Contemplating the Crawdads

(pictured, Martin Perez)

Difficult decision last night: watch the series opener between the Rangers and Angels or go see Jake Brigham and Martin Perez pitch at L.P. Frans Stadium. A free team set of baseball cards sealed the deal for me; we headed to the ballpark.

The game was hard to watch at the beginning, then calmed down in the middle only for frustration to return by the end. Righthander, Jacob Brigham started the game for Hickory. Brigham’s performance looked worse than his line of 4 innings, 5 hits, 3 ER, 1BB, 6 K’s. The first three innings were particularly rough.

Both team’s pitchers benefited from a larger than normal strikezone. With a lightning storm flashing in the distance, the home plate umpire appeared determined to squeeze in 5 innings before things got nasty. The ump was clearly frustrated with Lake County’s slow working pitchers and the multiple, lengthy visits to the mound by their catcher and pitching coach. To everyone's surpise, we didn't encounter a single sprinkle as we watched the lightning in the distance behind centerfield.

Brigham would have had 10 k’s if he could have located his fastball. Instead he plunked two batsmen—he hit one in the side and ear-hole’d the other. Brigham’s fastball routinely caught too much of the plate. In the fourth inning Jake struck out the side throwing curveballs at about a 75% clip. At one point in the inning I counted 6 straight curveballs, and the Captains still couldn’t touch it.

Too little too late. Oh, and one of the unearned runs was on a throwing error by Brigham as he had caught a baserunner attempting to steal second but threw the ball behind second baseman Jake Kaase. A man on third raced home after the ball dribbled into centerfield. It was one of those nights. So when considering Jacob’s line, you have to consider the impact of the two HBP’s and the throwing error.

Here’s some Brigham video. The video picks up with a runner on first and none out in the top of the 3rd. Watch for the headshot. Oh, and the Captains did not retaliate, though I was ready for it with camera in hand. Remember, this was the team that Hickory had the big dust up with on their roadtrip and resulted in something like 5 guys being ejected from the game.



Martin came in to pitch the 5th and surprisingly had a lead to defend after the Crawdads responded with 6 runs of their own. Perez (5 innings, 4 hits, 2 runs, 1 BB, 5K’s) pitched well, but gave up a run on a pair of doubles in the seventh. With a one run lead in the top of the 9th I expected Hickory to turn to their pen, but they rolled Martin out for one more inning. Perez gave up his second homerun of the year to the first batter of the 9th, allowing the game to become tied. It’s hard to knock a guy like Perez; if anything, it seemed like he didn’t pitch off of his fastball. Martin wasn’t attacking batters inside with the fastball like I have seen in more successful outings of his. Admittedly, this is a bit of nit picking on my part...

Here’s some Martin Perez video just because it never gets old watching this kid.


The Crawdads lost in 10 innings.

Other notes:

CF David Paisano has the average up to .315 after another multi-hit night, going 3 for 6. It’s incredible to watch David run and throw. In the third inning, the 21 year old scored from second on a flare that fell just in front of the centerfielder, and there was no play at the plate to be had. Paisano’s long, gliding stride is a thing of beauty.

Seems like the first long road trip of the year did the team some good as far as camaraderie goes. There was a lot more communicating on the field than in the first month and a half on the season. Too bad it didn’t prevent defensive miscues as the Crawdads committed 4 errors to add to their league leading total.

To my surprise, CtheC’s own Mark Parker did an awesome job singing God Bless America at the game. Bravo.

(pictured, David Paisano)

The Crawdads played their first home game in almost two weeks last night. Hickory went 4-4 on the trip that took them through Ohio and New Jersey.

Now that we have 33 games in the books, let’s look at how things are shaping up, shotgun style:

-CF David Paisano has his average up to .305. His on base percentage of .349 would be higher if David could draw a few more walks (he only has 5 walks on the season). Regardless, the numbers indicate a player who has improved at the plate since his season in Spokane last year (.262 BA, .332 OBP).

-With two more hits in last night’s game, Bianucci is hitting .366 with an OPS of 1.095. His bat is too good for this league.

-Matt West, who started the season slowly, is hitting .298 over his last 84 at-bats. The third baseman still leads the team with 10 errors in 32 games played.

-Clark Murphy is struggling less. That’s probably the most positive we can be about the 19-year-old’s start. It took Murphy 9 games to get earn his first BB. The first baseman’s start of the season could be defined as “swing and a miss”…not a lot of contact, not much discipline, and a ton of strikeouts. After the slow start, Clark has 10 walks on the season and has the average up to .235. No homeruns yet and only 5 extra-base hits total. His error total has held steady for a while now. I am interested to see how he looks in the field now after appearing like Bambi on ice earlier this season.

-Font: 24 innings, 25 K’s, 16 BB’s, 17 Hits. Allowing .202 opposing batting average. Manager Hector Ortiz said he was throwing the offspeed stuff for strikes last night. This fella is good.

