Vols in Summer Leagues Across Continent

#576
#576
Pierce Bily had a great night! 4 AB, 3 H, 1 R, 3 RBI

Tyler Shultz got the start in ahem..LF...lol...4 AB, 2 H, 1 RBI

LA Brewers win 13-0
 
#577
#577
Maddox breaks the game open in the bottom of the 8th with a 2 run single to ensure that Lee's outing does not get wasted, Blues up 6-1.
 
#579
#579
WOW!

Owenby walks the lead off batter. Then he strikes out the next two batters he faces and the oohs and ahhs from his curve ball were very noticeable from the stands. He four pitch walks the next batter and with runners at 1 and 2, he strikes out the next batter with four pitches! Crowd went nuts! The Blues play the Foresters again tomorrow night, big series! 20 Pitches, 10 balls, 10 strikes.

GBO!
 
#581
#581
On a note unrelated to Vols in summer leagues, Rod Delmonico's son Nick was traded to the Orioles today for Krod.
 
#583
#583
vol2013 said:
That puts Owenby at 17.04 K/9 this summer
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:rock:

I saw his K/BB #s today and was freaked out. But I didn't think to talley it up as Ks per 9. That's an insane #s.

I also saw that his opponents were hitting in the .100s. Very impressive!
 
#585
#585
vol66 said:
Huh?
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He's tallied up Owenby's Ks per 9 innings as an average.

As for Andrew Lee...that is cool his family made the trip. I'm a Morristown West Trojan. I think people are sleeping on this kid. He's a developmental kid, but I think he's gonna help us down the road. If he can get back and stay healthy he's gonna help us on the mound...even if it's from the pen. Out of HS he was supposed to be a 90-92mph guy. Someone from Hamblen County I trust told me it was more like 88-90. Which is fine if he's on top of his game and can maintain his location. We shall see.
 
#586
#586
RichRollin said:
He's tallied up Owenby's Ks per 9 innings as an average.

As for Andrew Lee...that is cool his family made the trip. I'm a Morristown West Trojan. I think people are sleeping on this kid. He's a developmental kid, but I think he's gonna help us down the road. If he can get back and stay healthy he's gonna help us on the mound...even if it's from the pen. Out of HS he was supposed to be a 90-92mph guy. Someone from Hamblen County I trust told me it was more like 88-90. Which is fine if he's on top of his game and can maintain his location. We shall see.
Click to expand...

Yeah, took me a second but I finally got what 2013 calculated.

As for Lee, I'm thrilled he's getting some pitching work in and he certainly did well tonight. I know he's been dying to get out there and pitch, but what I like about him most is that he made it this long at first base and at the plate as a hitter.

Scott Price played 1B last year and was a tremendous hitter leading the team in BA. However, he had a less than stellar summer season with the Blowfish of the Coastal Plain League, in fact he was supplanted there, benched. I hope Price comes back and we don't have to worry about it, but Lee gains value by playing first and upping his BA from .187 at UT to .259 for the Blues. Maybe he'll be like Steckenrider.
 
#587
#587
vol66 said:
Yeah, took me a second but I finally got what 2013 calculated.

As for Lee, I'm thrilled he's getting some pitching work in and he certainly did well tonight. I know he's been dying to get out there and pitch, but what I like about him most is that he made it this long at first base and at the plate as a hitter.

Scott Price played 1B last year and was a tremendous hitter leading the team in BA. However, he had a less than stellar summer season with the Blowfish of the Coastal Plain League, in fact he was supplanted there, benched. I hope Price comes back and we don't have to worry about it, but Lee gains value by playing first and upping his BA from .187 at UT to .259 for the Blues. Maybe he'll be like Steckenrider.
Click to expand...

Some come back throwing harder after they fully recover from the same surgery Lee had. Here's to hoping he gets to the low 90s.
 
#588
#588
RichRollin said:
Some come back throwing harder after they fully recover from the same surgery Lee had. Here's to hoping he gets to the low 90s.
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I hope so, I really do. I hope folks understand what I'm saying here. When Maddox didn't make it with the CNT (USA)...there's a reason he ended up with the Blues. They are going to the NBC World Series, they shuffled their roster over the last couple of weeks to be as strong as possible. The fact that Lee is still there is a really good sign. Aiken who was with the Blues is back at UT.
 
#589
#589
RichRollin, I might not be correct on the Blues going to the NBC WS, the CCL may have pre determined that the Oaks and Foresters (won it last year) will be going, regardless of this weeks games and the tourney. They, NBCWS, are implementing a new format and I'm not quite squared away, but it looks like the Miners might have a shot too...I'll try to sort it out.
 
#590
#590
Thanks for answering 66's question RR, just now saw it.

One more thing on Owenby for comparisons sake Parker Ray with Texas A&M pitched in the league last year.

29.67 IP, 5 saves, 1.82 ERA, 21 BB, 58 Ks (17.59 K/9), and 21 walks. So Owenby has him beat in every category except strikeouts which are at a very comparable rate. Also too lazy to calculate it right now but because of the large difference in walks Owenby likely has a significantly better FIP (granted that is making the assumption that the constant didn't change much between years). Parker Ray then went on this past year to have the following statline at A&M

68.2 IP, 1.73 ERA, 44 Ks, 19 walks, and a .233 BAA.
 
#591
#591
vol66 said:
Yeah, took me a second but I finally got what 2013 calculated.

As for Lee, I'm thrilled he's getting some pitching work in and he certainly did well tonight. I know he's been dying to get out there and pitch, but what I like about him most is that he made it this long at first base and at the plate as a hitter.

Scott Price played 1B last year and was a tremendous hitter leading the team in BA. However, he had a less than stellar summer season with the Blowfish of the Coastal Plain League, in fact he was supplanted there, benched. I hope Price comes back and we don't have to worry about it, but Lee gains value by playing first and upping his BA from .187 at UT to .259 for the Blues. Maybe he'll be like Steckenrider.
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Honestly I'd take .259 from Lee at UT if he can be a solid consistent guy over at 1st base. He's got the perfect frame for it. He's from two counties east, Morristown is straight up Big Orange Country...boy bleeds orange.

Hold it down at 1st and perhaps on a day when your starter can't make it but 2 or 3 innings hopefully come in and give us 2 or 3 solid innings. Not everyone is an All American. But sometimes these type of dudes can be the glue to a team.

LOL, I know this sounds crazy or made up. I mentioned earlier I went to HS where Lee went. Well I currently live where Owenby is from, LOL....watched him kick butt in HS. His little brother is a stud too, an awesome awesome QB. But I'm pulling for these boys way hard.


Edit: I know I know.....^^^ cool story bro^^^ lol
 
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#593
#593
vol66 said:
A look at the numbers - Catcher Position

Which of the Vols' catchers led the team in slugging percentage (.605), tied for first for most doubles (10) and home runs (3)? He also had the third best BA on the team at .321. He also led the team in OB% (.450)...the answer is....If you guessed Ethan Bennett you are right.

That's a lot of plate production to lose. Who will step up and fill that role?

David Houser

Houser got the most starts of any catcher including Bennett. He struck out 40 times, second only to Taylor Smarts' 47, the difference being Houser had 115 at bats, Smart had 172. His batting average at the end of it all was a paltry .191, 69 points lower than any other player with 100 or more at bats.

So...how has summer ball turned out for Houser? I'm afraid, at the plate anyway, not much progress has been made. He's currently batting .188, he's had 13 hits, 1 double in 69 at bats for the Columbia Blowfish of the Coastal Plain League. He's struck out 20 times, while only drawing 7 walks. His at bats are keeping him out of the line up as the other catcher Dylan Kelly is batting .283. He's better than decent defensively and he has a good arm, but he's got to do better at the plate.

Jason Manis

Manis didn't get much of an opportunity last year. He came in as a defensive guy mostly and he only got two starts. He only had 8 AB and ended up at .121. This will be Manis' junior season and so far he's played in 22 games, starting only 5 games in his UT career. There is not much of a resume to judge him at the plate, but we know CDS likes his defensive skills behind it.

So, has Manis made improvement in summer ball? Unfortunately, Manis got a bad draw. He ended up playing in Canada with the Okotok Dawgs of the WMBL. The starting catcher was a local product from Okotok and is currently batting .337 in 101 at bats. There is another catcher who too is hitting over .300 in 72 at bats. Then there is Manis. In 37 at bats, Manis has 6 hits, 6 runs, 7 RBI, 4 BB, 1 HBP and maybe the best number is this: only 5 SO. So, he's making contact in his at bats, he's just not getting on. He's batting .162.

Things don't seem as bleak with the news of...

Tyler Shultz

Shultz is currently with the LA Brewers along with Vol Pierce Bily in the California Collegiate League. He made the CCL All-Star team along with Maddox, Owenby, and Saberhagen. Andrew Lee and Davis Aiken also play(ed) in the CCL this summer.

Anyhoo...Shultz is batting .316 at the moment. In 76 AB, he has 24 H, 7 R, 20 RBI!!!, 7 BB and only 6 SO!!!

If this was football recruiting it would have been met with a BIG FAT BOOOOOOOOM! What was going to be a weakness was addressed rather quietly by CDS.

There is reason for some optimism at the catcher position and hopefully, for Manis and Houser, the light comes on for them at the plate. My recommendation for Houser is to go to Alaska and play for Coach Taylor and the Miners. I've watched almost all of their games and the #1 catcher, Michael Thomas from UK, couldn't hit anything. On June 30th he was batting .189, 17 days later he's at .295. It can happen!

GBO!
Click to expand...

Ive gotta come back to this post. So are you saying this Shultz kid is a catcher? Because we've been lacking at that position back into the Raleigh era. We've had WAY to many past balls the last few years, many being against the likes of UF, Carolina, etc. Many of which WERE NOT WILD PITCHES! Playable balls getting by the catcher are absolutely unacceptable. And actually IMO, many pitches that are legit wild pitches....well you gotta knock a fair amount of them down. Sorry, but to play catcher in this league you gotta be a junkyard dog. And I'm a bit old school in the sense that I'll allow a catcher to hit .240 if he can shut it down behind the plate. Because a true catcher might not get it at the plate, but he'll get it back for you in lowering pitch counts, shaving E.R.A's, and managing opposing base runners....JMO...as bad as we've needed arms, IMO we've gotta have someone back there who's more efficient than what we've had to go with those arms.


Now if this kid is hitting .300 too....that's just a big fat cherry on top of that milkshake, now isn't it?

The thought of improved pitching and catching is very positive and exciting news to me.
 
#594
#594
RichRollin said:
Ive gotta come back to this post. So are you saying this Shultz kid is a catcher? Because we've been lacking at that position back into the Raleigh era. We've had WAY to many past balls the last few years, many being against the likes of UF, Carolina, etc. Many of which WERE NOT WILD PITCHES! Playable balls getting by the catcher are absolutely unacceptable. And actually IMO, many pitches that are legit wild pitches....well you gotta knock a fair amount of them down. Sorry, but to play catcher in this league you gotta be a junkyard dog. And I'm a bit old school in the sense that I'll allow a catcher to hit .240 if he can shut it down behind the plate. Because a true catcher might not get it at the plate, but he'll get it back for you in lowering pitch counts, shaving E.R.A's, and managing opposing base runners....JMO...as bad as we've needed arms, IMO we've gotta have someone back there who's more efficient than what we've had to go with those arms.


Now if this kid is hitting .300 too....that's just a big fat cherry on top of that milkshake, now isn't it?

The thought of improved pitching and catching is very positive and exciting news to me.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm saying! Scroll down to catchers at the link.

Los Angeles Brewers 2013 Roster

He made the All-Star Team, he's so good at the plate that they stick him in LF when he's not catching.
 
#595
#595
vol66 said:
That's what I'm saying! Scroll down to catchers at the link.

Los Angeles Brewers 2013 Roster

He made the All-Star Team, he's so good at the plate that they stick him in LF when he's not catching.
Click to expand...

He's a lefty at the plate too. Could use another productive lefty in the batting order.

What's with this Raphael Ramirez dude? I saw him on that roster link too. His bio looked pretty good on utsports.com, was wondering what his summer has been like. We need that dude to come in an have an impact as soon as possible.
 
#597
#597
A look at the numbers - When there are no numbers

Nick Williams, Aaron Quillen, Andy Cox and Robbie Kidd

Nick Williams didn't participate in summer ball. He finished last season with an ERA of 5.02 and he was the #2 pitcher. The year before he was used as a closer and he had an ERA of 4.33. It will be interesting to see if it's necessary for him to remain a starter or if he goes back to being a closer.

