MLB Prospect Watch

Prospect Potent Potables - Peguero, Galvis, Short stops

• Despite hitting a wall (figuratively) and struggling for much of December, Mariners OF prospect Carlos Peguero is still leading the Dominican League in home runs, notes Greg Johns of MLB.com.
• Not having much success offensively is Phillies SS prospect Freddy Galvis, notes Beerleaguer.com.  Galvis is the only in-house candidate to take over if Jimmy Rollins is not re-signed.
• Speaking of short stops, John Sickles compares three short stop prospects - Adeiny Hechavarria, Jose Iglesias, and Tim Beckham.

Making Moves - Stutes, Valaika, Lawrie, Mariners

• With temporary closer Jose Contrares headed to the DL, the Phillies have called up reliever Mike Stutes, reports Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer.  Stutes will not close for the Phillies, but the 24-year-old righty who almost made the team out of spring training will joined what has become a depleted bullpen in which late innings are now up for grabs.
• The Reds have promoted INF prospect Chris Valaika to the majors to take the injured Scott Rolen's place on the 25-man roster, according to John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
• Despite a rash of injuries at the big league level, the Blue Jays will not be promoting 3B prospect Brett Lawrie to fill any of their current vacancies, says Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com.
• The Seattle Mariners have sent down reliever Josh Lueke and OF Carlos Peguero, reports Larry Stone of The Seattle Times.  Lueke has struggled at the big league level, and Peguero was only in Seattle temporarily to fill in for Justin Smoak while Smoak was away on bereavement leave.  Replacing Lueke in the Mariners bullpen, however, will be fellow prospect Dan Cortes.

 

Prospect Action - Royals, Harper, Teheran

• J.D. Martinez continues to drive in runs, as the Astros prospect recorded an RBI in his 8th straight game, reports David Heck of MiLB.com.
• Yankees catching prospect Austin Romine hit two home runs on Wednesday night, says Josh Norris of The Trentonian.
• Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas both homered to help lead the Royals Triple-A affiliate in Omaha to victory, notes Danny Wild of MiLB.com.
• Carlos Peguero made his major league debut with the Mariners, going 0-for-4 with 3 strikeouts while filling in with the major league team while Justin Smoak is temporarily away from the team, says Jerry Brewer of The Seattle Times.
• Bryce Harper recorded just his second multi-hit day of the season, going 2-for-5 with a double, reports Danny Wild of MiLB.com.  The Nationals top prospect is batting .250 on the season, with 13 strikeouts in as many games.
• Julio Teheran finally got his first Triple-A win, despite the fact that the Braves top prospect had been pitching well all season, notes Robert Emrich of MiLB.com.

 

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.

 

Prospect Potent Potables - Lyles, McNutt, Dominguez, Pomeranz

• Jordan Lyles is impressing people in Astros camp, not because of his pure stuff, but because of how advanced his knowledge is of how to use it for a player who just turned 20-years-old, says Steve Campbell of the Houston Chronicle.
• Carlos Peguero has had both ups and downs this spring in Mariners camp, but the experience is invaluable for the power-hitting OF prospect, who is likely ticketed for Triple-A to start this season, reports Greg Johns of MLB.com.
• Royals LHP prospect Danny Duffy is working on catching his fastball command up to where his curveball and changeup command are this spring, reports Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star.
• The Orioles like what Ryan Adams offers with his bat, but are still working to find his best spot in the field, says Roch Kubatko for Baseball America.
• Trey McNutt is learning to do more with less, and he's learning from the master, Cubs special assistant Greg Maddux, reports Carrie Muskat of MLB.com.
• Mark Trumbo put up monster numbers last season, but as Kevin Baxter of the Los Angeles Times reports, the Angels first base prospect wants to show everyone that last year wasn't a fluke.  And as Lyle Spencer of MLB.com points out, Trumbo is doing exactly that this spring.
• The Marlins feel that Matt Dominguez has progressed enough with his bat so far this spring to justify keeping him and his gold-glove caliber defense in the majors at the start of the season, says Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald.
• Drew Pomeranz is making pro ball look easy in Indians camp, and is doing it with only two pitches, notes Jordan Bastain of MLB.com.  The lefty's goal this year is to develop his change-up to the same level as his plus-fastball and plus-curveball.