KC Royals - KIDS Edition

[SubGod22]

Same as with the big club. I found it was also a lot faster to not link each player and I'm running out of time today. I'll link the stats to each club so you can look at stats I don't provide.

Omaha:
Johnny G - .341, 65 R, 32 2B, 2 3B, 9 HR, 71 RBI, 9 SB
Cain - .318, 62 R, 23 2B, 6 3B, 13 HR, 57 RBI, 10 SB
Lough - .316, 69 R, 24 2B, 10 3B, 6 HR, 50 RBI, 12 SB
C. Rob - .309, 68 R, 24 2B, 18 HR, 70 RBI, 1 SB
Falu (SS) - .298, 35 R, 5 2B, 5 3B, 1 HR, 28 RBI, 8 12 SB
Dyson - .289, 42 R, 7 2B, 14 RBI, 29 SB
Ka'aihue - .284, 34 R, 15 2B, 7 HR, 49 RBI, 1 SB
Zawadzki - .243, 34 R, 12 2B, 5 3B, 7 HR, 36 RBI, 13 SB
Perez - (4 games) .188, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 5 RBI

Soup - 9-5, 4.66, 21G/20GS, 2 CG, 1 SHO, 127.1, 67/36
Monty - 4-6, 5.37, 21/21, 112.1, 92/57
Mendoza - 7-4, 2.37, 27/12, 1 CG, 1 SHO, 1 SV, 110.1, 58/43
Mazzaro - 5-1, 4.97, 15/15, 83.1, 76/40
Pucetas - 5-5, 5.49, 22/11, 82.0, 56/29
Chavez - 2-4, 3.26, 37/0, 13 SV, 47.0, 41/14
Teaford - 3-2, 3.34, 16/3, 35.0, 33/11
Sisk - 3-1, 1.47, 15/0, 1 SV, 18.1, 17/9
Hererra - 0-0, 0.00, 2/0, 1.2, 2/1

NWA:
Orlando (OF) - (14G) .391, 13 R, 3 2B, 1 3B, 7 RBI
T. Smith (OF) - .294, 33 R, 10 2B, 2 3B, 8 HR, 39 RBI, 8 SB
Seratelli - .287, 74 R, 8 2B, 6 3B, 9 HR, 48 RBI, 60BB, 30 SB
Perez - .283, 35 R, 14 2B, 9 HR, 43 RBI
Navarro - .275, 16 R, 4 2B, 1 HR, 10 RBI, 4 SB
D. Rob - .273, 43 R, 6 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 18 RBI, 41 SB
Bianchi - .270, 48 R, 21 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 40 RBI, 14 SB
Romak (1B) - .266, 48 R, 18 2B, 19 HR, 58 RBI, 6 SB
Nick Francis (OF) - .261, 27 R, 7 2B, 2 HR, 19 RBI, 10 SB
Colon - .259, 51 R, 10 2B, 1 3B, 8 HR, 54 RBI, 16 SB
Myers - .249, 30 R, 15 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 28 RBI, 6 SB
Ben Theriot (C) - .231, 5 R, 5 2B, 4 HR, 15 RBI

W Smith - 9-8, 4.54, 21/21, 1 CG, 1 SHO, 119.0, 71/36
Dwyer - 5-9, 6.01, 21/21, 2 CG, 106.1, 91/64
Baumann - 3-2, 4.08, 17/8, 1 SV, 57.1, 54/26
Osuna - 6-4, 7.89, 14/11, 57.0, 54/15
Herrera - 4-0, 1.75, 23/0, 7 SV, 36.0, 40/6
Odorizzi - 3-0, 4.71, 5/5, 28.2, 24/8
Chapman - 1-1, 3.16, 16/0, 3 SV, 25.2, 34/10
Jeffress - 0-1, 6.75, 3/3, 10.2, 5/10

Wilmington:
Prades (OF) - .299, 24 R, 13 2B, 3 3B, 2 HR, 13 RBI, 8 SB
Van Stratten - .292, 13 R, 5 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 15 RBI, 6 SB
Merrifield - .263, 56 R, 25 2B, 1 3B, 4 HR, 30 RBI, 20 SB
Stovall - .245, 11 R, 8 2B, 1 HR, 10 RBI, 3 SB
Whittleman - .243, 46 R, 20 2B, 3 3B, 17 HR, 54 RBI, 2 SB
Adrian Ortiz - .115, 1 R, 3 2B, 1 RBI

Marks - 5-8, 4.73, 21/15, 2 CG, 104.2, 100/30
Pimentel - 5-6, 3.55, 20/17, 1 CG, 104.0, 81/24
Melville - 8-6, 3.90, 22/18, 101.2, 75/33
Arguelles - 4-4, 2.90, 19/19, 96.1, 58/17
Sample - 6-8, 5.42, 20/15, 94.2, 61/38
Odorizzi - 5-4, 2.87, 15/15, 78.1, 103/22
Mariot - 7-3, 2.89, 22/6, 5 SV, 74.2, 56/18
Volz (not with KC) - 2-3, 3.33, 31/0, 2 SV, 51.1, 56/12
Odenbach - 2-2, 3.21, 13/0, 28.0, 22/13
Herrera - 2-1, 0.61, 8/0, 1 SV, 14.1, 12/2 (in AAA now)

Kane County:
Brian Fletcher (OF) - .339, 34 R, 20 2B, 3 3B, 8 HR, 39 RBI, 4 SB
Cuthbert (3B) - .328, 23 R, 9 2b, 1 3b, 7 HR, 39 RBI, 1 SB
Pickett - (8G) .304, 5 R, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 1 SB
Alex Llanos (OF) - .244, 38 R, 17 2B, 1 3B, 5 HR, 28 RBI, 11 SB
Fernando Cruz (1B) - .227, 2 R,
Calixte (SS) - .227, 10 R, 2 2b, 2 HR, 24 RBI, 8 SB
Eibner - .203, 27 R, 5 2B, 1 3B, 9 HR, 20 RBI

