The 2007 Hawaiian League -- Latest: Top 15 Prospects

[Kevbo74]

LuCroy and Salome in Brevard? Nice.

I think Mat Gamel's bat is too big for this league. Someone tell him to ease up, and focus on D. Anyone think he'll have a start in LF?

[colbyjack]

Jonathan Lucroy and Stephen Chapman a combined 0-5 in last night's game for the Honu, a game in which they won 5-1. Mat Gamel did go 1-4 (his third double) with a run and an RBI.

 

http://www.mlb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=l405&t=g_box&gid=2007_10_06_honwin_nshwin_1

 

Here's the game story from the game the other day focusing on Gamel's big day (we'll give them a pass for getting Jonathan Lucroy's name wrong):

 

http://www.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071005&content_id=2251519&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

 

Gamel shows Honu he's worth a grand

Goes yard with bases juiced to assume league lead

 

Brewers prospect Mat Gamel ripped grand slam as visiting North Shore defeated Honolulu, 7-3, on Thursday.

 

Gamel's go-ahead shot over the left-center wall gave the Honu (4-1) a 4-3 lead in the fifth inning. The 22-year-old third baseman, who also doubled and scored on a double by Matt Lucroy (Brewers) in the seventh, leads the Hawaii Winter Baseball league with three dingers through five games. Milwaukee's fourth-round selection in the 2005 draft hit .300 with nine homers and 60 RBIs for Class A Advanced Brevard County this past season.

 

Michael Griffin singled and scored on Jamie Romak's groundout in the seventh and tacked on an RBI base hit in the eighth. Lucroy finished with three hits to boost his average to .545.

 

Phillies prospect Ronald Hill (1-0) struck out two and walked one over 2 1/3 scoreless and hitless frames for the victory. Reliever Blair Johnson (Pirates) yielded a hit and two walks while fanning two over four scoreless innings. Starter Bud Norris (Astros) allowed three runs on two hits and two walks with five strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings.

 

Orioles product Chad Thall (0-1) surrendered two runs on two hits and one walk with two strikeouts in two frames for the loss. Starter Shingo Matsuzaki gave up two runs on four hits and three walks with three strikeouts in four innings.

 

Honolulu (2-3) scored all of its runs in the second. Ryan Harvey (Cubs) singled, but left with an injury and was replaced on the basepaths by Shoji Ohhiro. Takumi Kobe walked, advanced to third on Matt Wieters' one-out RBI double and scored on Norris' wild pitch. Wieters came home on a groundout by fellow Orioles prospect Miguel Abreu.

[colbyjack]

Today's Honolulu 15-1 defeat over North Shore made me hope no Brewers were involved. When I notice the 11 run eighth inning, I especially hoped no Brewers prospect was involved with that madness. When I saw Omar Aguilar's and Kevin Roberts' lines I almost turned the other way and hoped someone else would post the Honu's results from the evening:

 

Aguilar: 0.0 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 1 BB

Roberts: 0.1 IP, 3 H, 7 R (6 ER), 3 BB

 

Egads! That's the 11-run 8th inning folks.

 

Stephen Chapman and Mat Gamel each went 1-4.

[SunGrasses]

Why do they keep calling Jonathan Lucroy, Matt Lucroy?

[And That]

Why do they keep calling Jonathan Lucroy, Matt Lucroy?

Matthew LeCroy.

[colbyjack]

Omar Aguilar rights himself rather quickly, tossing a scoreless 10th inning while picking up the win as the Honu win in the 10th as Mat Gamel scores the winning run in the bottom of the inning to break a 2-2 tie.

 

Gamel goes 1-4 overall, as does Stephen Chapman (Gamel also walked once). Jonathan Lucroy pinch ran in the bottom of the 9, and stood at third base with one out before being part of a double play to send the game to extra innings thanks to a sharp line out.

 

Here's the game story:

 

http://www.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071009&content_id=2258247&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

 

Sinkbeil subdues Sharks for a while

Tosses four no-hit frames, but Honu have to win in 10th

 

Brett Sinkbeil pitched four no-hit innings and Shintaro Yoshida belted a walk-off single in the 10th inning to lift North Shore over visiting Honolulu, 3-2, on Monday.

