Brew Crew Ball: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:


Pro Quality. Fan Perspective.
Login-facebook
New Blog: Voodoo Five for South Florida Bulls Fans!

What we learned in Hawaii

So, as noted in this morning's Fall/Winter League Update, the Hawaii Winter Baseball season concluded on Sunday with West Oahu's 5-1 loss to Waikiki in the HWB Championship Game. All told, five Brewers played in Hawaii this fall. Let's take a closer look at their performances:

It's worth noting before we begin that Hawaii is a bit of a pitchers' league, with a league OPS of .701, even with the DH in effect. The 2008 NL OPS, for comparison purposes, was .744, without the DH. The AL OPS was .756.

Caleb Gindl, OF

What we knew: Gindl spent the 2008 regular season in West Virginia (low-A), where he hit .307/.388/.474 in 508 regular season at-bats. Gindl turned 20 in August, and was a South Atlantic League Postseason All Star in 2008. In 2007, he led the Pioneer League (Rookie+) in batting average and finished second in OBP. He was selected to the Pioneer League Postseason All Star Team and the Baseball America Rookie All Star Team, and rated as the second best prospect in the Pioneer League and 10th best in the Brewer organization.

What we saw in Hawaii: Gindl played in 25 of the CaneFires' 36 games in Hawaii, batting .281/.361/.438 (.799 OPS) in 96 AB. He crushed righties to the tune of .409/.500/.727 in 44 AB, but hit just .160/.208/.160 in 50 AB vs lefties. During the regular season was actually more productive against lefties. He was the second youngest position player on the CaneFires, and the youngest outfielder by a year and a half. In the field, he made two errors in right, but so far that's all we know.

What to take away from it: 2008 was Gindl's first full professional season, so the simple fact that he was able to hold up through 137 games in West Virginia and another 7 weeks in Hawaii is notable. On the field, Gindl's .799 OPS was above league average, but only the fifth best on his team. All told, this is another promising step for Gindl, but it's probably about the performance one would expect from a well-regarded young prospect.

Logan Schafer, OF:

What we knew: Schafer was the Brewers third round pick in the 2008 Draft, and after a brief stop in Helena he spent most of his first pro season patrolling center field in West Virginia, where he hit .276/.306/.370 in 43 games. It's worth noting that, while this is Schafer's first pro season, he played in college and is already 22, almost two full years older than Gindl.

What we saw in Hawaii: Schafer played in 25 games for the CaneFires, hitting .253/.351/.349 (.700 OPS) in 83 ABs. He stole three bases in four attempts. Small sample size is certainly a factor, but Schafer's splits were all over the place. Nearly all of his extra base hitting came against lefties, where he hit .304/.298/.457. Against righties, his power dissipated but his plate discipline improved dramatically, to the tune of .167/.388/.194. He drew 13 walks against righties, none against lefties. He also hit .326/.420/.465 during the day and .175/.277/.225 at night. His minor league splits suggest he's always been more selective against righties.

What to take away from it: I didn't feel like Gindl played enough to get a fully accurate evaluation, and Schafer played even less. The downside of being a college player in the low minors is that is really only takes a bump or two in the road to end up past the prospect age and still in the minors. Schafer could start 2009 in Brevard County, but he'll be 23 before the season ends and at this point he hasn't done much to establish himself as an upper-echelon prospect. On a positive note, he took as many walks in 86 AB's in Hawaii (13) as he did in 206 ABs between Helena and West Virginia. If he can get his OBP up into the .350-.360 range, his low slugging percentage will be much more tolerable.

Chris Cody, SP

What we knew: Chris Cody is 24 years old and was acquired in the deal that once and for all removed Jose Capellan from the Brewers. He was showered with awards during his collegiate career at Manhattan College, had a good first pro season split between the Tigers and Brewers, and a better second year, going 6-6 with a 1.81 ERA over 114.2 IP (19 appearances, 17 starts) between West Virginia and Brevard County.