Leondy Perez - 3-11, 3.73, 20/20, 115.2, 77/21
Leonel Santiago - 7-7, 3.06, 18/18, 108.2, 92/19
Greg Billo - 8-2, 1.48, 21/12, 1 SV, 103.1, 97/21
Antonio Cruz - 2-6, 2.91, 24/10, 1 SV, 80.1, 65/30
Jason Adam - 4-6, 5.07, 14/14, 71.0, 57/21
Sugar Ray Marimon - 3-5, 3.68, 13/13, 66.0, 54/20
Yordano Ventura - 2-3, 5.03, 12/12, 53.2, 55/18
Chas Byrne - 3-1, 3.33, 31/0, 8 SV, 52/9
Chase Boruff - 4-1, 1.99, 30/0, 3 SV, 49.2, 45/14
Cole White - 0-0, 7.11, 5/0, 6.1, 6/3

I'll do Burlington, Idaho Falls, Arizona and the Dominican team tomorrow. Ran out of time here.

[SubGod22]

Continued from yesterday. These stats should include games played yesterday.

Burlington:
Pickett - .304, 10 R, 3 2B, 1 3B, 4 RBI, 6 SB
Justin Trapp (SS) - .293, 28 R, 10 2B, 4 3B, 5 HR, 28 RBI, 18 SB
Jorge Bonifacio (OF) - .293, 15 R, 11 2B, 3 3B, 4 HR
Lane Adams (OF) - .282, 14 R, 4 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 5 SB
Michael Antonio (SS) - .282, 19 R, 6 2B, 4 HR, 20RBI, 8 SB
Murray Watts (1B) - .260, 25 R, 6 2B, 12 HR, 34 RBI

Matt Ridings - 1-3, 3.10, 8/8, 40.2, 32/6
Matt Murray - 2-2, 3.18, 9/9, 39.2, 42/8
Nick Graffeo - 3-1, 1.14, 12/1, 4 SV, 31.2, 42/9
Eric Cantrell - 0-4, 5.46, 8/5, 28.0, 25/15
Malcom Culver - 1-2, 7.33, 12/0, 23.1, 24/19
Rudy Brown - 1-1, 3.09, 11/0, 23.1, 25/5
Andrew Ferguson - 0-1, 5.30, 12/0, 18.2, 17/9
Robinson Yambati - 0-5, 18.85, 8/8, 17.2, 9/11

Idaho Falls:
Michael Liberto (2B) - .372, 15 R, 5 2B, 1 3B, 7 RBI, 8 SB
Edul Escobar (C) - .347, 13 R, 9 2B, 3 HR, 10 RBI
Chris Elder (OF) - .333, 9 R, 5 2B, 3 3B, 1 HR, 10 RBI
Runey Davis (OF) - .327, 25 R, 8 2b, 3 3B, 4 HR, 24 RBI 5 SB
Daniel Mateo (SS) - .301, 16 R, 5 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 19 RBI
Richard Espy (1B) - .296, 30 R, 11 2B, 1 3B, 4 HR, 23 RBI, 2 SB
Tyler Chism (OF) - .265, 34 R, 4 2B, 1 3B, 5 HR, 20 RBI 5 SB
Henry Moreno (1B) - .260, 16 R, 7 2B, 1 3B, 5 HR, 21 RBI
Darian Sandford (OF) - .254, 19 R, 3 3B, 14 RBI, 16 SB

Brennen Martin - 2-3, 3.99, 8/8, 47.1, 38/5
Brian Peacock - 2-3, 3.30, 8/7, 43.2, 48/7
Aaron Brooks - 3-1, 3.92, 8/6, 39.0, 34/4
Kellen Moen - 2-1, 7.03, 7/5, 24.1, 28/10
Edwin Carl - 1-1, 0.51, 13/0, 2 SV, 17.2, 35/3

AZL:
Nick DelGuidice (SS) - .415, 29 R, 13 2B, 2 3B, 4 HR, 22 RBI
Terrance Gore (OF) - .364, 10 R, 2 2B, 1 3B, 12 RBI, 9 SB
D'Andre Toney (OF) - .360, 17 R, 6 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR, 14 RBI
Nicholas Cuckovich (SS) - .329, 14 R, 5 2B, 8 RBI, 16 SB
Carlos Garcia (3B) - .269, 18 R, 6 2B, 5 3B, 16 RBI 7 SB
Humberto Arteaga (SS) - .226, 16 R, 3 2B, 15 RBI 4 SB

Eric Diaz - 1-4, 5.75, 9/6, 36.0, 31/10
Andrew Stueve - 1-1, 1.44, 13/1, 3 SV, 31.1, 34/4
Cesar Ogando - 0-3, 15.63, 6/6, 12.2, 12/14
Fernando Cruz - 1-2, 13.50, 10/0, 12.0, 9/9
Nathan Johnson - 1-0, 3.97, 7/0, 3 SV, 11.1, 10/1
Sam Runion - 1-1, 1.17, 6/2, 7.2, 9/4

DSL:
Lewis Urena (2B) - .315, 11 R, 2 2B, 1 3B, 8 RBI
Pedro Gonzalez (C) - .305, 19 R, 7 2B, 1 HR, 20 RBI

Yender Caramo - 8-2, 1.30, 10/9, 1 CG, 55.1, 33/8
Miguel Perdomo - 2-4, 2.91, 11/10, 52.2, 30/13
Sergio Rosario - 3-0, 1.54, 8/8, 1 CG, 41.0, 50/10
Aroni Nina - 2-2, 3.98, 11/9, 40.2, 49/21
Jossiel Martinez - 4-0, 1.53, 12/0, 3 SV, 35.1, 32/6

[SubGod22]

Suppan and Chasers Shut Down OKC

Suppan allowed five hits, walked four, fanned five and was the beneficiary of three double plays turned behind him. He recorded 13 ground ball outs to register his eighth victory in nine decisions since losing to the RedHawks at home on May 6.