 

Sinkbeil, the Marlins' first-round selection in the 2006 First-Year Player Draft, struck out five and walked one in his second start of the season. The 22-year-old right-hander went 6-4 with a 3.42 ERA for Class A Advanced Jupiter this season, but did not make a start after July 27 due to tightness in his forearm. He won his last four decisions for the Hammerheads and has allowed just one run through six innings for the Honu (6-2).

 

North Shore reliever Omar Aguilar (1-0) tossed a scoreless 10th for the win. The Brewers prospect gave up a hit without a walk or strikeout. Takashi Kamoshida surrendered two hits and fanned five over three innings, and Charles Benoit (Pirates) allowed two runs on four hits and a walk with two strikeouts in two innings.

 

Mat Gamel (Brewers) ripped a one-out single, advanced on a groundout by Jamie Romak (Pirates) and scored on Yoshida's liner to left in the 10th.

 

Jeramy Laster (Tigers) put the Honu on the board with a homer over the left-field wall in the fifth. The 22-year-old center fielder, who led the Midwest League playoffs with three homers and 13 RBIs in nine games, hit .276 with 16 blasts in the regular season for the Class A West Michigan Whitecaps.

 

Yankees relief prospect Anthony Claggett (0-1) gave up a run on two hits and two walks with one strikeout in 1 2/3 frames for the Sharks. Starter Ryohei Tanaka yielded two runs on six hits and a walk with four strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.

 

Argenis Diaz (Red Sox) and Austin Jackson (Yankees) each belted run-scoring base hits in the eighth for Honolulu (3-5). The Sharks had a prime opportunity to take the lead in the ninth, but Michael Griffin (Reds) lined into a inning-ending double play with runners on second and third.

[Mass Haas]

One thing about this Hawaiian League is that simply don't have enough pitchers on the respective staffs. 13 pitchers on Honu. I think there's seven MLB organizations that don't participate in the league.

 

Mesa has 20 pitchers on staff in the Arizona Fall League. Last year the Hawaiian League ended up shortening games at the end of the season.

 

The Brewers should be monitoring the workload of Aguilar and Roberts very closely. Fred Dabney, Brevard's pitching coach, is with them at Honu.

[Mass Haas]

Mat Gamel 0-for-3 with a walk and run scored; Steve Chapman 1-for-4 with a throwing error while playing first base; Jon Lucroy 1-for-4 with an RBI while handling cartching duties. Gamel and Chapman each grounded into a DP as North Shore (now 6-3) falls 7-6, losing a 6-3 9th inning lead:

 

http://www.mlb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=l405&t=g_box&gid=2007_10_10_waiwin_nshwin_1

[Mass Haas]

Kevin Roberts stranded an inherited man at third base while getting two outs in the 4th inning this afternoon, then watched his Honu team score three runs to tie the game in the next half inning.

 

Then, disaster:

 

Waikiki Top 5th

• - Emmanuel Garcia singles on a line drive to center fielder Shintaro Yoshida.
• - Hector Pellot flies out to right fielder Jamie Romak.
• - Jeff Kindel singles on a line drive to center fielder Shintaro Yoshida. Emmanuel Garcia to 3rd.
• - Michael Wilson singles on a line drive to center fielder Shintaro Yoshida. Emmanuel Garcia scores. Jeff Kindel to 2nd.
• - Coaching visit to mound.
• - Michael McKenry walks. Jeff Kindel to 3rd. Michael Wilson to 2nd.
• - David Maroul strikes out swinging.
• - Josh Womack walks. Jeff Kindel scores. Michael Wilson to 3rd. Michael McKenry to 2nd.
• - Sean McCraw walks. Michael Wilson scores. Michael McKenry to 3rd. Josh Womack to 2nd.

Roberts' ERA stands at 15.88 after five relief outings. Game still underway...This league is death to relievers.

[kgbaseball]

Tell that to Joba Chamberlain http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Mass Haas]

Ah yes, but notice I said "relievers".

 

As a CaneFire, Chamberlain compiled a 2-2 record in six starts, and notched a 2.63 ERA to go with 46 strikeouts.

[kgbaseball]

Touche, sir, I thought he was a reliever for some reason!

