Murton, Young Near Sky Sox Records
Outfielder Matt Murton, who was with the Rockies earlier this season, has sandwiched a prolific hitting streak at Triple-A Colorado Springs around that trip to the major leagues.
And Sky Sox second baseman Eric Young Jr. is racing toward a club record for stolen bases. Two steals Friday gave Young 42 for the season, the most by a Sky Sox player since the club has been affiliated with the Rockies. Wayne Kirby set the team record with 51 stolen bases in 1992, the final year the Sky Sox were a Cleveland farm club.
Sky Sox manager Stu Cole, who took over the team last month when Tom Runnells became the Rockies’ bench coach, managed Young at Tulsa last year and said his defense is much improved this season. Young is hitting .298.
Murton has a somewhat unusual 27-game hitting streak for the Sky Sox. He had hit safely in 13 consecutive games before the Rockies recalled him April 29. Murton hit .267 with one homer in six RBI in 22 games for the Rockies.
He was optioned to the Sky Sox on June 5 and has hit safely in 14 straight games, including Friday in a 9-8 win in 11 innings at Fresno where he went 3-for-5 with two homers and seven RBI to raise his average to .408 (51-for-125).
The seven RBI are a record for a Sky Sox road game. There had been 11 occasions where a Sky Sox player had seven or more RBI in a game but all were in Colorado Springs. The club record is nine RBI set by former Rockies hitting coach Alan Cockrell in 1990.
Murton’s 27-game hitting streak is one short of the club record. Trenidad Hubbard, who is the Rockies roving outfielder and baserunning coordinator, hit safely in 28 straight games in 1995. Murton’s hitting streak is the first in Sky Sox history over 20 games that was interrupted by a call-up.
Murton, Young, McCoy and Matt Miller are all having excellent years at AAA (Matt Miller has had at least two good seasons in a row, and yet I never read anything about him). I’m interested in hearing your thoughts as to the current status of these players in terms of whether they are ready to be on a major league roster and where they fit in the Rockies’ plans for the future (each appears to be currently blocked in terms of progressing to the Rockies this season before September when the rosters expand).
To sort of follow up on Julian’s last point do you see EY jr being called up this year in September? Or would he be blocked by other players like Jonathon herrera and Omar quintinilla? And has he been playing more infield or outfield lately? And my last question would be do you think his stealing ability would translate in the majors in pinch running situations?
I think that callup plans for those Sky Sox players depend largely on whether the team remains healthy and in contention. If that’s the case, then there’s no need for any of those players, and no need to risk a disruption by substituting them for current players. Staying in contention would also likely affect the likelihood of a trade of OF’s, which would in turn impact Murton’s situation.
McCoy and Miller are not on the 40-man roster, so I doubt they’ll come up even in September, unless there are trades and injuries.
Young as a pinch-runner would be interesting, esp when rosters expand in September, but it’s a difficult job for a rookie, since he won’t know the pitchers/catchers/fielders.
I don’t know how the organization regards Young as a prospect, but if they think he can be a ML player, I doubt he’d be blocked by Herrera or Quintanilla as far as a September callup is concerned.
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