Right-handed starting pitcher — Terry Doyle, Kannapolis (seven games), Winston-Salem (20 games): Doyle grew up in Red Sox Nation, but he’s made a nice transition to the Pale Hose. The 6-foot-4 righty went 12-10 with a 2.94 ERA and an organizational-best 157 strikeouts in 168 1/3 innings between two levels. Only Chicago’s John Danks (162) had more strikeouts in 2010.
“He’s a tremendous competitor, he competes his butt off,” said McEwing. “He wants the ball until the end of the ninth. He’s able to mix four pitches for strikes at any time and able to locate to all four pitches — it’s one of the biggest assets he’s got. He competes at a high level and is able to throw four pitches at any time.”
The Boston College product was especially nasty at Class A, going 4-2 with a 0.96 ERA in seven starts. He features a fastball, curve, change and a cutter-slider, throwing his heater in the 89-91 mph range with good control. He was promoted mid-season and earned Carolina League Pitcher of the Week honors June 7.
“He’s very polished,” said McEwing, who helped the Mets reach the World Series in 2000. “He almost had a big league season with about 180 innings, and he did an outstanding job. He wants the ball, he doesn’t want to come out of the game. You wish you had five starters like that every day.”
and Greg Walker on Tyler Flowers:
“He’s a tremendously talented kid that is trying to correct some swing problems and some approach flaws, in my mind,” White Sox hitting coach Greg Walker said of Flowers to MLB.com. “I’m still confident he’s on the right track, but this winter is important to him.”
Walker is also tweaking Morel’s swing:
“There are a few things we are tweaking with his swing. He’s still got a few misses that we are looking to iron out this winter, but he can be a productive offensive player. The more efficient he becomes with his legs and swing, the more pop you will see,” Walker said. “Every time I see him, it’s a little better. His swing and offensive game [are] evolving. He’s working on some things, nothing major, just minor things to iron out.”
More players on the link.
Brandon Short, OF, White Sox (High-A Winston Salem)
An all but unknown 28th-round pick out of a Florida junior college in 2008, Short’s solid-but-unspectacular showing leading up to this season wasn’t enough to get him on anybody’s radar, but scouts are getting forced to take notice now. The 21-year-old skinny outfielder has above-average speed and little else in the way of tools, but with two hits in all three weekend games, his batting line is up to .372/.396/.531 for the Warthogs. As you can tell by the line, he doesn’t walk much and he’s not a big power guy. He is also not good enough defensively to stay in center field long-term. For now he’s just an interesting hitter, but anything out of the 28th round is an impressive find.
UPDATE: A lot more on Terry Doyle here: http://soxbronzetitan.wordpress.com/tag/terry-doyle/
ORIGINAL: From the ‘Man among boys’ section of the 5/14 Prospect Hotsheet:
Terry Doyle, rhp, White Sox.
Your minor league strikeouts leader isn’t Stephen Strasburg, Mike Minor or Julio Teheran. It’s a 2008 37th-round pick out of Boston College. This season, Doyle, 24, is 4-2, 0.96 with 58 strikeouts in 47 innings. Last week he was sensational (14 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 24 Ks), but that’s not that surprising. He has pitched well ever since he became a pro—he was second in the Pioneer League in strikeouts last year—but he’s been treated as an organizational fill-in, spending two seasons in rookie ball despite his age and college experience. Doyle may just be an older pitcher beating up on younger prospects, but he’s pitched well enough to earn the right to prove he can handle competition more his own age.
Brandon Short and his 26-game hitting streak gets a mention too.
Doyle threw 7 innings of 1 BB / 10 K shutout ball yesterday:
| Kannapolis | ||||||||
| Player | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| Doyle (W, 4-2) | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 0.96 |
| Santos, O | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Johnson, Ga | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.62 |
Brandon Short had a career-high five hits Saturday, extending the Minor Leagues’ longest hitting streak of the season to 26 games, as the Winston-Salem Dash outlasted the Salem Red Sox, 16-13.
Short, a 28th-round pick by the White Sox in 2008, is five games from tying the longest streak in Carolina League history, set by Martinsville’s Orge Pat Cooper in 1948.
Stats: .387/.406/.569/.975 with 3 BB (2.1% BB%) / 23 K (16.1 K%) in 143 PAs/137 ABs. .419 wOBA. .445 BABIP. Age: 21. Level: A+.
Unfortunately the .445 BABIP is completely unsustainable (his OBP at the road is .347 and that’s with a .396 BABIP). And that walk rate is just awful.
Here’s what they have to say on Trayce Thompson:
What he needs to improve: Right now, a little bit of everything. He needs to fill out to improve his power, he needs to cut down on the strikeouts and improve his batting eye. His defense seems to be the best part of his game right now, but he also has good bat speed. If he can shorten his swing he should be able to do fine in 2010.
On the mound, Daniel Hudson cruised through the first two innings before allowing three runs in the third. But the Sox remained encouraged because Hudson kept throwing the strikes and getting ground balls.
Guillen seemed to indicate that Hudson still projects as a starter in the minors because he doesn’t want him sitting in the bullpen for weeks should the Sox’s starters pitch deep into games.
“It’s a tough decision for us to make,” Guillen said. “But we want the best for him and the best for the club. … It’s something that goes through our minds every meeting we have.”
Ozzie, also, liked Brandon Short’s home run and said they’ll keep an eye on reliever Greg Aquino.
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