Appel signs with Washington Wild Things

Jason Appel is back. To some extent.

After an enigmatic stint with a mysterious ending in the New York-Penn league, Appel signed a one year contract with the Washington, Pennsylvania Wild Things, of the Frontier League.

The Frontier League is a (mostly) rookie league where 12 slots on each team's 24 man roster are reserved for rookies: players with fewer than 150 professional at bats or 50 innings pitched. There are 7 slots on each team for 1-year players, two for 2-year players, and three for "veterans". The league minimum is $600 per month, which means that most likely, Jason will be living with a host family, unless he has other money available.

It's a long way from here to the Majors. There are six Frontier League alums who played in the Majors last year, none bound for the Hall of Fame: D.J. Carrasco, Mike Cervenak, Brendan Donnelly, Josh Kinney, Scott Patterson, and Orioles closer George Sherrill. However, more than 30 recent alums have been signed to play in A or AA ball, which is about 1 player in 20 over a 3 year period.

Having been released by the Rays, Jason must be hoping to dominate the Frontier League, and then sign with another MLB organization to re-start his ascent through the low minors.

Well Done, Nate!

The season is over in Ottawa, which means Nate Hall, after a rough start, can come back to Wilmington very proudly, finishing with a .263 average in 152 at bats, an awesome .367 on base percentage (with 22 walks to only 28 strikeouts, many of which were the first few weeks after he signed), a .316 slugging percentage (6 2B, 1 3B, no HR), and 8 errors at third base (he appeared in 51 games, but I have no idea how many of those were at 3B.)

All in all, an excellent season for his first in pro ball, and with his second half surge, I'm confident that he'll have an opportunity to play professionally again in 2009.

I read that Nate, Mark Carver, Bradley Holt, and Daniel Hargrave will all share a place in Wilmington this winter, where they'll lift weights, hit balls, and work hard towards becoming better players next season.

The New York-Penn League season ends tomorrow, so early next week will be my last regular post, barring any off-the-field news, until spring 2009. Not that anyone's reading this anyways ;)

Power Surge!

Daniel Hargrave is on a tear! He's gotten a hit in 8 of his last 9 games, including his first 2 multi-hit games of the season, and is batting .313 with 3 home runs and 2 doubles in that span. Wow! Way to go, Daniel! It looks like the adjustment to the wood bats is coming, and just in time. There are only another couple weeks left in the season, and by showing such a powerful late surge, I do believe Daniel has done enough to get a look next season.

Carver got into a couple of games this week, getting 1 hit in 6 at bats but drawing 2 walks, and getting the on-base percentage above .300. Peley has been getting most of the playing time lately, as Mendez has struggled since his call-up. All 3 catchers are struggling, and it's unclear to me how the mix will look next season.

Holt pitched, and won, at Auburn on August 14, going 7 innings with 3 hits, 2 walks, and 8 strikeouts. He's now at 4-3, 1.98 ERA, and 69 K in 54 IP. Great start! Holt probably has 3 more starts left: August 22 vs. Lowell, August 27 vs. Oneonta, and September 1 at Aberdeen (and then maybe the finale September 6 vs. Aberdeen, but I'll bet they skip that).

Nate Hall continues to rake, raising his average to .252, with a .357 on base percentatge. Given his horrific start, these are very good numbers. With no home runs in 119 at bats, it's a bit hard to imagine that he'll be picked up by any Major League organization, but hopefully he will earn another year with Ottawa, and a chance to continue to improve hitting with the wood bats.

No news on Jeff Hatcher or Jason Appel.

UNCW 6 Update

After rough treatment in Vermont, Bradley Holt has come back with a couple of nice, short starts, yielding one run over six innings at State College, strking out 5, and, six days later, holding Batavia to one run in four innings at home. On the season, Holt has thrown 47-2/3 innings, with 31 hits, 25 walks, and 61 strikeouts. He is 3-3, with a 2.08 ERA. My only worry is the relatively high number of innings he's thrown already since UNCW started playing in January. The short season ends at the end of the month, so Holt has probably only 3, at most 4 more starts, and let's hope they keep the pitch count in those starts way down.

Nate Hall is really starting to play well in Ottawa. After a seriously cold start, he's at .243/.322/.262, and has added only a couple of errors to his total (although, it's hard to see how many starts at 3B that was in, as the Rapidz web site has not put up a box score since late July). The .262 slugging percentage (2 doubles, no triples or home runs in 107 AB) is a bit surprising, as I'm sure he's got more pop than that, but I think the combo of wood bats, cold weather, and better pitchers has mostly to do with it.

On August 6, he got a walk-off, game winning base hit, which must have been a great delight for him in his young career.

From the Ottawa Citizen:

Former college player Nate Hall put the wood to the ball to drive in Kyle Geiger with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning last night as the Ottawa Rapidz defeated the Sussex Skyhawks, 4-3, at Ottawa Stadium.

