The PNats lost last evening 8-7 to the Carolina Mudcats. The P-Nats started slowly--apparently weighed down by the ugly Boston Bruins like jerseys they wore in honor of the 20th anniversary of Happy Gilmore. They badly clashed with their Red PNats hats. They came back from an 8-3 deficit but fell short. Some observations:
-- Victor Robles was 1-5; he is batting about .200 so struggling. He did steal two bases. Had a nice throw to second base from the outfield--arm looks strong.
-- Max Schlock went 2-5 and his average dropped to .450. They brought in a lefty reliever in his last at bat who baffled him with breaking balls so he still has some work to do despite the high average.
-- Osvaldo Abreu did nothing of note at the plate and had no difficult chances in the field. He is batting about .230.
-- Alec Keller made the Carolina League all star team and looks like a player--had a two hits including a two run double. Richmond kid.
-- Austin Davidson was just called up and had his first High A ball hit: a three run triple! Welcome to High A ball.
-- Whit Mayberry started his third game. As MDS would say he was pounded like a $2 whore. Did not see any stats for him at other levels this year and he was in the Tigers organization before this year. Did not see anything on how we picked him up. Played at UVA. Looks like organizational fodder.
-- There must always be a Trey (or Trea) so Trey Lambert pitched. Believe he just came up from Hagerstown. Picked off a runner at first. Gave up a run and three hits in two innings. Wasn't super impressed with his stuff but really, what do I know? Another VA kid.
Piggybacking off your post, I attended Saturday's 6-5 loss to the Mudcats. Without Happy Gilmore jerseys, the P-Nats were nonetheless encumbered by something, and failed to take advantage of numerous Carolina defensive issues (including six errors and an inability to hold baserunners) to lose. A few notes, in the same format as above.
-- Robles went 0-5 and REALLY needs to stop reading his own press clippings. He has an extremely overconfident manner, especially given the results. Here are the results: his first at bat, he tried to bunt for a hit and popped it up to the third baseman. His second, he hit a hard line drive on an early-count fastball (good fastballs; probably 94-95) right at the 3B, who reached up and got it to prevent it going to the corner. Third PA he bunted very hard at the 3B into a forceout. Fourth, he grounded another early-count fastball right at the 3B, who booted it. His last time up he got sliders and looked completely hopeless against them.
He is fast - very fast - but is not a good baserunner. He was saved getting thrown out at third for the third out only by an extremely weak arm in center. He did steal a base, but that was not really a big deal on this night - the team stole 5, and the one he stole was the second-closest of the plays. He then got thrown out stealing third but still managed to slide too late and spike the 3B with both feet. He had successfully made a real pest of himself on second, so there was some good there.
He was an absolute disaster on defense. He does have speed and a good arm, but he twice broke in on balls that ended up being deeper than he had started. One he ran down. The second turned out to be the game-winning hit, a 2-out double over his head in CF that had plenty of air under it and landed short of the warning track. He also badly misplayed a carom off the wall - the LF was chasing the ball to the wall. Instead of backing 15 feet off the wall to play the carom, Robles stood about 5 feet from him and they both got to chase the ball back towards the infield as the runners continued on their merry ways.
He can hit fastballs, yes, and he's clearly a great athlete, but he also has an awful lot to learn. That was the single worst defensive performance I've ever seen from a high-A centerfielder (not a tremendously small sample, either). Not lack of ability, fortunately, but he literally looked like a guy who had about 10 games of outfield under his belt. His defense lost the game.
--Schrock is very small (5'8" might be generous), but he's fairly powerfully built and has what looks like a gap-power swing now with more potential. First time up, he absolutely hammered a fastball to RF that got out in a hurry, clearing the wall by 5-6 feet on a line. Decent speed, adequate to above-average at 2B based on just a couple plays. Had a second hit, a single on an off-speed pitch. Didn't see him against same-side breaking balls.
--Ditto what natsinpwc said on Keller. He DHed. Nice swing, good speed, obviously nothing to say about defense.
--Marmolejos is a DH. He does not look to be able to play 1B capably, although he was still streets ahead of his opposite number in that department.
--Not much to say about the pitchers in that game: none of them appear to have MLB stuff in their current roles. Matthew Crownover, a lefty who started, was a very good college pitcher who just doesn't have quite enough of anything to be a starter as a pro. If he adds a couple ticks if used in relief, that might work for him. He's fairly small (5'11", listed at 205 and looks a lot more like 180), but his breaking stuff looks pretty solid. He was struggling for control but was effective when he had it. Gilberto Mendez, the only righthander who pitched, was effective and has good numbers, but to be honest I can't really see why. The less said about the rest, the better.