Triple-A International League: Durham Bulls 2, Pawtucket Red Sox 1

Who could possibly care about the no-hitter? Kirby Yates was in serious trouble, holding a 2-0 lead with runners on 2nd and 3rd and 1 out after a pair of walks and a sacrifice bunt. The game was in serious jeopardy and what had been a magical night through and through was about to come crashing down. Then Brandon Snyder hit a flyball to deep left-center.

Rich Thompson went back to the track and made an over-the-shoulder catch for the out, allowing a run to score but putting the Bulls just 1 out away from victory. Lefty Beliveau came into the game to face Jeremy Hazelbaker, and Beliveau struck him out to end it, and the Bulls had done it, no-hitting the Red Sox in a 2-1 victory.

Jake Odorizzi started for the Bulls and quickly set the tone for his outing in the frist two inning, retiring all six batters in order but five of the six on balls in the air. Meanwhile, the Bulls took advantage of defensive miscues against knuckleballer Stephen Wright and Pawtucket, scoring on a two walks, a wild pitch, and a Brandon Snyder error all with two outs in the first inning before two singles, a swinging bunt, and a passed ball netted them a second run in the second inning. Odorizzi’s perfect game bid ended in the 3rd on a walk to Jeremy Hazelbaker, but he was caught stealing and Odorizzi retired the next two batters in order. Odorizzi retired 7 in a row from the 3rd to the 5th before Snyder drew a 2-out walk in the 5th, but Odorizzi got Hazelbaker to line out to end that frame. Then after a 1-2-3 inning in the 6th, Odorizzi allowed two 1-out walks in the 7th, but got a strikeout of Ryan Dent and a Snyder flyout to escape the jam with the no-hitter intact. Odorizzi went 7 innings allowing no runs on, of course, no hits, striking out just 3 while walking 4. Odorizzi’s groundout to flyout ratio was just 3-8 and his groundout to airout ratio was only 3-14, but Odorizzi had his fastball and all of his other pitches moving superbly and hitters couldn’t hit anything with authority.  Odorizzi talked to MiLB.com about his outing after the game.

“The approach was the same as every game,” Odorizzi said. “I was just throwing the fastball and mixing in my other stuff, trying to keep guys off-balanced.

“That’s basically what we did today. I left some stuff up today, and the one or two times they hit balls decent, they were right at guys. It was one of those days when everything was going right.”

Odorizzi is certainly a pitcher capable of striking batters out–he entered the game with a 36-9 strikeout to walk ratio in 27 innings and his 39 strikeouts lead the International League–but it took an outing where his stuff was moving so well that not even he knew where it was going for him to no-hit the opposition. Just 55 of his 95 pitches were strikes, but he was certainly effectively wild on his way to a fabulous outing.

Frank De Los Santos replaced Odorizzi in the 8th but got into trouble, walking a couple batters to set up a 2nd and 3rd, 2 outs jam, but Yates came in to strike out Jonathan Diaz to end the frame. Then in the 9th, Yates walked a pair of hitters and let up Snyder’s sac fly with 2 outs, but Jeff Beliveau struck out Hazelbaker to end it as the Bulls won 2-1, no-hitting Pawtucket. Bulls pitching struck out just 6 while walking 8, but they overcame their wildness to deliver a marvelous game. The no-hitter was the first for Durham since Jason Hammel and Juan Salas combined on one on 7/16/06, the first time Pawtucket had been no-hit since all the way back in 1994 at the hands of Jose Lima, and the second that Odorizzi had been a part of, with the first being a dominant 10-strikeout, 8 inning effort at Low-A Wisconsin in the Brewers organization. The Bulls did also have somewhat offense in this one, with Wil Myers going 1 for 3 with a double and a walk and Mike Fontenot going 1 for 3 with 2 walks. It got scary at the end and the Bulls were lucky to score even a single run at the beginning before Pawtucket pitching shut them out the rest of the game–reliever Graham Godfrey has to get credit for tossing 5 shutout innings in relief of the starter Wright–but it somehow all came together. It was far from a perfect performance for the Bulls at McCoy Stadium on Sunday afternoon, but the Bulls were able to make it a special one nonetheless.

