Minor Promotions

by APV on Aug 23, 2008 6:05 PM EDT Comment 17 comments

A number of guys were promoted in the midst of the season. I thought I'd look at how those promotions have gone.

Chris Gimenez (Akron to Buffalo).

Akron: 55G, 1.024 OPS, 1.6 BB:K

Buffalo: 47G, .687 OPS, 0.42 BB:K

After destroying Akron, Gimenez has struggled in Buffalo. After an encouraging month of July, he's collapsed this month (despite a mis-leading .300 BA), with 20Ks and just 3BBs.

Trevor Crowe (Akron to Buffalo)

Akron: 49G, .888 OPS, 12.6 K%

Buffalo: 26G, .760 OPS, 28.3 K%

Crowe's strike-out rate has skyrocketed to an unacceptable level, dragging down his average. But his walk-rate is steady and his power has gone up a bit.

David Huff (Akron to Buffalo)

Akron: 10 starts, 3.03 FIP

Buffalo: 14 starts, 3.02 FIP

We've talked a lot about Huff's success and smooth transition to AAA. On the year, he's striking out more than 25% of the batters he faces.

Randy Newsom (Akron to Buffalo)

Akron: 44G, 3.21 ERA

Buffalo: 9G, 1.86 ERA

Newsom's peripherals are truly uninspiring. But he continues to be successful with his sidearm delivery.

Steven Wright (Kinston to Akron)

Kinston: 14 starts, 2.99 ERA, 6HR

Akron: 12 starts, 4,69 ERA, 13HR

Wright's advancement to Akron has suffered from too many long balls. Outside of that his peripherals haven't changed dramatically.

Mike Pontius (Lake County to Kinston)

Lake County: 13G, 34K, 11B, 27.2IP

Kinston: 25G, 42K, 39BB, 41.2IP

Pontius's control blew up in Kinston. After struggling for two months he just got demoted back to Lake County.

Vinnie Pestano (Lake County to Kinston)

Lake County: 29IP, 23K, 13BB

Kinston: 22.1IP, 25K, 10BB

Vinnie has faired much better in his transition than his former bullpen mate Mike Pontius.

Kelvin De La Cruz (Lake County to Kinston)

Lake County: 18 starts, 1 K/IP, 3:1 K:BB

Kinston: 6 starts, 1 K/IP, 5:4 K:BB

Kelvin's only had 6 starts in Kinston and his last one was atrocious. He's had control issues since the advancement.

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Gimenez and Pontius are both disappointing, especially given how great they were prior to promotion. Gimenez probably doesn’t have much time on his clock left to get a chance in Cleveland. Wright’s probably just filler, but could eventually fill the Jason Stanford memorial emergency 8th starter role. No idea what the organization thinks of Newsom as he seems to get by on his delivery, not the quality of his stuff.

by APV on Aug 23, 2008 6:12 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Getting by on delivery, as opposed to the quality of the stuff, has been a very successful model for Little Caesars.

by fleerdon on Aug 23, 2008 7:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Newsom is back in Akron and has been for a bit. I’m not really sure what’s going on there.

The Toregas-Giminez thing is more fascinating to me than it should be.

by afh4 on Aug 23, 2008 6:32 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

There are two above-average major league catchers on the 25-man, and probably the best position player in the system is soon to be one level behind them.

by fleerdon on Aug 23, 2008 7:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Huff’s numbers are artificially inflated by that weird August 5 start, too — 2 ER in 1.1 IP.

Here’s how that second inning went down:

• Single
• Strikeout
• Botched fielder’s choice, Huff throws the ball away, runners on 1B and 2B.
• Walk to load the bases.
• Two-hour rain delay, Huff shut down for the night.
• Rain delay ends, Slocum promptly gives up grand slam.

Given that Huff only walks one in 23 batters, and given that two-thirds of the batters he faces end up with a strikeout, groundball or infield popup … odds are he gets the second out before the second run scores.

by Jay on Aug 23, 2008 7:42 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

As it turns out, Lonnie Chisenhall can hit — OPSing 1037 in 61 ABs in August. I wonder if he gets promoted before the season’s out.

by fleerdon on Aug 23, 2008 7:55 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

You mean, like, in the next nine days?

by Jay on Aug 23, 2008 8:35 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Holy crap it’s September. I start classes Monday!

by fleerdon on Aug 23, 2008 9:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

this is bad

by Gradyforpresident on Aug 24, 2008 2:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

If only classes waited until September to start!

by peter m on Aug 24, 2008 2:29 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Scott Lewis is having another good start for Buffalo tonight. Through 6 innings, 4 hits, 2 runs, 0 walks, and 8 Ks.

by APV on Aug 24, 2008 6:58 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Hello APV,

Great job with the review.

Yes, I think Lewis is factoring more and more into starter depth for next season; while he might not be as high as Huff, he’s following along in similar footsteps and could be a nice surprise for next season.

One other guy to keep an eye on – Josh Judy, who just got promoted to Kinston not long ago (about a week or so ago). He’s shown some signs of being solid to very good, with the occasional growing pains of moving up a level.

Just my 2 cents.

The "cream of the crop" doesn't always rise to the top.

by indiansfan on Aug 26, 2008 12:39 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

What is going on with Newsom? I thought he was going to be called up with Stevens in September and have a shot at making the 40 man. Aren’t we close to losing him? I know he is not a sexy, stud prospect .. but he must be better than some of the other losers we have had in the very back of our bullpen in the past two years.

by Toxicadam on Aug 25, 2008 2:53 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Hello Toxicadam,

An interesting note about Newsom – he has a high GO/AO ratio (i.e. He gets a lot of ground balls). I think it was over 2 or 3 when I checked on his stats the other day.

At best, he might fill a Matt Miller-type role in the bullpen (RH who gets a lot of ground balls), though I’m not sure he’ll be as good against lefties or be as effective as the ML-level as Miller was. One positive for Newsom though is that he is younger than Miller was when he made it to the MLs, but chances are, Newsom would need to improve quite a bit at Buffalo AND have a lot of the current bullpen members in Cleveland and in the upper-minors who are expected to contribute in the coming few years (Sipp, Stevens, perhaps Adam Miller and Chuck Lofgren, depending on what happens to them in the coming season) falter for Newsom to have an opportunity to show what he can do at the ML-level.

Otherwise, he’ll likely be an emergency-fill-in/organizational depth guy due to the lack of stuff. To his credit, he has done pretty well at AA for a guy who has a very small margin for error.

Just my 2 cents.

The "cream of the crop" doesn't always rise to the top.

by indiansfan on Aug 26, 2008 12:37 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Few relievers are as effective as Miller was as an Indian, when he was healthy.

Matt Miller’s role in the bullpen generally was to be rehabbing. When he was healthy, he was a terrific 6-7 guy who might well have quickly risen to a key setup role pretty quickly. Remember, the only time we really got an extended look at him, he was terrific, but our bullpen was blissfully stacked.

He is one of those guys who made Wedge look stupid by pitching brilliantly in low-leverage situations!

by Jay on Aug 26, 2008 10:00 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I will never forget Matt Miller.

by Voltaire on Aug 26, 2008 3:58 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hello Jay,

Essentially, it was bad timing for Miller when he was pitching really well. By the time the rest of the bullpen (guys like Cabrera, Davis, Mota, etc.) faltered, Miller was injured, and eventually, less effective to take advantage of it.

Under different circumstances (i.e. better health and better timing of his solid performances), he might have a prominent role in our bullpen today.

Just my 2 cents.

The "cream of the crop" doesn't always rise to the top.

by indiansfan on Aug 26, 2008 6:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs