MLB Prospect Watch

Notable Prospects Left Unprotected

With today being the final day for teams to add players to their 40-man rosters, we now have a pool of players from which teams will be able to choose for the Rule V draft.  There are a ton of players available, but here are a few of the players that were somewhat surprising to see left unprotected.  They may not be selected, but it was still surprising to see them available.

 

Jiwan James, Phillies

James is still much more potential than production at this point, despite being 23-years-old this past season, but his talent and tools might be enough to get him selected.  In order to be drafted in the Rule V draft, a team would have to believe that James can survive the entire season in the majors.  James is ready to handle the majors defensively, which may be enough for a team to take a chance on him, but there's no way he's ready to hit at that level.  He'd basically be an automatic out at this point, so he'll only be selected if there's a team prepared to use him as a defensive replacement/pinch-runner all year.

 

Kyle Kaminska, Pirates

Kaminska is perhaps the surprising omission from 40-man rosters across the league, not because of his ability, but because of the way the Pirates have gone about things the past few months.  Not only did they trade for him (and essentially give up a compensation pick to get him), but then they used one of their seven Arizona Fall League spots on him.  On top of that, Kaminska pitched about as well in the AFL as could have been expected out of him.  It's hard to think of what the Pirates were hoping he would accomplish in the AFL and why they bothered trading for him and sending him to the desert if they were just going to leave him unprotected.

 

Ryan Chaffee, Angels

The former 3rd round pick was old for his level this year but put together his best professional season.  He's never had good control, but working as a reliever for the first time in his career, he posted a 2.60 ERA between High and Double-A.  He's got a desirable arm that some team is going to want, and as a reliever, he could survive the jump to the majors this season.  Expect him to get selected.

 

Jesus Aguilar, Indians

Aguliar is a talented prospect who is still growing into his power but showed an improved approach at the plate this season.  There are a number of teams that would probably love to get their hands on Aguilar, but it would require a major jump in levels.  Aguilar has only 87 plate appearances above A-ball in his career.  He's also a right-handed hitting first base-only prospect, making it difficult for a team to designate a bench spot to him.  Teams will be tempted, but even if he's selected, it's likely that he'll be sent back at some point.

 

Prospect Action - 5/20/12

Triple-A

• Giants prospect Nick Noonan blasted two home runs, including a grand slam, and drove in eight runs, writes Andrew Pentis of MiLB.com.
• Clint Robinson's three-run double wasn't enough for him and his Royals teammates to pull out a victory on Sunday, says Mike Curto of The [Tacoma] News-Tribune.
• Cardinals prospect Joe Kelly gave up four runs in five innings on nine hits, including two apiece to Blue Jays prospects Travis d'Arnaud and Adeiny Hechavarria.

Double-A

• Back in the starting rotation, Tim Alderson is once again having success, as the Pirates prospect threw seven shutout innings, reports The Erie Times-News.
• Jonathan Pettibone got plenty of run support from fellow Phillies prospects Tyson Gillies, Jiwan James, and others, en route to picking up his third win of the season, says The Hartford Courant.
• Barret Loux earned his ninth-straight victory, giving him the minor league lead, but fellow Rangers prospect Jurickson Profar saw his 29-game hitting streak come to an end on Sunday, according to Ashley Marshall of MiLB.com.

High-A

• Indians prospect Ronny Rodriguez homered, notes Luke Erickson of NationalsProspects.com.
• David Holmberg was dominant on Sunday, as the Diamondbacks lefty threw seven scoreless innings while striking out nine, writes David Heck of MiLB.com.
• Garrett Gould earned his first win of the season, as the Dodgers prospect threw six innings, allowing two earned runs and fanning four, lowering his ERA on the season to 4.80.

Low-A

• Now that the Orioles are letting Dylan Bundy pitch into the fifth inning, he's able to pick up wins, which he did on Sunday, earning his first victory after allowing just one hit over five more shutout innings, says Andrew Pentis of MiLB.com.
• Mets pitching prospect Rafael Montero turned in one of the best starts of his career, throwing six shutout innings, notes Pentis.

