Quick note on the James McDonald stuff: I’ve been working on my draft preview for Pittsburgh Magazine and I have the data parsed out, but the post still needs written. Hopefully I’ll have it up on Monday. I hate to push it back since I said I’d have it posted yesterday, but there really are only so many hours in the day.
Indianapolis Indians (full team stats)
On offense, Alex Presley has stayed hot and is now hitting .344/.386/.530. I’m worried about how batting average-heavy that line is, but with Garrett Jones and Xavier Paul struggling (at least, Paul was until yesterday) I just don’t know how long they can keep him down. Chase D’Arnaud is off of the disabled list, so he’s worth keeping an eye on again. The pitching here has been the same roller coaster that it’s been all year. Justin Wilson’s been mostly good with a poor K/BB ratio and one really bad outing against Pawtuckett. Rudy Owens had seemed to be settling in (albiet with poor strikeout numbers), but got bombed in his last start. Brad Lincoln was cruising until he had another one of his great peripherals, terrible final line starts (5 Ks, one walk, one homer in five innings with seven runs allowed). It’s also worth noting that catcher Eric Fryer, who was having an awesome year in Altoona (.345/.427/.549 while playing mostly outfield due to Tony Sanchez), got promoted to Indy in wake of Dusty Brown’s call-up and he seems to be a guy worth keeping an eye on.
Altoona Curve (full team stats)
Matt Curry got promoted here straight from West Virginia (meaning he skipped Bradenton) and he hasn’t missed a beat; in his first four games, he’s got six hits including two doubles and a homer. He should officially on your radar, if he wasn’t already. Tony Sanchez and Starling Marte are pretty much the same at the plate; Sanchez is getting on plenty with almost no power to speak of, Marte is hitting well with a batting average-driven line. Jordy Mercer now has eight homers on the season (his career high is ten), but very little else to speak of in terms of OBP or even power (he’s only got 12 doubles). Jeremy Farrell is also hitting well, in a fairly nondescript way (.299/.378/.458)
Jeff Locke finally had a pretty good start against Trenton last night (5 1/3 innings, 8 K, 5 BB, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER) after a really ugly three-start run. Bryan Morris is continuing to pitch well out of the bullpen as he recovers from his oblique injury. He’s pitching three innings at a time on a starter’s schedule, so hopefully he can get back into the rotation soon. Tim Alderson’s still pitching well in the bullpen and he’s had some longer outings recently. I don’t know if that means he might head back to the rotation, but it’s worth watching. Aaron Pribanic is still a groundball machine.
Bradenton Marauders (full team stats)
Brandenton just had five players named to the Florida State League All-Star team yesterday: Jarek Cunningham, Aaron Baker, Ramon Cabrera, Kyle McPherson, and Brett Lorin. Cunningham’s cooled off a bit since his ridiculous power surge in May, but he’ still leading the FSL in extra base hits and slugging .592. Baker’s got 39 RBIs, though his OPS has dipped below .800 and he was just leapfrogged by Matt Curry. Cabrera, a catcher, is hitting .333/.398/.432 and has heated up in his last few games after a rough May.
On the pitching side, McPherson took a no hitter 8 1/3 innings this week and continues to dominate the FSL. He’s got 55 strikeouts and six walks in his 67 2/3 innings and while I’d like to see his strikeout rate up a bit, it’s pretty hard to figure out why he’s still in Bradenton. The same goes for Lorin, who’s got 45 strikeouts and 8 walks in 44 1/3 innings. Both guys are old for the level and it’s time to figure out what they can do in Double-A.
West Virginia Power (full team stats)
Jameson Taillon (who’s starting again tonight) has made seven starts for the Power now, striking out 24 and walking four in 29 innings. He’s got a 3.10 ERA and allowed two homers so far, so it’s safe to say his career is off to a strong start. As for the other pitchers, Colton Cain and Zac Fuesser are still pitching very well, Zack Von Rosenberg’s strung two strong starts together, Brooks Pounders is still dominating out of the bullpen, and Victor Black recently made his 2011 debut with the club after missing the start of the season with one injury or another.
Without Curry there’s not much to talk about on offense here, though Kawika-Emsley Pai continues to hit well and I think it’s fair to transition Gift Ngoepe from novelty to prospect. Ngoepe’s hitting .306/.359/.459 and seems to definitely be making some strides after struggling so much in State College last year. Dan Grovatt’s also got a .397 OBP, which is worth monitoring even if he’s not doing much else at the moment.
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