Results tagged ‘ Florida Marlins ’
Quick Thoughts
I have two quick thoughts as the night games get underway shortly on this Wednesday:
1. All-Star voting began on MLB.com today, barely two weeks into the season. I know they want to generate as many votes and as much online traffic as possible, but why not wait one more week and kick it off on May 1st? I’ll be waiting at least until then to cast my first ballot because right now the sample size is too small.
2. After I wrote so glowingly about the Marlins on Monday morning … they were swept by the Pirates in a three-game series in Pittsburgh. Sorry Fish fans, I feel partly responsible.
Fine Nine
Sure, they’ve only played a handful of games this season, but I want to take a look at how the Top 9 8 picks from the June 2008 draft are playing in a small town near you. Partially because I’m curious myself, but mostly because I like typing Minor League team names.
1. Tim Beckham (Rays) : The shortstop drafted out of Griffin High School in Georgia has been assigned by the big club to the Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods of the South Atlantic League (SAL). In 11 games this season, Beckham is hitting .326 (14-43) with a homer and eight RBI. He’s off to a much better start than last summer when he hit just .243 (43-177) with two home runs and 14 RBI in 46 games with the Princeton Rays in the Appalachian League (APPY).
2. Pedro Alvarez (Pirates) : The former Vanderbilt star is playing third base for the Class A Lynchburg Hillcats. The slugger’s power numbers are there through 11 games with three homers and 16 RBI, but his average sits at .250 (9-36). The RBI number is impressive, however, keep in mind that he collected four on Opening Day and six on 4/16 against the Winston-Salem Dash (Warthogs, R.I.P.). In that game, he hit a walk-off three-run blast to lead the Hillcats to a 9-6 win.
3. Eric Hosmer (Royals) : Kansas City made the left-handed slugger the third overall pick and the second high schooler taken in June. Hosmer is playing first base for the Class A Burlington Bees in the Midwest League. Hosmer played well in the Bees’ opening series against Clinton, batting .364 (4-11) with two doubles and an RBI, but since then he has just one hit in his last five games, bringing his average down to .172 (5-29).
4. Brian Matusz (Orioles) : The southpaw was the first pitcher taken in the 2008 draft and joins Alvarez in the Carolina League, throwing for the Frederick Keys. In three starts in ’09, Matusz is 1-1 with a 3.45 ERA (6 ER/15.2 IP). He’s averaging 10.7 K/9.0 IP and has walked seven batters this season.
5. Buster Posey (Giants) : One of the hottest hitters in all of Minor League Baseball to start the 2009 campaign, Posey was named California League Co-Batter of the Week (4/8-19) along with teammate Brandon Crawford. Posey is hitting .391 (18-46) with four doubles, three home runs and 11 RBI in 12 games for the San Jose Giants. He has reached base safely in every game and collected three hits on three different occasions thus far. Posey launching a three-run homer (1):
6. Kyle Skipworth (Marlins) : The Marlins followed the Giants’ lead in grabbing a catcher, only they dipped into the high school ranks. Skipworth has tremendous talent at the plate and is beginning the season with the SAL Greensboro Grasshoppers. The left-handed batter is hitting .235 (8-34) with three doubles, a homer and eight RBI in the early going. Like Beckham, he received some heavy playing time last summer with the Gulf Coast League Marlins where he batted .208 (33-159) with five homers and 21 RBI.
7. Yonder Alonso (Reds) : The power-hitting Alonso was the first college first baseman selcted in the draft, ahead of USC’s Justin Smoak who went later to Texas at No. 11. Like Hosmer, Alonso has gotten off to a bit of slow start, batting .200 (8-40) through 10 games with the Sarasota Reds of the Florida State League.
8. Gordon Beckham (White Sox) : Beckham begins the season at Class AA Birmingham, the highest of all the Top 10 picks. He opened eyes in Spring Training and even made a push to make the Opening Day roster as second baseman. So far with the Barons, Beckham is hitting .366 (15-41) with four doubles, two homers and seven RBI in 10 games. He has played nine games at shortstop and one at second base so far. Like Posey, Beckham is making a name for himself and could be getting promoted to Class AAA Charlotte by the All-Star break. Here’s Beckham turning a double play against Chattanooga (2):
9. Aaron Crow (Natinals Nationals) : Did not sign. The right-hander will be eligible to be selected in the June 2009 draft.
There you have it, a brief synopsis of how some of the top picks from June are doing today. Alvarez has shown flashes, Hosmer and Alonso are off to slow starts and Posey and Beckham are on the fast track to the show.
1 – https://www.sedonamg.com/sjgiantssecure/ConPics/Con1669/Posey,_Buster_by_Chris_Talley_web.jpg
2 – http://blog.al.com/birmingham-news-sports/2009/04/large_Beckham%20throws.jpg
3 – All stats are from Howe Sports Data
That’s the last time I’ll ever be wrong
I’m here to admit I was wrong. To make amends for the error of my thinking and to eat a big steaming plate of crow.
