myworldofbaseball

The World Univesity Games are being played in Japan and the results so far have not been worth talking about.  For the opener the United States routed Sri Lanka 15-0.  The next day, the Canadians got their chance at Sri Lanka and beat them 18-0.  Myworld was a bit surprised that the Cubans thrashed the Koreans 18-0.  Japan then beat China 15-0.

You can follow the results at http://www.wubc2010.jp/ and if you want to read some results from someone attending the games you can go to http://yakyubaka.com/.  He reports on the 20th World Children’s Baseball Fair that opened up in Tokyo.  The kids got to listen to homerun champ Sadaharu Oh, plus a taped message from President Barack Obama.  The kids also got to chase foul balls from the Japan versus China game.   You can check out their website at http://www.wcbf.or.jp/english/e_index.html.   

The Minnesota Twins New Britain Rock Cats may be the worst assembled cast of characters in the minor leagues.  They are probably the worst team in the minor leagues with a 30-77 record and have almost a circus like atmosphere about them, with the seven foot, one inch Loek Van Mil being the tallest player in baseball and the five foot three inch Chris Cates being the smallest.  During the national anthem, as they lined up in front of the dugout, they attempted to stay as far away from each other as possible.  Mil is struggling with an ERA of 8.10.  He’s given up 37 hits in just over 23 innings pitched, walking 15 while striking out 15.  That is an ugly 2.23 WHIP.  Cain is hitting .197 and can’t win a starting job from a shortstop who is hitting .151, with 13 errors and an 0 for 6 success rate in stolen bases.

The Bay Sox beat the Rock Cats 8-5.  Their left side of the infield Yancarlos Ortiz and Estarlin de los Santos combined for four errors, allowing three unearned runs to score, proving the difference in the ball game.  Ben Revere appeared to be out of place with this group, ripped off four hits in five at bats.  He appears to be a bit on the small side.  Joe Benson crushed his 17th homer, which is closing in on his four year career minor league total.  Calling anyone else a prospect on this team would be a real stretch of the imagination. 

The Bay Sox started Davey Johnson’s son Steve Johnson.  He doesn’t have great stuff, but perhaps he can rely on his dad’s moxy and give himself a brief major league career.  He battled it out for five innings, giving up eight hits and raising his ERA to 5.47.  His fastball is below average, but he mixes in a lot of different pitches, none of them awe inspiring. 

Pedro Beato came on in the ninth to pick up his 11th save.  He doesn’t have the one dominating stuff to be a closer, but his fastball has decent velocity and his curveball has a decent break.  There was still a bit of inconsistency in the break, but he did strike out the last hitter with three straight breaking balls.  The Orioles made him a supplemental number one pick in 2006 after the Mets had drafted him in the 17th round and couldn’t sign him as a draft and follow.  Pedro couldn’t find success in the starting rotation and appears to be making his mark in the bullpen. 

Ryan Adams clubbed his tenth homerun and is a scrappy little player.  He needs to glue his shirt to his jock strap.  His uniform shirt is always hanging out and his pants are caked in dirt.  Joseph Mahoney got a hit in his last at bat to keep his average above .400 (.408).  He has a great glove and deceptive speed for a big guy. 

The Bay Sox also debuted Wynn Pelzer who was recently traded by the Padres for Miguel Tejeda.  He throws hard with a funky delivery that is all arms and elbows.  The Rock Cats seemed to have difficulty tracking his ball, swinging late at many of his fastballs.  He did give up the bomb to Joe Benson, but also had three whiffs in two innings of work.  He was mainly a starter for the Padres.   

You have to win the games when they count.  Cuba lost their last two pool games to the Netherlands and South Korea.  The United States went undefeated in pool play.  The seedings then had the Cubans starting play against the United States.  The Cubans went with their ace Omar Luis, who pitched a complete game throwing 145 pitches, winning his second.  The United States went with A.J. Vanegas, who went eight innings striking out 13 and throwing 104 pitches.  The Cubans won it in the ninth after Philip Pfeifer relieved Vanegas and walked the lead off batter.  Lazaro Hernandez then tripled to make it 3-2.  He was later thrown out trying to steal home.  Guillermo Aviles had gotten the scoring started for Cuba with a booming homerun in the first inning to set the tone.  It will be interesting to see if Cuba has enough depth in their rotation to advance to the finals. 

