The GCL Rays couldn’t hit at all, but their pitching was excellent. Their 2.97 ERA was second in the GCL and what was really interesting was how they posted a 7.6 team K/9, a 2.6 BB/9, and a 0.2 HR/9 compared to the league averages of 8.1, 3.2, and 0.3. They walked the fewest batters in the league and allowed the second-fewest home runs. We’ll have to see whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing that they traded a little pure stuff for control- although considering GCL hitters swing at everything, you never really know.

Lefty Geisel De La Cruz, 19, was signed by the Rays out of the Dominican Republic back in 2009. De La Cruz was the only pitcher on the GCL Rays to make double-digit starts, and he really impressed in 10 starts after coming over from the Dominican Summer League. De La Cruz went 2-5 with a 4.20 ERA, a 7.0 K/9, a 2.2 BB/9, and a 0.0 HR/9 in 10 starts and 45 IP. De La Cruz is just 6’0″, 139, but looking at the stats, he was able to keep the ball down really well, posting a 56.2% groundball rate per Minor League Central, and miss a good amount of bats as well. (Note that every mention of groundball rate, flyball rate, line drive rate, swinging strikeout rate, etc. is courtesy of Minor League Central.) De La Cruz missed a fair amount of bats, but the interesting thing was that he struck out an above-average amount of batters swinging and a well below average amount looking. De La Cruz’s 2.2 BB/9 seems to have a lot more to do with his command than his control as he kept the ball down and was able to utilize some breaking pitch (my guess is a slider) to get a fair amount of strikeouts. (If you asked me to guess De La Cruz’s arsenal, I would guess a low-90′s sinker, a solid slider that has its moments, and a changeup that he’s just starting to throw, although the Rays usually prefer fastball-curveball to sinker-slider.) De La Cruz’s his ability to keep the ball down and force groundballs makes him a player to watch as we learn more about him.

Jorge Rodriguez, 20, was signed out of the Dominican by the Rays in 2010 and pitched well in his US debut with the GCL Rays in 2012. Rodriguez went 2-3 with a 3.54 ERA, a 4.8 K/9, a 1.3 BB/9, and a 0.0 HR/9 in 8 starts, 3 relief appearances, and 48.1 IP. Rodriguez was also promoted to the Rays’ more advanced Rookie squad, the Princeton Rays, to start their season finale, and he tossed 4.1 innings allowing 2 runs, striking out 3 while walking 1 and surrendering his first homer of the season. Rodriguez is another small pitcher at just 5’11″, 187, but other than that he’s almost a polar opposite pitcher to Cruz. He’s a right-hander, and the big difference is that he’s an extreme flyball guy, posting just a 37.3% groundball rate. He actually got hit pretty hard, allowing a 21.2% line drive rate. Rodriguez didn’t strike out anybody swinging, striking out batters swinging at a rate barely half the league average. Rodriguez sounds like a pitcher with great control but otherwise unimpressive stuff (my guess would be a high-80′s fastball, a decent changeup, and a fringy curveball). It’s interesting that he has good control at a pretty young age, but Rodriguez doesn’t look like much of a prospect based on what we know.

Luis Cabrera, who turned 22 on August 14th, is old for the level but is an interesting story. Cabrera signed with the Rangers out of Venezuela way back in 2007 as an outfielder, but after struggling for two seasons, the Rangers tried him as a pitcher in 2010 and released him after one disastrous outing. Cabrera caught on with the Rays as a pitcher and has improved every season. Cabrera, who actually features pretty good size at 6’2″, 185, had a nice season for the GCL Rays in 2012, going 3-3 with a 3.30 ERA, a 5.8 K/9, a 2.1 BB/9, and a 0.0 HR/9 in 7 starts, 4 relief appearances, and 46.1 IP. His groundball rate was decent 41.6%, although he didn’t strike out very many batters swinging. Cabrera doesn’t look like anything too special right now, but his good control right out of the gate is a good sign, and we’ll have to see whether his stuff will continue to improve as he pitches more often.

Finally a pitcher with a scouting report! Jordan Harrison, 21, was the Rays’ 25th round pick in 2012 and had himself a great pro debut with the GCL Rays in 2012, going 1-2 with a 1.52 ERA, an 8.8 K/9, a 1.8 BB/9, and a 0.0 HR/9 in 5 starts, 5 relief appearances, and 29.2 IP. He has since been promoted to the Short Season-A Hudson Valley Renegades, where he has a 5.14 ERA in 3 appearances spanning 7 innings, striking out 5 while walking 3. Harrison, 6’1″ and 180 pounds, shows decent stuff, throwing a fastball around 90 MPH, a solid curveball that occasionally flashes plus, and a developing changeup. College pitchers are supposed to dominate the GCL. The Rays challenged Harrison to do just that and he passed the test, with his curveball being especially effective. Harrison looks like a lefty reliever moving forward, although improvement to his changeup would be a huge help to him.

Matthew Ramsey, who turns 23 in September, might be the most interesting pitcher on this team. Ramsey, the Rays’ 19th round pick in 2011, didn’t make his pro debut until 2012 following Tommy John Surgery, but he started off on a good note, going 2-1 with a 1.98 ERA, a 5.9 K/9, a 1.3 BB/9, and a 0.0 HR/9 in 5 starts, 6 relief appearances, and 13.2 IP. Ramsey is still working his way back but is a very interesting relief prospect. Pre-surgery, Ramsey  threw in the mid-90′s with his fastball with dynamic late life and also threw a curveball that flashes plus to go along with a fringy slider. If Ramsey could get that type of stuff back, he could move quickly through the minors as a middle reliever, maybe even a setup man. Ramsey got his rehab off to a good start in the GCL this season, and hopefully he can head to full-season ball in 2013 and get back on the fast-track to the big leagues.

Lefty Oscar Armenta, just 18, joins De La Cruz as the two GCL Rays pitchers we wish we knew more about. Armenta, another little lefty at 5’11″, 170 who was signed by the Rays out of Mexico back in 2010, was dominant in 4 starts and a relief appearance for the GCL Rays, going 0-1 with a perfect 0.00 ERA, an 8.9 K/9, a 0.8 BB/9, and a 0.0 HR/9 in 21.1 IP. Looking at the stats, Armenta’s groundball rate was only 36.4%, but he forced swings-and-misses at a great rate while showing outstanding control as well. Not much is known about his stuff (he’s definitely fastball-curveball, but that’s all I know), but we’ll have to hear more about Armenta and see how he does at higher levels.

Carlos Cedeno, who turned 22 in mid-July, finally made it to the US after 3 seasons in the Dominican Summer League and made count. Cedeno, signed by the Rays out of the Dominican Republic back in 2008, went 0-2 with a 3.82 ERA, a 7.6 K/9, a 2.5 BB/9, and a 0.5 HR/9 (finally a homer allowed!) in 4 starts, 8 relief appearances, and 33 IP. Cedeno also posted a nice 50.0% groundball rate. Cedeno, who is 6’2″, 180, posted a swinging strikeout rate above average while managing very few strikeouts looking. (It sounds like he throws a relatively unimpressive sinker around 90 MPH but a good slider.) We’ll have to see whether this is just a case of an older pitcher beating up on younger competition or whether Cedeno has really made a breakthrough.

Gannon has excellent upside, and he showed flashes of his potential in his pro debut for the GCL Rays. (Credit: North County Times)

The pitcher with the highest upside on this team could be right-hander Nolan Gannon, 18, who was the Rays’ 4th round pick in 2012. Gannon, an extremely projectable 6’5″, 195, had a nice pro debut with the GCL Rays, going 2-2 with a 3.00 ERA, a 9.7 K/9, a 4.3 BB/9 and a 0.7 HR/9 in 4 starts, 7 relief appearances, and 27 IP. His groundball rate was just 35.7%. Gannon is a long way from being the excellent pitcher the Rays know he has a chance to be, but it was great to see him strike out over a batter per inning in his pro debut, with a good distribution of strikeouts swinging versus looking. Gannon currently throws in the low-90′s with a fastball that features natural late sink. That late action makes Gannon’s fastball an effective swing-and-miss pitch even though its velocity could be several MPH away from where it could be when Gannon fills out his frame, although it also makes it harder for Gannon to control and command it. Gannon’s two secondary pitches are a curveball and a changeup, with a curveball being an interesting pitch while his changeup is in its infancy stages. Gannon’s overhand curveball is enigmatic in that at its best it’s a dynamic 12-to-6 curve but at other times it gets extremely slurvy. Gannon’s curveball got mostly got reviews over the course of his pro debut, showing the good break although he struggled to control it. Gannon’s talent was evident in his pro debut, and the Rays hope that as he continues to develop he blossoms into one of their best pitching prospects.

