The Jethawks are through for the month, so I thought I would get a head start on “April in Review”. With luck, I’ll have time to comment on the other affiliates as well.
Lancaster opened the season 3-7 and has gone 7-7 since then to finish at 10-14 for the month. There has been a pretty set rotation of Martinez, Alaniz, Grimmett, Doran & Musick, though Martinez is currently on the 7-day DL and missed his last start. Rather than promote a starter from Lexington, though, they cobbled together a cast of thousands from the bullpen. This leads me to believe that Martinez will be activated before his regular turn on Wednesday. Among the starters, both Ruben Alaniz (2-0, 2.90 ERA, 26:7 K:BB, 1.097 WHIP) and Wes Musick (2-1, 2.96, 22:5, 1.151) had excellent months. Bobby Doran (2-1, 3.30, 23:9, 1.300) is also much improved on last year’s disaster. Zach Grimmett leads the team in K’s with 29, but has also given up 37 hits in 26.1 innings and is tied (with Martinez) at 5 HR allowed … all of this accounting for his 7.18 ERA. David Martinez is also struggling some (6.52 ERA).
Alex Sogard pitched well out of the bullpen and was recently promoted to CC as part of a series of moves resulting from Weiland’s trip to the DL, but he has been a bit wild (17 K and 8 BB in 16 IP). Jorge De Leon seems to be filling the closer role, though he also got the start in the all-bullpen game. The bullpen is a collective 3-9 with 4 saves and an ERA over 6, though, so not exactly a strong point. Of note, Brad Dydalewicz has been activated and had one decent outing and one poor one. Hopefully he can get back on track from a couple of years ago.
In the field, the cast has been pretty consistent:
C – Rene Garcia
1B – Rafael Valenzuela
2B – Kike Hernandez
3B – Jonathan Meyer
SS – Jiovanni Mier
LF – Telvin Nash/Adam Bailey
CF – George Springer
RF – Domingo Santana/Adam Bailey
Nash & Erik Castro have been the most frequent entries at DH; Ben Heath has gotten a few appearances at both C and DH, and Ben Orloff has started games at all three infield positions. Daniel Adamson was released after starting the season 1-for-12 (a HR) and Ryan McCurdy has recently been activated as a 3rd catcher.
Offensive performances of note include:
Springer (.278/.321/.454) leads the team in H, 3B, RBI, SB & K (with 30 in 97 AB). A little more plate discipline would be nice, but a pretty good start. Mier (.288/.406/.388) has been a real encouragement in his partial repeat year. 15 BB against only 17 K is a huge improvement. Meyer (.309/.345/.481) has also looked good at the plate, and Nash (.247/.348/.623) has already mashed 9 HR (though he also has 28 K in 77 AB). Worth noting is that Springer, at age 22, is the oldest of this bunch.
Meanwhile, Castro is back in Lancaster after missing most of 2011 and all of 2010 with injuries, and his .304/.368/.594 line may put him in line for a promotion. At age 24, he needs to move up or move out. Garcia (.281/.324/.328) is improved at the plate, but still not too much of a threat, while 19-year-old Domingo Santana still seems to be adjusting. He did miss a week or so early in the season due to injury.
That leaves my two candidates for “most surprising names on the roster” … Hernandez & Valenzuela. 24-year-old Valenzuela is trying to bounce back after a couple of injury-plagued years. He opened the season with a .278/.333/.333 line for the first 10 games but has cooled off to .211/.286/.263 over the last 14. 20-year-old Hernandez appears to have moved past Delino DeShields on the depth chart and is playing a pretty solid 2B while leading the team in 2B hits. After a slow start (.185/.214/.296 for the first 10 games) he has improved to .250/.269/.422.