Giancarlo Stanton, OF

[Big Z]

On opening night for the Suns, Stanton went 3-4 with a homer, a double and a single, a BB and a K. He also scored 2 runs, while driving in just one(himself with the HR)

[Fish and Chips]

Morrison also had a walkoff single (1-4)

[BigGameFish]

And so it begins...

[Swifty]

He went 4/4 with 2 bombs and a double yesterday, so what does the phenom do today? 3 homer day.

he Jacksonville Suns are not a one-man team. Behind a strong pitching staff and a solid defense, they've allowed the second fewest runs per game in the Southern League, and that is a big part of why -- at 11-6 -- they are in first place in the South Division.

On days like Monday, though, the casual fan can be excused for referring to the squad as "Mike Stanton and the Jacksonville Suns." A day after he popped two bombs and had four hits, the immensely powerful right-handed slugger blasted three home runs in Jacksonville's 11-2 win over Carolina, one to each field. The three homers plated seven men in the Suns' seventh straight victory.

Stanton started the scoring in the bottom of the first. After Osvaldo Martinez doubled with one out, the big righty slugged a 2-1 offering over the right-field fence, displaying his power to the opposite field. Martinez would score on all three Stanton blasts.

Two innings later, the score still stood at 2-0 with Martinez at first, Lorenzo Scott at second and none out. Stanton then turned on a 2-1 pitch from Mudcats starting pitcher Curtis Partch and deposited it over the left-field fence, making the score 5-0.

Partch immediately hit Mark Saccomanno with a pitch before walking Brandon Tripp to set up Matt Dominguez. A 20-year-old Californian like Stanton, Dominguez clubbed a double to left to score both runners, and the rout was confirmed. Selected a round before Stanton with the 12th overall selection in 2007, the slick-fielding third baseman had two hits on the day to creep his average up to .200.

Stanton batted again an inning later, this time against reliever Jerry Gil. The veteran right-hander walked Stanton on five pitches, and two of those deliveries were wild pitches that allowed Scott to advance. Even when he didn't swing, his mere presence in the batter's box had an effect on the opposition.

With the score 8-0 in the sixth, Ruben Medina replaced Gil on the mound, and he didn't pitch around Stanton. Medina got ahead with a called strike, but, after the count evened up at 1-1, Stanton connected again, this time to center field. Martinez again scored in front of Stanton, and the Jacksonville lead was up to 10-0.

The only drama left at this point of the contest was to see whether Stanton could achieve Minor League immortality with a four-homer game. Stanton faced Medina again on the seventh, but the Panorama, Calif., native fell behind 0-2 before swinging and missing at Medina's 2-2 pitch in what would be his final at-bat of the day.

Lost in the shadow of the 6-foot-5, 235-pound Stanton was the terrific pitching performance of Alejandro Sanabia, who went seven innings and allowed just a walk and five hits -- all singles -- while fanning seven. Sanabia entered the game with the best batting average against of any Southern League starter, and that won't change after Monday's performance, which puts the 21-year-old at 2-0 with a 0.71 ERA in four starts.

Just a 32nd-round 2006 Draft choice by the Marlins out of Castle Park High School in Chula Vista, Calif., Sanabia doesn't strike an imposing pose with his 165 pounds spread over a 6-1 frame, but he's moved up a level each season since signing, despite underwhelming performances.

With Jupiter in 2009, Sanabia showed solid command and started to keep the ball in the park. This season, he's added strikeouts to his repertoire, and success has followed close behind. At 8.2 strikeouts per nine innings, Sanabia is posting his best whiff rate since he played in the New York-Penn League as an 18-year-old in 2007.

Whether that strikeout rate regresses to the numbers of recent seasons will likely determine how soon the righty can make the next step. On Monday, Sanabia struck out the side in the first to set the tone for his afternoon.

Behind a trio of Californians who have barely reached their third decade, the Jacksonville Suns are on a roll, and the Carolina Mudcats were the latest team to find itself in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/n...milb&fext=.jsp

[wanks1212]

Yes, he needs to see AAA soon, unless the MLB squad is willing to move someone for Stanton to get regular ABs. And he'd still probably benefit from killing AAA for a few months.

