Per: EC GrapeApe

1. Yesavage may or may not pass Grosz for #2 on CG’s rotation, but I’ve seen enough to say he would be mine. He followed Spivey’s 5 strong & nothing given up on Friday, with 5 innings innings of his own with only a nice piece of hitting from Moyles (pulled down the line for a double), followed by Burgy taking one and shooting it down the RF line like a pro. Otherwise, he wasn’t really challenged much….. and fwiw he very nearly picked Moyles off of 2nd twice before Burgy drove him in.

2. This is the 2nd straight week that a lineup that I believe to be CG’s starting lineup (minus Wilcoxen, so he could would with Trey behind the plate) was stacked vs Yesavage. Two things to take from that….1-Yesavage is the only one I’ve seen/heard get that treatment(granted I don’t know a whole lot about Sunday scrimmages), with the Spivey & Grosz getting split-squad lineups & Hodges getting what I’d call the next man up lineup. 2 - That stacked lineup included Joey Batts @ SS and CC in RF, along with the others that you would expect.

3. Hodges looked very serviceable once again. The stuff won’t wow you quite as much as others, but after a little struggle early vs the next man up lineup (but that gave up no actual damage), he settled in and finished off 4 innings with no marks on the board. I’d have to assume he’s in the mix for Sunday or midweek starts depending on how things shake out with the others…..

4. Pitching was very strong right up until the end. The aforementioned nice hitting from Moyles-Burg chalked one in the 2nd for the stacked Black lineup, and the only other scoring going into the 9th was Wilcoxen taking Jordan Little’s first pitch out of the yard for Gold. Entering the 9th 1-1….. then it go ugly (and a bit competitive between the two teams). Lumpkin worked his way into a jam for Gold and got 2 on. Facing JC, he wild pitched one in….. and then gave up a monster opposite field shot to JC to make it 4-1 Black. Beal came on to save it for them, but got into a jam of his own…. Loading the bases, before waking in a run to make it 4-2….. and then giving up a game winning/losing grand slam to Clonch.

5. Root looked to have amazing potential during his 2 inning relief outing. FB looked comfortable 86-87, but he has 90’ish in there (he just tends to lose a touch of his otherwise good control when he goes there). His off speed and breaking stuff is scary though. He got several swings & misses on balls in the 82-85 range, and then messed us all up on some pitches moving a ton and rolling up there in the low 70’s. And as cableguy mentioned below (from his seat, lined up perfectly to be able to see it), most all of it comes from a very similar arm slot and release point. A few years with AK and this kid has all the potential to be an early draft stud.

6. Saylor was back out there again….. so it’s looking like he’s getting prepped to be that 2-3 appearance a week guy again.

Anything else?…… just ask, happy to share what I know(or think).