Minor League Recap 7/30

Written by Greg Fertel | 30 July 2008

Scranton silences Syracuse, 6-0

Chase Wright made his first start since his promotion to AA, and was great. In 6 shutout innings, the 25 year-old lefty gave up just 1 hit and 3 walks, and struck out 4. He also got 11 groundball outs against 3 flyouts, a very encouraging sign for a guy who once gave up 4 consecutive home runs.
Mark Melancon made his AAA debut in style, pitching 2 perfect innings and throwing only 19 pitches, 15 for strikes. While he has thrown a lot of innings this year (77), I have heard that he has been keeping his pitch counts low, so he may not need to be shut down anytime soon. Could he come up to fill Kyle Farnsworth's spot in the bullpen? Possibly, but I think Brian Bruney and Chris Britton could be ahead of him.
Scott Strickland continued his great pitching with a perfect 9th, lowering his ERA to 2.15.
Brett Gardner was 2 for 4 with a double and a walk.
Matt Carson was 3 for 5 with a triple to raise his average to .311.
Juan Miranda was 1 for 3 with 2 walks, and also stole his first base of the season.
Ben Broussard and Eric Duncan were each 1 for 4 with a walk. Duncan also made an error, his 8th of the season.
Alberto Gonzalez was 1 for 5 with his 4th homer.
Chris Stewart was 1 for 2 before being ejected.
JD Closser replaced Stewart, going 1 for 3 with a 2-run shot.

Trenton tops Altoona, 6-3

Steven White started, his first outing since his demotion, and was mediocre. In 2 2/3 innings, White gave up 3 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 2. Hard to believe that this guy was once the top pitching prospect in the Yankees' organization. Those were dark times for the system.
Phil Coke, apparently in the bullpen to control his innings (he's up to 120 1/3 on the year), gave up 2 hits in a scoreless inning.
Jose Valdez struck out 4 in 3 shutout innings to get the save.
Reegie Corona and Austin Jackson were each 0 for 4. Jackson's average dropped to .289.
Colin Curtis was 1 for 4.
Edwar Gonzalez was 2 for 3 with a double.
Walter Ibarra wass 2 for 4 with a homer.
Seth Cooper was 1 for 1 with a walk and sac fly.

Tampa loses to Lakeland, 6-5 (10 innings)

Ivan Nova got the start, and didn't pitch very well. In 4 1/3 innings, Nova gave up 4 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks, and struck out 2.
Eduardo Nunez and Mitch Hilligoss were each 1 for 5 with a double.
Kevin Smith were 2 for 5.
Josh Kreuzer was 1 for 4 with a double and a walk.
Tom Baldridge was 2 for 4 with a walk.
Chris Kunda was 1 for 4.
Tim Battle was 1 for 5.

Charleston edges Asheville, 6-5

Dellin Betances got the start, and wasn't great. In 4 2/3 innings, Betances gave up 4 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits and 2 walks, and struck out 4.
Craig Heyer pitched 3 1/3 perfect innings.
Jonathan Ortiz blew the save by giving up a run on 2 hits, but got the win as the Riverdogs scored in the bottom of the 9th.
Justin Snyder was 1 for 3 with a walk to raise his average to .289.
Brad Suttle was 2 for 4 with a double to get his average up to .286.
Austin Romine was 1 for 3 with a walk to raise his average to .276.
Jesus Montero was 2 for 4 with his 11th homer of the season. His average is up to .311 on the season.
Austin Krum was 2 for 3, hitting a walkoff home run in the bottom of the 9th.

Staten Island loses to Lowell, 5-2

Luke Greinke fell to 0-6 after giving up 3 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks in 5 innings. He hasn't pitched that badly this season, with a 4.01 ERA, but he has not gotten much run support.
Addison Maruszak and David Adams were each 0 for 4.
Brian Baisley and Raymond Kruml were each 1 for 4.
Mike Lyon and Jahdiel Santamaria were both 1 for 4 with a double.
Daniel Brewer was 2 for 3 with a double and a walk.
Taylor Grote was 0 for 2, but he did walk twice.

GCL Yanks shut out by Phillies, 10-0 (completed after 5 1/3 innings because of rain)

Chris Garcia got the start, and was dreadful, giving up 6 runs on 7 hits in 3 innings of work, and striking out 4. He also hit 4 batters, giving an idea that his control was way off, even if he didn't walk anybody.
Manuel Banuelos struck out the side in a perfect inning of work.
Corban Joseph had the only Yankee hit, going 1 for 2 with a double to raise his average to .287. The extra-base hits keep on coming for the 2nd baseman from Franklin, Tennessee.
Francisco Cervelli and Wady Rufino were both 0 for 2 in rehab stints.

In other news, the Yankees added another prospect to the system (albeit not a major one) in Matt Cusick, a 2nd baseman from the Astro's organization, who they acquired for Latroy Hawkins. Cusick, a 10th-round pick out of USC (a former teammate of Ian Kennedy) in 2007, is hitting .285/.356/.462 in the low-A SAL league, and will likely join the Charleston Riverdogs in the same league. He seems to be a similar type of player to Justin Snyder, hitting for average and showing good plate discipline without having much power. Cusick and Snyder will compete for playing time unless one of them is promoted to Tampa or sent to Staten Island (though that would block David Adams, so that is unlikely). There is a scouting report of Cusick from 2007 in the milb draft reports here, for those of you who are interested. It mentions that he has solid bat-control skills, ability to hit for average, excellent plate discipline, and outstanding makeup. At very least he will be a solid organizational player, but if all goes right for him he could be a solid major league contributor. He's not much of a prospect (probably borderline for the top 30), but getting anything for Latroy Hawkins was nice. Brian Cashman has had a nice trading period so far, and he may not be done. Chad Jennings is reporting that Alan Horne has been suffering from a dead arm, and will be going down to Tampa to get it checked out and taken care of. This is not a good sign for Horne, who has had a frustrating, injury-filled season. At this point, he has virtually no shot of making it to the majors this season, as he was predicted to do in the offseason. Tough luck for Horne, but I hope he gets healthy and back to throwing like we know he can. Also, for those draftheads out there who are already looking ahead to 2009, Saberscouting has put together a top 30 list of the best high school prospects for the '09 draft. Check it out, if you dare.