Pucetas worked around a leadoff double in the eighth and a leadoff walk in the ninth to record his first save of the season and first since 2007 while pitching in the San Francisco Giants organization.

Mendoza starts

Costly error dooms Odorizzi, Naturals

In the bottom of the sixth in a tightly contested matchup between pitching prospects Jake Odorizzi of the Naturals and John Gast of Springfield, Cardinals leadoff batter Jim Rapoport bunted towards Mario Lisson at third base. Lisson picked it up and threw wild of the first base bag, allowing Rapoport to reach second.

Then came the heroics of Paulo Orlando in right field. Ryan Jackson followed for Springfield and lofted a fly ball towards Orlando in right. Orlando, who was also 2-for-4 at the plate to lift his average to .400, was able to gun down Rapoport trying to take third base as Lisson applied a swipe tag to get him.

The slugging first baseman Matt Adams followed for Springfield and singled to right, which would have scored the run easily. No runs scored but the inning continued as Odorizzi issued a walk to Aaron Luna, one of an uncharacteristic four he issued on the night. Former Diamond Hog Zack Cox followed with an RBI single to score Adams from second to put Springfield up 2-1.

That spelled the end of the night for Odorizzi (3-1) as Brendan Lafferty relieved from the Naturals' pen. The costly play followed as Rey Navarro couldn't come up with a grounder off the bat of Charlie Cutler as Luna came in to score. The bleeding continued as Daryl Jones followed with an RBI single and Eric Duncan with a three-run bomb to put the game out of reach.

Santiago gets the call.

Wilmington had the day off. Sample to start tonight.

KC lost 0-3

Royals Shut Down Mariners to Take Series Finale

Murray went six and two third innings, allowing just one hit, while striking out nine, a career high. Malcom Culver tossed the final two and a third, surrendering two walks, no hits, and fanning four.

Burlington has the day off. Royals' 10th-rounder fans nine, retires 17 in a row at one point

Selected by the Royals in the 10th round of the First-Year Player Draft in June, Murray allowed a first-inning single to Daniel Paolini before retiring the next 17 batters. He hit Paolini with a pitch in the seventh and followed that by plunking Alfredo Morales. Murray fanned Dillon Hazlett for the second out of the inning before being replaced by Malcom Culver after 80 pitches.

"Pretty much all three of my pitches, fastball, slider and change-up were working," Murray said. "I was sticking mostly with my fastball and attacking hitters."

The 21-year-old right-hander spent his junior season working out of the bullpen for Georgia Southern, where he closed out nine games. Upon being drafted, the Royals decided to convert Murray back into a starter, a role he had in his freshman and sophomore years for the Eagles.

Murray, who fanned five in a row at one point Monday, is 2-2 with a 3.18 ERA and stands third in the Appalachian League with 42 strikeouts in 39 2/3 innings.

"I knew talking to them coming up to the Draft the Royals were going to draft me as a starter," he said. "My first year [in college], I was a starter. But we didn't have too many people for the late innings this year, so my coach asked me to do it.

Rain Quiets Chukars Bats in 4-2 Loss

Rain was in the forecast for Idaho Falls Monday night but there certainly wasn't any thunder in the Chukars bats, as the grey-birds came out flat on offense and fell to the Casper Ghosts 4-2 at Melaleuca Field.

The start of the game was delayed by 1:05 when a storm abruptly rolled in right before the scheduled first pitch. Despite the delay the Chukars offense never quite looked ready to play, as the unit mustered just two runs on eight hits, seven singles. Idaho Falls would strand seven men on the base paths, four of them in scoring position.

Don't give too much credit to the rain however, as Casper starting pitcher Alex Gillingham looked sharp from his first pitch on. The 21-year-old right-hander entered the game with 5.86 ERA, but shutout the Chukars through the first five innings en route to earning the win.

AZL didn't play. DSL won 11-7 with an 8 run 8th.

[SubGod22]

Chasers Finish Off Four-Game Sweep of OKC

David Lough's lead off long ball in the fourth broke up a scoreless game and triggered a five-run rally. Irving Falu added a sacrifice fly before Lance Zawadzki tripled in two runs and scored on a Joaquin Arias base hit.

Kila Ka'aihue's three-run blast in the fifth lengthened the visitors lead to 8-1 and a four-spot in the sixth, highlighted by Salvador Perez's two-run single, put the game out of reach at 12-1.

Mendoza notched his eighth win of the year after allowing a lone run on four hits while walking one and striking out six. Robinson Tejeda yielded a run on three hits over the final three frames to earn his initial save of the campaign.

SOS today.

Naturals fall into first place tie

The Naturals made a mark on the scoreboard in the top of the eighth, when Paulo Orlando tripled to open the inning before Wil Myers cranked a two-run homer to left, his fourth of the season. Trailing 6-2, the Naturals could get no closer, as Adam Jorgensen escaped the inning without further damage and Dustin Molleken tossed a scoreless ninth

Smith today.

CIOLI'S INSIDE-THE-PARK GRAND SLAM BEATS BLUE ROCKS

Winston-Salem, NC - Grand slams are not a common commodity. But for the gold they represent in the baseball world, inside-the-park grand slams are offensive diamonds. On Tuesday night, Winston-Salem's Nick Cioli found just such a gem when his ball of the center field wall in the third inning made for a game-changing bases-loaded dinger that put the Dash (53-53, 21-15) ahead to stay in a 6-4 win over the Wilmington Blue Rocks (50-56, 14-23).

Tyler Sample (6-9) allowed the grand slam en route to his fourth straight loss. The right-hander became the second Blue Rock ever, and the first since Ken Winkle in 1995, to allow two grand slams in a season. Sample was tagged with six runs on eight hits over 4.1 innings. He walked four and struck out four while allowing at least five runs for the eighth time in 11 outings.

