Kitty Litter - The RGV Ocelots Blog

[roncollins]

Rodriquez has already shown he has nothing to prove in AA any more. He's an "old" 24, too. Seems like he needs to show he can get AAA guys out sometime soon. :)

[Matt]

Rodriquez has already shown he has nothing to prove in AA any more. He's an "old" 24, too. Seems like he needs to show he can get AAA guys out sometime soon. :)

Agreed, mostly. There are several reasons he is still at AA. The crowd of older pitchers at AAA right now, his control issues, and also I like having a few steady hands at AA to help our prospects have some success as a team. Because I am not sure he will ever make it to PEBA, I'm willing to hold him back a little longer at AA. I will certainly have to make a decision on him after the draft as to whether we are going to move him up and give him another chance at AAA or if we prepare to cut bait with him.

[Matt]

The Ocelots were 3-4 for the week, splitting 4 games at West Virginia, then losing 2 of 3 to Florida. The rubber game of the series was a real bummer, a 1-0 loss called due to weather after 7 innings. Calling it after 7 is adding insult to injury, considering our offense has been good enough to easily overcome a 1 run deficit, given the chance.

Pitcher of the Week:
Ruben Hernandez, who picks up his 4th win in 5 starts with a victory at West Virginia. Hernandez went 7, allowing 2 runs on 6 hits, walking 1 and punching out 4. Hernandez is 4-1 3.37 on the season.

Honorable mention:
Nobuhito Karube, who allowed 3 runs in 7 innings in a 5-3 win over West Virginia in his first career PEBA start. Not sure what we have with Karube, but he is a hot pitcher at the moment. Unfortunately, we need a fresh lefty in the pen this week, and Karube has options, so he is going back down so we can recall Tenno.

Pitching Goat of the Week:
Iwane Sato, 0-1 8.68 in two starts, allowing 9 runs in 9.3 innings. Ugly. Sato is 1-3 6.23 in 5 starts on the season, and is in danger of losing his rotation spot if we don't begin to see some turnaround. He was an 18 game winner two seasons ago, so we will extend the rope a bit longer than he might otherwise deserve at this point.

Hitter of the WeeK:
Russell Wright, who was called back up when Heredia was dealt to Hartford. Wright batted .409 on the week, with a 2b, a 3b, a HR, and 9 rbi.

Honorable mention:
Brandon Meade, also called back up with the outfield shuffle, batted .346 with 2 2b, a HR, 3 rbi, and 7 runs scored.

Hitting Goat of the Week:
Juan Rosa, 0 for 9 on the week in 3 games.

Lost in the shuffle of the 1-0 loss to Florida was Takuro Nogushi making a spot start and allowing 1 run over 5.1 innings. Still it wasn't enough to save his roster spot, as his bullpen work earlier in the week (0 innings, 2h, 2 r, 1 bb, 1 hr, over 3 appearances) wasn't impressive. On the season he is 0-3 9.55, and will again see the waiver wire. Xioa-peng Li will return to the roster and move into the rotation for now, but he's on a short leash.

Manual Nunez, who started the season in an 0 for 16 slump, was claimed off waivers from Kalamazoo and will assume the utility infield spot for now. He offers a better glove than Dickson, who will return to AAA for the time being.

Meade and Wright were called up to join the outfield after Heredia was dealt to Hartford, with Tomas Gonzalez being waived. This week, the team has signed former Thoroughbred Doug Stokes to a minor league deal, and he will join the outfield with Shane Reynolds being sent back to the minors. The outfield alignment for the coming week will be Meade in RF, Wright in CF, Stokes in LF, and Rosa platooning with Stokes against lefties. Esteban Miranda is handling the DH role, his -2.3 ZR in RF in 10 starts scaring the tar out of us. The outfield continues to be a mess, mostly because of our lack of a true centerfielder. The ones we have tried who have defensive skills can't hit enough, and the ones who can hit don't have the defensive skills. At the moment, we are inclined to go with the offensive types in the hopes that the offense can continue the surprising start and maybe pound us to a few wins.

Leslie McDonald hit 2 more HR from the leadoff spot this week, and has taken to the leadoff role rather well, batting .288/.382 with 6 HR and 10 rbi since moving to the leadoff role.

With Koizumi scuffling at the plate, Curtis Ash will see most of the starts behind the plate for a while. Ash is batting .391/.481 in limited playing time, partly due to the two weeks he spent on the DL. Koizumi is being optioned to AAA, while Josh Porter will be recalled to be the backup catcher for the time being. Porter is batting .314/.407 in 15 games at AAA. Porter originally had a chance to win a job a spring training before getting hurt and released, but was resigned after the season began and assigned to AAA where he has performed well.

AAA Texarkana rolled to a 6-1 mark this week, raising their season record to 23-10, and extending to a 7 game lead in the Far East division. RF Takahiro Fujihara led the way, batting .333/.382 with a 1 HR and 9 rbi this week. Fujihara has literally nothing left to prove at AAA, having batted .312/.385 with 28 doubles, 7 triples, 9 HR, 65 rbi, 106 runs scored, and 43 stolen bases in 147 AAA games over parts of the last 4 seasons. Part of the thinking behind moving Heredia this past week is that Fujihara is out of options after this season, and we have to find a home for him on the big league roster before long. The thinking right now is that Fujihara might be in RGV before the end of May.

AA Medicine Hat had a rough week, going 1-6 to fall to 16-17 on the season, 1/2 game back in the Asian division now. 3b Bob Vollmer was the only bright spot, batting .400 for the week and drawing 4 walks. Vollmer struggled a bit starting the season at AAA, but has done quite well at AA since his demotion, batting .318/.392 with 3 HR and 8 rbi in 19 games. In an ideal world, he goes back to AAA for the second half of the season.

