Minor League Roster Moves: Chiang, Martinez, Robinson Debut Tonight
As you know, the M’s welcomed several new minor leaguers to the fold this weekend, and the combination of the influx and promotions means there are a lot of new faces in the upper minors.
According to Mike Curto’s blog, the Rainiers will start Erasmo Ramirez tonight against Las Vegas. The Nicaraguan control artist started the year well, but HRs and hits have been piling up recently. AAA will be a challenge, but I have to admit he’s one of my favorite dark-horse prospects. Tonight will also mark Trayvon Robinson’s debut with the Rainiers, who made room by placing Matt Mangini on the temporarily inactive list. Francisco Martinez and Chih-Hsien Chiang are both in the line-up for the Jackson Generals tonight as they take on Mississippi (Chiang’s in LF tonight). James Gilheeney was called up from High Desert to make the start for Jackson, replacing Ramirez.
UPDATE, 11PM:
Sorry for the lack of a gamethread. I went to Cheney, and JY had his star-making radio hit in PDX. Trayvon Robinson had a solid debut for Tacoma, going 1-3 with a walk and a stolen base. He was 1-2 w/BB from the left side and 0-1 from the right side. He struck out in his first PA (from the left side) on a 3-2 pitch. He didn’t have much to do in the field, though he made a solid jump on a ball in the 9th to make a good play look pretty routine. He also battled a tough sun field to make a catch on a line drive in the 2nd.
Here’s Robinson:
Erasmo Ramirez made his AAA debut and went six innings of 1 run ball, though he was in trouble the whole night. The lead-off man reached in every inning but his last, and he had two men on in every inning. His great command wasn’t in evidence tonight, as he allowed 3 walks and also hit a batter. He also allowed a number of line drives, but to his credit, pitched around the baserunners by getting two double plays. Stuff wise, he was better than advertised, sitting in the low-90s but touching the mid-90s. That’s better-than-Beavan velocity, though Beavan’s slider is better than any breaking ball Ramirez showed tonight. He had a nice change-up, though. His defense didn’t help him much, as Luis Rodriguez made an error on the very first batter Ramirez faced, which was followed by an infield single. He then allowed a “single” in the 2nd when Carlos Peguero lost a ball in the sun (there’s karma for you), and that run came around to score after a passed ball by the catcher and an infield grounder. Overall, he just didn’t seem like the guy I’d imagined – he wasn’t a high-80s junkballer with good control, he was somewhat wild and he threw pretty hard. Not a lot of swings and misses, but his change-up got a few, and he was actually able to throw his FB by some of the weaker Las Vegas hitters. Here’s Ramirez:
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54 Responses to “Minor League Roster Moves: Chiang, Martinez, Robinson Debut Tonight”
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Possible Trayvon comp: Milton Bradley minus the crazy? Both athletic, switch-hitting centerfielders with speed and power (Milton played center and stole a bunch of bases coming up as a prospect) who strike out a lot but can take a walk also. Plus they’re both from Southern California. And, you know.
Maybe a switch hitter B.J Upton too, good speed, good defense, CF´s, some power, bad contact rates, lots of K´s
dnc,
Touched 95 once or twice, 94 many times, but mostly in the 92 range.
lalo/Snake Hippo – the guy I was thinking about looking at his stats was Drew Stubbs, whose K rates in college and the minors were red flags, but he got a chance because he’s a CF with lots of pop. Physically, they’re not too similar as Stubbs is tall and lanky, but play wise, it’s sort of close.
Milton Bradley never had a problem with Ks in the minors, so he’s just a very different kind of hitter.
Excellent photos!