Saturday, May 05, 2007

Detroit Tigers Prospect Report - 5/5/2007

During the course of the year, I will be giving statistical updates and other information on the Tigers organization. I will cover all the consensus top prospects as well as other noteworthy perfomers. For daily recaps and other news on Tigers prospects, check out Matt Wallace's Take 75 North and Mike Cassidy's Tigers Minor League Blog. This week's team by team summary follows.

Toledo Mud Hens (AAA) 13-15

Chris Shelton is trying to get back to the Tigers but is still not finding the stroke that we saw in the summer of 2005 and in April, 2006. He leads the International League in walks with 21 but has struck out 31 times in 100 at bats and is hitting a modest .260. and slugging just .390.

Brent Clevlen is really having a tought time getting untracked. He is leading the league in strikouts with 41 and is batting .212 in 104 at bats.

The leading Mudhen hitter is 32 year old outfielder Timo Perez who is batting .333/.350/.542.

With Chad Durbin struggling to hold the 5th starter job in Detroit, and Andrew Miller not dominating A ball, Virgil Vasquez is likely on the Tigers radar. Vazquez pitched 7 shutout innings on Wednesday to lower his ERA to 2.57. Even more impressive is his 41 strikeouts which is second in the league. He has also walked just 8 batters in 35 innings.

Zack Miner, who pitched well for the Tigers when Mike Maroth went down last year, has a 8.07 ERA in 5 starts and 1 relief appearance.

Jordan Tata is currently on the disabled list with a sore shoulder. After resting for two weeks, he is now throwing lightly but is still a few weeks away from returning.


Erie Sea Wolves (AA) 13-11

Jeff Larish is showing power and patience but not making consistent contact. He is batting .250/.340/.545 and is second in the Eastern League with 6 home runs.

Slick fielding shortstop Brent Dlugach is off to a good start with the bat: .304/.360/.493 in 69 at bats.

Michael Hollimon spent the first two years of his professional career as one of the older players in his league. This year, he is getting tested as he has jumped two levels from low A ball (West Michigan) to AA. He is batting .237/.398/.434 in 76 at bats.

The 21 year old Jair Jurrjens is on a strict pitch count and has only pitched 25 2/3 innings in 5 starts. He has a 3.65 ERA and a 19/6 k/BB ratio.

Dallas Trahern has reached the level where finesse pitchers tend to run into trouble but he is off to a very good start with a 1.79 ERA in 30 1/3 innings.

Hard throwing Eulogio De La Cruz pitched a complete game 2 hit shutout and struck out 10 last night. He now has a 3.94 ERA and 30/8 K/BB ratio in 32 IP.

Lakeland (A+) 11-17

Cameron Maybin was out for a couple games with back spasms but is back and still going strong. He is batting .315, leads the Florida State League in OBP (.455), is slugging .562 and is 2nd in the league with 10 stolen bases.

24 year old infielder/outfielder Ovandy Suero is batting .304 with a .385 OBP and leads the league with 19 stolen bases.

Unheralded 23 year old outfielder Michael Hernandez is is off to a good start batting .301/.355/.591. His slugging average is 3rd in the league.

There has been a lot of talk about Andrew Miller starting for the Tigers this year at some point. After struggling in a couple of starts, he pitched 6 shutout innings on Wednesday. He now has a 3.93 ERA and a 23/11 K/BB ratio in 34 1/3 innings.


West Michigan (A) 14-12

Raw toolsy outfielder Gorkys Hernandez is getting his first shot at full season ball this year and is off to a solid start - .315/.398/.388. He also has an improved 9/16 BB/K ratio and 10 stolen bases.

First baseman Ryan Strieby is batting a strong .313/.376/.479 in 96 at bats.

Scott Sizemore is off to a slow start at .205/.365/.277 but his 16/13 BB/K ratio suggests that better numbers will come soon.

Chris Cody allowed 4 runs in 6 innings pitched on Wednesday but still has a miniscule 1.13 ERA to go along with a 40/7 K/BB ratio. He leads the Midwest League in ERA and strikeouts.

2 comments:

  1. The interesting thing about Gorkys is I think he walked one time before he started leading off. Since he's picked up quite a few and has a BB:K ratio very near 1.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's an interesting observation. Hopefully, he keeps it up. If he can draw walks consistently, it makes him an even more intriguing prospect.

    ReplyDelete

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