An Epic Battle

I've been having some technical difficulties lately, which have kept all my posts from the past two weeks from actually appearing on the site. I've got it sorted out now, so I'll be posting some of the relevant stuff that was lost over the next few days. Today, however, I want to talk about last night's game between the Staten Island Yankees and the Brooklyn Cyclones. It might not be as important as the Yankees' seven game winning streak or Chien-Ming Wang's injury, but it's just too cool of a story to ignore.

You see, last night marked the professional debut of Pat Venditte, a reliever drafted by the Yankees in the 20th round out of Creighton University. Venditte, of course, is the pitcher who gained national attention last year for his ability to pitch with either arm. The advantage of being able to pitch right-handed to a right-handed batter and left-handed to a left-handed batter is obvious, but it raises the question of how to deal with switch-hitters. In college this question was answered by NCAA rules, which stated that Venditte had to declare which arm he was going to use before the first pitch. Thus, Venditte would have to give up his advantage and settle for forcing switch-hitters to hit from their weaker side. However, no such rule in professional baseball, so the question arises again: What happens when a switch-pitcher faces a switch-hitter?

Well, in the ninth inning of last night's game, the answer was "hilarity". After facing the first three batters of the inning as a right-hander, Venditte saw Cyclones DH Ralph Henriquez taking warm up swings left-handed and switched his custom made glove to the other hand. Seeing that he was now facing a lefty, the switch-hitting Henriquez stepped to the plate as a right-hander. Venditte then proceeded to switch his glove back. Henriquez responded by crossing over to the other side of the plate. The switch-pitcher and switch-hitter continued to dance like this, neither player willing to give up his advantage in a hilarious game of chicken. Finally, after discussions with the players and managers, the umpires ruled Henriquez had to bat right-handed and Venditte proceeded to strike him out as a right-hander. You can watch the whole eight-minute affair here.

There's still no word on how this will be handled in the future. There's no rule dealing with this situation in the Major League Baseball rulebook (which also governs the Minor Leagues), and the Professional Baseball Umpire Corporation manual only says "In the rare occasion of an ambidextrous pitcher, pitcher and batter may change positions one time per at-bat.", which isn't that helpful. Officials from MLB and PBUC are still figuring things out, but while they do I've got my own suggestion. As far as I can tell, there's no rule saying that a player has to use a glove at all. Since the glove is the only sign a hitter has of what arm Venditte will use before stepping into the batter's box, maybe he should just leave it in the dugout. That way, batters won't know where the ball will be coming from until Venditte is set to throw. That surprise could be an even bigger advantage than what he's already got. Plus, it'd be very, very cool.

Draft Day 1, Part 2

With their third pick of the draft, the Yankees have taken Scott Bittle, the closer for the Ole Miss Rebels. Bittle doesn't have classic closer stuff, as his fastball sits around 90mph, but he dominated hitters with a devastating cutter, striking out 130 in just 70 innings. Don't, however, make the mistake of comparing him to any other closers who rely on a devastating cut fastball. Unlike Mariano Rivera, Bittle doesn't break 90mph with his cutter, and it's more of a swing and miss pitch than a breaker of bats. To me, it seems like a kind of high pick for someone whose ceiling is as a setup man. I'd rather have seen them take Preston Paramore, the catcher for the Arizona State Sun Devils who walks more than he strikes out and is very good defensively.

Update 7:25PM:I'm much happier with the next pick, David Adams. The second baseman for the University of Virgina Caviliers, Adams began the year as a possible first round pick, but had a disappointing season where he was merely good and not the star he was in his previous two seasons. If he can bounce back to his earlier form, he'll be a steal in the third round.

Update 7:59PM:We're reaching the limits of my knowledge, but what little I know of the Yankees' fourth round pick, Corban Joseph, is good. A shortstop out of Franklin High School in Tennessee, Joseph possesses a short lefthanded swing and uses the whole field. He has the ability to stay at shortstop, though he probably won't be a gold glover, and is only an average runner. It sounds like a solid pick to me.

And I think that's it for me tonight. I'll be back tomorrow with a review of the entire draft.

