Whalen and Acosta too much for Rome in Final Regular Season Game

Savannah Sand Gnats @ Rome Braves

September 1, 2014

Robert Whalen @ Brandon Barker

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Savannah	1	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	4	8	0
Rome	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	5	2

Win: Whalen (9-1, 2.01 ERA); Loss: Barker (5-2, 3.93 ERA); Save: Acosta (1)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Robert Whalen – 5 IP, 2 H, SO, 6 GO: 4 FO, 47 Pitches (32 Strikes)

Octavio Acosta (S, 1, 3.14 ERA) – 4 IP, 3 H, R, BB, SO, HR, HBP, 2 GO: 5 FO, 54 Pitches (35 Strikes)

Batters

Champ Stuart – 1-3, 2 R, 3B (5), BB

Dominic Smith – 1-4, R, RBI (44)

Victor Cruzado – 1-4, 2 RBI (50), SO

Stefan Sabol – 2-4, SO

Luis Guillorme – 2-4, R

Recap:

Robert Whalen and Octavio Acosta were attacking the zone all afternoon against a Rome team that looked ready for the season to be over, needing only 101 pitches combined in the Gnats final regular season game of the season. The Gnats were similarly aggressive in their at bats, but they were able to scratch together four runs, which was more than enough for a win. Perhaps even better news than another win on Monday, was the announcement late Monday night that left fielder Michael Conforto, shortstop Amed Rosario, and third baseman Jhoan Urena (pronounced Johan) would be joining the Gnats for the playoffs. The three should provide an offensive boost to a team in desperate need of one since the departure of Gavin Cecchini, Jeff McNeil and L.J. Mazzili at the end of the first half (and Jared King before that). It’s unclear what the Gnats will do with Rosario/Luis Guillorme/Yeixon Ruiz for the middle infield, as they each bring something different to the table, although the safe bet is on Rosario playing SS. Guillorme is the best defender of the three, with Rosario likely a little better than Ruiz with the glove. Offensively, while Guillorme has a nice contact swing and overall approach, he is not really an impact bat with such little power. Ruiz finished the season with his best month for Savannah – he had a .755 OPS in August but that jumps to .861 if you make the arbitrary cut offs 7/29-8/28 – and Toby Hyde thinks he’s currently more advanced offensively than Rosario, but he was moved to 2B and 3B while Guillorme took over SS for the last weekend of the season, so he’s likely lower on the depth chart. Behind those three are Jorge Rivero and Jonathan Johnson, who have been nice players for Savannah but are basically non-prospects at this point. Urena offers the Gnats their first real 3B prospect of the season, and his high contact approach should transition successfully. Michael Conforto will likely knock Stefan Sabol out of LF, if not the lineup. Sabol still flashes the power and speed that could make him an interesting prospect, but he’s hit .201/.306/.342 over 805 PA with Savannah, so Conforto should be a huge upgrade.

Back to the game, Champ Stuart got things started in the 1^st with a sun-aided triple. He would score on a groundout from Dominic Smith.

I wonder if Sabol was motivated to get above .200 on the final game of the season, as he finished just one hit shy. He’d lead off the 3^rd with a single, but the Gnats couldn’t get anything else going.

Smith hit a one-out single in the 4^th and was stranded at 1B.

Guillorme got the 6^th inning rally started with a nicely placed bunt single.

After a strikeout and a walk, the Rome second baseman Reed Harper would commit errors on back-to-back plays to make it a 2-0 Gnats lead. Victor Cruzado added two more with his bases loaded single up the middle - the Rome broadcast TV broadcast crew was not back from break (or whatever), and so there was no coverage after they made a pitching change in the inning.

Sabol and Guillorme each had one more hit in their bats for the 7^th, but they’d end up stranded at 2B and 3B.

The second sun-aided hit of the game was also a bad judgement by the third baseman

Matt Oberste picked up the final Gnats hit of the regular season in the 8^th, lining a double into the LF corner.

