I guess the thing to look at in last night's box score was the work of the MLB experienced pitchers that may help the Rockies later. Greg Smith had a decent start, Jason Hirsh struggled in his second relief appearance of the season, and Ryan Speier pitched well. Smith's performance along with that of Brandon Hynick with the Sky Sox thus far is decent to keep in the back of your head in case an injury bug hits our rotation. These guys aren't going to meet the level of our current starters at their best, but they aren't going to damage us terribly at the bottom end. The other good news from this game was despite the loss, our pitchers made Buster Posey look bad in his AAA debut:
Fresno Top 1st
Buster Posey grounds out like a weak four year old girl, shortstop Mike McCoy to first baseman Edwin Bellorin.
Fresno Top 4th
Buster Posey grounds out, third baseman Kenny Perez to first baseman Edwin Bellorin and starts crying. Buster Posey moves to time out on the play.
Fresno Top 6th
Buster Posey out on a sacrifice fly to right fielder Daniel Ortmeier. Eugenio Velez scores. Buster Posey given lollipop and pat on head by Grizzlies manager.
Fresno Top 8th
Buster Posey grounds out, shortstop Mike McCoy to first baseman Edwin Bellorin. Right side of Sky Sox infield gets jealous.
Fresno Top 10th
Buster Posey merely flies out to center fielder Chris Frey in Colorado Springs, where even Kenny Perez can hit dingerz.
Well, that's how I read it anyway. Demoralizing the enemy at the minor league level probably doesn't help us win the wild card, but it makes me feel happy.
Tulsa: Postponed
Connor Graham continues to be just good enough to be a legit prospect right outside the elites of the Rockies system, but not good enough to get into that next level. At this point given his age, his stuff and the starting depth that the Rockies already have, I have to think his role with the MLB team in two or three seasons will be in relief, and he's going to be good at it.
Charlie Blackmon had three hits and a walk to once again lead the Nuts offense. Rhadames Nazario also pitched in two hits.
Kiel Roling had two hits including a double and Tyler Massey also had a pair of hits. Ethan Hollingsworth had one of his least efficient starts of the season, but still managed to put up some pretty impressive numbers, striking out ten while walking two. He gave up three runs on seven hits in five and two thirds innings.
Rod Scurry got one of those wins that detractors of the stat point to as a reason it's fundamentally flawed, as Scurry gave up the most runs of any Dust Devil pitcher to throw last night (2), in the least amount of time (one third of an inning), but because the offense rallied to save his tail in the next inning, he got the W rather than Sheng An Kuo, who allowed zero runs in five and two thirds or one of the other relievers. Speaking of those other relievers, we haven't talked about Kyle Walker much this season, but he is showing some nascent lefty specialist skills. Walker threw 1.2 innings last night in the win. On offense, Ben Paulsen, Orlando Sandoval and Jeremiah Sammy each had two hits.
Eliezer Mesa had a 4 for 5 night for the Ghosts, he has ten hits in his last four games and is now seven hits ahead of Angelys Nina for tops on the team. Trying to figure out how Mesa measures as a prospect, if at all, is kind of difficult. The obvious cons:
- He's repeating the level
- He doesn't walk
- He doesn't hit for power (4 out of 27 hits for extra bases in an easy power environment)
- He doesn't steal enough for a speedster
- When he signed, we were told he may wind up in a corner, which makes cons one through four worse.
Honestly, this should be enough to write him off, and it's why we don't really talk about him much in our Pebble Reports. However, it's not quite that simple as there are reasons not to totally dismiss him just yet.
The pros:
- Still at least somewhat young (21 in November)
- Pro bloodlines. Don't discount this as an X-factor as a familial professional resource has helped several otherwise midgrade prospects hone their skills to the point that they actually deserved MLB jobs. EY2 would be a prime example.
- He gets hits. Contact is king at the lower levels and Mesa isn't striking out very much, particularly lately. If you subscribe to the theory that power develops late, why not keep him around and see what happens?
- He's playing center field right now and playing it pretty decently.
Chances are he stays what he is as another decent average, no power outfielder that will have difficulty cracking a AAA squad let alone an MLB team. There's little chance he cracks our top 30 prospect list anytime soon, but that doesn't mean we're completely ignoring him. Mesa's in a look but don't touch phase of development, still just an egg.