Marks gets the call

KC won 6-2

After an off day, Yambati gets the start

League worst pitching staff shuts down Idaho Falls for second night

The Ghosts pitching staff held the Chukars to just seven hits, six singles in the loss, a night after limiting the Idaho Falls bats to just eight hits and two runs. The Casper staff entered the series with a Pioneer League worst ERA of 6.67.

The lead force for the Ghosts was starting pitcher Danny Winkler, who held the Chukars to just one run on three hits over his six innings pitched, walking one and striking out five. Casper also trotted out three relievers in Alving Mejias, Kyle Roliard and Will Rankin who combined to shutout Idaho Falls over the final three innings on just four hits.

The Ghosts offense meanwhile struggled itself off of Chukars starter Kellen Moen, as the former Oregon Duck held Casper scoreless through the first five innings. The Chukars would actually take a 1-0 lead in the second when shortstop Michael Liberto tripled in catcher Ryan Jenkins.

TBD

AZL lost 9-18. DSL won both DH games 6-1 and 3-0

[SubGod22]

Giavotella Time Needs To Be Now

I feel like I’m beating a dead horse, but evidence continues to mount that Dayton Moore has made a big mistake in continuing to keep Chris Getz on his roster while Johnny Giavotella plays in Omaha. Giavotella last night went 3-5 with a double, a run scored and a walk which raised his season line to .342/.395/.485. Chris Getz, on the other hand, went 0-3 with a strikeout to lower his season line to .257/.315/.286. Remember yesterday when we talked about ISO? Well, let’s just say that an ISO of .029 is pretty horrendous. By comparison, the 2009 American League Cy Young Award Winner has an ISO of .115 which includes a slugging percentange that is 60 points higher than Getz. It’s pathetic and the fact of the matter is that the excuses need to stop. The line that we were fed about there being too many rookies on the roster is a complete load of you know what based on the fact that rookie Yamaico Navarro was added to the roster and that when Kyle Davies went on the DL, rookie Everett Teaford was called up to replace him. Not that we had any reason to believe that excuse in the first place, but those two examples prove that it was always a terrible reason.

There are a lot of things the Royals do that I passionately disagree with, but I can usually see the thinking behind the decision. I wanted Giavotella in the big leagues to start the season, but enough people who are smarter than I am told me that he’s just not quite ready for the big leagues, so I was able to see the logic behind the Royals decision to go with Getz (and Aviles) as the second baseman to start the season. Then Getz started the season playing okay baseabll and Giavotella slumped a little bit at the start of the season and I realized that I was probably wrong about wanting to start the year with him as the every day second baseman. It became painfully clear come May that the correctness of that decision had run out and the Royals were worse off. When the Royals brought up Eric Hosmer, it signaled to some extent the fact that they were playing more for wins and losses than development. I do believe that Hosmer was ready when he came up and had very little, if any, developing to do in AAA, but the fact that they started his service clock leads me to believe they were going for it in a weak division.

I can't disagree with much in this one. Getz is what he is. And he isn't all that good. Johnny G should be playing pretty much every day right now.

[SubGod22]

What a coincidence. The article today at RoyalsAuthority is also about Johnny... Giavotella Now!

There were a couple of solid nuggets in yesterday’s Bob Dutton article on the state of the Royals post-trade deadline. The one that really jumped out was that Dayton Moore said the organization’s goal was to get Johnny Giavotella between 100 and 150 at bats by the end of the season. That’s all well and good, but it should hardly satisfy the Free Gio crowd, because what GMDM is saying is that we can’t expect him before September. Sigh.

Why don’t the Royals just put Chris Getz out of our misery and make the call for Gio? The dude is hitting .342/.394/.485. He’s done his part, now it’s the Royals turn to do theirs. Plus, as Dutton explained, Gio would be eligible for the Rule 5 draft this December, so the Royals will have to place him on the 40 man roster at some point. The current roster has 39 players, so why not make the move sooner rather than later? Why not get Gio 250 at bats instead of 100? Hell, removing Getz from the lineup is addition by subtraction, so just sending him to his rightful spot on the bench makes the Royals a stronger team. Getz has shown he’s not part of the future, so every time he steps to the plate between now and the end of the season is a wasted at bat.

Free Gio!

– I also really enjoyed GMDM’s paranoia regarding Luis Mendoza.

“We’ve got to find out… I don’t want another Philip Humber situation.”

Seriously? The Royals weren’t the first club to give up on Humber, who has seemingly rediscovered himself in Chicago. But he had a rough July, and I would bet he stumbles to the finish line. Why is Dayton letting this guy haunt him? Really, he should be bothered by JP Howell or Leo Nunez just to name two before he’s troubled by giving up on Humber. Besides, he picked Felipe Paulino off the scrap heap earlier in the season and he’s turned out to be the ace of the staff. (Ace being a relative term here.) As a GM, you’ll win some and you’ll lose some. It happens. If GMDM should be troubled by anything, it should be the fact he’s kept Kyle Davies year after year when he’s shown he has zero business being in a major league rotation.

FREE GIO!!!!

[SubGod22]

Chasers Claim Series Opener, Win Sixth Straight

OMAHA, Neb. - The Omaha Storm Chasers overcame four errors in the opening game of a four-game series with the Sacramento River Cats, getting a go-ahead home run from Clint Robinson to win 3-2 Wednesday night at Werner Park. Omaha ran its winning streak to six, while the River Cats, boasting the league's best record coming in, saw their own six-game win streak snapped.
Winning pitcher Sean O'Sullivan (4-2) and relievers Kelvin Herrera and Jesse Chavez (14th save) did not allow an earned run in the ballgame, giving up eight hits and walking one batter. Herrera was particularly masterful, entering with two runners on and nobody out in the seventh and working his way out of the jam. Featuring a fastball that reached 100 miles per hour on the Werner Park radar gun, Herrera fanned Kevin Kouzmanoff and Chris Carter to end the inning and went on to pitch a scoreless eighth as well.

