Toledo 8 Buffalo 7
Jeff Frazier and Brent Dlugach each singled and homered. Casper Wells added his 8th homer of the season. Scott Sizemore went 2 for 3 with 2 walks. And to check in on infield alignment, Danny Worth was playing shortstop, Sizemore at second, and Dlugach at third. Ryan Ketchner allowed 3 runs in 4.2 innings on 6 hits, a walk, and 3 K’s. Casey Fien got the save with a scoreless 9th after Brendan Wise went 2.2 innings of relief to get the win.

Harrisburg 8 Erie 6
Wilkin Ramirez hit his 14th homer, but left after 3 at-bats. Audy Ciriaco doubled and homered. Thad Weber gave up 8 runs, but only 3 were earned, in 5 innings.

Lakeland 4 Palm Beach 5
The Charlie Furbush freak show continues with 10 K’s and 1 walk in 6 innings. He did surrendered 3 runs on 5 hits this time. Furbush was the subject of a Lynn Henning feature article today and is now sporting a 90K/11BB ratio in 62 innings. Alden Carrithers got 3 more hits. including his first home run.

Dayton 4 West Michigan 7
Jered Wesson pitched 6 shutout innings with only 3 hits and 2 walks allowed against 4 K’s. Mark Newman struggled and allowed 4 runs on 5 hits and a walk in 1.1 innings. Nolan Moody fanned 3 in his 1.2 inning save. Jamie Johnson homered and doubled. Avisail Garcia went 3 for 4. Chris Sedon drew 2 walks and singled.

Roster Moves

I’m way behind in covering this, but the Tigers made a bushel of roster moves this week. Some were a cascade effect from the Robbie Weinhardt DL assignment (the injury doesn’t appear to be too serious). Others at West Michigan were more performance based. Take 75 North has them all covered.

Toledo 6 Syracuse 3
Carlos Guillen picked up 3 doubles, and the dinner tab. Max Scherzer went 7 innings and allowed just 1 run on 3 hits and a walk with 7 K’s. Scott Sizemore was 2 for 4. Ryan Strieby had 2 hits and drove in 5.

Erie 0 Trenton 4
Thad Weber gave up 10 hits and fanned only 1 but allowed just 4 runs in 6.2 innings. Shawn Roof had 2 of the 3 hits for the Seawolves.

Tampa 3 Lakeland 10
It was yet another electric night for Charlie Furbush. He went 8 innings and allowed a solo homer along with 3 other hits. But he walked none and fanned 12! That’s 44 strikeouts and 2 walks in his last 28 innings. Brent Wyatt and Rawley Bishop had 3 hit nights. Kody Kaiser and Daniel Fields each went 2 for 4.

West Michigan 3 Lansing 0
Giovany Soto pitched the 7 inning complete game shut out notching 6 K’s. Michael Rockett doubled in 2 runs.

West Michigan 1 Lansing 7
Avisail Garcia, Luis Palacios and Billy Alvino had the 3 hits. Victor Larez didn’t make it out of the 3rd inning before surrendering 6 runs on 9 hits.

Scoreboard – MiLB.com Scoreboard – The Official Site of Minor League Baseball

Durham 0 Toledo 4
Max Scherzer made his first start since being sent down to work on his mechanics. I think it is working. Scherzer pitched a 1 hitter for 8 innings. He walked one guy while fanning 10 in 103 pitches. Robbie Weinhardt preserved the shut out. Jeff Frazier homered and doubled. Ryan Raburn added his 6th double and a single.

The Tigers have sent 3 players to Toledo. So far the early returns have been good. We covered Scherzer, but Ryan Raburn and Scott Sizemore are also finding their way so far.

• Ryan Raburn: 444/483/667 line in 7 games.
• Scott Sizemore: 286/333/429 in 4 games

Erie 1 Richmond 5

There was no offense to speak of with only 6 singles and 2 walks for the Seawolves. Thad Weber went 7.2 innings and allowed 4 runs on just 5 hits and 3 walks despite his defense turning 4 double plays behind him.

St. Lucie 4 Lakeland  5 (11 innings)
Charlie Furbush starred again with 10 strikeouts in 6.2 innings. He allowed 2 runs on 2 hits and a walk. Furbush has a 39:4 K:BB ratio and a 1.67 ERA in his last 4 starts .Brent Wyatt went 3 for 4 with 2 walks and 2 steals. Gustavo Nunez also had 3 hits including a double. Daniel Fields doubled and tripled. Francisco Martinez had 2 hits. Martinez and Jimmy Gulliver were added from EST with Josh Workman and Bryan Pounds hitting the DL.