[Mass Haas]

Omar Aguilar with a fine relief stint, Steve Chapman singles, steals a base, and scores, but also K's three times -- he's 4-for-18 with nine K's thus far:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2007_10_11_waiwin_nshwin_1

[Mass Haas]

Mat Gamel and Steve Chapman combined to reach base five times (two hits for Mat, three walks combined) in Honu's 5-0 victory Friday. Gamel caught three foul pop ups and handled one ground ball cleanly at third base.

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=l405&t=g_log&gid=2007_10_12_wocwin_nshwin_1

[Mass Haas]

Honu wins Saturday, 8-4

 

Steve Chapman goes 3-for-4 with a double, his first extra-base hit (now .292; 7-for-24, 2 BB, 11 K's, .679 OPS), drives in two; Mat Gamel 1-for-4 with an RBI (now .325; 13-for-40, 5 BB, 11 K, 1.025 OPS).

 

Gamel committed two more errors, one throwing, one fielding -- has four in 11 games; he handled one of three chances cleanly.

 

Omar Aguilar pitched for the 7th time in 14 days -- yikes; he came in with two down and the bases loaded in the 7th and got an inning-ending groundout; then had a 1-2-3 8th, asked to pitch the 9th, he loaded the bases on one out before ending his evening; one run eventually scored.

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2007_10_13_wocwin_nshwin_1

[And That]

Aguilar has as good an arm as there is in the system, but his flame-out potential is so high that every time he goes out and walks a few guys, it is worrisome. I genuinely hope he overcomes his arm troubles and gets to the bigs, but it'll be pins and needles on the way there.

[Mass Haas]

Link, text follows:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071014&content_id=310609&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp

 

Journal: Jonathan vs. the volcano

By Jonathan Lucroy / Special to MLB.com

Catcher Jonathan Lucroy was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the third round of the 2007 draft. Assigned to Helena of the Rookie-level Pioneer League, the University of Louisiana product immediately impressed by hitting .342 in 61 games. The Brewers have sent him to Hawaii Winter Baseball this year to further his professional education. He'll be periodically posting his thoughts on playing baseball in paradise for the North Shore Honu.

Send Jonathan an email

Hi everybody, my name is Jonathan Lucroy. I'm a catcher and I am here in Hawaii playing for the North Shore Honu. The Milwaukee Brewers were kind enough to send me out here for the winter ball season to allow me work on some things and hopefully get better. I'm actually one of the few rookies in the entire league. At the beginning of this year, I was playing college baseball at the University of Louisiana. So as you can tell, I am fairly new to the whole professional baseball experience. I'm only 21 years old -- a lot of the guys here are two to three years older then me and have much more experience.

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com//images/2007/10/15/CIfxzZVn.jpg

After being drafted I was sent to Helena, Montana to play for the Helena Brewers in the Class A Short-Season Pioneer League. It was a wonderful experience, and I learned a lot of things about professional baseball and how it's different from the college game. Montana was very different from my hometown in central Florida -- I'm from a small town called Umatilla. If anybody has heard of this town, please email me and let me know! Not too many people have.

Back to paradise. Hawaii is a wonderful place to play winter ball. There are so many things to do here! Renting scooters, surfboards and bikes are a common activity. A few days ago I rented a bike and went for about a five-mile ride around Honolulu and Waikiki. Many of the other guys do that as well. We have all been pretty busy though. For our first trip we went to Maui, which is only about a 20-minute plane ride. We played three games before taking a bus up into the rain forest, which was absolutely unbelievable. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Waterfalls on the sides of the mountains, crystal clear streams and lush tropical forest all made for a truly rewarding sightseeing trip. We also went snorkeling over an extinct volcano -- actually half of an extinct volcano. It was a half-moon shape and consisted of aged volcanic magma. It was really beautiful and unique to see and experience; the fish were as colorful and diverse as I've ever seen as well. I've never been snorkeling in the ocean before, so it was a completely new experience. Later, we drove up to the very top of a dormant volcano and got to take a peek in the crater. There were several cones in the crater itself that looked still active but thankfully were not. Later on in the season we will be going to the big island, Hawaii, to play at Hilo. I will write about that later.

