Minor Matters: Vasquez Bypassed
Tiger farmhand Virgil Vasquez deserves another chance with the big club.
I found it interesting that with the Tigers missing Andrew Miller, the team turned to youngster Jair Jurrjens instead of Virgil Vasquez to start a huge game on Wednesday against the Tribe. With first place in the AL Central on the line, you would have thought that the Tigers would have opted to give Vasquez another shot, after he had already made a couple of spot starts with the team earlier this season. Admittedly, Vasquez hasn’t been strong in his last two Triple-A outings (16 hits and seven earned runs allowed in 10 2/3 innings), but that was coming off the heels of an absolutely tremendous July. Even with those two rough outings, Vasquez is 3-2, 2.72 since the All-Star break, continuing what has been a fine first season at Triple-A for the 25-year-old righty, taken in the seventh round in 2003. Overall, Vasquez is 10-5 with an excellent 116/31 K/BB ratio and a .251 BAA in 139 innings. Improved control has really put Vasquez in a position to increase his stock this year, and I hope Detroit recognizes this with a September call up at the very least.
Kenny Kelly, the former Devil Rays prospect, has landed in the White Sox system (his sixth organization) this year, and is enjoying his finest Triple-A season since 2004. However, the 28-year-old outfielder has struggled quite a bit recently, going 0-for-8 in his last two games, .212 over the past 10 and .158 in August after enjoying a big July (.304). Overall, the former second round pick for Tampa Bay in 1997 has played well, batting .256 with 39 runs, nine homers, 30 walks and 61 strikeouts in 246 at-bats with a 731 OPS. Kelly made it to the bigs with Tampa for two games back in 2000, but didn’t return to the majors until 2005 when he split the season between Cincinnati and Washington. He hasn’t been back since. Obviously, Kelly hasn’t been a candidate for everyday work in the majors for quite some time, but with his speed, he could be decent fifth outfielder/pinch-runner type should the Pale Hose decide they need someone of that ilk. I strongly doubt he’ll get the opportunity, but stranger things have happened.
Is that a pink uni or faded red? I thought this was a story about some chick trying to play with the men at first glance!
I had considered making a smart alleck comment about the unis, but they were a special version produced to raise money for breast cancer, so I thought I’d just leave that one alone.
[...] On Friday, we discussed how Virgil Vasquez got skipped over for promotion by the Tigers. Today, we’ll bring you up to speed on yet another Detroit farmhand who has been passed by. Watching Cameron Maybin go from High-A to Double-A to the majors in about a week’s time really helped illustrate how far Brent Clevlen has slipped in the organization’s eyes. Ranked by Baseball America as the third-best Detroit prospect heading into the season, Clevlen has endured a second straight tough season, and if the 23-year-old outfielder doesn’t turn things around soon, I have my doubts about his ability to stay at the Triple-A level. This is a kid who was named to the AFL Rising Stars team in 2006, and – albeit, surprisingly – earned a 31-game trial with the big club last year. This season, however, a broken finger in May helped derail Clevlen’s season, forcing him back to the GCL for a 14-game rehab assignment. He began to turn things around in July, even earning International League Player of the Week honours for the period ending July 16, but Clevlen has gone right back into the tank of late. He’s currently mired in an 0-for-22 slump, with a .143 BA over his last 10 games and a .196 mark in August. This swoon has helped drop Clevlen’s overall numbers down to a 661 OPS through 75 games and 274 at-bats at Toledo. He has 11 doubles, four triples, six homers and four steals with an ugly 31/94 B/KK ratio. The big problem here is Clevlen’s inability to hit righties – his OPS is just 626 against them. If this continues, the best Detroit’s second round pick from 2002 can hope for is to be a fifth outfielder/platoon player type. [...]