Buffalo Bisons Monthly Report: August 2014

Triple-A: Buffalo Bisons aka The Herd

The Bisons went 19-12 in August and one game in September that saw them come very close to making the playoffs. August saw a lot of good baseball played by the Bisons, but more importantly by some of the exciting up an coming talent in the system. Dalton Pompey, Daniel Norris, Kendall Graveman, and Scott Copeland showed that they could be ready to make an impact with the big club very soon. Kevin Pillar continued to terrorize triple-A pitchers, that is until he was finally called back up to Toronto.

The Herd played in 11 one run games in August and finished with a record of 4-7 in those games. Had they won half of those one run games they would be playing playoff games this year. The positive aspect of being in one run games is that you are getting solid pitching and that is what the Herd got this month. Scott Copeland (twice), Brad Mills, and Daniel Norris all pitched shutouts in August and the Herd was shutout twice….1-0 both times.

The big club continued to utilize the Bisons roster this month. The Herd had Edwin Encarnacion and Brandon Morrow spend some time with them during their rehab stints. Alex Anthopoulos bolstered the Bisons rosters with Cole Gillespie (August 3rd), George Kottaras (August 10th), Colt Hynes (August 13th), and Matt Hague (August 18th).

Longest Win Streak: The Bisons won 5 games in a row between August 20th and August 24

Longest Losing Streak: The Bisons lost 2 games in a row….twice.

Starting Pitching

RHP Scott Copeland (26)- Scott has spent most of 2014 with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. but he was promoted in mid-August. He made three starts for the Herd, good for a 2-1, 2.00ERA. He also made the last start of the Bisons season on September 1st, 1-0, 1.29ERA.  Overall, Scott was 3-1, 1.80ERA in 4 triple-A starts. His FIP waas 3.30 and he had over a 73 LOB%. He doesn’t K many (5.50K%) and will have to decrease the number of walks issued (3.0%), but overall Scott should, if he stays within the Jays organization, be a solid starter for the Herd next season.

Scott Copeland’s Stats for August/September 2014

RHP Kendall Graveman (23)- Kendall mad 6 August starts for the Herd with a record of 3-2, 1.88ERA…..hence all the promotions and the September callup. Don’t know about you but I am very excited to see if he can keep it going in Toronto. Kendall did a great job of limiting free passes with 5 in 38.1IP. He had a 2.94 FIP and a 82.5  LOB%. Kendall had a 5.17 K%, so your not going to get a lot of strike outs from him.

Kendall Graveman’s August 2014 stats

LHP Brad Mills (29)- Mills went 1-1, 2.63ERA in 5 August starts. Mills did get in one appearance with the Jays and it didn’t go well. Mills had a solid WHIP of 0.84, but continued to give up too many flyballs (0.72 GO/AO). Mills struck out almost a batter an inning with 24K in 27.1IP, while demonstrating excellent command by only issuing 4 walks. Mills went 6+ inning in 3 of his 5 starts and only allowed more than 2 runs once.

Brad Mills August 2014 stats (minor league and major league stats)

LHP Raul Valdes (36)- Raul went 1-2, 4.65ERA in 6 August starts. He allowed more than a hit/inning and served up 3 long balls and had a 0.48 GO/AO ratio….that’s not good.

Raul Valdes August 2014 stats

LHP Daniel Norris (21)- there is chatter that many people around the Bisons have said Norris has been more impressive than both Marcu Stroman and Aaron Sanchez. Well he is with the big club now and it is time to see what we have here. In August, Norris went 3-1, 3.18 in 4 starts and a relief appearance. Norris was moved to the pen, ala Sanchez, so that he would be of more comfortable there upon his arrival in Toronto.

Norris completed dominated in all but one start. He had a very impressive 2.21 FIP, 15.09 K/9 and 3.18 BB/9. The .324 BABIP is something that may be of concern but I might be splitting hairs there.

Daniel Norris August 2014 stats

Check out this Norris strike out

Daniel Norris interview and highlights

Bullpen

RHP Kyle Drabek (26)- Kyle has been a RP for more than a month now and has even been called up to Toronto as a reliever, so it is safe to say that Kyle is a RP now. In August Kyle was 1-0, 500ERA in 8 appearances (9.0IP).  He was not good in August….at all. Opponents hit .385 off him and he only struck out 3 while walking 2. He did much better in his brief stint with the Blue Jays. Kyle has done a good job of getting groundballs (2.14 GO/AO).