[Swifty]

He's slugging .800!

SLUGGING!

[Ralph]

he's cool

[Jay]

I think a promotion in may is due unless he goes 0-20 with a couple walks and some strikeouts. I like the fact that he hasn't been promoted yet, give him another week then send him to AAA.

[BigGameFish]

yikes

[The Hanram]

Good lawdy lawd.

[FishFF]

By Jeff Elliott

Mike Stanton's time in Jacksonville is dwindling with every powerful swing of his bat.

Stanton hit three home runs and drove in seven runs Monday afternoon to lead the Jacksonville Suns to their seventh consecutive win, an 11-2 rout of the Carolina Mudcats in front of 4,464 at the Baseball Grounds.

The 20-year-old outfielder in the Florida Marlins' organization has posted two-day totals of 7-for-8 with two walks, five home runs and 11 RBI. He had reached base in nine consecutive at-bats before Mudcats relief pitcher Ruben Medina struck him out in the seventh inning.

If Stanton had hit a fourth home run in the inning, he would have tied a league record for most homers and most RBI in a game. Instead, he settled for tying a Suns record for most homers in a game (Ryan Jones, 1999) and fell one short of the club record for RBI (eight by Jesse Ibarra in 1997).

Stanton's three blasts were typical of most of his home runs. In the first inning, he lined a pitch into the right-center field bleachers for a two-run homer. In the third, with two men aboard, he sent the ball over the road, well past the back outer fence in left field. He capped his most productive day as a professional player by lining a fastball off the scoreboard in left-center in the sixth inning.

PHOTO GALLERY: Jacksonville Suns vs. Carolina Mudcats

"I don't ever remember hitting three home runs, not in the minor leagues," Stanton said. "I'm not doing anything different; I just had a good day today. I'm just trying to stay on top of my game and do what I can. I've had a good couple days. I hope I can keep it going."

Stanton has risen to the top of the leaders in several categories in the Southern League. He's first in home runs (9), RBI (20), total bases (52) and on-base percentage (.483) and is also among the league leaders in batting average (.338).

Suns hitting coach Corey Hart isn't surprised by Stanton's sudden success.

"He's in a groove right now, but he's got a tremendous work ethic, especially for his age. That's really impressive," Hart said. "He knows what he's trying to do and knows his swing as well as anybody. A little fine-tunes and tweaks and he's right where he needs to be right now.

"He narrowed his base a little bit on the road trip without even knowing it. We looked at some video and he spread back out, and that's brought about some immediate results and success. It's been good for him."

Suns manager Tim Leiper coached Stanton for half a season in Class-A Jupiter last year before the 6-foot-5, 240-pound outfielder was promoted to Jacksonville for the second half of the 2009 season.

Leiper said he continues to be impressed with what Stanton can do.

"It's obvious what we've seen the last two days is remarkable, and I've probably never seen something like that before. It shows what kind of guy he is. The behind-the-scene stuff is the reason he's able to do this," Leiper said.

"He's a great physical talent, that's obvious for everyone to see. But it's his mental makeup which kind of sets him apart from everyone else. He's constantly trying to improve. I think he will until the day he retires from baseball."

Stanton's hitting was the game's highlight, but starting pitcher Alex Sanabia (2-0) was also stellar. He threw seven scoreless innings, allowing five hits and striking out seven. In the last eight games, Suns starting pitchers have allowed just seven earned runs in 472/3 innings (1.32 ERA).

The teams play at 7 p.m. today with Suns right-handed pitcher Jose Rosario (1-2, 3.60) facing Carolina right-hander Daryl Thompson (0-2, 2.90).

http://jacksonville.com/sports/2010-...s-three-homers

[Swifty]

This made me so much:

Taking their time with Stanton

Belt three homers and drive in seven in one game, and naturally you are going to draw attention.

Take it a step further, and hit five homers and knock in 11 in two games, and you have people wondering what is next.

