Bleed Cubbie Blue

As posted elsewhere...

I went to tonight’s Peoria game. Here’s the report:

-As usual, I had a great time at O’Brien Field. I paid $5 for tickets four rows behind home plate. The ivy out in CF was coming in terrifically, the field looked excellent as always, and it was just a fantastic night for baseball, with weather in the low 80s and a bit of humidity. Seriously, if you ever get a chance to make it out to see the Chiefs in Peoria, take the opportunity!

-Defensively, the only person who had a difficult play on the night for the Chiefs was LeMahieu on a ground ball to his right which juuuuuust skipped past him. Otherwise, I didn’t see any plays which really put the Chiefs’ (or Rattlers’ for that matter) defensive mettle to the test. Everyone handled the routine stuff relatively well. This wasn’t a great night to see if Flaherty could stick at 3B, LeMahieu at SS, etc.

-Not a whole lot had changed offensively from when I’d last seen a number of the Chiefs. Flaherty still looks solid, although he was asked to bunt in the 9th when Jackson reached…which struck me as odd because he was terrible at bunting and halfway decent at hitting. He quickly found himself down two strikes thanks to that experiment. Burke looked pretty good at the plate. Ridling, Rosa, Lake, and Perez all had a lot of trouble with Scarpetta and Fiers, which led to some really awkward swings at some questionable pitches.

-On the pitching side of things, the scoreboard gun was never turned on, so I can’t report much in the way of velocity. The ump had a generous zone for both teams tonight. There were plenty of eye rolls, glares, and words exchanged throughout the night from both teams. When Flaherty was called on a check swing for strike three, a heated argument ensued, including some words from Pevey (who was coaching 3B, I believe). No one was ejected despite a few of the magic words being dropped.

-UK’s report for Shafer was pretty much spot-on. He settled down after a really rough first inning (including two very loud outs) and actually began locating his pitches much better. But, as a prospect, eh.

-Michael Brenly caught my eye. He had excellent instincts at catcher and showcased a surprisingly accurate and effective arm. I believe he threw Lawrie out on a pitch in the dirt that bounced awkwardly in front of him. Plus, he seemed to be quite chatty with the HP umpire, which may or may not have worked in his favor. At the plate, he wasn’t too memorable, but I think he has a shot of becoming a decent backup catcher down the line.

-I can see why people love and hate Brett Jackson. On the upside, it’s easy to dream on him. He’s got room to add muscle to his frame, he’s aggressive (but not stupid and not guessing) at the plate, and he already has good power and speed. His double was to the LF gap and he easily could have taken third, but was held up. Leading off the 9th, Pevey had some words with him and it was pretty clear he was being asked to set the table rather than tie the game. He went up to the plate and hit a solid single up the middle. “Gamer” and “Spark” are terms that come to mind. He’s clearly not a Tyler Colvin or a Ryan Harvey type. But, on the downside, watching him at the plate, I have to wonder how he’ll handle better pitching down the line.

-I’m back and forth on LeMahieu. With the exception of the play mentioned above, pretty much every defensive play involving him was routine. My gut is that he’ll end up at 2B down the line, but I’d have to see a bit more of him to make that judgment call. He looked okay at the plate, but his swing and his frame didn’t seem tailored to a whole lot of power down the line. I could see him as a gap to gap kind of hitter, but a HR threat might be asking a bit too much.

-The two Rattlers who stuck out were Lawrie and Scarpetta. I can easily see why the Brewers took Lawrie in the first round last year. He’s well-built for a 19 year old and has plenty of power in his swing. He looked very comfortable at the plate. He still has plenty of work left to do, but he could be a solid asset for the Brewers down the road. Scarpetta stuck out because he had a quality breaking ball (curveball from what I read) and a solid sinker. He was pounding the lower half of the zone all night long and got double play balls when he needed them. I’ve read reports that he works 90-94, but it seemed like he was maybe a tick or so lower than that; perhaps around 88-92? Still, he got a ton of awkward swings with his curveball on the outer half of the plate.

Outshined_One - August 11, 2009 reply