Tag Archives: scott sizemore

2008 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 5-10-08

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Charlotte 3 Toledo 5
Mike Hessman and Clete Thomas homered. Brent Clevlen had 3 hits pushing his line to 313/376/563. Casey Fossum got the win allowing 1 run in 6 innings on 3 hits. Blaine Neal allowed 2 homers in one inning of relief.

Toledo 1 Charlotte 4
Mike Hessman homered and had one of only 3 hits. Virgil Vasquez went 5 innings and allowed 4 runs on 9 hits with 1 walk and 3 K’s.

Harrisburg 9 Erie 0
Wil Rhymes went 2 for 4. Ben Fritz allowed 8 runs on 9 hits in 6 innings. He walked none and fanned 6.

Vero Beach 2 Lakeland 6
James Skelton went 3 for 4 with his first homer of the year. Scott Sizemore and Ryan Strieby each had 2 hits. Rick Porcello allowed 2 unearned runs in 5 innings on 3 hits. He walked only one, but also struck out only one.

Lansing 2 West Michigan 4
Kyle Peter and Justin Henry each had 2 hits. Manny Miguelez fanned 8 over 7 innings while allowing just 1 run on 4 hits.

Roster Moves

The Tigers made a number of roster moves including Brandon Hamilton joining the Whitecaps from EST. A promotion for a VSL product. And Luis Marte earning his way to Erie. Detroit Tigers Thoughts and Take 75 North break it all down.

2008 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4-8-2008

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Charlotte 9 Toledo 7
Ryan Raburn homered and knocked in 3 while Mike Hessman doubled and tripled. Brent Clevlen went 3 for 4 and continues a promising start to his season. Matt Joyce hit his second homer of the year to go along with a walk. Virgil Vasquez was knocked around for 7 hits but limited the damage to 2 runs while fanning 6 in 5 innings. Clay Rapada and Preston Larrison combined to allow 6 runs in 3 innings.

Erie 3 Harrisburg 2
Wil Rhymes 3 run homer was the offense. Wilkin Ramirez doubled and walked. Josh Rainwater went 5 2/3 innings allowing just 1 run on 3 hits, no walks, and 6 K’s. Brett Jensen recorded his first save of the season with a scoreless 9th inning.

Lakeland 3 Sarasota 7
Rick Porcello made his 2nd start and was excellent again. He was tagged for 4 runs, but all were unearned and came in a 3 error 4th inning. He allowed 4 hits, one of which was an infield single, while fanning 4 and walking none. Cale Iorg, who made 2 errors, went 3 for 5. James Skelton and Scott Sizemore each added 2 hits.

Great Lakes 5 West Michigan 1
Kyle Peter doubled and walked and Jordan Newton added 2 singles. Ramon Garcia gave up all 5 runs on 7 hits, no walks,and 6 K’s over 6 innings. Wilton Garcia fanned 4 in 2 scoreless innings of relief.

2008 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4-4-08

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Durham 2 Toledo 9
Jeff Larish went deep and added a single. Brent Clevlen was 1 for 3 with a walk and 2 RBI. Armando Galarraga pitched 5 shut out innings allowing only 3 hits and a walk while fanning 6. Aaron Fultz pitched a scoreless inning but allowed 2 hits.

Erie 8 Bowie 3 (11 innings)
Big game for Jeff Frazier who had 4 hits including a homer and 5 RBI. Wilkin Ramirez is playing again after his shoulder injury and he had 2 hits. Deik Scram had 2 doubles and Freddy Guzman added 2 hits and 2 stolen bases. Jon Connolly allowed 3 runs on 2 hits and 3 walks in 6 innings with no K’s. Matt Rusch had a blown save, but allowed only 1 hit and no walks while fanning 4 in 3 innings of work.

Lakeland 4 Tampa 5
Scott Sizemore homered to go along with 2 singles and a walk. Duane Below allowed 3 runs, only one of which was earned, on 3 hits and a walk while fanning 4 over 4 innings.

West Michigan 2 South Bend 1
Jordan Newton had catching duties tonight and had the only multi hit game, including a triple. Casper Wells struggled striking out 4 times. Alfredo Figaro allowed a single unearned run on 2 hits and 2 walks in 5 innings of work.

2008 Season, Spring Training

Play Ball

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Realish, live, Tigers baseball today. It’s the annual spring training kickoff against Florida Southern. The game is 1:05pm. Todd Jones gets the start, and most of the regulars will be playing for only an inning or two. There’s no broadcast, but there is a live box score at the Florida Southern site.

Miguel Cabrera homers against Florida Southern

POSTGAME: Well, the offense seems to work. The above photo was taken by Deran of Lakeland Flying Tigers Blog (click the picture for more from today’s game) and it is Miguel Cabrera smacking a missile to center field. The ball hit off the top of the batter’s eye which is located beyond a fence that is 420 feet from home plate.

It was the second homer of the inning following a two run Placido Polanco shot. The Tigers offense rolled up 17 runs including a solo homer from the beleaguered Brandon Inge. Mike Hollimon, my choice for utility infielder I’ll have you know, hit a 3 run jack of his own, to go with a double. In all the Tigers had 5 dingers with Scott Sizemore adding one to his two walks.

Jeff Larish had two hits and two walks while Freddy Guzman had a 3 for 4 day with a triple.

Jordan Tata was charged with all 4 runs in 1 2/3 innings and he didn’t help his cause with 3 walks.

