Timmy U

Burke rbi double. W-S up 1-0.

No Jacob Gonzalez in the Kanny line up. Sprinkle starts at short.

Huh? Then why is he up at all?

Yeah, interesting. Usually the Sox send np reliever types to decide whether they should be protected on the 40 man. I suppose Vera fits that profile. Eder has to be protected anyway, so who knows?

TA, Moncada, Sosa in the line up. Popeye sits. Maybe Grifol just wanted his old friend back sitting next to him?

Is it wrong that I see this -- along with the promotions of Nastrini and Mena -- as bad for my favorite team, the Birmingham Barons?

Also, is Seby not coming back up?

Hmm, who plays, Lenyn or Popeye? Or does TA sit? Moncada?

Like you said, he's a little more upright and I think he's slightly more closed. That said, it's not that much different.

One bit of hope on the BA podcast is they say maybe Gonzalez is just tired. Certainly, if all you saw of Montgomery was his Birmingham stint last year, you would not have been high on him. Clearly, Gonzalez knows the zone, makes good swing decisions, and looks cromulent at ss. That is a decent floor to build on. I hope he just decides to pull everything ala Robin Ventura, a similarly underwhelming athlete. He looks okay pulling the ball, it’s when he tries to go to left where he looks completely unplayable.

How do they make such a huge scouting blunder? First video I saw of him before the draft, it stuck out like a sore thumb. Then when I saw him at Kanny, it did not look any better. As I said on draft day, how do you take a bat-first player if you immediately want to change his swing?!

Yeah, from what I saw I thought he deserved a better fate. The stuff certainly plays. The results aren't much better, but he seems closer to his best self than Eder is right now.

W-S up 2-0. HR Baldwin. Good start so far for McCullogh.

He looks poised and is throwing strikes. Very encouraging.

Kanny loses thanks to another DP.

2IP 3K now. That change up is a real difference maker for him.

Grounds to the pitcher for a double play. Weak tapper, very slow to 1b.

Gonzalez up, sacks packed, 1 out.

Quero's been getting a lot of off days lately.

As is their habit, Kanny's bullpen blew the lead. 2-2.

Harold hinted that maybe that pick was bigfooted from upstairs. May not be Shirley's fault, but in a historically deep draft like this, you can't afford to shank it.

Batista done. 5IP 2H 0R 0ER 1bb 5K 64 pitches/43 strikes.

I was right. He just struck out looking at 3 pretty much down the middle and I am not MORE depressed about his chances.

That bloop single depresses me more than if Gonzalez had struck out. Everything that does not work about his swing/approach was evident in that one play.

They're not even doing that. Two deck chairs were broken, so they threw those overboard and moved one to the center.