Tri-City ValleyCats: Oscar Figueroa

Oscar Figueroa
How did he get here?: Signed as free agent prior to 2006 season
Stats: 5'11" 154 lbs, Bats: Right Throws: Right
Hometown/Birthplace: Caracas, Venezuela
Age as of April 1, 2011: 23
Position: SS
2010 Men of the Match: 0

2010 Overview

PA	Avg/OBP/SLG	K:BB	XBH-RBI	K/PA%	XBH/H%
142	.200/.287/.242	21:14	3-10	9.9%	12.5%

Career (2006-2009)

Year	Team	PA	Avg/OBP/SLG	K:BB	XBH-RBI	K/PA%	XBH/H%
2006	VSL	240	.263/.329/.362	38:20	14-34	8.3%	25%
2007	VSL	258	.208/.278/.330	39:21	18-33	15.1%	39.1%
2008	VSL	262	.289/.402/.372	40:37	15-36	8.5%	31.7%
2009	GRN/TC	156	.188/.232/.243	23:9	6-14	16.0%	22.2%

What happened?

This was Figueroa's second season in the States, and his return to the NYPL after going 1x7 in two games for the ValleyCats in '09 before getting sent on down to Greeneville for the overwhelming majority of last season. And it didn't go so well. It went better than last year, don't get me wrong, when Figueroa's OPS fell by 301 points. His SLG in 2009 was .243, and he was remarkably consistent, posting a .242 SLG in 2010.

What went right?

Fielding. Figueroa spent 26 of his 38 games in the field at SS, where he made five errors for a .955 Fld%. This was a dramatic improvement over last season, when he committed five errors in 13 games for a .904 Fld%. He also spent a handful of games at 3B and 1B.

Hitting w/RISP. Figueroa had 25 ABs w/RISP, and hit .320/.455/.400, striking out twice and drawing six walks.

What went wrong?

Uh, hitting. Posting a .555 OPS at home, Figueroa hit .174/.309/.174 in 18 road games, for a .483 road OPS.

Despite finishing the season with three hits in his last ten ABs, Figueroa hit .191/.280/.236 in his first 37 games of the season, and only saw periodic playing time once August came around.
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I fear for Figueroa. In two seasons in the US, he has hit .193 (51x264) and just hasn't been able to replicate that .776 OPS season in 2008 - his last in the VSL.

From the Office of the County Clerk - Recap for G148: Astros v. Reds

Wow. Ugly. Reds win 11-1.

*The loss is the third 10+ run loss for the Astros of the season. They lost 14-4 on May 31 to the Nationals, and 12-2 at, yes, Cincinnati on May 29.

*This loss drops the Astros to 3-8 against the Reds in 2010. They're 7-20 against Cincinnati in 2009-2010.

*The Astros have lost two of three for just the second time since August 27-29, against the Mets.

*Nelson Figueroa may have pitched himself out of the rotation for what's left of the season with his 4.1IP, 7H/5R (3ER), 5K:2BB, 2HR performance tonight.

*In 13 games with the Phillies, Figueroa had only allowed one homer. Since coming to the Astros, he has allowed seven homers - five in his stint as a starter.

*This is Figueroa's fourth straight start that he hasn't gotten more than 15 outs, and his second consecutive start with less than 15 outs. The difference is that, in his last start, he only threw 4.2IP, but in 68 pitches. He needed 104 pitches to get his 13 outs tonight.

*The rookie pitchers had a rough night tonight, with Henry Villar allowing 1H/2BB, 2ER in 0.1IP, and newStro Enerio Del Rosario allowing 4H/3ER in 1IP.

*Big props go to Wesley Wright, who struck out three of the four batters he faced, in his first Major-League action since the fateful August 8 start, where he allowed 7ER in 2.1IP.

*Lots of pitching mistakes tonight. Thirteen hits against, four walks, two HBPs, a wild pitch, and a balk. Astros pitchers threw first-pitch strikes to 27 of 46 Reds batters.

*The Reds swung and missed on 20 of 190 pitches tonight.

*The three homers the Astros allowed tonight were the most since July 24 - against the Reds. At home. The Astros have now allowed homers in nine consecutive games.

*Jim Edmonds hit his first homer since August 18, and his second while with the Reds. It's his 31st homer against the Astros in his career.

*On offense, Carlos Lee hit his 23rd homer of the year. While that puts him one behind Hunter Pence for the team lead, he takes over the RBI lead at 86.

