MLB Prospect Watch

Making Moves - 6/10

• Jake Arrieta has been promoted by the Baltimore Orioles and will start Thursday night's game against the New York Yankees, reports Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com.  Welcome to the bigs, Jake.
• Brewers' catching prospect Angel Salome is now a Brewers' outfield prospect, reports Adam McCalvy of MLB.com.  Salome told the club he no longer wants to catch, so he is being sent down to A-ball to work on converting to the outfield.
• Jarrod Parker is throwing off a mound twice a week as a part of his recovery from Tommy John surgery, reports Nick Piecoro and Jim Gintonio of the Arizona Republic.  Parker and the Diamondbacks hope to have him throw in some minor league games by August.
• We have some early draft pick signings, including some first rounders...
• • The Phillies have come to terms with 1st rounder Jason Biddle, although couldn't officially sign him until after his high school graduation, tweets Matt Gelb.  Biddle will likely join the Gulf Coast League Phillies upon signing.  The Phillies also signed second round pick Perci Garner, reports Luke Adams of MLB Trade Rumors.
  • The Rangers have signed both of their first round picks, as Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com tweets that No. 15 pick Jake Skole has signed for $1.557M and Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus tweets that No. 22 pick Kellin Delgan has inked for $1M exactly.

Making Moves - Stanton and More

The NL East just keeps getting better and better.

It appears that on the same day that Stephen Strasburg will make his major league debut for the Nationals, so too will Mike Stanton for the Marlins.  The team announced that they will be promoting the power-hitting outfielder in time for their series with the Phillies on Tuesday, reports Manny Navarro of the Miami Herald.

But Stanton was hardly the only prospect on the move over the weekend...

• The Phillies have demoted Phillippe Aumont, sending the struggling right-hander back down to High-A ball, reports Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer.  The team plans to keep Aumont as a starter, even if he works in some long relief stints for Clearwater at first.
• Jake Arrieta could be heading to Baltimore soon, and despite his obvious future as a part of the Orioles' rotation, he could be used to help bail out a bullpen that is desperately taking on water, report Jeff Seidel and Noah Rosenstein for MLB.com.
• The Rangers have placed pitchers Tanner Scheppers and Martin Perez on the 7-day DL with minor injuries, reports William Wilkerson of the Fort-Worth Star Telegram.  Scheppers strained a hamstring while Perez has a cracked fingernail.
• Also dealing with fingernail issues is Giants' 2009 first-round pick Zach Wheeler, who has not pitched since mid-May due to a torn fingernail, reports Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle.  The Giants have placed Wheeler on the DL and are sure to be cautious with their young power arm.
• The Pirates appear to be preparing for Brad Lincoln's promotion to the majors, and have him lined up to start for them on Wednesday, reports Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com.
• After a short stint back in the minors, Craig Kimbrel is rejoining the Braves, says Evan Drellich of MLB.com.

Prospect Potent Potables - 6/2

• Jake Arrieta is pitching too well in Triple-A for the Orioles to ignore, says Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com.  She's right.
• Yonder Alonso is getting the hang of this Triple-A thing, and the left field thing too, according to John Fay of Baseball America.
• If you want to see the future of the St. Louis Cardinals, look no further than low Class A Quad Cities, says Derrick Goold for Baseball America, where the Birds have 15 players from their 2009 draft class, including 1st rounder Shelby Miller and others.
• The Padres have to be pleased with the progress of Simon Castro, says Todd Traub of MLB.com.
• Austin Hyatt may not have been mentioned in our Phillies update, but he's a prospect nonetheless, says Jim Salisbury of Baseball America.
• Undeterred by his assignment back in Double-A this spring, Felix Doubront continues to impress the Red Sox, reports Alex Speier in Baseball America.

Notable Prospect Performances - 5/26

• Neil Walker made his 2010 major league debut on Tuesday at third base of all positions.  The hot corner has been Walker's primary position for the past 3 seasons but he played only one game there this season before his promotion.  But, as Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, the plan is still to get Walker as many at-bats as possible and the Pirates will likely move him all over the field in order to do so.
• Jake Arrieta threw another gem, allowing one run over 7 IP, reports Dean Jones, Jr. of the Baltimore Sun.  For what it's worth, the Orioles just moved David Hernandez to the bullpen and will need to fill his spot.  Just sayin...
• Kyle Gibson maintained his dominance through another start, racking up another 7 inning complete game.  Gibson hasn't missed a beat since his promotion to Double-A and is now 3-0, continuing to make teams reconsider their stance on drafting pitchers with arm injuries and rewarding the Twins for their faith.
• It's only a matter of time before Carlos Santana is in Cleveland, and he supported his case with another multi-hit game and his 10th homer of the season.  Here's hoping the Indians' announcers somehow work a "Not at the table, Carlos" into their home run calls.
• Kirk Nieuwenhuis continues to quietly put together a nice season, adding to it a 3-hit performance with a home run on Tuesday night.  The only knock on Nieuwenhuis to this point is his lack of plate discipline (46-to-9 K/BB rate), though his walk rate was twice that last year so he's not a lost cause.  He'll still need to improve that rate now that he's at the higher levels of the minors before the Mets can truly consider him in the majors.
• The decision to keep Jonathan Singleton in extended spring training looks like a wise one by the Phillies, as the power-hitting 1B prospect has put on a hitting display since joining Lakewood and continued the show with a 4-hit game and a home run on Tuesday.  Singleton is now hitting .432 with 4 home runs in 13 games.
• Randall Delgado was dominant, putting his K-BB ratio at 5.66-to-1 on the season.
• Michael Bowden was not, taking 91 pitches to get through 4 1/3 IP, but actually managed to lower his ERA to 5.83.
• Jake Odorizzi continues to miss bats, as he struck out 7 in as many innings en route to his 3rd win of the season for the Brewers' Midwest League affiliate, the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.

Making Moves - 5/3

• Andrew Lambo, rated as the Los Angeles Dodgers' top prospect in 2008, was suspended for 50 games for violating baseball's drug policy, tweeted Dylan Hernandez.  Jared Massey of LADodgerTalk.com has more information, including some evidence that the suspension may have been for marijuana use.
• The Nationals' plan was to promote Stephen Strasburg to Triple-A after his start on Sunday, reports Bill Ladson of MLB.com, but that start didn't go so well.  No move has been made as of yet.
• The Diamondbacks promoted pitcher Josh Collmenter from High-A to Triple-A, but Collmenter continued his success, reports Dan Tomasino of MLB.com.
• The Padres, on the other hand, will not be rushing pitching prospect Simon Castro, says Corey Brock of MLB.com.  Castro is currently dominating in Double-A, but there is no room for the team's best pitching prospect in Triple-A.
• The Rangers have moved hard-throwing prospect Tanner Scheppers to Triple-A, perhaps with the thought of using him in their major league bullpen later this season, suggests Ben Badler of Baseball America.
• The Orioles may also look to some of their young arms for bullpen help, specifically Jake Arrieta, according to Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com.
• We've seen some big name prospects move up so far this year, and Marc Hulet of FanGraphs.com discusses the decisions to promote Lars Anderson, Mike Montgomery, and Drew Storen.
• Brett Wallace isn't quite ready for the majors yet, but his manager in Las Vegas, Dan Rohn, says he's only "a month or two away" from being ready to join the Blue Jays, reports Todd Dewey of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
• It doesn't always work out well for every prospect, and the Royals didn't feel it was going to work out with Carlos Rosa, so they shipped him to Arizona for another prospect, SS Rey Navarro, reports Matt Eddy of Baseball America.