MLB Prospect Watch

Futures Game Reactions

The Futures Game always elicits attention from around the baseball world, and this year is was no different as each team's fans try to catch a glimpse into their future.

• The game itself was dominated by prospects from the home-town Angels, as C Hank Conger took home MVP honors and OF Mike Trout was among the more impressive players in the game, reports Lyle Spencer of MLB.com.  Trout, whose prospect stock has been skyrocketing this season, was the player who stood out more than any other, noted Keith Law of ESPN.com.
• The only player who seems to rank higher than Trout these days is Domonic Brown, but fans and scouts got only a brief glimpse of the Phillies' OF prospect before he was removed from the game with hamstring tightness.  The move was precautionary, reports Robyn Norwood of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
• Even more brief of an appearance was made by Cardinals' RHP prospect Shelby Miller, who faced only two batters.  As a 2009 prep draft pick, however, Miller was just thrilled to be in a big league atmosphere, says Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
• While the future is still distant for prospects like Miller, the future could be sometime this summer for prospects like Rangers' P Tanner Scheppers, reports T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com.  Also on the fast track to the majors is Brewers' 2B prospect Brett Lawrie, despite being the second-youngest player in the Southern League (Double-A), says Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
• The Royals need the future to come quickly, but they had two of the more impressive prospects on display at the Futures Game in Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer, reports Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star.

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.

Baseball America Organizational Reports - 4/8

Baseball America has released another round of their organizational reports with all kinds of prospect goodies for us.

• Doug Padilla discusses the immediate impression made by P Chris Withrow in Dodgers' camp this spring, as well as the strong springs by Ivan DeJesus, Jr. and Brian Cavazos-Galvez.
• Hank Conger was healthy for the first time in big league camp, says Bill Shaikin, and is now eying a mid-season call-up for the Angels, who are notoriously slow to promote their prospects.
• Zachary Levine comments on Koby Clemens' new position for this year - first base.  Clemens will attempt to show the Astros that his strong 2009 season wasn't completely due to playing his home games in a hitter's paradise.
• John Perrotto talks about the D'Arnaud brothers - Travis, who you may know from his off-season trade, and Chase, an infielder for the Pirates you may be less familiar with.
• Trevor May and Jarred Cosart are two of the reasons the Phillies felt they could part with Kyle Drabek, reasons Jim Salisbury.
• Corey Luebke appears to have returned to prospect status, says John Maffei, but he'd better get to the Padres soon as he's already 25-years old.

Link: A Look at Catchers in the AFL

Ben Badler of Baseball America discusses some of the scouting reports of the catchers who played in the Arizona Fall League.  Those players include:

• Buster Posey (SF)
• WIlin Rosario (COL)
• Jonathan Lucroy (MIL)
• Luis Exposito (BOS)
• Hank Conger (LAA)

Arizona Fall League Highlights from 10/13

The Arizona Fall League (AFL) kicked off yesterday and should once again provide us with a glimpse into the not to distant future of Major League Baseball.  Here are some of the highlights from Day 1:

• Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim C Hank Conger went 3-5 with 3 RBI's leading the Mesa Solar Sox to a 10-6 victory over the Phoenix Desert Dogs.  Florida Marlins OF Mike Stanton chipped in as well, going 1-3 with 2 BB's and a SB in the win.   The Phoenix hitting attack was led by Baltimore Orioles 1B Brandon Snyder who was 2-5 with 2 RBI's and while Washington Nationals 1B Chris Marrerro also chipped in with a HR.
• The star in the Surprise Rafters 17-4 drubbing of Peoria Javelinas was New York Mets 1B Ike Davis, who led the Rafters with 6 RBI's and a HR as part of a 4-hit day.  St. Louis Cardinals C Bryan Anderson also had 3 hits and scored 3 runs for the Rafters, while New York Yankees P Ian Kennedy threw 4 innings, striking out 4 and giving up only 1 run.
• Atlanta Braves OF Jason Heyward picked up right where he left off, going 2-5 with a 2B in his AFL debut for the Peoria Saguaros, but it wasn't enough, as the Saguaros were defeated by the Scottsdale Scorpions by a score of 8-4.  The Scorpions hitting attack included a HR by Philadelphia Phillies OF Domonic Brown and 2 RBI's by San Francisco Giants SS Brandon Crawford.  The Saguaros did, however, receive two innings of work from Atlanta Braves P Mike Minor, the 7th overall pick in this year's draft.  Minor gave up one hit and 1 unearned run, while walking two.