MLB Prospect Watch

Prospect Action - Taillon, Castellanos, Cron

• Jameson Taillon gave up six earned runs in 2 1/3 innings of work on Saturday, which is by far the worst outing of the short professional career for the Pirates top prospect, notes Josh Jackson of MiLB.com.
• Mariners power-hitting OF prospect Johermyn Chavez blasted a grand slam, reports Daniel Paulling of The Birmingham News.
• Diamondbacks OF prospect A.J. Pollock had a big day at the plate, slugging a homer and adding two doubles on top for good measure, says Andrew Pentis of MiLB.com.
• Nick Castellanos hit a pair of home runs, reports Dean Holzwarth of The Grand Rapids Press, as the Tigers prospect continues to show off a hot bat.
• Yankees prospect D.J. Mitchell threw his second straight shutout on Saturday, says David Heck of MiLB.com.
• Trevor May threw a seven-inning shutout, and the Phillies pitching prospect gave up just one hit in the outing, notes Andrew Pentis of MiLB.com.
• C.J. Cron is having no trouble adjusting to professional baseball, as the Angels top pick from this past year's draft added to his already impressive numbers on Saturday by falling just a triple short of the cycle, says Ashley Marshall of MiLB.com.

 

Prospect Action - Harper, Turner, Delgado

• Bryce Harper knocked two more base hits, as the Nationals prospect extended his hit streak to 13 games, notes Danny Wild of MiLB.com.
• Mike Trout homered again, says Andrew Pentis of MiLB.com.
• Red Sox OF prospect Bryce Brentz homered, extending his hitting streak to 21 games, reports Ashley Marshall of MiLB.com.
• Casey Kelly gave up just one run over six innings of work, notes Josh Jackson of MiLB.com, as the Padres prospect lowered his ERA to 3.43 on the season
• Jacob Turner finally got his first Double-A win on Monday, as the Tigers top prospect surrendered just an unearned run in 6 2/3 innings of work, reports Robert Emrich of MiLB.com.
• In other prospect action...
  • Paul Goldschmidt hit his 12th home run of the season and A.J. Pollock went 3-for-5 with a double for the Diamondbacks Double-A affiliate in Mobile.
  • Tigers 3B prospect Nick Castellanos went 3-for-4 with a triple.
  • Phillies C prospect Sebastian Valle homered and doubled in a three-hit day at the plate.
  • Braves P prospect Randall Delgado gave up three earned runs over seven innings, including a home run by Mariners prospect Johermyn Chavez, but struck out ten batters in the process.

 

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.

 

Spring Prospect Action - Harper, Yankees, Belt, and more

This is why there's nothing that's not awesome about Spring Training...

• Bryce Harper made his spring debut on Monday, entering the game for the Nationals as a pinch-runner and eventually striking out twice in two at-bats, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com.
• The Yankees got some impressive pitching performances from two of their young arms, as Ivan Nova threw two perfect innings on Sunday, says Erik Boland of Newsday, and Dellin Betances struck out the side in his one inning of work, touching 97-MPH on the radar gun, reports Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.
• Mike Minor got off on the right foot towards claiming the Braves final rotation spot, says Mark Bowman of MLB.com.
• Phillies manager Charlie Manuel chalked up the poor performances of relief prospects Justin De Fratus and Michael Schwimer to trying to do too much in their first spring training performance, notes Todd Zolecki of MLB.com.
• Jarrod Parker walked the bases loaded in his first appearance in a Diamondbacks spring training game, but he also was able to work out of the jam, reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic.
• Brandon Belt got a start in the Giants split squad game on Monday and responded with three hits, notes Adam McCalvy of MLB.com.
• Aroldis Champan hit triple-digits repeatedly, but struggled mightily with his command, reports Mark Sheldon of MLB.com.
• Bryan Morris threw a one-two-three inning for the Pirates, including retiring Johnny Damon and Evan Longoria, according to Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com.
• And the following prospects put their power on display, homering during spring training action:
  • Matt Dominguez dropped a two-run bomb in his effort to show the Marlins that his bat is as far along as his much-heralded glove, says Matthew Leach of MLB.com.
  • Tim Wheeler homered off of Rockies teammate Christian Friedrich in Sunday's intra-squad game, notes Thomas Harding of MLB.com.
  • A's OF prospect Michael Taylor displayed the power that abandoned him for much of last year, says Lyle Spencer of MLB.com.
  • A number of Mariners prospects have been going deep, including Carlos Peguero on Sunday and Johermyn Chavez and Greg Halman on Monday
  • The future of the Royals offense was on display on Monday, as Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas both homered.

   

  
  
  

   

Mexican and Venezuelan Leagues Begin Today

In addition to the Arizona Fall League beginning league play today, the Mexican and Venezuelan Leagues both begin action today in their respective nations.  While both leagues feature players of all ages and affiliations, the Mexican League typically has more retired major leaguers and veteran players while the Venezuelan League is typically more prospect-laden.  As usual, you can follow all of the fall and winter league action here at MLB Prospect Watch.

Here are some of the notable prospects who will see time in the international winter leagues this off-season:

Mexican League

• Caneros de los Mochis - Sebastian Valle (PHI)

 

Venezuelan League

• Augilas de Zulia
  • Austin Bibens-Dirkx (CHC)
  • Harold Garcia (PHI)
• Bravos de Margarita
  • Cesar Hernandez (PHI)
  • Joe Mahoney (BAL)
• Cardenales de Lara
  • Mauricio Robles (SEA)
  • Alex Liddi (SEA)
• Caribes de Anzoategui
  • Gorkys Hernandez (PIT)
• Leones de Caracas
  • Carlos Carrasco (CLE)
  • Nick Weglarz (CLE)
• Navegartes del Magallanes
  • Deolis Guerra (MIN)
  • Jesus Montero (NYY)
  • Freddy Galvis (PHI)
  • Mark Trumbo (LAA)
  • Johermyn Chavez (SEA)
• Tiburones de La Guaira
  • Ehire Adrianza (SF)
• Tigres de Aragua
  • Wilson Ramos (WAS)