AA Monterey Update, 6-20-2010

Much like our AAA squad, the AA squad at Monterey has struggled a bit this season, and they presently find themselves sitting in last place in their division, 13 games back. The biggest issue at AA has been the pitching, with the team ranking 10th in the league in runs allowed. A lot of that can be attributed to having many pitchers at the level who are clearly not ready.

On the offensive side of things, the Sea Lions, like their brethren at Joplin, are first in the league in stolen bags. The power story is a little better here, with the Sea Lions ranking 5th in home runs, but a ranking of 11th in obp has been a drain on offensive production overall.

On the pitching side things, we do have a few bright spots in the rotation. Albert Bush, a 20 year old native of San Antonio, has taken a big step forward after two lackluster seasons in the low minors. He is 4-4 3.08 after 12 starts, with 70 k's in 61.1 innings. His game log shows the inconsistency of his youth, he has three games where he did not get out of the 4th innings, but allowed zero runs in any of those, having to leave early twice at the beginning of the season because the team wanted to protect his arm and keep his pitch counts down until he built up arm strength, and leaving the third game with a sore elbow that caused him to miss a start. He also has three games that were complete clunkers. Then he has six other starts, allowing 2 runs once, 1 run in each of the other 5, going at least 6 innings in all of them. Bush can touch 90, and pitches smartly. He's a bit weak on endurance. We're not real likely to rush him along, at his young age we believe he will need at least another year at AA before moving along to AAA.

Some early season success by Floyd Davis at A Drumright, 5-2 1.84 in his first ten starts, earned him a recent promotion to AA when injuries creating a need. Davis is 23, but was drafted just last season in the 6th round. He tops out at 89 on the gun, but has a 5 pitch arsenal and pitches smartly. We'll attempt to baby Davis at the AA level this year and have him repeat the level next year.

23 year old Edgar Fernández is not highly thought of by the scouting community, but we continue to like what we see from him. He's probably being rushed a bit to be at AA after just 18 starts and 102 innings at the A level last year, but at 3-6 3.74 we like what we are seeing so far. After some early season inconsistency, he seems to have turned the corner of late, allowing just 1 er in each of his last 3 starts covering 22 innings. He has a ways to go with his control, but we think he's on the right path. Ideally he will repeat the level next season and we can get a better idea of what we might have with this former 10th round draft choice.

Ki-hyuk O is another young pitcher, 21 years old, who continues to make strides. Drafted out of HS in the 6th round in 2007 despite being injured and scheduled to miss the remainder of the season. A hard thrower with a 92 mph fastball, good control, and a sinker that gets him 69% ground balls, O possesses a 7 pitch repertoire, good intelligence, and a strong work ethic. He is 4-4 3.20 through his first 12 starts this season. His last three starts have been particularly promising, as he has walked just 2 while striking out 21 in 23.1 innings. He has great endurance and consistently works deep into games.

19 year old southpaw Rosa rounds out the rotation at Monterey right now. He has been a bit a dissappointment since we acquired him in trade last season, but he is just 19 and has been rushed to the AA level out of neccessity. Due to his age, we plan to reserve judgement on Rosa until he gets a second go round at the level next season.

Various injuries, at both Monterey and the other levels, have created a mess in the Sea Lions bullpen. Losing Tanner Lawrence for the season and Eric Newman to a career ending injury were particularly tough blows. At the moment the Sea Lions bullpen consists of an array of very young pitchers who are in way over their heads at the AA level. We'll take a good look at most of them and see who survives the ordeal. Ideally, most of them will get a second look at AA next season. 26 pitchers have toiled in Monterey so far this season. Of note is that we demoted the young Angel Sanchez back to single A because he was clearly not ready and he was a pitcher we were determined to protect.

On the offensive side of things, we have several recent callups to take note of. With the advancement of Cedeno to AAA, we took the opportunity to call up the hot hitting Ben McGinnity to AA. McGinnity, a 10th round draft pick out of Rice, tore up short season ball last year, and was torching single A pitchers this season. Prior to his callup McGinnity was batting .344 with a .403 obp and 26 doubles, 5 triples, and 22 stolen bags. With the callup of McGinnity, we are getting our first look at what could be the Calzones very speedy double play combination of the future, McGinnity and Romero. The young McGinnity may sit against some lefties in favor of utility infielder Heath Palmer.

Also called up was 1b Javier Ibarra, to replace Asai who moved on to AAA. Ibarra was batting .313 with 5 hr and 19 rbi in 42 games at the time of his callup. He's being a bit rushed, so we'll likely reserve judgement on the youngster until he gets a second crack at the level next year. Ibarra will share DH/1b duties with Pablo Salmarán, who has held his own at the AA level despite just 43 previous at bats at the A ball level. With Pablo set to turn 24 next month, we would really like to see him turn it up a notch in the second half of the season.

Adrián Romero has continued to progress well and we consider him the other half of the future double play combination along with McGinnity. Romero has batted .292 with a .371 obp and he has swiped 38 bags. We love his defense and his speed and we drool at the thought of having him and McGinnity setting the table and wreaking havoc at the top of the Calzones order someday.

Our top prospect, Josh Shaffer, has struggled mightily this year at AA and at just 20 years old was clearly not ready for the level. He has a miserable .231 OBP and is clearly overmatched. We remain hopeful that he will turn it around in the second half of the season, he had a tremendous second half last season at the A ball level and we know he has the talent to get it going. At any rate, his performance to this point and his youth has convinced us that he will definately repeat the level next season.

Production from the catcher position has been pitiful, and a number of players have been shuffled through the position at Monterey, most notably the 5 week demotion of top prospect Keller to the level in an attempt to get him untracked. The catchers presently at the position at Monterey, Matt McCormick and Rodrigo Aguirre, are merely minor league soldiers until the prove otherwise.

Carlos Reyes has been the highlight of the outfielders at Monterey. A third round pick in 2009, Reyes was rushed to A ball just weeks after the draft out of neccessity, and then rushed to AA this season after just 157 at bats in the low minors. Despite the rush job, Reyes has responded by blasting 10 hr's and batting .263. But his obp is just .288 and he really needs a lot of work on his eye. He's a switch hitter with great power potential, he has a touch of speed, and he plays slightly above average defense. We are hoping a second year at the AA level next season will improve his plate discipline.

The other two starting outfielders, Alexandre LaRouche and Héctor Álvarez, have both been a bit disappointing to this point, but both are young and we want to reserve judgement until they also get another crack at the level. Ramón Gallegos has struggled in a reserve role, and he looks like a career minor league soldier to us at this point. Kian-zhi Thien, signed as a free agent in the offseason, made an almost immediate jump to AA despite no previous professional experience and has made the most of limited at bats, hitting 3 hr's and batting .298 in just 47 official at bats. He's making a hard push to take over a starting job from one of the struggling outfielders.

We'll be back shortly with a look at our A Drumright affiliate.