And we’ll close out this installment with lefty Stepan Havlicek, 19. Havlicek, who is 6’1″, 160, was the Rays’ first ever signing out of Europe, signing as a 16 year old out of the Czech Republic in January of 2010. In his third go-around with the GCL Rays (although he pitched just 19 innings from 2010-2011), Havlicek finally put it together, going 3-2 with a 2.25 ERA, a 7.0 K/9, a 2.0 BB/9, and a 0.2 HR/9 in 3 starts, 8 relief appearances, and 36 IP. The bad news was that his groundball rate was a staggeringly low 27.4%. Still, 2012 was a big step forward for Havlicek. He more than doubled his swinging strikeout rate from 2011 to 2012. Havlicek throws a fastball around 90 MPH with good run but little sink and his best pitch could his big-breaking 1-to-7 curveball. Havlicek still has a ton of work to do moving forward, but he has the ability to be more than just a token signing.

We’ll stop here for today. We’re about halfway through the GCL Rays pitchers that we’re going to cover, but it’s pretty clear what’s going on here: there’s a ton of upside among these pitchers but the risk with almost everybody is about sky-high. The funny thing is to compare the GCL Rays’ hitters (see Part 1 and Part 2) and realize that while everybody is very raw, the hitters did terribly while the pitchers pitched very well. The GCL Rays did have an awful offense, but the Gulf Coast League is a very pitcher-friendly league so looking at the stats is certainly not the ideal (but we have to do it when we don’t know anything else).

Two extra inning games highlighted the action Wednesday night, as the Rays minor league system engaged in multiple pitchers duels. Overall, the Rays were 3-4 on the night. Here is this morning’s look around the minor leagues:

Columbus Clippers 3, Durham Bulls 0

Jeanmar Gomez was dominant, holding the Durham Bulls scoreless over 8 innings in the Clippers’ shutout victory. Columbus scored in the top of the first, leading off the game with consecutive singles to put runners on first and third. Vinny Rottino grounded into a force play to drive in Tim Fedroff with the game’s first run. Matt LaPorta had an RBI single in the top of the sixth, and came around to score on an RBI single by Gregorio Petit. The Bulls best scoring opportunity came with two out in the sixth, as Will Rhymes tripled. However, Henry Wrigley struck out to end the threat. Gomez allowed only 5 hits while striking out 5 over 8 innings for the victory. Tim Beckham was 2-3 in the loss.

Montgomery Biscuits 2, Jackson Generals 1

After falling behind 1-0, the Biscuits rallied, scoring a walk-off 2-1 victory over the Jackson Generals. The Generals scored in the top of the first, as Joseph Dunigan‘s two out single drove in Francisco Martinez for a 1-0 lead. Montgomery tied the game in the bottom of the fourth, as Mikie Mahtook hit a solo home run with one out. The Biscuits had an opportunity to take the lead in the bottom of the fifth, with runners on second and third with one out, but Shawn O’Malley lined into a double play, ending the threat. The game remained 1-1 until the bottom of the ninth, when Brett Nommensen singled with two outs, driving in pinch runner Brad Coon for the winning run in the 2-1 victory. Kirby Yates picked up the victory in relief, giving up 1 hit while striking out 3 in 1.1 innings of work. Nommensen and Omar Luna each had two hits in the victory.

