AAA Joplin Update, 6-20-2010

It has been a bit of a rough season at Joplin to this point, with the Red Racers crawling along in last place 12 games back. But things have been looking up a little of late, as a present 5 game winning streak has the Red Racers holding onto a winning record in the month of June at 8-7.

A severe lack of power at the AAA level has been a major problem for the Red Racers, as the team is 3rd in the league in hits but just 9th in runs scored. This is a team with a lot of speed but nearly nothing in power. The Red Racers are first in the league in stolen bags. The issue with power does not project to get any better in the near future, as Martin Higgins, the teams leading power hitter with 18 doubles and 7 hr, has been called up to Laredo. The call up of Silas Boone could be an additional drain on the offense.

Bob Keller has struggled all season is clearly not ready for the AAA level. We did demote him for about 5 weeks to AA, but he posted disastrous results there as well. We're hoping the force feeding at the AAA level pays off in the future. His backup Francisco Rivera is not really ready for the level either, but with the logjam presently at the position in the lower levels of the minors we are left with little choice.

Ricardo Lopez has struggled to find a consistent stroke in his first season at AAA, batting just .236, but he does have 19 doubles through 250 at bats and we expect that the power will develop in time. Jiro Asai has been called up to replace Higgins on the Joplin roster and share DH/1b duties with Lopez. Asai was batting .321 with a .393 obp at AA, hitting 15 doubles, 3 hr, and driving in 30 in 196 at bats prior to his promotion. Just 22, Asai has spent 3.5 seasons in the minor leagues and appears to be on the verge of blossoming. He has great size, is intelligent, and a hard worker. The Calzones would love to see him take advantage of that size and begin to hit for more power. Asai won the AA player of the week award for June 7 while with Monterey.

Juan Jose Cedeño had been stagnating at A Drumright before early season injuries managed to get Cedeno a callup to AA Monterey, where he caught fire and won a AA player of the week award for May 24th and was selected to the AA all-star game. The recent promotion of Boone to Laredo has been a blessing to Cedeno, who has earned the quick callup to AAA. Cedeno will likely serve as the third basemen for the Red Racers for the foreseeable future, but Cedeno is better suited to the middle infield and will probably earn his living as a utility infielder if he ever makes it to the PEBA level. He's likely to split time with Juan Ortega at various positions around the infield as the season progresses.

Gus Wilson's struggles with plate discipline continue to baffle the Calzones braintrust. Scouts think he will eventually be a difficult batter to strike out, but has posted a paltry .295 obp this season. His struggles against southpaws are particularly perplexing, as he has posted a mere .226 obp against the lefties.

Miguel Dueñas has been an offensive highlight reel this season, winning two AAA player of the week awards and a selection to the AAA all-star game. Duenas has batted .315 this season with a .399 obp, 23 doubles, 4 triples, 3 hr, 27 rbi, and 14 stolen bags. While scouts project him as a fourth outfielder at best, we continue to let the young Duenas play and have some hope that he might turn into something more. Duenas has great speed and great defensive ability, and possibly one of the strongest arms in the game. Still just 22 years old, we think the youngster might still have a lot of upside and we are watching him closely.

23 year old António Chávez is having a decent season, but we're still hoping to see a bit more from him. Chavez could make it to Laredo in a year or two as a 4th outfielder or platoon player. Like Duenas, he has great speed and plays excellent defense.

David Hernandez, Mark James, and Mike Bingham are rounding at the outfield at Joplin right now. None project as anything more than career minor leaguers at this point.

The pitching has been a bit of an adventure at Joplin so far this season. On the downside, we had some starters we expected more of going into the season who have been painfully disappointing, or worse, painfully injured. In the case of Armando Perez and Patrick Hunter, both.

After a rough 2-7 3.78 start to the season which saw Armando Pérez struggle with his control, a torn bicep on June 5th ended his season. Patrick Hunter had his own struggles early in the season, though he was pitching slightly better of late. His walks are down, but he's gotten hit hard at times as a result of finding a little too much of the plate at times. He recently came up with a sore elbow and is expected to be out until mid July. There is some thought being given to calling him up to Laredo when he comes back and letting him finish the season in the bullpen in the hope that he can be ready to join the Calzones rotation next spring.

Sixto Núñez, a 19 year old control specialist who we had high hopes for, tore his labrum in his first start of the season and will miss the entire season.

On the plus side of things in the rotation...

23 year old Victor Hall has really opened our eyes this season. After toiling at AA for most of the last 3 seasons, Hall earned the callup to Joplin this season and has posted a very good 5-7 3.63 mark in his first try at the level. A soft tosser who relies on a good sinker to get ground ball outs, Hall has great endurance and scouts think he will make an excellent back of the rotation eatings eater someday.

22 year old Eric Hill is another youngster who toiled for 3 seasons in our low minors before getting the callup to Joplin early this season. Hill has been outstanding in his 9 starts for Joplin, posting a 4-2 2.97 mark. Hill throws in the low 90's and has a 6 pitch repetoire, and the improvement in his changeup and cut fastball this season seems to really have caught hitters off guard. Like Hall, Hill has great endurance and works deep into games. He has worked into the seventh inning or later in each of last 8 starts, and 7 of his last 8 starts have been quality. We think Hill has the potential to someday be a middle of the rotation type and we have high hopes for him.

A third bright spot in the Joplin rotation has been recently acquired southpaw Ray Stokes, acquired from Tempe. Since coming over from Tempe, Stokes has pitched like his hair is on fire, posting a 3-1 1.47 mark in 8 games, 4 of those starts, striking out 45 in 36.2 innings pitched. Stokes can bring it at 94 mph on occassion, and has an eight pitch repetoire. Tempe had grown weary of his inability to make the jump to AAA, but we were desperate enough for pitching to take the chance on him. The early returns have been good, but we really need to see him continue to demonstrate the control over the long haul.

Filling out the Joplin rotation at the moment are minor league fodder Doug Stanley and career journeyman southpaw Steve Wallace. Stanley is 24 years old and has some PEBA experience, but we see him as nothing more than a career minor leaguer who has been a good soldier for us, eating innings where needed. Wallace is a 29 year old southpaw, who seems destined for a career as a four A type soldier. Wallace was gracious enough to accept a demotion to AAA when things did not work out at the PEBA level, and he has some value as left hander who can start or relieve. He's presently in the rotation at Joplin due to injuries.

The bullpen at Joplin has been a mess most of the season, and some non prospects have been replaced by four A types like Pancho Lopez. Marcos Torres has presently been given a repreive due to injuries, but it's unlikely he'll last very much longer in our system.

On the plus side in the bullpen, offseason acquisition Leith Geldart has held his own despite the fact that at age 21 he is a bit young for the level. Ron Coture got off to a rough start this season, but has been much better of late, lowering his era to 3.63 by posting an 0.87 era so far in June after a horrendous month of May that saw him take 4 losses.

Future closer in the making Ben Thomas has been a major headache ever since we acquired him from Crystal Lake at the Winter Meetings, pouting about the trade and not happy no matter what level we put him at. He struggled early on with his control, walking 8 in his first 6.1 innings in our system. Since then, he has walked just 1 while striking out 19. He still has a ways to go, but we're hoping to move him into the closer role at Joplin next season, and then onto Laredo in 2012.

We'll be back with an update on our AA Montery Sea Lions in just a bit.