In the coming days I am going to post a few videos of some at-bats and pitching from the Tampa Yankees game from May 24th's game against the Ft. Myers Miracle but for now I want to recap some of the things I've learned and experienced through the first 2 months of the season. The TY don't play any more home games in the month of May so I figured now would be a good time to stop and reflect on how the first two months have gone for me both numbers wise and with personal involvement.
So far this Minor League season I have been to 29 games. 6 were away games and 2 of those were games that the Tampa Yankees didn't even play in. I have been to 27 Tampa Yankee games through the first two months.
The two games that I went to that the TY did not play were Dunedin at Lakeland to watch Brandon Morrow make a rehab start and Ft. Myers at Charlotte as a road trip with a friend. Lakeland and Charlotte won.
I have seen 10 wins and 17 losses.
The bullpen received the win or loss in 9 of the games I went to. The bullpen received the win in 6 games and the loss in 3.
I have seen the TY walk off twice.
Breakdown of starting pitchers I have seen and how many times I saw them.
Brett Marshall - 8 games - 4 losses, 2 wins and 2 no decisions
Sean Black - 6 games - 4 losses, 0 wins and 2 no decisions
Josh Romanski - 3 games - 1 loss, 1 win and 1 no decision
Jairo Heredia - 3 games - 1 loss, 0 wins and 2 no decisions
Jose Ramirez - 3 games - 3 losses
Michael Solbach - 2 games - 1 loss, 1 win. Solbach also contributed for a win and a loss in the bullpen
Scott Allen - 2 games - 1 loss, 1 no decision
Interesting note: Francisco Gil was the winning pitcher for both of the TY walk offs.
I've realized that the corner infielders we have can hit the ball but not field it exceptionally well. The 3rd baseman, Rob Lyerly has 10 errors and the 1st baseman, Luke Murton has 9. Sometimes Rob Lyerly plays 1st base but all his errors are at 3rd.
We have had many SS/2B combos but I always feel the game is safer when Walter Ibarra is playing SS. I am not sure who I like as much at 2B because normally that rotates between Emerson Landoni, Kevin Mahoney and Kelvin Castro. To begin the season we had Carmen Angelini at SS but he apparently got injured again and hasnt played since the first few weeks of April. Since Kelvin Castro has done so well he tends to get more starts in the field. Kevin Mahoney also has gotten more starts than the first month of the season. Emerson Landoni does not start as often.
The TY has 2 catchers and tend to rotate them on a regular basis. Kyle Higashioka normally plays 2 or 3 games in a row and then Mitch Abeita will catch a day. Every now and then Hector Rabago will get into a game but he is more the backup's backup. Mitch tends to also catch in the day games. Rabago has played more games at 3rd then behind the plate(at least for the games ive been to).
The TY outfield is not always consistent. For the most part, Abraham Almonte plays centerfield and Taylor Grote plays right field but there have been many people to play left. Zoilo Almonte played there a lot until he got put on the DL. We then had Jason Place there, Neil Medchill has played a few games there and so has Deangelo Mack.
The TY lineup is not always the same. Except for Abe Almonte who leads off nearly every game, the order changes pretty often. Rob Lyerly usually hits 3rd and Luke Murton usually hits 4th.
Here is the lineup from the first home game of the season:
Abraham Almonte - CF
Carmen Angelini - SS
Rob Lyerly - 3B
Luke Murton - 1B
Taylor Grote - RF
Zoilo Almonte - LF
Kyle Higashioka - C
Deangelo Mack - DH
Walter Ibarra - 2B
Currently 2 of those players are on the DL(Angelini and Z. Almonte)
Here is the lineup from the game on 5/24
Abraham Almonte - CF
Walter Ibarra - SS
Rob Lyerly - 3B
Neil Medchill - LF
Luke Murton - 1B
Kevin Mahoney - DH
Kyle Higashioka - C
Taylor Grote - RF
Kelvin Castro - 2B
Everyone but Kelvin Castro was on the opening day roster. Kelvin was the first player called up from Charleston this season though he came by way of Scranton where I am assuming he pinch ran in 2 games because he has no at-bats or walks with Scranton.
Taylor Grote would make a great K-man at a game because its VERY rare to see him not strike out. His hitting has gotten better but lately he has just been hitting the ball at fielders.
Kelvin Castro has done well offensively here since he came up around May 10th. He has 5 triples and 1 double. We were joking saying that he needs a lasso to hold him back because he always goes for 3rd and sometimes he should just stop at 2nd which he rarely does.
None of the outfielders get as good a read on balls that Melky Mesa did last year. If the ball is hit in the air in the outfield, Melky would be on it whether it was in his territory or not. These outfielders, with the exception of Grote most of the time, do not get good reads on the ball and miss many of them. They run and run and put their glove out and the ball falls like 5 feet away.
Some things I've learned through the Booster Club and from talking to other people who work for the TY.
The TY players got their ping-pong table taken away because they kept losing a few weeks ago. Apparently they were coming to practice early so they could play ping pong and I also heard that they limit who can play according who is better, if you're good then you get more playing time than if you suck. Too funny.
I also learned that for the most part, the catchers call the games. I thought at this level that the calls came from the bench but apparently the catchers call games themselves. Most of the pitchers have preferences as to who they prefer to catch them. I wont name names but some catchers prefer to play to the hitters weakness while some are more sensitive to the pitchers strength.
We talked about some of the spanish speaking players who don't speak English at all. The translator in the clubhouse is Walter Ibarra, he doesn't alway have to be asked to translate either, if he sees that someone is speaking English to a player who speaks Spanish only then he will just come over and start translating.
I hope this has helped you get to know the players better. Im sure the rosters will change more in the next month so I will probably do an update of this later.
Oh and it was Cito Culver that I saw at the game the other night. He had apparently just gotten back from NYC after getting his wrist checked out. He tweeted about his wrist on Twitter but somehow I missed it. Wish I had known, I would have asked for a picture with him. Hopefully I see him again before the Staten Island season starts up if not then I wont get to see him for another year(minor league spring training)
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