YEEP 6/29/11 - Welcome back Slade!

 Evil Em Vee P: Slade Heathcott. 3/5, HR. Image courtesy of BronxBaseballDaily.com

AAA SWB Walk-off Loss to Norfolk, 2-1. Josh Schmidt got the loss.
Lazus Montero 1/4
Laird 0/4 1 K
Pendleton 4 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Kontos: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K, 0 ER. Still going strong. One injury away from a call-up.

AA Trenton 3-2 W over New Hampshire W: Hughes, S: Hall
Kruml: 3/4 1 R, 1 3B, batting .285 this season, 3 HR, 23 SB 8 CS, not bad at all. 25 years old.
CoJo: 0/3 1 BB
BRomine: 2/4 1 K
R-Ly: 2/4 1 HR, 2 RBI. .297 avg so far. The guy is a superb contact hitter. Still waiting on some consistent power though.
DeeMack: 0/3, K
Phil Hughes: 6.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K. Sources had him hitting 92-94 consistently, and getting up to 95.
Shaeffer Hall: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 K, 1 HR. I guess they're manufacturing LOOGYs at this level, unless Hall is going back to the rotation. Hall, Romanski, and debatably Venditte.

High A Tampa- W 10-3, over Daytona, these guys have been hitting the crap out of the ball.
Slade Heathcott: 3/5, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K... Helluva return. Guess he was probably "bored" in Charleston.
Walt Ibarra: 2/5, 2 R, 3B, 2 K
Boilin Zoilo: 3/4, 2 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 BB. He's at it again, average up to .279
K-Roll: 1/4, 1 BB, 2K meh
JR Murphy (Murph from now on): 1/4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB. Progress
Seggy: 1/5, 1 2B, 1 R, 2 RBI
Kelvin Castro: 1/5
Brett Marshall: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 7 K. Another great outing. 1.97 ERA over his last 10 starts. Down to 3.78 on the season.
Cozmo Kramer Sneed: 1.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K. Very shaky first outing. Quite honestly I didn't understand this promotion. I guess he's lefty, has a pulse, and strikes guys out. Hope he figures high A out!

Low A River Dogs 2 Games
Game 1: Loss to Augusta, 2-1. L: Nuding
Eduardo Sosa: 0/3
Ray-Flo: 0/3
Sanchize: 1/3, 1 HR, 1 RBI 1 K. Starting to pick it up!
Higgy: 0/2 1 K
Nuding: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. Not a bad outing, but he got the loss. He seems to have a long way to go, but he is only 21.
Dott: 1 H, 2 K, former TB Devil Rays pick, now he's ours. Don't know anything about him, or even how we got him, but go DOTT!

Game 2: W 9-2 W: Barreda
Ray-Flo: 2/5, 1 R, 2B, 1 RBI, 3 K
Sanchize: 1/4 1 R 1 BB, 2 K
Higgy: 2/3, 2 R, 2B, 1 RBI
Kahnle: 2 IP, H, 2 K
Barreda: 1 IP 2 K

Short Season A, Staten Island: W 9-1. W: Oliver, S: Wetherell
Mad Mase: 0/4, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 4 K. Yikes
Cheeto Culver: 0/4, 1 RBI
Bubba Gumbs Shrimp: 3/5, 3 R, 2B, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 2 K. Maybe I should claim I won't follow this whole team, because they seem to start hitting the day after I say that.
Shane Brown: 1/2, 3B, 1 RBI, 2 BB. If he keeps playing this way, I wouldn't be surprised to see him in Charleston soon.
Matt Tracy: 2 IP, 2 BB, 2 K
Phil Wetherell: 1.1 IP, 2 H, BB, K

GCL Yankees: 8-7 W over GCL Pirates. W: Rutckyj S: Cowsert
The Janitor (Claudio Custodio): 1/3, 2 R, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 SB (4). Still looking good.
DAd: 1/2 2B, 2 RBI 1 K. Left earlier today (6th inning), than he has been lately. Flight to catch?
Ty Austin: 1/3, 2B, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K. More and more impressed with this kid each day.
Yeicok: 2/4, 2B, 1 RBI, 2 RBI. Batting an even .300 on the season
Junior: 0/4. Did hit 2 line drives though. He doesn't strike out a lot, and his BABIP has to be exceedingly low right now. I'd be willing to bet his average goes up soon.
Jorge Alcantara: 0/3, 1 K, 2  BB
Isaias Tejeda: 1/2, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 BB. Not bad.
Graham "Cracker" Stoneburner: 3 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. Increased to 3 IP, I guess his next outing will be 4 IP. So far so good though.
Rutckyj: 4.1 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K. Pretty good job here. 1.00 ERA in 9 IP so far.
Cory Cowsert: 1 IP, 1 BB, 2 K. Nice story with this kid. He went undrafted, and instead played for an independent league team. Throws right handed and is 23 years old. He's a really hard worker who throws hard from what I've read. Not much of a prospect, but hey, good luck kid.

Scouting the GCL Starting Rotation

Image: Gabriel Encinas. Source: www.InsideSoCal.com

1. Gabriel Encinas - 18 yo RHP, 6'4, 210 lbs. 88-92 MPH fastball with lots of life and sink. Weak curveball. Decent changeup could be an average pitch. "Terrific competitive nature on the mound; goes right after hitters. Chance to have three average pitches, all of which he'll throw for strikes." - via MLB.com. Got him in last year's draft.

2. Gavin Brooks- 23 yo RHP out of UCLA. 6'3 220 lbs.

"His coach in college would only call for the slow curve ball but he was able to develop a harder breaking ball at Staten Island that he throws five mph faster. It’s either a harder curve ball or a slurve. Brooks calls it a slider. He throws it 78-79 mph and it has lateral movement and it breaks down. In college he threw a slower curve ball known as a spike curve ball but it’s more of a get me over pitch right now. He threw it in the low 70′s.
Brooks has a relatively free and easy delivery and his four-seam fastball has good sink and it sits between 89-91 mph. On occasion, he could throw his fastball at 94 mph. He’ll also try to throw a two-seam fastball to get ground ball outs when he’s behind in the count but it’s a new pitch for him." via YankeesDaily.com

3. Evan Rutckyj- 19 yo LHP. 6'5 213 lbs.  River Ave. Blues write up. RAB does a good job with this one.

4. Taylor Morton-19 yo RHP 6'3 194 lbs. River ave blues write up. And this one. 

5. Dawerd Cruz or Reynaldo Polanco- couldn't find anything on these two. Polanco is just 18, and has had limited experience even in the DSL, where he had a 7.67 ERA in 31.2 IP. Here he similarly got destroyed in his GCL debut, letting up 6 ER in 3 IP. Not sure where this one came from, or why he started. Maybe they got him confused with Rafael Depaula? Not sure. Dawerd Cruz has performed well in the DSL and gave us 4 strong innings of relief in the Stoneburner rehab start. He had 6 K and let up 2 hits in those 4 IP. He is 22 years old.

Overall I think it's a pretty good rotation. There are some older guys on it like Brooks and Dawerd Cruz, but Encinas, Morton, and Rutckyj are all young and projectable starters who could make an impact. It will be fun to follow these guys this season. Unfortunately, today's game with Morton pitching was rained out, but he did throw a scoreless innings before the game was suspended.