The local team from Canada easily disposed of Italy 11-1.  After Italy had scored in the opening frame, Canada erupted for a big five spot, Philip Diedrick ripping a 3-run double and Rowan Wick blasting a 2-run homer.  Italy was never in the game after that.  Jonathan Paquet went six innings to get the win.  Wick also hit a 2-run homer in the fifth.

Taiwan beat the Netherlands 4-2, led by the bat of lead off hitter Tzu Wei Lin who crushed a 3-run homer in the seventh to give the Taiwan team a 4-2 lead.  He had also scored the first run the previous inning by drawing a lead off walk.  Chun Lin Kuo had a phenomenal pitching performance, striking out 18 in a complete game victory.  He finished the game with 170 pitches.

Venezuela battered the Czech Republic pitching staff for 18 hits in their 9-6 win.  Jose Duarte bashed four of the hits, including a homerun and double that assisted him in driving three of Venezuela’s nine runs. 

Panama made it a European sweep with a 5-3 win over France.  Australia beat South Korea 5-4. 

Rain continues to play havoc in Germany for the final rounds of the European championships.  It is not like they have all summer to finish this tournament, but many of these ballplayers have real jobs to go to, so they can’t wait it out until the rains stop to continue play.  The casualties from the rain are that the classification games to determine eleventh and ninth place will not be played.  Ukraine and Croatia will share the eleventh place and Belgium and Spain will share ninth.  These finishes are important for seedings and placements for the next European championships which are scheduled for Netherlands in 2012.

The seventh place game was played between the Czech Republic and Great Britain and the Czechs pulled a mild upset with a 8-4 win.  The Great Britain team is in a bit of disarray, and the popularity for baseball in the Czech Republic is growing, so the results should not be a great surprise.  The seventh place finish allows the Czechs to automatically qualify for the 2012 European championships.  Jacub Hajtmar and Karel Hrusovsky drove in two runs apiece and Michal Ondracek scored three times to lead the Czech offense.  Karel crushed a solo homer in the second to tie the game at 2-2 and the Hajtamr 2-run single in the third put the Czech team up for good 4-3.  Petr Minarik pitched the last four plus innings to pick up the victory, giving up two hits and striking out four.

After upsetting Italy, Sweden continued their good play by nipping France 3-2.  Rickard Reimer slugged a 2-run homer in the sixth to put Sweden up 3-1 and they held on for the victory.  France scored a run without benefit of a hit in the eighth, tallying three walks, a hit by pitch and an error to load the bases, but Nicholas Soubiea was able to get a fly out to end the threat, then retired the French in order in the ninth to get the save.  Jakob Klassen pitched the first seven innings and got the win, despite walking six hitters.

Italy continued with their homer happy ways, crushing the French 9-2 and knocking the wind from them.  Tony Granato hit a 2-run homer in the fifth and Jairo Ramos Gizzi a 2-run shot in the seventh to allow Italy to run away with the game.  The only runs scored by France were solo homeruns from Kenji Hagiwara and Robin Allemand.  Carlos Richetti got the victory, going seven innings and giving just the one run and striking out 10.  He gave up only three hits and didn’t walk a batter. 

The Netherlands shut out Greece 10-0.  Rob Cordemans got his second tournament victory by going six innings and Raily Legito and Dwayne Kemp went deep to combine for four runs to lead Netherlands.  Eugene Kingsale scored three times from the lead off spot without the benefit of a hit. 

The Netherlands then burst the Swedish bubble with a 15-0 spanking.  Sidney de Jong and Railey Legito each drove in three runs, with de Jongs RBIs courtesy of a 3-run homer in the first inning.  David Bergamn cruised to a complete game victory.       

In a key battle for second place, Germany could not pull the upset in front of their home fans, giving Italy a good fight but falling short 8-6.  Italy rallied for four runs in the eighth, sparked by a German error by the pitcher on a sacrifice bunt attempt.  For the first game in the tournament, Italy went without a homer.  Germany had two, from Edward Martinez and Dominik Wulf.  Jairo Ramos Gizzi was the big RBI man for Italy with three.  Marco Grifantini pitched the last two innings of shutout ball to get the win, striking out four.

Below are the standings, which had games from pool play with the playoff opponents carried over to the standings.

1. Netherlands 4-0
2. Italy 3-1
3. Germany 2-2
4. Sweden 2-2
5. Greece 1-3
6. France 0-4

As always you can get more complete reports on the action at http://www.mister-baseball.com/ and http://www.baseball-em.de/category/english/.  These sites also come with cool pictures, which this site lacks, but hey, you can’t have it all.

