Welcome back, Aroldis Chapman. The Reds' phenom looked like his old self in his return to the mound from a blister on his throwing hand, striking out 7 batters through 5 scoreless innings. He still issues two wild pitches, but the news was overwhelmingly more positive than negative, leading us to wonder whether the blister had been a problem over his past few starts.
- Drew Naylor threw a complete game for the Reading Phillies earlier this week, reports Robert Emrich of MLB.com. We're a little late on the report, but Naylor has turned his season around after a rough start and the Phillies may be in need of some pitching help this season, meaning Naylor's name could become relevant later this summer.
- For the second time in his last 3 starts, Stolmy Pimentel went six innings without giving up a hit, reports Danny WIld of MiLB.com. The only issues with Pimentel is his consistency from start to start, and the Red Sox will need to see improvement in this area before he could be considered for a promotion to Double-A.
- Ethan Martin threw a three-hit shutout in his first professional complete game, proving the Dodgers made the right decision drafting him as a pitcher despite his impressive career as a prep hitter.
- The Diamondbacks saw two of their first round picks from 2009 homer in the same game again, as Matt Davidson and Bobby Borchering accomplished the feat for South Bend on Thrusday night. It was Davidson's 7th and Borchering's 5th on the season, and both came off of Rays' pitching prospect Kyle Lobstein.
- If the Orioles are looking for a legitimate leadoff man (which they are), Matt Angle fits the criteria and is off to a hot start to his injury-delayed season. Angle had 3-hits on Thursday and is batting .357 for the season and has displayed a patient eye at the plate throughout his minor league career. The only major obstacle would be the significant jump from Double-A where he has only 84 career at-bats to the major leagues.
- Ben Revere continues to make his case as the most underrated prospect in the minors with another 4-hit game. Of course, no one slips under the radar of MLB Prospect Watch, or guys like Marc Hulet at FanGraphs.com, who appreciates what the Twins' prospect brings to the table.
- I'm not sure how often we're going to see Pedro Alvarez have 4 hits (and more importantly 3 singles) in a game in the majors, but the Pirates' top prospect is out to prove he's more than just a three-true-outcome hitter.
- J.P. Arencibia is doing his best to bounce back from a dismal 2009 season and remain the Blue Jays' catcher of the future.
- Mike Minor hit his first speed bump as a professional, but the strike out numbers were still there. And, as Carroll Rogers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution points out, Minor has impressed enough that a bad start won't do anything to dampen expectations. Minor was out-dueled by Josh Collmenter in the game, who threw 7 scoreless innings for the win.
- Andrew Brackman put it all together for a start.