 

Prospect Potent Potables - Simpson, Stock, James, Wong, Reed

• The Cubs surprised everyone when they drafted Hayden Simpson in the first round in 2010, and his struggles this year, and scary lack of velocity, aren't doing anything to help make their case, says J.J. Cooper of Baseball America.  Without a return in velocity, Simpson doesn't even profile as a marginal prospect.
• After having been converted to the mound this spring by the Cardinals, Robert Stock is doing well with the transition, despite some unpleasant numbers, writes Curt Rallo of MiLB.com.
• Jiwan James is off to the offensive start that the Phillies have been expecting out of the pitcher-turned-outfielder for a few years now, notes David Murphy of The Philadelphia Daily News.
• Kolten Wong has picked up this season right where he left off last season, and is now just gaining his minor league experience before he eventually makes his way to St. Louis, thinks Derrick Gould of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
• Dylan Bundy is getting most of the attention in the Orioles organization these days, and specifically at Low-A Delmarva, but 2011 second-round pick Jason Esposito is a legitimate prospect in his own right, and the third baseman out of Vanderbilt is enjoying his time out of the spotlight, says Shawn Nisson of DelmarvaNow.com.
• When the Dodgers drafted Chris Reed in the first round in 2011, it was thought my many that it was a financially-driven pick due to the team's uncertain standing at the time, but as Ray Guilfoyle of MinorLeagueBall.com points out, Reed has pitched well, and his previous reputation may now leave him somewhat underrated as a prospect.

 

Prospect Potent Potables - Padres, Iglesias, Sickles' Links

• The Padres aren't just struggling at the major league level, says Bill Center of The San Diego Union-Tribune, citing the slow starts of most of the team's top prospects, including 2011 first-rounders Cory Spangenberg and Joe Ross, 2009 first-rounder and bust-in-the-making Donavan Tate, young outfielder Rymer Liriano, and the currently injured Yasmani Grandal.
• After an extremely slow start, Jose Iglesias is heating up at the plate, hitting .300 over his past ten games, reports Brendan McGair of The Pawtucket Times, as the Red Sox shortstop is trying to take a more patient approach to his at-bats.
• John Sickles of MinorLeagueBall.com takes on prospects position-by-position again:
  • A look at outfielders brings us Gary Brown's (SF) struggles, but hot starts for the Yankees Mason Williams and Jiwan James of the Phillies.
  • A pitching discussion came up with the success of Astros prospect Nick Tropeano and newly acquired Reds reliever J.J. Hoover.
  • Three third baseman were the subject of a post on Friday, including the success of Nolan Arenado of the Rockies, growth of Nick Castellanos of the Tigers, and the struggles of Cheslor Cuthbert of the Royals.

 

Baseball America Prospect Hot Sheet - 4/13/12

As I've said many times before, the Baseball America Prospect Hot Sheet, which they put out every Friday, is one of the best reads on the web, especially for prospect watchers.  I could try to do the same thing, but they do such a good job that there's really no point.  What we will do is give you a link to it each week in cae you forget it's out, and list the players involved.

We're also going to keep a year-long standing of who makes the list, to give us a snapshot of players having strong seasons.  Here's how it will work:

Each week, BA's list includes 13 players, ranked in order, followed by a number of other players they considered for the list in a section they call "In the Team Photo," a prospect who's doing well but is old for his league (Man Among Boys), and a prospect on the rise they call "Helium Watch."  They also list four "Not-so-hot" players.

What we're going to do is assign points to each spot on the list.  We'll count down from 15 (so first on the list is worth 15 points, 2nd is worth 14, and so on down to the 13th player), and give two points to players in the team photo and one point to the helium watch and man among boys.  Players on the not-hot list will lose a point.

We'll keep the standings on the sidebar so you can see them develop as the season goes along.  They won't mean anything, but it will be cool to see how it plays out.

This first list of the season includes the following players (in no particular order):

• Matt Adams, STL
• Trevor Bauer, ARI
• Archie Bradley, ARI
• Cody Buckel, TEX
• Dylan Bundy, BAL
• Jose Campos, NYY
• Tyler Collins, DET
• Jose Fernandez, MIA
• A.J. Griffin, OAK
• Alen Hanson, PIT
• Jiwan James, PHI
• Roger Kieschnick, SF
• Manny Machado, BAL
• Jason Martinson, WAS
• Brad Miller, SEA
• Tyler Moore, WAS
• Telvin Nash, HOU
• James Paxton, SEA
• Michael Taylor, OAK
• Mike Trout, LAA
• Austin Wood, LAA
• Kolten Wong, STL

On the bad part of the list this week are Manny Banuelos (NYY), Tanner Bashue (HOU), Joe Ross (SD), and Cito Culver (NYY).