MLB Prospect Watch

Blogs Track Teams - 4/12/11

• Jack Dempsey of PineTarPress.com mentions the 0-fer days of the Royals three top hitting prospects, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, and Wil Myers, and more.
• RaysProspects.com has the results from Nick Barnese's 2011 debut and other Rays prospect updates.
• Doug Gray of RedsMinorLeagues.com has little good news to report, as the Reds affiliate in Dayton was no hit.
• Jarred Massey of LAdodgertalk.com has all the Dodgers updates you need, including Ethan Martin's rough performance and Jake Lemmerman's first home run of the season.
• FutureRedbirds.com catches us up on the day throughout the Cardinals system.
• Steve Foster of InsidetheRockies.com has the latest on Nolan Arenado's big day at the plate and other Rockies results.
• Tim Williams of PiratesProspects.com has the latest on solid starts from Pirates pitching prospects Rudy Owens and Colton Cain.

 

Mini-Camps and Spring Training Invites

Many teams are holding winter mini-camps for their top prospects, especially those teams that play in warm weather cities or have indoor stadiums.  These mini-camps typically run around a week in length and include everything from on-field instruction to seminars on how to deal with life in the big leagues.

The Tampa Bay Rays will be holding their developmental mini-camp for the second straight year, with Tim Beckham, Alex Cobb, Derek Dietrich, Matt Moore, Alexander Torres, Alex Colome, among the more established prospects invited, as well as 2010 draftees Justin O'Conner, Josh Sale, Drew Vettleson also attending, according to Bill Chastain of MLB.com.

The Dodgers will also be holding a mini-camp in January, with prospects such as Chris Withrow, Rubby de la Rosa, Ethan Martin, Aaron Miller, Dee Gordon, Kyle Russell, Trayvon Robinson, and Jerry Sands among those invited, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com.

Teams are also beginning to announce their non-roster invites to Spring Training.  Some we already know, others are prospects within the organization that are not on the 40-man roster (all 40-man players are already invited to Spring Training).

The Phillies have announced their invites, with Phillippe Aumont, Tyson Gillies, Freddy Galvis and Mike Stutes making the list, according to PhuturePhillies.com.  The Pirates have announced their list, according to Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com, with Rudy Owens serving as the only notable prospect invite.  The Padres list includes newly acquired prospects Anthony Rizzo and Casey Kelly, according to Corey Brock of MLB.com.  The Brewers have added Logan Schafer and Caleb Gindl to their invite list, reports Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal.

Prospect Potent Potables - Dodgers, Drabek, Myers

• Some of the Dodgers top talent spent 2010 in the low minors, particularly in A-ball, between Great Lakes and Inland Empire, says Jared Massey of DodgerTalk.com.  Particularly of note are Aaron Miller and Ethan Martin.
• For every prospect that's rushed, there's another who was allowed to take their time, and as Jessica Quiroli points out, just because Kyle Drabek falls into the latter category, doesn't mean the Blue Jays should have promoted him sooner.
• Wil Myers had been struggling in fall instructs, but the Royals catching prospect broke out in a big way on Tuesday night, with a opposite field double and a homer.
• The Padres fell to two games out of the NL West lead on Tuesday night, but if they do manage to climb back into the post-season, rookie Cory Lubeke wants to be a part of it, and will fill any role necessary to make it happen, says Corey Brock of MLB.com.
• Chase D'Arnaud has been added to the Team USA roster, in place of fellow Pirates farmhand Andrew Romaine, who was promoted to the majors instead, reports John Manuel of Baseball America.

 

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.

Notable Prospect Performances - 5/28

Welcome back, Aroldis Chapman.  The Reds' phenom looked like his old self in his return to the mound from a blister on his throwing hand, striking out 7 batters through 5 scoreless innings.  He still issues two wild pitches, but the news was overwhelmingly more positive than negative, leading us to wonder whether the blister had been a problem over his past few starts.

• Drew Naylor threw a complete game for the Reading Phillies earlier this week, reports Robert Emrich of MLB.com.  We're a little late on the report, but Naylor has turned his season around after a rough start and the Phillies may be in need of some pitching help this season, meaning Naylor's name could become relevant later this summer.
• For the second time in his last 3 starts, Stolmy Pimentel went six innings without giving up a hit, reports Danny WIld of MiLB.com.  The only issues with Pimentel is his consistency from start to start, and the Red Sox will need to see improvement in this area before he could be considered for a promotion to Double-A.
• Ethan Martin threw a three-hit shutout in his first professional complete game, proving the Dodgers made the right decision drafting him as a pitcher despite his impressive career as a prep hitter.
• The Diamondbacks saw two of their first round picks from 2009 homer in the same game again, as Matt Davidson and Bobby Borchering accomplished the feat for South Bend on Thrusday night.  It was Davidson's 7th and Borchering's 5th on the season, and both came off of Rays' pitching prospect Kyle Lobstein.
• If the Orioles are looking for a legitimate leadoff man (which they are), Matt Angle fits the criteria and is off to a hot start to his injury-delayed season.  Angle had 3-hits on Thursday and is batting .357 for the season and has displayed a patient eye at the plate throughout his minor league career.  The only major obstacle would be the significant jump from Double-A where he has only 84 career at-bats to the major leagues.
• Ben Revere continues to make his case as the most underrated prospect in the minors with another 4-hit game.  Of course, no one slips under the radar of MLB Prospect Watch, or guys like Marc Hulet at FanGraphs.com, who appreciates what the Twins' prospect brings to the table.
• I'm not sure how often we're going to see Pedro Alvarez have 4 hits (and more importantly 3 singles) in a game in the majors, but the Pirates' top prospect is out to prove he's more than just a three-true-outcome hitter.
• J.P. Arencibia is doing his best to bounce back from a dismal 2009 season and remain the Blue Jays' catcher of the future.
• Mike Minor hit his first speed bump as a professional, but the strike out numbers were still there.  And, as Carroll Rogers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution points out, Minor has impressed enough that a bad start won't do anything to dampen expectations.  Minor was out-dueled by Josh Collmenter in the game, who threw 7 scoreless innings for the win.
• Andrew Brackman put it all together for a start.