Whalen Pitch Coverage

Table 1 – Breaking down pitch count by type and inning

Count (Strikes)	1^st	2^nd	3^rd	4^th	5^th	Total
Fastball	8 (5)	8 (7)	5 (4)	11 (7)	4 (3)	36 (26)
Change-up	0	0	0	0	0	0
Breaking Ball	0	3 (1)	0	4 (2)	4 (3)	11 (6)
Total	8 (5)	11 (8)	5 (4)	15 (9)	8 (6)	47 (32)

Table 2 – Breaking down pitch results by type

Strike %
Total	Call	Sw	Foul

BIP%
LD	GB	FB	PU

Results
AB	BABIP	ISO	K

Fastball

72.2

8.3

13.9

8.3

.133

.067

Breaking Ball

54.5

18.2

9.1

100

.000

1^st inning

1) Connor Oliver flied out to Cruzado (9/F)

i. Fastball, belt high over the middle – ball 1-0

ii. Fastball, belt high and outside – ball 2-0

iii. Fastball, belt high and inside corner

2) Reed Harper hit a groundout to Guillorme – ball came up on Luis but he recovered it and has a cannon of an arm (63/G)

i. Fastball, thigh high and inside corner

3) Carlos Franco hit a groundout to Smith (31/G)

i. Fastball, knee high and inside corner – foul 0-1

ii. Fastball, belt high and outside conrer – ball 1-1

iii. Fastball, knee high and inside corner – swinging strike 1-2

iv. Fastball, thigh high and outside corner

2^nd inning

1) Joey Meneses lined a double into left-center field (D7/L)

i. Fastball, thigh high over the middle

2) Jacob Schrader flied out to Cruzado in shallow RF (9/F)

i. Fastball, belt high and outside corner

3) Codey McElroy popped out to Guillorme (6/P)

i. Fastball, knee high and inside corner – called strike 0-1

ii. Fastball, knee high and inside corner – swinging strike 0-2

iii. Fastball, belt high and inside – ball 1-2

iv. Curveball, belt high and inside corner – ball 2-2

v. Fastball, belt high and inside corner

4) Alejandro Piloto struck out looking (K/Lo)

i. Fastball, thigh high and outside corner – swinging strike 0-1

ii. Fastball, knee high and outside corner – foul 0-2

iii. Curveball, knee high and outside corner – ball 1-2

iv. Curveball, belt high and inside corner – called strike 3

3^rd inning

1) Carlos Sanchez flied out to Cruzado (9/F)

i. Fastball, belt high and outside corner – swinging strike 0-1

ii. Fastball, letter high over the middle – ball 1-1

iii. Fastball, thigh high and outside corner

2) Cody Livesay hit a groundout to Guillorme (63/G)

i. Fastball, belt high and inside corner

3) Oliver lined out to Smith (3/L)

i. Fastball, belt high over the middle

4^th inning

1) Harper popped out to Smith in foul territory (3/P)

i. Fastball, knee high and outside corner

2) Franco hit a groundout to Smith (3u/G)

i. Fastball, knee high and inside corner – ball 1-0

ii. Breaking ball, thigh high over the middle – called strike 1-1

iii. Fastball, bounced outside – ball 2-1

iv. Fastball, thigh high and outside corner – foul 2-2

v. Breaking ball, shin high over the middle – foul 2-2

vi. Breaking ball, bounced inside – ball 3-2

vii. Fastball, thigh high and inside corner

3) Meneses lined a single into RF (S9/L)

i. Fastball, belt high and inside – ball 1-0

ii. Fastball, knee high and outside corner – swinging strike 1-1

iii. Curveball, thigh high and inside – ball 2-1

iv. Fastball, knee high and inner half

4) Schrader flied out to Cruzado at the warning track (9/F)

i. Fastball, thigh high and inside corner – called strike 0-1

ii. Fastball, thigh high and inside – ball 1-1

iii. Fastball, knee high and outer half

5^th inning

1) McElroy hit a groundout to Ruiz (53/G)

i. Curveball, shin high over the middle – swinging strike 0-1

ii. Curveball, shin high and outside corner – swinging strike 0-2

Check the background people if you don't believe these are different gifs

iii. Curveball, knee high over the middle

2) Piloto hit a groundout to Guillorme (63/G)

i. Fastball, knee high and inside – ball 1-0

ii. Fastball, thigh high over the middle – called strike 1-1

iii. Curveball, knee high and inside – ball 2-1

iv. Fastball, knee high and inside corner

3) Sanchez popped out to Johnson (4/P)

i. Fastball, knee high and outside corner

Acosta Pitch Coverage

Table 1 – Breaking down pitch count by type and inning

Count (Strikes)	6^th	7^th	8^th	9^th	Total
Fastball	8 (6)	10 (8)	10 (5)	8 (6)	36 (25)
Change-up	3 (2)	3 (2)	0	3 (2)	9 (6)
Breaking Ball	0	2 (1)	2 (0)	5 (3)	9 (4)
Total	11 (8)	15 (11)	12 (5)	16 (11)	54 (35)