A Nogales won all six games this week, and are on an 11 game winning streak, raising their record to 14-6 on the season, good enough for a 1 game lead in the Mexican division. Takashi Hayagawa lead the way batting .480 with 2 HR and 8 rbi for the week.

Upcoming for the Ocelots, the schedule gets a little friendlier as 15 of the next 21 are at home, and we can look for to some off days over the next 3 weeks.

[Matt]

4-2 for the Ocelots on the week, with pitching leading the way. With the offense slumbering through the week, the bullpen needed to come through, and for the most part did that, picking up 4 wins, a loss, and a save. Gonzales and Zhang picked up 2 wins each in relief.

Pitcher of the Week: Xioa-peng Li, 14 innings, 9 hits, 2 runs allowed in his two starts. He didn't receive a decision in either, but the bullpen kept things in check and helped the Ocelots pick up wins in both his starts.

Honorable mention: Iwane Sato, who had struggled a little early this season, pitches 8 innings, allowing 3 hits and just 1 run, but gets a no decision in a game eventually lost in 10 innings.

Pitching Goat of the Week:
Mark McFarland, 3 ip, 9 hits, 6 ER in a 9-4 loss to Dayton. McFarland is 2-2 6.06 on the season, but his FIP shows much better at 3.68. He'll stay in the rotation and we will hope the luck turns around a bit.

Hitter of the Week:
Doug Stokes, signed to a minor league deal last week and thrust into the Ocelots outfield carousel, bats .263 with 3 doubles, a HR, 5 rbi, 4 runs scored. And for that he gets a trip to the waiver wire. More on that shortly.

Honorable mention: Trevor Veeneman, .313 with a 2b and HR.

Hitting Goat of the Week: Leslie McDonald, .100 (2 for 20) but a 2b, Hr and 3 rbi despite the slump. McDonald may lose some playing time to John Dickson this upcoming week.

The big news in the RGV this week was off the field, where the Ocelots signed free agent outfielder Orlando Reyes to an 8 year deal valued at slightly over 114 million dollars. Only the first 6 years of the deal are guaranteed, with the team holding options for the 2028 and 2029 seasons. The 27 year old Reyes is a 4 time best fielder award winner and two time MVP in the Dominican Winter League (LDBI-DOM). Granted free agency after the most recent LDBI season concluded in February, Reyes appeared to wait patiently for a PEBA team to meet his lofty demands. Team sources tell me there was quite the battle over whether or not to sign Reyes, with team owner Isabel Padilla finally caving to the whims of Ocelots GM Matt Higgins.

"It was a battle. Isabel is about the bottom line right now," said our source. "We didn't even make a push for Reyes until about a week ago. Higgins finally convinced her there was nothing else he could do about the centerfield problem, he had exhausted all options. He convinced her the team would sell more tickets with Reyes in the lineup, and she finally relented."

Reyes will be the full time centerfielder, and bat cleanup for the Ocelots. With the acquisition of Reyes, Wright will move over to RF, with Meade manning LF, and Doug Stokes, who spent exactly one week with the team, will be waived and designated for assignment. How long Wright remains the regular right fielder is in at least some doubt, as it is rumored the team is itching to get Takahiro Fujihara up to the big club and into the leadoff spot.

3b Josh Shaffer, whose excellent glove had solidified the infield in recent weeks, left last Monday's game with a strained oblique and has been placed on the DL. He will be out for at least two more weeks. Bobby Watson will move back over to 3b for now, he had been picking up at bats at 1b and occasionally DH, but had lost most playing time since Shaffer was brought in. Shaffer is batting .289/.340 with 4 doubles, a triple, and 5 rbi in 13 games since joining the Ocelots. John Dickson was called up from AAA to take Shaffer's roster spot, and Dickson is likely to see some starts at 2b this week to give the slumping McDonald a break.

The Ocelots will go with a 4 man rotation for the short term, courtesy off days both prior to and after the upcoming series with San Antonio. Xiao-peng Li, who pitched so well this past week, will be the odd man out, and will work from the bullpen in the short term.

Nobuhito Karube continues to make the case that he should be in the RGV rotation. Karube, who won his PEBA debut before being sent back down to AAA, pitched twice this week for Texarkana, notching 14 innings, 3 ER, 0 walks, and 10 k's. Karube is now 4-0 2.27 in 6 starts for Texarkana, throwing 35.2 innings, allowing just 2 walks while punching out 36. As well as he is pitching, it is hard to justify not giving him a lengthy look in the Ocelots underwhelming rotation.

Lefthander Atilio Gaivo is also making a strong case for a spot in the RGV rotation, he is 1-1 1.53 over 29.1 innings (3 starts, 2 relief appearances) at AAA. He comes off a win in which he pitched 7 shutout innings this week.The 25 year old Gaivo has been held back mostly as the penny pinching Ocelots manipulate his service time in order to hopefully squeeze one extra year out of him before free agency, which is still a ways off. It's believed Gaivo will be back in RGV by early June, if not sooner.

AAA Texarkana was 3-3 on the week, but at 26-13 on the season maintain a 6 game lead in the Far East Division over Namuko. Previously mentioned Gaivo and Karube led the way on the pitching side, with 39 year old closer Matsunaga notching 3 saves to bring his total to 10 on the season, to go with a 1.42 ERA. The offense was rather feeble this week, batting just .191 as a team, but were led by Jose Guerra, .300, 3 doubles, a HR, and 4 rbi. John Dickson also chipped in with 4 stolen bases, raising his total to 14 in 23 games at AAA. Dickson will be back at RGV this week thanks to the injury to Shaffer.

