Griffith is dealing so far today. 3 perfect innings with 4 K's. Kanny tied with Savannah 0-0 heading into the 4th.

Griffith lost 3-1. Reading the play by play line, it sounds like he deserved a better fate. Good line though: 6 IP, 3 R, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 4 K...very encouraging.

 

well, Jared Price is listed as the catcher for B-Ham in tonight's game. So we won't find out tonight, for sure, what the deal is with Lucy/Armstrong.

 

Bristol v Bluefield

Upchurch dealing in this one so far. good to see.

 

B Ham v Mobile

Shirek pitching

 

Kannapolis @ Savannah

Griffith started

 

Winston-Salem v normal Salem

ACarter with the start

 

Ogden @ Great Falls

Joucer Martinez pitching

 

Edited July 16, 200916 yr by scenario

I like it. Our top two young pitchers having/had good games today. Can't wait to see how they progress into next year, which will hopefully be both's first full professional seasons.

Bristol v Bluefield

Upchurch dealing in this one so far. good to see.

And Shoemaker (2-3 so far) continuing his ridiculous hitting.

I like it. Our top two young pitchers

Hudson pitched today, or Hudson's considered old?

Hudson pitched today, or Hudson's considered old?

 

I'm considering Hudson and all other pitchers out of college "old." I was talking about Griffith as the other young pitcher.

 

I probably should have phrased it better, but couldn't think of a good way to do so.

Edited July 16, 200916 yr by BearSox

Bristol v Bluefield

Upchurch dealing in this one so far. good to see.

 

Through the first 6 innings... 1 run on 3 hits; 8 K's and 0 BB's.

 

Nice.

 

 

Tyler Kuhn now hitting over .400 for W-S, OPS approaching .900, in 73 AB.

 

well, Jared Price is listed as the catcher for B-Ham in tonight's game. So we won't find out tonight, for sure, what the deal is with Lucy/Armstrong.

Lucy is now listed on Birminghams roster as of yesterday.

I can't figure out what the deal is with Shirek's lack of K's. All his other numbers look good so far in AA - ERA, WHIP, BB rate, AvgA is OK but not great... but he's only striking out about 3 guys per 9 innings. He was at 6.6 K/9 last season in Kanny, 6.1 in W-S this season, now just 2.8 in AA? Weird.

 

Tyler Kuhn now hitting over .400 for W-S, OPS approaching .900, in 73 AB.

It's all batting average inflated though that's the problem, his IsoP and IsoD's are pitiful at .069 and .019 respectively. When his insane .424 BABIP inevitably comes back to earth his numbers will look decidedly mediocre.

I can't figure out what the deal is with Shirek's lack of K's. All his other numbers look good so far in AA - ERA, WHIP, BB rate, AvgA is OK but not great... but he's only striking out about 3 guys per 9 innings. He was at 6.6 K/9 last season in Kanny, 6.1 in W-S this season, now just 2.8 in AA? Weird.

 

Could just be an anomaly. When you look at his game stats, he's throwing a high percentage of strikes. Likely over time, the strikeouts will revert to the mean.

 

 

It's all batting average inflated though that's the problem, his IsoP and IsoD's are pitiful at .069 and .019 respectively. When his insane .424 BABIP inevitably comes back to earth his numbers will look decidedly mediocre.

Except he had a high AVG at Kanny, and last year at GF too. He's been consistently high average all along.

 

Jordan Danks 1-2 for Bham with a walk & a home run.

Except he had a high AVG at Kanny, and last year at GF too. He's been consistently high average all along.

BABIP is a way of measuring luck, an average player will have a BABIP around .300, it can be positively or negatively affected by a players GB%, FB%, LD% or IF% and Kuhn does have a particularly high GB% which would raise his expected BABIP (ground balls historically go for hits more often than fly balls), but not to .424. When Kuhn's luck levels out his average will fall to his actual ability level of around .285-.315. His stat line at Kannapolis is much more realistic than his line at W-S.

Great to see Jordan go yard and have Upchurch deal.

BABIP is a way of measuring luck, an average player will have a BABIP around .300, it can be positively or negatively affected by a players GB%, FB%, LD% or IF% and Kuhn does have a particularly high GB% which would raise his expected BABIP (ground balls historically go for hits more often than fly balls), but not to .424. When Kuhn's luck levels out his average will fall to his actual ability level of around .285-.315. His stat line at Kannapolis is much more realistic than his line at W-S.

Sorry, I was more referring to the comment about his OPS being average-heavy (may have quoted the wrong post). I do understand BABIP, though I also think it is sometimes over-used as an analytical tool. My overall point is, he seems to be a high-AVG hitter in general.

 

Shirek went 8 IP (don't usually see our minor league starters stay in that long). Gave up 8 H, 2 ER and one UER (pass ball by Price, which was the winning run for Mobile), 2 BB, but no strikeouts. Good outing, tough loss, but I still think its very odd that all his numbers are similar or better to what he did at Kanny and W-S, and yet his K rate is dramatically lower.

 

Also of note, after having a bad June, Retherford has turned it back on again in July.

 

Sorry, I was more referring to the comment about his OPS being average-heavy (may have quoted the wrong post). I do understand BABIP, though I also think it is sometimes over-used as an analytical tool. My overall point is, he seems to be a high-AVG hitter in general.

Plus good hitters will have a higher BABIP. Why because they hit the ball harder more often. Dar. Just like really good pitchers will put up a lower batting average on balls in play (most often). Why because they have plus stuff (well this is in the case of the typical front of the rotation starters) and by having that plus stuff, less guys probably square em up.

Plus good hitters will have a higher BABIP. Why because they hit the ball harder more often. Dar. Just like really good pitchers will put up a lower batting average on balls in play (most often). Why because they have plus stuff (well this is in the case of the typical front of the rotation starters) and by having that plus stuff, less guys probably square em up.

keeping a high BABIP is certainly possible if you're a particularly smart/effective hitter, otherwise no one would ever hit well over .300 unless they were hitting 40+ home runs a year. But let's also keep in mind the kind of guys who really have consistently high BABIP: Jeter comes to mind, his career number is .358. Mauer is at about .341, .350 since his 2nd full season. Basically, you need a really high quality, intelligent hitter who is a difficult out and who can spray the ball all over the field to legitimately keep his BABIP that high for his career. Even then, .400 is pretty much unsustainable in the big leagues long term, but if you can do .350ish, you're going to have a hell of a long career.

I just don't believe there is any way to really determine if a player has been lucky or not unless you've seen them play a lot.

I just don't believe there is any way to really determine if a player has been lucky or not unless you've seen them play a lot.

While I agree, even then though, some numbers, like a BABIP of .400+, are just unsustainable once you get faced with big league pitching and defenses. That's just been proven. Hall of famers don't push BABIP's of .400. Rod Carew's career mark was .360. He had a BABIP of 400+ 1 year, and hit .388 that year.