Every Tuesday, Minor Matters will run down the top 10 players from the Thunder's 2010 season. In a year that saw eight of Baseball America's 16 pitchers (excluding Mike Dunn and Arodys Vizcaino, who were out of the organization) in their top 30, not to mention Austin Romine and Brandon Laird, there were plenty of good choices to go around.

No. 7 - Marcos Vechionacci - IF

Why he's here: When I started this beat back in 2008, Vechionacci was one of the bigger names I was looking forward to watching play. His bat came with great reviews, and his arm was named by Baseball America as the best in the system.

Unfortunately, nagging injuries and plain ineffectiveness derailed his prospect status. Although he had the team's second-most home runs (10) in 2009, he hit a putrid .213/.278/.610. He was a minor league free agent at the end of the year, and elected to return to the Yankees' system, and ultimately Trenton.

Things changed this year, and those changes paid major dividends for himself and the Thunder. He started 2010 as a utility man, stuck behind third baseman Brandon Laird and first baseman Kevin Smith on the depth chart.

When Smith flamed out, however, Vechionacci became the starter at first. And although he didn't always look pretty over there, he more than got the job done. Oh, and he was able to hit a little bit.

Vechionacci raised his average 70 points, up to .283, and bumped his other two slash numbers to .350 and .771. He also homered 11 times and drove home 55 runs. Not quite enough to bump him back to prospect status, but enough to get him job in 2011, even if it's not with the Yankees.

Biggest moment of the season: One could argue that Smith getting released was the season's biggest moment for Vechionacci, but we'll go with a good game instead.

On July 9 in Bowie, Vechionacci went 3-for-4 with a longball and three RBIs in a 4-3 Thunder loss. It was the start of a small bad stretch for the team entering the All-Star break, but Vechionacci was bright spot.

Outlook for 2011: Once again Vechionacci is a free agent, and is tearing the cover off the ball for Navegantes de Magellanes in the Venezuelan Winter League. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Yankees re-sign him and make him the first baseman in Triple-A Scranton.

The List

RHP: Jason Hirsh (AAA), Ronny Marte (Hi A), Jonathan Ortiz (Hi A), Zack Segovia (AAA), John Van Benschoten (AAA)
LHP: Wilkin de la Rosa (AA), Jose Quintana (Lo A)
C: Ronny Calderon (R), Jose Gil (Hi A), Robby Hammock+ (AAA), P.J. Pilittere+ (AAA), Rene Rivera (AA)
1B: Brian Baisley++ (AA), Myron Leslie (Hi A)
3B: Marcos Vechionacci (AA)
SS: Eric Bruntlett (AAA)
OF: Justin Christian (AAA), Edwar Gonzalez (AAA), Reid Gorecki (AAA), Rudy Guillen+ (Hi A)

My thoughts: A lot of these are interesting. Eight of the 20 played in Trenton in 2010. I wouldn't be surprised to see Jose Gil back and doing the catching for the Thunder next season. Marcos Vechionacci finally started to show some potential with his bat, but it would seem that Brad Suttle is ripe for a promotion to Double-A. If they re-up with Vechionacci, I imagine he either would play first with Trenton or third in Scranton.

Given what happened with De La Rosa toward the end of the season -- losing his 40-man spot, allegations of illegal injections -- combined with a really bad year, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Yankees cut their ties with him.

A return for Edwar Gonzalez also wouldn't shock me.

What did surprise me was Jonathan Ortiz's free agency. I did not realize he'd been around long enough to be eligible. Hard to imagine him not being a big part of the Thunder bullpen next year, but I've been wrong before.

The Thunder won their eighth straight game yesterday, with a little help from Lance Pendleton and Marcos Vechionacci. Mike Ashmore was covering for The Trentonian, and filed this story.

Also, in surprising news, the Yankees released Thunder Opening Day starter Christian Garcia, who was on the 40-man roster. The move was made necessary when the Yankees picked up righty fireballer Shane Lindsay, who had been released by the Colorado Rockies.
Here's the story Mike wrote.

PITCHING MATCHUPS

RHP Ryan Pope (0-2, 4.87) vs. LHP Jon Kibler (2-2, 2.55) 6:35 p.m.
LHP Jeremy Bleich (1-1, 2.38) vs. RHP LJ Gagnier (2-0, 1.54) 1:05 p.m.
RHP David Phelps (2-0, 1.08) vs. LHP Duane Below (1-3, 6.39) 1:05 p.m.

Keys to the Series: The Thunder need to keep the offensive prowess from Sunday working, while simultaneously getting rid of the absolutely abysmal pitching. The bullpen in particular, which blew three saves and took four losses on the 1-6 homestand, needs to get back on track. The Thunder had leads in six games of the homestand, and lost five.

Who's Hot: Austin Romine has an 11-game hitting streak going, during which time he's clubbed eight doubles and driven in as many runs. Amazingly enough, he didn't play during the 12-run outburst. ... Marcos Vechionacci is 4-for-9 with a home run and three RBIs over his last two games. ... Brandon Laird is 6 for his last 16.

Good afternoon. The Thunder lost last night for the first time in 2010, 5-1 to the Akron Aeros. D.J. Mitchell wasn't sharp, and the bats -- except for David Adams, who had another three hits -- weren't humming.

John Van Benschoten, a first-round pick of the Pirates in 2001, took the disabled Christian Garcia's spot on the roster and relieved Mitchell in the fourth inning. That notebook also has news on Marcos Vechionacci's role with the team and Damon Sublett's status.

Another note on Van Benschoten: He is now the third pick from the first round of the 2001 draft to play with the Thunder, joining Justin Pope and Alan Horne.

