Some Norwich Numbers

[ChicagoYankeeFan]

took a look at the Norwich stats today and saw some good things:

Mitch Jones has 3HR's, but is only hitting .147. If he can work on making contact he's got amazing power and is now playing 3B full time. Could be a Dean Palmer type if he improves.

Kevin Reese has made the jump from the Midwest League (mid-level A ball) to AA, and looks very good with .297/.381/.405. Reese was the player we got for Bernie Castro (who later turned out to be older than claimed - good deal for the Yanks). He dropped in the draft after suffing a thumb injury, and only started to get his power back last season, but has torn up both leagues in his first two seasons, and is having a nice start here. Leadoff hitter and plays CF.

Dave Parrish - showing great plate discipline, although his power and average are still limited .250/.444/.250 (has 6 BB's in 20 AB's). I don't know if he will ever be a star, but I'm starting to think he'll be a solid starter and outstanding backup catcher someday.

Mike Cervanek is also off to a nice start. He's probably not a good enough hitter to play 1B, but he has some flexibility and might be a utility sort of player. Either way he's a nice organization guy.

John Rodriguez - I didn't expect to see him in AA again. He's starting slow and someone said he was injured. If he's healthy, he could have a breakout season in Norwich as he's probably too good to be there again.

Mike Vento is injured... Anyone know when he'll be back? I'm anxious to see what he can do this year and this IS a big season for him to show he's the real deal and that the Florida ST. MVP was not a fluke last season.

[Michaels07]

Kevin Reese could be a fast mover this year the trade could work out well for both the Yankees & the Padres.
Mitch Jones got off to good start at Tampa last year, but faded down the stretch, failed to make sufficient contact, for a while he & Mike Vento were neck & neck in the power category.
Richard Brown is also with Norwich as a DH outfielder Brown was a football star drafted by the Yankees in 1995. He has been slow to develop.Injuries have plagued him, torn rotator cuff, broken foot.he has blazing speed & power potential.He was placed on the 40 man roster but must produce this year at Norwich.

[Matsui55]

Anyone else notice that Jones was back in LF yesterday? In case you weren't paying attention to Jones last year, the Yanks tried Jones at 3B at the start of the season there too and had horrific defensive results. They quickly move him to Dh/LF for the rest of the year. I noticed he already had several errors at 3B, and with other defensive problems, it may be that the Yanks pulled the plug again on this experiment. In reality, Jones at 3B was an attempt to create depth at the position, but that's not going to happen. Still, with Vento DL'd it may just be stop-gap till Vento returns. On the other hand, if someone gets hot at 3B, maybe not.

Reese has been coming on, but lets see how his OBP holds up with the jump in levels.

Cervanek is a former Indy leaguer the yanks have been impressed with. Once more, he is showing utility player skills, playing 1B, DH, and last year, 2B, 3B and SS. He is repeating AA, so his hitting has to be taken with a grain of salt, as he had a fairly ggod year last season there.

The real suprise in my mind has been the incredibly solid offensive performance of SS Teuris Olivares. He was horrific with the bat last year at AA, after spending 2 years being touted as the next Yankee great SS. Maybe he figured something out? Its early, so we'll see in August- still promising.

[Buzah!]

Olivares is an interesting story. Sometimes the light just goes on. Juan Rivera's was on in 1998, then went back on last year. We'll see.

[Elfdood]

I went to the Gators' game last night, and Jones was at third base. He made a very smooth play going to his left, turning around and gunning the ball to first for an out.

Reese and Parrish looked pretty good at the plate, and Richard Brown had a very good game, going 3-4 with the only out a bullet line drive snagged by the first baseman.

[wexy]

Good to see the Navigators won tonight. 6-4