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.

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, Teheran, Kelly

• St. Louis Cardinals pitching prospect promoting Joe Kelly took a no-hitter into the 8th inning, reports John Parker of MiLB.com.
• Pirates prospect Brett Lorin took a no-hit bid of his own into the fifth innings, notes Robert Emrich of MiLB.com.
• Julio Teheran struck out six batters in as many innings in his first start back from Atlanta, says Danny Wild of MiLB.com.
• Mariners top prospect Dustin Ackley knocked two more extra-base hits, reports The Seattle Times.
• In other prospect action...
  • Mets SS prospect Wilmer Flores homered and doubled on Tuesday night.
  • Blue Jays C prospect Travis d'Arnaud had two doubles and a home run, raising his batting average to .337 on the season.

 

 

Baseball America Prospect Hot Sheet - 4/15

Baseball America released their first edition of the Prospect Hot Sheet on Friday.  The weekly segment, released every Friday during the minor league season, is the best way to see who the hottest players are from the past week.  This week's list includes:

• Alex Cobb
• Jaff Decker
• Jeurys Familia
• Paul Goldschmidt
• Matt Harvey
• Slade Heathcott
• Brett Jackson
• Brett Lawrie
• Zach Lee
• Devin Mesoraco
• Shelby Miller
• Jesus Montero
• Mike Olt
• Martin Perez
• Drew Pomeranz
• Neil Ramirez
• Keyvius Sampson
• Jerry Sands
• Mike Trout
• Jacob Turner

Unfortunately, each list includes prospects who are not so hot, and this week's list mentions Alex Liddi, Travis D'Arnaud, Alex Wimmers, and Nick Castellanos.

I will be keeping a season-long tally of how many times players are mentioned on the Hot Sheet, and standings will be posted on the side bar of this site next week, once we have more than one week's worth of points.

 

Roster Cuts - Lyles, A's, Jays

• The Astros re-assigned Jordan Lyles to minor league camp, and will start the season in Triple-A, says Farmstros.com.
• The A's made a number of cuts on Sunday, optioning Michael Taylor and Trystan Magnuson to Triple-A and re-assigning Michael Choice, Grant Green, Jemile Weeks to minor league camp, reports Jane Lee of MLB.com.
• The Blue Jays sent Anthony Gose and Travis D'Arnaud to minor league camp, says Gregor Chisolm of MLB.com.