AA Medicine Hat rebounded from a tough week last week to go 5-1 this week. That puts the Drillers back in first place at 21-18, 1 game ahead of Ranma in the Asian Division. The offense was led by Shigenobu Kawakami, .357/.500 with 3 HR and 7 rbi. Kawakami, who the team see's as a potential high on base type DH in the future, is batting .330/.412 with 7 HR and 20 rbi on the season. Carlos Rodriguez picked up 4 saves on the week to raise his total to 10 on the season. He has a 1.56 ERA and has struck out 32 batters in 17.1 innings pitched.

A Nogales is on an absolute tear, going 6-0 on the week to extend their winning streak to 17 games. After starting the season 3-6, the Coyotes are now 20-6 and hold a 5 game lead over Rosarito in the Mexican Division. The team batted .339 for the week, and the team ERA was an even 2.00. 24 yr old (almost 25!!) Nicholas Williams led the way for the en fuego offense, batting .500 with 3 doubles, 2 triples, 2 hr, and 12 RBI. Williams has batted .280/.342 with 5 doubles, 5 triples, 5 HR, and 23 rbi in 25 games for Nogales. This week will see some shuffling of the outfielders in the minor leagues after the acquisition of Reyes, and Williams will be headed to AA, but probably in a reserve role. 24 year old Mario Rivera rolled off 2 wins with 12 shutout innings over two starts to lead the pitching staff. Rivera could conceivably be without a job after the draft, despite a 3-1 1.43 mark in 6 starts. The lefthander is likely to be pushed aside by younger pitchers after the draft.

The Ocelots had two notable minor league signings this past week. 23 yr old third basemen Kwan-cheol Kwan, who was granted free agency by the Havana organization, was signed to minor league deal. Kwan has a good eye at the plate and pretty good speed, but lacks the power you would look for in a corner infielder and doesn't quite have the range to make up for that shortcoming with his glove at 3b. He does have the range to play the a corner outfield spot, but his skills there are very raw. Kwan will play at AAA while the Ocelots evaluate him to see whether he can be a useful player.

21 year old center fielder Juan Ayala joins the organization as well, after being granted free agency by the New Jersey organization. The Ocelots liked Ayala enough to give him a 420k bonus to sign. He will play centerfield at AA, joining a crowded outfield group that includes prospects Dean Walden, Shigenobu Matsunaga, and Matabei Kawaguchi. Ayala can go get the ball in center, and has some speed, but how much he will hit is a bit of a question. He lacks power, though he shows plus speed and stole 39 bases in 41 games back in college in 2017. He'll get a long look over the remainder of the season based simply on his defensive skills.

Coming up for the Ocelots, 3 games at New Orleans, an off day Thursday, then 3 at home against San Antonio.

[Matt]

A second straight 4-2 week, with both losses by exactly 1 run. The offense, which slumbered a bit last week, roared back to life and mashed their way to 43 runs in 6 games. At 22-22 the Ocelots are back to .500 and are in 2nd place in the Dixie Division in late May.

Hitter of the Week:
Richie Norman led the way for the Ocelots, batting .375 with 2 doubles, 3 HR, and 8 rbi. He also managed to walk 4 times, raising his season total to 7 bases on balls. On the season, Norman is batting .324 with 12 HR and 30 rbi.

Honorable mention;
In a week in which the offense totaled .333/.384 with 19 doubles, 10 HR, 43 runs scored, and 5 stolen bases, there are a lot of candidates. We will go with catcher Curtis Ash, who batted .615 (8 for 13) with 3 doubles, a HR, and 5 rbi in his 4 starts on the week. In 59 plate appearances on the season, Ash is batting .400/.446 with 8 doubles, 2 HR, and 12 rbi. Not bad numbers for a guy brought in to be a defensive specialist.

Hitting Goat of the Week:
Leslie McDonald, who batted .250 for the week, but didn't tally a single rbi. McDonald is batting .218 with 8 HR and 22 rbi on the season.

Pitcher of the Week:
Ruben Hernandez, who was 1-0 2.84 on the week. The bullpen squandered a lead in his first start of the week, leading to a no decision in a 3-2 loss to New Orleans, but the offense made it up for in his next start, when he was less effective but the winner in a 16-4 beat down of the Calzones. Hernandez is 5-1 3.21 in 8 starts on the season.

Honorable mention:
Spotted to a 9-2 4th inning lead, Mark McFarland was doing everything in his power to squander the lead in the bottom of the 4th. Just Barton came on in relief, and restored order, allowing just one hit, a solo HR, over the final 5.1 innings to secure his 3rd victory of the season in an 11-7 win over New Orleans. Barton was bumped from the rotation as the team elected to bring up Atilio Gaivo this week, but Barton may soon return to the rotation based on his solid performance in the early part of the season. Barton is 3-0 2.96 in 4 games, 3 of those starts, on the season.

Pitching Goat of the Week:
Mark McFarland, who allowed 11 runs over 8 innings in his two starts. The Ocelots gave him enough rope to hang himself, now his lifeless pitching career swings in the breeze. Over his last 6 starts, he has allowed 30 runs in 27 innings. In 9 starts, he is 2-3 6.86, and likely headed for the unemployment line real soon.

