MLB Prospect Watch

Blogs Track Teams - 4/13/11

• Tim Williams of PiratesProspects.com reports on the strong pitching performances throughout the Pirates organization, including those by Bryan Morris, Kyle McPherson, and Zack Von Rosenberg.
• Jack Dempsey of PineTarPress.com has info on how the Royals prospects did on Tuesday, including Wil Myers' three-hit day.
• Josh Norris of Minor Matters updates us on Jesus Montero's multi-hit day, Slade Heathcott knocking two more extra base hits, and other Yankee prospect news.
• Manny Machado finally had a bad day at the plate, notes Jordan Tuwiner of Orioles-Nation.com, who has more results on the rest of the Orioles farm system.
• Mike Minor didn't seem to bring his control problems back to Triple-A with him, according to TalkingChop.com, who checks in with all the Braves prospect happenings.
• FutureRedbirds.com has updates on Tony Cruz, Zack Cox, and the rest of the Cardinals prospects that were in action on Tuesday.
• Doug Gray of RedsMinorLeagues.com chimes in on Devin Mesoraco's walk-off home run and Billy Hamilton's rising stolen base total.
• Jared Massey of LAdodgertalk.com had lots of good news to report, between Dee Gordon's 4-hit day Jerry Sands' fourth homer in as many games, and other Dodger prospects in action.

 

Big Day of Cuts - Harper, Rizzo, Pomeranz

Saturday saw a number of teams make significant roster cut downs as all teams approach the March 15th roster cut-down deadline (the last date a team has to assign an injured player to a minor league club - meaning that if a player is still in camp after that date and gets injured, the team can't send him to the minors, which is a risk teams are rarely willing to take for a few extra spring at-bats).  

Among the most notable moves was the Nationals re-assignment of Bryce Harper to Class-A Hagerstown, tweets Bill Ladson of MLB.com.  The move itself is not surprising, as it had already been reported that Harper was slated to begin his first full season in the South Atlantic League, but it does bring an end to an impressive two-week stretch from the 18-year-old Harper, who this time next year, could be legitimately competing for a roster spot.

As always, you can keep up-to-date on all the prospects who were in big league camp, and who still remain, on our spring training prospect page, Below is a list of the other prospects who were sent away from big league camp on Saturday:

• The Kansas City Royals re-assigned LHP's Chris Dwyer, John Lamb, and Will Smith to minor league camp, reports Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star.  None of the three were on the 40-man roster.
• The Pittsburgh Pirates optioned RHP Bryan Morris to Triple-A and re-assigned LHP Rudy Owens to minor league camp, reports Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com.
• The Philadelphia Phillies optioned RHP Justin De Fratus, 2B Harold Garcia, 1B Matt Rizzotti and RHP J.C. Ramirez to Double-A and re-assigned Michael Schwimer to minor league camp, reports David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News.  Surviving the cuts for now, however, was reliever Mike Stutes.
• The San Diego Padres optioned RHP Simon Castro to Triple-A and re-assigned 1B Anthony Rizzo and 3B James Darnell to minor league camp, reports Corey Brock of MLB.com.
• The Baltimore Orioles optioned RHP's Brandon Erbe and Chorye Spoone to Triple-A and re-assigned catcher Caleb Joseph to minor league camp, reports Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com.
• The Cleveland Indians have optioned RHP Corey Kluber to Triple-A and have re-assigned RHP Nick Hagadone, LHP Drew Pomeranz, RHP Hector Rondon, LHP Kelvin de la Cruz, and RHP Bryce Stowell to minor league camp, reports Jordan Bastain of MLB.com.
• The Tampa Bay Rays optioned LHP Alex Torres to Triple-A, says RaysProspects.com.
• The Seattle Mariners have optioned 3B Alex Liddi and OF Carlos Peguero to Triple-A and OF Johermyn Chavez to Double-A, reports Larry Stone of The Seattle Times.
• The Boston Red Sox optioned RHP Stolmy Pimentel and SS Oscar Tejada to Double-A, and have re-assigned RHP Alex Wilson, C's Ryan Lavarnway and Tim Federowicz, and OF Che-Hsuan Lin to minor league camp, reports Ian Browne of MLB.com.

 

Spring Prospect Action - Harper, Yankees, Belt, and more

This is why there's nothing that's not awesome about Spring Training...

• Bryce Harper made his spring debut on Monday, entering the game for the Nationals as a pinch-runner and eventually striking out twice in two at-bats, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com.
• The Yankees got some impressive pitching performances from two of their young arms, as Ivan Nova threw two perfect innings on Sunday, says Erik Boland of Newsday, and Dellin Betances struck out the side in his one inning of work, touching 97-MPH on the radar gun, reports Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.
• Mike Minor got off on the right foot towards claiming the Braves final rotation spot, says Mark Bowman of MLB.com.
• Phillies manager Charlie Manuel chalked up the poor performances of relief prospects Justin De Fratus and Michael Schwimer to trying to do too much in their first spring training performance, notes Todd Zolecki of MLB.com.
• Jarrod Parker walked the bases loaded in his first appearance in a Diamondbacks spring training game, but he also was able to work out of the jam, reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic.
• Brandon Belt got a start in the Giants split squad game on Monday and responded with three hits, notes Adam McCalvy of MLB.com.
• Aroldis Champan hit triple-digits repeatedly, but struggled mightily with his command, reports Mark Sheldon of MLB.com.
• Bryan Morris threw a one-two-three inning for the Pirates, including retiring Johnny Damon and Evan Longoria, according to Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com.
• And the following prospects put their power on display, homering during spring training action:
  • Matt Dominguez dropped a two-run bomb in his effort to show the Marlins that his bat is as far along as his much-heralded glove, says Matthew Leach of MLB.com.
  • Tim Wheeler homered off of Rockies teammate Christian Friedrich in Sunday's intra-squad game, notes Thomas Harding of MLB.com.
  • A's OF prospect Michael Taylor displayed the power that abandoned him for much of last year, says Lyle Spencer of MLB.com.
  • A number of Mariners prospects have been going deep, including Carlos Peguero on Sunday and Johermyn Chavez and Greg Halman on Monday
  • The future of the Royals offense was on display on Monday, as Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas both homered.

   

  
  
  

   

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.

Prospect Hot Sheet - 5/7

For the first time this season, but likely not the last, the Prospect Hot Sheet that Baseball America produces every Friday features a player that is already in the majors by the time we get to read it.  This week's list includes:

• Jay Austin
• Ryan Berry
• Brian Bogusevic
• Domonic Brown
• Starlin Castro
• Kelvin De La Cruz
• Luis Exposito
• Michael Kirkman
• Ian Krol
• Brett Lawrie
• Mike Moustakas
• Bryan Morris
• Rudy Owens
• Michael Pineda
• Neftali Soto
• Mike Stanton
• Graham Stoneburner
• Jose Tabata
• Julio Teheran
• Eric Thames

Making up the bad part of the list this week are Andrew Brackman, Brad Holt, Tim Melville, and Robert Stock.