Lake County 15 West Michigan 5
Hernan Perez had 2 hits. Alexis Espinoza singled and walked. Lots of pitchers got beat up pretty good, but Ramon Lebron was the starter. He fanned 6 in 3 innings, but he also allowed 5 runs on 6 hits and 4 walks.

Toledo 6 Durham 2
Phil Dumatrait fanned 3, walked 1, and allowed just 2 runs on 4 hits in 5.2 innings. robbie Weinhardt, Daniel Schlereth and Jay Sborz took care of the rest. Clete Thomas has seen how much fun Brennan Boesch is having and he ripped his 4th homer in the last 7 days. Of course he only has 2 other hits over that time span so his average is still below .200. Ben Guez went 4 for 4 with 2 doubles.

Akron 1 Erie 4
Wilkin Ramirez doubled and tripled. Audy Ciriaco picked up 2 hits. Jon Kibler went 7.2 innings and allowed a run on 4 hits and 3 walks with 2 K’s.

Charlotte 2 Lakeland 1
Charlie Furbush fanned 13 of the 26 hitters he faced in an incredible 6.1 inning performance. The bats couldn’t get him a win though as they managed just 1 run. Alden Carrithers walked twice, singled, and doubled.

West Michigan 5 Lansing 6
Jacob Turner went again for the Whitecaps and allowed 4 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks in 4 innings to go along with 3 K’s. Kevin Faulk fanned 4 in 2 innings of relief work. Jamie Johnson tripled, singled, and walked. Wade Gaynor had 2 hits including his second homer. Alexis Espinoza had been hitting well of late, but took and 0’fer and fanned 3 times.

Syracuse 2 Toledo 3
Jeff Larish was 0 for 2 but he drove in the winning run with his second walk of the game in the 9th inning to really “walk off.” Jeff Frazier and Deik Scram each singled, doubled, and walked. Phil Dumatrait allowed 2 runs on 8 hits, 2 walks, and 3 K’s in 5.1 innings. Scot Drucker (who is now blogging at http://druckerscot.mlblogs.com) allowed just 2 baserunners in his 2.2 innings of work. Jay Sborz walked two and allowed a hit but maintained his scoreless season and got the win.

Erie 4 Bowie 3
Andy Oliver struck out 10 in 5 innings. He allowed 1 run on 5 hits and 4 walks. Willkin Ramirez went 2 for 2 with 2 walks. In his last 4 games he’s 8 for 16 with 4 extra base hits and 3 walks.

Lakeland 4 Daytona 3
Gustavo Nunez had a 3 for 4 day with a double and a stolen base. Rawley Bishop homered and singled. Charlie Furbush went 6 innings with 8 K’s, no walks and just 2 runs allowed.

Lansing 3 West Michigan 7
West Michigan broke out of their offensive funk. Jordan Lennerton homered as part of an 3 for 4 day. Michael Rockett also homered and singled. Jamie Johnson and Luis Palacios also had 2 hits each. Trevor Feeney allowed 3 runs on 6 hits, 1 walk and 7 strikeouts in 7.1 innings.

While it is probably a little premature to rate any draft after only 4 months, this is especially true in baseball. In many cases drafted players haven’t played in a league type setting, or if they have the experience has been limited to short season ball. Still, Baseball America likes the early returns for the Detroit Tigers in this year’s amateur draft.

BA rated the Tigers as having the 3rd best draft behind the Nationals and Rangers. Detroit ranked ahead of the Giants and Yankees who rounded out the top 5.  The full article is premium content, so I’ll just hit the highlights.

The Tigers draftees received some individual accolades on a variety of top 5 lists including:

• Danny Worth – 4th best defensive player
• Rick Porcello – 2nd best fastball
• Rick Porcello – 4th best secondary pitch
• Colin Kaline & Cale Iorg – 3rd and 4th most intriguing backgrounds
• Rick Porcello – 5th closest to the majors among high schoolers

There was also a draft all star team selected based on performance and level of play.  No Tigers made the team. 

In terms of early returns I’d have to say that Charlie Furbush (61 2/3 innings, 2.35 ERA, 69K, 14 BB at GCL and West Michigan) and Danny Worth (251/325/363 in High A ball) had the strongest debuts.  While Worth’s numbers weren’t dazzling, he gets extra credit because he debuted at such a high level for a new draftee.

Of course the strength of the Tigers draft was in the players who signed late and haven’t yet competed outside of the instructional league. In addition to Porcello, players like Casey Crosby, Iorg, and Matt Hoffman are who helped earn the Tigers such a high overall ranking. They are also the players who will hopefully make for an entertaining minor league season.

BaseballAmerica.com: Draft: 2007 Draft Report Cards Overview
2007 Tigers Draft – The Baseball Cube