Sorry, but it’s all downhill from here. Rays minor league affiliates didn’t even win another game.

Double-A Southern League: Pensacola Blue Wahoos (CIN) 8, Montgomery Biscuits 2

Victor Mateo, who had tossed the last complete-game no-hitter in the Rays organization has seen on 7/16/11, got shelled in this one as the Biscuits lost 8-2. Mateo lasted just 3 innings allowing 7 runs on 8 hits, and the Biscuits bullpen’s effort of five 1-run innings went completely for nought as the Biscuits offense got next to nothing. Shawn O’Malley did have a great game, going 2 for 2 with a solo home run, a walk, a stolen base, and both runs scored. Mikie Mahtook drove him for the first time in the game with a single as part of a 1 for 3 day. C.J. Riefenhauser lowered his ERA on the season to just 0.46 as he worked around a hit and a walk to toss a scoreless 7th. He has struck out 17 while walking just 4 in 19.2 innings as he has been utterly unhittable, and if he pitches remotely as well as this for much longer, you have to think a promotion to Triple-A will be oncoming.

High-A Florida State League: Brevard County Manatees (MIL) 10, Charlotte Stone Crabs 2

What, does the no-hitter have to be canceled out by horrific pitching elsewhere in the organization? Roberto Gomez allowed 5 runs on 8 hits in 4 innings before Eliazer Suero allowed 5 more runs on 7 hits in 2 innings as this game got out-of-hand in a hurry. Alejandro Segovia did get Charlotte on the board with a 2-run homer in the 7th, and there were a few other highlights for the Stone Crabs. Jeff Malm followed up a 2-homer day on Saturday with 2 hits and a stolen base on Sunday and Willie Argo played very well in his season debut, going 1 for 3 with a walk and a stolen base. Argo stole 17 bases to go along with a .289/.390/.396 line in 69 games between Rookie Princeton and Low-A Bowling Green last season. Some injury must have sidelined Argo up until now, but hopefully he can begin making up for lost time. The fact that the Rays are assigning him to Charlotte right off the bat has to be a good sign.

Low-A Bowling Green: Clinton LumberKings (SEA) 5, Bowling Green Hot Rods 2

Not even Taylor Guerrieri could save the Hot Rods in this one as the Hot Rods blew an early 1-0 lead allowing 2 runs in the 5th and 3 more in the 6th. Guerrieri started for Bowling Green and got hit around a little bit, allowing 2 runs on 8 hits in 5 innings, striking out 4 while walking none and managing a 7-0 groundout to flyout ratio. Jabari Henry homered off Guerrieri in the 5th, a 2-run shot, to end his outing on a downer. Then Jose Molina came in for the Hot Rods and allowed three two-out hits in the 6th to place three runs and puts the Hot Rods down 5-2. Molina allowed only an error in the last two innings, but by then it was too late. A major issue in the low minors is infield defense, and Hot Rods pitching actually forced 19 groundballs in this game, but only 13 were converted into outs, giving Clinton additional opportunities that they were able to take advantage of. Pretty amazing that the Hot Rods forced a 13-1 groundout to flyout ratio with 3 double plays and still got hit around as much as they did, but that can certainly happen at Low-A. Luke Maile went 2 for 4 with a run scored in the loss for Bowling Green while Marty Gantt went 1 for 4 with a stolen base and an RBI. Maile is 12 for 25 (.480) with 2 homers, a double, and 5 RBI in his last six games. Further bad news in this one, though, for Bowling Green was that Andrew Toles left this game after 8 innings. Hopefully he’s not injured.

