Tucson Mexican Baseball Fiesta
Last week, Scott ended an amazingly prolific alphabetical look at some of the most interesting prospects in minor league baseball. He profiled the interesting, the famous, and the unfamiliar. I don’t know about anyone else, but I learned a lot. In order to organize all of the great posts in Scott’s series, I figured I would list them in one post. So here they are in order: Prospect A-Z Day 1: Nolan Arenado Prospect...
Prospect A-Z continued its farewell week with Padres outfielder Yoan Alcantara. His career is in flux right now because of an identity fraud scandal that was exposed this offseason. A scout and trainer bribed a contracted investigator working for Major League Baseball to check Alcantara’s background, and this allowed him to pass and receive his signing bonus. At his age with his performance in the AZL, he looked like a really good prospect, but...
Yesterday, Prospect A-Z wrapped up its final week with Xander Bogaerts, a power hitting Red Sox infielder that’s one of the most promising prospects in their system. He went from the Dominican Summer League to playing in the South Atlantic League in just one year. His twin brother is also in the Red Sox organization, but he’s not nearly the prospect that Xander is. However, Jair should be able to make it over to...
Before the 2011 minor league baseball season began, RaysProspects.com asked several Rays bloggers and Minor League bloggers their thoughts on players in the Rays system. As a writer here and at RaysIndex.com, I was honored to be part of the collective. After the season, Kevin of RaysProspects reviewed everyone’s picks and talked about how they did. Here are my picks and Kevin’s responses to how I did: Upper-Level Breakout: Mike Lortz (of Bus Leagues...
On Friday, Prospect A-Z covered Zack Wheeler, the top pitching prospect for the Mets. Formerly of the Giants organization, Wheeler was traded by San Francisco to acquire Carlos Beltran for the stretch run. Beltran held up his end of the bargain by performing well, but he couldn’t overtake the Diamondbacks alone. Beltran is now with the Cardinals, so the Giants are left without a star right fielder and a top pitching prospect. This will...
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...
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 returned to the Rays’ shortstop position yesterday with a look at former first overall pick Tim Beckham. He isn’t meeting the expectations of a former first overall pick, but he was never a can’t miss talent that people associate with a first overall pick anyway. His consistent performance from level to level is admirable, but right now it appears his ceiling is that of a utility player or fringe starter. Not every...
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...
