ScoutingTheSally on Tyler Saladino

STS ranks the Top 5 Sally (South Atlantic League) second baseman for 2010:

1. Tyler Saladino, Chicago White Sox

In Saladino, I see a plus defensive second baseman with on base skills, gap power, and the ability to play a little shortstop in a pinch.  Of the players on this list, he may not have the highest ceiling, but his floor is the highest by a wide enough margin for him to earn the top spot without giving it a second thought.  The only real red flag in his current skill set is his ability to make contact as a 25% strikeout rate simply isn’t going to work at higher levels.  With his quiet approach and baseball IQ, I’m confident that will come down as he continues to work on breaking ball recognition.

Saladino @ Kannapolis: 198 PA, 165 AB, .309/.389./442/.831, 22 BB / 44 K, .412 BABIP, .365 wOBA.

Tyler Saladino scouting report by ScoutingTheSally

STS:

Offense: With a quiet load, and strong, athletic stance, Saladino makes an excellent first impression at the plate.  When swinging the bat well, Saladino keeps his hands inside the ball allowing him to scorch line drives to left field.  On occasion however, his load will become long forcing his pull arm to extend to a locked position.  While it didn’t happen often, Saladino had great difficulty adjusting to pitches above the letters when it did.

In game action, Saladino did not show much aptitude for taking pitches the other way, but consistently made solid contact and showed the potential for gap power.  His quick wrists and level swing plane are tailor-made for doubles into the left-center field gap.  I have some concern with his pitch recognition as he seemed to struggle picking up decent offspeed pitches and sat “dead red” for most of the series.  This led to his swinging and missing more than a hitter with his approach probably should which explains his K% of more than 22%.

Saladino: Stats, Splits.

Saladino @ Kannapolis: 198 PA, 165 AB, .309/.389./442/.831, 22 BB / 44 K, .412 BABIP, .365 wOBA.

Andre Rienzo: 6 IP / 5 H / 9 K / 1 BB [September 2]

9/2:

Kannapolis Intimidators
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Rienzo (W, 8-4)	6.0	5	1	1	1	9	0	3.65
Heidenreich, M	1.0	3	2	2	0	2	0	18.00
Hollis (H, 1)	1.0	0	0	0	2	2	0	0.00
Santos, O	1.0	3	2	2	0	0	0	3.51

Groundouts-flyouts: Rienzo 3-6.

Rienzo has allowed 95 H and has a 125 K / 32 BB ratio in 101.0 innings. And he has a 0.94 Groundout/Flyout ratio.

Andre Rienzo: 8 K / 2 BB / 5 IP / 7 H

8/27:

Kannapolis
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Rienzo	5.0	7	1	1	2	8	0	3.79
Hopps, M	1.0	2	2	2	2	0	0	6.71
Hollis	1.0	1	0	0	1	3	0	0.00
Petricka (L, 0-1)	2.0	4	2	1	2	2	0	3.52

Rienzo has a 115  / 31 BB ratio, and 90 H in 95.0 IP.

Kevin Goldstein on Trayce Thompson

Goldstein @ BP:

Trayce Thompson, OF, White Sox (Low-A Kannapolis): 2-for-4, RBI. Toolsy-but-raw prospect has 11 total bases in last three games; .244/.306/.476 line is actually a very pleasant surprise.

Here are Trayce’s stats.

John Sickels on Brent Morel

John Sickels answered a question on Brent Morel:

Q: Morel just keeps on hitting, and now he’s being moved around the infield a little bit (to accommodate Viciedo, mainly). Can he be an everyday 3B?

A: If they don’t expect him to hit 20 homers, why not? Think Joe Randa.

He also answered my question on Andre Rienzo. Unfortunately Rienzo isn’t on his knowledge base yet:

Q: what can you tell us about the 22 year old (07/1988) brazilian in kannapolis’ rotation? his ratios look pretty good

A: I don’t know anything about him other than the numbers at this point. Will have to research.

Stay tuned for the answer!

Andre Rienzo: 9 K / 0 BB / 3 H [August 22]

8/22:

Kannapolis
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Rienzo (W, 7-4)	7.0	3	0	0	0	9	0	3.90

Rienzo has a 108 / 29 BB ratio (3.72 K/BB) in 90.0 IP. He also has a 1.24 WHIP.