O'Sullivan allowed a pair of unearned runs in the top of the third inning, a frame that was marred by three errors - one fielding, two throwing - by Omaha shortstop Lance Zawadzki. O'Sullivan didn't get rattled by the defense behind him, working six-plus innings and striking out five without issuing a walk.

Mazzaro takes the hill tonight.

Naturals survive late scare, beat Tulsa

TULSA, OK - The Naturals were held to just four hits Wednesday, but took advantage of Drillers' mistakes and made those hits count as they outlasted Tulsa 5-4 at ONEOK Field.
Down 1-0 in the fourth, the Naturals parlayed a Drillers' error, a walk, and a single by Jamie Romak to load the bases for Paulo Orlando, who tripled to the deepest part of the ballpark in center, clearing the bases for a 3-1 lead for Northwest Arkansas (20-19, 55-51). The ensuing groundout from Wil Myers plated Orlando for a 4-1 lead.

Jeffress will make another start.

BIG FOURTH FRAME CARRIES ROCKS TO 6-2 WIN

Starter Justin Marks (6-8) got the hook when Mike Blanke reached on an error by Gerard Hall in the sixth. The recently acquired Kendal Volz entered for his Blue Rocks debut thereafter and induced an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play from Kyle Colligan to end the inning. Marks struck out seven over his 5.1 innings, allowing just two runs on five hits and two walks.

Volz gave up a first-pitch bunt single to Daniel Wagner the next inning, but retired the next three in a row to strand him on the bases. Allen Caldwell then tossed two scoreless and hitless innings to close out the victory, striking out two.

Melville takes the hill.

KC won 6-1

Pulaski Battles Back to Down Burlington

At the plate for Burlington, Justin Trapp was the only Royal to record a hit, and the last one to do so. The second baseman went 2-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI. Antonio and Shin each homered for their only hit and brought in three runs. The first six batters in the lineup each scored a run for the home team, who left four on base, and was 3-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

Ridings gets the call.

Owlz Torment Chukars Again in 9-5 Loss

After going 1-7 against the Owlz in the first half of the season the Chukars were hoping to exercise their demons on Wednesday. Things looked promising at the start of the game as Idaho Falls jumped out to a 3-0, 1st inning lead thanks to RBIs from Luis Piterson, Daniel Mateo, and Edul Escobar.

The lead would be short lived, however. Orem, which entered the series with a .340 team batting average versus Idaho Falls, plated four runs in the bottom of the first to quickly regain the lead, followed by two runs in the fourth and seventh and a single run in the eighth. For the game the Owlz knocked around 11 base hits and picked up six walks.

TBD

AZL won 14-11 and DSL won 4-3

[SubGod22]

Minor League Scouting Report: Jake Odorizzi by Drew Osborne An interesting read on how a scout views Odorizzi. Even on an off night, he looks pretty good.

[SubGod22]

Rain, Mitchell Soak Chasers' Win Streak

The Storm Chasers tied the score on a run-scoring double-play grounder in the second and took the lead in the third. After Johnny Giavotella doubled to right, David Lough launched a two-run home run into the Sacramento bullpen in centerfield, making it 3-1 Chasers. It was Lough's eighth home run of the season and his fourth in as many series.

Monty starts today. Giavotella Headed to Kansas City

Giavotella, 24, hit .338 in 110 games for the Storm Chasers this season, amassing a league-leading 153 hits and collecting 34 doubles, nine home runs, 72 runs batted in and 67 runs scored. The 2011 Pacific Coast League All-Star starter was one of the hottest hitters in baseball over the months of June and July, batting .391 (90-for-130) with 31 extra-base hits during the two-month stretch. He was honored as the PCL's Player of the Month for June.

Giavotella moved quickly through the Kansas City organization, spending the latter part of 2008 in Class-A Burlington, 2009 in High-A Wilmington, 2010 in Double-A Northwest Arkansas and just shy of a full season in Omaha. The New Orleans-area native was selected out of the University of New Orleans in the second round (49th overall) of the 2008 draft.

Orlando's blast holds up in Thursday win

Colorado right-hander Alex White (0-1) threw just one inning in a major league rehab start in what was his Rockies' organizational debut. That top of the first inning proved crucial, as Christian Colon singled with one out and Jamie Romak delivered a two-out base hit of his own.

With those runners on first and second, Orlando stepped to the plate. Carrying a 10-game hitting streak into the contest, Orlando cranked a White offering over the center-field fence to put the Naturals (21-19, 56-51) ahead, 3-0.

The blast was Orlando's first with the Naturals this season. In 18 games since being re-assigned from Triple-A Omaha, the outfielder is hitting .377 with nine extra-base hits and has knocked in 13 runs.

Dwyer is starting tonight

DASH DOMINATES RUBBER MATCH

Wilmington starter Tim Melville (8-7) followed a perfect first frame with a three-run second. Four of the first five Dash batters reached on hits in the process, with RBIs for Juan Silverio, Kevin Dubler and Austin Yount. Things worsened in the second as four of the first five reached again. The fourth such man, Dubler, did so on Melville's third walk of the inning. The free pass came with the bases loaded to make it 5-0 as Melville got the hook from manager Brian Rupp.

Moved to the bullpen earlier in the day, Michael Mariot then entered and retired the next two hitters on first-pitch contact. Part of that included a sacrifice fly by Yount to put the Blue Rocks in a 6-0 hole through three innings. Melville allowed six runs on six hits and three walks over 2.1 frames. He whiffed three and was charged with a wild pitch.

Arguelles pitches tonight.

KC won 10-4

Burlington Holds Off Pulaski, Rewarding Ridings With Second Win

Ridings improves his record to 2-3, after a six inning performance. His seven strikeouts tie a career high, set on July 24th against Elizabethton. Ridings scattered three hits and recorded his first win since July third at Danville

Graffeo gets the call tonight.

