8/11 AAA Minor League Report

Posted by Jeremy on August 12, 2009 under Minor League Ball today | Be the First to Comment

Allen Craig really likes to hit in the thin air of Colorado Springs as he belted three HR’s during a double header to raise his tally to 21 on the season.  Craig has been as hot as any hitter in the minor leagues since the All Star break, hitting .446 with 13 HR 30 RBI and 27 runs scored in just 28 games.  Craig continues to play in the outfield which surprises me in the wake of the Brett Wallace trade.  He’s never been a bad fielder at 3B, but the organization seems to find him a better fit in left field.  Regardless of where he’s playing, Craig has been the best hitter in the Cardinals’ organization this season and should earn a big league call up at some point this year.  His only first year cards are in the 2006 Bowman Chrome Draft set and his singles can still be had in lots for less than a buck apiece.

Gaby Sanchez was a darkhorse N.L. ROY candidate by some baseball pundits on the heels of his fine 2008 season at AA Carolina.  Instead, he like fellow Marlins teammate Cameron Maybin, struggled to earn playing time with the big club and was demoted to New Orleans.  Last night, Sanchez went 3-5 with his 12th and 13th dingers, driving in five runs and scoring four times.  Sanchez has been hot during the month of August, hitting .325 with 4 HR 7 RBI and a killer 10 BB/3K ratio.  Sanchez is in a tough spot.  Logan Morrison has made a successful return from a broken wrist and is driving the ball with authority in AA.  He’s the heir to the first base job in Miami, leaving Sanchez either to switch to a new position or continue to toil at AAA.  At his best, Gaby is a well disciplined hitter with decent power to the gaps and above average defensive skills that could help him carve out a starting job with a big league club someday.

Today’s top prospect is one of Cleveland’s newest additions, RHP Carlos Carrasco.  After back to back rocky starts with Columbus, Carrasco tossed eight innings of four hit, one run ball, striking out 10 hitters for his 9th victory of the season.  Carrasco has the stuff to be a frontline pitcher at the major league level, but his inability to establish consistency and pitch with confidence at times was maddening to the Phillies franchise.  Perhaps the move to Cleveland will be just what Carlos needs to rediscover his potential as an MLB stopper.  Surely this outing does wonders for his chances to crack the Indians’ rotation at some point this season.  Carrasco’s 2008 Bowman Sterling Jsy/Autos are currently trading at $4-6 each on eBay and seem like a solid low risk buy for someone who has slipped off of many collectors’ radars.

AAA Player of the Day—CARLOS CARRASCO

Other Notable Performances

Hitting:

• Matt Tuiasosopo—1-4 2B 2 RBI R
• Mike Carp—1-4 R 2 RBI BB
• Adam Moore—4-4 2B 2R 2 RBI
• Tony Abreu—1-5 HR(10) RBI
• Gaby Sanchez—3-5 2 HR(13) 5 RBI 4R BB
• John Raynor—2-6 2R RBI SB(16)
• Brett Hayes—2-4 R 3 RBI BB
• Travis Buck—3-4 2B 3 RBI SB(3)
• Allen Craig—2-3 2 HR(20) 3 RBI 2R (Game 1)…..1-3 HR(21) RBI (Game 2)
• Jarret Hoffpauir—2-3 2B 3B RBI R
• Eric Young Jr.—3-5 RBI (Game 1)…..1-2 R BB SB(55) (Game 2)
• Brandon Allen—3-4 2B 2R RBI BB
• Cole Gillespie—2-5 2B 2 RBI
• Chris Johnson—2-3 2B HR(10) RBI
• Juan Miranda—1-5 2B R 2 RBI
• Travis Snider—2-4 RBI
• Drew Stubbs—2-4 RBI
• John Mayberry Jr.—2-3 R SB(6)
• Lou Marson—3-4 R RBI
• Wes Hodges—2-4 2B R
• Justin Maxwell—2-3 R SB(28)
• Brent Clevlen—2-3 HR(15) RBI
• Aaron Bates—2-4 2B R

Pitching:

• Scott Elbert—4 IP 2H 3 BB 3K
• Travis Wood—6 IP 6H ER 3 BB K W (12-4)
• Carlos Carrasco—8 IP 4H ER 10K W (9-9)

5/16 AAA Minor League Report

Posted by Jeremy on June 17, 2009 under Minor League Ball today | Be the First to Comment

I wrote an article for The Cardboard Connection a couple of weeks ago profiling some of the top MLB debuts that would be happening during the summer months of the season.  Of the 10 that I mentioned, one player that didn’t make the final cut was Cincinnati Reds OF prospect Drew Stubbs.