Live Blogging 6/5/07, Draft Day Special

I'm sorry about the recent lack of posts, but I've been feeling under the weather lately. I thought I'd make up for it by doing a double live blog, covering both today's game and the First-Year Player Draft, which will commence at 2pm. So, without further ado, here are your starting lineups:

Yankees

1. Johnny Damon - DH
2. Derek Jeter - SS
3. Bobby Abreu - RF
4. Alex Rodriguez - 3B
5. Hideki Matsui - LF
6. Jorge Posada - C
7. Robinson Cano - 2B
8. Wilson Betemit - 1B
9. Melky Cabrera - CF

Pitcher: Chien-Ming Wang

Blue Jays

1. Shannon Stewart - LF
2. David Eckstein - SS
3. Alexis Rios - CF
4. Scott Rolen - 3B
5. Matt Stairs - DH
6. Lyle Overbay - 1B
7. Kevin Mench - RF
8. Rod Barajas - C
9. Joe Inglett - 2b

Pitcher: Dustin McGowan

Obviously, the big story of the game is the return of Jorge Posada. I'd be very surprised if the Blue Jays don't test his shoulder.

Update 1:13PM:Well, Toronto's not going to be able to test Posada's shoulder like that, as it take Wang only ten pitches to send the first three batters back to the dugout. He's definitely got his best sinker today, and just as importantly, he's throwing it for strikes at the knees.

Update 1:25PM:Considering how many baserunners they've stranded this season, you've got to be happy with the Yankees getting two runs here. Still, after a leadoff walk followed by a double, I kind of hoped for a bigger inning.

Update 1:30PM:If, by the way, you're someplace where you can't watch the game on TV, you can watch the draft online here. Right now the various teams' delegations are being introduced. The Yankees, I believe, will be represented by Tino Martinez.

Update 1:35PM:Wow. Posada wastes absolutely no time as he rips the first pitch he sees into right field for a single. Even if baserunners go wild against him, his bat is going to be a major boost.

Update 1:48PM:MLB.com is reporting that Tampa Bay will select Tim Beckham, a high-school shortstop from Georgia, with the first pick. Obviously, Beckham wasn't a player the Yankees were watching, as he was always going to be taken well before their turn came around. As they've done in recent years, I think the Yankees will be focusing on players who other teams might pass on because they'll be expensive to sign. Unfortunately, more and more teams are willing to shell out big money for their big draft picks, so the Yankees may not be able to do that in the first round. That said, there is a chance that either first baseman Eric Hosmer or shortstop Casey Kelly, both high-schoolers out of Florida with top 10 talent, will be available, as Hosmer is a Scott Boras Client and Kelly has a strong commitment to the University of Tennessee as quarterback as well as a baseball player.

Update 2:01PM:Wang manages to wriggle out of trouble thanks to a nice play by the Captain, but he's really got to get that sinker back into the strike zone or this game is going to get ugly.

Update 2:17PM:Well, the draft has officially started and the Rays, annoyingly, took all five minutes to make the pick they knew they were going to make all day. Congratulations to Tim Beckham.

Update 2:18PM:Matt Stairs hit a sky-high fly ball that very slowly drifted over right field. It looked like an easy out right until it landed on top of the fence for a two-run home run. That might have been the laziest home run I've ever seen.

Update 2:28PM:So much for Eric Hosmer, who was just taken by the Royals with the third pick. As I said, more and more teams are becoming willing to pay big money to their high draft picks, and Kansas City is a perfect example. That said, the Yankees can still flex their financial muscles in the later rounds, as they've done in recent years with players like Austin Jackson and Dellin Betances, two players who other teams felt were too expensive to sign away from college.

Update 2:38PM:What a horrible error by Melky Cabrera. He completely missed an easy fly ball that could've resulted in a double play and the end of the inning. Instead, the ball bouces off his glove, a run scores and there's two men on with one out.

Update 2:44PM:That'll do it for Wang. who leaves with the Yankees down 7-2. Obviously Melky's error hurt him, but he wasn't doing well to begin with. If anyone knows where his command went, I'm sure he'd like it back.

Update 2:49PM:Prior to this year, Chien-Ming Wang gave up 2.41 walks per nine innings. Over the past month, that number is at 5.88. I'm not sure what the problem is, but the Yankees need to figure it out fast.

Update 3:04PM:Now that's dissappointing. Bases loaded with no one out and all Abreu, Rodriguez and Matsui can muster is two runs off of a ground ball and a sacrifice fly? That's a huge waste of an opportunity to get back in this game.

Update 3:08PM:There aren't many times when I'm happy to see LaTroy Hawkins, but this is one of them. Hopefully this means that Joe Girardi realizes that Ross Ohlendorf is only effective as a short reliever.