''It's a tough transition from metal (bats) to wood,'' Hall said. ''I call my dad every day, and he tells me to just stick with it.''

Before Hall's heroics, Jereme Milons had singled home Jabe Bergeron with the tying run.
Both runs were scored with two outs.

Good job, Nate! Way to stick with it!

Daniel Hargrave hit a game-tying solo home run a couple of hours ago in the 5th inning at Staten Island off of Yankee farmhand Hector Noesi, a Dominican right-hander just up from the Gulf Coast League. This is Daniel's second home run of the season, and puts his stats at .143/.188/.210, with an improved .188 average and .300+ Slugging for the last 10 games. So he's definitely improving, he now has a career-best 4 game hitting streak (including 2 extra base hits), and is still playing much more often than not. The Phillies are showing patience, and Daniel is starting to come around.

Mark Carver has only played in 2 games this month, but has 4 hits (including a two-bagger) in 9 at bats, bringing his line up to .212/.293/.258, which is beginning to approach respectability. In the last 10 games, he's got 4 multi-hit games, and is at .281/.361/.344 over that stretch, which is actually very good for a catcher in the New York-Penn League. Way to go, Mark!

Meanwhile Miguel Mendez, the spectacular Gulf Coast callup who has been playing nearly every day in place of Carver, is at .231/.286/.282, which is not materially different from Carver's line. Josue Peley, the third catcher, a Venezuelan who I also learned played prep ball in Montreal, played yesterday for the first time since July 16, when he suffered a wrist injury in the batting cage. With Peley's return and Mendez's massive amount of recent playing time, it's a great thing that Carver is heating up the bat.

Jason Appel has still not returned to the Renegades. It has been six weeks since he last played.

I still have no news on Jeff Hatcher.

Miguel Mendez

Miguel Mendez. Is this a name you should know?



He is a 20-year-old undrafted catcher who was just promoted from the Gulf Coast Pirates (rookie league). I suppose he was a Latin American signee. The Gulf Coast League is also called an "instructional" league, where only 60 games per season are played before almost no spectators. It is clearly a step below even the short-season New York-Penn League, which we can think of as "Low A" baseball.



However, Mendez was hitting an eye-popping .400/.477/.727 in the GCL, and has been promoted to fill Chris Simmons' roster spot as Simmons takes on his armed forces commitment (recall that he is an Ary graduate.) Mendez has received starts in both games since his promotion. Are Josue Peley and Mark Carver on the bench for good now? Mendez has started o-for-8, but it seems logical that following such a tear in GCL, he'll get a very long look, to the detriment of the other two catchers.



Hargrave, who hasn't yet had a mult-hit game, had his modest 2 game hitting streak snapped with an 0-for-3, and is still sitting in the low .100s, but is still playing just about every day at 2B. I guess you just don't have so many power-hitting middle infielders, and if you think you can develop one, it's worth giving it a real effort. On the other hand, Hargrave wasn't considered by many scouts to be a natural second baseman, that he would have to "find a position". If he's hitting .110, and can't play in the middle infield, I sure hope he can pitch.



Holt is Holt. During his last start, he struck out 14 batters in 6 innings (!!), claiming that guys were just swinging at the fastball low and away and missing it. OK, time to promote this guy. He's completely dominant at this level, and leads the entire league in strikeouts, even though his innings are being tightly controlled. I am beginning to expect some really big things for Bradley Holt.



Good news from Ottawa: Nate Hall is heating up! His average sat at .162 after Tuesday night's o-for-2. After riding the pine on Wednesday and an off-day on Thursday, Nate was 3-for-4 on Friday with 2 RBI, and 1-for-4 on Saturday with a SB and a Run scored, as the Rapidz swept New Jersey at home. Good going, Nate!

Hanging by a Thread?

On July 11, playing his 14th game at third base, Nate Hall made his 4th error of the season. Rapidz management apparently felt that was a couple too many, because in the 8 games since then, Jake Daubert has started every game at 3B, and Nate's 4 starts have come at DH. Daubert is at .185/.302/.241, with 1 error, so he's not burning down the house, but it's better than Nate's .170/.250/.191 line with 4 errors. Daubert returned from a two week DL stint on June 23, played mostly DH at that point, and perhaps he's just now feeling well enough to handle the 3B job.

But, on the other hand, from what I can tell, Nate's July 11 error was critical, leading to two unearned runs that cost the Rapidz a rare chance at a win in their game against the Atlantic City Surf, which Ottawa lost 3-2. Ottawa was in last place in the first half of the CanAm season, and they're now 2-6 to begin the second half.

Bottom line: it's not good when you're the DH on the last-place team in the CanAm league that has high player turnover, and you're playing every other day, batting 9th when you play, and hitting .170 with no power. There's just not a lot of job security at that point. Here's to hoping that Nate can start swinging the bat, and play some good 3B if he gets another crack at it.