*If Lee or Pence don't reach 100 RBI, it'll be the first time since 1995 that the Astros don't have a player with triple-digit RBIs.

*Lee had his first three-hit game since August 3, the 18-4 win against St. Louis, aka, One of the Best Days Ever.

*This is the 38th game of the year that the Astros have been held to six hits or less.

*In 12.2IP, Bronson Arroyo has held the Astros to 10H/3ER, 12K:4BB in 2010. In his career, Arroyo only has 10+ wins against one team: the Astros.

*Chris Johnson had two hits tonight, and is now hitting .318 - easily the team leader in batting average. He's eight points behind Keppinger for the lead in OBP, and is leading the team in SLG by 20 points over Pence.

*Michael Bourn had your other hit, meaning, he has a 25-game on-base streak.

*Pitch Count Hero: Michael Bourn (1x4) - 18 pitches in four PAs.

*Pitch Count Punk: Hunter Pence (0x3, BB) - 12 pitches in four PAs.

*Man of the Match: Carlos Lee.

*Goat of the Game: Nelson Figueroa.

Greeneville Astros: Oscar Figueroa

Next up is infielder Oscar Figueroa. What's that you say? I know. I said we'd cover players with the higher-level team with which they played. However, Figueroa got 7ABs with Tri-City, from September 3-6. So...here we are.

Oscar Figueroa
How did he get here?: Signed contract prior to 2006 season
Stats: 5'11", 154 lbs, Bats: Right Throws: Right
Age as of April 1, 2010: 22

Season line: 42 games, 149 PAs. 26x137 - .190/.236/.248 - 6XBH-14RBI. 21K:9BB

However, because Minor League Baseball only keeps the stats from the current team, we don't get a real good look at young Oscar Figueroa. So we'll have to do what we can.

K/PA rate: 14.1%
XBH/H rate: 23.1%
K:BB ratio: 2.33

This was Figueroa's first season in the States, after spending three seasons in the Venezuelan Summer League. So let's look at his three seasons under the above stats:

2008:
K/PA rate: 8.5%
XBH/H rate: 31.7%
K:BB ratio: 0.71

2007:
K/PA rate: 15.1%
XBH/H rate: 39.1%
K:BB ratio: 1.86

2006:
K/PA rate: 17.8%
XBH/H rate: 25%
K:BB ratio: 1.9

Based on his previous three years in the VSL, Figueroa's K/PA rate improved, as did his K:BB ratio. So adjusting doesn't seem to be an issue for Figueroa, he'll just need more time. Problem is, if he needs three years to master a level, he'll be approximately 61 years old when he's Major-League ready. And unless he's Satchel Paige, that ain't gonna cut it.

In the field, Figueroa played 19 games at 1B (5 errors in 170 chances, .971 Fld%), 13 games at SS (5 errors in 52 chances, .904 Fld%), 6 games at 2B (0 errors in 23 chances, 1.000 Fld%), and 1 game at 3B (1 error in 3 chances, .667 Fld%). Problem is, Aaron Bray kind of dominated at 1B, and the Astros drafted this Mier guy with their 1st Round pick who plays a pretty mean shortstop.

Citizen Steve, what say you on Oscar Figueroa?
Fan Favorite. A shortstop who played 1st and contributed to the high error rate among Mier & Meyer (IMO). Was expecting more from him based on Venezuelan stats, but turns out to be a roster filler.

Eddie's Farm: August 31

Round Rock
A 5-run 7th inning pretty much did it in as Albuquerque surged to a 6-4 win over Round Rock. Chris Johnson was 2x3, Brian Esposito was 2x4 with an RBI, and Mark Saccomanno was 2x4 with a 2-run homer. Billy Sadler, in a tune-up for joining Houston, threw 3IP, 4H/1ER, 2K:1BB. Andy Van Hekken threw 3IP, 3H/3ER, 0K:2BB, Casey Daigle had his 8th BS of the year with 1IP, 3H/2ER, and Roy Corcoran had the only scoreless outing of the staff.

Corpus
Those head-hunting, season-ending Missions were up 7-1 by the end of the 4th, and won 7-2. Six hits were scattered among six Hooks, with Van Ostrand and Moresi getting the two RBIs. Sergio Perez dropped to 10-11 with 4IP, 10H/7ER, 5K:3BB while Danny Meszaros threw 4IP, 2H/0ER, 1K:1BB.

