Yesterday, Prospect A-Z returned with Washington catcher Derek Norris. He has the power and defensive skills to potentially be an All-Star, but he needs to improve his batting average. He’ll be competing for true three outcome titles in the majors with his patience and also penchant of striking out. Wilson Ramos established himself as a solid starter behind the plate for Washington, but Norris could eventually surpass him. He could be a key piece...
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...
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...
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...
Nearly a year to the day before he died, Brian, Eric, and I discussed the idea that I should interview Randy Poffo about his brief minor league career. Poffo, better known as “Macho Man” Randy Savage, played ever so briefly for the Gulf Coast League Cardinals, the Gulf Coast League Red Birds, the Orangeburg Cardinals, and the Tampa Tarpons. As other people have mentioned, he didn’t play long and after an injury, he changed...
Picture: Reference.findtarget.com (my computer wouldn’t open the link, but the map was cool so I wanted to mention it) I was working on one of my many projects the other day when I started wondering about the classification history of the modern minor leagues. Perhaps one day I’ll delve into this in greater detail – I’d love to research and write a series of books about the history of each individual league – but...
I’m heading down to Baltimore tomorrow morning to catch a couple Sox-Orioles games with my aunts (the way the team’s season has gone, I might actually be catching by Wednesday night. See what I did there?) and uncles. There’s a lot of packing (translation: I need to watch my wife pack my bags) and hand wringing (I’ve never navigated an airport or traveled on a plane by myself. If you know me, you know...
I was all set to make myself a bunch of little note card cheat sheets containing the playoff procedures for Minor League Baseball’s leagues, then I realized how complicated some of these scenarios get. Soooo, change of plans – I’ll just link here to the pages that detail each league’s procedure, and we’ll have this post as an easy reference. AAA International League Mexican League – The Mexican League just instructs visitors to consult...
2012 05 14 Scranton Wilks Barre/ Empire State Yankees vs Pawtucket Red Sox
