Southern League All-Star Game: Five Things I’ve Learned

Notes from Monday’s Southern League All-Star Game:

1. Alcedes Escobar can play.

Chris Coghlan won the MVP award - hard not to give it to the local guy whose 3-run HR broke the game open - but Escobar was far and away the best player on the field. In the first inning, he alertly took second on a run-scoring single when Rashad Eldridge overshot the cutoff man, which put him in position to score a second run on a passed ball later in the inning. In the fifth, he smacked a hard grounder through the hole to left for a single, scoring ahead of Coghlan’s bomb. He also connected solidly in his other two plate appearances, lining to left and hammering another grounder which unfortunately went right to Russell Mitchell who started a 5-4-3 DP. Escobar also converted two dazzlers on D, taking hits away from Juan Gonzalez and Ricardo Nanita, and nearly contributed a third in the ninth inning when he dove in the hole to stop Bryan Byrne’s shot but couldn’t quite get enough on the throw - the play did save a run. Milwaukee’s going to have an interesting decision to make soon - do they try to get value for Weeks or Hardy this offseason, or do they give Escobar some AAA time in 2009?

2. The Pirates are going to regret losing Todd Redmond before they regret losing Brent Lillibridge.

Lillibridge was, of course, the main prospect dealt away in the Adam LaRoche deal two years ago. But during spring training, the Pirates made another deal with Atlanta that I think they’ll have cause to regret sooner, giving up Redmond in exchange for Tyler Yates. Redmond doesn’t get high marks from scouts, but he can flat out pitch. He retired three tough hitters - Escobar, Coghlan, and Southern League HR leader Mike Wilson - blowing a low 90s heater upstairs past Wilson for strike three after WIlson ran the count full and fouled off a couple of other tough pitches. Redmond’s always had good control and decent K rates, although he does tend to work up in the zone a lot and I can see where he can be burned as a result. I’d be willing to bet, however, that had he stayed in the Bucs’ organization, he’d probably be getting a starting shot along about now.

3. There are some good pitchers in the Southern League.

All right, so I knew this already. Sue me.

Ben Jukich got the game’s Most Valuable Pitcher award. Like Redmond, he retired all three hitters he faced on six pitches. Jukich was the PTBNL in the Denorfia deal a year ago, and while he’s an older pitcher (24, turns 25 in October) from a small college, and he could stand to sharpen his command (cue the Memorex), he’s got a nice sinker that hitters can’t do much with when it’s on, and I have yet to see him pitch poorly. He’ll fit somewhere in the back of Cinci’s rotation.

James McDonald showed some good off-speed stuff that I haven’t seen from him before, and that had hitters flailing away, although he did leave one fat breaker out over the plate for Cole Gillespie to hammer (fortunately on the ground).

Brooks Brown made one bad pitch, which Doug Deeds hit about 420 feet over the scoreboard. Other than that, he was also pretty impressive.

Wade Davis, AKA Mike’s favorite Rays pitching prospect (that he has seen), didn’t fare well statistically, but he was a little bit unlucky. Leadoff hitter John Raynor hit a slicing drive down the right field line on which Jamie Hoffmann shied away from the fence; he might have been able to catch it, and perhaps would have tried harder to do so in a regular season game. Had he done so, Davis very likely would have gotten away without allowing any runs. The passed ball was all on John Jaso, who looks less and less like a catching option the more that I see him play; his footwork just isn;t getting any better.

Huntsville’s David Welch also had a six-pitch inning (three grounders), but I’m less sold on him - although in fairness this was the first time I’ve seen him pitch, so I’m going to reserve any additional comments until I see him another time.

4. The Miracle League is just that.

Take a look at the third picture here. Young Mr. Tutor received a (much deserved) standing ovation, especially when you consider that he discarded his walker about 30 feet from home plate.

The Miracle League All-Star game was far and away the best part of the festivities. The kids had fun, the players had fun, the fans loved it - great decision by the Mudcats and the Miracle League.

This is the third time I’ve attended a minor league all-star game, and the Mudcats put on the best show by far...except for:

5. Reggy and BirdZerk need to get new acts.

I’m not a huge fan of mascots anyway, but...Seeing Reggy’s Mom flirt with the umpire, and BirdZerk’s inflatable monkey and inflatable baseball, once was bad enough. Seeing them twice - and seeing the same set of routines as the first time - was torture. If you know you’re going to be in a venue multiple times in a year, at least change up the act. More to the point, the league brought in three other mascots in addition to Muddy the Mudcat, and they got almost no field time. I know that the national acts are a big deal, but why bother with them when you’ve got other talent that’s just as good?

Overall, a great evening. I hope that those of you in the Louisville area get out to the AAA game tomorrow.