04/19: Drool Worthy?
Posted by: James
I don't care...I'm drooling already and he's only in Tampa. TINSTAPP all you want - I'm in favor of irrational exuberance in regards to your team's prospects!
Phil Hughes went 6 innings, gave up 2 hits, walked none, struck out 8...and lost. Of his two hits, one was to the leadoff hitter in the first inning, who promptly stole second base and scored on the only other hit Hughes gave up. Talk about tough luck. Still, another dominant performance and the growing anticipation/fervor of Yankees' fans everywhere continues to grow.
Eric Duncan has put together a couple of two hit games at Colombus and has pulled his average up to .234. When he starts hitting the .260s-.270s and starts hitting with power, I'll get excited. Until then, maybe Carlos Pena can enlighten him on some slick fielding. Also, Tyler Clippard had a decent outing last night though he took the loss and goes to 0-3 for the year. Clippard is one of my favorite prospects and I fully expect him to continue to make adjustments as the season goes on - he'll be one to watch.
Melky Cabrera is still turning some heads and here's a question: Does this remind anyone of what happened to Cano last year? No one expects that much of either player (both are considered fringe prospects) to begin the year, both hit solidly in winter-league play and both got red hot in Colombus to start the year. Robinson put up a line of .333/.368/.574 in 108 ABs in his age 22 season. Contextually, this was somewhat out of place with his career minor league numbers of .277/.329/.424/.753 though he had started to hit with more authority the previous year. In Melky's case (and man, I love that name), he's hitting .380/.448/.540 in his first 50 ABs (and struck out once) in Colombus in his age 22 season. Obviously, there will be cooling off but I'm just using this to illustrate that he's still very young and is showing he can handle AAA pitching. His career minor league numbers are .285/.339/.409/.748 (better plate discipline - less power than Cano so far) so yes, this would be an outlier just like with Cano. One of the differences between the two is that Melky didn't show much improvement the previous year. In 2005 at AA Trenton, he hit .267/.310/.413 (not exactly awe-inspiring) but was promoted to AAA anyway and responded with a .324/.425/.647 line in 9 games. Then came the call up to the majors (ouch), being sent back to Columbus where it looked like his confidence was shot and then all the way back down to Trenton again. He finished 2005 with a .275/.322/.411/.733 at AA Trenton. Not horrible numbers for someone his age but not exactly eye-popping. That being said, I think it will be pretty exciting seeing how long Melky can stay this hot and where that might lead.
Phil Hughes went 6 innings, gave up 2 hits, walked none, struck out 8...and lost. Of his two hits, one was to the leadoff hitter in the first inning, who promptly stole second base and scored on the only other hit Hughes gave up. Talk about tough luck. Still, another dominant performance and the growing anticipation/fervor of Yankees' fans everywhere continues to grow.
Eric Duncan has put together a couple of two hit games at Colombus and has pulled his average up to .234. When he starts hitting the .260s-.270s and starts hitting with power, I'll get excited. Until then, maybe Carlos Pena can enlighten him on some slick fielding. Also, Tyler Clippard had a decent outing last night though he took the loss and goes to 0-3 for the year. Clippard is one of my favorite prospects and I fully expect him to continue to make adjustments as the season goes on - he'll be one to watch.
Melky Cabrera is still turning some heads and here's a question: Does this remind anyone of what happened to Cano last year? No one expects that much of either player (both are considered fringe prospects) to begin the year, both hit solidly in winter-league play and both got red hot in Colombus to start the year. Robinson put up a line of .333/.368/.574 in 108 ABs in his age 22 season. Contextually, this was somewhat out of place with his career minor league numbers of .277/.329/.424/.753 though he had started to hit with more authority the previous year. In Melky's case (and man, I love that name), he's hitting .380/.448/.540 in his first 50 ABs (and struck out once) in Colombus in his age 22 season. Obviously, there will be cooling off but I'm just using this to illustrate that he's still very young and is showing he can handle AAA pitching. His career minor league numbers are .285/.339/.409/.748 (better plate discipline - less power than Cano so far) so yes, this would be an outlier just like with Cano. One of the differences between the two is that Melky didn't show much improvement the previous year. In 2005 at AA Trenton, he hit .267/.310/.413 (not exactly awe-inspiring) but was promoted to AAA anyway and responded with a .324/.425/.647 line in 9 games. Then came the call up to the majors (ouch), being sent back to Columbus where it looked like his confidence was shot and then all the way back down to Trenton again. He finished 2005 with a .275/.322/.411/.733 at AA Trenton. Not horrible numbers for someone his age but not exactly eye-popping. That being said, I think it will be pretty exciting seeing how long Melky can stay this hot and where that might lead.
Mike A. wrote:
He twice outperformed fellow Top 100 prospect Anthony Swarzak, and would have a better record than 1-2 if he got a bit more run support (only 1 total run of support in Hughes' 2 losses.
Cross your fingers he stays healthy this year...