Chukars Comeback Against Owlz, Win 8-7 in 10 Innings

The Chukars, who came into the game 1-8 against the Owlz this season, started the eighth inning down 7-1 and hadn't even picked up a hit since the fourth. Right Fielder Chris Elder kicked off the rally with a leadoff single, followed by a walk to shortstop Michael Liberto and a single by center fielder Darian Sandford to load the bases with nobody out for center fielder Tyler Chism.

Chism would respond with a 2-RBI double to dead center field, followed by an RBI single by second baseman Luis Piterson and an RBI groundout from designated hitter Daniel Mateo to cut the deficit to 7-5. The Chukars would actually go on to load the bases again in the inning, but could not pick up another run.

After the Ghosts went down quietly in the bottom of the eighth, Idaho Falls started off the ninth with Elder reaching on a fielding error by Owlz shortstop Trevor Hairgrove. That would prove to be a costly mistake, as two outs later Chism would belt a two-out, 2-run home run over the right field wall to complete the comeback and tie the game at 7-7.

TBD

AZL won 6-5. DSL was rained out. I believe there's a little Tropical Storm giving them problems.

[SubGod22]

Sacramento Stifles Storm Chasers

Montgomery kept the Chasers in the game despite not having his best stuff, allowing two runs on nine hits over seven innings of work, walking two while striking out six. The 22-year-old lefthander allowed a home run to Sacramento leftfielder Brandon Allen in the fifth, pushing the River Cats' lead to 2-0 at the time

Soup today.

Dwyer ties K mark in Naturals' win

SPRINGDALE, AR - Afforded a couple of extra outs by critical Travelers mistakes, the Naturals took full advantage and Wil Myers capitalized with a three-run bomb in the third, providing the necessary margin in a 6-2 win Friday night at Arvest Ballpark.

Meanwhile, suddenly spectacular Naturals' starter Chris Dwyer (6-9) mowed down Travs hitters with aplomb. Dwyer racked up ten strikeouts over six innings of work, tying a franchise single game record. Two Naturals' hurlers in the club's four year existence have accomplished the feat, most recently on June 18th, 2008 when Dan Cortes fanned ten in a loss to Tulsa. Dwyer allowed four hits and two runs, one unearned, while issuing just two walks

Odorizzi takes the hill

HILLCATS BASH BLUE CREW

Lynchburg, VA - Different city, different night, same story. The Lynchburg Hillcats (46-64, 16-24) plated nine unanswered runs, chased a heralded Wilmington starter before the close of the third and beat the Blue Rocks (51-58, 15-25) in a series opener on Friday night, 9-4. While the Blue Rocks outhit Lynchburg, 12-11, the Hillcats sent 10 of their knocks for extra bases. Southpaw Noel Arguelles (4-5) allowed six of the runs on seven hits and a career-high-tying four walks over just 2.2 innings to take the loss. The Blue Rocks have lost nine of 11 on the road including three of four on this road trip.

Pimentel starts

KC loses 3-4

Four Run Eighth Powers Pulaski to Series Victory

Nick Graffeo surrendered two runs on six hits in four innings in his second start. Malcom Culver walked three, and gave up a run with a hit in his two innings of work. Over an inning, Gonzales was tagged with four runs on three hits, while Tyler Graham pitched the final two innings, giving up just one hit.

Cantrell throws tonight

Ghosts Gouge Chukars in 14-2 Loss

Coming off a huge come-from-behind win in Orem the night before the Idaho Falls Chukars looked lifeless on Friday night, as they were outplayed in every way possible by the Casper Ghosts in a 14-2 shellacking at Mike Lansing Field.

The Chukars, who had a long and troublesome bus ride from Orem to Casper Friday morning, looked like a team not ready to play as their pitching was roughed up for 17 hits and 14 runs, their offense stranded 10 men on base while mustering 13 singles, and their defense committed an error and were lucky not to be tagged for more.

Things started off normal enough in the first inning, as Chukars ace starter Brian Peacock appeared to be on his game. The second inning however is where everything began to fall apart, as Peacock was roughed up for five runs on six hits. The southpaw did not appear to have his normal command, as he fell behind virtually every batter

TBD

AZL lost 4-5. DSL rained out again.

[SubGod22]

Storms Not Enough to Slow Chasers

Catcher Salvador Perez, 15 years Suppan's junior, was the hitting star for the Chasers in the ballgame. He ripped a pair of RBI doubles in the first three innings, giving him three runs batted in on the night and 10 in his short time in a Storm Chasers' uniform. His second-inning double scored new shortstop Yamaico Navarro, who arrived in Omaha just three hours prior to first pitch. Navarro went 1-for-3 with a pair of runs scored.

Lorenzo Cain also had a nice night, belting his 14th home run of the season to tie the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the third. David Lough added an RBI single in the seventh after Jarrod Dyson opened the inning with a double, providing the Chasers with some added insurance

Error-Filled Second Catches Up with Chasers

Mendoza (8-5) was removed after three innings, allowing six runs - none earned - on six hits, walking two and striking out three. Mendoza fell to 0-4 at Werner Park this season, despite lowering his league-leading ERA to 2.26 in the ballgame.

Omaha Doubles Up Fresno 4-2

Joaquin Arias, Jarrod Dyson and David Lough all doubled in succession off former Omaha Royal Shane Loux (5-11) with one out in the third, and Lorenzo Cain added a run-scoring single in the inning as well. The two-base hit barrage erased an early 1-0 deficit and would prove to be enough for the Storm Chasers' pitching staff.

O'Sullivan (5-2) went seven strong innings, allowing two runs on nine hits while walking one and striking out four. He worked his way out of trouble on several occasions, personally stranding nine Grizzlies on the basepaths in the game. He threw 70 of his 104 pitches for strikes.

Mazzaro pitches tonight.