The Ocelots offense has to be the surprise story of the early season, with the Ocelots ranking 3rd in the IL in runs scored, 2nd in batting average, and first in both extra base hits and slugging percentage. If there has been an area of weakness, it is the team ranking 15th in the IL in base on balls. Over the long haul, that has to improve if the team expects to continue having success. Another worry is that so far in the season, manager Tadakuni Hayashi appears to be pushing all the right buttons, but to continue to expect the type of offensive production coming from sources like Curtis Ash and Russell Wright would be foolish when there is nothing in either's resume to suggest it will. Esteban Miranda has been a pleasant surprise with his power production (.293, 10 hr, 25 rbi), somewhat unexpected, and Brandon Meade has been terrific (.340/.391).

The pitching staff is about middle of the pack in runs per game at 4.5. As expected, the staff is a work in progress as the organization sorts out who can get the job done and who can't. Atilio Gaivo came back up to the big club this week and notched his 2nd win in 4 starts, allowing 2 runs over 7.1 innings in a 6-5 win over New Orleans. The lefty is 2-0 3.04 in 4 starts for RGV on the season, and is likely with the team for the rest of the season.

Waived and designated for assignment is Mark McFarland, who just hasn't worked out. Nobuhito Karube will be called up to replace McFarland on the roster. Karube is 5-0 1.93 in 7 starts for Texarkana, as well as 1-0 3.86 in his lone previous start for RGV. There was just no way to justify not giving the 32 yr old right hander a chance to prove he can have sustained success at the PEBA level. Barton will slide back into the rotation to replace the waived McFarland, while Karube will make a spot start against Arlington on the 28th. The Ocelots won't need a 5th starter again until June 11th, though who departs the rotation in the interim, Barton or Karube, is undecided at this time.

Jon Miller, who got off to a rough start and was demoted to a middle relief role, will return to the right handed setup role this week. He has allowed just 2 runs in the last 16.1 innings pitched covering his last 11 appearances. Liu Chun Zhang (2-0, 4.72) is moving back into middle relief.

The offense remains the same this week, no shuffling, though Juan Rosa (.338, 1 HR, 9 rbi) will likely see a few extra starts as Russell Wright nurses a sore back.

3b Josh Shaffer remains on the disabled list for one more week.

AAA Texarkana rolled to a 5-2 record for the week, bringing their mark to 31-15 on the season, 6 games up on Namuko in the Far East. Another Japanese pitcher trying to make a name for himself led the way for the pitching staff, as Rintaro Yamasaki ran his record to 5-0 2.26. He pitched a complete game 3 hit shutout against Jefferson County, and picked up a second win with a 6.1 inning effort in which he allowed just 2 earned runs. For the offense, Jose Guerra led the way with a .400 avg, 1 hr and 10 rbi on the week. The team did lose two players to the DL, with the key loss being outfielder Takahiro Fujihara, who suffered a high ankle sprain and will be lost for about a month. Fujihara was expected to be called up to RGV fairly soon, but his trip to the DL has delayed that plan. 38 yr old reliever Daisuke Suzuki will also make the trip to the DL because of shoulder tendinitis. While his injury isn't thought to be serious, the move was necessary to accommodate the return of Takuro Nogushi, the 45 yr old lefthander who cleared waivers and will rejoin the Bandits staff for now.

AA Medicine Hat was 3-4 on the week, to fall into a first place tie with Ranma at 24-22. Despite the losing week, the pitching staff posted a 2.24 ERA for the week. Luis Reyes allowed 1 run on 4 hits over 8 innings to run his record to 4-2 3.06 on the season. There is not much doubt that Reyes is nearly ready to make the jump to AAA. The offense was rather lethargic for the week scoring just 26 runs in 7 games, but catcher Jose Olivas still managed a strong week (.304, 3 HR, 7 rbi) as did shortstop Min-u Yi (.379/.486, 1 hr, 4 rbi, 6 walks).

A Nogales was 1-6 on the week, but at 21-12 still hold a 4 game lead over San Luis Rio Colorado. The week started with the Coyotes 18th consecutive win, then it was all downhill as the team lost their next 6 straight games. The team ERA for the week was 5.90. This team was never as good as the 18 game winning streak might have suggested, not even close.

Coming up for the Ocelots, a day off followed by a quick trip to Kentucky for 3 games, then home for a weekend series with Arlington.

[Bill]

18 game winning streak....then lose 6 in a row. Go figure.

[Matt]

18 game winning streak....then lose 6 in a row. Go figure.

I fully expected the team to come back to earth. They really are a talentless bunch of hacks for the most part. But even as much as the team had way over performed, I still somehow expected a bit more of splash landing, not a burn up and disintegrate in the atmosphere upon re-entry.

[Matt]

The Nogales losing streak stretched to 10 games with 4 straight losses to start this week before they won the final two games of the week. So, that was an 18 game winning streak, followed by a 10 game losing streak.

[Matt]

Another 4-2 week that has the Ocelots set to post a winning month of May, with a record of 15-11 so far in the month. The Ocelots have now won 12 of the last 18 to sit in second place in the Dixie Division, 1 game in back of Florida.

The week featured two rainouts, with two makeup doubleheaders the next day, and sweeps of both doubleheaders by the Ocelots. The highlight of he week comes in the form of a 9th inning comeback in game one of the Saturday doubleheader against Arlington. Marcos Gonzalez worked out of a bases load jam in the top half of the inning, keeping the score 3-0 Arlington heading into the bottom of the 9th. With 1 out, Esteban Miranda homers to make it 3-1. Innocent enough. But walk, single, rbi single, rbi single, intentional walk, walk off rbi single, and it was a 4-3 Ocelots victory. But lets go back to the intentional walk to McDonald for a minute. Runners were at 1st and 2nd. 1 out. Tie game. On an 0-1 pitch, which was a strike to make it 0-2, Dickson stole 3rd and Veeneman advanced to second. So from an 0-2 count, an intentional walk was called for to McDonald. Watson then lines the first pitch into centerfield for the game winner.

