G-Stros Record Watch - Best Season Batting Average

As this season wraps up, I started looking at how this years numbers compare to previous years. Jordan Scott, with three games left, leads the 2011 edition of the G-Stros with a solid .340 average. Let's see where that stands compared to previous seasons. The average listed required that the player played in over half of the teams games. I will also include what transpired in the rest of their career.

2004 - .316 Antonio Garcia (44 games) - The big 1st baseman returned to Greeneville in 2005, his third season in the Appy League. He was released before the 2006 season started.

2005 - .335 Josh Flores (59 games)- The speedy CF had a great year in the Appy League and was considered one of the top prospects in the Appy that season. He quickly climbed up the system ladder, playing half of the 2007 season in Corpus Christi. Then in a freak accident in the off season, he slipped on some ice and damaged both knees. He missed all of the 2008 season. He came back in 2009 and then was injured again. When he returned in 2010, he wasn't the player he had been before all the knee injuries. He was released during the 2010 season and is now playing indy ball for the Joliet Slammers of the Frontier League.

2006 - .314 Ronald Ramirez (57 games) - The shortstop from Columbia went to Lexington to start the 2007 season and was off to a hot start when he was injured. He never got his bat back after that. He made it to Lancaster in 2009 but was released before the 2010 season.

2007 -.273 Ebert Rosario (59 games) - The lanky 3rd baseman came back to G'ville in 2008 and improved his season average to .304 in 47 games. He then steadily climbed the ladder to Lancaster where his development stalled. So in 2010, he was sent back to the GCL to learn how to pitch. He is with the Tri Cities ValleyCats this season pitching out of their bullpen.

2008 - .306 Albert Cartwright (39 games) - Cartwright was sharing time at second with a young Jose Altuve. He edged Rosario by .002 for the best average bragging rights in 2008. He moved on up to Lexington in 2009 where he struggled but something clicked in 2010. He started in Lancaster but after hitting .319 in 92 games, he was promoted to AA. During the off season, he was traded to the Phillies for relief pitcher Sergio Escalona. Cartwright then tore his Achilles tendon during spring training and he has missed the 2011 season as a result.

2009 - .324 Jose Altuve (45 games) - It was a surprise to see Altuve back in G'ville for the 09 season. He had hit .284 in 08. Since then, he has shot to Houston in just two seasons. He is the starting second baseman and quickly becoming a Houston Astros fan favorite.

2010 - .310 Chris Wallace (47 games) - Wallace started the 2011 season in Lexington but was promoted to Corpus Christi after he hit .285 in 66 games. He has had some learning to do in CC where during the month of July, he hit .272 with 5 HR. He suffered a right wrist injury and has not appeared in a game since 8/3/11.

Other players who finished with an average over .300:

2004 - .308 Mitch Einertson (63 games)
2005 - .333 Eli Iorg (35 games)
2006 - .306 Steve Brown (54 games)
2010 - .303 Marcus Nidiffer (43 games)
2010 - .303 Hector Rodriguez (43 games)
2011 - .335 Chase Davidson (43 games)

So if Scott plays in all three games the team has left, and gets four at bats a game, he just needs three hits to have the highest single season average for any player who has played in Greeneville. If he doesn't pull it off, Josh Flores will continue to hold the record by percentage points over Davidson.

Altuve To AA

This morning, I read on twitter that Jose Altuve had been called up from Lancaster to AA Corpus Christi. That was exciting news to read. Many have been wondering what else he had to prove in high A ball. After all, he entered today leading all of MILB in batting average and hits. Many minor league experts dismiss some of the results because he plays in Lancaster and the Cal. League. Now that he is in the Texas League, his numbers will be taken more at face value.

Brian McTaggart blogged about the move today. He had this great quote from Fred Nelson, the Astros director of player development.

“Altuve is a guy that has come onto our radar screen,” Nelson said. “He’s continues to play well. He’s not a very big kid in stature, but he plays like a man and knows how to play the game and he’s a guy that’s a baseball player. There comes a point in time when we have to take notice of that and we certainly have.”

In other moves, Hector Rodriguez who was a fan favorite in Greeneville, was promoted to Lancaster from extended spring training. He could often be heard whistling to teammates from the bench or in the field during games. His piercing birdlike whistle often followed a good play or a good pitch (especially if the umpire didn't call it the Astros way). I expect he will see some time at SS since he makes the third 3rd baseman on the roster.



Rodriguez's move also indicates that they are not quiet ready to bring Jio Mier up to Lancaster yet. He is having a better season in Lexington this go around. The McTaggart blog also had a quote from Nelson about Mier's development.