Albert Suarez, a Venezuelan signee who turned 23 in October, can’t be feeling great about himself right now. A 6’2″, 235 right-hander, Suarez began the season on the Rays’ 40-man roster before being designated for assignment after an inconsistent season. Suarez passed through waivers and remained in the organization. On the year for the Stone Crabs, Suarez went 5-9 with a 4.08 ERA, striking out just 4.4 batters per 9 innings to go along with a 2.1 BB/9 and a 0.8 HR/9 in 25 starts and 125 innings pitched. His groundball rate was also just above the league average at 43.0% according to Minor League Central. If there was one major positive for Suarez, it was that he simply stayed on the mound. Suarez’s 125 innings nearly matched his total of 134 innings from the previous four years as he dealt with manifold injuries including Tommy John Surgery back in 2009. However, Suarez’s stuff has been back to his pre-surgery level consistently. Suarez was once consistently at 92-94 MPH with his fastball but sees his velocity dip into the high-80′s at times now, and combining that with a lack of progress on his curveball and changeup means that Suarez is stalling as a prospect right now. Suarez does have good fastball control and solid late life but trying to be a starting pitcher going after hitters with just one pitch he can rely on is a losing proposition. Continued health is a good starting point for Suarez as he strives to get his development back on track, but he has a long way to go to renew the faith the Rays showed in him by adding him to their 40-man roster.

Romero continued to be enigmatic in 2012, but the Rays really like his potential. (Credit: Flickr user chriswish)

Lefty Enny Romero, who will turn 22 in January, could be the most polarizing pitcher in the Rays system, possessing upside as high as anyone but enough inconsistency even as he’s worked his way up to High-A to make you completely lose your mind. The youngest pitcher for Charlotte in 2012, Romero went 5-7 with a 3.93 ERA, a 7.6 K/9, a 5.4 BB/9, and a 0.4 HR/9 in 23 starts, 2 relief appearances, and 126 innings pitched. Howwild was Romero’s season? He had one game where he twirled a rain-shortened 6 inning shutout, allowing just 1 hit and 1 walk while striking out 9 as he out-dueled Pirates top prospect Jameson Taillon- and he also had two games where he allowed 7 earned runs while walking 4 or more. No one doubts that Romero’s stuff is electric. An extremely projectable 6’3″, 165, Romero can make hitters look silly with a fastball that sits in the low-90′s and touches 97 MPH with great movement away from left-handed batters and a dynamic low-80′s curveball. Even his third offering, a changeup, has its moments where it’s a third plus offering for Romero. However, Romero fails to repeat his delivery, causing his release point on his secondary pitches to get of whack and even his fastball to look nothing like a strike. When Romero has everything working, good luck trying to hit him- but he beats himself far too often as he walks batter after batter. Romero managed a strikeout to walk ratio of at least 2 to 1 in just 10 of his 25 appearances, exactly the same number of times in which he walked 4 or more, and there’s nothing to like about that stat. The biggest thing for Romero may be for him to finally bulk up- maybe with added strength his delivery will click and everything will fall into place. You have to wonder why that process hasn’t really started yet but it’s clear that the Rays are taking things very slowly with Romero knowing just how good he has the chance to be. The Rays are certain that there’s an excellent big league starting pitcher somewhere inside Enny Romero, but at the same time he’s going to have his work cut out for him as he tries to turn his flashes of dominance into sustained performance, and who knows whether that will ever happen.

The Stone Crabs did not have a good season, going just 55-79 (.410). After a season like that, just one of their starting pitchers had a winning record on the season. Who was it? Surprisingly, it was right-hander Victor Mateo, 23. Mateo, a projectable 6’5″, 180, had a decent season for the Stone Crabs, going 6-5 with a 4.31 ERA, a 5.5 K/9, a 3.3 BB/9, and a 0.7 HR/9 in 16 starts, 14 relief appearances, and 117 innings pitched. Mateo’s groundball rate was just 37.5%. Mateo stands out most for his physical description, but there are some other interesting parts of his game as well. Mateo doesn’t miss many bats with a fastball around 90 MPH with some run away from right-handed batters, and his high-70′s breaking ball forces some weak contact but doesn’t force many whiffs either. Mateo’s changeup, though, did show some good arm action and late fade to help Mateo manage a 40-24 strikeout to walk ratio to lefties compared to just 32-19 versus righties. Mateo’s prospect stock is really dependent on his projectability as much as anything else, and only when he fills out will the Rays get any indication that he might be any sort of prospect. Mateo’s changeup was a good sign in 2012, and the Rays will see if his overall repertoire and results pick up once he grows into his 6’5″ frame.

