Link Report for Sat. 7/16 -- Farm clubs go 0-7; Eric Arnett sets his bar even lower

[Mass Haas]

Rattlers by the numbers

by Jim Oskola, Appleton Post Crescent

 

T.J. Mittelstaedt has been one hot hitter for the Timber Rattlers.

 

Following Friday night's one-for-four against West Michigan, the left-handed hitter is batting .324, good for the Midwest League batting lead.

 

Other Rattlers near the top of the league leaderboard include: Mike Walker with 14 home runs (Yazy Arbelo, South Bend, 22); Reggie Keen, 31 stolen bases (Billy Hamilton, Dayton, 66); Mittelstaedt, .516 slugging percentage (Jesus Aguilar, Lake County, .551); Nick Shaw, 54 runs scored (Cody Rogers, Bowling Green, 67); Walker, 62 RBI (Arbelo, South Bend, 69); Mittelstaedt and Walker, .432 and .396 on-base percentage (Nate Roberts, Beloit, .434) and Greg Holle, 17 saves (Bruce Rondon, West Michigan, 17).

 

As a team, the Rattlers are sixth in batting with a .254 average, compared to Peoria's .263 team batting average.

 

Quad Cities has a league-leading 3.16 team earned run average. The Rattlers are 12th at 3.92.

 

Defensively, the Rattlers have committed 112 errors. Bowling Green with 87 errors has committed the fewest in the Midwest League.

[Mass Haas]

Against Brevard County, the 20-year-old southpaw retired the first seven batters he faced. He held the Manatees hitless for five innings, then issued a leadoff walk to Scott Krieger in the sixth. The following batter, Scooter Gennett, laid down a bunt that was placed well enough to be the first hit off James.

James said he knew in the back of his mind that he had a no-hitter going but was more focused on each batter.

"When the bunt was laid down and I couldn't get to first base, once [Gennett] got on base, I didn't even realize that it was a hit," he said. "I didn't know until after the next batter. I got on the mound, I was pitching, focusing on getting out of the inning and keeping them scoreless. After that, I was like, 'Oh my God, they got the first hit and it was that bunt.' There's nothing I can do about it, it didn't really affect me that much."

James got out of the inning as Kentrail Davis popped up a bunt and Hunter Morris and Khris Davis struck out.

***

The following batter, Scooter Gennett, laid down a bunt that was placed well enough to be the first hit off James.

Unwritten rule!

[biedergb]

Is D'Vo a better prospect now than Kentrail Davis? Similar numbers now and about the same age. But DVo had split time between fb and bb in college, had been more raw and is consistently improving. Kentrail has stagnated. He appears to be the same hitter the past two years without much improvement.

[MTBrew]

"Eric Arnett sets his bar even lower"

I am trying to figure out where this came from and what it means.

I understand that most here are dissapointed in Arnett and feel he is a "bust".

I don't share opinion, having watched him in '09, this year and last nights game as well (can't speak for 2010 while he was in Wisc.).

Last night was definately the poorest I have seen him pitch. That being said even last night he showed stuff, competitiveness and poise that I wouldn't give up on.

In my opinion he "over thinks" the game and situation, he is at his best when he works quickly. He really gets bogged down (mentally) when men are on base. Instead of being confident in his stuff he trys to be too "fine" and ends up grooving too many pitches.

Whether he can get beyond this or not remains to be seen, but at 3 years in I wouldn't give up on him. His stuff is very good and he is an excellent athlete. But what do I know, I am still scratching my head as to why Evan Frederickson was released.

[paul253]

But what do I know, I am still scratching my head as to why Evan Frederickson was released.

 

Frederickson just could not throw strikes. I don't care how good your stuff is our how high your ceiling is, if you walk as many people as Frederickson did you just cannot succeed.

 

I am encouraged by the fact that Arnett doesn't seem to be walking a lot of people, but he's giving up a ton of hits.

[TheCrew07]

Someone else may recall, but I don't remember a legitimate top pithicng prospect ever giving up 3 home runs in a game since I've been following the minors on this site.

In my opinion Arnett is a fringe prospect like a Cravy. He's someone you hope gets "it" eventually but he's not someone you're going to throw on any prospect lists at this time.

[LouisEly]

Silver lining - Arnett's GO/FO was 7:3 and four of the hits given up were ground balls. But three home runs... yikes. Let's hope he was working on something specific.