Kyle Drabek August 2014 stat (includes time in major leagues)

RHP Steve Delabar (31)- Delabar was a noticable exclusion from the September call-up list. He has actually pitched pretty well in August, 1-0, 0.87ERA in 10 appearances. The main issue that continues to plague Steve is the walks. Steve issued around 9BB/9, that is a walk per inning.

Steve Delabar August/September 2014 stats

RHP Bobby Korecky (34)- Korecky had his worse month of the 2014 season in August. In 13 appearances he allowed 11 earned runs, while allowing opponents to hit .271 off him. Bobby had a bad stretch of 3 games where he allowed all ten runs, so it wasn’t like he was terrible all month long….just 3 games. That means he didn’t allow a run in the other 10 appearances.

Bobby Korecky August 2014 stats

LHP Colt Hynes (29)- Colt was picked up on the 13th and made his first appearance with Buffalo on the 16th. In 7 appearances with the Herd, Colt went 0-1, 1.04ERA in 7 appearances. Colt did a really good job with 7K and one walk in 8.2IP, while holding opponents to .133 batting average.

Colt Hynes August 2014 stats (includes time with Albuquerque)

LHP Rob Rasmussen (25)- Rasmussen could do the trip up the QEW with his eyes closed, but he was lucky enough to spend the entire month of August with the Herd. He made 9 appearances and went 0-0, 3.27ERA with 9K and 2 walks. Rob held opponents to a .225 batting average and had a 1.42 GO/AO ratio while maintaining a solid WHIP of 1.07.

Rob Rasmussen August 2014 stats

RHP Ryan Tepera (26)- Ryan had a solid August with a 3-0, 3.29ERA record. He did allow opponents to hit .302 off him, but did a good job of keeping the ball on the ground with a 2.11 GO/AO.

Ryan Tepera August 2014 stats

LHP Mike Zagurski (31)-The big left hander gave up a hit per inning and finished with a 1-0, 0.00ERA in 9 appearances.

 Catchers

A.J. Jimenez (24)- The injury bug came up and bit Jimenez again. The games that he did get in weren’t his best.

Mike Nickeas (31)- Mike got into only a handful of games and it showed. Nickeas only appeared in 20 games from June to the end of August. That could explain why he didn’t produce much.

George Kottaras (31)- Kottaras took over most of the games behind the plate in August showing good patience and power.

Infield

Ryan Goins (26)- This defensive wizard played 9 games for the Blue Jays and 18 games in August. He hit .279/.337/.393 with 6BB and 16K. Goins looks to be driving the ball much more in August.

Jonathan Diaz (29)- Diaz didn’t have a good month….not like July. He did take a few walks and hit a triple.

Jared Goedert (29)- Currently on the 7-day DL, Jared only appeared in 10 games. Jared hasn’t had a good month since June and August wasn’t any different.

Ryan Schimpf (26)- Ryan had his worse month as a Bison and that is saying a lot considering he never hit higher than .227. Schimpf experienced an odd power outage in August with only 2 home runs, compared to the 5-6 homers he was hitting in the previous months.

Brett Wallace (28)- Brett had a really really good month after a slow start with the Bisons. Too bad he didn’t get a September call-up. On August 24th Brett completely went off and hit 3 long balls and drove in 6 RBI. To make it more special, his final home run was a walk-off grand slam.

Matt Hague (29)- Matt continues to be a doubles machine. He also did a great job getting on base with 10BB.

Dan Johnson (35)- I really like what Dan Johnson brings to the table with his productive at-bats and his ability to take a walk.

Andy LaRoche (30)- Andy is another veteran that, like Geodert, that got placed on the 7-day DL went other younger more promising players were added to the Bisons roster. He was able to hit a home run and add an RBI per game played.

Outfield

Anthony Gose (24)- Gose spent the first two weeks in Toronto before being sent to Buffalo. In 13 games, Gose hit .273/.310/.436 with 2 home runs and 9 stolen bases. He seemed to kick it into another gear when Dalton Pompey was promoted.

Adron Chambers (27)- Chambers played in 5 games in August. He hit a home run and drove in 5 RBI.

Cole Gillespie (30)- Cole killed it in August. He showed great patience and excellent power with 2 long bombs, 5 doubles and a triple.

Kevin Pillar (25)- In 20 games, Pillar hit .337/.349/.554 with 3 home runs, 14 RBI, 6 SB, and 9 doubles….all while providing the Bisons with leadership and great defense.

Dalton Pompey (21)- Pompey impressed in his 11 Bisons starts. He hit .319/.360/.383 with 3 doubles and 6 stolen bases….no caught stealing. Pompey also provided the team with a spark that can’t be measured in the stats line. This all while still recovering from a leg  injury.

Better luck next year