It was a trio of lefties who led the Stone Crabs in strikeouts per 9 innings. Two of them, Chris Rearick and Theron Geith, have since been traded. The third is C.J. Riefenhauser, the Rays’ 20th round pick in 2010, who will turn 23 next month. Riefenhauser had an uneven season between the Stone Crabs (23 appearances) and Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (9 appearances) in 2012 but definitely had his moments, going 8-9 with a 4.55 ERA, a 9.3 K/9, a 3.1 BB/9, and a 1.2 HR/9 in 15 starts, 17 relief appearances, and 114.2 IP. Riefenhauser’s groundball rate was unfortunately just 32.2% between the two levels, the fifth-worst minimum 75 innings between the Florida State and Southern Leagues. He did have a nice showing in the Arizona Fall League, managing a 2.19 ERA and a 14-5 strikeout to walk ratio in 9 appearances and 12.1 innings pitched. Riefenhauser, 6’0″ and 180 pounds, throws a fastball around 90-91 MPH that lefties struggle to pick up, but he leaves it up in the zone too often, leading to his extreme flyball tendencies. It does has some late movement, but that didn’t stop hitters, especially righties from hitting it hard. Riefenhauser’s struggles against opposite-side batters were compounded by his lack of a consistent changeup to use against them, leading to a scary .302/.370/.515 line in 347 plate appearances by right-handers. But against lefties, Riefenhauser showed promise, combining deception on his fastball with a mid-70′s curveball with big break that befuddled lefties all season as he held them to just a .162/.225/.262 line with 57 strikeouts against 10 walks. After seeing a platoon split like that, the Rays are going to be tempted to convert Riefenhauser into a situational lefty role full-time, and with improved fastball command he could be a good fit for the role. The Rays don’t appear to give up on him versus right-handed batters yet, though, and will have him continue to work on his changeup. Riefenhauser has continued work to do, especially on his fastball command, but he has the stuff to give lefties fits and the ability to contribute in a middle relief role for the Rays over the next couple of seasons.

We’ll finish for today with another lefty, Grayson Garvin, who was the 9th of the Rays’ 10 first and supplemental picks in the 2011 MLB Draft at 59th overall coming out of David Price‘s alma mater, Vanderbilt. Garvin flashed dominance in his pro debut, striking out 10 in a May 3rd start, but following that start he began to struggle and the reason turned out to be an elbow injury that retired surgery (not Tommy John, likely a procedure to clear out bone chips or something along those lines) that ended his season in mid-June. Overall, Garvin went 2-4 with a 5.05 ERA, a 7.2 K/9, a 3.7 BB/9, and a 0.0 HR/9 in 10 starts, a relief appearance, and 46.1 innings pitched. His groundball rate was a good 48.6%. What’s funny about Garvin’s strikeout and walk ratios are that his K rate drops to 5.9 per 9 innings if you take out the 10-strikeout game and his walk rate falls to 3.2 if you take out his last start before getting injured, so you can take all his numbers with a grain of salt given the small sample size. Garvin, a 6’6″, 225 lefty, attacks hitters with a low-90′s fastball that touches 94 MPH. When Garvin is at his best, he’s able to throw his fastball for strikes and get a good downward angle on it to command it down in the zone, but that’s something he’s needs to work on doing more often. Beyond his fastball, Garvin gets great arm action on his low-80′s changeup that he threw to right-handed batters quite effectively in 2012, but he needs work at getting more consistent fade on it to make it a real plus pitch. His third pitch is a slurvy breaking ball that he’s able to use as a serviceable third pitch, forcing contact on the ground, but it’s going to have to be cleaned up to work at higher levels. Garvin’s upside is not incredibly high, but if he can stay healthy and refine his breaking ball he could be a third or fourth starter type in the big leagues within a couple of years, and his floor, assuming he stays healthy, is an effective middle reliever who can get both righties and lefties out. Garvin had a rough time out in his first professional season, but if he can put his injury problems behind him he has the best chance of anyone on the Stone Crabs to contribute in the big leagues for the Rays and that could happen pretty fast.