Today's starters around the minors:

Charleston - Shaeffer Hall (0-0, 0.00)
Tampa - Hector Noesi (1-0, 0.00)
Trenton - Lance Pendleton (1-0, 0.00)
Scranton - Ivan Nova (0-0, 0.00)

For Trenton, Lance Pendleton is taking Garcia's spot in the rotation, and probably will be for the forseeable future. He and Wilkin De La Rosa were supposed to be relievers this season, but plans changed when Garcia tore a ligament in his right elbow. Here's the story I did on Sunday, just after Pendleton found out he was going back into the rotation.

Check back later for the live blog from Waterfront Park.

Lineups
Akron
CF - Fedroff
3B - Chisenhall
LF - Weglarz
1B - McBride
RF - Drennen
SS - Rivero
2B - Phelps
DH - Goedert
C - Toregas

Trenton
CF - Krum
2B - Adams
C - Romine
3B - Laird
LF - Gorecki
RF - Brewer
DH - Smith
1B - Vechionacci
SS - Nunez

Notes: Yes, you read that right, Marcos Vechionacci is playing first base. He's done it four times in his professional career and is doing it again tonight. He's in a utility role with the Thunder, and first base is part of that role. Manager Tony Franklin said before the game that we might see him in the outfield sometime this season.

Christian Garcia is still here, and was shagging balls and hitting a few fungoes before the game. This came as a bit of a shock to me, just because I thought that, with an injury of that magnitude, just about everything having to do with that arm would cause considerable pain.

I was wrong.

Garcia told me before the game that he can do everything but throw a ball with that arm. If he wanted, he could even flip balls underhand. The only thing he does that causes considerable pain is extending his arm, a fairly critical part of pitching.

John Van Benschoten joined the team today to take the place of Garcia, who was officially placed on the disabled list. Van Benschoten is a former first-round pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

First inning: Mitchell's trademark two-seamer didn't seem to be biting, but he worked around a leadoff hit and a one-out walk to get out of the inning unscathed.

Austin Krum and Austin Romine each fan, and David Adams gets picked off of first by Ryan Edell, who has a fantastic move.

Second inning: A lot of ground balls have gone through against Mitchell, but the big damage came on Jared Goedert's RBI single into the corner in left. He advanced to second on the play. Cord Phelps, who had singled before Goedert, scored on catcher Wyatt Toregas' fielder's choice.

Thunder go 1-2-3. Dan Brewer made a loud out on a long lineout to center field. 2-0 Akron.

Third inning: Matt McBride opened with a single, but the cat-like Marcos Vechionacci turned a swift 3-6-3 double play to help Mitchell escape that jam.

Kevin Smith opened with a walk, but Vechionacci, Nunez and Krum all went down in order to keep it scoreless.

Fourth inning: A wild pitch scored one run, and Rahway native Tim Fedroff's single drove home another. Lonnie Chisenhall made a loud out to center and finished Mitchell's night. John Van Benschoten relieved and allowed a hit before getting out of the inning. 4-0 Akron.

David Adams led off with a hit, but Austin Romine flew to left, Brandon Laird fanned and Adams was caught stealing by catcher Wyatt Toregas.

Fifth inning: Both teams go 1-2-3, with the Thunder flying out to shortstop, second base and left field.

Sixth inning: Van Benschoten gets around a walk and a hit to open the frame, and Luis Nunez hits a long home run to left field to get the Thunder on the board. 4-1 Akron.

Seventh inning: The heart of the Thunder's order -- Austin Romine, Brandon Laird and Reid Gorecki -- went down on a strikeout, a fly to left and a foul pop to catcher Wyatt Toregas, who made fantastic play near the fence.

Eighth inning: With two on and two out, Austin Krum gave one a long ride to right-center field, but it died in the wind and turned into a long flyout.

Ninth inning: Aeros add one on a John Drennen sac fly, Thunder have Adams, Romine and Laird coming up.

Good morning, everybody.

After a long night of sleep after a long day of travel back from Tampa (someone should have told me before I got up at 3:15 that the Tampa Airport gates don't open until 4:30), it's back to work.

Today's main goal will be acquiring and posting the roster. I know it's out there, it's just a matter of pestering the right sources long enough. This, fair readers, is what I will do for you.

Like I said on Saturday night, after confirming about two thirds of the roster, I expect the rest of the team to shake down this way:

C - Jose Gil
1B - Kevin Smith
SS - Walter Ibarra
IF - Luis Nunez
RP - Pat Venditte
RP - Grant Duff
RP - Phil Bartleski
RP - Adam Olbrychowski

That said, it wouldn't surprise me if Nunez or Ibarra were replaced by Marcos Vechionacci, or two of the relievers were replaced by Wilkins Arias and Noel Castillo, especially considering both of them spent the entire camp with the Double-A work group.

Until the roster comes out, however, here's a few more pics from the trip to tide you over (I took 524 pics down there, according to my camera). Clockwise from top, Ramiro Pena signing autographs, Andy Pettitte lounging in the bullpen, Justin Snyder talking things over with Jody Reed, and Tony Franklin throwing BP.

Once again, per the Thunder via trainer Tim Lentych.

PITCHING

Christian Garcia: 5 shutout innings
Craig Heyer: 3 innings, 2 runs

HITTING

Austin Krum: Double, Single, HBP, 3 runs
Myron Leslie: 2-run HR
Austin Romine: Triple, 2 RBIs
Marcos Vechionacci: 2 singles, 2 RBIs
Brandon Laird: Single, RBI
Walter Ibarra: Single
Eduardo Sosa: Walk, Single, Run