Sea Dogs stacked with Prospects

Here's a good article about all the prospects on the 2010 Sea Dogs, with a nice comparison to the 2005 team.

We'll see. I'm not saying that this isn't a stacked team, but having "10 of the top 20 prospects in the organization, including seven of the top ten" is all relative. I think that 2005 pool was really really good.

Losing Ugly

My first Sea Dogs game of the season last night, and it got ugly quick. The second batter of the game hit a two-run home run, and the Binghamton Mets never trailed after that. Starter Ryne Miller had nothing, giving up five hits and four walks in three innings, though he did manage to strike out five. He also managed to walk the bases loaded and then clear them with a grand slam courtesy of Jose Coronado. The bullpen didn't fare any better, and manager Arnie Beyler decided that second baseman Nate Spears would be a good option in the ninth. He wasn't, and Kirk Nieuwenhuis unloaded one of the longest home runs you'll ever see to cap off the scoring.

Nieuwenhuis, with five hits, nearly matched the Sea Dogs total of six. Ryan Kalish had two hits to lead the Portland "attack." I was excited to see Lars Anderson hit, because early indications are that he's bounced back from his horrible season last year. But he looked just the same to me, with a walk worked in between two groundouts and a strike out. Highly-touted Cuban shortstop Jose Iglesias was a disappointment, hacking his way to three strikeouts in four at bats.

At least the weather was nice.

2010 Sea Dogs Loaded with Prospects

The new season is upon us, and the Portland Sea Dogs are once again stocked with many of Boston's top minor leaguers. Top prospects returning for another go-round, at least to start the year, are first baseman Lars Anderson and outfielder Ryan Kalish. Joining them are highly-touted pitcher Casey Kelly and Cuban import shortstop Jose Iglesias. This exciting core will be complemented by lesser prospects like Yamaico Navarro (moving to third base to accomodate Iglesias), and starting pitchers Steven Fife and Felix Doubront, among others.

The beginning of the season should be a fun time to watch the Sea Dogs. If guys like Anderson, Kalish or Doubront start off strong, they will probably be moved up to AAA by mid-season, but the new arrivals will likely be in town all season.

Drabek Stymies Sea Dogs

Better than Halladay?

Kyle Drabek made a name for himself this summer as being a pitcher that the Philadelphia Phillies were unwilling to trade to the Toronto Blue Jays for ace Roy Halladay. Thursday night at Hadlock Field he demonstrated why that might be, throwing seven shutout innings in Reading's 6-0 victory over the Portland Sea Dogs.

Drabek is still just 21 years old, but pitching well in his first taste of AA. He mixes hard off-speed stuff with a tantalizing, mid-90's fastball (topping out at 96 mph on Thursday). By "tantalizing," I mean that he got several Sea Dogs batters to chase his four-seamer, resulting in several popups, if not outright swings and misses. His offspeed stuff was effective, if less impressive. He's got a curveball (I think) that he throws in the low-mid 80's, which he spotted well. With his stuff, I would expect more Ks than he's featured. He's averaged about 7 per 9 innings pitched since his promotion to AA, but only had four last night. Regardless, for a guy who returned from Tommy John surgery about a year ago, he looks pretty good.

The Sea Dogs didn't look quite as good, committing four errors on the night that led to five unearned runs. Worse, two of the errors were the result of throws that should not have been attempted in the first place. Pitcher Felix Doubront was strong early, facing the minimum of 9 batters on 37 pitches through three innings. After that he struggled with his command, throwing 62 more pitches and failing to get out of the fifth. His defense could have gotten him out of the fifth unscored-upon, but he wasn't without fault. It wasn't hard to notice that what had been 3-4 pitch at bats were becoming 5-6 pitch at bats.

Feel-good story Daniel Nava impressed with his bat (2-4 with a double) and his hustle in beating out a double-play ball. He looks like a guy who could have a future in the game. The other bright spot was Lars Anderson. An uber-prospect who has struggled for most of the year, Anderson hit the ball with authority on Thursday, with a line-shot wall ball double accompanied by a warning track fly out to right field. It doesn't sound like much, but I've seen too many nights this year in which he gathered a walk, a K and a couple of tappers, to not be somewhat encouraged by a couple of hard-hit balls.

