Toledo 10 Richmond 3
Dane Sardhina enjoyed himself with 3 homers, a walk, and 7 RBI. Erick Almonte also homered as part of a 2 for 4, 1 walk night. Ron Chiavacci allowed 2 runs on 2 walk, 6 hits and 8 K’s in 6 innings.
Erie DNP
Clearwater 2 Lakeland 7
Ovandy Suero hit his first homer and added a single. Danny Worth doubled twice and walked. Angel Castro went 4 2/3 innings and allowed 2 unearned runs on 2 hits and a walk.
Clearwater 7 Lakeland 5
Cameron Maybin returned to Lakeland and had 2 doubles and a triple and had flyballs in all 4 at bats. Deik Scram tripled and singled twice. Danny Worth had a 2 hit night. Lucas French allowed 6 runs, 3 earned, on 4 hits and 4 walks in 4 1/3 innings.
Peoria 3 West Michigan 2
Brennan Boesch had 2 hits, as did Brandon Timm. Audy Ciriaco went 3 for 4. Lauren Gagnier allowed 2 runs on 6 hits, a walk, and 5 K’s in 6 innings.
Oneonta 2 Staten Island 3
There were only 4 singles for the O-Tigs. Mark Brackman went 5 2/3 innings and allowed 1 run on 4 hits, 3 walks, and 4 K’s.
GCL Tigers 1 GCL Indians 6
Craig Maddox had the only Tigers hit. Emmanuel Miguelez allowed 5 runs on 9 hits in 4 innings. This one ended early due to rain.
Minors News
For those who were curious about the early exits of Tigers’ Top 10 prospects Gorkys Hernandez and Mike Hollimon yesterday, they weren’t pulled due to injury or a pending trade. Hollimon was lifted so that Nick McIntyre, who hadn’t played for 5 days, could get some action ahead of today’s off day. In the case of Hernandez he was yanked for not running out a ground ball.
Similar thing happened with Clayton Kershaw, a stud pitcher for the Great Lakes Loons. He pitched 1 inning and came out and I don’t think it’s ’cause of injury.
And wow, Brookens yanking Gorkys for not running out a grounder? I like it. I wish more managers would do it.
And on the rumor front: I read a rumor (granted it was on the Cubs scout board) that the Yankees are set to acquire Eric Gagne for Tyler Clippard, Mark Vaquez, and a c-level prospect. If this is true, that really sucks because we could’ve matched that deal or gone even better with something like Jurrjens + Trahern + C-Level prospect. But, Gagne wouldn’t accept a trade here, so it makes it moot, I suppose.
I love the little dig at the Maybin-doubters. “hit a flyball in all four at-bats.” So he can hit the ball in the air. Welcome back, Cam.
I wasn’t really going for a dig. The ground ball rate does concern me a little and its something worth watching. What I don’t know is if he’s hitting the ball hard and getting it through the infield, or if he’s hitting dribblers and beating them out.
Ground ball rate is a funny thing. There’s a lot of variation from the general rule of Batting Average = Line Drive Percentage + .120.
For example, Ichiro, Wily Taveras, and Sheffield all have batting averages far removed from that “rule.” And not just this year – consistently.
It doesn’t mean that Maybin is sure to make it, but he might be one of those guys who can consistently produce a higher batting average than his raw numbers suggest. At least that’s what I hope.
2 errors in my last post – I think the general rule relates to
LD% + .120 = Batting Average on Balls In Play (batting average if you don’t count homers or strikeouts).
And Sheff actually looks to prove the rule. Derek Jeter though, regularly exceeds the rule, among many others.