Down on the Farm: AA Report

Starting Pitchers
1.) Errol Simonitsch - 5-7 / 3.33 ERA / 81 inn / 50-20 K-BB
2.) Glen Perkins - 2-7 / 3.58 ERA / 75.1 inn / 89-27 K-BB
3.) Matt Garza - 4-2 / 3.48 ERA / 41.1 inn / 52-13 K-BB
4.) Adam Harben - 1-4 / 3.58 ERA / 60.1 inn / 28-37 K-BB
5.) Kevin Slowey - no record

The first thing to mention is that, after a dominating first half of the season in Ft. Myers (high A), Kevin Slowey was promoted to New Britain. He hasn't made a start yet, but I would expect him to in the next few days. I'm guessing that the Twins will take Nick Blackburn out of the rotation, since he has struggled the most for the team. However, it's also possible that Adam Harben will be the pitcher most affected by the Slowey promotion. Time will tell. Incidentally, the Rock Cats played two double-headers this week, so John Thomas and Justin Olson got starts. Nevertheless, I'm going to continue to list them as relievers because their starts were essentially flukes.

Errol Simonitsch took a loss this week in the one game he started, in which he pitched just 5 innings. His ERA jumped by .25 points.

Glen Perkins improved his ERA by .11 points in a seven inning start, but he unfortunately did not get the win.

Matt Garza proved that he is human this week with two less-than-stellar starts. His ERA ballooned by 2.22 points and he lost a game. In two starts, he pitched just 5.2 innings. Hopefully he can right the ship this week.

Adam Harben pitched 8 innings this week, and lowered his ERA by .03 points, but was not the pitcher of record in either game in which he pitched.

Relief Pitchers
1.) Levale Speigner - 1-1 / 2.54 ERA / 39 inn / 26-7 K-BB
2.) Tristan Crawford - 2-3 / 3.26 ERA / 47 inn / 49-13 K-BB
3.) John Thomas - 1-2 / 5.18 ERA / 33 inn / 27-14 K-BB
4.) Julio DePaula - 1-2 / 2.63 ERA / 27.1 inn / 23-13 K-BB
5.) Justin Olson - 4-2 / 5.08 ERA / 39 inn / 48-18 K-BB
6.) Nick Blackburn - 5-7 / 5.24 ERA / 79 inn / 43-26 K-BB

As mentioned before, Nick Blackburn probably will be relegated to the bullpen with the addition of Kevin Slowey to the rotation. He replaces Jay Sawatski, who was demoted to Ft. Myers. Blackburn was still a starter this week, and picked up a win, but his ERA jumped by .23 points.

Justin Olson had a very good week, balancing out his very bad week last week. He won two ballgames, including his spot start, and his ERA dropped .83 points.

The rest of the 'pen was relatively consistent this week, although Crawford and DePaula both got pegged with a loss. Speigner picked up a win.

Catchers
1.) Jose Morales - 50 games / .178 BA / 2 HR / 17 RBI
2.) Steve Lomasney - 33 games / .196 BA / 2 HR / 10 RBI

Morales got 5 starts behind the plate, and dropped his batting average by 1 point. He did pick up a couple of RBI's.

Lomasney got 3 starts and came in as a defensive replacement in one game. His batting average suffered considerably, falling 24 points.

Infielders
1B - Doug Deeds - 66 games / .265 BA / 5 HR / 27 RBI
2B - J.R. Taylor - 59 games / .188 BA / 0 HR / 9 RBI
SS - Felix Molina - 58 games / .258 BA / 7 HR / 28 RBI
3B - Matt Moses - 64 games / .248 BA / 10 HR / 33 RBI
DH - Daniel Matienzo - 67 games / .236 BA / 9 HR / 43 RBI
IF - Matt Tolbert - 16 games / .321 BA / 1 HR / 4 RBI

Matt Tolbert rejoined the Rock Cats from Ft. Myers this week, after having been sent down on May 4. He picked up 3 starts at SS and 1 each at 2B and 3B. He also picked up a HR, and had several multi-hit games, including going 3-for-3 on June 23.

Doug Deeds got 6 starts at 1B and 2 at DH. His average jumped 12 points, and he had 1 HR with 3 RBI's.

J.R. Taylor got 4 starts at 2B and 1 at SS, but his playing time has been significantly cut down by the addition of Tolbert to the team. Despite the fact that his batting average is below the Mendoza line already, he still managed to drop it by 2 points, although he did pick up a couple of RBI's this week.

Felix Molina got 4 starts at SS at the beginning of the week, but started the last 3 games at 2B. This coincides with the addition of Matt Tolbert to the lineup, and Molina will most likely be getting most of his starts at 2B as long as Tolbert is a Rock Cat. His batting average fell by 7 points, but he did hit a homerun and pick up 5 RBI's.

Matt Moses started 7 games at 3B and 1 at DH. He raised his batting average by a couple of points and picked up 4 RBI's.

Daniel Matienzo started 5 games at DH and 2 at 1B. His batting average jumped by 10 points, and he hit 1 HR with 2 RBI's.

Outfielders
1.) Trent Oeltjen - 55 games / .299 BA / 1 HR / 17 RBI
2.) Denard Span - 70 games / .287 BA / 1 HR / 21 RBI
3.) Scott Whitrock - 38 games / .211 BA / 2 HR / 9 RBI
4.) Garrett Guzman - 5 games / .176 BA / 1 HR / 1 RBI

Garrett Guzman joined the team this week from Ft. Myers. He's started every game in LF since being called up, but as you can see he hasn't lit up the scoreboard offensively so far.

Trent Oeltjen, who had been the regular starting LF, now moves to RF. He started the first 3 games this week in LF, and then started 1 in CF when Span got the day off, with his other 4 starts all coming in RF. His batting average fell by 13 points, but he did hit his first HR of the year, and contributed 4 RBI's to the teams effort.

Denard Span got all 7 of his starts in CF. His batting average stayed right where it was, and he picked up 3 RBI's.

Scott Whitrock is now the odd man out in the equation. He picked up 3 starts in RF before Guzman was promoted, but in the five games since that promotion he has started just once, also in RF. His batting average fell by 11 points, but he did pick up an RBI.