Hitter of the Week:
Bobby Watson, besides the game winner against Arlington, he batted .346 with a HR and 5 rbi on the week.

Honorable mention:
Leslie McDonald, he only hit .217 for the week, but he had two hr and 5 rbi on the week. One of the HR was a grand slam that accounted for all the scoring in a 4-0 win over Kentucky.

Hitting Goat of the Week:
Richie Norman, .188 and 0 rbi from our 3 hole hitter.

Pitcher of the Week:
Marcos Gonzalez, with 2 saves and a win in 3 relief appearances.

Honorable mention:
The entire bullpen. Outside of one bad inning by long man Li, the bullpen was in lockdown mode all week long.

Pitching Goat of the Week:
Ruben Hernandez, our de facto ace, who allowed 5 runs in 6 innings in taking his second loss of the season.

Nobuhito Karube picked up his first PEBA win, allowing 2 runs on 6 hits, 0 bb, 2 k over 5 innings in a 4-3 win over Arlington. Unfortunately for Karube it is back to AAA, as the rainout/doubleheader goofiness has created an issue where we need a spot starter for the 3rd game of the Marseille series, despite the fact that we are going with a 4 man rotation this week. The Ocelots were not comfortable with sending either Karube or Barton out there on 3 days rest, so Karube goes down, Parkinson will come up to make the start on Wednesday, and Barton will move into the bullpen for the time being.

3b Josh Shaffer will come off the DL this week, and Mario Nunez will be waived and designated for assignment in order to clear a roster spot.


AAA Texarkana rolled to a 5-1 week, stretching their record to 36-16, and a 9 game lead over Namuko. Rintaro Yamasaki continues to make the case that he should get a chance at the PEBA level, pitching his 2nd complete game in his last 3 starts, this time allowing 1 run on 4 hits, 0 walks, striking out. Yamasaki is 6-0 2.09 on the season. Yodo Ishikawa led the way for the offense, batting .294 with a HR and 6 rbi.

AA Medicine Hat was 4-2 on the week, raising their record to 28-24 on the season, and a tie with Ranma for the division lead. Carlos Rodriguez notched 3 more saves, striking out 11 over 5 innings of work. He has 14 saves, an 0.99 ERA, and has struck out 53 in 27.1 innings pitched. The offense was rather meager this week, scoring 13 runs, but the team managed wins by scores of 3-2, 1-0, 2-1, and 2-0.

A Nogales was 2-4 on the week, and extended their losing streak to ten games before finishing the week with 2 wins. At 23-16, the Coyotes lead in the division is just one game. Toshiharu Gato led the pitching staff by pitching 7 shutout innings in an 8-0 victory that snapped the ten game losing streak. Okitsugu Shimizu had a 3 HR performance in 21-7 win to end the week, and in the game he scored 6 runs and drove in 6 runs.

Coming up, a 3 game series at home with Marseille, followed by an off day before the Ocelots begin a 3 game series up the road against the Calzones.

[Matt]

The Ocelots bullpen is so gassed right now that the team has sent lefty Kei Tenno and right hander Liu-Chun Zhang to AAA, and called up a pair of fresh arms in veterans Takuro Nogushi and Rintaro Yamasaki. The 45 yr old Nogushi, a lefthander, will work in long relief this week. Nogushi is 0-3 9.55 in 7 games (4 starts) for RGV this season. But he is a fresh arm, and he has pitched well in his two most recent starts. Yamasaki will be making his PEBA debut. The 30 yr old right hander is 6-0 2.09 in 12 games (8 starts) for AAA Texarkana. He will help in the middle innings this week.

[Matt]

The Ocelots were 3-3 on the week, taking two of three from Marseille before losing two of three at San Antonio. The week featured yet another rainout and doubleheader, which of course has schwacked the rotation to some degree. At 29-27, the Ocelots are a game back of Florida in the Dixie, but tied in the all-important loss column. The team continues to be led by an offense that has surprised just about everyone, as the Ocelots offense is tied for second in the league in runs scored with 277.

The infield kicked the ball all over the place in a 7-4 loss to Marseille to open the week, committing 4 errors in the game.

Bobby Watson is griping about his playing time since we signed Josh Shaffer, and for the moment we are trying to appease him. But Shaffer also wants to be the starter, and we prefer his defense over Watson. Watson is having a decent season with the bat, and we can move him over to 1b against lefty starters, but if push comes to shove, Watson might get forced out. Our next round of complaints is likely to come from Leslie McDonald, who will see his playing time cut. McDonald is third on the team in HR with 10, and can carry a team in one of his hot streaks. However, he has been mostly cold for more than a month, and he has clearly lost a step in the field. His 6 errors at 2b have already tied a career high, and his -3.3 ZR shows a player who has clearly lost a step, if not 2 or 3, in the field. Dickson becomes the de facto starter at 2b, with McDonald looking to pick up some at bats against lefties and off the bench. I am hoping McDonald, a team leader, will be the consummate professional and accept his new role, but I'm not going to hold my breath. Some shakeups to the infield could be on the way before long, with the team already considering it's options. With neither McDonald or Dickson cut out to play shortstop, the team could call up defensive wizard Min-u Yi before too long. For now, with the offense playing at a high level, the team is content to take a wait and see approach and hope the situation sorts itself out.