What we saw in Hawaii: Cody made eight appearances (7 starts) in Hawaii, and alternated between good and bad starts in an incredibly predictable fashion, giving up just three runs on nine hits in 19 innings of work (1.42 ERA) in starts 1, 3, 5 and 7 and giving up 11 runs on 19 hits in just 12.1 innings of work (8.05 ERA) in starts 2, 4 and 6. He did throw 4.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen, including 3.2 scoreless in long relief in the HWB Championship game Sunday. Overall, he did not factor in the decision in any of his appearances, but posted a 3.50 ERA in 35 innings of work (including those 3.2 postseason innings). Cody's 32.1 regular season innings were the fourth most thrown by any pitcher in Hawaii.

What to take away from it: At 24, Chris Cody was one of the older players on the CaneFires, and more than four full years older than some players. His flashes of brilliance were at longest 5 innings long and bookended by ineffective starts. Cody is lefthanded and had a relatively dominant season in A-ball (where he was also one of the older players), but he'll come into spring training at 25 years old without ever having pitched above Brevard County, so time is not his friend at the moment.

Cody Scarpetta, SP

What we knew: Scarpetta was an 11th round draft pick in 2007 but didn't actually take the field until rookie ball in 2008 due to a tendon injury in his hand which he explained to Battlekow in this interview. After missing a year to rehab the injury, he split 2008 between Rookie ball stops in Arizona and Helena, going 2-0 with a 2.23 ERA between the two stops in just 36.1 innings. Scarpetta turned 20 in August, and while I don't know this for sure, I'd guess he had as little or less pro experience than any other player in Hawaii. He replaced Mike Ramlow on the CaneFires' roster mid-season.

What we saw in Hawaii: Obviously, as someone who joined a short-season league midseason, Scarpetta didn't get a lot of playing time in Hawaii, but he did factor in the decision of each of his five Hawaii starts, including one postseason start, going 2-3 with a 7.96 ERA in 14.2 innings. He walked 11 over that stretch but also struck out 18, including eight in one start in a dominant win a week ago.

What to take away from it: It's hard to be excited about a pitcher who got rocked a few times and showed control issues, but I don't know how much the Brewers could have reasonably expected from a guy who had only pitched 36 pro innings and never pitched above rookie ball. Scarpetta's few bright spots were pretty bright, though, and show some hope for a guy who's still pretty young.

Mike Ramlow, RP

What we knew: Ramlow just finished his third season in the Brewers organization, and his first full season as a reliever. In 2007, Ramlow went 5-5 with a 6.11 ERA in 104.2 innings, primarily as a starter for West Virginia. In 2008, Ramlow repeated the Sally League and pitched mainly out of the bullpen (25 of 31 appearances), posting a 2.59 ERA in 90.1 innings of work with a 0.94 WHIP. Ramlow is a lefty and will turn 23 in March.

What we saw in Hawaii: Ramlow appeared in six games early in the HWB season, going 2-0 with a 2.61 ERA in 10.1 innings of work. He allowed ten hits and five walks in those innings for a WHIP of 1.45. He was replaced in Hawaii on October 21 by Cody Scarpetta with no mention of injury, so he might have been injured, the team might have just decided to replace him, or the CaneFires might have needed another starter.

What to take away from it: Not much, really. Ramlow might have found his calling as a reliever, but there's not much he could have done in 10.1 innings in Hawaii to confirm or deny that.

1 recs  |  Comment 5 comments |

Story-email Email Printer Print

More from Brew Crew Ball

Thursday's Frosty Mug

Mar 2010 by Kyle Lobner - 60 comments

Wednesday's Frosty Mug

Feb 2010 by Kyle Lobner - 87 comments

Wednesday's Frosty Mug

Feb 2010 by Kyle Lobner - 88 comments

Around SB Nation

Monday Applesauce

Nov 2008 from Amazin' Avenue - 2 comments

Comments

Display:

Question

How does someone have a lower OBP than their BA? I am dumb and need an explanation.

by pjpaulus on Nov 17, 2008 5:04 PM CST reply actions   0 recs

Hitting sacrifice flies

Sacrifice flies don’t impact your batting average, but they do hurt your on base percentage.

Obscure baseball records and more at my blog, Recondite Baseball.

by TheJay on Nov 17, 2008 5:08 PM CST up reply actions   0 recs

Confusing.
He was the second youngest position player on the CaneFires, and the oldest outfielder by a year and a half.

