The more and more the season goes I find the progression of players so amazing. Two weeks ago we were ready to package Yuni in a create and ship him back to cuba, Wlad was just taking up a spot on the bench but now and we all were starting to think that maybe JUST MAYBE we could give Carlos Silva a chance.
Now two weeks have passed and we are at a point to where Yuni and his defense is looking a bit better (or maybe it’s just that he’s making an effort), Wlad is hitting the ball hard and Carlos Silva has just about pitched his last game as a starter.
I’m sure we’re going to have some great stories about this group of guys by the end of the year.
I’m really keen on Wlad Balentine right now. His Line Drive hits have gone up by 6% in this short year which you can tell me I’m right or wrong but I believe that is really important to have a good percentage of LD it means he’s hitting the ball hard and that’s what we’ve expect from Balentine. What I’m most impressed about is that he has 4 walks and 5 strike outs in 34 Abs. His contact % has sky rocketed from last year, he is starting to recognize when not to swing at pitches out of the zone. He has 2 2bs and a Homer in 34 Abs hitting .353. It’s a small sampling but with the mariners struggling at the plate it’s been nice to see him get some Abs the past week.
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Everyone can’t wait for some certain minor league player that for one reason or another is kicking the crap out of pitching or shutting down batters and they just can’t wait to see them as member of “the team of the future” These players include, Gaby Hernandez, Garrett Olson, Michael Saunders, Mike Carp, Prentice Redman, Adam Moore, Carlos Trufinel, Josh Fields, Greg Halman and Phillip Amounte. Well… I present to you the player I can’t wait to watch roam the out field of Safeco. I think Jackie Z was perhaps the most brilliant man when he made the Putz trade. We got Cedeno, Gutz, Olson, Endy, Jason Vargas AND the main point Ezequiel Carrera. THIS GUY IS AWESOME. He’s at AA in west tennesse I got a chance to watch him when he was Montgomery playing the biscuits. Really impressed me tracking down a fly ball and him legging out a triple.
(i had set up some AWESOME brackets setup comparing known outfielders and their scouting reports and numbers in the minors with carerra's however blog spot ruined them... so i will have to try and figure out how to fix it...)
Jay Yencich, who writes Mariner Minors and gives the minor league report for USS Mariner has stated that he may have the “best batting eye in the (farm) system now”
I think he best compares to Carl Crawford but I have yet to really find out how his defense compares to other outfielders in the league. I put the question about his defense to Jay and he responded with “If I recall, he was named the best defensive outfielder in the Florida State League, so he’s no slouch out there in the field.” I don’t know how that will translate out as -/+ UZR but if he is touted as good defensively I’m not going to question it.
Here is a scouting report from scoutingbook
Ezequiel Carrera Born 6/11/1987 (21 years old) OF, SEA
A slightly-built Venezuelan outfielder with wheels, Carrera was signed as a teenaged free agent back in 2005. Recently, hit .263/.344/.393 at high-A ball last year, with 28 steals to go along with it. He's a few years away from showing the left-handed impact bat he promises, but in the mean time he's a solid defensive outfielder with plus speed, and that's not a bad thing to have tucked away in your system. A natural center fielder with a good arm, he'll probably repeat high-A this year for his new team while continuing to work on his batting approach.
This years stats
AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS SH SF GIDP OBP SLG OPS
.359 22 78 23 28 3 2 0 12 19 14 5 5 3 0 2 .490 .449 .939
Something important to point out is the fact he's 4/5 while Stealing bases on RHP but he's 1/5 w/ LHP on stealing bases. as the scouting report says he's only 21 years old, he as some time to get better on the basepaths and he is still 7th in the league in SBs.
He's first in the league in Base on Balls (walks) and first in Runs scored.
With everything considered, he may not be a five-tool player and he may not even get beyond AAA but he shows a ton of promise, and it makes me laugh at what we all got for JJ. Which will be another post entirely!
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