Table 2 – Breaking down pitch results by type

Strike %
Total	Call	Swi	Foul

BIP%
LD	GB	FB	PU

Results
AB	BABIP	ISO	K

Fastball

69.4

8.33

27.8

.222

.400

Change-up

66.7

11.1

22.2

0.00

.000

Breaking Ball

44.4

11.1

100

1.00

.000

6^th inning

1) Livesay hit a groundout to Johnson (43/G)

i. Fastball, belt high and inside corner – called strike 0-1

ii. Change-up, thigh high and inside corner – swinging strike

iii. Change-up, thigh high over the middle

2) Oliver lined out to Johnson (4/L)

i. Fastball, belt high and inside corner – foul 0-1

ii. Fastball, shin high and inside – ball 1-1 (set up outside)

iii. Fastball, belt high and inside – foul 1-2

iv. Change-up, bounced – ball 2-2

v. Fastball, belt high and outside – ball 3-2

vi. Fastball, belt high over the middle – foul 3-2

vii. Fastball, thigh high over the middle – foul 3-2

viii. Fastball, belt high and inside corner

3) Harper flied out to Cruzado (9/F)

i. Fastball, belt high and outside corner

7^th inning

1) Franco launched a homerun to RF (HR/F)

i. Fastball, belt high and outside corner

2) Meneses flied out to Cruzado – nice sliding catch (9/F)

i. Fastball, letter high over the middle – ball 1-0

ii. Fastball, thigh high and outside corner

3) Schrader reached on an infield single that deflected off the glove of a diving Ruiz (S5/G)

i. Change-up, shin high and outside – ball 1-0

ii. Fastball, knee high and outside corner – called strike 1-1

iii. Change-up, shin high and outside corner – swinging strike 1-2

iv. Curveball, shin high and outer half

4) McElroy popped out to Smith in foul territory (3/P)

i. Fastball, shin high and outside – ball 1-0

ii. Fastball, thigh high and outside corner – called strike 1-1

iii. Fastball, thigh high and inside corner

5) Piloto was hit by a pitch (HBP)

i. Fastball, thigh high over the middle – foul 0-1

ii. Breaking ball, hit in the thigh

6) Sanchez popped out to Ruiz (5/P)

i. Fastball, knee high and outside corner – swinging strike 0-1

ii. Fastball, belt high and outside – ball 1-1

iii. Change-up, shin high over the middle

8^th inning

1) Livesay walked (BB)

i. Fastball, thigh high and outside – ball 1-0

ii. Fastball, knee high and inside corner – foul 1-1

iii. Breaking ball, thigh high and outside – ball 2-1

iv. Fastball, belt high and outside corner – foul 2-2

v. Breaking ball, bounced outside – ball 3-2

vi. Fastball, thigh high and outside – ball 4

2) Oliver flied out to Champ (8/F)

i. Fastball, thigh high and inside – foul 0-1

ii. Fastball, shin high and inside – ball 1-1

iii. Fastball, knee high and inside corner

3) Harper flied out to Champ (8/F)

i. Fastball, bounced inside – ball 1-0

ii. Fastball, belt high and outside corner – ball 2-0

*Livesay thrown out trying to steal 2B

iii. Fastball, thigh high over the middle

9^th inning

1) Franco lined a double into RF (D9/L)

i. Change-up, shin high and outside – ball 1-0

ii. Fastball, letter high over the middle – swinging strike 1-1

iii. Fastball, thigh high and inside corner

2) Meneses flied out to Cruzado (9/F)

i. Fastball, bounced outside – ball 1-0

ii. Fastball, thigh high and inside – ball 2-0

iii. Change-up, thigh high and outside corner

3) PH Sal Giardina hit a groundout to Guillorme (63/G)

i. Change-up, knee high and outside corner – called strike 0-1

ii. Breaking ball, shin high and inside – swinging strike 0-2

iii. Fastball, knee high and inside corner

4) McElroy struck out swinging (K/Sw)

i. Fastball, thigh high and inside corner – foul 0-1

ii. Curveball, knee high and outside corner – called strike 0-2

iii. Curveball, bounced outside – ball 1-2

iv. Fastball, thigh high and inside corner – foul 1-2

v. Curveball, knee high and outside – ball 2-2

vi. Breaking ball, thigh high and inside – foul 2-2

vii. Fastball, letter high and inside – swinging strike 3

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