Stubbs has had an excellent yet understated season at AAA Louisville, hitting .312 with 2 HR 20 RBI and 24 SB.  There have been many concerns in the past about his ability to hit at the major league level as many scouts and prognosticators have been concerned with his plate discipline, but he has made significant progress over the last season and a half in that department.  His walk yesterday gave him 29 on the young season against 41 strikeouts.  His lack of HR power has flummoxed several people as well.  At 6-4 205 lb., Stubbs seems to be someone who should be able to put up 20+ HR seasons, yet his 7 HR from last season and two this season gives him the look of an oversized slap hitter.  However, it bears worth noting that Stubbs has 19 doubles this season and had 33 last year, which indicates that he drives the ball well to the gaps. Under the right tuteledge and in a hitter’s locale like the Great American Ballpark, I’m optimisitic that he will become a double digit HR hitter at the major league level.  The Reds have an assortment of outfielders, Jay Bruce excluded, that have underperformed and have a less impressive assortment of tools than Stubbs.  I fully expect that Stubbs will earn a callup within the next month and it will be quite interesting to see how his skills carry forward against MLB pitchers.

Today’s top player from the AAA ranks is former L.A. Angels 1st rounder Trevor Bell.  Bell made his AAA debut last night and was brilliant tossing a complete game, two-hit shutout, walking none and striking out four.  Bell has had a big time bounceback season this year, going 5-3 with a 1.97 ERA and 20 BB/55 K in 77.2 IP.  The key to Bell’s success is a low 90’s sinker that induces groundballs at a rate of over 1.5 per flyball out.  Bell has allowed just one HR this year and AA and AAA hitters are batting a combined .199 against him.  Despite his sterling debut, his chances of earning a big league start this season is small….unless John Lackey and Ervin Santana continue to have struggle with forearm injuries.  Keep an eye on his next couple of starts at Salt Lake City.  If he continues to have success, he may just push his way into a cameo appearance with the Angels come September.

AAA Player of the Day—TREVOR BELL

Other Notable Performances

Hitting:

• Chris Carter—1-3 HR(4) 2 RBI
• Drew Stubbs—2-3 2B R RBI BB SB(24)
• Rhyne Hughes—3-5 HR(16) RBI 2B 2R
• Micheal Brantley—3-4 2 RBI BB R
• Matt LaPorta—1-4 2 RBI BB R
• Jordan Brown—3-5 HR(8) 3 RBI 2B 2R
• Brent Clevlen—3-4 HR(6) 2 RBI
• Juan Miranda—3-4 2R 2 RBI
• Austin Jackson—2-4 R
• Joe Koshansky—1-2 HR(12) RBI BB 2R
• Gaby Sanchez—2-4 2B RBI
• Matt Camp—3-4 R RBI
• Julio Borbon—2-4 BB SB(18)
• Joaquin Arias—3-4 RBI SB(11)
• Adam Moore—3-4 HR(6) 4 RBI 2B 2R
• Chad Huffman—2-4 HR(10) RBI
• Travis Buck—3-4 2B R BB
• Dan Putnam—1-4 HR(4) 3 RBI
• Matt Carson—3-5 HR(10) RBI 3R SB(4)
• Eric Patterson—2-4 3B 2 RBI BB
• Kevin Frandsen—2-4 2R HR(6) 2 RBI BB

Pitching:

• Kris Johnson—4.2 IP 2H 3 BB 5K
• Trevor Bell—9 IP 2H 4K W (5-3)

4/1 Spring Training Report

Posted by Jeremy on April 2, 2009 under Uncategorized | Be the First to Comment

Turning the page on the calendar, I saw the big red circle around April 6th marking the beginning of the 2009 MLB regular season!  Spring training has flown by this season at a rocket’s (not steroid enhanced) pace and what a spring it has been for several young players!  Wednesday’s action saw all or nothing slugger Michael Wilson of the Seattle Mariners slug his 8th HR of the spring, and super non-rookies Travis Buck and Alex Gordon hit their 4th and 6th HR’s respectively.  ‘08 N.L. Rookie of the Year, Geovanny Soto and Mets prospect Omir Santos rang the dinger bell twice, but it was the young pitchers who opened eyes today.  San Francisco Giants superstar-in-the-making Madison Bumgarner surrendered just one hit in 3 innings of work while striking out 4, but even that performance was not good enough to usurp the one time phenom Homer Bailey.  The Cincinnati Reds hurler tossed 6 innings allowing 4 hits, 2 earned runs a walk an 8 strikeouts.  Additionally, he went 2 for 2 at the plate with a double and a run scored.  While it may not earn him a spot on the Reds’ rotation, it is surely worthy of receiving today’s Youngster of the Day award.

