MLB Prospect Watch

Making Moves - 6/1

There was a lot of noteworthy prospect movement over the long Memorial Day Weekend...

• There's no way you could have missed it, but in case you did, the Nationals announced that the Stephen Strasburg Era will officially begin on June 8th, reports Bill Ladson of MLB.com.  He'll make his last minor league start on June 3rd.  We'll miss talking about him here at MLBPW, and something tells me he won't be back to the minors.
• Somehow, we can't say the same thing about Buster Posey with any confidence.  As Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle points out, the Giants have a decision to make once Mark DeRosa comes off the DL, and moving Posey back to the minors is still on the table.  So is having him catch more regularly.  Fellow Chronicle writer Bruce Jenkins explains just how stupid it would be to send Posey back to the minors.
• The Cubs called Andrew Cashner up to the majors and used him in their bullpen right away, reports Gordon Wittenmyer of Inside the Cubs.  Casher needed only one pitch to record his first and only major league out in his debut.
• The Pirates won't be promoting their triumvirate of prospects anytime soon, according to Chuck Finder of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  Quoting Pirates' GM Neal Huntington, Finder offers an explanation why Brad Lincoln, Pedro Alvarez, and Jose Tabata will remain in the minors for the time being, and frankly, all three explanations make sense.  Recent call-up Neil Walker is proving he belongs, however, and appears to be taking over at second base full-time, says Gazette writer Dejan Kovacevic.
• Scott Elbert is back in the minors after an uninspiring performance out of the Dodgers' bullpen over the weekend.
• Tyler Flowers could get a promotion despite his struggles at the plate, thanks to the White Sox desire to avoid A.J. Pierzynski's approaching 10-and-5 rights, reports Scott Merkin of MLB.com.
• The Indians have promoted hard-throwing lefty Nick Hagadone to Double-A, reports Tony of Indians Prospect Insider.

Prospect Hot Sheet

Baseball America has released their weekly prospect hot sheet, and this week's edition includes some names who were ice cold earlier this season.

• J.P. Arencibia
• Tim Beckham
• Andrew Cashner
• Simon Castro
• Hank Conger
• Randall Delgado
• Todd Frazier
• Jeremy Hellickson
• Dan Hudson
• Chris Marrero
• Ethan Martin
• Bryan Morris
• Wil Myers
• Stolmy Pimental
• Ben Revere
• Wilking Rodriguez
• Kyle Russell
• Mike Stanton
• Arodys Vizcaino

On the down side this week were Jaff Decker, Wilson Ramos, Shelby Miller and Josh Vitters.

Making Moves - 5/28

• Arizona Diamondbacks' top prospect Jarrod Parker is back on the mound on the road to recovery from Tommy John surgery, reports Steve Gilbert of MLB.com.  Parker had surgery last October and is just beginning to throw.
• Also on the long road back from injury is Jared Mitchell, but the White Sox' prospect is ahead of schedule, says Jeff Buchanan of Future Sox.com.
• Jason Castro should be in Houston at some point this season, reports Zachary Levine of the Houston Chronicle.
• Mike Stanton is coming, reports Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, whether the Marlins' outfielders are ready or not.  Joe Frisaro of MLB.com goes over the Marlins' options for getting everyone enough at-bats.
• Orioles' prospect Kieron Pope is back in action after recovering from a broken leg, writes Noah Rosenstein of MLB.com.
• Jack Moore of FanGraphs.com makes the latest case for Buster Posey's promotion to San Francisco.
• The Cubs have put Andrew Cashner in their Triple-A bullpen in order to get him ready for a relief role in the majors later in the season, reports Carrie Muskat of MLB.com.  Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times adds his input as well.  The Cubs made a similar move with fellow prospect Jay Jackson earlier this season, and either or both could be at Wrigley this year.
• Basebal America has their weekly transaction report, which includes a few moves that slipped under the radar, including:
• • Lonnie Chisenhall (CLE) to the 7-day DL (shoulder)
  • Zack Wheeler (SF) to the 7-day DL (fingernail...seriously)
  • Zach Braddock (MIL) added to the 40-man roster and could be in line for a call up

Prospect Potent Potables - 5/22

• The Indians promoted Nick Weglarz to Triple-A Columbus, reports Indians Prospect Insider.
• Depressed Kansas City residents should start watching the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, the Royals' Double-A affiliate, featuring Aaron Crow, Mike Moustakas, Mike Montgomery, and the rest of your 2013 Kansas City Royals.
• There are a lot of question marks about Kyle Russell as a potential major leaguer, but production isn't one of them.  The Dodgers' outfielder continues to produce and will continue to be challenged to see if scout's doubts are warranted.
• The Cubs need a reliever and Andrew Cashner used to be one, but if he continues to have dominant starts like he did on Saturday night, it will be tough to justify such a move.  No longer relying on pure velocity, Cashner is now locating his fastball with more precision, says Robert Emerich of MLB.com.  If the Cubs need his power arm in their bullpen in 2010, the move will be only temporary until Cashner proves he can't start at the big league level.
• Bad news for Yankees' prospect watchers, as it looks like Jeremy Bleich's issues this year may be due to injury and will need surgery to fix the problem, according to Tim Bontemps of the NY Post.  No official announcement from the team has been made, but the Bleich continues to get tests on his balky throwing shoulder.  The news isn't all bad for Yankees' fans though, says EJ Fagan of The Yankee U, who tells Bombers' fans not to worry about the concern surrounding Zach McAllister.
• Tim Kurkjian (via SportsCenter) predicts that Stephen Strasburg will be called up to Washington during the first week in June, and on Baseball Tonight Buster Olney predicted June 4th specifically.  Kurkjian also mentioned June 8th as a possibility.

And We're Back...

...sort of.

We're still working out some of the technical kinks here at MLBPW, but the prospect itch has now gone un-scratched for too long.  So while there still may be some elements of the site that give you issues (and for that we apologize), we have things working well enough to get back to doing what we love to do - give you all the information you need to know from around the prospect world.  After all, we couldn't watch Stephen Strasburg throw 6 no-hit innings and not talk about it right?  

Strasburg's dominant start has further accelerated the prognostications of when he will arrive in Washington, although some believe we will see Drew Storen in Nationals Park before Strasburg.  Personally, it wouldn't be shocking to see them arrive around the same time considering their similar service time scenarios.

Strasburg isn't the only pitcher making the jump to Triple-A look like child's play.  Andrew Cashner received a similar promotion, and was solid in his first start.  Normally predicting the possibility of an additional jump to the majors this year for Cashner would be nothing more than reckless conjecturing, but given the Cubs' recent unforeseen promotion of 20-year-old Starlin Castro, nothing is off the table.

Speaking of 20-year-olds in the majors, how long until we see Mike Stanton in Florida?  As tales of his legendary blasts grow, so do stories of his maturity and makeup, suggesting that even at 20 he may be able to handle the jump, both on the field and off.  Contrast Stanton against a more traditional 20-year-old prospect like Eric Hosmer, who is having a solid bounce-back year after a disastrous 2009 season but is only in High-A ball, and you can see just how impressive Stanton's performances have been.