Tazawa

Tazawa Delivers

I got my first look at the Japanese sensation Junichi Tazawa Tuesday night, and I have to say that my overall impression based on just this one game is positive but somewhat mixed.

First of all, the line was solid: 7 IP, 5 hits. 2 runs. no walks, 3 punchouts.

He was far from overpowering, however, as there were a lot of hard hit balls and more great defensive plays than I'm used to seeing.

His stuff doesn't look overpowering, either. His fastball tops out at about 92, but seems to have some good sinking action on it. He recorded 10 ground ball outs vs. 8 fly outs. He also throws a slider and a curve ball. (Slider AND curve ball? Those crazy Japanese!) Slider in the low-mid 80's and curve in the 70's. He throws the off speed stuff a lot, which I wasn't expecting. According to Soxprospects.com, he also has a forkball with some potential. I know I saw this pitch once (and thought, "Wow! What was that?") - mid-80's with a wicked break. If he can throw that thing for strikes, it'll be a helluva changeup. I don't recall seeing it other times, but maybe it looked different because it went into the dirt.

He threw a lot of strikes, though maybe not the greatest command inside the zone (see prior comment about hard-hit balls). He didn't work too many deep counts in the game. I had him at 100 pitches exactly over seven innings, but I think it was 72 through six, so a crisp 12 pitches/inning.

He's definitely good, and at an appropriate level for his age (22). I'm not sure I see an obvious top-of-the-rotation arm, but I can see him as a mid-rotation guy. And if he can command all the offspeed stuff and throw it for strikes when he needs to, he can definitely keep hitters off balance and perhaps succeed at the top of the rotation, a la Greg Maddux. (Not that I'm comparing him to Maddux, or course. He won't be nearly as good as Maddux, but he's an example of a guy who had lots of success without the plus heat.)

Through 11 starts, Tazawa has thrown 61.1 innings with a 2.79 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 2.5 BB9 and greater than 3:1 K:BB ratio. He's definitely one of the better pitchers in the EL this year, and I can see him warranting a July promotion to Pawtucket. But I don't think Boston will see much of him before 2011.

Dogs Walk off With a Win

Bases loaded, two outs, bottom of the ninth. The Portland Sea Dogs and the Connecticut Defenders are tied at two. At bat is Boston's top prospect - one of the top 10 or 15 in all of baseball this year according to most - slugging first baseman Lars Anderson. The crowd is on its feet. The biggest pitch of the night is on its way. Anderson cocks his bat and.....

watches it miss the strike zone! Ball four! Sea Dogs win!

OK, so it's not the most clutchiest-sounding finish for such a dramatic situation. A grand slam certainly would have made (what was left of) the crowd go much more nuts than it did. But a win is a win, and the finish illustrates one of the reasons Anderson is so highly regarded - his patience at the plate. Sure, he's a big strapping kid with lots of power, but there are lots of those kinds of players out there. Anderson realizes that you don't have to hit every pitch out of the ballpark to win games. He's not afraid to take a walk, and this combination of on-base skill and pure power are what sets him apart from the rest. He's 21 years old and already in AA. He's got a bright future ahead of him.

Good seats still available

Also impressing last night was 22-year-old center fielder Josh Reddick. Reddick isn't as big as Anderson, and he's more athletic. Reddick is also much more aggressive at the plate. Contrary to the Red Sox organizational philosophy of being patient at the plate, Reddick rarely walks. However, he has a sweet swing, hits the ball squarely and has surprising power. Reddick was 4-5 with a double and a game-tying home run in the bottom of the 8th. Reddick also has good speed, which enabled him to leg out an infield single with two outs in the 9th, helping to set up Anderson's heroics. Reddick's legs also enabled him to track down a long fly ball off the bat of Connecticut's Bobby Felmy in the sixth inning, saving extra bases.

The Sea Dogs got some good pitching as well. Starter Adam Mills gave up two runs over the first five innings, but he was extremely efficient in throwing only 56 pitches. Also efficient was reliever Richie Lentz. After allowing the aforementioned deep fly ball by Felmy, Lentz overpowered the next five Connecticut batters with his blazing fastball. He recorded five strikeouts while throwing only three pitches out of the strike zone. Reliever Chris Province collected the win by allowing only one baserunner to reach (on an error) over the last two frames.