Bradenton Marauders 2, Charlotte Stone Crabs 1 (11 innings)

The Stone Crabs and the Marauders battled for 11 innings, with Bradenton pulling out the 2-1 victory. The Marauders scored first in the top of the first inning, Dan Grovatt singled with one out, and advanced to second on an error by Robby Price. After moving to third on a fly out, Alex Dickerson singled to drive Grovatt in to give Bradenton an early 1-0 lead. Charlotte came back in the bottom of the sixth, as Philip Wunderlich doubled with one out, scoring on Hector Guevara‘s RBI single, tying the game at 1-1. That score held up until the top of the eleventh, as Elevys Gonzalez homered with two out for the eventual game winning run. Jeff Neimann started the game, allowing 1 unearned run on 3 hits and 1 walk, striking out 3 in 2.2 innings pitched in his rehab assignment. Matt Nevares took the loss, allowing 1 run on 1 hit and 1 walk in 2 innings, striking out 3 batters. Riccio Torrez was 2-5 with 1 double and 1 triple.

South Bend Silver Hawks 6, Bowling Green Hot Rods 4

The Silver Hawks jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead, holding on for a 6-4 victory over the Hot Rods. South Bend scored five times in the top of the second inning, highlighted by home runs from Eric Groff, Ryan Court, and Chris Ellison. The Hot Rods cut the lead to 5-2 in the bottom of the third, as Jeff Malm hit a two run, two out double. The Silver Hawks loaded the bases with one out in the top of the eighth, scoring another run as Niko Gallego reached on an error by Juniel Querecuto, plating Tom Belza for a 6-2 lead. The Hot Rods rallied in the bottom of the frame, as Malm had singled with one out, driving in two runs to cut the lead to 6-4. Seth Simmons then entered the game, and held the Hot Rods in check to preserve the victory for South Bend. Ryan Carpenter took the loss, allowing 5 runs on 8 hits, striking out 4 over 6 innings. Malm was 2-4 with 1 double and 4 RBIs. Drew Vettleson was 1-1 with 2 runs, 1 triple, and 3 walks.

Hudson Valley Renegades 2, Vermont Lake Monsters 0

Taylor Guerrieri pitched five shutout innings as the Renegades pulled out a 2-0 victory over the Lake Monsters. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth, when Richie Schaffer hit a two run home run to give Hudson Valley a 1-0 lead. Schaffer drove in another run in the sixth, as his RBI single gave the Renegades a 2-0 lead. Ian Kendall and Shay Crawford followed Guerrieri, preserving the 2-0 shutout. Guerrieri gave up 4 hits over his 5 innings, striking out 4 without allowing a walk. Schaffer was 2-4 with a home run, a run scored, and 2 RBI.

Princeton Rays 4, Bluefield Blue Jays 3 (13 innings)

The Blue Jays jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead, but the Rays chipped away, eventually coming away with a 4-3 victory in 13 innings. Bluefield scored a run and loaded the bases before the Rays recorded an out. Santiago Nessy‘s sacrifice fly made the score 2-0, followed by Nico Taylor‘s RBI single to give Bluefield a 3-0 lead. The Rays scored in the bottom of the inning, as Brandon Martin led off the frame with a home run, cutting the lead to 3-1. Oscar Hernandez hit a home run with one out in the bottom of the fourth, cutting the lead down to 3-2. With two out in the seventh, Martin doubled, and scored on an errant pickoff attempt by catcher Santiago Nessy, tying the game at 3-3. The score remained tied until the bottom of the 13th, when Martin led off the inning with a walk. Reid Redman reached on a throwing error by Matthew Dean, scoring Martin from first with the winning run. Pedro Silvestre picked up the victory in relief, pitching a perfect inning, striking out one. Martin, Hernandez, and John Alexander each had two hits in the win.

