MLB Prospect Watch

Prospect Potent Potables - Nieuwenhuis, Perez, Vizcaino, d'Arnaud

• Mets OF Kirk Nieuwenhuis doesn't have much of a shot to make the Mets big-league roster this spring after missing a significant portion of last season with a torn labrum, notes Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, but once he re-establishes his health, he could work his way to the majors this season.  Nieuwenhuis could take over in center field if Andres Torres doesn't regain his 2010 offensive form, or he could take over in one of the corners, where he would be an above-average defender.
• Mike Newman of FanGraphs.com breaks down the struggles of Braves lefty Carlos Perez, attributing at least some part of it to a change in body type that Perez went thorugh bewteen 2010 and 2011.  While Perez is still far from the majors, Arodys Vizcaino is a large part of the Braves future, possibly as soon as next season.  Whether that is in the rotation or out of the bullpen is still up in the air, but Ben Duronio of CapitalAvenueClub.com offers his take on Vizcaino and a response to Keith Law's evaluation of him.
• MinorLeagueBall.com has an in-depth breakdown of Blue Jays catching prospect Travis d'Arnaud and how he stacks up against other prospects and other catching prospects throughout the game of baseball.

Prospect Potent Potables - Nieuwenhuis, Diamondbacks, Gennett

• There have been many conflicting opinions as to where Kirk Nieuwenhuis fits into the Mets future outfield plans, and Michael Baron of MetsBlog.com takes a look at answering that very question, who also notes that Wilmer Flores is coming on strong towards the end of the winter season.
• The Diamondbacks system is so deep right now that their Double-A rotation last season had prospects one through five, notes Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com, and that group should make the jump to Triple-A next season.
• In a very weak Brewers farm system, Scooter Gennett has established himself as a legitimate prospect, notes Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com.

40-man Roster Additions

40-man rosters were set this weekend in preperation for the upcoming Rule V draft.  The players listed below are now protected by their organizations and can't be selected.  This is not the complete list, but rather the list of notable prospects.  Teams with no players listed still protected players, just not any notable prospects.

 

Baltimore - Oliver Drake

Boston - Will Middlebrooks, Drake Britton, Che-Hsuan Lin

New York (AL) - D.J. Mitchell, Corban Joseph

Tampa Bay - Alex Colome, WIlking Rodriguez, Steven Vogt

Toronto - Travis d'Arnaud

 

Chicago (AL) - Charlie Leesman

Cleveland - 

Detroit - Casey Crosby

Kansas City - 

Minnesota - Oswaldo Arcia, Carlos Gutierrez, David Bromberg

 

Los Angeles (A) - Fabio Martinez, Jean Segura

Oakland - 

Seattle - Francisco Martinez, Carlos Triunfel, Chih-Hsien Chiang

Texas - Martin Perez, Neil Ramirez

 

Atlanta - J.J. Hoover

Miami - Dan Jennings

New York (N) - Robert Carson, Jeurys Familia, Wilmer Flores, Juan Lagares, Cesar Puello, Reese Havens, Kirk Nieuwenhuis

Philadelphia - Phillippe Aumont, Tyson Gillies, Sebastian Valle

Washington - Tyler Moore, Eury Perez, Derek Norris

 

Chicago (N) - Junior Lake, Josh Vitters, Matt Szczur

Cincinnati - Didi Gregorius, Kyle Lotzkar

Houston - Paul Clemens

Milwaukee - Caleb Gindl, Zealous Wheeler

Pittsburgh - Starling Marte, Rudy Owens

St. Louis - 

 

Arizona - 

Colorado - Christian Friedrich

Los Angeles (N) - Mike Antonini, Chris Withrow

San Diego - Rymer Liriano

San Francisco - Angel Villalona, Charlie Culberson

 

 

Prospect Action - Ackley, Harper, Ranaudo

• Gary Brown recorded the first 5-hit day of his career, and the Giants outfield prospect drove in six runs as well, reports Ashley Marshall of MiLB.com.
• Dustin Ackley homered on Friday night, reports The Seattle Times.  It's the fourth homer of the year for the Mariners top prospect, and his second in three games.
• Robbie Erlin turned in another strong start, as the Rangers left-hander struck out eight batters in seven innings of work, and gave up just one run, notes Andrew Pentis of MiLB.com.
• Bryce Harper slugged two more doubles on Friday, extending his hit streak to 10 games, reports David Heck of MiLB.com.  The Nationals top prospect also recorded his first two outfield assists.
• Mets OF prospect Kirk Nieuwenhuis doubled, homered, and scored three runs, notes BisonsBlog.com.
• Anthony Ranaudo bounced back from his only bad start of the season by throwing six scoreless innings on Friday night, says Robert Emrich of MiLB.com, as the Red Sox prospect lowered his Sally League ERA to 2.30 on the season.
• Dayan Viciedo knocked three more hits on Friday, notes Scott Merkin of MLB.com, who points out that the White Sox may be forced to call up the slugging prospect if he continues to hit this way.

 

Prospect Potent Potables - Orioles, Havens, Liddi

The Orioles system has been depleted recently thanks to graduations to the majors, but there are still some intriguing names in their system and Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun has an update on how their top ten is performing so far this season.

Reese Havens has yet to play this season while recovering from off-season rib surgery, but Toby Hyde of MetsMinorLeagueBlog.com reports that Havens is at the Mets spring traning facility in Port St. Lucie where he is taking ground balls but has yet to swing a bat.

John Sickles of MinorLeagueBlog.com checks in with updates on some specific prospects, including Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Marc Krauss, Alex Liddi, and Matt Moore.