Double A
Midland Rockhounds [2nd, Tex South Division 17-13]
Last game 05/04/2008
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Pitcher T W L IP era vLH vRH whip so bb avgLH avgRH
Mazzaro R 2 2 35.2 2.78 3.12 2.67 1.21 22 6 .263 .264
Simmons R 2 1 31.0 1.45 2.31 0.93 0.90 28 4 .239 .183
Webb R 1 1 30.1 4.45 1.86 5.66 1.55 23 12 .268 .296
Bailey R 1 1 25.0 5.40 8.10 4.42 1.34 22 14 .208 .250
Madsen R 2 0 12.0 2.25 5.40 0.00 0.83 6 3 .211 .130
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Webb got roughed up in his outing against Frisco, surrendering 5 runs, 4
earned in 5 innings, while striking out 4 and walking one. But the Hounds
prevailed 10-6. Carignan continues to impress, pitching a scoreless inning
while K'ing one and walking one. Currin had an even better inning, only
needing 6 pitches, all strikes, to retire the side. Guzman is coming down to
earth a bit, but still had an rbi on one hit, while drawing 2 walks. I wonder if
he's getting pitched around a bit. Zeringue scored 2 and knocked in 2 on a
single and double, with two walks. Donovan drew a walk, scored two and hit
a single and double. Cunningham is starting to hit, he drove in 2 on two singles.
Pennington continues to struggle.
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As the June draft approaches, it's sometimes hard for me to forget that in 2006
Pennington got a 2M+ signing bonus and Smoak, who the A's took in the later
rounds, could not come up with an additional 50K to sign him. Smoak was a high
schooler who had committed to the Gamecocks (of S Carolina?) and was very open
that his signing demand was a cool 1M. According to Baseball America, the A's
offered 950,000K. In 2007 Jim Callis of BA said this about him, "Smoak is a
candidate to go No. 1 overall". Both BP and BA have him going to the Giants
(UGH!!!) 5th and some less reputable mock drafts have him going 2nd to the Pirates.
Of course it's not my money, and maybe the A's felt it was just too much of a risk
to give that type of money to a later round high schooler. But still, it definately
falls under the category of what might have been.
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James Simmons was the Texas League player of the week (tip of the hat to Calicool for
the heads up). He posted an 1.93 era in 14 innings, while striking out 13. Regarding
Simmons, Bryan Smith of BP had this to say about him in a chat: "He stands as the first
in line of reaching the Major Leagues. Since they are all on the same team, I think
ranking them is sort of a strange thing to do. Simmons probably has a realistic chance
of pitching with the A's as early as August, especially if Smith/Eveland regress and/or
Blanton gets traded. He just looks too consistently good for the Texas League right now.
He'll be up first, and if he pitches well, Simmons won't have to worry when the A's have
an in-flux of those great High-A arms, I'll say that."