GCL Red Sox 3, GCL Rays 0

The Rays had their chances, but were unable to push any runs across in a 3-0 loss to the Red Sox. The Rays loaded the bases with two out in the bottom of the first, only to have the Red Sox escape as Leopoldo Correa grounded out to end the inning. The Red Sox scored in the top of the second, as Nick Moore tripled to lead off the inning, scoring on a two out balk. The Rays put two on with one out in the bottom of the frame, only to hit into an inning ending double play. The Red Sox pushed another run across in the top of the fifth, as Tzu-Wei Lin doubled to lead off the inning, coming around to score on two wild pitches. Lin factored into the scoring again in the top of the seventh, as he hit a one out triple, and scored on Cleuluis Rondon‘s sacrifice fly, giving the Red Sox a 3-0 lead. The Rays again loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh with one out, but were unable to push a run across. For the game, the Rays only had 3 hits, but drew 8 walks. Nolan Gannon took the loss, allwoing 1 run on 1 hit and 4 walks over 3 innings, striking out 3 batters.

Double-A Southern League: Montgomery Biscuits 5, Birmingham Barons (CHW) 1

Matt Buschmann pitched well and Hak-Ju Lee had a huge hit as the Biscuits came away with a nice win. Buschmann went 6 innings allowing just 1 run on 3 hits, striking out 6 while walking 3 and posting a 5-3 groundout to flyout ratio. The game was tied at 1 after 6 innings, with the only Biscuits run coming on a Greg Sexton RBI double, but the Biscuits’ offense came alive in the 7th. The Biscuits strung together three consecutive singles, with Brett Nommensen‘s single giving Montgomery a 2-1 lead. A few batters later, Lee came to the plate with the bases loaded and 2 outs and came up huge in the clutch, drilling a bases-clearing triple to extend the lead to 5-1 and that was the final margin. The Biscuits managed just 7 hits and only Sexton (2 for 4) had a multi-hit game, but they came up huge in the clutch, especially in the 4-run 7th.

High-A Florida State League: Clearwater Threshers (PHI) 9, Charlotte Stone Crabs 2

C.J. Riefenhauser got off to an incredible start in 2012, but his season has gone the other way of late as he hasn’t managed an ERA below 4.50 in a start since June 22nd. Unfortunately, Saturday was no exception. Reifenhauser did throw 5 innings for the first time since June 29th, but he allowed 6 runs on 5 hits, striking out 5 while walking 3 and allowing 2 home runs. His groundout to flyout ratio was 4-4. You have to hope that Riefenhauser can get back on track soon. Steven Tinoco did go 3 for 4 for Charlotte, while Hector Guevara went 2 for 3 with a double, a walk, and a run scored, and David Wendt went 2 for 4 with an RBI. Derek Dietrich had the other RBI for the Stone Crabs.

The Hot Rods had a lot of fun with Goeddel following his walk-off walk. (Credit: Starter

Low-A Midwest League: Bowling Green Hot Rods 5, Clinton LumberKings (SEA) 4 (11 innings)

The Hot Rods had a 4-0 lead and a no-hitter going before everything fell apart in the 8th, but they rallied in extra-innings to win the game albeit in less graceful fashion. Starters Felipe Rivero and Roberto Gomez each tossed 3 innings in the game as the Rays are trying to limit their innings the rest of the year, and their line was the same: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K.  Through 6 innings, Hot Rods pitchers had a no-hitter going while striking out 10. An Alejandro Segovia solo home run in the second inning gave the Hot Rods a 1-0 lead and was still the margin in the game. But after Charlie Cononie worked around a walk and a hit batsman to pitch a scoreless 7th with the no-hitter intact, Tyler Goeddel had an RBI single and Jake Hager had a 2-run single in the bottom of the inning to give Bowling Green a 4-1 lead. But in the 8th, Cononie allowed 2 singles and a walk before walking in a run and allowing a Michael Dowd 2-run single to tie the game. The game went into extra-innings and kept going until the 11th, where a hit-by-pitch, a walk, an intentional walk, and finally a Tyler Goeddel walk plated the winning run as the Hot Rods won on a walk-off walk. Austin Hubbard tossed two 1-hit innings, striking out 3 while walking just 1 for the win, and the offensive heroes were Segovia, who went 2 for 4 with his homer and 2 runs scored, Drew Vettleson, who went 2 for 5 with a double and a run scored, Hager, who had a 2-run single, and finally Goeddel, who went 1 for 4 with a walk and 2 RBI.