Pitcher of the Week:
Ruben Hernandez, 2-0 1.46 for the week. Hernandez pitched 12.1 innings, allowing 4 hits, 2 runs, 5 walks, and 12 strikeouts. Making the week slightly more impressive was that Hernandez start scheduled for Tuesday was pushed back to Wednesday by the rain, and then he turned around and went on 3 days rest on Sunday. He labored a bit in the Sunday game, going just 5.1 and allowing 3 walks and striking out 1, but he didn't allow a run in the 6-1 Ocelots victory. Hernandez is 7-2 3.27 on the season.

Honorable mention:
Dave Parkinson, who pitched 8.1 innings, allowing 5 hits, 1 run, walking 1 and striking out 7 in a 4-1 win over Marseille. Parkinson had been recalled because of rainouts last week schwacking the rotation, leaving the Ocelots in need of a starter for the Wednesday game, and ironically Parkinson ends up pitching the back end of yet another doubleheader. Parkinson is 1-1 2.11 in his 3 spot starts for the Ocelots this season.

Pitching Goat of the Week:
Iwane Sato, 0-2 4.82. In 9.1 innings, he allowed 14 hits, 10 runs, 5 of them earned, and 4 HR. Sato is 2-5 5.17 on the season, and some in the organization believe Sato is in need of a change of profession.

Hitter of the Week:
Esteban Miranda, .381/.480 with 2 doubles, a triple, 2 Hr, and 9 rbi. Miranda is batting .295/.349 with 12 doubles, 3 triples, 13 HR, and 37 rbi since coming over to RGV early in the season in the Orlando Barron trade. Needless to say, not many could have forecast that Miranda would be a guy on pace for a 5.1 WAR at this point in the season. His one downside is that he is slightly below average in the field, and has been mostly relegated to the DH role with only occasional appearances in the outfield.

Honorable mention:
Orlando Reyes, .429 2 doubles, 2 HR, 6 rbi. In 16 games since his signing, Reyes is batting .324/.333 with 6 doubles, 4 HR, and 12 rbi. He has also posted a +1.1 ZR in CF.

Hitting Goat of the Week:
Leslie McDonald, .095 with a 2 for 21 performance. McDonald hit .167 for the month of May, but did contribute 5 Hr and 10 RBI. His slump is seemingly extending into June, and with Dickson batting .316 it is likely that McDonalds playing time will deteriorate.


For the second time this season, Justin Barton came into a game in relief and gave us multiple innings of solid work to preserve wins for the Ocelots. On May 17, he came in and restored order in an 11-7 win over New Orleans, going 5.1 innings and allowing just a run. On Sunday, he came on in relief of Hernandez in the 6th, and went 3 innings and allowed just a run in a 6-1 win over San Antonio. Barton is 3-0 3.06 in 6 appearances (4 starts) on the season. Barton will slide back into the rotation this week, allowing Hernandez to pick up an extra day of rest after having been forced to start on 3 days rest on Sunday.

Kei Tenno and Liu-chin Zhang have been recalled, and Nogushi and Yamasaki returned to AAA after they were called up to help a gassed bullpen this week. Yamasaki made 3 appearances, allowing 3 runs in 4.1 innings, but his presence eating up some innings in a pair of the losses was helpful. Nogushi was never called upon. With Tenno and Zhang back, and Barton having eaten up some innings on Sunday, the bullpen comes into the week well rested for the matchup with Arlington, who are red hot having won 8 straight games.



AAA Texarkana was 4-3 on the week, bringing them to 40-19 on the season, 9 games up on Namuko. The offense this week was led by Jose Guerra, who batted .462 and scored 7 runs. 39 year old Kiemon Matsunaga notched 2 more saves this week, bringing his total to 18 on the season. He is 1-0, 18 saves, 0.96 ERA, and 0.82 WHIP on the season.

AA Medicine Hat was 6-1 on the week, raising their record to 34-25 on the season, with a 3 game lead over Ranma. The offense was led by hitting machine Dean Walden, .464/.531 with 2 doubles, 3 Hr, and 7 rbi. Walden is batting .373/.421 on the season with 15 doubles, 1 triple, 10 HR, and 34 rbi. Luis Reyes led the way for the pitching staff with 2 wins and a 2.63 ERA in 2 starts. Reyes is 6-2 2.71 on the season, and inching ever closer to a promotion to AAA. Carlos Rodriguez notched 3 more saves and struck out 7 in 3 innings of work.

A Nogales was 4-3 for the week, and at 27-19 sit in a flat footed tie with San Luis Colorado atop the Mexican Division. Paul Johnston hit .417 for the week with 2 doubles, a HR, and 4 rbi. The pitching staff was led by Cory Wood's no hitter in a 1-0 win over Gakidou. Wood went the distance allowing just a single walk while striking out 9. Wood is 3-1 5.09 on the season.

The Ocelots are in the middle of a 13 game road trip that will also see them play 16 of 19 on the road. After an off day on Monday, the Ocelots travel to Arlington for 3, followed by 3 at New Orleans.

[roncollins]

These are great overviews.

[Matt]

A tough week for the Ocelots as they go 2-4 on the week. Starting the week running into the buzzsaw that is Arlington right now did not help matters. The Ocelots blew a 3-1 9th inning lead in the opener in Arlington, and that set the stage for the sweep by the Bureaucrats, with 2 one run losses in the series. We did rebound to take 2 of 3 at New Orleans, but it has been a tough road trip so far, 3-6, with 4 at Amsterdam on deck.

The team batted .300 for the week, it just didn't translate into enough runs, just 25 in the 6 games, with 10 of those in one victory over New Orleans.

Hitter of the Week:
Brandon Meade, .391/.440 with 2 doubles, a HR, and 2 rbi. What does that get him? A trip to AAA, more on that in a minute. Meade is batting .340/.393 on the season, with 4 HR, 15 RBI, and 7 SB.

