Jun 03
Up until first pitch, use the comments section to predict who you think will be the Sunburst Player of the Game. (be sure to use a valid email address while leaving the comment). The commenter that correctly predicts who we will name the Sunburst Player of the Game the most times prior to the all-star game, will win two tickets to a second-half game. Runners-up get their choice of a t-shirt. [Click HERE for rules]
Check Marc Topkin’s blog for the starting lineups.
Jun 03
With the 2009 MLB draft next Tuesday, the Tampa Bay Rays front office is busy preparing for their fourth rodeo. Now is a good time to take a look back and gauge the early returns from players selected in last year’s draft.
Without further ado, we present you the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 2008 top 10 draft picks recap (stats do not include yesterday’s action)…
- Tim Beckham, SS. Very much a diamond in the rough. Watching the boxscores every morning and you can see the talent is there, but there is still a lot of improvement needed. Has played the entire season at low-A Bowling Green, hitting .306/.356/.420 which is a decent line. What you don’t like are the 43 strikeouts in 41 games with only 13 walks. You also don’t like the 14 errors, but that will come around. And his statline might be a little bloated as his BABIP is a little high (.390) considering his kinda low 17.7% line drive rate. And his numbers are downright putrid against lefties (Beckham bats righty): .216/.231/.243. Right now, Beckham looks like he is going to be a one-level-per-year player. So 2012 at the earliest before we start dreaming of a new stud shortstop at The Trop.
- Kyle Lobstein, LHP. Lobstein has yet to play a game in the Rays organization. The lefty threatened to play basketball at Arizona, but he finally signed for $1.5 million which at the time was the highest bonus given to a draftee in the second round or later. Look for Lobstein to make his debut with either Hudson Valley or Princeton later this month.
- Jake Jefferies, C. Jefferies made a solid debut for short-season Hudson Valley last summer hitting .315/.379/.433. His statline has dipped a bit this season to .262/.345/.369 at low-A Bowling Green, but he still has nice command of the strikezone which bodes well for his ability to move up the ranks. This season he has a 15-to-16 strikeout to walk ratio and 37-to-37 for his short professional career. Of course, as a catcher, the important aspect is his development as a catcher and last season he threw out only 2 of 19 would be base stealers.
- Ty Morrison, OF. Morrison appeared in 10 games for Princeton last season going 9-34 with 12 strikeouts and 2 walks. He has yet to appear in a game this season and will likely make his debut with Hudson Valley later this month.
- Mike Sheridan, 1B. Sheridan hit .321 in 31 games for Hudson Valley last year after being drafted but is off to a slow start this season with Bowling Green, .246/.270/.430. His biggest weakness is lefties as he is .207/.226/.276 against southpaws.
- Shane Dyer, RHP. Dyer has made 8 starts for Bowling Green after making 14 starts for Hudson Valley last year. This season he is 0-3 with a 3.98 ERA and 30 strikeouts and only 8 walks in 40.2 innings. That translates to a pedestrian 4.30 tRA.
- Jason Corder, OF. Corder had a strong start last year in Hudson Valley hitting .306-5-36 in 50 games, but is only hitting .158-1-5 in 21 games for Hudson Valley this season.
- Anthony Scelfo, OF. After hitting .281-4-24 last year with Hudson Valley, Scelfo is down to .230-1-12 in 41 games for Bowling Green.
- Shawn Smith, LHP. Smith made 8 appearances last year for Princeton including 1 start. In 14 innings, he gave up 11 earned runs on 20 hits and 9 walks with 12 strikeouts. He will likely make his 2009 debut later this month with Hudson Valley.
- Matt Hall, 2B. Hall has had an interesting season. He started the year with high-A Charlotte, but played 1 game with Montgomery and was recently promoted to Durham. The quick move up the ranks has been more about need than performance as Hall has served as kind of a roving middle infielder depending on which team has needs at that particular moment. So far this season he is only hitting .207/.270/.293, but has seen playing time at 2B, SS and 3B and he is even made a pitching appearance, throwing 1 scoreless inning for Durham.
Jun 03
One year ago on Rays Index we showed you that Dioner Navarro was on pace for a historic season offensively. What a difference a year makes.
