We went 15-13 in August, which was our worst winning pct for a month, and our second month under .550, the first being April. I attributed April to a lot of new young faces, and after 4+ months of games they shouldnt' be the cause of this kind of slump. Our team batting average dropped .005 points in the August and I hope that we can get it back in September. Time to let finish strong, stay healthy and win this thing...
We didn't have one full-time player hit over .300 in August and that is a bit nerving to me. This team is to talented not to hit the ball. Mauro Candelaria's return sparked some offense has he got 10 hits in 12 games, but he was hte highlight. Jeff Lewis drove in 20 and he was the only one to drive in over 12!! This goes to show you how important King Brock is to this team, right now we have a team of guys you can pitch around. No one is "fearing" the opposition. I really need Gallegos and O'Doengean to get out of his slump and hit the ball in September, I cna't head into the playoffs with an offense that is so aloof. Hurry back King, hurry back...
Our starters and bullpen keep doing what they do. This is the strength of this team and we have about 4 guys in AAA who could be on this roster right now. My biggest fear right now is Dalton Whitaker, everytime he makes me think he is coming out of it, he slips right back into the funk. Will Rose has pretty much wore out his welcome, I had faith he'd come back to form after his injury 2 years ago, but it never happened... These guys just have to keep doing what they do and hopefully the offense will come around...
Cavaliers in Focus: Alejandro Diaz
Alejandro Diaz is the #16 rated prospect in the game and the Cavaliers #1 prospect. At 21 he is just finishing up his 2nd full season of games, playing in A-ball last year and AA this. This year he is putting up some solid hitting numbers and in his mind he is ready to play in the bigs. Diaz was signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2016 and has developed his way into a prospect, first hitting the list in 2019 at the #39 prospect. I am not sold on his overall talent, but our scout, Alexis Shelton, thinks he is a gamer and will be a solid player for years to come... however others scouts see this kid a sure-fire superstar. Going to be interesting to see what Diaz shows up over the following years.
Why am I not sure about him? Well when I see a kid with this kind of power its hard not to like him, but has poor plate discipline, which is going to lead to a lot of strike outs. This is something I haven't wanted on my team, I look for guys how put the ball in play. See the Yann Gosslin vs Francisco Gallegos trade, contact won over power. He has 142 K's in AA so far this season, which makes the 25 HR's seems not as impressive. He is going to move up AAA for the final month and split time with (my #1 catching prospect in Norfolk) Mark Bolton. With O'Donegan signed for a few more years there should be some interesting catching battles.
One that Diaz has going for him, outside of his power, is his defense. He is possibly the best defensive catcher in the system, he has strong arm shows good movement behind the plate. In AA he has throwing an impressive 37.5% of the base runners and has a FPct of .992 (9 errors).
At 21 he still has some developing to do, but could see some time in the big-league camp next year. We will revisit Diaz over the next few months to see how he finished off the season.