MLB Prospect Watch

Prospect Potent Potables - Castro, Familia, Lake, Yankees, Royals

• The White Sox hope that newly acquired prospect Simon Castro proves to be a manageable reclamation project, notes Mark Gonzales of BaseballAmerica.com, who also notes that the Sox have made a $250,000 investment in 17-year-old RHP Luis Martinez out of Venezuela.
• Joe Wieland and Robbie Erlin were acquired together by the Padres at last year's trade deadline, and Corey Brock of MLB.com suggests that both could make it to the majors this season.
• After a long 2011 season and a trip to the DL, the Mets didn't let Jeurys Familia pitch a lot in the Dominican Winter League this off-season, but as Andy McCullough points out for Baseball America, they still let him pitch a few innings to get him some experience coming out of the bullpen.
• Junior Lake may have tore up the Arizona Fall Leauge, but the Cubs' prospect's game is still largely hit or miss, says Mike Newman for FanGraphs.com.
• George King of Baseball America points out how Yankees pitching prospects Dellin Betances and Manny Banuelos are actually further away from the majors than they were this time last season, despite positive development since that time.
• The Royals have an array of prospects and veterans attending camp as non-roster invitees, and Paul Thompson of KingsofKauffman.com breaks down the chances all of them have of making the team's Opening Day roster, giving pitching prospect Mike Montgomery the best chance of all.

White Sox Acquire Simon Castro from Padres

The rebuilding process continues for the Chicago White Sox, as they traded outfielder Carlos Quentin to the San Diego Padres for two prospects, including pitcher Simon Castro, according to MLB.com.  Matt Eddy of Baseball America has a breakdown of the prospects involved, as does John Sickles.

The trade for the Padres is the second major move within the last month, having dealt ace Mat Latos a few weeks ago.  This move, however, involves the Padres sending prospects in exchange for a veteran player instead of the other way around.

Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tirbune thinks that this solidifies the center of the Padres batting order, which may be true but appears to be a change in direction for what was supposed to be a rebuilding team.

As for the White Sox, Castro is the main part of the return for Quentin, and was a highly-rated prospect in the Padres system entering the season.  He struggled mightily during 2011 season and will have to get his mechanics back on track to re-establish himself as a top prospect.

Prospect Action - Sanchez, Smyly, Machado, Castro

• Tony Sanchez's two-run double wasn't enough offense for his Pirates prospects to hold on to a win, notes The Hartford Courant.
• Tigers LHP prospect Drew Smyly fanned 10 batters over seven innings of work, reports Andrew Pentis of MiLB.com.
• Tom Koehler gave up three runs in 4 1/3 innings before the Marlins prospect was ejected for throwing behind a batter after giving up a home run, says Tim Grubbs of NOLA.com.
• Manny Machado turned in his best all-around game on Monday night since returning from a knee injury earlier this season, as the Orioles top prospect used his bat and his legs to double twice and steal two bases, notes David Schoenholtz of MiLB.com.
• Cubs OF prospect Matt Szczur hit his second home run since being promoted to the Florida State League.
• Padres P prospect Simon Castro fanned nine batters over eight innings of work.

 

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.

 

Prospect Performances - Harper, Lawrie, Rizzo, Moustakas

• Bryce Harper showed why he is so highly regarded on Thursday, but also why he's still learning the game, making a nice defensive play in right field and turning a blooper into a hustle double, but also making a throwing error that cost the Nationals the game, says Bill Ladson of MLB.com.
• Ryan Adams homered for the second straight day and is making a case for more playing time from the Orioles, notes Ashley Marshall of MiLB.com.
• Brett Lawrie homered for the Blue Jays on Thursday, raising his spring batting average to .381, reports Kelly Thesier of MLB.com.
• Alex Liddi hit his second grand slam in as many days for the Mariners, this one coming off of Angels prospect Ryan Chaffee, reports Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times.
• Brett Jackson hit a walk-off RBI single to give the Cubs a victory, reports Carrie Muskat of MLB.com.
• Anthony Rizzo had four hits for the Padres on Thursday while Simon Castro threw a perfect inning and earned a win, notes Ashley Marshall of MiLB.com.
• Scott Elbert showed improvement with his control in his return to the mound for the Dodgers, walking only one in a scoreless inning of work, says Ken Gurnick of MLB.com.
• Aaron Crow threw two hitless innings in one of the Royals split-squad games on Thursday, says Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com, while Mike Moustakas drove in the winning run in the other, reports Lyle Spencer of MLB.com.
• Lucas Duda continues to hit for the Mets, blasting another home run yesterday in a loss, says Bill Ladson of MLB.com.