This week I had the chance to visit Grand Junction for a couple of days. It was a quick trip which allowed me to take my son fishing on Grand Mesa and then catch a game with my dad on Tuesday. A lot has been written about the Grand Junction Rockies this season and there's not much I can add to that, especially from a game where they lost 8-4. So instead, I thought I would provide a picture gallery above so the readers can match some faces with the names they've been reading about.
In the game, starter Alex Balog gave up a pair of home runs and saw his ERA fall to 9.00 thanks to errors by Dom Nunez and Ryan McMahon. Despite the errors I was impressed by Nunez's athleticism and how quickly he was able to get to the ball. He's already 6-feet-0 tall and 175 pounds, so I wouldn't be surprised if he filled out more to the point he would eventually end up at a corner position, although he did play shortstop in this game.
The interesting point of the game, from a prospect perspective, was watching Peter Tago pitch in the eighth and ninth innings. Tago was drafted in the Supplemental First Round of the 2010 draft, the same year Kyle Parker was chosen with the No. 26 pick. The right hander out of Dana Hills High School was a concession for the loss of Jason Marquis in free agency that off-season and drafted with the 47th selection at about the same spot as Eddie Butler two years later.
Tago came into the game and immediately struggled; giving up a long home run and then walking a batter. His demeanor on the mound looked like a man who was defeated. He somehow made it out of the eighth without further damage and came in to pitch the ninth as a totally different person. Tago faced the heart of Helena's order in and struck out all three batters-- two of them looking. It was an amazing display of the tools he has at his disposal. The California native touched 94 with ease and displayed a nasty slider. At just 20 years of age, he still has time to turn things around-- although the window is slowly closing.
Gray blacked out
Jon Gray was shut down for the season, as written by Drew Creasman yesterday. The news wasn't a surprise considering the amount of innings the right-hander threw in college this year. It also coincides with the news that Mark Appel was shut down by the Astros earlier this week. The two were both highly touted pitching prospects going into this year's draft and it stands to reason they would follow similar schedules as far as their workload this year. Gray has had a much better minor league debut than the USC pitcher drafted first overall. Look at the side-by-side table of the two pitchers first season in the minors:
Year | Age | Tm | Lg | Lev | Aff | W | L | W-L% | ERA | IP | WHIP | H/9 | HR/9 | BB/9 | SO/9 | SO/BB |
Mark Appel | 21 | 2 Teams | 2 Lgs | A-A- | HOU | 3 | 1 | 0.75 | 3.79 | 38.0 | 1.184 | 8.5 | 0.5 | 2.1 | 7.8 | 3.67 |
Jon Gray | 21 | 2 Teams | 2 Lgs | A+-Rk | COL | 4 | 0 | 1.00 | 1.93 | 37.1 | 0.884 | 6.0 | 0.0 | 1.9 | 12.3 | 6.38 |
Gray was also selected as the California League Pitcher of the Week for striking out 18 batters in 10 innings this past week.
Rosell Herrera earns high honors
Asheville shortstop Rosell Herrera received multiple awards from the South Atlantic League this week. He was named as the league's Most Valuable Player and Most Outstanding MLB Prospect. Herrera has made an amazing turnaround since struggling in Low-A last season before being demoted to Tri-City. This season, the switch-hitter is batting .343 with 16 home runs and 33 doubles.
In addition to his awards, the Dominican was named to the SAL Post-season All-Star team along with Tom Murphy and Francisco Sosa. Sosa has had his own incredible season, batting .313 with 19 home runs and 30 stolen bases.
Kyle Parker selected along with three other Drillers as Texas League All-Stars
Tulsa had the second most selections to the list of Texas League All-Stars this week. Outfielder Kyle Parker led the list of names with a .287 average and 23 home runs. Other Drillers selected included pitcher Christian Bergman, second baseman Angelys Nina and shortstop Cristhian Adames. Both Adames and Nina had some of the best fielding percentages for middle-infielders in the Texas League this season.
Tweet of the Week
First AB in 5 years, didn't miss a beat... Even though I allegedly swung at ball 4 http://t.co/N0NLiLr676
— Daniel Winkler (@dwinkler15) August 28, 2013
Twitter Vine of the Week
Like a #boss https://t.co/UPML6hymr5
— Christian Friedrich (@CFRIED12) August 30, 2013