Oriente, from Nuevo Laredo advanced to the Little League World Series in Williamsport as the Mexican representative.  They were the only team of 12 in pool play that remained undefeated at 5-0.  In the playoffs they were upset by Satellite from Juarez, 4-3.  Oriente had beaten Satellite in pool play 6-2.  Advancing from the losers bracket Oriente was able to defeat Satellite twice 7-0, and 3-1 to win the championship.

In the Middle East/African tournament, the Saudi Arabia team (composed of American little leaguers) advanced to Williamsport with a 12-0 drubbing of Kuwait in the finals.  Uganda beat the United Arab Emirates 7-1 to take third place.  Uganda was the only team to beat Saudi Arabia in pool play 9-3.  The games were played in Poland even though there was no Polish representative.

Kaohsiung, Taiwan has already qualified from the Asia series, while Japan is represented by Tokyo’s Edogawa Minami Little League.  The Caribbean is represented by Jose Rodriguez Little League in Puerto Rico.  Still to be decided is Latin America, Canada, Europe and the eight representatives of the United States regions.     

The Yakult Swallows Yoshinori Sato is another pitcher to keep an eye on in Japan.  He pitched a complete game 9-3 victory over the Hiroshima Carp today, but he also tied a record for fastball velocity by a Japanese pitcher in the NPB, hitting 158 twice, the equivalent of 98 miles per hour.  He struck out seven.  Sato evened his record to 6-6 with an ERA of 4.31.  Last year he was 5-10 with a 3.21 ERA.  He still has command issues with a 46/73 walk to whiff ratio in 94 innings and despite his velocity hitters do not have too much trouble making contact.  He stands only 5′10″ and weighs just 168 so the velocity he shows in his fastball is amazing from such a small frame.

In a high school tournament in 2007 Sato threw 226 pitches in a 15 inning 0-0 tie game.  The next day he pitched, throwing 148 pitches in his team’s 6-2 win.  Amazing he still has an arm after that work load.  He broke the high school baseball championship record for hitting 96 miles per hour on the radar gun.    

Six teams selected him as a first round pick in 2007, but the Swallows drew the winning number, depriving the Yomiuri Giants from having him.  If he still has an arm, major league teams will have to wait until his late 20s before they can consider signing him.

Sweden upset Italy 3-2 to make the European championship playoffs.  For Italy, they had already clinched first place in their pool.  Sweden jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead, highlighted in the second inning with back to back homeruns from Bjoern Johannessen and Rickard Leander.  In the sixth Italy countered with back to back homers from Mario Chiarini and Giuseppe Mazzanti.  Italy had the tying run thrown out at third in the top of the seventh, resulting in the ejection of Italy’s manager.  Sweden’s closer Nicholas Soubiea pitched the last three innings to pick up the save.  Joakim Klasson started the game and got his second win, going six innings.

Spain was left out of the playoffs as a result of the Swedish victory. 

In the opening round of the playoffs Germany scored eight runs in the eighth inning to run away from Greece in a 17-8 victory.  DH Chris Howard drove in six with two homeruns, 3-run shots in the fourth and eighth.  Both Ludwig Glaser and Sascha Lutz went 4 for 4, with Glaser driving in five runs and Lutz scoring four times.

You can get all the news on the European championship at http://www.mister-baseball.com/ and http://www.baseball-em.de/category/english/   

Scott Olson came back from the disabled list and made a successful return, pitching the Nationals to a 5-3 win over the Braves, allowing the Nationals to win the series.  Olson went six innings and had better velocity than myworld has ever seen from him, hitting the radar guns at 91.  Myworld has never seen him hit the low 90s except for when he pitched at AA.  He gave up three runs in six innings of work, two of the runs the result of a Matt Diaz homerun.  Matt has a tendency to crush lefties.  A rain storm that delayed the game also ended Olson’s work on the mound.

The Nationals took a 1-0 lead when Adam Dunn doubled to lead off the second.  He advanced to third on a ground out and when Morse hit a grounder to shortstop Omar Infante, Dunn scored after Omar had trouble getting the ball out of his glove.  Omar took the saft play at first.  With two out Ian Desmond then popped a ball over the left field wall to make it 2-0.