Short Season-A New York Penn League: Hudson Valley Renegades 4, Aberdeen Ironbirds (BAL) 3

The Renegades overcame an inconsistent start with great bullpen and an outstanding late rally that was reminiscent of some of the Rays’ great wins this year. And to top it off, the win brought them into a tie with the Brooklyn Cyclones for first in the New York-Penn League’s McNamara Division. Jeff Ames got the start for Hudson Valley and had a tough day, going 5 innings allowing 3 runs on 4 hits, striking out 2 while walking 4 and managing just a 3-5 groundout to flyout ratio. He left with the Renegades trailing 3-1, with the only run coming on a 3rd inning Tommy Coyle RBI triple. But in relief of Ames, Jose Alberto Molina tossed 2 shutout frames and Kris Carlson chipped in another to keep it a 2-run game heading to the 9th. The Renegades were in striking distance, and they were lucky enough to put something together. Joel Caminero led off with a single and a Jake DePew single two batters later gave Hudson Valley first and second with 1 out. That brought up Deshun Dixon, who had come on of late. And in this spot, Dixon came up big drilling a 2-run double to tie the game. Two batters later, Marty Gantt singled in Dixon for the go-ahead run and the Renegades had come all the way back. Marcus Jensen tossed a perfect 9th with 2 strikeouts for the save as the Renegades won 4-3 in exciting fashion. Tommy Coyle went 3 for 5 with his RBI triple and DePew went 2 for 4 with a double, but the difference was the clutch hits of Dixon and Gantt.

Rookie Appalachian League: Game 1: Bluefield Blue Jays 2, Princeton Rays 0 (7 innings)

7 innings, the minor league prerequisite for doubleheaders, is certainly shorter than 9, but it is never enjoyable to get 1-hit by the opposition. Blake Snell delivered another incredible start for the P-Rays, going 5 shutout innings allowing just 3 hits, striking out 6 while walking none and posting a 5-1 groundout to flyout ratio. But Tucker Jensen was a little better for Bluefield allowing just an Alvin Toles single and a John Alexander walk in 6 innings, striking out 5 while walking 1 and posting an 11-1 groundout to flyout ratio. But Jon Weaver allowed a pair of runs in the bottom of the 6th, and Brandon Dorsett tossed a perfect 9th for the save as the Blue Jays won 2-0. Toles was the only one with a game that he could possibly write home about, going 1 for 3.

Game 2: Princeton Rays 4, Bluefield Blue Jays 2 (7 innings)

This game went a lot better for the P-Rays. Bruedlin Suero continued the P-Rays’ great pitching of the day with his second straight strong outing following 5 disaster appearances to begin the season. He tossed 5 innings allowing just an unearned run on 2 hits, striking out 5 while walking 2 and posting a 5-3 groundout to flyout ratio. Nice to see Suero turning his season around. And the offense was able to deliver for him as well to help the P-Rays earn a split in the twin bill. Willie Argo had a great game, going 2 for 2 with a homer and 3 RBI, and Brandon Martin went 1 for 3 with a solo homer.

Rookie Gulf Coast League: GCL Rays 5, GCL Orioles 3

The Rays 6th rounder in 2012, Damion Carroll, made his first professional start following four relief appearances, and he showed some encouraging signs. He went 2.2 innings allowing 1 run on just 1 hit but striking out 1 while walking 4. The walks aren’t good, but his groundout to flyout ratio was great 6-0. Carroll has experienced control problems earlier in his career, and hopefully those can be smoothed out. Nolan Gannon, the Rays’ 4th round selection made the other half of the start for the GCL Rays, going 3.1 innings of shutout ball allowing just 2 hits and a walk, but he couldn’t strike out a batter and his groundout to flyout ratio was a ghastly 2-8, a far cry from his previous performance. Gannon was off on Saturday, but he was able to survive without his best command. In terms of the offense, Spencer Edwards went 2 for 4 with a double and 2 RBI, Cesar Perez went 2 for 4 with a double, an RBI, and 2 runs scored, and Adderly Rosa went 2 for 3 with a walk and 2 runs scored.