MLB Prospect Watch

Prospect Action - 4/30/12

Triple-A

• Charlie Leesman was let down by his fellow White Sox prospects on Monday, as his defense made eight errors behind him, causing him to give up five unearned runs and fail to finish the second inning in an ugly loss, notes The Charlotte Observer.  Jordan Danks had three hits in the loss.
• Travis d'Arnaud is heating up after a slow start, as the Blue Jays top prospect collected three more hits on Monday night, extending his hitting streak to 10 games, notes Ashley Marshall of MiLB.com.
• Andrew Brackman lost a battle with his control, as the Reds prospect failed to get out of the second inning after walking five batters, notes The Virginian-Pilot.

Double-A

• Tommy Joseph doubled and hit two home runs, as the Giants 2009 second-rounder drove in three, raising his batting average to .257 on the season, reports Robert Emrich of MiLB.com.
• Yankees OF prospect Melky Mesa homered, writes Mike Ashmore of Thunder Baseball.
• Deck McGuire pitched better on Monday, giving up just three earned runs in 6 2/3 innings and lowering his season ERA to 7.18, but he still got saddled with a loss, as he was outpitched by Phillies prospect Trevor May, who allowed just two earned runs over seven strong innings, improving to 5-0.

High-A

• Nick Castellanos ended April on the same high note he spent most of it on, as the Tigers third base prospect went 2-for-5 on Monday night, reports David Yates of The Lakeland Ledger.
• Gerrit Cole earned his first professional win on Monday, as the Pirates first overall pick from last season threw six innings of one-hit ball, striking out six, according to Ashley Marshall of MiLB.com.  Chad James took the loss in the game, as the Marlins pitching prospect didn't stack up well against Cole, giving up five earned runs in 4 1/3 innings.

Low-A

• Patrick Leyland hit a three-run homer, notes MLive.com.
• You know you're hot when it's news when you give up a hit, but that's exactly how hot Dylan Bundy has been.  The Orioles top prospect finally gave up his first hit as a professional, but still faced the minimum amount of batters, reports Jim Shonerd of Baseball America.
• On the other end of the spectrum from Bundy is Cubs Cuban defector Gerardo Concepcion, who got hit even harder in his second start than he did in his first, allowing seven earned runs without getting out of the first inning.

 

Prospect Action - Singleton, Perez, Fuentes

• The Phillies affiliate in Clearwater was led by a Jonathan Singleton home run and seven strong innings by Julio Rodriguez, over which he fanned 10 batters, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.
• Martin Perez got rocked in his first home start in Triple-A, as the Rangers top prospect allowed 12 hits in 3 2/3 innings pitched, reports Tim Grubbs of NOLA.com.
• Cubs 3B prospect Josh Vitters slugged his 9th homer of the year.
• Yankees prospect Cito Culver put together a 3-hit day.
• Padres CF prospect Reymond Fuentes had 4 hits, including a homer and a triple.
• Marlins pitcher Chad James won his second straight start after starting the year 0-13.

 

Notable Prospect Performances - 6/9

Thank you, Stephen Strasburg, for reminding us again how much fun baseball can be.  You should probably, however, apologize to Mike Stanton for completely overshadowing his 3-hit debut.

In other action...

• It was a big night for Indians' prospects, as Carlos Santana hit his 12 home run of the season and Lonnie Chisenhall homered for Double-A Akron in support of Alex White, who gave up only one hit over six innings, but walked five.
• Brandon Erbe had another rough outing, reports Dean Jones, Jr. of the Baltimore Sun, but there's some good offensive news for the O's from the game, as Brandon Snyder and Josh Bell each had two hits and an RBI.
• Mike Minor has been racking up major strikeout numbers, but he's also had a couple of clunkers tossed in, like the 7 ER's he gave up Tuesday night.
• Yesterday made back-to-back 3-hit nights for Desmond Jennings.  When he gets hot, look out.
• There were some impressive strikeout totals recorded in places other than Washington on Tuesday night, including those by Dan Hudson, who punched out 10 over 7 IP, Brody Colvin who K'd 8 in 7 IP, and Chad James, who set down 9 batters in 5 innings of work.

Organizational Update - Florida Marlins

The Marlins' organization is more than Mike Stanton...but not that much more.

Matt Dominguez - Stats

Dominguez is a prime example that the jump from A to AA is the most difficult of all, and has a line of .231/.316/.401 to prove it.  In his defense, his .717 OPS is actually the exact average of the league, but it has been an unimpressive showing for the former first-rounder this season.  His line drive rates are significantly lower in Double-A than they have been throughout his professional career, indicating that he just can't seem to square up the more advanced pitching.

Isaac Galloway - Stats

Each year and each promotion to a new level for Galloway leads to less contact and less production.  After a 12/89 BB/K ratio last season in Low-A ball, the Marlins decided to send Galloway to the Florida State League anyway.  Should we be surprised then by his .549 OPS?

Brad Hand - Stats

As Hand has advanced to the higher levels of the minors, he hasn't induced nearly as many ground balls.  Those ground balls have turned in to line drives, this he is giving up significantly more hits.  Sometimes it's just that simple.  He misses enough bats (more than one per innings this year) and has enough control that he could be effective, but he needs to force more ground balls to get his ERA back below 4.00.

Chad James - Stats

We have only a small sample size for last year's first round pick, but James is off to a decent enough start.  He's striking out a batter an inning, but 15 BB's in 26 innings is too many.  If he can limit the free passes, however, he should progress nicely but will also need to continue to induce ground balls at a high rate.

Logan Morrison - Stats

Morrison has continued to prove his merit as a top prospect despite losing the 1B battle to Gaby Sanchez in Spring Training.  He continues to improve his control of the strike zone, as evidenced by his 13/11 BB/K ratio, and his .291/.394/.519 line in Triple-A should merit him a promotion this fall.  He's the Marlins' best prospect not named Stanton.

Kyle Skipworth - Stats

The Marlins' first round pick in 2008 is rebounding nicely from a brutal 2009 season, and is at least showing off the power that made him sigh a high pick.  The Marlins would certainly like to see some more plate control, but .256/.318/.494 is at least a signal that Skipworth does have the talent to continue to progress.

Mike Stanton - Stats

Words and numbers don't really begin to describe the legend that is becoming Mike Stanton, but we'll try anyway.  .300/.429/.706 shows you the kind of power Stanton has, but it's his plate discipline this year that has been most impressive (40/51 BB/K ratio).  The only knock on Stanton is the strikeout rates, which have always been incredibly high.  Typically that much swinging and missing doesn't translate well to major league success, but Stanton may be the exception to the rule.

Ryan Tucker - Stats

The Marlins are desperately trying to get something out of their 2005 1st round pick, but Tucker's Triple-A numbers don't give them much hope.  His 19/17 K/BB ratio is an indication of a complete lack of command.