Aaron Quillen was scheduled to play for the Klamath Falls Gems but due to injury he was forced to return home without ever pitching. CDS was very high on Quillen and he was the closest thing to a #3 we had last year, one could make an argument for Cox I suppose. Quillen finished up with an ERA of 6.79 in 51.2 innings.

In order to put Quillen's numbers in some sort of context I'm going to list Godley's numbers.

Godley - 3.49 ERA, 108.1 IP, 100 H, 53 R, 42 ER, 32 BB, 98 SO, 15 2B, 3 3B, 6 HR, .242 BAA

Quillen - 6.79 ERA, 51.2 IP, 75 H, 42 R, 39 ER, 16 BB, 30 SO, 17 2B, 5 3B, 4 HR, .354 BAA

Let's let that sink in a bit.....Other than the walks, to me, a casual fan, this isn't good. Q's .354 BAA was the worst of anyone on the team who had pitched 20 + innings. It was his first year and I am comparing him to the best pitcher on the team. Even if you compare his numbers against Nick Williams, he has a ways to go. Summer ball would have been good experience for him. It will be interesting to see if he can make up ground, we need him to be the pitcher CDS thinks he is.

Andy Cox finished the season with a 5.29 ERA, fourth best on the team...hard to believe I know! He DID play some summer ball with the Saratoga Brigade of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. He pitched 10.2 innings and ended up with an ERA of 8.43. His ERA is due to his first start being lousy his second start being mediocre and his last start being a really good 4 innings where he gave up 1 H, no runs, no walks and 7 K's. Remember the mantra last year from coaches and fans...INCONSISTENT. Many of the Brigade games were rained out and he contracted mono after his last start and went home. His body of work with the Brigade is not enough to make any judgment but a quick comparison between Cox and Quillen is pretty interesting, I'll leave that up to you.

Robbie Kidd had surgery after the 2012 season, suffered a set back and missed all of 2013. Another "not enough" to judge. He pitched 3.1 innings for the Neptune Beach Pearl. In his first outing, he went 2 innings allowing no hits or runs, 2 walks and 3 K's, I was pumped! He would only pitch 1.1 innings after that and it would go terribly. He finished up with an ERA of 27.00. Those 3 starts came between June 7 - June 20. I don't know his status at the moment.

In his freshman year he was the #4. He had an ERA of 4.86, 63 IP, 58 H, 37 R, 34 ER, 41 BB, 41 SO, 15 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, .256 BAA

Other than the ridiculously high walks, those numbers are better than Quillens.

In my mind, with the exception of Williams, these guys are all question marks. Coach Serrano is the pitching guy, hope he can get these arms going, we need them.
 
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#598
#598
RichRollin said:
He's a lefty at the plate too. Could use another productive lefty in the batting order.

What's with this Raphael Ramirez dude? I saw him on that roster link too. His bio looked pretty good on utsports.com, was wondering what his summer has been like. We need that dude to come in an have an impact as soon as possible.
Click to expand...

Best I can tell he didn't play which is not unusual, he has no stats for the Brewers and I looked him up in point streak too.

In the same way Serrano didn't report, maybe he's on campus now like all of those who either didn't play summer ball or have already returned.
 
#599
#599
vol66 said:
A look at the numbers - When there are no numbers

Nick Williams, Aaron Quillen, Andy Cox and Robbie Kidd

Nick Williams didn't participate in summer ball. He finished last season with an ERA of 5.02 and he was the #2 pitcher. The year before he was used as a closer and he had an ERA of 4.33. It will be interesting to see if it's necessary for him to remain a starter or if he goes back to being a closer.

Aaron Quillen was scheduled to play for the Klamath Falls Gems but due to injury he was forced to return home without ever pitching. CDS was very high on Quillen and he was the closest thing to a #3 we had last year, one could make an argument for Cox I suppose. Quillen finished up with an ERA of 6.79 in 51.2 innings.

In order to put Quillen's numbers in some sort of context I'm going to list Godley's numbers.

