5/15 ML Gameday Thread: Owens, Stank & Beeks

Should be getting up to Pawtucket today as I'm around the RI area visiting family for the week. I'm no scout, but will hope to get some quick observations up here after the game on Owens and company.

I got up to New Britain as I'm around the CT area for the week. I'm no scout, but was hoping to get some quick observations up here after the game on that pathetic bunch.

Got nothing. NB has some real ballplayers, Story with a relay throw for a strike made the night. I was hoping to see Marco at SS, but didn't happen.

A big day for Rusney Castillo with 2 HRs and a double.

Great game all around ... Owens with a nice outing, Rusney just destroying the place, and even Allen Craig getting a couple of doubles.

Just got back from the game...a couple notes:

Rusney had an absolutely MONSTER day. He looks like a professional out there, and was clearly the best player on the field. Lindor was very good too. Rusney's double was an absolute laser shot in the 1st to dead center field and JUST missed being a HR. He was inches under the yellow line from having three for the day. His first HR was an opposite field fly ball that just carried out, while the 2nd HR was another laser that he pulled to left-center field and got out in a hurry to the grass berm in McCoy. The other AB I saw he hit a hard GB to third. Rusney also bailed Owens out of a jam in the 5th (or maybe it was the 6th) and made a HUGE diving catch to save Owens when there were runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. The Columbus batter couldn't believe that he caught it on the fly and thought that the ball bounced. Just amazing closing speed and incredible dive, on top of his huge day at the plate. I know I caught him on a good day but he has some amazing pop and is just a great athlete. Absolutely an above-average major leaguer if he can stay healthy. 

Owens looked decent, but not outstanding. I think the line suggests he was better than he looked today. He did struggle a bit with fastball command, leaving the ball up a lot of the time. He seemed to be rushing through his delivery and releasing a little early when he left it up. I think he could use some more AAA time to work on repeatability in his delivery and really honing that fastball command. Nothing we didn't already know, though today he didn't let it get out of hand and seemed to correct himself as he went, limiting walks. He also gave up lots of fly balls because of this and fielders bailed him out a few times, as was mentioned above with Rusney. Overall, he looked solid though, and his change-up is as advertised and had hitters off balance all day. His curveball was okay and could use some work. He seemed to be tipping it a little, slowing his delivery/arm-action compared to his fastball and changeup. Slow and loopy as we've seen. I think it could be tightened up and kept down a little bit better. I think its clear at this point that Johnson and Rodriguez are ahead of him on the depth chart, though he wasn't bad per say, just had clear holes in his game. 

Aro looked "meh." Worked exclusively from the stretch. Very straight four-seam fastball that was punished for line drives, sitting 91-93 and touching 94. He featured a more impressive two-seamer from 88-90. Change and slider fringe average. To be fair, one of his first AAA outings. Hinojosa was trying to pitch backwards (i.e. get ahead with breaking balls, then pound fastballs on the corners) but simply didn't have the fastball command and blew the game in the 9th.

Allen Craig actually had a solid day at the plate and seems to be getting some of his timing back. He did some very intentional things with his load/re-load after pitches that suggested he was working on timing, and noting when he was jumping or speeding up the game too much. That said, his timing still seems a bit off, even with AAA pitching. His doubles were hit well and one was almost a HR to CF.

Travis Shaw was actually more impressive playing at 3B than I had thought he would be. Made a very nice backhanded play to end Owens' jam and made a few other routine plays smoothly. He moves well there for a big guy. The one miscue he had was on a fairly fast-rolling bunt that he tried to barehand, which bounced off his palm for a hit. I could actually see him working as a utility 1B/3B man in the mold of Eric Hinske down the line. 

Good to hear/read:
Al Skorupa
Light sniffing the end of the game pumps 97-98. And keeps you honest with the split. Two plus to ++ pitches, avg cmnd = Closer.

5. Tim Roberson hit for the cycle. And he did it the hard way, and dramatically. Grounded out in the first, doubled in the 3rd, grounded out in the 5th, hit a grand slam in the 7th, singled in the 9th, and then plated the eventual winning runs with a 2-RBI 3B in the top of the 10th.

Sounds like you were at the game ... I'm guessing you weren't keeping score!

6. Pat Light retired all 5 guys he faced, 3 on K's. His pitching line, excluding his first six batters faced in his first outing of the year (second in relief of his career; he gave up 2 HR and 2 BB) and his fourth inning of relief on 4/22 (where he faced 7 batters and gave up a HR and 4 1B):

18 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 HR, 3 BB, 24 SO. That's a 1.03 FIP.

Unfortunately I did not get to see Diaz as I had to leave after the 9th. I see that he struck out the side at one point though, which is great to see. Would be nice to see him and Light push for spots in the MLB pen at some point this season.

I'm definitely keeping an eye on Light in his relief role....very promising so far. It will be crucial IMO to develop a couple of late inning relief arms in preparation of Uehara, Tazawa, and Ogando leaving after 2016. I'd love to see a couple of Barnes, Light, Workman, and Escobar excel in relief.

Edit. The 2012 draft has looked very poor in some respects, but this year has been a bit of a rebound at least for Light and Buttrey. If we get 1SP (Johnson), a utility infielder (Marrero), a late inning relief arm (Light), and anything out of Buttrey....then it will actually be a pretty darn good draft, especially considering how weak the draft was overall. The one thing we didn't do well in that draft, and perhaps we needed a year to adjust to the new CBA, was that we really didn't add much to our farm past the first 10 rounds. We did a much better job of that in 2013 and 2014.