Wed. 5/14: Four of Five Games Daytime Affairs; Maryvale Day Off

[Joseph Zarr]

My goodness. I turn away for five minutes. Tend a child. And, Wilken mashes another tater?!? Maybe I need to go find a village to play pediatrician? That's the secret.

[biedergb]

Restituyo just lost the ball. It’s a “hit” for Ledbetter of the Biscuits, but simply trying to find it and he misplays it. Bases loaded and only 1 out instead of 2 out and only 2 on. Yikes

[biedergb]

Bases clearing double for Montgomery.  Ugh

Crow pitches 69 pitches and got through 4.1 IP and gave up 2.

Mendoza pitches 69 pitches and gets through 2 IP and gives up 5.

Dang it

[biedergb]

Bowman in to try to keep it a 7-4 lead. C’mon Bo

[Matt]

Crow looked good. Hard luck right before he was taken out. Everything after was a disaster.

[Joseph Zarr]

I'll just leave this here. This is what tonight's game is about.

 

[Matt]

I agree. MATT LAPORTA!

[biedergb]

Bowman does his job. But Restituyo pops out. Adams with a nice ball but great catch by their CF.  then Lara walk and Pratt pops out to foul territory and a great over the shoulder catch by their 1B. Nice defense by Montgomery, while Biloxi has been shaky on a few occasions.

Need to rally in the 9th
But first Bowman needs to get through bottom 8.

[biedergb]

Wilken pops out - flies out to foul territory right field and a nice catch by the RF in the bullpen

Warren gets a hit because he cannot be retired tonight (4-4, and a walk)

Then Rodriguez flies out to RF 

Spain hits it deep but playable. Game. 7-4 loss.  See you all tomorrow night.

[Jim French Stepstool]

In the shadows of some of the hot bats in Biloxi, Anthony Seigler has been scorching this month for N'ville & is on pace for his best season as a pro. A switch-hitter & a very versatile guy who can catch. Whether it's here or somewhere else, he might turn out to be a nice bench piece for someone.

Mayor Warren is having a well-deserved solid year, too. I believe he's a FA after '25. Maybe he'll get a shot somewhere where there's less blockage?

Curious as to where Quero gets sent after getting his feet wet w/the young'uns.

[Jake McKibbin]

Couple of nuggets on Hall's start, early on the fastball looked excellent, sitting 94-95 and at one point topping 20" of induced vertical break. that's big time rising action.

It did fade a little in the third inning, dropping down to the 91-92 mph range (some were misclassified as sinkers too) but on the whole a nice start for him in terms of pitch shapes.

He was finding his groove with command, and threw everything in his arsenal with the apparent goal of just testing his stuff and command that targeting outs.

You can see the rolling stuff+ from TJstats dip off quite severely in the third inning, but I've never seen Hall with a grade on the fastball as high as 108 over any rolling sample. If he can build up some stamina and longevity, this is the arm we hoped for in the Burnes trade.

The questions odes remain whether this will dip if he's stretched out to go 70+ pitches, but certainly an encouraging start from a stuff perspective on the fastball which seems so key to his fortunes

The bad news, the slider and curveball velocity were down by a few ticks. Hopefuly we'll see these sharpen up as he builds up, remember he didn't have a spring training and has been trying to replicate that in Arizona.

[Terry]

This is some nice numbers for Luke Adams to start the season. So first month's BABIP was dragged down by that high popup%, but in May it was tuned down a bit. A bit more aggressive compared to last year(which is nice), yet the whiff rate remain roughly the same. 

[Terry]

2 hours ago, Jake McKibbin said:

Couple of nuggets on Hall's start, early on the fastball looked excellent, sitting 94-95 and at one point topping 20" of induced vertical break. that's big time rising action.

It did fade a little in the third inning, dropping down to the 91-92 mph range (some were misclassified as sinkers too) but on the whole a nice start for him in terms of pitch shapes.

He was finding his groove with command, and threw everything in his arsenal with the apparent goal of just testing his stuff and command that targeting outs.

I still wonder at times that what the hell happened to his 80-grade fastballs?! It's not exactly a high release point, but the attack angle is just meh...

[Jake McKibbin]

38 minutes ago, Terry said:

I still wonder at times that what the hell happened to his 80-grade fastballs?! It's not exactly a high release point, but the attack angle is just meh...

Completely. It did look an amazing shape to begin with, but his arm angle has risen from where it was, plus he was sitting 96-97 mph with 16017" of IVB from a funky angle when he got that grade. I think (and this is purely from recall) that some scouts were very high on the fastball based on results, others uncertain and more in the above average camp? Or there were a few questions about that grade at least.

If he can remotely hold that shape he showed in the first and second innings, we're cooking. If not... it just won't function as  starter

[NOMAAM]

How big of a sample size does the club need before Wilkerson to AAA?  Or is this more of just a hot streak watch.  The guy is drawing a lot of walks.  Doesn’t look like a mirage.