-Perez: 26 innings, 31k’s, 9 BB’s, 17 Hits. Allowing .187 opposing batting average. Only one homerun allowed in those 26 innings.

Richard Bleier made me look silly, at least on this occasion. In my (admittedly amateur) game reflections I have been tough on the groundballer. Bleier doesn't get my baseball pants crazy like Perez, Font, and Boscan do. The three guys just mentioned produce "wow" moments when they pitch. Richard makes me wonder when the wheels are going to fly off. To his credit, they never did.

Before Bleier disappears over the horizon as he journeys on, let's look at his work as a Hickory Crawdad.

Over 24.7 innings pitched, Bleier allowed a league that carries a .249 batting average to hit only .225 . Left-handed hitters were especially on their heels, hitting an anemic .087. Richard Bleier allowed only 1.46 BB/9 while maintaining a 65% groundball rate.

In my view, Bleier's promotion was the result of his mature approach on the mound. Unlike the younger pitchers, Bleier gets outs throwing strikes. He doesn't dance around the plate. In Hickory, he located all three of his pitches, and all three of those offerings seemed to induce the groundball.

In his first start for the Blaze, Bleier went an impressive 7.2 innings, allowing 2 earned runs and striking out 6. The lefthander continued to keep the ball in the infield as he produced a groundball/flyball ratio of 14-3. Richard walked 3 and allowed 7 hits.

I still worry about the 87ish mph fastball. Bleier's game also relies on throwing his offspeed stuff for strikes. His curveball is good, his slider is a bit better than good, but it could get nasty if he stops locating those pitches. If Cal League hitters are given the opportunity to sit on the 86-88mph sinker, things could get nasty.

Congrats Mr. Bleier and good luck in California. You know you'll miss us...

Take it for what its worth:

Hitting:

on pace for 270 doubles --- most 272 in 1998
on pace for 55 triples --- most 46 in 2004
on pace for 335 walks --- fewest 355 in 2005
on pace for 20 sac hits --- lowest 25 in 2005

Pitching:
2,58 ERA --- lowest 3.51 in 2003
have 5 shutouts now--- most 13 in 2003
on pace for 975 hits allowed --- fewest allowed 1051 in 2003
on pace for 495 runs allowed --- fewest allowed 532 in 2003
on pace for 340 earned runs allowed --- fewest allowed 454 in 2003
on pace of 60 home runs allowed --- fewest allowed 71 in 1997
1.16 WHIP --- lowest 1/24 in 2003


Fielding;

Pitchers:
on pace for 40 putouts --- fewest 54 in 1994
on pace for 130 assists ---- fewest 128 in 2005
on pace for 195 total chances ---- fewest 203 in 2005
.872 fielding % --- lowest .851 in 2000

Catcher:
.99099 fielding % ---- best in team history ---- .99037 in 2003

1B:
on pace for 35 assists --- fewest 62 in 1993

2B:
on pace for 250 putouts --- fewest 246 in 2007
on pace for 45 errors ---- most 36 in 2006 & 1994
.937 fielding % worst overall --- .943 in 1994

3B:
on pace for 130 putouts ---- most 117 in 1996

OF:
on pace for 15 errors --- fewest 14 in 2007
on pace for 15 DPs --- most 13 in 1997

Sounds like the Crawdads and Captains gave the kiddies of Eastlake a real display of sportsmanship this morning for their "education" day.

I spoke with the Crawdads radio broadcaster, Andrew Buchbinder, who said essentially that the Lake County pitcher retaliated in response to Ryan Schlecht hitting a batter in the 7th inning. Schlecht apparently didn't know where the ball was going for most of his 2/3 of an inning of work as he contributed three walks and a wild pitch to the effort. So, yeah, I'm sure he was throwing at someone.

Mike Bianucci, the first batter at the top of the 8th, was plunked by Mike McGuire, and later ejected for charging the mound. Matt West, Eric Fry, Jake Kaase and Matt Nevarez were also asked to leave the game. Of course, expect some suspensions, and perhaps a lengthy one as Nevarez was not in the game, but had come in from the bullpen to join the melee.

While no one likes to see players come to fisticuffs on the field, especially when the stands are full of kids, it is good to see the Crawdads show that they are not going to be pushed around either. This has not always been the case in recent seasons.

In my five seasons with the club, there have been two incidents on the field, both on the road. I still remember a series in 2005 against Savannah in which speedy outfielder bailed out of the way of a pitch at the legs seven times in a four game series. The strategy was simple by the Sand Gnats; tire the legs out. Not one Crawdads pitcher threw inside in retaliation the entire series. It was a team that finished 54-80. Most of the last four seasons has been this way.

Hopefully, the guys can put the 14-6 thumping behind them and come closer together as a team as a result of this.

Here is the schedule in an approximately a 26 hour period beginning Friday afternoon at 4:30 pm. Doubleheader at Lake County, a 497 mile bus trip from Lake Erie to Lakewood, NJ on the Jersey shore for a 4:05 pm on Saturday. Great scheduling by the South Atlantic League!