Youngster of the Day—HOMER BAILEY

Other Notable Performances:

• Josh Anderson—1-4 R RBI
• Adam Rosales—2-3 HR(2) 2 RBI
• Homer Bailey—6 IP 4H 2 ER BB 8K (2-2 2B R)
• Chris Johnson—2-4 2B RBI R
• William Glen—4 IP 6H ER BB 4K (W)
• Omir Santos—2-3 2 HR(4) 3 RBI 2R
• Travis Snider—2-3 2 2B R RBI
• Ross Detwiler—2.1 IP H
• Derek Holland—4 IP 3H ER BB 4K W(2)
• Matt Brown—1-3 HR(3) 2 RBI
• Geovanny Soto—2-2 2 HR(2) 5 RBI
• Travis Buck—2-2 HR(4) 2 RBI
• Cliff Pennington—2-2 2B 2 RBI R
• Rob Johnson—1-5 HR(2) 2 RBI
• Trevor Crowe—1-4 BB 2R
• Mike Wilson—2-5 HR(8) 2R 2 RBI
• Dexter Fowler—3-5 2B 3B RBI 2R
• Alex Gordon—2-4 HR(6) RBI
• Albert Callaspo—2-3 2B RBI BB SB(1)
• Billy Butler—1-4 HR(4) RBI
• Madison Bumgarner—3 IP H 4K

3/31 Spring Training Report

Posted by Jeremy on April 1, 2009 under Uncategorized | Be the First to Comment

Sorry for the delay, I have been busy over the last couple of days writing some news blurbs for the Cardboard Connection.  Yesterday’s spring training action saw top pitchers Joba Chamberlain and Rick Porcello each throw 5 quality innings en route to wins.  Chamberlain is a perfect 4-0 this spring and has given every indicator that he will be able to shoulder the load of a full season workload in ‘09.  Travis Snider belted his 4th HR and Pablo Sandoval, Brett Gardner, Blake DeWitt, Wladimir Balentien, and Kendry Morales continued their solid springs with multi hit games.  The youngster of the day, though, is Nick Adenhart.  The 22 year old Angels hurler tossed 6.2 innings of two run ball striking out 5 to earn his 3rd win of the spring.  Adenhart entered this spring as a bubble guy to make the Halos’ rotation, and he has responded by posting the best spring of his career.

Youngster of the Day—NICK ADENHART

Other Notable Performances:

• Joba Chamberlain—5.1 IP 5H 2 ER 3 BB 6K W(4)
• Phil Coke—IP 2K
• Brett Gardner—3-4 RBi
• Jay Bruce—2-4 RBI
• Chris Dickerson—1-5 R 2B
• Matt Moses—3-5 2B 2R RBI
• Juan Portes—1-1 2 RBI
• Jim Negrych—2-2 3 RBI
• Quincy Lattimore—2-2 3B 2R RBI
• Felix Pie—2-5 2B
• Matt Joyce—2-4 HR(1) 2 RBI
• Justin Masterson—2.2 IP H ER 3K W(2)
• Rick Porcello—5 IP 2H UER BB 2K
• Daniel Murphy—1-3 2 RBI R
• Jonathan Malo—1-1 HR(1) 2 RBI
• Emiliano Bonifacio—1-3 R SB(4)
• Travis Snider—2-3 HR(4) RBI
• Jarrod Saltalamacchia—1-3 R
• Elvis Andrus—1-3 R
• Pablo Sandoval—2-5 2B 2 RBI
• Eider Torres—2-5 HR(2) RBI 2R SB(5)
• Emmanuel Burriss—2-5 3R
• Wladimir Balentien—3-4 2B 2R 2 RBI
• Chris Jakubaskas—5 IP 4H ER 4K W(2)
• Blake DeWitt—3-5 HR(2) 2B 2 RBI 2R
• Chin-Lung Hu—2-5 R
• Josh Outman—5.2 IP 5H 2 ER BB 6K W
• Travis Buck—1-3 2B R 3 RBI
• Chris Getz—2-4
• Micah Hoffpauir—1-4 HR(6) 2 RBI
• Kendry Morales—2-3 2B R
• Nick Adenhart—6.2 IP 8H 2 ER BB 5K W(3)

Your Daily Value #11

Posted by Jeremy on December 10, 2008 under Your Daily Value | Be the First to Comment

2005 Topps Chrome Update TRAVIS BUCK Auto

Current eBay Price—$4.00-5.00

I have a vested interest in the success of Travis Buck.  A little over two years ago, I sunk a few bucks into this guy’s future by purchasing 30 of these autos as well as some refractor and black refractor autos.  Fueled by an outstanding spring training in ‘07, Buck skipped AAA and was named the A’s opening day RF.  Of course, spring training was as good as it got for Buck as a litany of nagging injuries has drastically cut his production over the last two seasons. 

