The Farm Report -- 4/29/2012

Stars of the Day:
AAA: Yoshinori Tateyama / Leonys Martin, Luis Hernandez, Joey Butler
AA: Engel Beltre
Hi-A: Jake Skole, Brett Nicholas, Yefry Castillo
Lo-A: Luis Sardinas, Rougned Odor, Drew Robinson

AAA: Round Rock 5, at Okla. City 11
Record: 10-13, -5.0

Neil Ramirez (4.50 ERA) threw a dumbfounding 55 pitches (30 for balls) in his one inning of work, letting eight of 11 reach and six score.  Two of the outs came on strikes.  Aside from some intentionally shortened starts last summer, he hadn't been pulled this quickly since his rookie campaign in 2008.  OKC also roughed up Ben Snyder (1.1 IP, 4 R), while Yoshi Tateyama tossed two scoreless frames. 

Leadoff hitter Leonys Martin (.344/.427/.533) channeled his inner Rickey Henderson, going 2-3 with a double, two walks and a stolen base.  Obviously, he's hitting.  Regarding the other aspects of his game, he's only 6-for-12 on stolen base attempts, and I've seen him look a little tentative on balls hit at or in front of him.  RF Joey Butler (.310/.414/.560) singled and doubled.  Butler is surpassing last year's production despite hitting "only" .379 on balls in play.  Last year, that figure was .453, highest in AAA in at least 20 years by my count.  SS Luis Hernandez hit his second homer and singled.

AA: at Frisco 1, Corpus Christi 10
Record: 13-9, +1.0

Carlos Pimentel will not finish 2012 with a 0.00 ERA.  His scoreless streak terminated at 16.1 innings, and he would allow three runs in 4.2 innings on seven hits, five walks and four strikeouts.  Newcomer Ross Wolf was mistreated by the Hooks (0.2 IP, 4 R). 

Jurickson Profar (.244/.319/.488) walked and singled, but his 9th-inning error eventually led to three unearned runs off Trevor Hurley.  Engel Beltre doubled and threw out two runners from center field.  Beltre's six outfield assists are second in the league to Ryan Strausborger's seven. 

1B Chris McGuiness (.219/.288/.438) went 2-4.  As mentioned yesterday, he's already at five homers in the young season.  McGuiness has flashed power before, hitting 19 homers during 2010.  What's missing so far are the walks.  In previous seasons, even playing hurt at Myrtle Beach, he's earned free passes as frequently as Mike Olt now or Johnny Whittleman from days of yore.  In 2012, his walk rate is 7.5%, a touch below the league average. 

Frisco DL'ed infielder Leury Garcia with a hip flexor problem and activated OF Val Majewski.

High-A: Myrtle Beach 3, at Potomac 4
Record: 12-9, -1.0

Continuing the theme of previously invincible pitchers becoming mortal, Cody Buckel (1.65 ERA) yielded nine hits and a walk in six innings resulting in three runs.  Buckel struck out four and still leads the Carolina League with 33. 

CF Jake Skole, 1B Brett Nicholas and DH Yefry Castillo doubled and singled.

Low-A: at Hickory 9, Charleston 14
Record: 14-8, -1.0

The Yankees affiliate torched three Hickory pitchers, starting with Victor Payano (2.96 ERA), who gave up four runs in five innings on four hits, four walk and four strikeouts.  Arlett Mavare also yielded four runs in the final three innings.

Not to pick on Nick McBride, who has pitched well most of the season, but he provides a good example of why you shouldn't make too strong a distinction between earned and unearned runs.  Stated another way, some runs are more unearned than others.  Replacing Payano in the 5th, McBride retired his first and third batters, but the middle one reached on an error.  McBride proceeded to allow three singles, a walk and a grand slam.  Because all six runs scored with two outs following an error that extended the inning, they were unearned.  But the fact remains that McBride let five consecutive runners reach.  He's responsible for some of those runs, in spirit if not technically.  In any case, hitters have a .314 OBP and .362 slugging percentage against McBride, both below the league average.

Hickory led 8-4 after the 3rd and had 17 batters reach safely.  Rougned Odor (.274/.326/.488) clubbed his fourth homer and doubled.  That’s 18-year-old, 170-pound Rougned Odor with over 200 points of isolated power.  2B Luis Sardinas (.267/.366/.283) walked twice and singled, and 3B Drew Robinson was 2-4 with a walk.  Zach Cone halted his hitless streak at 21 at-bats with a 3rd-inning single.

Five Years Ago Yesterday

I referred to Frisco's Adam Fox as Andy.  He good-naturedly ripped me via email the next day.  Fox was 2-4 and helped chase Houston prospect Troy Patton in the 4th.  Edinson Volquez was pummeled yet again with Bakersfield.  Clinton's Craig Gentry upped his batting average 29 points with three hits including a solo homer and double.  Mike Wood fanned nine in Oklahoma's 10-1 win over Round Rock. 

Today's Starters

AAA: Greg Reynolds
AA: Barret Loux
Hi-A: Roman Mendez
Lo-A: Jerad Eickhoff