On Johnson:

“Johnson is the closest-to-the-big-leagues position player prospect we have,” general manager Ed Wade said. “We like (Edwin) Maysonet and (Tommy) Manzella, (Brian) Bogusevic and a couple of other guys. But really, the guy that has the greatest chance of having an impact on our club is Johnson.”

On Norris:

“Bud did a real nice job,” Wade said. “I told him it wasn’t easy for us (to send him to Round Rock).

“He put his best foot forward here in camp and did exactly what we asked him to do. In other circumstances, he’d be breaking camp with the big club.”

“Our (eight-game) road trip was actually an excellent defensive road trip up until the game we had seven errors. That was just one of those nights where everybody was going to get the ball and everybody was going to make an error. But … we’ve gotten better defensively, which is a big thing.”…

On Brandon Barnes who has been struggling to keep the batting average above .100 this season.
“I’ve seen him before. We know he can do it,” Langbehn said. “It’s just taking him some time to get adjusted. He’s playing every day now and, from our point of view, is going to get better, and he’s going to start figuring it out.”

It is also reported that Max Sapp could be activated as soon as today when the Legends will play two to make up for last nights rain out.

Salem

The Avs were also rained out but not before they had played 6 innings of scoreless ball. The game will be completed on May 30th. Douglas Arguello had his best outing of the year. He walked the first batter and then picked him off 1st. After that, another baserunner didn’t reach a base until the 6th inning when Arguello gave up his first hit of the game.

Corpus Christi

Well maybe it isn’t the Sports Illustrated Jinx but Bud Norris would prefer if Baseball America wouldn’t highlight him on the day he starts a game. Baseball America’s prospect blog had a feature about Norris online yesterday. Here are the highlights from the piece:

“He’s understanding that pitching to contact is a good thing,” Boroski said. “He’s inviting contact by throwing it over the plate, and that’s what we want all our pitchers to do. The better he gets at initiating contact, having the hitter hit his pitch, the better he’ll be.”…

Though he’s a starter for now, Norris may have a future in a big league bullpen. He works in the low-90s as a starter, but as a reliever he has operated in the mid-90s, topping out at 97 mph.

“It’s got velocity and life,” Boroski said. “It’s got some riding action down in the zone. It’s not what I’d call a heavy sinker, but it has some riding life and it’s very late—it’s a swing-and-miss pitch. Like all guys, when he elevates it, it flattens out, but it’s a good pitch when he commands it down in the zone.”

Bud Norris worked around trouble in the first 3 innings allowing only one run. Then came the 4th where the Norris and his replacement Sean Walker were tatooed with 10 runs on 14 hits. After that, Walker settled down allowing only one more run the rest of the game. The Hooks battled back to make it close but an 11-0 hole is tough to climb out off. The final was 12-8. Mitch Einertson had two doubles and 3 RBI for the Hooks.

Round Rock

Fernando Nieve left the game after two innings on the anniversary of his Tommy John Surgery. The Express fell 8-4

The Express lost to the Redbirds 10-4 last night. Nieve wasn’t sharp giving up 3 runs off 9 hits but left the game leading 4-3. He was aided by some stellar defense to get out of a bases loaded no out jam in the sixth.

Memphis led off with three straight singles off Nieve to load the bases. Cazana-Marti grounded a ball to Saccomanno, who touched third base to force out Freese before throwing home, where catcher Josh Paul tagged out a charging Stavinoha.

On the next play, Redbirds catcher Mark Johnson lined a single to right field. Round Rock’s Reggie Abercrombie fielded the ball cleanly and fired a strike to Paul, nailing D’Angelo Jimenez, who was trying to score from second.

The Express had two run triples from MarK Saccamanno and Danny Klassen. Both were hit with no outs and neither was able to score. Those extra runs would have helped as the Redbirds scored 7 runs off the Express bullpen.
Corpus Christi

Bud Norris pitched 5 strong shut out innings and Ryan Thompson pitched 4 shut out innings to finish the game. The only problem was what occurred in the 4 innings in between. Norris left with a 2-0 lead after 5 and Thompson came in to a 5-5 game in the 10th. THe Hooks won 6-5 in 13.

Rob Cosby got the game winner on a hit that should have been an out but the Hooks will take it.

On a 2-0 count, Cosby, denied a chance to provide the game-winner in the 10th, lofted a towering fly that Myron Leslie appeared to lose in the pitch-black sky. The ball landed behind Leslie and bounced into the left-field berm, scoring Sutton.

