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...
I hope everyone had a good holiday. Last week, Prospect A-Z wrapped up with Tyler Skaggs, the lefty Arizona received from Anaheim in the Dan Haren trade during the 2010 season. Skaggs has emerged as a very good pitching prospect and has advanced through the minors quickly. Just three years after he was drafted by the Angels, Skaggs could make his ML debut sometime in 2012. He was a part of a rotation at...
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...
We got back to shortstops yesterday, generally focusing on Tampa Bay’s Hak-Ju Lee. Just a year after being acquired from the Cubs in the Matt Garza trade, he became the team’s best shortstop prospect and best prospect among all position players. His athleticism, solid bat and nice plate approach makes him one of the top shortstop prospects in the game, and the Rays hope he can hit at the top of their lineup soon....
For the first time this week, Prospect A-Z didn’t cover a shortstop… kind of. Casey Kelly in the San Diego organization played both ways until 2009 when the Red Sox, his original organization, made him finally focus on pitching. Allowing him to play shortstop at the start of his career was a courteous move by Boston to convince him to sign instead of going to play QB at Tennessee, and I’m sure the large...
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 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...
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...
About a month ago, I wrote about individual home run leaders in the minors. As far as individual stats go, and I agree it’s relatively unimportant, the home run leaderboard is the best individual competition to follow for batters. On the pitching side, it’s probably strikeouts. Strikeouts aren’t a perfect indicator, but the best prospects tend to rack up a lot of minor league strikeouts. In a lot of cases, it shows that the...
