Jack Wilson's sac fly gave the Pirates the win.
Jonah Bayliss got the win improving to 3-2 and Gas Can Torres grabbed the save-his 10th.
Today's scouting mission was to take a look at the Kinston Indians,as they visited Frederick and get some stuff signed.
Kinston won 5-4,as hitter Max Ramirez hit his fifth Homer of the season to lead Kinston.
Ramirez will certainly be a hitter,but his catching skills are his question mark.
I did not see any progression in that area today,because Max was the DH.
If I was the farm director for the Tribe,I would want Max to be catching as much as possible.
It does not help Ramirez's defensive skills or bode well for the Tribe's thoughts on him to be DHing him.
The player I was impressed with was John Drennen.
Drennen is struggling at the bat,although he did get an RBI today,but his hustle in the outfield is what I was impressed with.
John projects as a left fielder,although the K-Tribe is playing him in center.
He dives after balls,never quits on plays and he is quite young for this level.
Drennen may have to repeat next year at Kinston,but I love his hustle and enthusiasm.
First looks at Stephen Head and Wes Hodges today.
I am starting to wonder about Head.
For a guy that was drafted for his bat,he is putting up low numbers for the second year in a row at Kinston.
He went 1 for 4 today and made the defensive play of the game on a low liner at first,but I would be surprised if he was at Akron next year and if that is the case.......Game over
Hodges on the other hand,despite going 0 for 4,has a nice swing and looks solid at 3rd base.
I have a much better feeling on Hodges future than Head's
Frank (the Harvard Man)Herrmann gave up 4 runs in 6 and a third,but 2 runs were on solo homers.
I liked what I saw of Herrmann,he uses his height to his advantage and hides the ball very well.
He does not strike out a lot,but his walks are next to nil.
Always a good sign.
Keep an eye on Frank as a sleeper in the Indians system.
SS Josh Rodriguez made all the plays to him,but to me,the Indians should try to make him as versatile as they can,as I think he could be the kind of swingman to fill in at 2b,ss and 3b.
He did skip low A and is also having hitting issues.
A lot of the Indians are having trouble hitting early on.
I think it could be because they were rushed to Kinston.
Head,Hodges,Rodriguez,all never played for Lake County and Drennen was not there long.
Not quite sure what the rush is,but something to think about.
On the signing front;
All the above players signed,except for Herrmann,who I did not have anything for.
But most of the Indians would not sign more than one of the same card.
That was the rep for them coming in and most lived up to it.
The exception was the Tribe's first round pick last year-lefty hurler David Huff.
Huff is the ace of Kinston's staff,despite skipping low A.
David signed all 3 cards for me and talked a bit,very friendly.
1 thing that Ryan and I talked about today and the more I think about it the more it rings true.
Many teams that come to Hagerstown,go to Frederick as well and the players seem to fit certain personalities.
The Lynchburg guys were personable and they were at Hickory last year too and so were this years Hickory guys.
But the Kinston players were almost standoffish and Lake County this year is too,although Michael Eisenberg is always engaging.
Weird,but maybe organizations like certain types of players and those players fit into a personality area as well..
At least with the Pirates and Indians systems it seems
that way,although I need more data.Battling Bob refused to shake his keys today. How disappointing.
Maybe next time-Bob.
Here is a quote from Pirates farm director Brian Graham on his managing the managers in the Pittsburgh farm system.
This is off the official Pirate site and I saw it on Bucs Dugout-Thanks to Charlie.
"We have great managers and coaches and instructors, but the ability to be here myself and speak to them is a huge advantage, and it's extremely beneficial...
"I'm sure when I come in they hope to perform well in front of me, because ultimately, I make the decisions... they believe that I'm the decision-maker."
Sounds like another "decider" we know at 1600 PA Ave.The quote has two things in common for these two gentlemen.
1)Both seem to think they have more power than they have.
2)Both have done an amazingly poor job at their positions.
Back tomorrow with Pirates-Cubs and maybe some random ramblings.
Photo Credits
Max Ramirez and Bob Mckain-Ryan Heimberger
No comments:
Post a Comment