MLB Prospects

[alkeiper]

I thought it'd be a good idea to look at prospects knocking on the door of the majors. Are they ready? Who are they competing against? Who is blocked? I'm focusing on the International League to start, though others are free to chime in on the PCL.

Baltimore: Gregg Zaun is hitting .129, Felix Pie is hitting .167, Adam Eaton has a 7.17 ERA. The Norfolk Tide meanwhile are sitting on catcher Matt Wieters, left fielder Nolan Reimold (.390/.469/.756) and starter Chris Tillman (2-0, 2.37 ERA). David Hernandez also has 32 strikeouts in 19.7 IP. The scouts have never been impressed with Hernandez, but no one is impressed with Eaton or Mark Hendrickson.

Boston: I wrote off Daniel Bard a couple seasons ago after his control completely disappeared. Since converted to the bullpen, he has struck out 23 batters in 13.7 IP at Pawtucket. Boston's bullpen has been a strength, but they have another Papelbon in their midst.

NY Yankees: While Melky Cabrera is swinging a hot bat, there is now a fair bit of evidence to suggest Brett Gardner is overmatched. Top prospect CF Austin Jackson meanwhile is hitting .389 for an extremely hot Scranton ballclub.

Tampa Bay: David Price looked great in the bullpen last season but still needs seasoning as a starter. Wade Davis needs to refine his control yet. Reid Brignac is hitting fair but not great in Durham.

NY Mets: Is Gary Sheffield done? Fernando Martinez is hitting in Buffalo, and might be ready for MLB action before long. If Martinez succeeds, the Mets have a natural solution for left field. And while Jon Niese is getting hit around, his peripherals look outstanding. Niese is certainly better than Oliver Perez right now, probably Livan Hernandez as well.

Atlanta: Tommy Hanson is demolishing IL hitters right now, but is completely blocked. He'll need to wait for an injury or for the Braves to lose faith in Jo-Jo Reyes.

Pittsburgh: Brandon Moss is struggling for the Pirates. McCutchen is the best leadoff prospect right now, and bringing him up would slide Nate McLouth to right field, making for a substantial improvement in team defense all around.

 

[devo]

Thanks to the several dozen other crises afflicting the team Sheffield's poor performance has thus far gone unnoticed. On top of that, from what I've seen the word going around is that he has an "edge" that the clubhouse apparently needs. If he's gone from the team before the All-Star Break I'd be shocked. In any case, the outfield looks too crowded this year for Martinez to break through, which doesn't bother me too much - I'd rather he get the last bit of polish and win the starting position next year than be used off the bench this season.

It'd be nice if they'd give Niese another chance but I don't think anybody's going to be able to look past his current AAA ERA of 6.55. Tim Redding and Nelson Figureoa will more than likely get the bump before he does, and I've heard rumblings that Ken Takahashi has a shot at assuming the slot as well.

 

[Smartly Pretty]

Ike Davis and Reese Havens are pretty interesting Mets prospcts right now in that neither of them could hit a lick in the New York Penn League last year but they're both raking in A ball right now. Havens is tied for the FSL lead in homers. Toby Hyde, who I go to for all of my Mets Minor League stuff only has Davis as the 14th best prospect in the Mets system despite being their top pick. I wonder how that will change if both guys continue to hit well in A ball. A call to double AA is certainly not out of the question for either one before the end of the season (pretty sure they were both college seniors. One might have been a junior) as they're both experienced.

 

[alkeiper]

Ike Davis has one home run to his credit in 308 career minor league at bats. That power outage is still a lingering disappointment I think for prospect watchers. Havens looks great though. Omar Minaya gets a lot of flack for the Mets' love of latino players, but some of those dominican kids might pay off huge in a couple seasons.

Minor league environments generally get ignored. Fans look at the minors and expect the same type of hitting lines. In reality, minor leagues tend to be tougher leagues for hitters than in the majors. For example, the LEAGUE slugging percentage of the NY-Penn League was .365. The National League hasn't seen anything like that since before the strike.

 

[Smartly Pretty]

Well, yeah, that's what I'm saying about Davis. He struggled and didn't hit a single home run in the NY-Penn League (or draw many walks, but that's another concern), but in 93 FSL at bats he's slugging .441 (the last time I checked this was good for top 20 in the FSL. I'll check again later). The pitching dominance of the NY-Penn league also really looks to have helped Brad Holt's stock, although I'm still high on him because his K/BB is pretty excellent.

Is anybody more fucked than Jason Donald? Are they going to move him to a new position? Just wait it out?

 

[alkeiper]

Well, yeah, that's what I'm saying about Davis. He struggled and didn't hit a single home run in the NY-Penn League (or draw many walks, but that's another concern), but in 93 FSL at bats he's slugging .441 (the last time I checked this was good for top 20 in the FSL. I'll check again later). The pitching dominance of the NY-Penn league also really looks to have helped Brad Holt's stock, although I'm still high on him because his K/BB is pretty excellent.

Is anybody more fucked than Jason Donald? Are they going to move him to a new position? Just wait it out?

18th in fact. Havens leads the league with his slugging percentage.