Dioner Navarro Is Heading For A Historic Season [Rays Index]
Jun 03
Time to bring back the GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.
click above image for boxscore
THE GOOD: Matt Joyce. Yeah. We can’t wait to hear the Rays reasoning for sending Joyce back to Durham when everybody is healthy. Can anybody make an argument that Joyce is not a better option *right now* than the Gabe o’ the Day platoon? That is some of the best bat speed we have seen since, well, since BJ Upton forgot he was BJ Upton. The ball just explodes off of Joyce’s bat and last night it was 3 hits including his 3rd home run in 5 games with the Rays. But the big blow was a tie-breaking 2-out double to left-center off a lefty. That was the at bat that might have had Andrew Friedman ripping up Joyce’s return ticket to Durham…Andy Sonnanstine. His spot in the rotation is on life support and last night’s performance might have just bought him a little more time. The 2 home runs were a little troubling but for only the second time this season The Duke did not walk a batter…Dude and the Madman. Is there a better relief pitcher in baseball right now than JP Howell? And Grant Balfour is starting to look like his old self, minus a couple of MPHs. It is like their roles as awesome and awesomer have reversed this season. Last night they retired the final 8 batters of the game, 5 by strikeout (1 did reach on a wild pitch strikeout)…BJ Upton. It is only fair to note that Bossman was on base 3 times last night and has hit safely in 6 straight.
THE BAD: Evan Longoria. You want to talk about jinxed? Joe Maddon gives Dirtbag a half-night off by DHing him and he comes up lame running to first and will have an MRI today…Giving Away Outs. BJ Upton and Carl Crawford were both thrown out at third base in the third inning, killing a potential scoring opportunity and later Reid Brignac was caught stealing at second in the 5th. We are all for BE AGRESSIVE, B-E AGRESSIVE, but the Rays only get 27 outs. Last night they gave away 11% of them.
THE TELLING: The Rays will not face Zach Greinke in this series.
SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Matt Joyce.
DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- Evan Longoria says the hamstring did not pop or pull, and hopes it is a “day to day thing.” Joe Maddon was a bit more concerned, knowing how tricky hamstrings can be. [The Heater]
- Joe Maddon said that Pat Burrell has better range of motion in his neck and will increase his activity this week. A rehab assignment sounds likely…Also, Maddon thinks Scott Kazmir will be back in the rotation before the all-star break. [Tampa Tribune]
- Evan Longoria is now the top vote-getter in the AL, surpassing Derek Jeter. [Tampa Tribune]
- Keith Law had his second mock draft and now he has the Rays selecting a high school shortstop, Jiovanni Mier. [ESPN]
Horizon HS catcher Tommy Joseph (my pick for them last time around) is still a possibility, and they’d love it if one of the three top high school center fielders fell here.
- The Rays will release a report this month on the cost and what it would take to renovate the Trop…This piece does not address say whether this report will include whether it is possible to add a retractable roof to the Trop, something the Rays are looking in to. [Ballpark Frankness]
Jun 03
Durham 6, Toledo 5 (11). A Chris Nowak 2-run home run in the bottom of the 9th got the Bulls within 1 and then Jon Weber doubled home Brandon Chaves with 2 outs to tie the game and send it to extra frames. Then in the 11th, Justin Ruggiano singled home the game-winner with 2 outs. Ruggiano finished 3-6 to get his average up to .260…John Jaso was 2-5…Matt DeSalvo made his second start for the Bulls, allowing 4 runs in 7 innings. He did get touched for 2 home runs.
Jacksonville, Montgomery (ppd. wet grounds). Game will be resumed today with Jacksonville leading 5-1 in bottom of 4th.
Charlotte 9, Tampa 4. Jesse Darcy allowed 4 runs (2 earned) in 5 innings…Matt Fields homered for the second straight night and was 2-5. He now has 11 home runs on the year…Emeel Salem was 2-3, his 5th multi-hit game in the last 8.
Bowling Green 5, Lexington 3. Strong start for Shane Dyer who allowed 1 run in 5 innings to pick up his first win of the year…Tim Beckham was 0-4 and did not commit an error…Jake Jefferies was the DH and went 0-4 while Mike McCormick went 1-3 with a walk.
Notes from Down on the Farm…
- Jeremy Hellickson is now heading back to Charlotte to continue his rehab in extended spring training. [Biscuit Crumbs]
- Mitch Talbot joins Jeremy Hellickson on the DL with Chris Richard coming off. [Watching Durham Bulls Baseball]
- Chris Mason is on his way back to Montgomery after filling in for Mitch Talbot for 1 start at Durham and Nevin Ashley has been promoted to Montgomery. [Biscuit Crumbs]
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