Top pitching prospect Junichi Tazawa enjoys the Portland weather while charting pitches.

Though it was the second game of the season, the crowd was of the typical April Friday variety, with about 3,000 in attendance. Fortunately the weather was warmer than I expected, with temps in the mid 50's at game time and mid 40's by the time the final run scored. Here's hoping the mild air is the norm this spring!

Masterson vs. Bowden

John Sickels has a "prospect smackdown" between Justin Masterson and Michael Bowden. He projects the two youngsters, currently atop the Portland rotation, both to be #3-type starters in the big leagues.

Masterson has been more dominant than Bowden this year. In fact, the game I saw him pitch was the only time he allowed anybody to score. I saw Bowden pitch last night (more on that tonight or tomorrow), plus a few times last season, and he's overall been less impressive in the games that I have seen. He seems to alternate between putzing around and having truly dominant innings, with middling results. That said, his stats bear out that he has generally pitched better when I am not around. (The Curse of the Sea Blog?) And I have to remind myself that he is still very young for AA (just 21 years old) and holding his own at this level.

(I also have to remind myself that it's not easy to pitch in the cold weather these guys have been playing in thus far.)

I'm going to go with Sickels in saying that Masterson might be more of a sure thing, because he's got this nasty, bat-breaking sinker that will work at any level. Bowden's going to have to develop a bit more polish with his offspeed offerings, because a low-90's fastball that doesn't sink is a little easier for major league hitters to get good wood on. Bowden's changeup and curveball are already pretty good, so the potential for very goodness is there.

Back in the Sea Dogs Way

There are lots of things going on right now, but the baseball season has started again and I'm back to scoring Sea Dogs games - albeit in a reduced capacity this time around.

My first venture to Hadlock Field came Monday night, a 5-4, 11-inning affair with the Connecticut Defenders in cold, 40-degree weather. This was my first chance to see Justin Masterson in person. Masterson started last year in A Lancaster, where he pitched unreasonably well in the high desert jet stream. Upon arrival in Portland he had a few dominant starts before having a few rough outings to end the season.

Masterson started out well this year, winning the Eastern League Pitcher of the Week Award for the opening week of the season for allowing no runs in two starts. Masterson wasn't quite as dominant on Monday. He allowed two runs on five hits and his first two walks of the season. Regardless, his heavy sinker splintered several bats, and he couldn't have been fun to face in such cold weather. He was a lot better than opposing starter Adam coward, who was shelled in his three-inning stint. The Sea Dogs led 4-2 before Beau Vaughan gave up the tying runs in the top of the 8th, which ultimately sent the game into extra frames.

(Note: while this added a good half hour to the game and was very frustrating at the time, it was nothing compared to Wednesday's game, in which Jose Vaquedano allowed the tying run in the top of the 9th. Neither team scored again for the next 8 (eight!) innings. At 5 hours and 41 minutes, this broke the record for the previous longest game in franchise history.)

The Sea Dogs ultimately ended it in the 11th when two strikeouts were followed by two singles and a walk to load the bases. Iggy Suarez was the hero for drawing a walk-off wild pitch pitch from Defenders reliever Justin Hedrick.

Chad Rhoades impressed with 5 K's in 2 relief innings, and Vaquedano picked up the win with a perfect 11th inning, in which he didn't throw any pitches outside of the strike zone.

Dogs to face Rocket

The Rocket, Roger Clemens, is scheduled to continue his preparation for his 24th (!) major league season by making a start for the Trenton Thunder against the Sea Dogs this Wednesday. Clemens' return is already a bit of a circus, and I'm sure that the Red Sox/Yankees dynamic of this game will just add to the excitement of the evening. Clemens, of course, signed on with the Yankees a couple of weeks ago when the team, desperate for pitching, outbid the Red Sox for his services by $10 million.

Portland will counter with Clay Buchholz, another top prospect at the other end of his career. Buchholz has been stellar thus far through his first seven AA starts: 39.2 IP, 1.87 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, and 53 strikeouts vs. just 7 walks. Clemens had a good outing for single A Tampa, allowing one run in 4 IP, and he's on his way to the Hall of Fame, but there's a chance he won't be the best pitcher on the mound on Wednesday.

