Good morning prospect watchers. Here is an approximate schedule of where things stand around here.
***Remaining Top 20 Pre-Season organization reviews: Toronto Blue Jays, Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Royals, Chicago White Sox, Miami Marlins, San Francisco Giants, and Milwaukee Brewers. That is the order in which I intend to write them although that isn't set in stone and could be changed by current events or the whims of my emotions. My goal is to have all of them finished by next Friday.
***Prospect Retrospectives in the work queue: Jeff Kent, C.J. Wilson, Chris Davis, LaTroy Hawkins. All of these were by request, but exact order I write them is undetermined. You can request others if you like.
***Upcoming Prospect of the Day pool: Marcus Semien is set for Monday, Chad Bettis for Tuesday, Drake Britton, Engel Beltre, Victor Black, Michael Choice are all line. Order may get moved around depending on current events.
***Yesterday's Minor League Ball Gameday thread.
***There were several key promotions yesterday. The Pittsburgh Pirates promoted right-hander Jameson Taillon.
Now assigned to Triple-A Indianapolis, he had a 3.67 ERA in 110 innings for Double-A Altoona with a 106/36 K/BB with 112 hits allowed. He has pitched very well in eight of his last nine starts. The lone exception was a bad outing on July 13, when he gave up 10 runs in 3.1 innings on 13 hits. Without that one bad game, he would have a 2.94 ERA. The promotion is deserved and I expect he will continue to pitch well in Triple-A.
***The Boston Red Soxpromoted right-handerAnthony Ranaudo to Triple-A Pawtucket. He had a 2.95 ERA with a 106/40 K/BB in 110 innings for Double-A Portland, re-establishing himself as a top prospect after a mediocre 2011 and an injury-plagued 2012.This promotion is also well-deserved, and a good showing in August will put him on course for a major league trial in 2014 or perhaps even this September.
***Ripple effect in the Colorado Rockies system, as Jonathan Gray's promotion to Modesto kicks Eddie Butler upstairs to the Double-A Texas League and the Tulsa Drillers. The 2012 supplemental first round pick out of Radford has thrived in A-ball, posting a combined 2.07 ERA with a 118/46 K/BB in 122 innings combined between Modesto in the California League and Asheville in the South Atlantic League. He's allowed just 83 hits and a 2.27 GO/AO ratio. Again, the promotion is deserved.
***Melotticus has a good fanpost up with a list of National League prospect sleepers.
***According to Prospect Insider, Mariners lefty Danny Hultzen is unlikely to pitch in real games again this year as he deals with shoulder problems. The good news is that the pain has subsided, but the Mariners are being cautious with him as he focuses on building up his arm strength and making some mechanical tweaks.
More from Minor League Ball:
- San Diego Padres Top 20 2013 PRE-SEASON Prospects in Review
- Minor League Ball Gameday, August 2
- Rockies minor league pitchers Michael Mason and Jesse Meaux arrested
- New York Mets Top 20 PRE-SEASON Prospects in Review
- Prospect Retrospective: Marco Scutaro
- Prospects from the biggest deadline trades of 2012
- Minor League Ball Gameday, August 1
- Manny Ramirez experiment may be nearing the end
- Houston Astros Top 20 2013 PRE-SEASON Prospects in Review
- Chicago Cubs Top 20 2013 PRE-SEASON Prospects in Review
- Quiroli releases 20 best MiLBers to follow on Twitter list
- Minor League Ball Gameday, July 31