He was the second youngest position player…so there was only one position player youinger than him.
But the oldest outfielder by a year and a half?
Was another outfielder THE youngest position player and they only played with two outfielders?

Eric Gagne DL time: May 23-June 29 Brewers record in that span: 20-9

by NoahJ on Nov 18, 2008 1:41 PM CST reply actions   0 recs

Oops.

Youngest on both counts. Fixed.

I don't specifically articulate my motives, because that wouldn't travel as well as a boo does.

by Kyle Lobner on Nov 18, 2008 3:21 PM CST up reply actions   0 recs

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

Brew Crew Ball is dedicated to providing a friendly atmosphere for intelligent Brewer conversation. Click here to view our Posting Guide and Community Guidelines.
Start posting about the Brewers »

Join SB Nation and dive into communities focused on all your favorite teams.

Connect_with_facebook

Cbs_fantasy_baseball_promo

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recommended FanPosts

U8xcikxxuei8lvi_small
To save money, the Brewers should kick Jeff Suppan to the curb

Recent FanPosts

U8xcikxxuei8lvi_small
Easy Sporcle
Small
SB Nation Survey + Chance to donate $500 to a charity of this community's choice
Logo_small
Brewers Message Board Forum from Milwaukee Scoop
Prince-fielder-r_small
Brewers NCAA Tournament Update
Small
I was reading that nice article about Costas and Uecker and then noticed...
Small
Bullpen Banter's Brewers Preview and our Top 50 Prospects
U8xcikxxuei8lvi_small
More Brewers Sporcle
Small
Question on ticket availability
U8xcikxxuei8lvi_small
Oh yes, it's Player A vs. Player B

+ New FanPost All FanPosts >

Featured Poll

Poll
If you had to have one of these two on your contending 2010 Brewers, who would you go with?

  354 votes | Results

NL Central Standings

W L PCT GB STRK

(updated 3.22.2010 at 5:32 AM CDT)

FanShots

Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.

Recent FanShots

Gamel has torn Lat Muscle, Out 6 Weeks
Best Yankee Headline EVER
Derrick Turnbow retiring
My Website
Rogers and Rivas Optioned
Brew Crew Ball ESPN March Madness
Should CarGo REALLY hit more ground balls?
Iribarren and Lofgren on the way out
Suppan excited about Peterson suggestion
No Celebrations for the Brewers

+ New FanShot All FanShots >

SBNation.com Recent Stories

Chicago Cubs pitcher Angel Guzman, center, rubs the head of teammate Carlos Marmol, left, while chatting with Marmol and manager Lou Piniella, right, on the first day of baseball spring training Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010, in Mesa, Ariz. (AP Photo/Paul Connors)

SB Nation's 2010 MLB Previews: Chicago Cubs, Seeking Redemption

New York Mets starting pitchers Mike Pelfrey, left, Johan Santana, center, and Oliver Perez watch as teammates take part in drills during spring training baseball Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010, in Port St. Lucie, Fla. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

SB Nation's 2010 MLB Previews: New York Mets, The High Cost Of Low Expectations

Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg throws during the second inning of  a spring training baseball game against the Detroit Tigers Tuesday, March 9, 2010 in Viera, Fla. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Nationals Send Stephen Strasburg To Double-A Despite Impressive Spring

More from SBNation.com >


Moderators

U8xcikxxuei8lvi_small roguejim

Newavatar_small Kyle Lobner

Fstags_small TheJay

Communist_party_small Jordan M

Contributors

Peace-love-heart-yellow_small kirbir

X1pxoywqu4sjf73f7drxq2lmqys7mzsyx7pa9necepiffk_ewcuwmuazb-o17ukmbriclcdkn4lk-4xposaawiq4j8hzdsccpjwatqpz2o2p-i0nnqjlyt7pmytaycsaknszvaktpshtcu9sjle1qchlw_1__small NoahJ

Hikaru_50_small morineko

Picture_069_small tristarscoop

Dsc01174_small BrewHaHeather

Anon-lg_small Rubie Q

Hulk_buddy-icon_small Fatter than Joey