A date with Fat Elvis. Berkman said immediately after Saturday’s game that he did feel a sensation similar to what he experienced when he tore his right anterior cruciate ligament in November 2005. Sunday, he couldn’t dismiss the possibility and its implications. “If I’ve re-torn my ACL or something like that, I’d certainly get it fixed but you don’t know how psychologically you’re going to come back from something like that,” Berkman said. “I’m not talking from the standpoint of being scared of hurting it again. I’m talking about doing everything it takes to come back and play again at an elite level. I think that’s a legitimate question I’m going to have to answer if, in fact, it turns out to be something more serious than we hope that it is. “I’ll be glad to get some more definitive answers tomorrow. Then you map out your strategies and go from there.” ...“You think about it when you have a potentially major surgery at this stage of your career. But, again, right now we don’t know what it is. But it gives you pause,” he said. “I don’t think it’s one of those deals where you sit out a week and see where your are. I think it’s much more serious than that. Always good for a parting shot, Berkman made sure Sunday’s left room for a sliver of optimism. “I’ve been through the ringer before,” he said. “I’m hopeful.”

Hello Cowgill in the dirt. This collision wasn’t of the intentional variety, though. It came on a wild pitch in the fourth inning. Collin Cowgill of the A’s slid into home head-first. He arrived right as Lincecum was getting down to his knees to catch the throw from Posey and Cowgill’s momentum carried him up and through Lincecum. Cowgill’s helmet hit Lincecum on the chin. The timing and placement of everything couldn’t have been worse for Lincecum. Lincecum appeared pretty shaken up on the play, though he didn’t initially seem to have a serious injury. He was checked—specificall his left hand/wrist area was being looked at—by an athletic trainer, but he stayed in. He finished the inning by walking Jemile Weeks and inducing a Cliff Pennington foul out. He didn’t pitch into the fifth inning, though. Through four, he had thrown 90 pitches and allowed four earned runs. Surely most games he’d stay in with such a line but maybe manager Bruce Bochy felt like he was playing it safe. Plus, his spot in the order came up.

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I want to point out this interesting piece of historical draft research from Nate Gilmore over at Puckett's Pond. Gilmore looks at high school hitters, high school pitchers, college hitters, and college pitchers, drafted in the first round from 1995 through 2008. He looks at both how often first-round picks in each category reach the majors and how successful they are once they get there.

Of particular interest, he concludes that college hitters are generally the safest investment, both in terms of their chance to reach the majors and their chance to thrive and become regulars or All-Stars once there. High school hitters are much riskier and don't become strong contributors as often as the college players.

Of the moundsmen, high school pitchers are far riskier than their college counterparts, with a large chance (about 45%) that they will fail completely and not reach the majors at all. However, the high school pitchers who do survive Darwinian selection in the minors and reach the majors, become stars more often than college pitchers. Drafting high school pitching is very much a high risk/high reward endeavor.

Gilmore also looks at how long it took players from each category to reach the majors. Take a look at his study, it is very interesting.

Here is how I see things going down this week.

Monday: Prospect of the Day; Minor League Notes, History of Florida High School Pitchers
Tuesday: Prospect of the Day, Minor League Notes, History of California High School Pitchers
Wednesday: Prospect of the Day, possible travel day, John's top 100 2012 draft board
Thursday: Prospect of the Day; possible travel day; Sleeper Prospects for 2012 draft
Friday: Prospect of the Day; possible travel day
Saturday: Minor League Ball Community Mock Draft

I may or may not take a brief scouting trip in the middle of the week. If I do, the schedule may shift slightly. Minor League Notes should appear on any days that I don't travel. This also doesn't account for any articles from Matt G.

The big upcoming event is the Community Mock Draft starting at noon CDT on Saturday, May 26th.

Donut fruit preserved! Scherzer struck out 15 Pittsburgh Pirates, one short of tying the Tigers’ record, and became the winning pitcher when his teammates scored three runs for him in the bottom of the seventh — en route to a 4-3 victory. Alex Avila’s slow-rolling grounder through a drawn-in infield, after a passed ball by catcher Rod Barajas moved runners from first and second to second and third, proved to be the difference. Not only did the Tigers need those runs, but Avila desperately needed the hit — because he was 4-for-40 in his last 12 games at the time. Scherzer, though, was outstanding. He allowed a pair of solo home runs in his seven innings, but the Pirates missed nearly everything else he threw. All 15 of his strikeouts were on swings.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi announced at a press conference Tuesday his plans to give the pitching mound a few days of rest to fully recover from enduring eight grueling innings of hurler CC Sabathia.