Big inning propels Naturals comeback

Down 5-2, Wil Myers walked to start the sixth inning off Travelers' starter Andrew Taylor. Nick Francis followed and launched his third homer of the season to cut the Travs' lead to 5-4. Mario Lisson followed with a single to put the tying run aboard as that spelled the end of the day for Taylor.

In came 7-foot-1 Travelers' reliever Loek Van Mil (3-5). Lisson immediately took off for second base, but Travs' catcher Orlando Mercado's throw went into shallow center field as Lisson took third. Theriot fanned for the first out, and then Derrick Robinson singled Lisson home to tie the ballgame. Christian Colon followed with a chopper to shallow right to put runners at the corners.

Northwest Arkansas (23-20, 58-52) elected to test the fielding prowess of Van Mil next as they unsuccessfully executed a safety squeeze. Jeff Bianchi dropped the bunt near Van Mil at the mound and he recovered it just in time to get the speedy Robinson coming in to try and score for the second out of the frame. Jamie Romak followed and grounded to shortstop as the Travs' Darwin Perez dropped the ball allowing Romak to reach safely. Anthony Seratelli then followed with a two run single to shallow center before Myers, representing the tenth man to bat in the frame, got plunked by a Van Mil fastball to load the bases. Francis then followed with an RBI single, driving in his third run of the frame for an 8-5 lead.

Travs 'extra' effort sinks Naturals

Combined, the two ex-teammates Shoemaker and Smith have gone 32 innings over their past two starts facing one another, with the homer by Romak representing the lone earned run allowed by either of them. Monday, Shoemaker walked three and fanned four while Smith walked only one and fanned six. Both teams played eight solid innings of defense behind them.

For Romak, it inched him ever closer to Clint Robinson's franchise home run mark. Romak now needs two homers to tie Robinson's mark of 29, set last season, and three to become the Naturals' all-time home run king. As it stands, Romak has 21 round-trippers on the season. Only Kila Ka'aihue (26 in 2008) and Robinson (29, all last season) have ever hit more than 21 in a single season, although both Corey Smith (21 in 2009) and Mike Moustakas (21 last season) reached that same total while wearing the Northwest Arkansas jersey.

Off today, Jeffress tomorrow.

MERRIFIELD'S DOUBLE LEADS TO 7-4 TRIUMPH

Reliever Andrew Wilson (1-3) had allowed just two runs in 16.2 innings since the All-Star break including the first two outs of the eighth. Then came an infield hit by Gerard Hall off Wilson's glove. Whit Merrifield made the most of the opportunity, doubling in Hall to break up a 4-4 deadlock. Yem Prades doubled the next pitch to left for a 6-4 advantage.

ANOTHER LEAD LOST IN ROAD DEFEAT
TESTA'S BLAST CARRIES WILMINGTON TO WIN

Testa wasted little time giving the Rocks an early two-run lead. After Whit Merrifield worked a patient at-bat that ended in a full-count single to left, Testa sent the second pitch he saw from Dash starter Jake Petricka (2-6) soaring well over the fence in right field.

Few expected a 2-0 lead after one inning to be enough to get Wilmington a win against one of the most powerful offenses in the league, but Marks (7-8) was on the mark on Monday. The left-hander fanned eight and allowed only three hits in 5.2 scoreless frames.

Melville takes the hill tonight.

KC won Saturday, lost Sunday and were rained out yesterday.

Mets Pitching Shuts Down Royals in Series Opener

Jose Rodriguez was the only Royal to record more than one hit, going 2-for-3 and scoring the only Burlington run. One of the second baseman's hits was a bunt single, while the other was a ball in the infield that he legged out for a base hit. His speed was on display as he stole second and third base after reaching in the third. Adams and Michael Antonio were the only other batters for the home team to record a hit, while the Oklahoma native, Adams, knocked in Burlington's only run. Cam Connor struggled at the plate, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. Slugger Murray Watts went down on strikes twice, as part of an 0-for-3 night.

Burlington Bullpen Struggles as Mets Down Royals

Burlington, NC- The Royals' bullpen allowed eight runs on nine hits in four innings, as the Kingsport Mets emerged victorious, 10-3. Matt Murray is tagged with the loss, despite giving up just two runs over his five innings of work, and striking out seven. Miller Diaz earned his first win of the season, in his third start

Mets Overpower Royals For Series Sweep

Burlington, NC- The Royals committed a season high, seven errors in Monday's game, as they were swept for the second time in three home series. The Kingsport Mets took Monday's day game, 10-5, with Hansel Robles earning the win, improving to 3-1. Angel Baez takes the loss for the B-Royals, dropping to 0-4. Burlington travels to Greeneville to open a three game series with the Astros on Tuesday

Ridings Named Pitcher of the Week

Burlington, NC- Burlington Royals' starter Matt Ridings has been named the pitcher of the week for the Appalachian League, announced Monday. The Tennessee native is 2-3 this season with a 2.70 ERA in nine starts. Ridings recorded his first win in a month on Thursday, giving up no runs on three hits in six innings.
"It's a good honor. It felt good last week pitching, I had good defense behind me," Ridings said after learning of the announcement. "We got ahead early; it's easy to pitch with the lead. I think we were up six or seven runs in the first two innings. It makes pitching a lot easier knowing you have a big lead like that."

TBD

Ghost Slam Past Chukars 7-4

The Chukars would make a small rally in the seventh inning, scoring three runs on four hits to make the score 7-4. Third baseman Mark Threlkeld started the frame with a single followed by back-to-back doubles from catcher Edul Escobar and Chris Elder to plate the first two runs. Elder would eventually come in on a double play to end the scoring.

Slump Continues for Chukars in 8-2 Loss Starter TBD

AZL is currently 16-23 and 11 games out of first. DSL is 38-19 and has a 1 game lead.

[SubGod22]

Becoming the Team Nobody Wants to Play- getting that SWAG!