Honorable mention:
Trever Veeneman, .500/.562 with 2 doubles, a HR, and 2 rbi. Much like Meade, he is headed to AAA for a week. Veeneman is hitting .282 with 2 HR and 17 rbi on the season.

Hitting Goat of the Week;
Leslie McDonald, .154 with an rbi on the week. He remains mired in a lengthy slump and saw just 13 at bats this week. McDonald is batting .201 with 10 HR and 28 RBI on the season.

Pitcher of the Week:
Ruben Hernandez, who went 5.2 innings, allowing 1 run on 5 hits, walking 3, and punching out 6, en route to his 8th victory of the season. Hernandez is 8-2 3.14 on the season.

Honorable mention:
Dave Parkinson, 0-1 2.70, allowing 4 runs in 13.1 innings over two starts. A beautiful effort in his first start of the week, allowing 1 run over 7.1 innings, was wasted when the closer coughed up a hairball in the 9th. Parkinson doesn't have much to show for his 2.34 ERA in his 5 starts, just a 1-2 record. But after being used sparingly up to this point and shuttling up and down to Texarkana, he has for now earned an extended stay in the rotation.

Pitching Goat of the Week:
Marcos "Hairball" Gonzalez, who blew his 3rd save of the season. Jerk.

With the bullpen a little worn out and no off days in sight, the team needed a fresh arm and has pulled 45 yr old Takuro Nogushi back from waivers and added him to the active roster. He'll be asked to work the lefty specialist role for now, and maybe long relief if needed. Xiao-peng Li was waived and designated for assignment in order to make room on the roster. This is likely only a temporary reprieve for Nogushi, though the immediate lack of another lefthanded option to occasionally help out in the pen might make it hard to cut Nogushi loose.

Atilio Gaivo is on a short leash after getting pounded in his last 3 starts, 15 innings, 16 runs, 7 HR. We are giving him just a little more rope since 2 of the 3 outings were against Arlington during their present tear, but Gaivo needs to bounce back in his two starts this upcoming week or he could find a boarding pass in his locker very soon.

Justin Barton, another pitcher who has been used sparingly to this point, has fans in Canton saying "Are you kidding me?". Barton is 4-0, 3.29, in 7 appearances, 5 of them starts, after picking up his 4th victory of the season in a win over New Orleans.

Opposing rotations have the Ocelots set to face 4 straight left handed pitchers at the end of the week. The Ocelots are countering by sending two left handed bats to the minors, and calling up a right handed bat and a switch hitter.

Brandon Meade will go to AAA since he has options, meaning the Ocelots will be without perhaps their hottest hitter for the upcoming week. But with 4 southpaws on the docket, he wouldn't have seen much action anyway. Shane Reynolds has been called up to take that roster spot, and Reynolds, a defensive whiz with great speed, will play center field against southpaws, allowing the team to move Orlando Reyes over to right for those games. Also expect Reynolds to give Reyes a much needed day off early in the week. Meade will use the time at AAA to work on improving in centerfield in the hopes that he can someday be a decent backup option at the position. He is unlikely to spend a great deal of time at AAA, with a likely recall next week.

SS Trevor Veeneman will also go to AAA this week, and the Ocelots will use the slate of opposing lefties to give Min-u Yi his first PEBA playing time. It's likely to just be for a week, but the team wants him to get his feet wet at the PEBA level.

AAA Texarkana was 3-3 for the week, pushing their mark to 43-22 on the season, 9 games up on Kyoto and Namuko. The offense was led by Bruce Roland, .364 with a HR and 4 RBI, while Rintaro Yamasaki (6-0, 2.04) put up another solid start of 6 innings, allowing 1 run, but getting a no decision. A number of changes to the roster since the draft, notably the promotion of Luis Reyes and Carlos Rodriguez from AA to the AAA pitching staff, while the offense added infield prospects Yi and Vollmer from AA.

AA Medicine Hat was 3-2 on the week, raising the season mark to 37-27, 4.5 games up on Ranma. 3B Kang led the offense with a .471 avg, a HR and 4 rbi, while Luis Reyes pitched 7 shutout innings in his final AA start to run his mark to 7-2 2.47 in 12 starts this season.

A Nogales was 3-3 on the week, giving them a 30-22 mark on the season. DH Scott Kowalski led the offense, batting .304 with 2 HR and 6 rbi, while Juan Santana pitched 6 innings, allowing 2 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, and striking out 12 in his lone start of the season at A ball, He has been promoted to AA to take over the role previously held by Carlos Rodriguez, punch out artist with no control. 4 pitchers from this years draft will make their debut at A ball this week, Mito Nomura, Elvis Carter, Jon Dalton, and Glenn Powell. The rest will begin the season in SSA.

With short season ball about to begin, the player to keep an eye on is centerfielder Teruo Nagai, 20 yrs old, who will be in his 3rd pro season. He showed nice improvement last year in his plate discipline, and the team expects Nagai to break out this season.

Upcoming, the Ocelots flew from New Orleans to Amsterdam to play 4, then come straight home to play 3 with Charleston. Thank goodness for the afternoon game on get away day in Amsterdam.

[Matt]

A 5-2 week moves the Ocelots to 36-33 on the season, 2nd place in the Dixie, 2 games back of Florida.

The Ocelots split 4 games at Amsterdam to end a rough road trip, then came home to sweep three from Charleston. The Friday night game was suspended in the 8th inning, with the game finished prior to the start of the Saturday game.

Hitter of the Week:
Leslie McDonald, who broke out of a prolonged slump to bat .318 with 2 HR and 4 rbi. McDonald is batting .213 with 12 HR and 32 rbi on the season.