“He’s really matured and is playing really, really sound defense,” Nelson said. “We really like what we’ve seen there. I think he’s right on track. I think he’s matured as a player, he’s not as hard on himself and understands the season’s long and there’s going to be ups and downs and you have to be able to deal with both. I’m really impressed with how he’s conducted himself and how sound he’s been on defense.”

What To Watch For In 2011 - Former G-Stros Third Basemen

Lets finish our trip around the infield with a look at what we are watching for out of former G-Stro third basemen in 2011. The theme for this position appears to be 'getting old fast'. Remember we covered Koby Clemens in our series when I discussed first basemen. In parenthisis are the year(s) they played in Greeneville and their age on opening day this year.

Third Basemen
Neil Sellers (2004, 28) - After playing 3 seasons in the Phillies organization, he signed as a minor league free agent with the Marlins this season where he will likely be a AAA teammate of former G-Stro Victor Garate who also signed with Florida this off season. Can he improve on his poor AAA performance last season? Will the thinner ranks of the Marlins organization give him a shot at getting a cup of coffee in the bigs?

Jhon Florentino (2005, 27) - After progressing a step each year since 2005, he repeated at AA for 2010. His numbers didn't reflect any improvement in his second season there. He was a minor league free agent at the end of the season and I haven't seen him sign with anyone yet. So the only question is will he be in spring training at all?

Jonathan Meyer (2009, 20) - Will he repeat in Lex or get pushed on to Lancaster? Can he reduce the numbers of errors? Can he continue to improve at the plate?

Ebert Rosario (2007,08, 23) - He was sent back to the GCL last season and converted to a pitcher. So he will be in one of the short season teams working on learning to pitch. Let's hope he has as much success at that as Jorge DeLeon had last year.

Rafael Valezuala (2010, 23) - I am wondering if he will start in short season or jump to Lexington.

Johnny Medrano (2010, 23) - What is the status of his injured arm? If healthy will he get a shot at Lexington?

Hector Rodriguez (2010, 20) - Will he be back in Greeneville because of the glut of 3rd older 3rd basemen in the system? Will he be used more as a utility player or will he stay at 3rd?

Season Recap - On The Corners

In continuing to evaluate the 2010 Greeneville Astros, we will now examine the corner infielders. This is an older group of players with the youngest starting the season at 20 but finishing at 21. We will look at them in order of combined games played at the two positions. You will notice the games add up to more than the number of games the Astros played. That is because some of the appearances were as defensive substitutions.

Marcus Nidiffer (Games Played by Position 1B- 47, DH-1)- He was the old man of the bunch at 23. He was a NDFA who played catcher at Kentucky. He is also from nearby Bristol which made him a fan favorite from the beginning. Nidiffer played a solid first base, only making 4 errors on the season. He wasn't spectacular but he improved as the season progressed.

At the plate, Nidiffer started of the year hot and even though he faded in August, and was promoted to Tri Cities with half a month of games to play, he finished tied for the 9th best batting average in the league at .303. His 11 home runs were tied for 5th and .981 OPS was 2nd best. He was named to the Appy League All Star Team.

He exploded out of the gate in Tri Cities hitting two HR in one of his first games. He has since cooled off as he hit just .154 in his last 10 games in Tri Cities with only one extra base hit, a double.

Those close to the team gave Nidiffer high marks for his character and leadership as well. He will have a tough road to climb to make it very far in the system. His age and his status as a NDFA are working against him.

Expectations for next year - Tri Cities

Rafael Valenzuela - (Games played by position 1B - 22, 3B - 17) - Signed as a NDFA out of the University of Arizona. The 22 year old has played all over the diamond in college but played 1st & 3rd for the G-Stros. He was called up to Greeneville after spending 16 games with the GCL Astros.

In the field, Valenzuela was adequate but unremarkable for the G-Stros at either position. He was regularly used as a defensive replacement late in close games at 1st. After Nidiffer left, he was the best option the team had a 1st. Therefore, he spent a the last half of August at 1st.

At the plate, he made contact most of the time. However that contact resulted in ground balls over half the time. He was one of the few left handed bats in the line up.

Valenzuela has been offered the chance to play winter ball in Mexico.

Expectations for next year - Tri Cities if not released.

Jhonny Medrano - (Games played by position 1B - 11, 3B - 21, DH - 19) The 22 year old from Venezuela was the starting 3rd baseman for the season. He had been slated to be on the Greeneville roster in 2008 but he hurt his knee the day before the season started and had to miss the whole year. The next year, he had a disappointing year in Tri Cities. This year, it was expected he would show the ability that was the buzz when he was on the roster in 2008.

