First impression: Jared Mitchell

Jared Mitchell (Sox Machine)
Jared Mitchell (Sox Machine)
After watching Jared Mitchell in action for the first time since joining the White Sox organization, one word comes to mind: Patience.
If I put together all the footage I had of Mitchell for the video below, 90 percent of the experience would be watching him take pitches.  He struck out on a check swing, struck out looking, grounded to second, and drew a walk on a 3-2 count.
Mitchell provided far more excitement in the field, as you’ll see in the middle of that compilation. He helped out Nevin Griffith by making a diving catch to a slicing liner in right-center in the second inning, and then made another diving catch in the left-center gap to end the fourth inning.
Greensboro hitters had a field day taking balls to the gap, meaning that a lot of wallbangers were far out of Mitchell’s range.  Anything he had a chance to catch, he caught.
Here’s what I saw:

Several of his Kannapolis teammates joined Mitchell in having off nights.
*Nevin Griffith was clocked at 94 with his fastball, but Greensboro hitters didn’t have any problems squaring it up.  He threw a couple different curves — one in the high-70s, and one in the low-70s.  He seemed to have better luck when pitching backwards.

*Josh Phegley made me feel better about Tyler Flowers behind the plate.  Phegley has Flowers’ mobility issues, but he doesn’t have Flowers’ soft hands.  He wasn’t tested trying to throw out baserunners, except when he backed up an errant throw at first, and then made an errant throw to second.  The runner didn’t advance further, fortunately. He did allow a run on a passed ball, and nearly had another run come in on a pitch in the dirt that he deflected instead of absorbing.
*Daniel Black is not a natural first baseman.  He looked between steps on the couple grounders he handled (he did scoop them, at least), and resembled a dancing bear trying to track a pop-up near the dugout.  He also started firing the ball around the horn after a 4-3, forgetting that there was a runner on third and only one out.
Neither Black nor Phegley impressed at the plate.  Phegley struck out on four pitches without taking the bat off his shoulder.
*Drew O’Neil pitched well enough in his first inning, getting people to smash the ball into the ground like he usually does. But they were crushing him to the gap in the second inning. He doesn’t throw that hard (he was around the high-80s when I saw the radar gun), and his delivery isn’t as crazy as Pat Neshek’s, to whom O’Neil was often compared.
*Kenny Williams Jr. flew out to right-center in his last at-bat.  Upon returning to the dugout, Williams slammed his helmet against the wall. Manager (and third base coach) Ernie Young shot him a glare, and when Williams’ spot came up with two outs in the ninth, Jon Gilmore entered the game as a pinch hitter.  I’m not sayin’ these events were connected, I’m just sayin’.
Here’s the box score.
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Minor league roundup:

  • Pawtucket 4, Charlotte 0
    • Freddy Garcia struck out nine over six innings with zero walks. He allowed two runs on eight hits, including a solo homer.
    • Brent Lillibridge went 1-for-1 with three walks.
    • Josh Kroeger and Keith Ginter combined for five of Charlotte’s seven hits.
    • Tyler Flowers had the day off.
  • Wilmington 10, Winston-Salem 1
    • Jacob Rasner was shelled for eight runs on eight hits and three walks over 3 1/3 innings.
    • Daniel Albritton struck out six in four innings of relief, allowing two runs on three hits.
    • Brent Morel went 0-for-4 with an RBI.
  • Bristol 5, Johnson City 4
    • Brent DeFoor struck out three over three scoreless innings.
    • Daniel Wagner doubled twice and drove in two.
    • Brady Shoemaker hit a two-run homer, his seventh.
  • Great Falls 3, Casper 2
    • Zach Kayne and Jesus Avila combined to go 7-for-10 at the top of the order.
    • Nick Ciolli tripled and drove in two; Kevin Dubler went 2-for-4.
    • Joucer Martinez allowed two runs on six hits and two walks over six innings, striking out two.
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Shinons

Nice work on Mitchell – he’s an exciting player. I’m excited about him.
As to the Sox game last night, with the Beckham bean and Dye getting one just under the chin, certainly Ozzie backed up his words and threw at a couple Mariners right…?

knoxfire30

Ozzie was seen cussing out Fister on TV and you dont beam some guys in a 1-0 game. That was well played by ozzie and believe me if todays game gets out of hand in one direction or the other someone is gonna wear it for the M’s.