Tucson Mexican Baseball Fiesta
Yesterday, Prospect A-Z reviewed Arodys Vizcaino, a hard throwing righty for Atlanta. He has a high ceiling in either the rotation or bullpen depending on how durable he proves to be. As long as he remains in the Braves organization, he might end up as a late inning weapon simply because they have so much starting pitching depth. He’s a player the Yankees will regret trading, especially because not only did Javier Vazquez not...
Prospect A-Z returned to the Rangers organization with lefty starter Robbie Ross. He’s one of a few upper minors starters the Rangers have left after trading Robbie Erlin and Joe Wieland to the Padres at the deadline, but it’s still a deep system, especially in the lower levels. Ross has the potential to start, but with a solid major league rotation and an organization with a lot of pitcher depth, he could do very...
Prospect A-Z had a tough letter yesterday in Q, and the subject was Padres reliever Kevin Quackenbush. He has the potential to pitch in middle relief for San Diego in a year or two, but that might be his ceiling. He made his pro debut with Eugene in the Northwest League and dominated, so the Padres promoted him to the Midwest League where he again dominated. From there, the entry deviated to a discussion...
For the record, I have never met Jedd Gyorko, and I assume he’s a nice guy. Nick Franklin was the subject of yesterday’s Prospect A-Z. He’s the Mariners shortstop with a bit of a schizophrenic scouting report. Prior to the 2009 draft, he was an athletic shortstop that would provide defense and a little hitting. After the 2010 season, he appeared to be a power hitter that may not be able to stick at...
The first week of Prospect A-Z wrapped up on Friday with Edwar Cabrera, MILB’s strikeout leader in 2011. He doesn’t have the top of the rotation stuff like previous leader Matt Moore does, but his great changeup allowed him to dominate A-ball this year. That’s not to say he doesn’t have ML potential, but at his best he’ll be pitching at the back of a rotation and not the front. AA will be a...
Yesterday, we went behind the plate to talk about Travis d’Arnaud, Toronto’s catcher on helium last season. He’s gone one level per year in his ascent to the majors, and he could break in with Toronto by the end of 2012. He’s a solid all-around player who may not stand out in any area, but he’ll be good in all of them. At the time of his trade to Toronto along with Kyle Drabek...
Yesterday, we reviewed one of the Rockies’ top prospects, third baseman Nolan Arenado. He’s been a solid, above average hitter throughout his minor league career so far, and his defense on the hot corner is improving. In an ideal world for the Rockies, he develops into a middle of the order slugger to complement Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez. While that’s probably a couple years away, today’s player could reach the majors sooner than...
Over at Rays Prospects, the great staff will soon be wrapping up a great offseason feature, Prospect A to Z. Every day, one writer covers a prospect for each letter. For example, Chris Archer was the representative for A. It’s a great opportunity to talk about some different players, so I’ll be ripping off their idea and doing it leaguewide. They’re not necessarily the best prospect for each letter, just a guy I preferred...
Last week, I looked at the six Cal League teams that made the playoffs. That leaves four more to review before I can finally put the 2011 season in the books after the painstaking amount of time it took me to finally get to this. Before the season, I made some playoff predictions. Some turned out okay, North Division 1. Visalia (second half winner) 2. San Jose (first half winner) 3. Modesto 4. Stockton...
The season ended about a month ago with the Lake Elsinore Storm being crowned champions. It was just their second outright championship in the team’s 18 year history. They defeated the Stockton Ports, the team that owns the most championships among active Cal League teams. For anyone that started following the league recently like me, it’s a surprise that honor doesn’t belong to San Jose. The championship series didn’t have the drama of last...