Godley - 3.49 ERA, 108.1 IP, 100 H, 53 R, 42 ER, 32 BB, 98 SO, 15 2B, 3 3B, 6 HR, .242 BAA

Quillen - 6.79 ERA, 51.2 IP, 75 H, 42 R, 39 ER, 16 BB, 30 SO, 17 2B, 5 3B, 4 HR, .354 BAA

Let's let that sink in a bit.....Other than the walks, to me, a casual fan, this isn't good. Q's .354 BAA was the worst of anyone on the team who had pitched 20 + innings. It was his first year and I am comparing him to the best pitcher on the team. Even if you compare his numbers against Nick Williams, he has a ways to go. Summer ball would have been good experience for him. It will be interesting to see if he can make up ground, we need him to be the pitcher CDS thinks he is.

Andy Cox finished the season with a 5.29 ERA, fourth best on the team...hard to believe I know! He DID play some summer ball with the Saratoga Brigade of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. He pitched 10.2 innings and ended up with an ERA of 8.43. His ERA is due to his first start being lousy his second start being mediocre and his last start being a really good 4 innings where he gave up 1 H, no runs, no walks and 7 K's. Remember the mantra last year from coaches and fans...INCONSISTENT. Many of the Brigade games were rained out and he contracted mono after his last start and went home. His body of work with the Brigade is not enough to make any judgment but a quick comparison between Cox and Quillen is pretty interesting, I'll leave that up to you.

Robbie Kidd had surgery after the 2012 season, suffered a set back and missed all of 2013. Another "not enough" to judge. He pitched 3.1 innings for the Neptune Beach Pearl. In his first outing, he went 2 innings allowing no hits or runs, 2 walks and 3 K's, I was pumped! He would only pitch 1.1 innings after that and it would go terribly. He finished up with an ERA of 27.00. Those 3 starts came between June 7 - June 20. I don't know his status at the moment.

In his freshman year he was the #4. He had an ERA of 4.86, 63 IP, 58 H, 37 R, 34 ER, 41 BB, 41 SO, 15 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, .256 BAA

Other than the ridiculously high walks, those numbers are better than Quillens.

In my mind, with the exception of Williams, these guys are all question marks. Coach Serrano is the pitching guy, hope he can get these arms going, we need them.
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The fall is going to be real important to the pitching staff. With juco's and freshmen arms coming in everyone will have to compete for a spot. I expect a big improvement in mid week games and in the bullpen. We don't have a Friday starter on the roster except Serrano but not until his sophomore year.
 
#600
#600
A look at the numbers - Eric Martin

Martin finished out the season for the Volunteers with a 3.49 ERA, tied for the best ERA with Zack Godley. NO OTHER PITCHER HAD BETTER THAN A 5.02 ERA. Isn't that an incredible stat? In 2012, we had nine pitchers that were under a 5.00 ERA, last year we had two...2...dos!

Martin's line from this past season, 3.49 ERA, 38.2 IP, 34 H, 19 R, 15 ER, 2 HR, 18 BB, 28 SO, .228 BAA.

That's pretty good. Clean up the walks, turn those into K's and you're onto something. In addition, his .228 was second on the team, only Drake Owenby was better. So, he had already improved greatly from his freshman season (which should give us some hope for the returning sophomores that played summer ball, Martin played for the Big Train last summer).

So...How has Martin done this summer, playing in the Great Lakes League for the Cincinnati Steam?

Martin has played in 8 games, starting 6. 44.1 IP (Team High), 33 H, 11 R, 7 ER, 9 BB, 32 SO, 3W-0L, 1.42 ERA

1.42 ERA! That's improvement! He's cut his walks in half! That's improvement!

I won't go game by game because you can look here: Eric Martin - Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League - player | Pointstreak Sports Technologies

On July 5th, Eric Martin pitched a 9 inning, 3 hit, 2 walk, 10 strike out, SHUT OUT! He is the first player in the history of the Steam (2006) to do it. He's gotten better as the season has gone on collecting wins in his last 3 starts. His BAA is 2.06, that's improvement.

The truth is this, and it's simple... this is the kind of improvement you want to see for a guy that's going into year 3 of the program. He's had 2 years of SEC ball and two years of summer ball. He's pitched more innings for the Steam than any other player, like Esparza, it says a lot about the confidence his coach has in him.

Hopefully, Martin can keep this mojo going when he returns to campus. GBO!
 
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