Lexington
The Legends defeated Greenville 3-2 on the strength of Brad Dydalewicz's 8th win of the year. Jay Austin (2x4) had the only multi-hit game, but Pellegrini, Diaz, and Jackson each had RBIs. Dydalewicz (nickname? anyone? Dydo?) threw 5.2IP, 7H/2ER, 3K:1BB and Kyle Godfrey threw 3.1IP, 1H/0ER, 5K:1BB for his 3rd save of the season.

Tri-City
Tri-City did what they've done a lot of this season, losing 4-2 to Aberdeen. The ValleyCats got multi-hit games from Goebbert, Martinez, and Kemp. Dallas Keuchel got the loss with 4IP, 3H/3ER, 3K:3BB, while Kirk Clark and Mike Modica threw 5IP, 3H/1ER, 9K:1BB (7Ks from Clark).

Greeneville
6-2 loss by the Gastros at the hands of Princeton last night. Oscar Figueroa and Kyle Miller were both 2x4. Juri Perez only lasted 0.1IP, recording a strikeout before getting pulled (I'll find out why, but methinks it's injury-related. I'm a regular Sherlock.), David Martinez came in and threw 4.2IP, 7H/6ER, 2K:2BB while Travis Smink and Joan Belliard threw 4IP, 5H/0ER, 2K:2BB in relief.

Eddie's Farm: August 20

Everybody played last night - and went 2-4.

Round Rock
A 5-run 4th inning from Las Vegas pretty much did it in a 8-2 loss for the Express. Reggie Abercrombie and Lou Santangelo had two hits, and Mark Saccomanno hit his 13th homer of the year. The Express left nine on base and were 1x9 with RISP. Josh Muecke gave up 6H/5R (though 0 earned) in 5.2IP. Geary threw 1.1IP, 2H/0ER, and Chris Sampson - why is he still pitching! - gave up 3H/3ER in 1IP. This drives me crazy. Someone should do an intervention and shut him down for the year before his career blows up at the hands of Cecil Cooper and Ed Wade.

Corpus
Heartbreaker last night as the Hooks fell in 12 innings, 2-1 to Arkansas. Well, not so much of a heartbreaker. The Hooks left 17 men on base and were 1x12 with RISP. Sutil, Locke, Castro, and DeLome had two hits each, with DeLome had the only XBH with a double. Kenny Baugh threw 6IP, 3H/1ER, Danny Meszaros threw 3IP, 2H, with 6K:0BB. Charlie Weatherby III took the loss with 2IP, 4H/1ER, allowing a ground rule double and a single for the walk-off.

Lancaster
First win for the young'uns as Lancaster beat Lake Elsinore 5-2. Koby Clemens was 3x4 (homer shy of the cycle), while T.J. Steele had two hits. Brandon Barnes had a 2-run homer of his own. Chris Salamida went the distance: 9IP, 4H/2ER, 1K:2BB for his 4th win of the season (4-1).

Lexington
Kannapolis scored two runs in the bottom of the 8th, giving them the final margin in a 7-5 win over Lexington. Suttle, Wikoff, and Williams had two hits each. Jeff Hulett had a 2-run single. The limp RISP average continues, as the Legends were 2x14 with RISP. Robert Bono threw 5IP, 6H/2ER, 4K:0BB. Antonio Noguera and Kyle Godfrey combined for 2.2IP, 4H/5ER, 3K:3BB in relief.

Tri-City
The ValleyCats put the whoomp on Staten Island 7-2 last night, despite going 3x17 with RISP. What the heck is it with these teams? Erik Castro was 2x5, while Goebbert (2), Martinez, Castro, and Medrano all had RBIs. Dallas Keuchel got his first win of the season with 5IP, 5H/2ER, 3K:1BB, and his ERA is now 1.94. Sarisky and MacDonald threw 4IP, 4H/0ER in relief.

Greeneville
The Gastros and Danville were locked in a 2-2 tie for seven innings until Danville scored one in the bottom of the 8th to win 3-2. Greeneville scored two runs despite only getting two hits - from Oscar Figueroa and Ben Orloff. Our boy Aaron Bray was 0x2 with 2BB and a run scored. Luis Cruz threw 5IP, 5H/2ER, 3K:1BB, and Murillo Gouvea got his 3rd loss of the season with 3IP, 1H/1R (unearned), 4K:0BB.