After the Braves tied it 2-2 on the Matt Diaz homerun, the Nationals took the lead again on a Wil Nieves infield in 2-run single that he punched over the shortstop.  Both Mike Morse and Ian Desmond scored.  Desmond had hit a ground rule double that would have scored Morse if the ball had not bounded over the fence into the stands.

The Braves scored one more in the sixth after a passed ball advance Matt Diaz to second.  He scored on a Omar Infante single.  Olson was able to retire the Braves with no damage after that, but then the rains came to delay the game.

The bullpen of Sean Burnett, Drew Storen and Matt Capps were able to easily dispose of the Braves in the last three innings.  For Capps he got his 26th save, fourth in the National League.  Adam Dunn hit a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth to give the Nationals an extra run to work with.  There is always a comforting factor to give Capps that extra run when he comes in for the save.  He never makes it easy, although he retired the Braves in order in this game.

Game Notes: Mike Morse was quite busy out in right field, getting 8 putouts.  He also played a ball hit down the line where he had an opportunity to nail the slow footed David Ross at second, but he allowed the ball to skip past him turning it into a triple.  He got a rare start against a righthanded pitcher.  If Mike can continue to keep his average at .340 he will get more starts.  Derek Lowe stayed in the high 80s through most of the game.  There was a time when Derek consistently hit the low 90s, but it appears he’s lost a bit on the fastball.  Troy Glaus looks like a wounded bull running the bases.  Even my knees ache when I watch him run.          

The Pirates did not have a lot of success with their number ones in the late 90s and the start of the new century because of their emphasis of drafting pitchers.  Those pitchers had trouble staying healthy.  After a number of arm surgeries the Pirates have nothing to show for those draft picks.  The recent history has seemed to change that and with Pedro Alvarez, Andrew McCutchen and their recent pick Jameson Taillon things are starting to look up for the franchise.  They have also gotten a break out year from Neil Walker, who started his year as a catcher, but moved to third base to hasten his development.  That didn’t work as he forgot how to hit, but once promoted to the major leagues he’s found himself in the .300 neighborhood, something he rarely saw when he was in the minor leagues.

2005

Andrew McCutchen OF -Myworld loves this guy.  He can hit, plays good defense and he steals bases.  The Pirates got their money’s worth when they signed him for $1.9 million.  He is currently hitting .288, which is two points above his 2009 average.  The only concern is that his slugging numbers have dropped quite a bit from the previous year.  

2006

Brad Lincoln RHP - Brad got his first taste of the major leagues in 2010 after signing for $2,75 million.  Prior to 2010 he hasn’t shone particularly impressive numbers.  Pitching for AAA this year he was 6-2, 3.16 which earned him a promotion to the Pirates.  With Pittsburgh he is 1-4, 6.57, so the transition has had its hiccups.  Brad is one of many Pirate pitchers that had to have Tommy John surgery, forcing him to miss the 2007 season.  As a pitcher drafted in the first round out of college he should already be established in the major leagues if not for the injury.  Clayton Kershaw, Daniel Bard, Brandon Morrow and Tim Lincecum, other pitchers taken in the first round from the 2006 draft have certainly made an impact. 

2007

Danny Moskos LHP -If you had to pick one of two players to build your franchise, Matt Wieters or Danny Moskos, which would you choose?  The Pirates chose Moskos.  Wieters is now a major league catcher with the Baltimore Orioles.  Moskos has been moved to relief and is pitching in AAA International after having some success in the Eastern League (1.45).  That success has not transferred to AAA (6.08).  The selection of Moskos over Wieters was purely economic and sometimes you get what you pay for.  Moskos fastball resides in the high 80s, but used to be in the mid-90s when the Pirates drafted him.  He lost the stuff that he had when he was the number one pick and Pirate fans can only hope that he finds it so they can get something for this selection.  

2008

Pedro Alvarez 3B - The Pirates did not go cheap with Pedro, picking the best player available and signing him for a $6 million bonus.  While his defense has always been questioned, putting in doubt his ability to play long term at third base, he has reached the major leagues as a third baseman.  But then Jim Thome was a third baseman for a couple years with the Cleveland Indians.  Time will tell if it will last.  He may not hit for average, but as was exhibited in his back to back two homer games in the major leagues he has tremendous power.  He should be the Pirates RBI machine of the future, until he gets to free agency where the Yankees will finally grab him.  After hitting .277 with 13 homeruns in AAA the Pirates finally chose to promote him where his average is .244 with seven homeruns in 36 games.  In AAA he hit lefthanded pitching much better than righthanded (.323/261) but this has not been the case in the majors.  He needs to improve on his .193 average against lefthanders.

