Yankees Minor League Baseball Blog

Kevin Whelan gave up the losing run for the Thunder in the top of the thirteenth inning as they settled for a split in their first two games of the playoffs.  It’s too bad because a solid start by Alan Horne went to waste.  He gave up two runs on three hits and four walks with six strikeouts in seven innings.

Austin Jackson went two for six with an RBI.  Reegie Corona went one for three with two walks and a run.

Daniel McCutchen didn’t pick up the win, but he was impressive none the less in the Thunder’s 3-1 win over the Fisher Cats.  He gave up just one run on two hits and two walks with five strikeouts in six innings.  It was Kevin Whelan who picked up the win. He improved to 4-2 with 1 1/3 innings of shutout relief. 

Juan Miranda went two for three with with a homerun and two RBIs.  Cody Ehlers blasted a solo homerun to help out the cause.

Trenton stormed back from a four run deficit with two runs in the eighth and two runs in the ninth to tie the game up.  Then Kevin Whelan gave up a run in the bottom of the ninth to waste the effort and he fell to 3-2.  Chase Wright was roughed up and he gave up six runs in five innings of work.

Colin Curtis was the hitting star in the win.  He went three for five with a homerun and two RBIs.

Scott Patterson gave up an unearned run in the fourteenth inning as Trenton lost to Binghamton 3-2 in fourteen innings.  Kevin Whelan was one of the more impressive pitchers to throw for the Thunder.  He threw three shutout innings and he struck out five.

Carlos Mendoza was the hitting star in the loss.  He went three for six with a double and a run.

Trenton played another tough one and both the pitching and hitting was poor in a 12-1 loss to Erie.  Juan Miranda doubled and he drove in the only run of the game for the Thunder.

Kevin Whelan was hit hard as he got bumped back up to Double A.  He gave up five runs on three hits and six walks with one strikeout in 2 1/3 innings.

Kevin Whelan continued his transition to a starter and had his best game this year as he threw five no-hit innings in the Yankees 3-0 win over Jupiter.  David Robertson and Joshua Schmidt each then threw two no-hit innings to finish up the no-hitter.

Francisco Cervalli went one for four with two RBIs.  Marcos Vechionacci went two for four with a double and a run.

Jose Tabata doubled home Austin Jackson in the top of the tenth inning as Tampa edged St. Lucie 3-2.  Edwar Gonzalez provided the rest of the Yankees offense in the third inning on a two run single.

Joshua Schmidt improved to 4-0 with 1 2/3 innings of shutout relief.  Kevin Whelan continued to make progress after his demotion with a nice start.  He gave up one run on three hits and two walks with seven strikeouts in five innings.

Colin Curtis scored on Edwar Gonzalez’s ground out in the bottom of the tenth as Tampa edged Dunedin 6-5.  The win was particularly nice because Tampa came back from a 5-2 deficit.

Kevin Wheelan made a rare start that didn’t go well.  I’m not sure why he was demoted but it might have been to work on his control.  For Trenton, he had walked 25 in 31 innings (although he struck out 40).  Also could have been that he was the odd man out with Ian Kennedy and Joba Chamberlain getting promotions.

Marcos Vechionacci was the hitting star in the win.  He went four for five with three doubles, a triple, an RBI and two runs.

Trenton played two and came away with just one win as they remained in first place in their division.  They couldn’t get the offense going in a 4-1 loss in the opener.  Noah Hall hit a solo homerun for the only Thunder run of the game.  Brett Smith gave up three runs on seven hits and two walks with two strikeouts in five innings and the loss dropped him to 4-2 on the season.

In game two, the Thunder won 3-0 and Michael Gardner threw four shutout innings.  Kevin Whelan improved to 3-0 on the season with two shutout innings of relief.  He struck out four and he’s now struck out 34 hitters in 25 innings all without giving up a homerun.  Carlos Mendoza doubled, drew a walk and scored two runs in the win.

Wow.  The Trenton Thunder got some awesome pitching today as they swept a double header against Connecticut.  The second game went 15 innings and the Defenders failed to score in either one.

Allan Horne got it done in the first game.  He gave up five hits and he struck out eight in six shutout innings.  Kevin Whelan threw a shutout seventh and he picked up his second save of the season.  The lone run in the 1-0 win came on a solo homerun by Gabe Lopez.

In the second game, Brett Smith threw 5 2/3 shutout innings and he struck out seven.  Edwar Ramirez pitched three innings of one hit ball and he struck out four as he picked up the win.  Brett Gardner was the hitting star.  He went two for seven with a triple, a run and an RBI in the 2-0 win.

The Trenton Thunder got some very good pitching last night as they doubled up Bowie 4-2.  Jeffrey Marquez picked up the win in his five inning start.  He gave up two runs on two hits and a walk with five strikeouts.  Jeff Kennard struck out three in two shutout frames and then Kevin Whelan was awesome in his two shutout innings.  He struck out five of the seven batters he faced.

Brett Gardner was the only Thunder player with two hits.  He singled twice and scored a run.

Alright, Kevin Whelan kicks off the Yankees top ten prospect list using the aggregates of the three lists in the left side bar.  Oddly, Whelan only shows up on one list, but he was high enough to pick up enough points to land him just in the top ten.  He doesn’t show up on John Sickels or Baseball America’s top ten but he was sixth on Kevin Goldstein’s list, so here he is.

Whelan was the Tigers fourth round pick in 2005 after the right hander pitched for Texas A&M.  He was actually pretty phenomonal in two stops that finished at Low A and he struck out 41 batters in 24 1/3 innings.  He continued this trend last year when he got promoted to High A and as Lakeland’s closer, he struck out 69 in 54 innings.

Now he’s ours.  He was one of the secondary prospects in the Gary Sheffield trade and in the future closer if he can continue to progress at the higher minor league levels.  Keep an eye on him (here) as he moves up to Double A in 2007.