The UNCW 1?

As the season wears on, it's starting to look like the UNCW 6 will become the UNCW 1.

As Bradley Holt and his 95mph fastball continue to dominate Low-A hitters, the UNCW Low-A hitters are having continued difficulties dealing with Low-A pitching.

Daniel Hargrave became the first UNCW bopper to hit a professional home run, taking one out to left field in Vermont last Wednesday night. While that's his only hit in 16 at bats since July 9, an encouraging sign is 3 walks and 4 strikeouts since then, to go with his first professional stolen base on July 17. Equally discouraging, however, is this season's .330 OPS (.177 OBP + .153 SLG), which is so far from keeping him in the pros for next season as to be nearly hopeless. But all he can do is keep going out there when his name is pencilled into the ninth spot in the Williamsport lineup, and keep trying his best, and I'm sure that's exactly what he'll do.

In terms of playing time for Hargrave, it turns out that Jesus Villegas Andino, who was down from the Advanced-A Florida State League to put Hargrave on the bench for 6 games, was promoted back up to Clearwater, where he's starting to hit and get on base a little bit (good for him!) So, as of right now, there seems to be only one player on the Williamsport team who can play second base, Bryan Frew, the 43rd round Nebraska-Omaha outfielder cum second baseman, who has a .660 OPS, which is actually not bad for a middle infielder in the relatively low run environment of the New York-Penn league. So, Frew is getting the slight majority of the starts at 2B lately, but has been playing outfield when Hargrave starts at second. Hargrave still figures to get plenty of at bats to turn things around.

Mark Carver singled against Jamestown last night, raising his average to .157, with a .450 OPS (.254 OBP + .196 SLG). He's had only 51 at bats all season, which is not enough to tell much, and with 6 walks and 10 strikeouts in his last 40 plate appearances, is showing signs of learning a "good hitter" (his words, when at UNCW) approach as a professional. The massive power he showed at UNCW hasn't been there yet, and one has to wonder if he's just very tired after a very long, emotional collegiate season.

The other two State College catchers are helping Carver get more chances, as Josue Peley is at .204/.295/.241, and Chris Simmons is at .222/.214/.222 in 27 at bats. Peley has a 8:6 K:BB ratio, indicating that he's handling pro pitching much better than the other two (Carver is at 15:6, and Simmons at 9:0).

From Appel, little has been heard. Chuck Carree of the Wilmington Star-News called the Renegades office last week, and got the impression that Appel would not be back this season, and went on to speculate that his professional career has probably ended (with a .368 batting average!) For my part, I still hope Appel can turn around whatever is going on personally, because even a long, happy life deals very few really interesting hands, and it's a shame to muck any of the ones you get.

Nate Hall is now not only the regular third baseman in Ottawa, but seems to be the only third baseman in Ottawa. Felix Escalona, the ex-Yankee, was released on July 8. So, Nate, despite batting .179 with .273/.205 OBP/SLG, is playing solidly enough in the field, and hopefully has a chance to finish the summer in Ottawa.

It's odd that nobody is slugging at all, when these players spent the better part of the spring absolutely knocking the cover off the ball. The Rapidz first baseman, Jabe Bergeron, is batting .358 with a .432 OBP and .537 SLG, which are numbers that will get you noticed, signed by a big league club, and sent to A-ball. Hall has a ways to get there.

This, more than anything else, is probably the hardest thing about climbing the ladder in pro ball, and what is hard to appreciate until you really start following a few specific minor league players: to succeed in pro ball, you have to be special at every level. While Craig Counsell can play 80+ MLB games in 12 consecutive seasons by being a slightly below-average major league player, if you're a slightly below average minor league player, your career will be exceedingly brief, perhaps 3 or 4 years, not more.

If you're a well-below-average minor league player in the low minors, your career will generally last one season, and your place will be taken by the next year's draftees.

It's a lot of pressure, but then it is impossible to succeed at the Major League level without being able to handle pressure, so it must be learned, and in most cases, learned quickly.

Bradley Holt, as I mentioned before, is putting up eye-popping numbers, and is guaranteed promotion for next season. In 28-1/3 innings, he's got 37 K, 12 BB (which is a few more than he'd like, but pretty good for the first time as a pro), with only 1 HR surrendered, a .182 batting average against, and a 1.91 ERA. Even in a low-run environment, these are dominant numbers.

As Holt will probably not throw more than another 10-20 innings before being shut down later this fall, he can rest easily knowing that he did more than what could have been asked of him, and that his pro career, unlike his classmates, is off to a fantastic and promising start.

As for the hitters? Well, they better start to hit. Multi-hit games, extra-base hits, walks, home runs, those better start coming off the bats of Hargrave, Carver, and Hall, and start coming soon, or theirs will be the all-too-familiar career of one season and done, albeit with some great memories, and the truthful boast into old age that "I was a pro ballplayer once..."