MLB Prospect Watch

Roster Moves - Smyly, Darnell, Hendriks, den Dekker, Lavarnway

• Drew Smyly has won the final spot in the Tigers rotation, says TigerTales.com, in a pitching battle that lasted all spring.  Smyly will technically being the season in Triple-A and will make one start there before being returned to the majors, as the Tigers don't need a fifth starter during the first week of the season.  Smyly beat out a number of prospects, such as Duane Below, who was optioned to Triple-A, and Jacob Turner, who will remain in Lakeland until he builds up his arm strength, says Jason Beck of MLB.com.
• James Darnell was sent to the minors on Sunday, mainly because of a numbers crunch on the Padres roster, says Bill Center of The San Diego Union Tribune.  Darnell will head to Triple-A, where he will split his time between third base and left field.
• The Minnesota Twins announced that pitching prospect Liam Hendriks would open the season as the team's number three starter, reports Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com.
• After being recalled to Mets camp to fill in for injured veterans, Matt den Dekker will begin the 2012 season in Double-A, according to MetsBlog.com.
• Despite being the best catcher they had this spring, the Red Sox had little choice but to send Ryan Lavarnway down to Triple-a, which they did on Sunday, reports Even Drellich of MLB.com.

Prospect Action - Eovaldi, Smyly, Rosario, Alonso

• Dodgers pitching prospect Nathan Eovaldi threw five scoreless innings, striking out four batters in the process on Wednesday.
• In his latest appearance in his quest to make the Tigers rotation, Drew Smyly allowed three runs in 4 2/3 innings against the Cardinals, facing most of their regular lineup.
• Rockies catching prospect Wilin Rosario went 3-for-3 with a double and two runs scored on Wednesday.
• Yonder Alonso homered and James Darnell went 1-for-2 and scored two runs in the Padres 13-2 victory.

Arizona Fall League Rosters Announced

The rosters for the 2011 Arizona Fall League season were announced yesterday, and as usual, the rosters included a plethora of big name prospects.  Below are the prospects you need to know, broken down by team:

Mesa Solar Sox

Cubs - Trey McNutt, Chris Carpenter

Orioles - Chorye Spoone, Joe Mahoney, Xavier Avery

Twins - Aaron Hicks

Pirates - Robbie Grossman

 

Peoria Javelinas

Padres - Jedd Gyorko, James Darnell

Brewers - Jed Bradley, Cody Scarpetta, Kentrail Davis, Logan Schafer

Cardinals - Oscar Taveras

Mariners - Danny Hultzen, Nick Franklin, Chih-Hsien Chiang

Mets - Reese Havens, Jefry Marte

 

Phoenix Desert Dogs

Indians - T.J. McFarland

Reds - Brad Boxberger, Yasmani Grandal

Blue Jays - Adeiny Hechavarria, Anthony Gose

A's - Michael Choice, Grant Green

Yankees - Corban Joseph, David Phelps

 

Salt River Rafters

Dodgers - Jake Lemmerman

Diamondbacks - Eric Smith, Ryan Wheeler

Tigers - Casey Crosby

Astros - Jay Austin

Rockies - Nolan Arenado, Tim Wheeler

 

Scottsdale Scorpions

Angels - Mike Trout, Hank Conger

Phillies - Tyson Gillies, B.J. Rosenberg

Red Sox - Brock Huntzinger, Will Middlebrooks

Nationals - Sammy Solis, Derek Norris, Bryce Harper

Giants - Brandon Crawford

 

Surprise Saguaros

Royals - Nathan Adcock, Wil Myers, Jeremy Jeffress, Christian Colon

Braves - Erik Cordier, Sean Gilmartin, J.J Hoover, Christian Bethancourt, Phil Gosslein, Todd Cunningham

Rangers - Neil Ramirez, Michael Olt

Rays - Tim Beckham

Marlins - Kyle Skipworth, Dan Jennings, Matt Dominguez

 

 

 

Prospect Action - Darnell, Banuelos, Ackley

• James Darnell hit two home runs, reports John Parker of MiLB.com, giving the Padres third base prospect eight bombs on the season.
• Yankees LHP prospect Manny Banuelos threw six shutout innings on Tuesday, allowing just two hits over that time, notes David Heck of MiLB.com.
• Dustin Ackley stayed hot, as the Mariners prospect went 3-for-5 with a home run, reports The Seattle Times.
• It was a big night for Reds prospects in Triple-A, as Devin Mesoraco had five hits and Yonder Alonso doubled and homered, says David Heck of MiLB.com.
• Kyle Skipworth had an RBI single that was all his Marlins Double-A teammates would need, reports The Florida Times-Union.

 

 

Big Day of Cuts - Harper, Rizzo, Pomeranz

Saturday saw a number of teams make significant roster cut downs as all teams approach the March 15th roster cut-down deadline (the last date a team has to assign an injured player to a minor league club - meaning that if a player is still in camp after that date and gets injured, the team can't send him to the minors, which is a risk teams are rarely willing to take for a few extra spring at-bats).  

Among the most notable moves was the Nationals re-assignment of Bryce Harper to Class-A Hagerstown, tweets Bill Ladson of MLB.com.  The move itself is not surprising, as it had already been reported that Harper was slated to begin his first full season in the South Atlantic League, but it does bring an end to an impressive two-week stretch from the 18-year-old Harper, who this time next year, could be legitimately competing for a roster spot.

As always, you can keep up-to-date on all the prospects who were in big league camp, and who still remain, on our spring training prospect page, Below is a list of the other prospects who were sent away from big league camp on Saturday:

• The Kansas City Royals re-assigned LHP's Chris Dwyer, John Lamb, and Will Smith to minor league camp, reports Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star.  None of the three were on the 40-man roster.
• The Pittsburgh Pirates optioned RHP Bryan Morris to Triple-A and re-assigned LHP Rudy Owens to minor league camp, reports Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com.
• The Philadelphia Phillies optioned RHP Justin De Fratus, 2B Harold Garcia, 1B Matt Rizzotti and RHP J.C. Ramirez to Double-A and re-assigned Michael Schwimer to minor league camp, reports David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News.  Surviving the cuts for now, however, was reliever Mike Stutes.
• The San Diego Padres optioned RHP Simon Castro to Triple-A and re-assigned 1B Anthony Rizzo and 3B James Darnell to minor league camp, reports Corey Brock of MLB.com.
• The Baltimore Orioles optioned RHP's Brandon Erbe and Chorye Spoone to Triple-A and re-assigned catcher Caleb Joseph to minor league camp, reports Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com.
• The Cleveland Indians have optioned RHP Corey Kluber to Triple-A and have re-assigned RHP Nick Hagadone, LHP Drew Pomeranz, RHP Hector Rondon, LHP Kelvin de la Cruz, and RHP Bryce Stowell to minor league camp, reports Jordan Bastain of MLB.com.
• The Tampa Bay Rays optioned LHP Alex Torres to Triple-A, says RaysProspects.com.
• The Seattle Mariners have optioned 3B Alex Liddi and OF Carlos Peguero to Triple-A and OF Johermyn Chavez to Double-A, reports Larry Stone of The Seattle Times.
• The Boston Red Sox optioned RHP Stolmy Pimentel and SS Oscar Tejada to Double-A, and have re-assigned RHP Alex Wilson, C's Ryan Lavarnway and Tim Federowicz, and OF Che-Hsuan Lin to minor league camp, reports Ian Browne of MLB.com.