Our baseball team here is unique as well. We have players from the Astros, Phillies, Reds, Brewers, Marlins, Pirates and Tigers. We also have several guys from Japan. These players all have big-league experience in Japan, so they are all pretty solid. All in all, our team is very good. Our record is one of the best in the league and we are getting better. All the guys here are great -- like me they're here to get better and have fun in paradise. Not having fun here would be a really tough thing to do, considering the circumstances. Playing baseball in paradise, go figure.

If anybody has any questions, feel free to email me at lucroyhwb@gmail.com and I'll do my best to answer a couple of them in my next posting. Mahalo (thank you) and Aloha!

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/images/2007/10/15/f3RWehAd.jpg

[Mass Haas]

Steve Chapman and Mat Gamel homer on Sunday, and Jonathan Lucroy has two hits:

 

http://www.mlb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=l405&t=g_box&gid=2007_10_14_wocwin_nshwin_1

[SunGrasses]

That's not a picture of Jonathan Lucroy. They made a mistake. But, the rest is Jonathan.

[Mass Haas]

Steve Chapman 3-for-5 and scored the winning run in Honu's 10-inning 4-3 win; Mat Gamel walks as a pinch-hitter; Jonathan Lucroy 0-for-4 as the DH:

 

http://www.mlb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=l405&t=g_box&gid=2007_10_15_honwin_nshwin_1

 

By the way, in the other HWL game, the teams agreed to end the game early to spare pitcher's arms.

 

Kevin Roberts hasn't pitched since the 11th after two really rough outings (1.2 IP, 6 H, 6 BB), so something to keep an eye on.

[Kevbo74]

sheesh, where did this Matsuzaki come from with this?

previously he's had 9 strikeouts in 3 games, but now when he plays against North Shore he throws 10 K's in 5 innings?

No hitter got knocked out (after striking out Mat for the second time.)

 

does anyone stay up for this?

[Mass Haas]

Steve Chapman 0-for-4; Mat Gamel 0-for-3 as Honu loses 2-0 -- they only had four baserunners. Gamel had several assists at third base.

 

Kevin Roberts returned with two scoreless innings, although eventful:

 

Honolulu Top 7th

• - Pitcher Change: Kevin Roberts replaces Blair Johnson.
• - Brad Suttle strikes out swinging.
• - Jason Place walks.
• - Phillip Britton grounds into double play, third baseman Mat Gamel to second baseman Masahiro Nagata to first baseman Stephen Chapman. Jason Place out at 2nd.

Honolulu Top 8th

• - Miguel Abreu singles on a soft ground ball to third baseman Mat Gamel.
• - With Nate Samson batting, Miguel Abreu steals (4) 2nd base.
• - With Nate Samson batting, Miguel Abreu steals (5) 3rd base.
• - Nate Samson strikes out swinging.
• - With Austin Jackson batting, Dusty Ryan picks off Miguel Abreu at 3rd on throw to Mat Gamel.
• - Austin Jackson walks.
• - Coaching visit to mound.
• - Shoji Ohiro singles on a ground ball to right fielder Brad Corley. Austin Jackson to 2nd.
• - With Matt Wieters batting, Austin Jackson advances to 3rd on a balk. Shoji Ohiro advances to 2nd on a balk.
• - Matt Wieters grounds out, first baseman Stephen Chapman to pitcher Kevin Roberts.

[Mass Haas]

Steve Chapman and Mat Gamel did their parts with two singles apiece, but Honu was shut out for a second consecutive game, 2-0. Omar Aguilar pitched a socreless 9th, working around a two-out double. He struck out two:

 

http://www.mlb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=l405&t=g_box&gid=2007_10_17_honwin_nshwin_1

[colbyjack]

Nice story on BA today (subscriber-based content) featuring Mat Gamel and how he is trying to focus on improving his defense in the Hawaiian League:

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/online/prospects/features/265040.html

 

Basically it says that he has mechanical issues to work on defensively, but most believe his bat is going to be pretty special, with power to all fields and the ability to hit for a high average.

[Mass Haas]

Steve Chapman a two-run single and a walk; Mat Gamel 0-for-3 with a walk (one fielding chance only, handled cleanly), and Kevin Roberts a 1-2-3 inning, striking out two:

 

http://www.mlb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=l405&t=g_box&gid=2007_10_19_waiwin_nshwin_1