The injury bug bit Medrano again this year. On July 16th, he banged his elbow on a slide home and was out of the line up for much of the rest of July. When he returned, he didn't play 3rd any longer and after a failed attempt at him playing first, he was relegated to the DH role for much of August. At the last game of the season, he was seen in the dugout with a bulky brace on his elbow.

His hitting suffered after the injury. He had 23 of his 49 strike outs in just 71 at bats in August.

Expectations for next year: This was his sixth season after signing as a free agent as a 16 year old. Therefore, he will be a minor league free agent this off season. If the elbow requires surgery with significant rehab time, I don't see the Astros re-signing him.

Hector Rodriguez - (Games played by position 3b - 29, SS - 13, LF - 1) He was the baby of the group, starting the season at 20 years old. Rodriguez made the jump from the DLS Astros to Greeneville this season, with no stop at GCL. He was one of my favorite kids on the team this year. Not because of his play necessarily but because of his attitude. He was the first guy out of the dug out to welcome players off the field when an inning ended. He had a unique whistle noise he would make in the field or in the dugout when some one made a good play or when a pitcher made a good pitch. Occasionally, you would hear other players echo the whistle back to him. It was clear, he was having fun at the ball park.

In the field, he is a bit small to be playing 3rd at 6 foot and 150 pounds. He looks more like a shortstop than a 3rd baseman. He has the soft hands of a SS and ranges to his left well. He also made several nice plays coming in on the grass on bunts and dinks. He made one catch of a line drive over his head that showed off a quick reaction time and a solid vertical leap. he made 5 errors at 3rd. Most of those were on throws.

At the plate, he quietly put together a good season. He didn't have enough at bats to qualify for any league or team rankings, but he finished the year with a solid .303 average. He hits a bunch of ground balls and it might be that he is just getting lucky. Time will tell. He didn't strike out (25 K in 120 AB) but he also took only one walk all year. So he makes contact but will need to learn to be more selective.

Expectations for next year: Greeneville or Tri Cities

Chris Lovett - (Games played by position: 3B - 12, 2B -3, DH - 1. The 2009 12th round pick of the Braves was picked up at the end of July with the Braves released him. He started off getting a great deal of playing time but as his struggles at the plate grew, his playing time shrunk. Not a great sample size to pull from but hitting under .180 in 50 AB is not encouraging.

Expectations for next year: Released

In summary, there were not many prospects in the corner infield crop in Greenville this year. But what do you expect when three of the players were NDFA college kids, one is a oft injured soon to be minor league free agent.

Best Bat: Nidiffer
Best Glove: Rodriguez
Best Arm: Medrano (pre injury)
Best Overall Prospect: Rodriguez (though I considered putting none of the above)

Game Report: Tuesday 8/24/10

The good:

The game as started by Delino DeShields placing a single to center. He goes to second on a pass ball before Jonathon Merritt reaches 1st on a walk. Medrano fails to move the runners over. Nash walks to load the bases. Valenzuela reaches on an epic fail error by the P-Rays. It was a pop up behind second that hit the heal of the short stops glove and fell to the ground. If Nash is running hard on the play, he might have scored from first. That gives you an idea as to how high of a pop this was.

Travis Smink was pressed into service after Velasquez left the game (more on that below). He pitched from a survival mode it appeared. He was benefited in the 6th inning by his catcher. Roberto Pena gunned one runner out at second with a strike'em out throw'em out double play. Later in the inning, with a runner on second, Pena lets the ball get by him and the runner advances. He rounds the bag and Pena throws behind the runner and butter him, because he was toast. Pena has an arm and a half.

Greeneville's pitching staff pitched out of several jams. The P-Rays were 0-8 with RISP. Last night, they were 0-10. They had the lead off hitter on base in 3 innings and none of them scored.

Hector Rodriquez reached on a single to extend his hitting streak to 5 games.

The Bad

I made the comment to a friend at the game, the best Greeneville players weren't wearing our unis. One of these "best players" was the P-Rays SS. The other was the field ump. He struggled but not of his struggles hurt Greeneville.

Vincent Velasquez left the game in the middle of an at bat due to a "crunching" sound in his elbow. Not sure of any diagnosis but word was it is more likely to be bone related (spur, loose body) than to be ligament related.

DeShields picked up another error on a routine play. He was coming in on a single and pulled up and left the ball on the turf allowing the runner to advance from 1st to 2nd. It is the second game of the three I have seen him play where this has happened.

Overall, Greeneville did what it needed to win. It got some outside help from a few missed calls and a big two out error.