In this space last Monday I wrote about a few surprising elements of the early 2009 season. First, I wrote about the surprise atop the NL East. While the Braves and Marlins were tied for the NL East lead, I predicted that if one of those was going to contend throughout the summer, it would be the Braves. They have experienced bats like Brian McCann and Chipper Jones to go along with a rotation who was looking strong behind Derek Lowe and Jair Jurrjens. The Marlins, in my eye, were too inexperienced to be the real thing. Since that post, the Braves who enjoyed the second highest run differential in the league at +12, have seen that number shrink to -5. They dropped five in a row before picking up their first win in a week over the Pirates.
Off to baseball’s best start at 11-1, the Marlins have been on fire since the word go. They are the only undefeated road team in the game (6-0) and oh by the way, the current five game lead they hold over the Braves and Mets is the LARGEST IN FRANCHISE HISTORY. The Fighting FIsh have done it with quality pitching (3.24 team ERA ranks second in the NL) and timely hitting (see three straight ninth-inning rallies in Washington D.C. over the weekend). I learned my lesson on the predictions, so all I will say is that I’m very excited to watch this Marlins team compete all summer long.
My other surprise (disappointment) was the play of the Cleveland Indians. Cliff was miserable in his first two starts and they had just one win in the season’s opening week. The Tribe finished 3-4 in a seven-game road trip to Kansas City and New York. Lee was much better on Thursday, besting New York’s ace, C.C. Sabathia, 10-2. The reigning AL Cy Young winner allowed only one run over 6.0 IP. It’s too early to tell which version of Lee we’ll get in 2009, but Thursday’s outing was a step in the right direction toward regaining his dominance of a season ago.
The bats also came alive during the trip, capped off by Saturday’s historic 14-run second inning and 22-4 win over the Bombers. No player might be more indicative of the breakout than new third baseman Mark DeRosa. He started the road trip hitting .115, but raised his average to .236 to go along with three homers and 15 RBI (6 in Saturday’s route alone). If DeRosa and Grady Sizemore can get going at the top, the Indians can be in the thick of the race in no time. They currently sit just 3.5 games behind first place (Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City).
After One
Now that the 2009 MLB season is a week in the books…
Biggest Surprise:
The NL East; specifically who’s at the top and who isn’t. If you told me a week ago two teams would be tied for the division lead at 5-1 and asked me to pick the two teams, I would’ve said the Mets and Phillies. Not so fast, my friends. In fact, it’s the Marlins and Braves who are tied atop this loaded division, with Philly and New York coming in at 3-3 and the Nasty Nats still in search of their first win at 0-6.
The Marlins began the week by sweeping the Nationals in Miami. As I wrote above, the Nats are winless, but the Marlins offense produced some solid numbers, doubling up Washington, 26-13 in the three-game series. They followed that up by taking two-of-three from the Mets over the weekend, including an outstanding 2-1 pitcher’s dual on Sunday between Josh Johnson (2-0, 0.57 ERA) and Johan Santana (1-1, 0.71 ERA).
The Braves should be 6-0 with their only loss coming when the bullpen imploded in Philadelphia, inexplicably surrendering a 10-3 lead in the bottom of the seventh. They joined the Marlins as being beneficiaries of getting the Nationals on the schedule so far. Atlanta has the second highest run differential in the league at +12 (St. Louis, +16) and has gotten some solid pitching efforts from both Jair Jurrjens (2-0, 2.45 ERA) and free agent acquisition, Derek Lowe (1-0, 0.57 ERA).
I know it’s early, but I think if I had to pick one of these two that will be in contention once the calendar shows September, it would be the Braves. If they continue to get solid production from familiar names like Chipper Jones and Brian McCann and rookie Jordan Schafer to go along with the strong starting pitching, they’ll be a contender all summer long.
Oh, by the way, the Marlins travel to Atlanta for a three-game set beginning tomorrow night (Volstad vs. Vazquez).
Biggest Disappointment:
The plight of the Cleveland Indians. Chosen by many to be the class of tightly-contested AL Central, the Indians narrowly avoided their worst start in 95 years yesterday by posting their first W, an 8-4 triumph over the Blue Jays. Perhaps even more alarming has been the performance of the reigning Cy Young Award winner, Cliff Lee. In two starts, Lee is 0-2 with a 9.90 ERA (11 ER/10.0 IP). By comparison, in his magical run a season ago, Lee surrendered only four earned runs during the entire month of April.
The offense hasn’t done much to pick up the staff so far, either. Cleveland has the lowest run differential in the American League at -18 and has surrendered the most runs in all of baseball, 51. Travis Hafner has been all or nothing with three homeruns, but only six hits total. Mark DeRosa, acquired from the Cubs to shore up the hot corner, is batting just .115 (3-26) in the early going.
The Tribe embarks on a seven-game road trip beginning with three in Kansas City before helping to christen New Yankee Stadium in a four-game set beginning on Thursday. They need to win both series or manager Eric Wedge might feel his seat getting a little warmer.
*all stats courtesy of ESPN.com
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