MLB Prospect Watch

Making Moves - 4/23

• Derek Norris, the Washington Nationals top catching prospect, is headed to the disabled list reports Nationals Farm Authority.
• Another catching prospect, Jonathan Lucroy of the Milwaukee Brewers was promoted to Triple-A, notes Bryan Smith of Fan Graphs.com.  Lucroy was only in Double-A because the Brewers have fellow catching prospect Angel Salome in Triple-a and didn't want the two splitting time, but Salome has left the team for a few days and Lucroy was promoted to take his place.
• Kansas City Royals 3B prospect Mike Moustakas, who began the season on the DL with a strained oblique, is back on the field and in Double-A for the first time, and hit two home runs in his first game, reports Dan Tomasino of MLB.com.
• The New York Mets are considering moving 1B Ike Davis up in the lineup, both because of his hot start and because they need his left-handed bat to break up the three righties that currently make up the middle of their lineup, reports Andy Martino of the NY Daily News.

Notable Prospect Performances - 4/22

• Despite his struggles this spring, Braves' 1B prospect Freddie Freeman hit his first home run of 2010 on Wednesday night, and got his batting average back to .200, reports Talking Chop.com.
• It's a good thing the Nationals have Stephen Strasburg's dominance to keep their mind off of the struggles of their former top pitching prospects.  Once the top prospect in the system, Collin Balester continues to get rocked in Triple-A, while current prospect Jack McGeary, a 7th round prep pick in 2007 who was given a huge bonus to go pro, continues to get hit hard.  McGeary's latest start went 3 innings in which he gave up 6 runs, reports the Nationals Farm Authority, bringing the pitcher's ERA to 6.43 as a 21-year-old in Low-A ball.
• On the other hand, the stories that dads will tell their sons about Ike Davis are continuing to form, as the prospect finds new ways to increase his popularity in New York, notes Marty Noble of MLB.com.  Despite the Mets' continuing struggles, Davis impressed the tough Citi Field crowd with a catch along the first base dugout Wednesday night that ended with him over the railing and on his head.  His popularity is nothing a 1-for-27 skid at the plate won't destroy, but for now, Ike Davis is the toast of New York.
• Other performances of note from Wednesday:
• • Mariners' 2B Dustin Ackley went 2-for-3 with a triple and a walk, raising his batting average to .143 on the young season.  Despite his acumen as an advanced hitter, the second overall pick in last year's draft entered the game in a 5-for-46 slump to start the season.
  • Pirates' P Tim Alderson had his second bad start in a row, giving up 5 ER and 7 hits in 4 2/3 IP, and raising his ERA to 5.52 on the season.  Alderson, acquired from the Giants last season in exchange for Freddy Sanchez, is clearly not the same pitcher he was in 2007 and 2008 when he was drafted in the first round and dominated the lower levels of the minors.
  • Cardinals' SP Shelby Miller, the team's top prospect and first round pick in 2009, struck out 7 and walked only one in his four innings of work.  Miller has made 3 starts and has not thrown more than 4 innings in any of them, but has struck out 7 batters in each.

Prospect Potent Potables - 4/21

• Only two games into his big league career, Mets' first baseman Ike Davis is getting some pretty lofty comparisons, reports The New York Daily News.  It's not like the kid was playing in a pressure-free environment to begin with...
• We knew it wasn't going to continue to be this easy for Austin Jackson, whose career is off to a good start for the Detroit Tigers, but is striking out with record consistency, according to John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press.
• Given the Indians' unsettled infield situation, Tony of Indians Prospect Insider suggests that Jason Donald could be knocking on the door as the solution at second base.
• If you think Cardinals' pitcher Jamie Garcia is off to a good start, consider the pitchers he's been matched up against, says Matthew Leach of MLB.com.  After his next start, Garcia will have faced pitchers with a total of 4 Cy Youngs in his first three starts of the season.
• Mention the Washington Nationals' farm system, and you will undoubtedly end up in a conversation about Stephen Strasburg, but as Ben Goessling of MASNsports.com points out, the Nats have a lot more help on the way than just Strasburg (namely Jeff Kobernus and Chris Marrerro, who feels like he's been around forever already, but is still young for Double-A).
• But let's not forget Strasburg, who is currently participating in one of those things you only see in minor league baseball, a 10:30 a.m. start.  If you think 100-mph is hard to hit normally, try doing it before lunch.

Prospect Potent Potables - 4/20

You'd better clear your schedule before you sit down to read this batch of links...

• Yadier Molina didn't get the night off after catching all 20 innings on Saturday, but he'll get a chance to rest today, as recently call-up catching prospect Bryan Anderson will start for the Cardinals, reports Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
• Matt Eddy of Baseball America goes through the next crop of talented arms making its way through the Los Angeles Angels farm system, specifically:
• • Orangel Arenas
  • Pat Corbin
  • Tyler Kehrer
  • Fabio Martinez
  • Garrett Richards
  • Tyler Skaggs
• Nationals' top prospect Stephen Strasburg has lived up to the hype so far, notes Stephanie Storm of MLB.com, who also discusses Luis Perez's hot start.
• Jordan Lyles impressed the Astros so much last season that they jumped him all the way to Double-A as a 19-year-old, a move that has only happened a handful of times in the past decade, says Zachary Levine of Baseball America.
• Ike Davis had more riding on his debut than the outcome of a baseball game, as the entire Mets' fan base has embraced his promotion as the start of a new era, explains Bob Klapisch of the Bergen County Record.
• The Oakland A's have a glut of left-handed pitching stashed away in Double-A, the best of which may be Pedro Figueroa, says Todd Traub of MLB.com, who also discusses Rangers' prospect Blake Beavan's great start on Sunday.
• Fans have questions about the Blue Jays' newest acquisition, Cuban shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria, and Jim Callis of Baseball America has answers.  Callis rates Hechavarria as the 6th best prospect in the Blue Jays farm system
• No one wants to pitch to Marlins' prospect Mike Stanton, reports Guy Curtright of MLB.com, and can you blame them?  Curtright also has updates on Brewers' catcher Jonathan Lucroy, Cubs' pitcher Andrew Cashner, and the Mariners' conversion to second base of Dustin Ackley.

Breaking Down Ike

Any fan or sportswriter can look at the box score from Ike Davis' debut with the New York Mets and tell you that he had a good first game, going 2-for-4 with an RBI.  But baseball fan's could never settle for that.

So John Perrotto of Baseball Prospectus (via ESPN.com, Insider subscription required) delved further into the small sample size of Ike's career this far, and has some good news for Mets fans:  the weaknesses Davis is supposed to have in his game (according to scouting reports), were exactly what he had success with on day one.

Good (albeit early) news for an organization that could certainly use it.