In other prospect news, Michael Bowden was promoted to Portland last week. Bowden is the #3 prospect in the Boston organization, right behind Buchholz and Pawtucket outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury. A powerful righthander, the 20-year-old dominated the competition in the very hitter-friendly California League. He made 8 starts for Lancaster, throwing 46 innings with a 1.37 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, and 46 K's vs. just 8 walks. He allowed just one run in his Sea Dogs debut last Friday, and gives the team a strong 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation for the time being.

Ellsbury Recalled, Dogs Lose Thursday

Ellsbury photo cribbed from Seadogs.com.

The Portland Sea Dogs lost Thursday night to the Bowie Baysox, in what would prove to be the final AA game for top prospect Jacoby Ellsbury. Ellsbury went out in typical style, going 2-4 at the plate with a walk and a stolen base, moving his final stats to 452/518/644-0-13 with 8 steals and 13 runs scored. Ellsbury also showed his ranginess in center field, tracking down any ball that came close by, however it was not enough to avoid a 7-3 Portland loss at the hands of the Bowie Baysox.

In his AAA debut on Friday night, it was more of the same for Ellsbury. 1-4 with two walks and two runs scored. David Murphy, moved to left field and apparently feeling the heat from below with regard to his spot on the organizational depth chart, had four hits in Pawtucket's 11-inning loss.

Back to Thursday night's game, it was a bit of a tough-luck loss for Matt Goodson. Goodson had the Baysox off balance for much of his five innings, striking out 10 with his off speed offerings, particularly a very good changeup. Unfortunately, Goodson's control left him in the fifth inning, as he walked two to load the based for Luis Hernandez. Hernanez delivered his second consecutive RBI single, a liner to left that skipped under Corey Keylor's glove and resulted in four runs and a Bowie lead. Portland was unable to get any rallies going after that point.

Now that Ellsbury is gone, this is a very ordinary Portland team. Jeff Corsaletti is the natural guy to move into the leadoff spot, as he has good speed and draws a lot of walks, resulting in a very good .400 OBP to this point of the season. However, this team needs Jeff Natale (703 OPS) and Jed Lowrie (508 OPS) to start making things happen, because Keylor can't be the only guy hitting in the middle of the lineup, and there aren't a lot of quality bats at bottom of the order. Also, beyond Clay Buchholtz and Charlie Zink, the rotation has been a disappointment. Andrew Dobies and Tommy Hottovey showed some promise after they were called up late last season, but both have ERA's over 6.00 so far this year. Goodson is probably the least touted member of the rotation, but he has outpitched Dobies and Hottovey thus far. The bullpen has also been inconsistent at best so far.

I think there will be a lot of entertaining games to watch this season, but unless a few guys turn it around fairly soon or Michael Bowden get called up to team with Buchholtz for awhile, I don't think this team will put in a strong challenge for the playoffs.

Dogs Play Despite Rain, Defeat NH

After causing seven of the first ten home games to be postponed (and the other three to be played in wintry temperatures), mother nature finally cooperated and allowed the Portland Sea Dogs to play the first two games of the latest home stand. Well, sort of cooperated. Friday night's game was played in a steady drizzle/rain and a temperature around 40 degrees, but team officials said, emphatically, "we're playing the damn game!"

The Sea Dogs were undeterred, and overcame the rain and a brief failure of a light bank to defeat the New Hampshire Fisher Cats 6-2. Jacoby Ellsbury was the star of the show, reaching base five times on four hits and a hit by pitch, and scoring two runs. Ellsbury's batting average stood at .468 following the game. Portland faced off against New Hampshire's top prospect (#3 in the Toronto system) Rickey Romero. Romero was OK, though it's tough to make much judgment given the conditions. The lefty featured a 90-mph fastball and a sharp curve. Unfortunately for him, the curve ball often failed to travel the requisite 60 feet, 6 inches, and the balls in the dirt beat up catcher Robinzon Diaz and contributed to a lot of activity on the basepaths from Sea Dogs runners. Diaz didn't help matters much by short-hopping every throw to second. Portland runners finished with three steals, one with an additional advance due to a Diaz error, and two bases taken on wild pitches.