Yes, the Tigers are projected to have one of the best teams in the majors while Florida Southern is a college. The Tigers were supposed to win big. I’m just happy to have a post game report to do, and I’m happy that the good guys did what they were supposed to.

Detroit 17 Florida Southern 4

Minors

Minor Notes

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Tigers fans who dig minor league baseball are especially fortunate. The resources covering the Tigers are remarkable and go beyond the work that you’ll find at Baseball America or Minor League Ball. Both of these sites are great, but they have to cover 30 teams’ minor league systems. The Tigers have multiple blogs focused on just their system.

Take 75 North debuted last year and has done a tremendous job all year. A recent case in point is Matt’s in depth analysis of the Mike Hernandez/Armando Galarraga trade.

The Surge, dedicated to all things West Michigan Whitecaps, just posted their third interview. This time with top Detroit prospect Scott Sizemore.

Now a couple of Lakeland-ites launched a blog covering the High A Flying Tigers. Both of the authors are active members at Motown Sports and I look forward to the analysis and coverage that they’ll bring this season.

If you want to go the pay route there is also TigsTown. The Scouts.com site has the connections and talent to provide a level of minor league analysis that is unsurpassed. Want a full length articles about the top 50 prospects in the system? Tigstown is your place. Want to know who is coming stateside from this year from the DSL and VSL? You’ll find it at Tigstown.

2008 Season, Minors

Baseball America’s 2008 Tigers Prospect List

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There isn’t an official top prospect list, but BA’s is kind of the standard. Today they announced the Tigers 2008 top 10

  1. Rick Porcello, rhp
  2. Cale Iorg, ss
  3. Scott Sizemore, 2b
  4. Michael Hollimon, 2b/ss
  5. Yorman Bazardo, rhp
  6. Jeff Larish, 1b
  7. Matt Joyce, of
  8. Danny Worth, ss
  9. Francisco Cruceta, rhp
  10. Brandon Hamilton, rhp

Rick Porcello is the clear cut stud, but after that things get cloudy. I’m surprised to see Cale Iorg rated so highly. While he may have all the tools, those tools haven’t really even been on display for several years. Plus a hamstring injury in the Hawaiian Winter League added to the lack of exposure to competitive baseball.I have a hard time rating him that highly, at least this year.

I’m also surprised to see Scott Sizemore rated number 3. While I like what Sizemore has done, the AFL is his only exposre to players in his age range.

The rest of the list is pretty much in line with who’d you would expect to see. As for the order, I don’t think there is a lot of separation so the composition is probably more important than the ranking.

There are write-ups on the top 10, but they are premium content. I will point out a couple of items though:

Bazardo

It would come as no surprise if he opened the season as Detroit’s fifth starter.

I’d be quite surprised given the rotation is set barring injury. I do like him as the 6th starter though and do expect him to make the team. (edit: in his chat, Morosi indicated that was written before the Willis trade)

Hollimon:

Second base would be his best position, but the Tigers have Placido Polanco under contract through 2009. Hollimon is athletic enough to play in the outfield, but Detroit has no plans to move him there this year in Triple-A.

Hadn’t heard him listed as a potential outfielder before.

Joyce:

Joyce has moved swiftly since signing in 2005, and he’ll move up to Triple-A this season. If all goes well, he’ll challenge for a big league job in 2009.

I’d like to see him at AAA, but with Timo Perez, Freddy Guzman, and Brent Clevlen the outfield appears full.
Worth:

Worth will return to Lakeland or Erie to begin 2008 and could move quickly in a system that lacks depth at shortstop in the upper minors.

Brent Dlugach, Tony Giarratano, and Hollimon figure to provide depth. Not that Dlugach should block anybody, but he’s still depth. Plus Tony G is still on the 40 man.

2008 Season, Interviews, Minors

Talking Tigers prospects with Jonathan Mayo

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Jonathan Mayo covers the minor leagues and the draft as a senior writer for MLB.com. Mayo also has a book coming out that has some remarkable timing. It is a look at what it is like to face Roger Clemens and is appropriately titled Facing Clemens. The book was written and put to bed prior to the release of the Mitchell Report and will be available on March 1st, though you can pre-order it now.

Regardless of your feelings about Clemens, steroid users, and their place in history, the book looks to be a fascinating read. Mayo interviewed many of the great hitters about what it was like to dig in with Clemens on the mound. Whether or not Clemens did it naturally doesn’t change what the batters experienced when squaring off against the Rocket.

Mayo was kind enough to answer some questions about the now-depleted Tigers farm system as well as a look forward to the 2008 draft.

Detroit Tigers Weblog: After the trades this off-season, the Tigers seem to be deepest in the middle infield. Of Scott Sizemore, Mike Hollimon, Danny Worth, Cale Iorg, Tony Giarratano, and Audy Ciriaco who do you see having the highest ceiling, and who is most likely to make it to the majors?
Jonathan Mayo: From a pure upside standpoint, I think Ciriaco is still the guy. I know he only hit .224 in his full-season debut, but he’ll still be just 20 when the season starts. I think he has to start taking the raw tools and turn it into performance this year. As for “most likely to succeed,” I’d probably go with Worth or Hollimon at this point. I’ve seen Hollimon play several times and he just looks like a big leaguer to me. He also has the best bat of this group as of right now. Those kinds of offensive skills will play at 2B in the bigs. Worth, even though he hit when he got pushed up to Erie, will be a big leaguer more because of his glove. How much he can hit will determine whether he’s an every-day shortstop or a utility guy.

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