Update 3:35PM:Wilson Betemit doesn't have the bat to be an everyday first baseman, and I can understand why people might be upset to see him in the lineup instead of Jason Giambi for the second straight game, but he's still a valuable player. There simply aren't many guys with that kind of power that can play every infield position.

Update 3:50PM:How is it that Jose Veras managed to jump ahead of Chris Britton in the bullpen? He did a nice job bailing out Hawkins here, but his stuff doesn't really seem special, and Britton is the one with a track record of success in the majors.

Update 3:55PM:Over at the draft, Casey Kelly is still available, as is Christian Friedrich, a lefty from Eastern Kentucky who would be a real coup for the Yankees.

Update 4:07PM:The Cubs, Mariners and Tigers just took three college relievers in a row, which I think is good news for the Yankees, since I doubt that they were interested in any of them.

Update 4:10PM:Well, Brad Wilkerson provides the first test of Posada's shoulder, and it doesn't go so well. Wilkerson's jump was too good for anyone to throw him out, but Posada's throw was way off target, and only a leap by Robinson Cano saved it from heading into the outfield.

Update 4:23PM:Just three picks left before it's the Yankees' turn, and there's still quite a few interesting players still left. Aside from the aforementioned Casey Kelly and Christian Friedrich, there's Tulane ace Shooter Hunt and high-school righties Gerrit Cole and Tim Melville. All of these would be strong picks, so the Yankees have to be feeling pretty good right now.

Update 4:28PM:I understand the impulse to have Robinson Cano bunt here, but considering how bad he looked trying it, you've got to question the move. Bunting is a skill, and a manager should know which of his players has it and which don't.

Update 4:37PM:Finally, the Yankees turn has come. Christian Friederich is gone, but there's still plenty of good players that have fallen. So many, in fact, that the Yankees really need to base their decision as much on what players might fall to their next pick at number 44 as on their talent.

Update 4:45PM:The Yankees take Gerrit Cole, a right handed pitcher from Lutheran High School in Orange, CA. The folks on ESPN are comparing him to Phil Hughes, based largely on the fact that he's considered the best pitching prospect from southern California since Hughes. Cole, however, is a very different kind of pitcher. Hughes is all about command, while Cole is all about power, throwing his fastball consistently from 94-96mph and occasionally hitting 98mph. However, even though he's got more velocity, Cole's command is erratic, and his mechanics make some scouts worry about the possibility of injury. If the Yankees can improve upon those weaknesses, he's got potential as either an ace starter or closer. It's exactly the kind of high risk, high reward pick the Yankees have been making over the past few years, and it's a good strategy for them.

Update 4:56PM:Meanwhile, back at the game, the Yankees wasted their opportunities to take the lead in the eighth, and now find themselves down to their last out with Matsui at the plate representing the tying run. He's been pretty bad today, as the only starter without a hit, but there aren't many hitters I'd rather see in the clutch.

Update 5:00PM:And that would be why. Now it's a question of whether Jason Giambi's moustache can overcome the gimpiness of Jason Giambi's foot.

Update 5:02PM:The Moustache delivers! A walk off, pinch-hit home run into the upper deck in left field, and that's the game.

Update 5:17PM:The first round of the draft is over, and with it goes ESPN's coverage, but MLB.com will be showing the rest, which is going to continue until 9PM today. The Yankees next pick is in the supplemental first round, which they recieved as compensation for losing Luis Vizcaino to the Rockies. So far, two of the players who I had hoped would fall to the Yankees, Casey Kelly and Shooter Hunt, have been taken by Boston and Minnesota respectively.

Update 5:27PM:And the Yankees surprise me greatly by taking Jeremy Bleich, a lefty from Stanford that most people saw as a third or fourth round pick. It's especially surprising since Tim Melville, a right hander from Missouri has fallen from his expected mid-first round status because of the money he's asking for. I guess the team didn't want to take two high school pitchers in a row and went for some polish instead. Anyway, Bleich is a pretty classic lefty who throws his fastball in the 88-91mph range and complements it with a good curveball and changeup. At best he's a middle of the rotation starter, and it won't take him long to develop.

Update 5:42PM:With the end of the first round, there'll be a break till 6:15PM, so I'm going to wrap up this post and start a new one when the Yankees make their next pick at number 75.