Portland pitcher Matt Goodson was equally OK. I was most impressed by his sinker, which resulted in 10 ground ball outs (one DP) vs. 3 fly ball outs. Portland's bullpen received solid efforts from Kyle Jackson and Beau Vaughan, both of whom pitched two shutout innings in relief. New Hampshire's bullpen struggled, particularly in the bottom of the eighth innings. Zack Borowiak started things off with a single that coincided with the failure of the lights behind the first base dugout. Following a 15-minute delay (that felt like a half hour for those of us sitting in the rain), the Dogs took advantage of a loss of command by Cats reliever Jo Matumoto. Matumoto walked #9 batter Bryan Pritz and allowed a bunt single by Ellsbury before walking in two runs. Tracy Thorpe was then hailed from the bullpen, and he immediately issued another bases-loaded pass, giving Portland a four-run cushion for the ninth inning. Vaughn then dispatched the side without incident.

Notes:

• Ellsbury is really impressive, and I don't suspect he'll be in Portland for long. He has tons of speed, and his game is built around it. In addition to his bunt grounder, he had an infield hit in the 6th. He also turns singles into doubles and causes a lot of commotion on the basepaths. He's got some pop in his bat, but I don't think that he'll ever be a big home run hitter. He also covers a lot of ground in center field. He's really a prototype center fielder / leadoff hitter. Ellsbury currently leads Portland in BA, OBP, SLG, runs, RBI, doubles and stolen bases. It's looking like he's too good for this league.
  
• Eric Crozier looked terrible at the plate in striking out four times from the cleanup spot, but he still managed to finagle a walk to knock in Portland's fifth run of the game.
  
• New Hampshire reliever Jean Machi is a dead ringer for Rich Garces and Edgar Martinez, therefore worthy of the nickname El Guapo III.
  

Prospects on the Sea Dogs

Between all the rainouts and away games, there's not been a lot momentum at the Sea Blog. I thought I would fill the void by going back to John Sickels' listing of Boston's top prospects heading into this season, and see who is on the Portland roster.

1) Jacoby Ellsbury, OF, B+. Good bat, good glove. Through yesterday's games, Ellsbury was tearing up the EL to the tune of 455/500/705-0-9 with 9 extra base hits and four steals through 10 games. He could play himself up to Pawtucket before the All Star game.

2) Clay Buchholtz, RHP, B+. "Good combination of stuff and command," which makes him sound a bit like Jonathan Papelbon. He's only made two starts for Portland, with a 3.82 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 10/2 K/BB ratio in 9.2 innings pitched.

10) Bryce Cox, RHP, B-. A reliever, but not a closer. He's another guy that I haven't seen pitch. Cox has been effective thus far. He's appeared in four games without allowing a run over 7 innings pitched.

17) Jed Lowrie, 2B/SS, C+. He's got good on-base skills, but disappointed a bit last season. Through nine games, he's hitting 212/270/364-1-3.

19) Jeff Natale, 2B, C+. Another diminutive (5' 9") middle infielder who is surprisingly good with the bat. Just 147/333/176-0-2 through the first 10 games, but the six walks belie good plate discipline. Last year, Natale hit 304/446/469-17-87 with 103 walks between Greenville and Wilmington. At 24, he's a little on the old side for a prospect, but if he continues to hit he'll have a career.

Others of note: OF Jeff Corsaletti (303/395/364-0-6); LHP Tommy Hottovy (6.00 ERA in 9 IP); RHP Kyle Jackson (9.64 ERA with 7 walks in 3.2 IP);

Prospect School

The above link takes you to an article at Minorleaguebaseball.com that talks about a two-week "Prospect School" that helps top prospects prepare for their life one day as a major leaguer. For a few guys (Hansen, Pauley, Gabbard, Murphy), some will be redundant as they have all spent time in Boston. The rest are expected to be there by the end of the 2008 season. Everybody other than Nick Debarr and Clay Bucholtz was in Portland at some point last season, though most have moved on. Bucholtz is slated for the Sea Dogs rotation in 2007, but he's considered a potential ace and could move up quickly. Debarr was a Rule 5 draft pick from Tampa who has not pitched above single A. He needs to remain on the major league roster or be offered back to the Devil Rays, so he won't be on the Portland roster without a trade taking place.

Jim Carrey's nephew, Clay Bucholtz