Posts belonging to Category Mike Rosenbaum

Two of the American League’s top pitching prospects were on display in the first week of the 2011 season, and suffice it to say, they both lived up to their respective hype.

First up was the Blue Jays’ Kyle Drabek, who used his 89-91 mph cutter to befuddle the Minnesota Twins’ offense on Saturday.  He allowed one run in seven innings, while walking three and striking out seven.  Oh yeah, the Sombrero’s No. 33 prospect took a no-hit bid into the sixth.  In his “10 Rookie Predictions” piece, John Sickels even predicts that Drabek will toss a no-no in early May – a bit bold, but definitely not unimaginable.

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For those who don’t already know, I spent Opening Day weekend in Ohio with my buddy Clint from Diamond Hoggers, where we took in the Reds and White Sox opening day games.  As it turned out, both were two of the weekend’s most exciting games, as the Reds won with a dramatic Ramon Hernandez walk-off, and the White Sox hit the crap out of the ball and put up 15 runs.  Their bullpen implosion is a story I’ll save for another day, however.

When we arrived at Progressive Jacob’s Field, the White Sox were in the midst of batting practice.  Based upon how my boys were crushing the ball during BP, I should have known they were going to put up 15 runs.  Adam Dunn was effortlessly going 15-20 rows deep with each swing and even deposited one in the right field upper deck.  Clint was busy tweeting/texting and almost lost his life after a Dunn line drive skipped off the top of the wall and right past his melon. Alex Rios had the best ball flight of anyone on the team – his blasts were majestic and looked like they were still rising even after they cleared the fence.  I watched Edwin Jackson throw a knuckleball to an unsuspecting John Danks, who had the ball deflect off the palm of his glove and flush into his chest.  The best part: Danks was laughing harder than EJax after it happened.

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It was probably because he has two first names

Top 1: Allen Craig struck out swinging against Jonathan Sanchez

Top 3: Struck out swinging against Sanchez

Top 6: Grounded out to second against Guillermo Mota

Top 8: Struck out swining against Jeremy Affeldt

Top 10: Struck out swinging against Javier Lopez

Top 12: Grounded out to third against Dan Runzler

Carlos Quentin: Wow. Is Q locked in at the plate right now or what? The White Sox right fielder has started the season on an absolute tear, hitting the ball hard to all fields and driving in runs like it’s going out of style.  Of his 11 hits thus far, a whopping seven have gone for extra bases – five doubles and two yardballs.  Oh yeah, he’s also driven in 10 runs in five games and currently sports a 1.522 OPS. As a White Sox fan, I don’t want to get my hopes up, but the thought of Quentin having a full, 2008-type season is scary.  It suddenly reminds us of how great of a season he was having before breaking a bone in his wrist and missing the last month.  And considering the White Sox current lineup, Quentin could easily have another 100+ RBI season.  So, will the White Sox outfielder our favorite State Farm Insurance agent continue his torrid production? Or will his fragility once again shorten a promising season?

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Ryan Langerhans records golden sombrero against Oakland (4/1/2011)

Top 2: Langerhans grounds out to second baseman Mark Ellis

Top 4: Langerhans strikes out swinging against Trevor Cahill

Top 5: Langerhans strikes out swinging against Jeremy Blevins

Top 7: Langerhans called out on strikes against Craig Breslow

Top 9: Langerhans strikes out swinging against Michael Wuertz