After every game covered, our writers submit player reports with observations from that game. The best reports are collected each week for this feature, where we usually feature about four or five players per level and the progress they’ve been making in the last week. This time around we have reports from three full-season levels. Below are the reports from our writers who covered games this week.
Ryan Palencer – Indianapolis
Keon Broxton (6/1 – 0-for-3, BB) – Ran the count to 3-2 before grounding out to shortstop on a knee-high 87 mile per hour fastball. Played centerfield for the first time in Triple-A and ranged far to his left and nearly made a tough play. Got up in the count 3-1 before striking out on a letter-high fastball. Came in hard and made a nice sliding catch. Went up 3-0, before earning a walk after getting the count to 3-2. Grounded out to the shortstop on a 3-2 count. Flew out to right on a 2-2 outside fastball.
Wilfredo Boscan (6/4 – 5.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 0 HR) – Got the change down in the 83 to 86 range. Was wild and all over the zone. Fastball was between 90 and 93. Worked very slowly with runners on base. Fell behind, which led to deep counts and elevates pitch counts. Mixed speeds well. Focused too much on base runners at times. Got elevated, allowing some solid contact. Was very hitable. Got inside and got better movement after the first inning.
Casey Sadler (6/5 – 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HR) – Worked down in the zone and got nice movement on the sinker. Had the fastball between 88 and 91. The movement created the usual amount of ground balls, with 11 resulting in outs. Had good control much of the night. Allowed a home run to Jayson Nix on a two-seamer that broke back over the heart of the plate. Picked up a strikeout on a nice 84 mile per hour breaking ball. Had good rhythm and mixed speeds well. Fielded a pair of come backers well.
Sean McCool – Altoona
Angel Sanchez (5/29, 6/4 – 13 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 9 K, 1 HR) – In his last two home starts, Sanchez has thrown 13 innings while only giving up one earned run, which was a first inning home run on May 29th. Control of his fastball has been key in his recent strong stretch, having been able to locate it down in the zone in an attempt to induce more groundball outs. Pitching Coach Justin Meccage has also emphasized the location control of his curve ball as a great sign for Sanchez moving forward, as it is a newer pitch to him. Lastly, Sanchez has been able to get timely outs, as I’ve seen him get groundouts and strikeouts in high leverage situations frequently.
Willy Garcia (5/29-6/4 – 8-for-20, 2 2B, 3B, 2 HR) – Willy Garcia began his tenure as the Curve’s most likely choice in centerfield, and he has taken advantage of the opportunity from the plate as well. In the recent home stand, he is 8-for-20 with a line of .400/.429/.900. The best sign from him is that the power numbers are starting to come back. After hitting a home run on the last game of the Curve’s road trip, Garcia hit two during the Curve’s Wednesday afternoon game. He also hit two doubles (both line drives – one to right and one to left), and he legged out a triple on a line drive to the left center field gap. Garcia looks comfortable in the field and at the plate recently.
Josh Bell (5/29-6/4 – 7-for-22, 2B) – Bell went 7-for-12 in the first two and last games of the home stand, but he sandwiched that with a 0-for-10 stretch in the middle. You can tell that Bell is a pure hitter. His hand-eye coordination is off the charts, even though his plate mechanics sometimes look unconventional or rigid. Bell has shown that he is a line drive hitter, likely to the gaps; however, he is still only picking up singles as a majority of his hits. He showed some speed and jump in Thursday by legging out a double on what should have been a long single.
Jose Osuna (5/29-6/4 – 9-for-19, 3 2B) – Osuna has begun his Double-A career with a five game hitting streak, and the hits aren’t coming cheaply. He had a double in each of his first three games, and they were all line drive hits. On June 2nd specifically, Osuna picked up three hits, with each of them being line drives including a double off of the center field wall. He has played left field since being promoted, a position that he is essentially re-learning from not playing there recently.
Zack Dodson (5/31 – 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 2 HR) – Zack Dodson had a very efficient outing on May 31st, throwing 84 pitches, with 53 of them being strikes in 6.2 innings. Dodson only gave up two runs with both of them being home runs to left field. He looked to be in great control of the game, only getting in trouble in the third inning with a couple seeing eye singles and walk, but he was able to induce a bases loaded ground out to end the inning.
Jeff Inman (5/29-6/4 – 3.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 0 HR) – Inman has yet to allow a run this year in nine appearances. He began the season on the DL, but he has come out strong since he began the season in May. He got three straight groundouts for the save on May 29th. He came in for one out in the 7th on Sunday to strike out the batter. Lastly, he pitched two efficient innings on June 4th while the Curve were only up two runs. Inman has shown the capability to pitch in many different situations, and he was praised by coaches on what he has done since returning from the DL.
Tim Williams – Bradenton
Harold Ramirez, RF (6-1-6/5 – 5-for-13, 2B, HR, 4 BB, 5 SB) – Looks like the best pure hitter on the team right now, which is saying something since Austin Meadows and Jin-De Jhang both display great ability to make contact. Ramirez started hitting for some power this week, with a double and a home run. However, despite hitting for mostly singles prior to this, the power comes as no surprise to people who have seen him, since most of the singles were line drives that were well struck, and went right to fielders, preventing extra bases. He also displays a lot of power in batting practice, which hasn’t shown up in the games. He’s got a ton of speed on the bases, stealing seven bags in ten games this year, and only getting caught once. Defensively he’s got the range to play center field, and has a plus arm that apparently already has a reputation around the league, since no one has tested him yet in the games I’ve seen. Ramirez lacks in some areas (with in-game power being one of them), but he’s average or better across the board, and excels in some areas (primarily making contact), which means he could take an unconventional path to being an impact starter in the majors one day.
Jin-De Jhang (6/1 – 1-for-4) – Jhang was catching a lot of pitchers who had breaking pitches that were thrown low in the zone and in the dirt for strikeouts. The result was that he had a workout, blocking 18 pitches in one night. He’s a big catcher, but is quick and agile for his size. Aside from the blocks behind the plate, Jhang shows off decent speed on the bases. He beat out an infield hit to the left side for his only hit of the night. He also threw out a runner at third, getting Luis Heredia out of a jam.
Luis Heredia (6/1 – 4.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 0 HR) – Heredia had a better stat line in this outing than in previous ones, but the stuff had some issues. He was missing up in the zone a lot early in the start, although he corrected this and showed better downward movement on his fastball later in the game. He didn’t have good command of his curveball, with one sailing behind a right-handed batter’s head, and several bouncing short well before home plate. He benefitted on a few bad swings on the curveball, despite poor execution. One of his strikeouts came on a bad swing on a short curve, while the other two came on well placed fastballs. He was sitting 90-93 MPH.
Montana DuRapau, RHP (6/3 – 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 0 HR) – He pounds the strike zone with strong command of all four pitches. He throws a fastball, which has been in the 90-93 MPH range in shorter outings this year, along with a curve, slider, and change. He got quick and weak contact, needing just 25 pitches to get through 2.1 innings, with 17 of those going for strikes.
