MLB Prospect Watch

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.

 

Baseball America Prospect Hot Sheet - 8/20

Baseball America has released their latest prospect hot sheet, with this week's addition including some lesser known names from the prospect world, who are establishing themselves nonetheless.

• Dustin Ackley
• Nolan Arenado
• Brandon Beachy
• Blake Beavan
• Charlie Blackmon
• Lonnie Chisenhall
• Jaff Decker
• Jedd Gyorko
• Pete Kozma
• Trevor May
• Shelby Miller
• Matt Moore
• Mike Moustakas
• Wil Myers
• Ivan Nova
• Rich Poythress
• D'Vontrey Richardson
• Matt Thompson
• Adam Warren
• Justin Wilson

This week's bottom four include Jon Gilmore, John Lamb, Alex Liddi, and Kelvin de la Cruz.

Making Moves - 5/16

• The Florida State League wasn't much competition for Kyle Gibson, and it doesn't look like the Eastern League will be either.  That's the feeling you get after the Twins promoted their top pick from 2009 and watched him dominate in his first Double-A start.  Gibson struck out 10 batters in 7 1/3 IP en route to his first victory at the new level.
• After pulling the desperate move of keeping Jenrry Mejia in the majors to help their bullpen, the Mets are now considering sending him back down to the minors to work his way back in to the mold of a starter, says Michael Baron of MetsBlog.com.
• The Brewers could be getting suspended pitcher Jeremy Jeffress back soon.  The embattled pitcher with the blazing fastball is slated to return from his 100-game suspension for substance abuse sometime in the end of May, report Adam McCalvy and Jordan Schelling for MLB.com.  Jeffress has been suspended twice and has admitted problems with marijuana use in the past, but the Brewers need to make a decision on whether or not to add him to the 40-man roster by the end of the season or risk exposing him to the Rule V Draft.
• Neil Walker has proven everything he can in Triple-A, including learning a handful of new positions, so Tim Williams of BuccoFans.com asks the obvious question of when Walker will come to Pittsburgh.  Thanks to some service time math, it looks like we could see Walker up by the end of May.
• Baseball America has their complete list of transactions from last week, including a few that slipped under the radar:
• • Juan Francisco (CIN) to the 7-day DL
  • Kelvin de la Cruz (CLE) promoted to Double-A
  • Jacob Turner (DET) back from the 7-day DL
  • Randal Girchuk (LAA) to the 7-day DL (could miss 4-6 weeks with a sprained thumb)
  • Delois Guerra (MIN) promoted to Triple-A
  • Loek Van Mil (MIN) demoted from Double-A to High-A
  • Jemile Weeks (OAK) to the 7-day DL (could miss a month with tear in hip)
  • Jarred Cosart (PHI) back from 7-day DL

Prospect Hot Sheet - 5/7

For the first time this season, but likely not the last, the Prospect Hot Sheet that Baseball America produces every Friday features a player that is already in the majors by the time we get to read it.  This week's list includes:

• Jay Austin
• Ryan Berry
• Brian Bogusevic
• Domonic Brown
• Starlin Castro
• Kelvin De La Cruz
• Luis Exposito
• Michael Kirkman
• Ian Krol
• Brett Lawrie
• Mike Moustakas
• Bryan Morris
• Rudy Owens
• Michael Pineda
• Neftali Soto
• Mike Stanton
• Graham Stoneburner
• Jose Tabata
• Julio Teheran
• Eric Thames

Making up the bad part of the list this week are Andrew Brackman, Brad Holt, Tim Melville, and Robert Stock.

Notable Prospect Performances - 5/6

• Mike Montgomery brought his domination with him to Double-A, winning his first official start yesterday reports Benjamin Hill of MiLB.com.  The Royals' top pitching prospect struck out 8 batters in 5 2/3 IP.
• Kelvin De La Cruz retired 20 straight hitters in his outing on Wednesday, reports Robert Emrich of MLB.com.  He didn't earn a win in the outing, but the Indians' lefty gave up only 1 earned run in 8 1/3 IP, striking out 8, lowering his ERA on the season to 2.91.
• Eric Arnett only got to throw 3 innings thanks to tornadoes in the area, but they were three good innings and went a long way towards helping the Brewers' 2009 first-rounder forget about his rough start to the season, says Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal.  Arnett has had 4 rough starts so far in 2010, but looked like prospect the Brewers expect him to be in his brief stint last night.
• Zach Wheeler made the best start of his brief professional career, reports MiLB.com.  The Sally League was rough on the Giants' first-round pick from last year (6th overall) in his first three starts, but after being wildly effective in his last start, Wheeler was effectively dominant on Wednesday night, striking out 9 batters in 5 innings of work.
• Other performances of note include:
• • Starlin Castro with another multi-hit game.
  • Mike Moustakas hitting his 6th homerun of the season, and showing some patience at the plate.
  • Julio Teheran showing the Sally League why he won't be there for very long.