Donald is now getting some starts at third base. I still think his ultimate value is in trade bait.

 

[Smues]

Maybe Al or someone who follows these things can help me with this one, what happened to Will Startup? I followed him through the Braves farm system, and I wanted to see his 'ninja style' delivery (so sayeth Al), then he was traded to I think San Diego while he was in AAA, and doesn't appear to have pitcher since that season. Any ideas what happened to the guy?

 

[jimmy no nose]

Will Startup injured his elbow before the 2008 season and missed all of last year and is looking like he'll probably miss all of this year as well. It's not supposed to be a career ender, he just had a big setback, and should be back throwing in a few months I think. If he wasn't injured he'd probably in the Padres bullpen right now. They way they put that thing together is ridiculous.

 

[the pinjockey]

On the lower end of the scale, I still fail to see the logic behind the Phils having Miguel Cairo on the bench instead of bringing up John Mayberry Jr. to be the RH bat off the bench (Cairo/Bruntlett/Coste, ugh).

Cairo is redundant with Eric Bruntlett already on the roster and Mayberry now has a .284/.366/.593/.958 line. Hell, if you aren't using him in that role then what was the point of the deal. At this rate, by the time they call him up, it'll be time for Michael Taylor to be up.

 

[alkeiper]

On the lower end of the scale, I still fail to see the logic behind the Phils having Miguel Cairo on the bench instead of bringing up John Mayberry Jr. to be the RH bat off the bench (Cairo/Bruntlett/Coste, ugh).

Cairo is redundant with Eric Bruntlett already on the roster and Mayberry now has a .284/.366/.593/.958 line. Hell, if you aren't using him in that role then what was the point of the deal. At this rate, by the time they call him up, it'll be time for Michael Taylor to be up.

Carrying Cairo is ridiculous. A club with Utley and Rollins barely needs one backup infielder, let alone two. The fact that he only has eight plate appearances and two defensive innings really shows how useless he is on that team.

 

[Broward83]

...whatever happened to Lastings Milledge?

 

[alkeiper]

Baseball America took a bold step in naming Dominic Brown the #1 Phillies' prospect. 25 games into this season, Brown leads the Florida State League in OPS.

 

[Mik]

...whatever happened to Lastings Milledge?

He's here in Syracuse with me.

 

[tekcop]

I don't watch much Minor League baseball, but Greg Halman is supposed to be the Mariner's #1 prospect. He could be really great if he'd quit striking out so much.

 

[Smartly Pretty]

Fernando Martinez took Clay Bucholz deep twice this afternoon. I thought that bit of info might be useful to a lot of us. Bucholz didn't pitch well but still has a sub 2 ERA. Martinez is hitting .343 in May with 6 homers, after a .233 April with only one.

I just thought some of us might find that game interesting.

 

[jimmy no nose]

Anyone have any insight on the upcoming draft? Any players to watch outside of the obvious names like Strasburg? From what I gather after the first pick it looks like everything is up in the air as there's no dominant talent anywhere and it looks like there might be as many as 20 pitchers taken in the first round. Probably won't happen, but it looks like the rankings kind of favor that.

 

[alkeiper]

Anyone have any insight on the upcoming draft? Any players to watch outside of the obvious names like Strasburg? From what I gather after the first pick it looks like everything is up in the air as there's no dominant talent anywhere and it looks like there might be as many as 20 pitchers taken in the first round. Probably won't happen, but it looks like the rankings kind of favor that.

I'm keeping an eye on where Shaver Hansen goes out of Baylor. Shaver is the son of Stan Hansen.

Personally, the Phillies have the 75th pick so I haven't been keeping close tabs.

 

[alkeiper]

Congratulations to Jeanmar Gomez, who pitched a perfect game for Akron against the Trenton Thunder today.

 

[jimmy no nose]

This end of May-beginning of June period is the big spot for call ups as teams start to feel safe about avoiding Super-2 status. We already have Reid Brignac and David Price up with the Rays, Fernando Martinez making an appearance with the Mets, Jack Fox getting an AB with the Cubs, and Matt Wieters penciled in for Friday. The Pirates probably wait on Andrew McCutchen until a roster spot opens, either through trade or injury. I wouldn't be surprised if they stick him in left field and leave McLouth in center though, just through the end of the season. They're obsessed with having "a second center fielder" in left to cover the big gap at PNC Park.

 

[alkeiper]

The Pirates would be smart to start with a first center fielder. McLouth doesn't cut it out there.

 

[the pinjockey]

I like looking at the Lakewood box scores as it seems if Anthony Gose gets on base, it is a given that he is going to steal a base. He now has 30 steals (I believe a minor leading total) while rocking a .294 OBP.

 

[alkeiper]

I like looking at the Lakewood box scores as it seems if Anthony Gose gets on base, it is a given that he is going to steal a base. He now has 30 steals (I believe a minor leading total) while rocking a .294 OBP.

Indeed. He's reached base about 55 times, and attempted 35 stolen bases. The hitting is subpar, but Gose is also a toolsy outfielder and is extremely young for the level.