Vermont won a 12-7 slugfest in Hudson Valley, evening up their record at 37-37 (box/gamer). RF Michael Burgess was 4/5 with a triple, two home runs and five RBI. Burgess hit a solo home run in the second and capped off his evening with a three-run shot in the ninth. DH Garrett Bass (1/4 with 2 runs), 1B Aaron Seuss (1/4 with 2 runs), and CA Sean Rooney (1/5 with 1 run) each had two RBI in the victory. LF Boomer Whiting was 0/3 with two runs scored and his 35th stolen base of the season. Lake Monsters pitching struck out sixteen Renegades. Jack McGeary struck out a pair of hitters, but allowed three runs (two earned) on two hits and three walks over 1 2/3 innings. Ryan Buchter struck out four, but surrendered four runs on five hits and two walks over 2 1/3 innings. Randy Matias had four strikeouts in his three innings of two-hit shutout relief. And, Martin Beno picked up the victory striking out six over the final two innings. If Vermont can win tonight, they will finish with an above 0.500 record.
Tonight: LHP Josh Smoker (0-0, 0.00) wraps up the Lake Monsters season against Hudson Valley at 7:05PM
Home teams continued to hold serve as the DSL Yankees1 edged out the DSL Nationals1 2-1, evening the best of five series at two games each (box). RHP Amado de los Santos took the loss allowing two runs (one earned) on seven hits and one walk over 4 2/3 innings, while striking out three. LHP Miguel Aracena pitched 3 1/3 innings of shutout relief, allowing only one hit and striking out one. LF Juan Beltre was 1/2 with a walk, run and two stolen bases. SS Dani Arias was 1/4 with one RBI.
Today: It’s winner take all as the DSL Nationals1 and DSL Yankees1 play the fifth and deciding game at 11:00AM at the Jose Rijo complex.
Minor League News & Notes … Mark Zuckerman of the Washington Times looks at the improvement in the Nationals player development.
Marcus | 07-Sep-07 at 9:28 am | Permalink
Excited to see Burgess’s numbers after he plays a full season
Ed | 07-Sep-07 at 9:43 am | Permalink
Brian,
Re Zuckerman’s report in Times (thanks for the link):
How can Bowden think the Nats’ farm system can jump from last to #12 in one season? Do you agree?
Few infield prospects outside of the Esmailyn kid (who is still too young to project). If one of the 2 or 3 outfielders makes it, that would be great. No big prospect catcher in the minors. Pitchers, yes, but how many are ace-type?
Aren’t the top systems much more loaded than this? Sure, the Nats are on the right track, and you can’t argue with the direction.
Louis J. | 07-Sep-07 at 9:58 am | Permalink
There are some average systems in MLB plus some of the better ones have traded away prospects to get better. No organization is well stocked in every position. I think the Nationals can move from #30 into the top 15. Remember, the Nationals have over-stocked themselves with young pitchers who are great trading chips for whatever the Nationals feel they need in the future (middle infielder, first baseman, power hitter)
Brian Oliver | 07-Sep-07 at 10:16 am | Permalink
I tend to believe the Nationals will jump into the 18-23 range. Typically, BBA doesn’t leap team that far though the Nationals have improved the system remarkably in only two seasons.
A DC Wonk | 07-Sep-07 at 10:25 am | Permalink
I’ll admit that I don’t have a clue as to what other systems look like — but take a look at the NY-Penn league. They say the key is “pitching piching pitching” — and three pitchers made the all-star team from Vermont — which didn’t even include Jordan Zimmermann. And, of course, this was before McGeary or Smoker signed.
And, of course, the Nats signed all 20 of the first 20 picks.
But, no idea how well/poorly the other 29 teams did . . . .
Louis J. | 07-Sep-07 at 10:44 am | Permalink
System Update #2: here are some high prospects in the Nationals system:
Position players (14): Casto, Whitesell, Desmond, Maxwell, Marrero, Daniel, Burgess, King, Gonzalez, Rhinehart, Smolinski, Seuss, Englund, Bass ( with some DSL players to be added)
Pitchers (19): Lannan, Balester, Detwiler, Gibson, Willems, Alaniz, Zimmermann, Smoker, McGeary, Carr, Zinicola, Meyers, Pena, Martis, Nunez, Atilano, Matias, Dean, Staudt (with some DSL players to be added)
There are at least 15 other players who could be “late bloomers and projects”.
Alan | 07-Sep-07 at 12:44 pm | Permalink
If Maxwell and Lanan are included, shouldn’t some of the other recent call ups also be included? Louis’ list of pitchers doesn’t include Albaladejo, who looked pretty good in his debut and Hanrahan, who could succeed if he can find consistency.
Ed | 07-Sep-07 at 1:35 pm | Permalink
Of Louis J’s list, it would be interesting to know which of those are regarded as top prospects–potential starters with an upside to put up the big numbers?
Some of those on Louis’ list, like Casto, Whitesell, Daniel, King, Englund, Desmond, plus some of the pitchers like Atilano, may not make an “A” list. But I’ve never seen harldly any of these guys, and I really don’t know. I am just looking at stats (and in some cases too-early reads on the stats for some of the young guys).
Louis J. | 07-Sep-07 at 2:25 pm | Permalink
Who makes the “A” list, etc. is very subjective. I tried to evaluate the current performance and potential upside of players. For example, Maxwell was listed under other prospects and has moved up to a high prospect on my list. Propsects like King & Englund are rated on their upside potential. Daniel has moved up based on his performance in the last 18 months. Of course, missing from my list were Shawn Hill, Matt Chico, Joel Hanrahan, Chris Schroder, Jesus Flores, Jesus Colome & Jon Albaladejo who have already made the 25-man roster.
The “other” category could include such pitchers as: Atahualpa Severino, Justin Jones, Jack Spradlin & Chris Lugo and position players like: Jhonatan Solano(CA), Derek Norris (CA), Ofilio Castro (INF), Marvin Lowrance (OF), Edgardo Baez (OF), Rog Bernadina (OF) and one the best defensive outfielders with a “Michael Vick” throwing arm, Francisco Plasencia-if he could only hit .270, he would be a high prospect!!