Link Report for Saturday 9/12 - Championship Series Starts Wed. vs. Chattanooga

[Mass Haas]

Shuckers remain loose ahead of SL title series

By Patrick Ochs, Biloxi Sun-Herald

 

BILOXI -- Monday was just another day on the job for the Biloxi Shuckers.

 

With the salsa Pandora Internet radio station blasting over the speakers, the Southern League's South Division Champs remained loose -- and why not? After dispatching the second-half champion Pensacola Blue Wahoos in three games, Biloxi's road warriors are set up to face the winner of the Chattanooga-Montgomery series in the league's championship game.

 

For a guy like Michael Reed, who played in 38 games in the second half for Triple-A Colorado Springs, he jumped at the chance to rejoin a group of guys who seem to always have fun no matter what's at stake.

 

"This is an awesome team to be a part of. I missed them when I went up to Triple-A. I really did," Reed said after Monday's practice. "When they asked me if I wanted to come back and play, I said absolutely. I love playing with these guys. We have good chemistry. We just have fun out there. That's why there's no pressure. These are just like any other games.

 

"I've never been a part of the playoffs. This is the first time for me. That's more how I viewed it. It's an opportunity to experience something I haven't experienced before."

 

Adding Reed, who is hitting .278 with five homers and 49 RBIs in Biloxi, was a welcomed addition for a team that was inconsistent much of the month of August.

 

Once they added Reed and infielder Garrett Cooper, who is hitting .552 in nine games, the offense started to click again.

 

"I think if you saw how we played in July and August there was some inconsistencies and then it seemed like, 'OK, playoff, let's turn it up and go back to our first-half caliber of baseball,'" manager Carlos Subero said. "I think that's what happened."

 

Same rotation

 

Subero said the team will keep the same rotation that shut down the Blue Wahoos, with Jorge Lopez getting the Game 1 start. Adrian Houser and Tyler Wagner will follow, with Josh Hader and Jorge Ortega ready if needed.

 

Lopez, the Southern League's Pitcher of the Year, threw 6 2/3 hitless innings in his last start and really showed his manager another side of his repertoire.

 

"It seems every time he goes out there he gets an inch closer to the big leagues. He does something different that's going to light up your eyes," Subero said. "Even when he hasn't had his best stuff the last couple of times he comes out almost untouched. That tells you it's not only that he throws had and has a good changeup, but he's able to pitch now and go to his strength of that particularly day.

 

"Like the last time out, he went to his changeup. He didn't have much of a curveball but was able to get by with 40 changeups total in the game. It's good to see him grow."

[Jenkins5]

Guess that answers some questions about his change up & confidence in the pitch

[And That]

Guess that answers some questions about his change up & confidence in the pitch

And his curveball.

[Jenkins5]

Guess that answers some questions about his change up & confidence in the pitch

And his curveball.

 

I think it is extremely raw for him not to have much of a curve, Subero raves about how great it was after every game. It's nice to know that he can not have it going though and still play nearly 6 inning of no hit ball. I have heard a lot of the very good fastball & curve but his change up is never mentioned

[CheezWizHed]

Does Ortega (if he doesn't make a start) get a ring if the Shuckers win the title? That'd be sweet.

 

I would think so. Glad to see them reset the pitching rotation too. Send in the studs!

[And That]

I love the guy and hope he succeeds at the highest level - I'm really not trying to get down on Lopez so I'll leave it at this, but I think expectations based on his manager's quotes may need to be tempered. It's Subero's job to build his players up, so he probably goes out of his way to provide as many fluffy quotes as possible. And that's fine. For instance, I doubt you're going to find as many (if any) Subero quotes on how awful Hobbs Johnson was in the second half of the season. Or how bad Nick Shaw was pretty much all season.

 

So until we see a number of actual non-partisan scouting reports from, or based on opinions of, actual scouts (e.g. BA, BP, MLB Pipeline, the Kiley McDanielses of the world) come in on Lopez at the end of the season, I just don't think it's a good idea to jump to conclusions based on a handful of quotes from his manager.

[CheezWizHed]

Wasn't Lopez' curveball rated the best in the Southern League? I know most scouts still rate him in the middle rotation range, but its hard not to get excited for his progress this year. We waited and waited for his "raw stuff" to show up as "pitching stuff".

 

Maybe its eternal optimism, but I would guess that most of us hold out the hope that somewhere between Lopez, Wagner, Williams (Devon or Taylor), Hader, Houser, Sneed, or Pounce there is someone that will break through the #3 SP ceiling most scouts have tabbed them with.

[And That]

Wasn't Lopez' curveball rated the best in the Southern League?

 

Yes, by Southern League managers/coaches. I don't think BA provides a breakdown of how many people were polled, but realistically you'd have to think that many players win by a plurality rather than a majority. And that unknown is what waters down these polls for me. If they asked 20 managers/coaches who had the best curveball and 15 said Lopez, great. If 4 said Lopez, and a handful of others got a 3, then... eh. It might have just come down to which night certain opposing coaches saw certain players. And we don't know which one it is.

[Mass Haas]

Here's your playoff schedule -- plan accordingly !

[CheezWizHed]

If 4 said Lopez, and a handful of others got a 3, then... eh. It might have just come down to which night certain opposing coaches saw certain players. And we don't know which one it is.

 

Good point. I guess it didn't really sink in as a coaches rating either. Coaches aren't really scouting the other teams.