Rookie Watch | The Baseball Zealot

9/28/06: LINESCORE OF THE DAY – JAMES LONEY

James Loney 4 for 5, 2 HRs, 1 2B, 9 RBIs, 2 runs Move over Gil Hodges here comes James Loney! Loney is the hard hitting firstbaseman of the future for the LA Dodgers who had a career day against the Colorado Rockies. Did somebody forget to turn on the humidifier? In just under 100 … Continue reading “9/28/06: LINESCORE OF THE DAY – JAMES LONEY”

James Loney 4 for 5, 2 HRs, 1 2B, 9 RBIs, 2 runs

Move over Gil Hodges here comes James Loney! Loney is the hard hitting firstbaseman of the future for the LA Dodgers who had a career day against the Colorado Rockies. Did somebody forget to turn on the humidifier? In just under 100 at bats James has joined Hodges at the top of the All Time RBI mark in one game, nine. I saw the 6’2″ 220 pound lefthanded hitting first sacker two years ago and thought WOW! Then there were some injuries that slowed him down, but now he appears to be back on the fast track to stardom. This kid might turn out to be the best of the bunch of rookies on the Dodgers.

Which Rich?

Hill as an Iowa Cub If the Cubs were to keep Rich Hill on the roster for the 07 season, which Rich Hill would they get? To say Hill is having a roller coaster season would be a misnomer. To be more accurate, it would be like one big well, Hill. No pun intended. Hill’s … Continue reading “Which Rich?”

Hill as an Iowa Cub

If the Cubs were to keep Rich Hill on the roster for the 07 season, which Rich Hill would they get?

To say Hill is having a roller coaster season would be a misnomer. To be more accurate, it would be like one big well, Hill. No pun intended.

Hill’s pre- August stats:

GS	CG	GF	W	L	Sv	Sho	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA
5	0	0	0	4	0	0	22 2/3	29	24	24	6	18	12	9.53

Since the beginning of August, something in Hill has caught fire:

GS	CG	GF	W	L	Sv	Sho	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA
9	1	1	6	2	0	1	64 2/3	44	21	16	6	17	61	2.23

Does this mean Hill is a lock for the rotation in 07? Well, his improvement increases his chances but with the Cubs’ situation, nothing is a sure thing aside from perhaps Carlos Zambrano.

That said, Hill, who is a Big Ten product from Michigan, came into the bigs with a reputation from the minors. He dominated when pitching for Iowa just this year when he was named Cubs Co-Minor League Player of the Year

And right now, he claims the only complete game for the Cubs all year.

Is Rich Hill inconsistent or was it just it a matter of adjusting to the bigs?

ROOKIE WATCH: CLA MEREDITH

Just like the Energizer Bunny, Cla Meredith keeps going, and going, and going. Meredith pitched two innings 9/9 and established a San Diego Padres record with 31 straight scoreless innings, topping Randy Jones’ mark of 30 set in 1980. Meredith’s stretch is the longest in the majors this year, he has since added 2 2/3 more innings to his streak, which continues. Where did this kid come from? Well he was traded to the San Diego Padres along with Josh Bard from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for Doug Mirabelli on May 1, 2006, basically because Bard couldn’t catch Tim Wakefield’s knuckleball. Cla made his major league debut May 8, 2005 against the Seattle Mariners, walking the first two men he faced, before allowing a grand slam. He has come a long way since then, here are his amazing stats so far.

IP H R ER BB SO ERA W-L
Cla Meredith 40 2/3, 23, 3, 3, 5, 29, 0.66, 5-1

ROOKIE WATCH: JERED WEAVER

Jered Weaver was looking for his tenth straight win without a loss to open his big league career as he took the mound for the LA Angels of Anaheim versus Josh Beckett & the Boston Red Sox. Beckett has had an awful August, walking nine and allowing nine runs against the Yankees in his last outing. While the Angels couldn’t have asked for anything more than what they’ve gotten from their young phenom. Jered said he was honored to be mentioned in the same breath with Whitey Ford when told he tied Whitey for the AL mark with nine straight wins to open his career, Kirk Rueter holds the NL mark with 10. Weaver is a 6’7″ righthander drafted in the 1st round in the 2004 draft out of Long Beach State. His brother Jeff was released by the Halos and has since caught on with the Cardinals.

Of course Jered Weaver lost 2-1 to Josh Beckett to end his streak at nine. He is 9-1 with 1.92 ERA, allowing only 57 hits & 21 walks in 84 1/3 innings of work. I watched this game on MLB-TV as a White Sox fan I was hoping Boston would lose, as an APBA manager with Beckett on his team I was rooting for Josh. To be honest Jered Weaver deserved a better fate. David Ortiz hit one into the stands to put the BoSox up 1-0. Then Orlando Cabrera decided to take it himself on an attempted DP with the bases loaded & one out, rather than tossing the ball to Adam Kennedy, but Alex Cora beat Cabrera to 2nd, almost broke OC’s leg, and the Red Sox were up by two. And then the Angels 3rd base coach got the tying run, Juan Rivera (not the fastest), thrown out at the plate (first out of the inning, never make the 1st out at home). Boston hung on from there. After being in Anaheim last year for the White Sox playoff sweep, I don’t have alot of love for the Angels. The fans seem plastic, as does the stadium with the BIG cheesey Angels hats outside the main gate, and Rex Hudler & Mike Scioscia are too intense for my liking.

