Last night I had the good fortune to take in a game in Wilmington, where the Blue Rocks (High A for the Royals) hosted the Salem Red Sox.  The Blue Rocks ran out John Lamb who was ranked as a top-ten Royals prospect by Baseball America, and very quickly you could see why.  His fastball seemed to top out around 97mph, but he had a change-up that came in around 74 making hitters struggle in their swings.  He had great control and in 6.2 innings he only walked two hitters.

The Red Sox sent Caleb Clay to the mound, who was also pretty good.  He didn’t have the velocity of Lamb, but he seemed to be able to use what he had to get the Blue Rocks out until the 5th inning, when the Rocks were finally  able to score.   In the 6th, he also allowed a monster home run to Eric Hosmer, who was just named to the 2010 All-Star Future’s Game team as a representative of the Royals.  He is leading the Carolina league in many offensive categories.  The Blue Rocks won the game 2-0.

The Blue Rocks is a lovely park, very basic in its design.  The field is named for the local Negro Leagues pitcher Judy Johnson.  There are a lot of typical between inning minor league activities, and lots of kids were involved in making the game experience great, including when they gathered the kids behind home plate to lead the crowd in singing ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame.’

Here is a photo taken at Wilmington a couple of years ago to give you an idea.  Just a great place to see a game.

Frawley Stadium, Judy Johnson Field