Looking at five of the the Stone Crabs’ five primary starting pitchers from the 2012 season, we see an interesting combination of ability and upside, with players like Garvin and Riefenhauser potentially able to make an impact for the Rays sooner rather than later and Romero, Suarez, and Mateo featuring the upside to be productive pitchers themselves. Romero is the one pitcher in the Charlotte rotation who has star potential but the Rays have to be cautiously optimistic about the contributions they could be receiving from three or four of these pitchers over the next few years. We’ll finish off this series on the Stone Crabs next time with the rest of the Stone Crabs pitching staff.

For more of our scouting reports on the Rays’ minor league affiliates check out our Minor League Affiliates Analysis page here at RCG.

Arizona Fall League: Peoria Javelinas 8, Phoenix Desert Dogs 0

The Desert Dogs had a very rough game, although a couple Rays had nice performances. Hak-Ju Lee went just 0 for 4, Kevin Kiermaier went 0 for 3, and Richie Shaffer had an especially tough game, going 0 for 3 with 3 strikeouts and an error at first base but Tim Beckham went 1 for 3 and the pair of Rays pitching prospects who appeared in the game pitched well, with C.J. Riefenhauser striking out the side in a perfect inning and Kirby Yates striking out 1 in 1.1 perfect frames.

Dominican Winter League: Gigantes del Cibao 15, Leones del Escogido 13

This game was wild to say the least. Among the ex-Rays, Rhyne Hughes went 2 for 3 with a double, a homer, 2 walks, 2 RBI, and 3 runs scored as he had a breakout game, and Julio Lugo went 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored for Escogido. Lefty Frank De Los Santos, added to the Rays’ 40-man roster this offseason, went 0.2 scoreless innings, allowing a hit.

Estrellas de Oriente 8, Aguilas Cibaenas 1

Omar Luna had his streak of 6 straight games with a hit since moving to the Cibaenas leadoff spot coming to an end as he went 0 for 2 before being lifted for a pinch-hitter and getting the final 4 innings of the game off. He has just a .250/.325/.353 line on the DWL season but has been hot of late.

Mexican Pacific League: Naranjeros de Hermosillo 9, Aguilas de Mexicali 6

Jorge Cantu had a nice game for Hermosillo, going 2 for 4 with a homer, a walk, and 2 runs scored. He has just a .250 average and a .333 OBP so far in the MPL season, but he does have a .477 slugging percentage.

Mayos de Navojoa 10, Vendos de Mazatlan 6

Wes Bankston cooled off a bit but still went 1 for 4 with an RBI. He has a ridiculous .343/.425/.597 line so far in the MPL season, slamming 5 home runs and walking 11 times versus 10 strikeouts. The Rays just might re-sign him.

Venezuelan Winter League: Leones del Caracas 6, Aguilas del Zulia 3

Henry Wrigley stayed red-hot, homering for the 5th time in his last 7 games. He went 1 for 3 with a solo homer, 2 RBI, and 2 runs scored and is hitting .436 in his last 10 games and .333 on the season. If the Rays don’t re-sign him (which we’ll talk about later today), it would be shocking. Unfortunately another ex-Ray, Daniel Mayora left this game without an at-bat, apparently injuring himself. Hope he’ll be OK and his hot start (he’s hitting .333 so far with 10 walks versus 8 strikeouts) won’t go to waste.

Navegantes de Magallanes 12, Tiburones de La Guaira 11

This one got awfully sketchy for the Magallanes- they nearly blew a 10-5 lead- but they wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near there if not for their 3 current and former Rays prospects. Erold Andrus went 3 for 4 with a double, 4 RBI, and a run scored, Leslie Anderson went 2 for 3 with a walk, 2 RBI, and a run scored, and Chris Nowak went 1 for 4 with a run scored. All three are enjoying big winters, with Andrus hitting .340, Nowak hitting .322, and Anderson hitting .450 in 5 games, collecting at least 1 hit in each and multiple hits in 4 out of 5.