Cliff Lee (0-1, 1.95 ERA) seeks his first win of the season as the Phillies play the third and final game against the Red Sox. First pitch is 1:35 p.m. Josh Beckett (3-4, 4.97 ERA) tries to build on a solid start in his previous outing. Beerleaguer: In regards to Saturday night's 7-5 defeat, as one reader put it, it was "easily the best loss of the year." Joe Blanton was smoked early and often so the Phils spent the...

(closes eyes…plunks down swooning Invisible Mouth cut…forgets) It was strange outing for Ivan Nova Saturday at Yankee Stadium. He seemed to strike out everybody, yet when his six innings were up the Yankees were trailing, 5-3, in a game they eventually lost to the Reds, 6-5. ...Only five of the 18 batters who made outs against Nova did so without striking out as the righthander established a career high in punchouts. Nevertheless, his overall performance would have to be rated mediocre since his ERA rose to 5.69. Despite all the strikeouts, the Reds put runners on base with seven hits, two walks and a hit batter. Nova has allowed 84 base runners on 65 hits, 16 walks and three hit batters in 50 innings. His 1.62 WHIP is not very good, so Nova is fortunate that his record is 4-2. Of course, no account of a Yankees game these days is complete without bringing up the team’s problems hitting with runners in scoring position. They ended a 28-inning drought in which they were 0-for-22 in the clutch when Nick Swisher singled home Ibanez from second base in the ninth inning off Reds lefthanders Sean Marshall. It was only the fourth hit in the Yanks’ past 52 at-bats with runners in scoring position.

Sufferin’ Scherrerers…a look back at the 1982 Reds. The ’82 Reds had a lethal combination of lackluster young players, veterans who had off-years and big-name players on the downside of their careers. Result: Last in the National League West, 28 games out. “I try to forget everything I can about that year,” said Ron Oester, second baseman on the ’82 team. “That was the longest year of my baseball career.” ...After ’81, then-Reds general manager Dick Wagner engineered a roster makeover with an eye on finances. Outfielders Ken Griffey Sr. and George Foster were traded, as was third baseman Ray Knight. Outfielder Dave Collins left as a free agent. Some predicted the Reds could not win after losing that much talent, and those forecasts proved painfully accurate. “We realized early on it was not a very good baseball team, but I don’t think anybody believed the depths of how bad that team really was,” said Marty Brennaman, then and now the Reds’ primary radio voice. “It was a team with a bunch of great guys, but you had guys with limited ability and guys who had seen their better years.”  

With my fizzling “Szilárd Splittorff Bombs” fantasy team. Not so much. Fielder’s numbers may still be below his normal pace of excellence (.303 average, seven homers, 24 RBIs), a pace that would leave him under 30 homers and 100 RBIs for the season. But numbers can change fast. And a powerhouse like Fielder can go a tear that makes fantasy league devotees salivate. His analysis of the Tigers’ season so far is pretty simple: “I guess we just haven’t won as many games as people expected. It is what it is. I really don’t try to live up to anybody’s expectations, anyway. ... It’s a long season.” As for chemistry? “I don’t know. That’s for the coaches. That’s a little too deep for me.

Fangraphs reckons Albert Callaspo as the goat in this one, mainly for failing to make outs in critical situations. Shortly behind him was recent hero Mark Trumbo, who went 0-for-4; you allow for such nights if they don't become too commonplace. And while it's tempting to say "Albert Pujols, another 1-for-4 with a meaningless single", his outs were made to right field. So, progress?

The puzzler for the Angels, though, was the man on the mound, Dan Haren, who looked lost against the National League's second-worst offensive team. If you can't blank the Padres, something is terribly wrong, and last night's start was a continuation of the "Where's Haren" picture book the Angels have suffered from all year. Meanwhile, Dodgers castoff Eric Stults baffled the Angels, which isn't all that difficult these days. I haven't looked at their numbers against lefties, but it's none too surprising.

Finally, there was a perhaps significant oddment in the final out. Erick Aybar — he of the 4-for-4 night, a lone spark among a dead collection of rally killers, missing the cycle by a home run — reached on an infield single as the tying run. With two out and the winning run 90 feet away, Mike Scioscia left late inning defensive sub Ryan Langerhans in to hit — instead of sending in Vernon Wells, who had not started and remained on the bench. Scioscia used the odd justification that

"Langerhans had been swinging the bat well," Scioscia said.