ScoutingTheSally scouts the Kannapolis Intimidators

Newman @ STS:

Tyler Saladino, SS – A pleasant surprise, Saladino was the most complete prospect on the field in my eyes.  Having just turned 21, he’s not young for the level, but plays the game the right way and makes the most out of the tools he does have.  And while the tools may only be average across-the-board, very few players even have that to offer.  Call me a fan.

Saladino’s splits.

More reports at the link.

Andre Rienzo: 5.1 IP/ 6 H / 8 K / 2 BB [August 10]

8/10:

Kannapolis
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Rienzo (W, 5-4)	5.1	6	2	2	2	8	0	4.32
Kussmaul	0.2	0	0	0	1	2	0	1.59
Petricka	1.0	1	0	0	0	2	0	0.00
Thompson	2.0	2	0	0	0	2	0	3.05

Rienzo has a 92 K / 25 BB ratio, and has allowed 76 H and 5 HR in 77 innings. He also, has a 3.09 FIP and a .342 BABIP.

Justin Collop: 6 IP / 8 H / 7 K / 1 BB [August 9]

8/9:

Kannapolis
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Collop, J (L, 8-8)	6.0	8	4	1	1	7	0	4.59
Wickswat	2.1	3	0	0	0	2	0	3.97
Santos, O	0.2	0	0	0	0	2	0	3.57

Justin Collop has a 102 K / 22 BB ratio, and has allowed 139 H and 9 HR in 121.2 innings. He has a 3.52 FIP and a .344 BABIP.

Terry Doyle: 6 IP / 7 K / 1 BB, Andre Rienzo: 6.2 IP / 6 K / 1 BB

8/4:

Winston-Salem
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Doyle	6.0	11	5	3	1	7	2	3.46
Burdie (L, 2-2)	2.0	1	1	0	0	2	0	5.44
Kloess	1.0	3	3	3	0	1	0	10.80

Doyle has a 77 K / 26 BB / 8 HR ratio in 93.2 innings.

8/4:

Kannapolis
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Rienzo (W, 4-4)	6.2	4	2	2	1	6	1	4.40
Kussmaul (S, 1)	2.1	1	0	0	0	3	0	1.86

Rienzo has a 84 K / 23 BB / 5 HR ratio in 71.2 innings.

Jacob Petricka: 5 IP / 5 K / 0 BB

8/1:

Bristol
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Petricka (W, 2-4)	5.0	2	0	0	0	5	0	2.86
Hollis	2.0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2.75
Marshall, R	1.0	3	2	2	0	2	0	8.59
Moran	1.0	2	1	1	1	1	0	3.21

Petricka has a 38 K / 7 BB ratio in 34.2 innings. He also has a 2.55 FIP.

FutureSox says Petricka will be promoted to Class -A Kannapolis tomorrow.

Andre Rienzo: 7 IP / 8 K / 1 BB [July 30]

7/30:

Kannapolis
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Rienzo	7.0	3	2	2	1	8	1	4.57
Thompson (L, 0-1)	1.0	4	1	1	1	1	0	2.70

Rienzo has a 78 K / 22 BB ratio in 65.0 innings. He also has a 3.00 FIP.

8 K / 0 BB for Justin Collop [July 29]

7/29:

Kannapolis
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Collop, J (W, 8-7)	7.0	5	1	1	0	8	0	4.59
Cooney, C (H, 2)	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1.23
Santos, O (S, 8 )	1.0	0	0	0	1	1	0	3.96

Collop (6th round pick in the 2009 draft) has a 92 K / 21 BB ratio in 111.2 innings.

Ryan Buch throws a 1-hitter (5 K / 0 BB)

7/25:

Kannapolis
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Buch, R (W, 3-0)	7.0	1	0	0	0	5	0	2.04
Ballinger, J (H, 3)	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	3.30
Santos, O (S, 7)	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	0	4.08

Smith @ MiLB.com:

… Building endurance has been key for the 2009 eighth-round pick, who began the season in the Intimidators’ bullpen. The White Sox sent him to extended spring training to become a starter, a role he filled at Monmouth University.

“Basically, they liked my pitches, so they sent me back to extended to get up to five innings,” he said.

The transition continued last month at Rookie-level Bristol, where he went 2-1 with a 2.45 ERA in four starts. Since returning to Kannapolis earlier this month, Buch is 2-0 with a 0.53 ERA in three starts.

“This was my longest outing,” he said. “I was around 12-13 pitches [an inning], maybe 15 sometimes. I got stronger as the game got going, but they’re taking it easy with me because I haven’t started in a couple of years.”