Honorable mention: Bobby Watson hit .333 with 2 doubles and 5 rbi on the week

Hitting Goat of the Week:
C Curtis Ash, 0 for 11, though he did manage an rbi.

Pitcher of the Week:
Iwane Sato, 2-0 2.08 on the week, allowing 3 ER in 13 innings of work. Sato improves to 4-6 4.52 on the season.

Honorable mention:
Dave Parkinson, with another solid 7 inning performance, allowing 2 runs, but getting nothing to show for it. The Ocelots would go on to win the game 3-2 on a 9th inning run. Parkinson is 1-2 2.38 in 6 starts for the Ocelots this season.

Pitching Goat of the Week:
Atilio Gaivo, though it's only hung on him because he had the worst ERA on the squad in a week in which the team pitched to a 2.66 ERA. Gaivo was pounded for 7 runs in 5.2 innings in his first start of the week against Amsterdam, marking his 4th straight tough start, then bounced back against Charleston in his 2nd start, notching the Ocelots only complete game of the season, allowing just a solo HR over 9 innings, allowing 5 hits, walking 1, and punching out 9. Gaivo is 3-4 5.06 on the season.

SS Min-u Yi batted .143 but did walk 3 times in his one week trial with the Ocelots. He will return to AAA this week. Shane Reynolds, who helped out in CF this week, batted .150 on the week and will also return to AAA. SS Veeneman and LF Meade will return to RGV.

Takuro Nogushi pitched 2.1 innings of mopup in the 8-0 loss to Amsterdam to start the week, allowing 1 run, but most importantly giving the rest of the bullpen a much needed break. Nogushi will be headed back to AAA this week.

Justin Barton allowed 3 runs in 6 innings to pick up yet another win, moving him to 5-0 3.45 on the season.


AAA Texarkana was 1-3 on the week, bringing the season mark to 44-25, 7 games up on Kyoto. McFarland led the pitchers with a 7 inning 1 run performance in a 6-1 win over Allentown. Jose Guerra led the offense batting .294 with 2 doubles and 3 rbi.

AA Medicine Hat was 2-2 on the week, bringing the record to 39-29 on the season, 3.5 games up on Pyongyang. Dean Walden led the offense batting .308 with a HR. Dan Field led the pitching staff with a 6 inning 2 ER performance.

A Nogales was 3-3 for the week, bringing the Coyotes record to 33-25, 1/2 game up on San Luis Colorado. Yoshitoshi Shibata led the offense, batting .250 with 2 HR and 4 RBI, while Jorge Hernandez led the pitching staff with 8 shutout innings over 4 appearances.

Short Season Homer ran off 5 straight wins to start the season, finishing the week 5-1, taking an early 1 game lead in the Samurai. Bob Lacey led the pitching staff allowing 1 run in 6 innings on his way to a win in his first pro start. Andres Gomez batted .565 with a HR and 5 RBI, as well as 2 stolen bags. Teruo Nagai batted .318 with a 3b, a HR, 4 RBI and 2 SB.

On tap for the Ocelots this week, 3 at San Antonio followed by a 4 game home series against Havana.

[Matt]

Quite possibly the most devastating 6-1 week a team could have. While the Ocelots pitching has been in full on shutdown mode over the past few weeks, with the Ocelots winning 11 of their last 13 games, and the pitching staff allowing just 17 runs over the last 10 games, the recent success has been soured by the fact that 2b John Dickson and LF Brandon Meade were both lost for the remainder of the season with injuries. For those keeping score at home, that's the Ocelots leadoff hitter and 2 hole hitter, the table setters, done, toast, hasta la vista, see you next season, here's some nice parting gifts, thanks for playing.

The Ocelots had been very fortunate on the injury front all season long, with the only minor injuries to the PEBA roster of the minor variety to this point. The loss of Dickson and Meade, two of the Ocelots better young hitters, is a severe blow. Beyond replacing them at 2b and LF respectively, replacing their bats at the top of the lineup is likely an impossible task. Dickson was batting .320 in the leadoff spot, while Meade was batting .335/.385 and had recently moved into the two hole in the lineup.


Hitter of the Week:
Richie Norman, .522, 2 HR 6 RBi and IL Player of the Week. Norman is batting .314 with 16 HR and 42 RBI on the season. After a couple of down weeks, it was nice to see Norman get the bat going again.

Honorable Mention:
Orlando Reyes, .345, 3 doubles, 2 HR, 11 RBI. Big week for Reyes as well in the middle of the lineup. Reyes is batting .294 with 8 HR and 31 RBI in 36 games since signing with RGV.

Hitting Goat of the Week:
Esteban Miranda, .167 with 0 RBI on the week. He picked a good week to take off, with Norman and Reyes carrying the load.

Pitcher of the Week:
Ruben Hernandez, 1-0 0.75 in 2 starts. 1 ER in 12 innings. Ocelots had to win his 2nd start of the week in the late innings with Hernandez getting no decision in that one. He is 9-3 2.74 on the season, and has been on fire in June, 4-1 1.25 in 6 starts.

Honorable mention:
Xiao-peng Li, who started for just the third time this season, holding Havana to 1 run on 5 hits over 8 innings, walking no one and punching out 9. Li is 1-0 3.26 in 11 games, 3 of them starts, on the season.

Pitching Goat of the Week:
Justin Barton, 1-1 3.60. By any reasonable measure, Barton had a good week, allowing 6 runs in 15 innings. But 5 of those runs were in the teams only loss of the week, and his 6 runs allowed on the week were nearly half of the Ocelots 14 runs allowed on the week.


Minor league update to follow tomorrow.