Why am I optimistic? 

Buck re-emerged with the A’s in September of ‘08 and tore the cover off of the ball, hitting .367 with 4 HR and 12 RBI in just 49 AB’s.  The size and athleticism is there for Buck to be a 20-25 HR guy while hitting for a high average.  Buck will be just 25 this year and is slated to start opposite of Matt Holliday in RF.  It will be integral for Buck to demonstrate to the A’s that he can stay healthy and produce this spring.  If so, he should be able to hold off Aaron Cunningham, Rajai Davis, and Chris Denorfia for regular AB’s, thus making $10 for 2 Bucks a nice value buy.

7/20 AAA Minor League Report

Posted by Jeremy on July 21, 2008 under Uncategorized | Be the First to Comment

Today is a landmark day for Porters Prospect Report!  This blog exceeded the 1,500 view mark this morning.  Now, while that doesn’t seem like much to many other more established sites, it is exciting to me to see many of you coming to my site and enjoying the content.  I will remain dedicated to posting more quality content every day!  If you have a topic or product you would like to have me cover, send me an email or post a comment and I will work it into the blog!

Here’s the rundown from AAA on Sunday…

David Huff

• 5 IP  6H 2K (L)—Pitching well since promotion to Buffalo (2-3 3.19 ERA 50K/48IP)

Brett Clevlen

• 3-4 HR(17) 2 RBI 2R—.333 3 HR 5 RBI 10 R last 10 games

Jeff Samardzija

• 6 IP 2H ER BB 9K—Solid at Iowa (4-1 3.13 ERA 40K/37IP)

Josh Whitesell

• 3-4 2 HR( 18 ) 3R—.432 2 HR 8 RBI 16 H last 10 games

Wladimir Balentien

• 2-3 HR(15) 2 RBI 3R 2BB—HR in 4 straight games (.400 7 HR 15 RBI last 10 games)

Rob Johnson

• 2-4 HR(7) RBI 2R BB—Playing really well since Jeff Clement’s promotion

Nelson Cruz

• 1-4 HR(31) 2 RBI—.353 6 HR 12 RBI 10 R last 10 games

Joe Mather

• 2-4 HR(17) 2 RBI—.306 41 RBI 1.046 OPS

Eric Patterson

• 2-4 2R 2B 3B RBI BB 2 SB(14)—.417 1.336 OPS at Sacramento

Travis Buck

• 1-2 2B 2 RBI 2BB—.297 2 HR 16 RBI 21 R in 38 games at AAA

BUY/SELL Analysis

Got Bandaids?

Well, I must admit that I had a pretty big man crush on Travis Buck last spring as he was tearing it up during Spring Training.  I loaded up on dozens of his Topps Chrome Update autos and Bowman Chrome Draft RC’s expecting him to fulfill his .300 20 HR 80 RBI potential right out of the gate.  Instead, he suffered injury after injury throughout the whole season.  With high hopes, I purchased even more of his cards (albiet at basement prices) during the off season knowing that his history of injuries was merely an abberation and that 2008 would be a new season.  Instead of a rennaissance, his career has taken a Great Depression-like turn as he has hit just .160 for Oakland with 28 punchouts in 26 games.  At Sacramento, Buck has quite a bit better hitting .297 scoring 21 runs in 38 games, but he has hit just 2 HR in 106 AB’s.  At an athletic 6-3 225 lbs.,  it is reasonable to expect more power production from Travis.  When (or if) healthy, Buck can hit 20-25 HR a season at the MLB level.  Buck has rookie cards in the 2005 Bowman Products and Topps Chrome Update.  Currently, his only first year autos in the Topps Chrome Update set sell for $5-7 each and his Bowman Chrome cards can be had for 50 cents to $1 each. 

Market Advice: I still love Buck but his injuries are severely diminishing his chances of being a star player.  Oakland is chocked full of young outfielders from Oakland on down the farm.  Buck needs a change of scenery preferrably to a hitter’s park.  Trading prospects for stars is not the Oakland A way though and the clock is ticking on the 24 year old’s still promising career.  5 bucks for one Buck seems to be a good BUY for his autos.  If you are like me and have a plethora of his cards HOLD and hope for better health and more AB’s.