8/22-8/24 Series Preview vs. Portland

As my faithful readers know this is something that I originally started at the beginning of the season. I plan on posting ‘series previews’ for the final two series of the seasons (Portland and Bowie).

Harrisburg Prospects – Baseball America (BA) and John Sickles (JS)
P – Jordan Zimmermann – 7 (BA), B (JS)
OF – Justin Maxwell – 8 (BA), B (JS) (Injured)
P – Adam Carr – 13 (BA), B- (JS)
SS – Ian Desmond – 14 (BA), C+ (JS)
OF – Mike Daniel – 23 (BA)
P – Adrian Alaniz – C+ (JS)

My players to watch on the Senators:
1B – Bill Rhinehart (has struggled since his promotion but produced at each level)
OF – Marvin Lowrance (.287, 6 HR in 37 games)
P – Yunior Novoa (2.06 ERA in 28 games)
INF – Seth Bynum – Not a real prospect but you have to love watching him play as he always gives 100%.

Senators Notes:
Daniel hit over .300 from April-June but has struggled since the all-star break hitting only .202 in July and .167 so far in August. Desmond missed all of June and most of July but has hit .283 during the month of August (.324 over the last 10 games). Carr has struggled during 2008 with over 6 ERA. Alaniz was 9-0 prior to his promotion to Harrisburg, since arriving he is 0-5 (some of his losses are due to lack of run production). Zimmermann has continued to impress, over his last 10 appearances he is 4-1 with a 3.38 ERA.

Portland Prospects – Baseball America (BA) and John Sickles (JS)
P - Clay Buchholz – 1 (BA), A (JS)
1B - Lars Anderson – 3 (BA), B+ (JS)
OF – Josh Reddick – 10 (BA), B- (JS)
SS – Argenis Diaz – 12 (BA)
P – Kris Johnson – 13 (BA), C (JS)
P – Daniel Bard – 19 (BA)
C – Mark Wagner – 20 (BA), C (JS)
1B – Aaron Bates – 21 (BA), B- or C+ (JS)
P – Dustin Richardson – 22 (BA), C+ (JS)
OF – Bubba Bell – 25 (BA), C (JS)
P – T.J. Large – C (JS)
P – Adam Mills – C (JS)
OF – Zachary Daeges – C+ (JS)

Typically I add my list of ‘players to watch’ in addition to those listed above. Considering most of the team is listed above I'll give a brief review of the prospects. Senators’ fans might not get a chance to see pitching prospect Clay Bucholz who was optioned to Portland after his start for Boston on 8/20. Bucholz next start should be on Monday or Tuesday, unless he pitches in relief. He has struggled this season but is considered by many scouts to be the best prospect in the Red Sox organization. Aside from Bucholz, I’m looking forward to watching Anderson and Reddick as both are considered top level prospects too. Both are capable of hitting for power but Anderson is more patient and should end up hitting for average in the future. Catching prospect, Mark Wagner, defensively he has a good arm; offense is his weakness as he has some power but otherwise has problems getting on base. Argenis Diaz is an intriguing young player (only 21) who is hitting over .300 since his call up in late July.

August 22 - 6:35pm RH Jordan Zimmermann (6-2, 3.32) vs. LH Dustin Richardson (7-7, 7.03)August 23 - 6:05pm LH Justin Jones (2-4, 4.53) vs. RH Adam Mills (0-4, 4.53)
August 24 - 1:05pm TBA vs. LH Kris Johnson (8-8, 3.58)

Final Thoughts:
The Senators are on the outside looking in, in terms of the playoffs. They lost their last 5 games. They have to start winning series try to and build momentum down the stretch. Every game counts. The starting pitching has been weak as of late. On offense, the power that was so evident at the start of the season seems to be gone. The inconsistent play can in part be attributed to the frequent player moves and injuries to key players.