Tucson Mexican Baseball Fiesta
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...
Yesterday, we reviewed Grant Green, the A’s prospect and former first rounder converting from shortstop to centerfield. After a great pro debut in 2010, Green’s offensive suffered from a pretty substantial decline with AA Midland in 2011. He should be able to handle center and at least be an okay defensive player, and if his power comes back, he could be a quality regular for the A’s who are in desperate need of offense...
Yesterday, I broke away from the typical format for this feature and analyzed where Yoenis Cespedes might land. In my mind, there are 5-7 serious contenders, acknowledging that all 30 teams would love to have him. Cespedes probably gained a lot of cache with fans for his entertaining scouting video, but he’s had that same cache with scouts and front offices for years with his impressive tools and athleticism. I ended up writing twice...
Joe Savery. I had this posted at Philly Sports Central last week, but I thought this audience would like to see it too. Savery is an intriguing player and to me, unfortunately only came in 7th place on our relief pitcher of the year ballot last week. May 23rd, 2011. This was a great day for the Phillies. Chase Utley made his return to the lineup after missing nearly two months with a knee...
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. In the Independent Baseball awards announced yesterday, Ronnie...
So I’m sitting here at the Lowell Spinners game, minding my own gosh-darn business, when Joshua Kummins mentions on Twitter that local media outlets are reporting that J.D. Drew will make rehab appearances in Lowell on Friday and Saturday. (If you’d like to fully appreciate how antisocial I am, consider this: I learned this information from Josh on Twitter. He’s sitting, at most, three feet away from me in the press box.) I’m like,...
It just occurred to me that I have yet to post the Q&A transcript from last week’s MiLB.com story about Colin Kaline. Let’s remedy that. I was actually quite lucky to speak with Kaline, as I arrived in Norwich after the conclusion of his pregame press conference. Tigers Media Relations Manager Justin Sheinis was nice enough to check in frequently on Colin’s availability, and the infielder ultimately took several minutes from his game preparation...
We’re just a few days away from baseball’s draft pick signing deadline which is at midnight ET on August 15th. That means it’s another year of Bud Selig and Major League Baseball swing and miss at their attempt to maintain fiscal sanity among owners. In an attempt to limit signing bonuses, the commissioner won’t allow most big money bonuses to be announced until the deadline. His thinking is that if bonuses are announced in...
I drove down to Norwich, Connecticut this week to speak with Colin Kaline, grandson of Detroit Tigers Hall of Famer Al Kaline. It was a story I’ve had my eye on for some time now, the question of how the younger Kaline deals with the pressure of playing in the immense shadow cast by his grandfather, and this seemed like the perfect time to tell it: seventeen years ago Friday, my grandfather passed away,...