I went to Friday’s game against the Tigers. I already had tickets, but I would have gone anyway to see the debut of Johnny Giavotella. On Friday, the Royals were down early and couldn’t get anything going offensively against Rick Porcello. The game looked a lot like a lost cause, but I just had a feeling that once the third time through the order happened that the Royals would break out some offense and come back to at least make it interesting. I was right, which doesn’t happen quite as often as I’d like it to, so I cherish the times it does happen. The Royals scored three runs to tie the score up and knock Rick Porcello out of the game. Unfortunately, they ended up losing in the tenth after Aaron Crow walked the leadoff hitter and then was generally ineffective.

I’ll start by talking about Johnny Giavotella because what else did you expect? He had one of the best opening weekends of any prospect that I can remember. Greg mentioned something on Twitter about better first series than Giavotella had, and I could only think of a couple. I won’t steal his thunder, though, on that topic. After his first weekend in the big leagues, Giavotella has outhomered Chris Getz for the season and is within five total extra base hits. He looked pretty darn good defensively and just generally added some spark to a lineup that, every so often, looks like a little lethargic. I think we’re going to grow to love his swing as he’s capable of going the other way and then he’s capable of putting a charge into one like he did yesterday.

The thing that was most encouraging to me about Giavotella was what he mentioned after the game on Friday. He talked about how Porcello is a ground ball pitcher and that if he tried to pull the ball, he’d just hit it on the ground to the left side and make an out. Because of that, he made an effort to go the other way. Just like he drew it up, he doubled to right and singled to right. He scored a run that night, he drove in a run, he walked, he stole a base. And after his first weekend in the big leagues, the only first left for him is to get a triple. He’s already been a more dynamic player than his predecessor and it took just three games. I think I can safely say that we’re all really looking forward to the Johnny Giavotella era in Kansas City.

[SubGod22]

Willie Lebron promoted to Omaha

@OmahaStormChasers tweeted that Willie Lebron has been moved up to Omaha today from NW Arkansas. The Dominican righty who last pitched in the minors in 2006 has struckout a hitter per inning while allowing 1.399 WHIP and carrying a 3.83 ERA in 49.1 Innings for the Naturals.

[SubGod22]

Chasers Can't Complete Comeback

OMAHA, Neb. - The Storm Chasers rallied for three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie the Fresno Grizzlies, but couldn't get the go-ahead run across in a 4-3 loss Tuesday night at Werner Park. Brett Pill's bases-loaded dribbler wasn't hit hard enough to record a double play or a force at home, pushing across the winning run in the 10th inning.
The Chasers' big rally in the eighth began on a leadoff triple by Jarrod Dyson, who robbed Brandon Crawford of what would have been his second home run of the ballgame in the top half of the inning. Dyson scored on an RBI single by David Lough to make it 3-1 in favor of the visitors, and Lorenzo Cain followed with a double to put runners on second and third with nobody out.

First baseman Clint Robinson chased reliever Dan Otero with a game-tying, two-run double to the gap in right center, and Robinson moved up to third on a base-hit by Yamaico Navarro - with Navarro taking second on the throw to the plate. But after Waldis Joaquin came on to pitch, Irving Falu, Joaquin Arias and Cody Clark were unable to come through with a sacrifice fly or base hit to bring in the fourth and possibly deciding run.

Monty pitches tonight

NWA had the day off. Jeffress pitches tonight

Wilmington was rained out. They'll play a DH today. Melville starts game 1. Arguelles will start game 2.

Cougars stop Rattlers 1-0 in game one

GENEVA, IL - The Kane County Cougars scored an unearned run in the bottom of the first inning and held off the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 1-0 in game one of a doubleheader at Elfstrom Stadium on Tuesday night. Leondy Perez and Nick Rogers combined to hold the Rattlers off the scoreboard for the first time since July 9.
Kane County (54-58 overall, 26-17 second half) struck three batters into the game. Geulin Beltre singled with one out and moved around to third on an errant pickoff throw by Rattlers starting pitcher Brooks Hall. Brett Eibner followed with a double off the base of the wall in right-center to score Beltre.

The were shut out in game two 0-5.

Royals End Losing Streak With Three Run Win

The Royals opened the scoring in the top of the second inning when a single from Kenny Swab scored Jorge Bonifacio from second to give the visitors a short-lived lead. In the bottom of the inning, Chase Davidson doubled to lead off, and then scored when the next batter, Ernesto Genoves, singled. In the third inning, Lane Adams scored on a single from Murray Watts, as Burlington regained the lead.

The Royals' offense would continue, scoring two runs in each of the next three innings. In the fourth, Kenny Swab's RBI double made it 3-1. Justin Trapp would single to score Swab to extend the lead to three. In their next at bat, Bonifacio homered to left, his fifth of the season. Adrian Bringas would double, and score on a single from Swab to extend Burlington's advantage

TBD

Chukars Blank Ghosts 6-0

Coming off a disastrous road trip that saw the Idaho Falls Chukars get swept out of Casper in four games, the Chukars turned everything around at home Tuesday night as they shutout the Ghosts 6-0 in front of 3,490 fans at Melaleuca Field.

The shutout, which was the first of the season for the Chukars, was a result of a great start from Aaron Brooks and a solid relief appearance from Nathan Johnson. Brooks (4-1), who predicted he'd beat the Ghosts earlier in the week, came out pumping in the first inning and never looked back. The 2011 9th round pick finished with 5.2 shutout innings, racking up a career high 10 strikeouts while giving up six hits and walking none.

Johnson meanwhile picked up right where Brooks left off, as he recorded the final out of the sixth inning with a strikeout en route to throwing 3.1 shutout innings of his own. The right-hander allowed just two hits and a walk while striking out four while earning his first save

TBD

AZL lost in extras 14-16. DSL swept a DH by the scores of 4-3 and 6-4

[SubGod22]

The following lists the players, stats this season and a little about them. The list was put together before Gio (7) made his debut. In September I think we'll see Monty (3) and Herrera (9). Maybe Robinson (8).

Prospect Watch: Royals Top 10