In each of the last two games, Alexei Ramirez has come up with a big hit in late-inning situations against pitchers who made a conscious effort to work away from his strengths.
First, his game-tying homer off Kyle Farnsworth
Tuesday was on the third straight slider he saw. Then on
Wednesday, he came up with the bases loaded, two outs, and Aquelino Lopez pitched him like he should have. Five of the seven pitches were sliders -- including the first one -- and yet Ramirez hung in there long enough to see a fastball, which he lined into right field to bring home two key insurance runs.
With two-thirds of the season in the books, Ramirez had yet to show signs of slowing down. First, his monthly OPSes:
- April: 329
- May: .755
- June: .908
- July: .898
- August: .904 (small sample size, obviously).
He's also hitting a
Ross Barnes-like .424 with runners in scoring position (25-for-59), when pitchers theoretically should be more careful around him.
Of course, there are stats that scream "fluke!" like his .329 BABIP, his nine walks in 316 plate appearances, and his 3.15 pitches per plate appearance, so there are more than a few reasons to believe he can't sustain his production. Hell,
Mike Caruso hit .306 over 500-plus plate appearances one year without being able to draw a walk. Then his BABIP dropped 60 points and he dropped off the face of the Earth.
But when you see Chelexei somehow get a bat on a Fernando Rodney 96-m.p.h. heading towards his hip, maybe his physical tools will prevail in the end. He certainly has far more power, defensive and baserunning skills going for him.
At this point, I'm starting to think the biggest cause for concern is something like a hand or wrist injury, or something else that would rob him of his bat speed and force him to rely more on his eye. However, when you consider how well he's adjusted to just about everything else on the field, maybe he'd be able to overcome that, too.
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Tonight's Charlotte Knights-Syracuse Chiefs game was broadcast on Time Warner Cable's local access station here, so I got take a look at Jack Egbert and the last four batters he faced. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see him at his best, as he was roughed up for six runs on 11 hits over 5 1/3 innings.
He has a funky, deceptive delivery in that when he begins his stride toward the plate after his leg kick, he extends his right arm back towards center field, then hides it behind his back, almost swinging it in the direction of first base. The hitter doesn't seem the ball again until it's past his shoulder, as his delivery is short-armed.
His sinker registered at 88 in the sixth, and he got a backwards K with a four-seamer at 90 m.p.h. on the inside corner. His changeup had a considerable amount of left-to-right break and was clocked at 77, and his slowed down his curve to 71. He wasn't afraid to double up on his breaking ball.
I'm guessing he had trouble hitting his spots -- he was missing low in the sixth -- but his pitches seem to have more life on them than Lance Broadway's arsenal, though Broadway did a much better job against the same Syracuse lineup.
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Minor league roundup:
- Syracuse 7, Charlotte 3
- Egbert was batted around for 11 hits and six runs over 5 1/3 innings, with a walk and three strikeouts.
- Paul Phillips went 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBI; Royce Huffman had two hits.
- Dave Cook had a single and two walks in three plate appearances.
- Montgomery 8, Birmingham 3
- Dewon Day allowed five runs on five hits and four walks in four innings.
- Joseph Torres threw two shutout innings of relief; Fernando Hernandez went three-up, three-down.
- Javier Castillo went 2-for-4; Brandon Allen tripled.
- Wilmington 1, Winston-Salem 0
- Jacob Rasner struck out seven over 5 2/3 inning, but took the loss by allowing one unearned run.
- Ricky Brooks threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings.
- C.J. Retherford went 2-for-4.
- Bristol 13, Elizabethton 5
- Jordan Kendall homered and drove in four.
- Jose Vargas and Hancer Vargas each added two RBI.
- Brandon Short went 3-for-5 with a double.
- John Doyle struck out three over three shutout innings of relief.
- Kannapolis OFF
- Great Falls OFF