Tucson Mexican Baseball Fiesta
Our second international free agent was profiled in Prospect A-Z yesterday with Nippon Ham righty Yu Darvish. The Rangers won the posting auction for exclusive negotiating rights with him, and it seems likely that a deal will get done at the end of the negotiating window. They’re a team in need of pitching after losing Cliff Lee and C.J. Wilson in free agency in consecutive years, and Darvish has the potential to be a...
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...
Prospect A-Z takes a back seat to the book any day, so hopefully no one missed it too much. As a refresher, the last entry was about future Rays ace Matt Moore. After dazzling minor leaguers and prospect watchers from April through August, he was promoted by the Rays to help out in the bullpen, but he eventually worked his way into the rotation and became Tampa Bay’s game one starter in the playoffs....
Will it be three shortstops in a row? Jurickson Profar of Texas was the subject of yesterday’s Prospect A-Z. The Rangers already have a very good shortstop in Elvis Andrus, but it’s not a deep position around the league, so there’s nothing wrong with having a top prospect at the same position. Profar could develop into a better hitter while still providing quality defense, albeit not as well as Andrus. That’s still years away...
It’s Awards Week here at Bus Leagues, that annual event in which we unveil the seasons that our voters determined to be the best in Minor League and Independent baseball. This year, we have nine awards to give out: Player of the Year, Starting Pitcher of the Year, and Relief Pitcher of the Year for Full-Season Minor League Baseball, Short-Season Minor League Baseball, and Independent Baseball. The awards so far: Independent Player of the...
It’s Awards Week here at Bus Leagues, that annual event in which we unveil the seasons that our voters determined to be the best in Minor League and Independent baseball. This year, we have nine awards to give out: Player of the Year, Starting Pitcher of the Year, and Relief Pitcher of the Year for Full-Season Minor League Baseball, Short-Season Minor League Baseball, and Independent Baseball. The awards so far: Independent Player of the...
You may recall that in mid-May, I wrote a post about a few dudes named Bryce who were tearing up the South Atlantic League. At the time, there were seven (Harper, Brentz, Massanari, Shafer, Lane, Stowell, and Weidman), five of whom were playing or expected to play in the Sally. I promised at the time to revisit these young men at various points throughout the year to see how they were doing, a promise...
Last week, I took a look at organizational leaderboards in home runs. With the home run derby taking place tonight, I thought I’d look at some of the minors’ leading home run hitters. Many leagues, if not all of them, have home run derbies at their All-Star Games, but of course choosing players for that can be inconsistent, and some teams don’t like their players participating in them. This won’t account for park factors...
The All-Star game is in the books, and the season is halfway over. San Jose and Rancho Cucamonga have already clinched playoff spots to no one’s surprise, and there are still four playoff spots up for grabs. The first half races weren’t very tight due to San Jose dominating everyone, and the South division just proved to be very weak. There are still 70 games left, and the competition should be better in the...
On Thursday, the Cal League All-Star roster was announced. The All-Star Game will take place on Tuesday, June 21st at John Thurman Field in Modesto. As usual, they’ll take on the best from the Carolina League. This game and the AAA All-Star Game are the only ones that combine different leagues, which I really like. I know minor league travel budgets are small, but I think this kind of thing is neat for fans. ...