What's next for Mike Staton?

More of the same.

The 20-year-old slugger is on a tear at Double-A Jacksonville. On Monday, he belted three homers in one game, driving in seven. Counting his two homers and four RBIs on Sunday, and you have five homers and 11 RBIs in two games.

Naturally, the Marlins are watching their top prospect with great interest. But the bottom line remains the same, the club is in no hurry to promote the 6-foot-5, 235-pounder.

Consider this fact, after 14 games he was batting .264 with four homers, nine RBIs with a .426 on-base percentage. He has walked 14 times and struck out 16 in 53 at-bats.

In a conversation late last week with Jim Fleming, the Marlins vice president of player development and scouting, he had this to say about Stanton:

"He's doing fine. He's not tearing it up. They've been pitching him very carefully as you might think. His at-bats are better. There are still some strikeouts. And more walks. We're just trying to get him to have some consistent at-bats. So far, so good."

In the three games since that conversation, Stanton has raised his average to .338 with nine home runs and 20 RBIs.

The impressive increase in production, however, doesn't have the Marlins thinking about an immediate callup.

The scouting report on him is he is piecing his game together, bit by bit, but it isn't quite there yet. What's promising is how he is making the necessary strides to get better.

Another factor is the Marlins are above .500 after 20 games, and they are very much in the playoff picture.

There isn't a need at this time. Granted, Chris Coghlan is struggling, but the Marlins aren't about to send the 2009 NL Rookie of the Year to the Minors based on 20 games.

Yes, there are service time considerations. The Marlins know what they have in Stanton, and they know after late May or early June, he can be called up without pushing his arbitration process.

At that point, he wouldn't qualify as a Super Two. That is an issue, because he wouldn't reach his arbitration years after the 2012 season.

Money aside, not all 20-year-olds are ready. Granted, Jayson Heyward is off to a strong start with the Braves. But Heyward is the exception.

Heyward, right now, was ready. Stanton still is developing. He has 65 at-bats this season at Double-A, after 299 in 2009.

When Stanton was sent down in Spring Training, the team hoped he would tear up Double A for an entire season. They are hoping he would hit, say, 35 homers and knock in 100. They are looking at the big picture and how Stanton fits into their future.

Right now, Cody Ross is in right field, and he is more ready to help the Marlins win this season there than Stanton would.

The team also has seen the past three years what Cameron Maybin has gone through. Maybin was called up at age 20 by the Tigers, and after the 2007 season he was traded to the Marlins.

The Marlins recognized that Maybin needed more time in the Minor Leagues, where he spent most of 2008 and 2009. Maybin is getting better, and he's still trying to let his game develop. But he's doing so at age 23.

The hope is when Stanton is ready, he is ready to stay for the long haul.

-- Joe Frisaro

http://joefrisaro.mlblogs.com/archiv...h_stanton.html

So much in there. Frisaro talks about Stanton's BB:K as if 1:1 is a bad thing, he doesn't mention that no matter what level he's been at, Stanton's torn the cover off the ball and now his eye is finally developing and he doesn't mention that when the power is meant to come, it's good to go slow, when the power is there, there's not much left to do, developing an eye just comes with AB's and if the kids at AA are scared of Stanton, which Flemming's quote suggests, he's not going to get many real AB's and just see garbage; it's in his best interests to get challenged, and that's not going to happen in the minors, the word's out.

I'm also really getting tired of the Heyward was ready and Stanton isn't garbage; last season Stanton had more AA AB's (299) than Heyward had at AA & AAA combined (173). In his brief stay in the AFL, he was leading the league in average, which was a previous knock on him, he's carried that ability over to 2010, just to show it wasn't a fluke, and I think since 2008 or somewhere thereabouts, he leads professional baseball in homers / AB or something remarkable like that.

[Ramp]

Maybe Heyward was more mentally and psychologically ready than Stanton is right now.

[Swifty]

Maybe he was

[Ramp]

I mean Chipper, Bobby Cox and everyone was raving about Heyward's maturity and all that stuff.

Could really be the difference maker at this point