Ask Baseball America By James Bailey
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June 29, 2000So, the crazy day has finally arrived. Mr. Rocker goes to New York. What's the over-under on how many Duracells get smuggled into Shea this weekend? I suppose the whole thing might be interesting if we weren't quite so tired of hearing about the Rocker story over and over for the last six months. We finally have some hope that the Elian Gonzalez saga will fade away from the front page, but I really am not so optimistic with the Rocker circus. A couple of years ago, a fellow BA staffer witnessed an exchange between then-Richmond lefthander Rocker and some fans at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The fans were ragging him about something, perhaps the way he relaxes by doing challenging calculus equations to pass the time in the bullpen. Finally, after Rocker had heard just about enough, he replied to the fans something along the lines of, "A pox on you, my friends. But soon I shall be pitching in the major leagues and perhaps you will watch me on your television. I'm going to try earnestly and make a fine career for myself, while you remain here harassing other innocent baseball players." That might not have been the exact quote, but it went pretty much along those lines. I believe our friends up at Shea will be in for more of the same this weekend. As for the rest of us, it's time for some Ask BA. And we'll start with a question that is obviously on a lot of people's minds, because I've seen it from at least four people this week. I'm a big Dodgers fan, and I have been waiting for the short-season leagues to start. The reason being is that I can't wait to see Jason Repko in action. To my surprise the league started last week and he hasn't appeared in any of the box scores. Is he hurt, or what is the deal? Please help. Nicholas Millard, Manteca, Calif. Repko missed time with a hamstring tear this spring and the Dodgers are bringing him along slowly at Yakima in the short-season Northwest League. He's day-to-day and will probably return to the lineup sometime in the next week, but the Dodgers want to be cautious to avoid having him reinjure his leg. Any predictions on players you think will have monster second halves? Thanks, Kevin I really have to think that several of our highly ranked prospects who have struggled thus far will break out, but that's kind of taking the cheap way out. So, without relying on Sean Burroughs, Corey Patterson and Vernon Wells, I'll look for players who weren't ranked among the first 10 in our Top 100 Prospects list--like No. 11 Dee Brown. Brown has already started to heat up, and his resurgence seems to have been sparked by a late-May suspension where the Royals sent him back to extended spring training for a few days. He returned to action June 1 and is hitting .301 with seven homers and 19 RBIs in the month of June. I think he will continue to hit like that throughout the second half because he is simply a better player than he showed over the first two months. I would be surprised if righthander Adrian Hernandez did not dominate the Eastern League, assuming he's left at Double-A Norwich long. El Duquecito is 4-1 with a 4.18 ERA there after five starts and has struck out 38 in 28 innings. He should just be getting back into his groove about now after not playing since he defected from Cuba in the winter. Shortstop Felipe Lopez and second baseman Mike Young have both been holding their own at Double-A Tennessee thus far this season, but they are capable of much better. Lopez is hitting .256 with six homers and 23 RBIs after making the jump from low Class A Hagerstown. He has cut down some on his strikeouts, but he's also proving very difficult to walk. After drawing 61 bases on balls last year, Lopez has just 11 this season. If he can find a little more patience in the second half the rest of his offense should improve. Young is hitting .286 with six homers and 46 RBIs. Last year he batted .313 in the Florida State League and stole 30 bases. I'm not sure about monster second halves, but I'd expect to see some pretty good numbers from several others as well, like Triple-A Charlotte outfielder McKay Christensen, Double-A New Haven outfielder Jake Weber, Class A Macon second baseman Pat Manning, Class A Savannah righthander Ryan Dittfurth and Rookie-level Kingsport shortstop Enrique Cruz. The Mets pushed Cruz to Class A Capital City to start the season, but he struggled there, hitting .185 in 157 at-bats. The No. 7 prospect in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League last season, he gets a fresh start at Kingsport and should benefit from the exposure to some better pitching earlier in the year. In the second round of the 1999 draft the Brewers selected catcher Kade Johnson. I heard they signed him but I cannot find his name anywhere in their organization or any other. Can you give me any info on where he is? Rbrazgel@deltamed.net Johnson reported to spring training with a rotator cuff injury. He had surgery this spring and is expected to miss the entire season. Earlier in the year, I had heard that Phillies prospect ReggieTaylor was going to miss the season with an injury. Now I see that he's back up and playing for their Triple-A affiliate and doing quite well. Can we consider this a break-out year yet? Fred Royal Oak, Mich. Taylor is hitting well at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, batting .336 with 17 extra-base hits (six doubles, five triples, six homers) in 134 at-bats. That part looks great. The 26-to-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio, however, does not. Taylor has always been a tools guy, and his slow march through the Phillies system looks like it might finally end with him becoming a major league player. There have been several times that looked like it might not be the case since he was drafted in the first round in 1995. But for him to really arrive, he's going to have to start showing better control of the strike zone and take a walk more than once a week. And if he doesn't start drawing free passes at a significantly higher rate, I'll predict he finishes the season with a sub-.300 average (probably somewhere near the .266 he hit last year). I am looking for some information on Nate Grindell. How old is he? What do you think about him? His stats look really good. Tom Grindell, 23, signed as a nondrafted free agent with the Indians in 1998 after attending Hill (Texas) JC. Last year at short-season Mahoning Valley, he batted .315 with 20 doubles, five homers and 47 RBIs in 267 at-bats. This year he's showing even better power with 20 doubles and 15 homers in 287 at-bats at Class A Columbus. He's hitting .296 and ranks among the leaders in the South Atlantic League with 60 RBIs. I really don't know a whole lot else about Grindell, except that he likes birds. If you want to learn more about his favorite pets, check out this story from the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. Directory: mlb mlb -> By Ken Gurnick mlb -> Los angeles dodgers clips mlb -> 2010 – What’s the name of the umpire whose errant call cost the Tigers’ Armando Galarraga a perfect game in 2010? (Jim Joyce) gabp mlb -> Wednesday, September 23, 2015 headlines: Verrett stumbles in the fifth as Mets lose to Braves 6-2 mlb -> All-Star History In what city was the first All-Game played? (Chicago, 1933) Baseball & Pop Culture mlb -> Los angeles dodgers clips mlb -> Los angeles dodgers clips mlb -> Los angeles dodgers clips mlb -> The Impact of Television Revenue on Major League Baseball mlb -> Los angeles dodgers clips Download 1 Mb. Share with your friends:
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