a lot of folks, myself included, when he hit .293/.337/.543 last year as a 19-year-old in low Class A Hickory, but while the power is real, the swing and approach are awful. Williams has some bat speed and plenty of strength, but starts with an exaggerated leg kick that barely gets his lead foot down in time, and has a predetermined swing path that has his lead elbow forcing him to swing uphill through contact. He also swings at everything he sees, putting himself behind in the count in every at-bat I saw in the two games; even when he was hit by a pitch, it came on a 1-2 count where he'd swung and missed twice in three pitches. He's also a poor outfielder, due to lack of instincts. I can't call him a non-prospect given his age and strength, but I wouldn't bet any amount of money on him making all the necessary adjustments to be an everyday big leaguer. • Chris Bostick played only one of the two games and had a rough night Tuesday, going 0-for-5 with two punchouts, although one of the outs was when he popped up a bunt attempt. (The emphasis on small ball, from both teams, was absolutely sickening. You're supposed to be developing hitters, not teaching them to make extra outs.) The first strikeout came on three fastballs from Manaea, and the second came on a slider down and away from a right-handed reliever. Bostick, a second baseman, did show plus bat speed and still runs well, but other than one hard-hit line drive, he did nothing of merit in his start. • Victor Payano started for Myrtle Beach on Wednesday and showed zero command of decent stuff, walking five in four innings after walking six in two innings his previous time out. Payano was at 88 to 93 mph, touching 94 just once, with good downhill plane early in his outing and some late tailing life. He showed a downer curveball at 69 to 75 mph, more a get-me-over pitch than a legitimate weapon. Unfortunately, his arm slot drifted downward over the course of his outing, starting the game at high three-quarters and ending up at true three-quarters before his day was over. This isn't the sole reason for his lack of command, but it certainly isn't helping matters. • Myrtle Beach used two relievers worth mentioning, after a parade of organizational arms. Jason Knapp's name might be familiar to you; he was briefly a top prospect for the Philadelphia Phillies, then went to Cleveland in the Cliff Lee deal before his violent delivery finally led to a shoulder blowout in 2010 that appeared to have ended his career. Wednesday's outing marked just the second inning of his comeback, and he has at least regained some of his arm strength, hitting 91 to 95 mph with some natural cut to it, at the higher end of the range when he was working from the windup. He still comes across his body, unfortunately, so I wouldn't count on any durability, but at least he has the velocity and could find a niche as a one-inning guy. • Keone Kela, reportedly up to 99 mph at times last year, was 94-97 in relief, but the fastball played down between its lack of life and Kela's below-average command; hitters seemed to see it pretty well out of his hand, and they also can pick up the grip on his 77-80 mph curveball -- he gets too much on the side of the ball -- to distinguish between his only two pitches.

caught a huge break...and took advantage of it.

Baseball? I'm working several tourneys this summer

I heard he was amazing in Spring. Then his debut he pitches great for 3 and comes out with no velocity in the 4th. Now I'm hearing that he might be pushed back because of shoulder tightness. I know nothing about pitchers...but i know I don't like them. For the Record if I was going to make one longer Minor league trip this year it would be to see Wilmington. Manaea, Almonte, Diekroeger, Dozier, Mondesi, Starling...and Johermyn Chavez. too bad half of them will be gone by the time I can do a trip

Grant and I are in agreement http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_P1a-BBbKlDM/TG6wfodav_I/AAAAAAAAAVU/Td_PLiFBZlg/s320/6a00d83451b80969e200e55067bb678833-640wi.jpg

we've made a decision to ban impatience

I watch this and think I'm going to make a horrible third base coach. I'm sending everyone

My hatred for Adam Jones grows every day...I fully expect him to have a big game

Welcome to board, hope you enjoy

Cooney is a number 4...only things going for him is that he's a lefty and a Cardinal. Stanek has hip issues and needs some mechanical tweaks. Those two things don't go well together. If healthy I'll give him a chance at being one of the top 15 pitchers in the minors by season's end. Manaea...take Stanek's hip issues and multiply them by 100. At least he had a tear and several guys have had solid recoveries from that. I see him as a guy that will be limited in his innings and his lack of secondary stuff will give him that "might be a bullpen guy" Stigma. If the guy that dominated the Cape returns...maybe he'll be in the equation again. I don't see it. I love future closers as prospects in fantasy though. Giolito - Probably the best fastball in the minors and it plays in the majors guaranteed...again injury problems. I purposely avoided him in all formats. Meadows - probably a better fantasy prospect than a real life prospect. Jay Bruce is the comp...but he runs way better. Probably a LF'er in the majors. K's will need to come down though as he's striking out 22% of the time while facing almost all fastballs. Harvey - really like Harvey...but he's a 19 year old pitcher Urias - Reallllllly like Urias but he's a 17 year old pitcher I've played pools for a lot of years. And I've never ever seen anyone have long term success banking 100% on young pitchers. I'd say that 1 of the six become top of the rotation guys. But you can probably get a s*** load for them in a trade by the end of this year.

I think if you take away Farm B's big 3...it's close

Should be an interesting game. Norris' weaknesses are too many walks and prone to the long ball. Jays are not patient and Camden is suppressing HR's right now. I really think it's got to be the middle of the order (or Rasmus) doing damage to him or it'll be lower scoring.

Cards extend Moz...well him as a dream replacement for AA's departure isn't going to happen

Anyone willing to move an OF for a catcher currently OPS'ing 1.500?

last week had a 4.00 K/BB against me...thought that was bad until I came up against the 5.0 so far this week. Why do you all hate me? Rhetorical question please don't answer...my ego is fragile

Seems crazy considering how big of a fan favourite he became. Oh wait he's played for the two teams that can see his value and that know his value is still minimal in the long term. He'd be by far and away our best option as a 4th OF if he batted right-handed.

Crafty Farrelll...spotted a foot off the bag. Then the umps still call him out????

Considering he was a low 90's guy, and really only threw in an occasional slider it was truly impressive.