MLB Prospect Watch

Prospect Potent Potables - 4/27

You know that whole "he came to spring training in the best shape of his life argument?"  Today's links can't believe the Phillies just bet $125M that Ryan Howard stays in that shape into his late 30's.

• The Florida Marlins are above .500 and have no reason to panic, but they also have Mike Stanton, the most dominant power-hitting prospect in the minor leagues, and three outfielders in the majors, none of whom have an OPS over .715.  And after Stanton hit 5 home runs in a two-day span, the Marlins are going to have a tough time keeping him in the minors, says Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com.
• John Sickles of Minor League Ball has a breakdown on prospects named Jackson, including Austin, Brett, Jay, Justin, and Ryan.
• Speaking of Austin Jackson, Lee Panas of Tiger Tales.com dives into just how rare of a start Jackson is off to, and how unlikely he is the Tigers' rookie can keep it up.
• Josh Jackson of MLB.com has his hitters and pitchers of the week for each minor league.  Notable prospects honored in this week's edition include Mike Moustakas, Kyle Russell, Mike Montgomery, and Phillippe Aumont.

Link: Prospect Injury Report

Ben Badler of Baseball America chimes in with a prospect injury update.  This week's culprits include:

• Joe Benson (MIN)
• Tyler Colvin (CHC)  
• Anthony Ortega (LAA)
• David Freese (STL) 
• Sean Doolittle (OAK) 
• Joe Mather (STL) 
• Alan Horne (NYY) 
• Cole Rohrbough (ATL)
• Justin Jackson (TOR) 
• Michael Pineda (SEA) 
• Jake Smolinski (FLA) 

Injury Update 5/14

Ben Badler from Baseball America chimes in with his weekly injury update.  This week's notables include Gordon Beckham's abs, Neftali Feliz's shoulder, and Chris Valaika's hand.

Other prospects mentioned include:

• Wilson Ramos (MIN)
• Kelvin de la Cruz (CLE)
• Nick Schmidt (SD)
• Jesus Delgado (SEA)
• Justin Jackson (TOR)
• Aaron Cunningham (OAK)
• Kellen Kulbacki (SD)
• Eric Sogard (SD)

Best and Worst from Sunday 4/19

BEST

• Jason Heyward (ATL) - 2-3, 2B, HR, batting .325
• Yonder Alonso (CIN) - 2-4, 3 RBI, 2B, batting .200
• Mike Stanton (FLA) - 5-5, 2B, HR, 4 RBI, batting .417
• Wilmer Flores (NYM) - 3-4, R, batting .350
• Pedro Alvarez (PIT) - 2-4. HR, batting .250
• Angel Villalona (SF) - 2-5, HR, batting .395
• Reid Brignac (TB) - 3-6, 2 2B, HR, batting .282
• Brian Matusz (BAL) - 6 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 8 K/2 BB, 3.45 ERA
• Vin Mazzaro (OAK) - 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 4 K/1 BB, 1.93 ERA
• Daniel Moskos (PIT) - 6 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 5 K/1 BB, 6.10 ERA

WORST

• Justin Jackson (TOR) - 0-5, batting .205
• Tommy Hanson (ATL) - 4 2/3 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 6 K/1 BB, 2.45 ERA
• Jon Niese (NYM) - 5 1/3 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 6 K/0 BB, 8.76 ERA
• Guillermo Moscoso (TEX) - 2 2/3 UP, 11 H, 8 ER, 0 K/1 BB, 10.29 ERA

Lots of Sunday Links

• Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports on top-prospect Colby Rasmus' off-season workout, and makes comments towards what many are thinking, suggesting that the Cardinals are ready to begin seeing some production from the super-talented Rasums.
• The Blue Jays don't have a solution at shortstop for 2009 yet, but Justin Jackson is not one of the options, reports Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star, not that anyone really considered him as one.  The Blue Jays, however, do still have faith in Jackson as their shortstop of the future, despite his struggles at the plate so far in his career.
• Reporting from a baseball fundamentals standpoint, Tracy Ringolsby of Inside the Rockies tells us that Dexter Fowler has abandoned his "split-grip" at the plate.  The grip, reminiscent of the days of Ty Cobb, has been mixed in support by the Rockies organization, but they were willing to let him use it as long as he continued to succeed.
• Fresh off his WBC appearance for Canada, Mariners pitching prospect Phillippe Aumont comments to Larry Stone of the Seattle Times about the experience and what it means for his career.
• Past his 6-years of organizational protection, safe through the Rule-5 draft, and back on a minor-league deal, former Royals prospect Chris Lubanski is finally demonstrating why he was selected 5th overall back in 2003, reports Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star.