Salem

Chris Salamida got his first start of the season and earned the win in Salem’s 7-4 victory. Tim Torres went 2-3 with 3 RBI to lead the offense.

The key turning point in the game was Salamida’s ability to get out of 5th inning where Kinston hit the ball hard 4 times but got no runs out of the innings.

Jerad Head’s leadoff single was followed by a failed Cirilo Cumberbatch hit-and-run attempt that saw Head gunned down easily at second. Cumberbatch — as hitters do after baserunning mistakes when things are going badly — promptly followed with a sharp single to left, and Alex Castillo singled to the same spot to put runners on first and second with one out.

The Indians, trailing 4-2 with leadoff man Adam Davis coming up, were in business.

But Davis’ rope of a line drive was stabbed by Avs second baseman Greg Buchanan, who flipped to second to double off Cumberbatch and give the threat a fitting end….

“It was important for us to get a win,” said Salem manager Jim Pankovits. “We’ll take one any way we can get it. This is a tough place to get them historically.”

Lexington

Sergio Severino had control problems last night. He only gave up 3 hits and struck out 6 batters but he walked 4 and hit two batters. That resulted in a short night for him only lasting 3 innings after giving up 3 runs.

The defense was ready for a line dance because the had their boots on. Six errors resulted in 4 unearned runs on the night. Manager Greg Langbehn is frustrated to say the least.

“Our inability to make … relatively routine plays, it’s killing us,” Manager Gregg Langbehn said. “We’re digging our own grave and not covering it up. We did it a couple of times on the road trip; we were able to do it.

“You can’t give teams 31, 32, 33 outs and expect to win. It’s not realistic.”…

“We didn’t pitch well. We didn’t play defense very well,” Langbehn said. “Quite honestly, offensively we benefitted from two balls that were lost in the sky. Otherwise, we probably don’t score.”

The result was an 8-2 loss.

Injury updates:

Legends C Max Sapp (groin) missed his ninth game in a row and probably will miss the rest of the homestand. … Legends LH Jeff Icenogle (calf) will throw off a mound Wednesday. If all goes well, he could be activated in about a week.

Round Rock split a day night doubleheader Saturday. They lost the opener 4-3 and won the nightcap 16-8 thanks to a 9 run 7th. In game one, Jack Cassell surrendered 4 runs in the second inning and that was enough for the I-Cubs to hold on despite a rally by the Express in the ninth. The second game looked like it would be a repeat with the I-Cubs getting 4 runs in the first off Runelvys Hernandez. The Express rallied with a 9 run 7th to erase a 8 – 3 deficit.

Corpus Christi

Bud Norris was impressive in his AA debut. He went 5 strong innings giving up 5 hits and striking out 8, while only walking one batter. Mitch Einertson went 3 for 4 and Rob Cosby hit a 3 run homer for the offensive production in the 5-1 win. The Hooks are off to a franchise best start of 3-0.

“I’m not going out there looking for strikeouts,” Norris said. “I’m just going out there to throw strikes and help my team. But yeah, it definitely started off on the wrong foot, but I kept my composure and made pitches with Lou Santangelo behind the plate and that was all I could really focus on.

Salem

The Avs played through rough conditions and benefit from bad footing in their 5-4 victory. After a 4 run 8th that put the Avs up 5-4, the Nationals were threatening when the conditions gave them a boost. With a runner at second and no one out, a pick off was just what Salem needed.

When Baez took a large lead and then slipped a bit trying to get back to the bag, Tellam threw a bullet to Torres for the out. The throw doused Potomac’s comeback attempt and the Avalanche scored a 5-4 Carolina League victory at Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium.

“If they bunt the guy over in those conditions, there’s no telling what would have happened,” Avalanche manager Jim Pankovits said. “Those were about as tough conditions as you can play in.”

Lexington

Lexington split their double header as well. They lost the opener 2-0, mustering only 3 hits off Cory Riordan in the 7 inning affair. Eric Taylor got two of the three Legends hits. Carlos Ladeuth took the loss despite pitching 5 solid innings.

In the late game, Sergio Severino, was effectively wild. He allowed only two hits but gave four free passes in 5 innings. He struck out 6. The offense responded with the 2-5 batters in the line up getting 2 hits each and at least one RBI each for the Legends 7-1 victory.

The Legends won the base path war. They went 4 out of 5 in stolen bases with Brandon Barnes stealing 2 bases. The Tourist were caught stealing in their two attempts.