2009

Tony Sanchez C - There are some that believe that this was another of those economical picks, especially since the Pirates also had a supplemental pick to sign.  Tony signed for $2.5 million, which was a couple hundred thousand below the slot.  He’s also done well from a production standpoint, hitting .309 last year at three different levels and hitting .314 in the Florida State League.  He’s been out since late June with a broken jaw.  Initially it was assessed that he would miss 6-8 weeks, but the latest report has him missing the rest of the season.  At least it is not arm surgery.   

Victor Black RHP - Their first ever supplemental pick for their failure to sign second round pick Tanner Scheppers.  Normally, having more than one number one pick will usually mean shelling out large contracts, and as a small market team that is not the way the Pirates like to do things.  After signing Sanchez for below slot, they signed Black for slot at $717,000.  He throws hard, but does not have the stuff or future potential of Scheppers.  His best fit may be the bullpen because outside of a mid-90s fastball his other pitchers are lacking.  Black pitched well last year, finishing with a 3.45 ERA.  This year has been a typical year for a Pirate pitcher.  His season was delayed as he nursed an oblique injury and after two starts and a 9.64 ERA he was placed on the disabled list.  He hasn’t been seen since. 

Other Pirate Minor Leaguers

Zack Von Rosenberg RHP - The Pirates drafted him in the sixth round and signed him for an above slot $1.2 million.  He has made eight starts with unimpressive results, going 1-5, 4.65 with an opponent average of .290.  At 6′5″ his low 90s fastball is expected to increase in velocity and with enough innings his curveball and change should gain enough consistency to be plus pitches.  He is a big game winner, winning four straight high school state championship games in Louisiana.

Colton Cain LHP - An eighth rounder in 2009 who also signed an above slot bonus of over $1.15 million, he signed too late to pitch last year.  He has recently joined Zack at State College and after two relief appearances pitched two solid starts.  At two levels his ERA sits at 3.47 with an opponent average of .198.  His fastball is low 90s with a curve having the potential to be a plus pitch.  He needs to find a change to fit in his repertoire.

Brock Holt SS - He was making things look easy in the Florida State League, hitting .351, but a collision with a teammate has resulted in knee surgery.  He will miss the remainder of the 2010 season.

Gift Ngoepe 2B - He grew up in South Africa, living with his mom in the clubhouse of a local baseball team.  Now he is playing with the Pirates and hitting .271.  You can read about him here: http://myworldofbaseball.com/wordpress/?p=2117

Dinesh Patel and Rinku Singh - No prospect list of the Pirates can be complete without an update of their two pitchers from India.  You can read about them here: http://myworldofbaseball.com/wordpress/?p=722. While they are not really prospects, they are athletes and could develop.  Patel has a 3.38 ERA in five bullpen appearances in the rookie Gulf Coast League, but the opposition is hitting him at a .348 clip.  Singh is doing a bit better with a 1.80 ERA in seven appearances at the same level with an opposition average of .243.  He also has more strikeouts than innings pitched, so as a prospect he may be separating himself from Patel.  At 6′2″ Singh has more of a pitchers frame than the 5′11″ Patel.  Singh also throws lefthanded, so he will be given more opportunities.    

What is it about the Netherlands and Cuba.  They always seem to have an upset in store.  For Cuba it was their second loss in a row, after being upset by South Korea the previous day 5-3.  Cuba now has to do battle with the undefeated United States in their opening playoff round.  The Netherlands meanwhile were on a two game winning streak, after being stomped in their first two games.  Cuba jumped out to a 7-0 lead before the Netherlands erupted for six runs in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game.  In the extra inning frame, Cuba chose not to bunt and a double play ended any chance of them scoring.  A wild pitch advanced the two placed runners for Netherlands to third and second, but two Ks and an intentional walk loaded the bases with two outs.  The Netherlands won the game on a walk.  With the victory the Netherlands play Taiwan for their first playoff encounter. 

The final pool play standings for the Thunder Bay.  The top four teams made the playoffs.

Pool A

United States (5-0)

Taiwan (4-1)

Australia (3-2)

Italy (2-3)

Venezuela (1-4)

France (0-5)

Pool B

Canada (4-1)

South Korea (4-1)

Cuba (3-2)

Netherlands (3-2)

Panama (1-4)

Czech Republic (0-5)