Down on the Farm: AA Report

New Britain Rock Cats (24-20)
T-2nd -- Eastern League Northern Division

Rock Cats Season Stats

Starting Pitchers
1.) Brad Baker - 7 starts, 3 RA [2 starts]
2.) Jesse Floyd - 8 starts, 1 RA [1 start]
3.) Tristan Crawford - 6 starts, 1 RA [1 start]
4.) Kyle Waldrop - 3 starts [2 starts]
5.) Ryan Mullins
Suspended - Anthony Swarzak

Who's Hot: Jesse Floyd went 7 innings and gave up just 2 runs on 4 hits and a walk while striking out 5. That gives him a season ERA of 4.24 with a 1.41 WHIP and a 31-19 K-BB ratio in 46.2 innings. Nobody else deserves to be on this list for what they did at the AA level, but I'll put Ryan Mullins here for earning a promotion (just today!) from Ft. Myers, and Brian Duensing for pitching well enough to earn a promotion to AAA to replace Kevin Slowey in the Red Wings rotation.

Who's Not: Brad Baker was horrible this week, making two starts and giving up 10 runs (9 earned) on 14 hits and 3 walks while striking out 6 batters in 9 innings. That was so bad that it changed the outlook on his season entirely -- he entered the week with a 2.92 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP, and he enters it with a 4.11 ERA and a still respectable 1.22 WHIP. Kyle Waldrop also had a rough week this time around, giving up 7 runs on 12 hits and 6 walks with 5 K's in 11.1 innings of work over two starts, giving him a 3.93 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP in 18.1 innings of work. Finally, it didn't affect his ERA much, but Tristan Crawford gave up 6 runs (just 1 earned) in 5 innings of work in his lone start of the week. His ERA sits at 5.02 in 28.2 innings with the Rock Cats this season.

Relief Pitchers
1.) Tim Lahey - 17 RA [3 RA]
2.) Jay Sawatski - 17 RA [3 RA]
3.) Danny Powers - 14 RA [2 RA]
4.) Brian Forystek - 9 RA, 2 starts [1 RA]
5.) Frank Mata - 4 RA [2 RA]

Who's Hot: Tim Lahey was smokin' this week, going 4.1 innings and not allowing a run or a hit while walking 3 and striking out 4 over the course of three games. He lowered his ERA to 3.95 on the season, but his WHIP is still at a too-high 1.57 in 27.1 innings. Danny Powers also had a solid week, going 5 innings and giving up 1 run on 5 hits with 1 walk and 2 K's. He needs some more good weeks, though, as his season ERA still sits at 6.14 and his WHIP is at 2.05 in 22 innings of work. Finally, a shout out to Jose Mijares, who earned a promotion this week to Rochester.

Who's Not: Nobody was absolutely awful this week, but Brian Forystek's one appearance saw him give up 2 runs on 2 hits and 2 walks in 3 innings of work to bump his season ERA up to 3.72 with a 1.34 WHIP and a 29-14 K-BB ratio over 29 innings. Frank Mata also had a down week, allowing 4 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks in 3.2 innings to settle his ERA in at 6.00 with a 2.00 WHIP in 6 innings of work.

Catchers
1.) Korey Feiner - C(25) [C(3)]
2.) Kyle Geiger - C(21), DH(3) [C(4), DH(2)]

Who's Hot: Kyle Geiger remained hot this week, going 6-for-21. That actually lowered his batting average to .329 on the season with 2 HR's and 12 RBI's to go along with a .920 OPS in 76 AB's. Pretty good for a guy who had a career .238 average coming into this season!

Who's Not: Korey Feiner went 1-for-12 on the week to lower his batting average to .233. Still no errors behind the plate, though, so that's a plus.

Infielders
1.) Brian Buscher - 3B(28), DH(11), 1B(1) [3B(3), DH(2)]
2.) Trevor Plouffe - SS(37), DH(2) [SS(6)]
3.) Felix Molina - 2B(32), SS(2), DH(2) [2B(6), SS(1)]
4.) Brock Peterson - 1B(30), DH(6) [1B(6)]
5.) David Winfree - 3B(14), DH(13), 1B(5) [3B(4), DH(2), 1B(1)]
6.) Luke Hughes - 2B(13), DH(5), LF(4), 3B(1), 1B(1) [2B(2), LF(2), 1B(1)]

Who's Hot: There was a trio of solid performances this week for the Rock Cat infielders, led by Brian Buscher. Buscher went 10-for-22 on the week with a HR (he now has 3 on the season) to bring his batting average to .289 with an .817 OPS in 159 AB's. That's good for the second-best average and third-best OPS on the team this year. Felix Molina also had a good week, going 10-for-29 to raise his average to .289 as well, with a .786 OPS and 4 HR's in 142 AB's. Finally, Trevor Plouffe (yes, that Trevor Plouffe) went 9-for-31 to raise his average to .258 in 163 AB's -- but he now has 10 errors on the season.

Who's Not: Regulars Brock Peterson (7-for-27) and David Winfree (7-for-29) were ok this week, leaving the only downright bad performance in the hands of one Luke Hughes, a backup middle infielder (and occasional left fielder), who went 2-for-15 on the week but is nonetheless still hitting .275 on the season.

Outfielders
1.) Garrett Guzman - LF(34), DH(2) [LF(2), DH(1)]
2.) Brandon Roberts - CF(31), DH(1) [CF(3)]
3.) Matthew Allegra - RF(35) [RF(5)]
4.) Rashad Eldridge - CF(13), RF(9), LF(5) [CF(4), RF(2), LF(1)]

Who's Hot: Garrett Guzman went 9-for-22 this week and now has a .278 average and .716 OPS with 3 HR's and 22 RBI's in 151 AB's. Perhaps most impressive is his very low strikeout total, which sits at 14. Rashad Eldridge (10-for-27) and Brandon Roberts (3-for-9) also both had good weeks -- and both needed them, as Eldridge is still hitting just .255, and Roberts (who lost his starting CF job to Eldridge) is hitting just .212. Meanwhile, Matt Allegra went 6-for-21 and is hitting .269 with 6 HR's and 23 RBI's -- but also has 41 K's in 134 AB's.

Who's Not: Zero. Zilch. Nada.