ROOKIE WATCH – CHRIS YOUNG

Was watching the Diamondbacks game and the broadcasters were talking about this rookie centerfield sensation named Chris Young. His name sounded familiar, I looked him up in the Baseball America Prospect book, and there he was the #2 prospect for the Chicago White Sox. He was traded from the White Sox to Arizona along with El Duque & Luis Vizcaino in exchange for Javier Vazquez. Everybody has been second guessing Chicago for trading Aaron Rowand to Philadelphia, but that would have been alright had the Sox replaced Rowand with Chris Young rather than Brian Anderson. Also we could have used Luis Vizcaino in the bullpen and Orlando Hernandez couldn’t do any worse than Vazquez (also Hernandez worked well with Sox Ace Jose Contreras). Or we could’ve traded El Duque for bullpen help (the D*Backs traded him to the NY Mets for Jorge Julio) and moved Brandon McCarthy to the rotation.

But this is about Chris Young, who hit a two run shot & almost took away a homer while I was watching, made a spectacular catch the night before, and is hitting .375 (3 for 8). Young batted .276, with 21 homers, 32 doubles, along with 17 steals in Triple A before getting called up to the big leagues. Chris hit .277 last year in Double A, with 26 homers, 41 doubles, & 32 SBs and had a .262 average in A Ball with 24 home runs, 31 two base hits, 5 triples, & 31 steals.

Brian Anderson is one year older than Young and a little more polished than Young, having come out of the University of Arizona while Chris was drafted out of high school. The most homers ever hit by Anderson are 16 last year in Triple A. Both guys are exceptional centerfielders, but Chris Young is exciting, while Brian Anderson barely has a pulse. If given the choice, I’ll take Chris Young.

8/22/06: LINESCORE OF THE DAY – NICK MARKAKIS

At the start of the season Markakis struggled for the O’s. It looked like he was overmatched. NickyV even suggested the only reason he was in the lineup was due to his Greek heritage, Orioles owner Peter Angelos is also Greek. But now it seems Baltimore might have known what they were doing. Nick is … Continue reading “8/22/06: LINESCORE OF THE DAY – NICK MARKAKIS”

At the start of the season Markakis struggled for the O’s. It looked like he was overmatched. NickyV even suggested the only reason he was in the lineup was due to his Greek heritage, Orioles owner Peter Angelos is also Greek. But now it seems Baltimore might have known what they were doing. Nick is now hitting in the #2 slot in the batting order and in this game single handedly defeated the hard charging Minnesota Twins 6-3, with his homers being the difference.

Nick Markakis 3 for 4, 3 HR’s, 3 RBI’s, 3 runs, .306

Can’t blame Dusty for this one

Cub starter and Springfield, IL native Ryan O’Malley left the fifth inning with a strained elbow in his second MLB start and his Wrigley Field debut today. O’Malley looked good in his first start pitching 8 shutout innings against Houston. The game is still in progress but there isn’t much hope as the Phils have … Continue reading “Can’t blame Dusty for this one”

Cub starter and Springfield, IL native Ryan O’Malley left the fifth inning with a strained elbow in his second MLB start and his Wrigley Field debut today.

O’Malley looked good in his first start pitching 8 shutout innings against Houston.

The game is still in progress but there isn’t much hope as the Phils have a 6-3 in the 9th.

8/18/06 Linescore of the Day: Ryan Zimmerman

3 for 5, HR, run, 5 rbi Rookie 3B Ryan Zimmerman was the first draft pick from 2005 to be signed. So far, he hasn’t disappointed. He was definitely the force behind the Washington 6–4 win over the Phils. Alfonso Soriano stole his 30th base giving him 39 homers and 30 steals, making him the … Continue reading “8/18/06 Linescore of the Day: Ryan Zimmerman”

3 for 5, HR, run, 5 rbi

Rookie 3B Ryan Zimmerman was the first draft pick from 2005 to be signed. So far, he hasn’t disappointed.

He was definitely the force behind the Washington 6–4 win over the Phils.

Alfonso Soriano stole his 30th base giving him 39 homers and 30 steals, making him the third player in MLB history to have 4 30-30 seasons.

ROY watch

For those of you paying special attention to the rookies this year (as a APBA Leaguer, I know *I* am), here is something you might want to take a good look at. Bryan Smith of Baseball Analysts is summarizing those rookies who are in contention for Rookie of the Year. Check out his article entitled, … Continue reading “ROY watch”

For those of you paying special attention to the rookies this year (as a APBA Leaguer, I know *I* am), here is something you might want to take a good look at.

Bryan Smith of Baseball Analysts is summarizing those rookies who are in contention for Rookie of the Year.

Check out his article entitled, NL Rookie Countdown

I’m assuming an AL verison is upcoming.

Rookie Watch: Ryan O’Malley

I should take my coffee break more often. See, all the professors in the department where I work were congregating for their normal 10am coffee break. Knowing my interest in baseball and my blog, they waved me in like they had something really important to tell me. Turns out one prof has a cousin whose … Continue reading “Rookie Watch: Ryan O’Malley”

I should take my coffee break more often.

See, all the professors in the department where I work were congregating for their normal 10am coffee break. Knowing my interest in baseball and my blog, they waved me in like they had something really important to tell me.

Turns out one prof has a cousin whose kid is going to make his debut for the Cubs today. Ryan O’Malley? Turns out he’s a Springfield product from Sacred Heart-Griffin. He says O’Malley was an All-Stater while there.

Of course, if you paid any attention to the boxscores you know what he did against the Astros. Oh what the heck. Let’s post them, anyway.

8 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 6 BB, 2 K (Win)

If he can keep this up for the foreseeable future (read: next year and beyond), this is a shot in the arm for the Cubs’ pitching staff. But one game at a time. And this is a great start.

Here are his college and minor league numbers. They look real good except for the first two times he played at Iowa (he didn’t pitch a lot either time so it just may be indicative of small data sampling). His Iowa numbers looked better in ’06.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing more of Ryan. With the loss of Wood and Prior, now is the time to evaluate the Cubs’ pitching talent. From what he did against the Astros, O’Malley has shown he may some.