Toledo 2 Norfolk 5
Timo Perez hit a homer, but the bigger news of course is Joel Zumaya making his first rehab appearance. He threw 18 pitches, 11 for strikes and struck out a batter but also allowed a double.
Erie – DNP so no Maybin homer.
Lakeland – DNP
West Michigan 4 Wisconsin 2 in progress
Brennan Boesch and Ryan Strieby went deep. Charlie Furbush had another great outing with 10 K’s and no walks over 7 innings.
Oneonta-DNP
GCL Tigers 3 GCL Braves 1
Marc McBratney came up a double short of the cycle. Brandon Johnson went 7 shut out innings allowing just 5 hits, no walks while fannign 4.
Minors News
- Matt has all the roster shuffling news from down on the farm.
- Cameron Maybin shoots to the top of the BA Prospect Hot Sheet.
- For the second year the Red Sox brought in a couple of their minor league affiliates to Fenway for a double header. I know the Tigers have had West Michigan in before, but with both the Whitecaps and Mud Hens so close, it would be a neat thing for the Tigers to host at Comerica Park.
FYI, we signed Porcello to a deal worth just over 7 million reportedly.
Good to hear we are still not afraid to add the best talent to our system
Yeah, Baseball America says one source cited 4 years, $7.7 million, over $6 million more then what the 27th slot is recommended to get.
I can’t find it right now, but I heard that Casey Crosby is all but signed as well. Which means we’ve had a hell of a draft getting a top 2 talent (I would’ve taken him No. 1 overall over David Price because I think he projects to be even better then Price) in Porcello at No. 27, and a 1st round talent in Casey Crosby in the 5th(!) round.
Couple them with Charles Furbush who is having a very successful, albeit small sample, in pro ball and some other guys that we got decent value picks of and I’d call it successful. Top 5 draft in baseball, I think.
Some info about Porcello’s arsenal of pitches: He’s 6’5, 195, 18 years old. Runs his fastball as high as 96, sits comfortably in the mid-90s. Curve is in the low to mid 70s, slider in the low 80’s and his changeup right around 80. His fastball is plus-plus, breaking ball’s are either plus already or edging on plus (plus=above average, plus-plus=great) and his changeup at the least should be average. That’s Josh Beckett/Justin Verlander-like arsenal (one more breaking pitch then Verlander throws, obviously). Outstanding.
And these slotting recommendations are ridiculous, by the way.
Casey Crosby is a 1st round talent that dropped due to how signable he would be. Another 6’5 high schooler, only he’s a lefty. Throws 87-90 and can touch 92. But as he fills out his frame more (just 190 according to this site his velocity could and should increase to the low to mid 90’s. His secondary pitches need a lot of work and his delivery is “rigid” according to the MiLB.com scouting report, and fixing his delivery could unleash added velocity/movement to his fastball and bite to his breaking ball.
Color me excited. This sort of things interest me.
Let Porcello pitch Thursday in NY!!
(Sorry, still freaked out from the mess last night)
Wow, you would think we were still drafting in the top five. Great time to be a Tigers fan. Not a great time to be a Tigers fan living overseas, when the games are at 4 am. But, a great time because there is Internet and this great blog. Good work, Billfer