MLB Prospect Watch

Prospect Hot Sheet - 8/6

Baseball America has their latest Hot Sheet out, and this week's version has a number of players form the lower levels of the minor leagues.  This week's list includes:

• Yonder Alonso
• Oswaldo Arcia
• Dellin Betances
• Bobby Borchering
• Pat Corbin
• Matt Davidson
• Joe Gardner
• Kyle Gibson
• Jason Kipnis
• Brandon Laird
• Zach Lutz
• Carlos Matias
• Mike Minor
• WIl Myers
• Cesar Puello
• Josh Reddick
• Rubby de la Rosa
• Cody Scarpetta
• Julio Teheran
• Joe Wieland

The negative part of the list this week includes Tony Thomas, Bryce Brentz, Eric Arnett, and Neftali Soto.

Notable Prospect Performances - 5/6

• Mike Montgomery brought his domination with him to Double-A, winning his first official start yesterday reports Benjamin Hill of MiLB.com.  The Royals' top pitching prospect struck out 8 batters in 5 2/3 IP.
• Kelvin De La Cruz retired 20 straight hitters in his outing on Wednesday, reports Robert Emrich of MLB.com.  He didn't earn a win in the outing, but the Indians' lefty gave up only 1 earned run in 8 1/3 IP, striking out 8, lowering his ERA on the season to 2.91.
• Eric Arnett only got to throw 3 innings thanks to tornadoes in the area, but they were three good innings and went a long way towards helping the Brewers' 2009 first-rounder forget about his rough start to the season, says Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal.  Arnett has had 4 rough starts so far in 2010, but looked like prospect the Brewers expect him to be in his brief stint last night.
• Zach Wheeler made the best start of his brief professional career, reports MiLB.com.  The Sally League was rough on the Giants' first-round pick from last year (6th overall) in his first three starts, but after being wildly effective in his last start, Wheeler was effectively dominant on Wednesday night, striking out 9 batters in 5 innings of work.
• Other performances of note include:
• • Starlin Castro with another multi-hit game.
  • Mike Moustakas hitting his 6th homerun of the season, and showing some patience at the plate.
  • Julio Teheran showing the Sally League why he won't be there for very long.

Baseball America Hot Sheet

Baseball America has released their weekly Hot Sheet (which they do every Friday) and there are some of the same names as there were last week.  This week's prospects recognized for their efforts include:

• Lars Anderson
• Simon Castro
• Starlin Castro
• Jarred Cosart
• Wilmer Flores
• Grant Green
• Jay Jackson
• Andrew Lambo
• Jordan Lyles
• Eduardo Nunez
• Jake Odorizzi
• Dennis Raben
• Wilking Rodriguez
• Tony Sanchez
• Jerry Sands
• Justin Smoak
• Stephen Strasburg
• Trayce Thompson
• Josh Vitters

Unfortunately, there has to be a bad part of the list each week, and this week's members are Hector Rondon, Corey Brown, Matt Sweeney and Eric Arnett.

Brewers Send Down Two Prospects

The Milwaukee Brewers sent Eric Arnett and Kyle Heckathorn down to minor league camp on Monday, reports Adam McCalvy of MLB.com.  The move was not unexpected, as the two players were only in big league camp as part of their initial contracts after signing.  The two right-handers were the team's top two draft picks in 2009.  Neither appeared in a game this spring.

Arnett In Brewers' Camp to Learn

This isn't one of those situations where a team official says that a player has a chance to make the team or that stranger things have happened and everyone in camp has a shot.  Eric Arnett is in Milwaukee Brewers' camp because it was negotiated into his contract after being selected in the first round in 2009.  But that doesn't mean it isn't a beneficial experience for the young pitcher with only 34 2/3 IP in his professional career, notes Anthony Witrado of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Arnett might have been invited to camp even without having it worked into his contract.  He is 22-years-old and pitched in college, so the invitation wasn't exactly a stretch.  Arnett pitched in the Rookie level Pioneer league, but he could easily jump as high as High-A ball for his 2010 starting point, depending on what he shows the Brewers' brass during his spring audition.