In his last nine minor league games, Langerhans had batted .179. He had not batted since May 13.

It's so crazy it begins to sound like an upraised middle finger to Jerry Dipoto — "I'm still in charge of the lineup!" — or maybe early onset dementia. When you have a guy who — at least theoretically — could win the game with one swing of the bat, why aren't you using him?

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Outfielder Sam Fuld will be joining Rays broadcasters Dewayne Staats and Brian Anderson in the booth for the finale of Tampa Bay’s Interleague series with Atlanta. Fuld will primarily provide sabermetric analysis throughout the game. ... “I think that’s the one part of the game that [people] can probably make some more advancements on,” Fuld said about being able to quantify defensive ability.

Chris Coghlan… I feel like I’ve heard that name before… can’t quite place it.Gaby Sanchez was an All-Star last year. He’s a minor-leaguer now. The Marlins demoted the slumping first baseman to Triple A New Orleans on Saturday after an 0-for-3 day at the plate lowered his average to .197… The Marlins are expected to call up outfielder Chris Coghlan from New Orleans. [GM Michael] Hill said any one of three players — Logan Morrison, Greg Dobbs and Austin Kearns — could take over at first base. Morrison was a first baseman in the minors and, with a sore knee, is a strong candidate to change positions.

Chris Perez: To Cleveland, with Love. The fans at Progressive Field were cheering for him. “I’m tired of getting booed at home,” Perez said. “So I figured I’d throw some strikes today. You can quote that.” ...That is when fans sent a chorus of cat calls in Perez’s direction. “They booed me against the Mariners when I had two guys on,” Perez said. “It feels like I can’t even give up a baserunner without people booing me. It’s even worse when there’s only 5,000 in the stands, because then you can hear it. It [ticks] me off.” “I got two guys on,” he added later. “Yeah, my release point was all over the place, but really? I’ve got two guys on. They haven’t even scored yet and you’re booing me? You’re saying, ‘Get this bum off the mound.’ Come on.” ...The All-Star closer went as far as to say the low attendance hurt the Tribe’s ability to add players via free agency. Perez pointed to outfielder Carlos Beltran, who signed a two-year deal worth $26 million with the Cardinals over the offseason after the receiving a similar offer from the Indians. “Guys don’t want to come over here and people wonder why,” Perez said. “Why doesn’t Carlos Beltran want to come over here? Well, because of that. That’s part of it. It doesn’t go unnoticed — trust us. I’m not calling out the fans. It’s just how it is. … Nobody wants to play in front of 5,000 fans. We know the weather [stinks], but people see that. Other players know that.

Good lede here.In a curious move, the Chicago White Sox appear set to sign four-time Gold Glove second baseman Orlando Hudson… Hudson, 34, was released Thursday by the Padres after batting .211 with one home run, 11 RBIs and three stolen bases in 35 games. The Sox would be off the hook for the remaining $5.85 million on Hudson’s salary, minus the pro-rated minimum of $480,000, once he clears waivers… Hudson is expected to play third base—a position he has never played—and back up at second.

Or, you could buy 85 million of these. From CBS Sports’ Danny Knobler comes word that the Blue Jays placed first baseman Adam Lind on outright waivers Friday, no more than 24 hours after optioning the 28-year-old to Triple-A Las Vegas. Lind is free to be claimed by any other major league team, but that club would have to take on the $8.5 million in guaranteed money left on a contract that runs through 2016 (not including whatever is still owed to Lind from his $5 million salary for 2012).

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Many people, including you, have stated that there is no real reason why a left-handed catcher could not play at the major league level. Could this be an inefficiency that could be exploited, or does the tradition go too far down the levels of baseball to allow a major league team to take advantage of the inefficiency? Well. . .the tradition going way down the ladder is not necessarily a problem; in fact, it could help you make it work… We draft a lot of “conversion” guys; I think all major league teams do.   Scouts are always looking for third basemen and infielders who maybe could be catchers, since everybody generally needs catching in their system…   But everybody knows that efforts to convert players from other positions into catchers will fail 95% of the time, plus.   Being a catcher is the hardest defensive position on the field, and the hardest position to learn to play at the extremely high level demanded at the major leagues.   When a player starts out the learning process six or eight years behind, the odds are against his being able to catch up.    We always TRY, and occasionally you get guys pretty far up the minor league ladder with those efforts, but. ....it’s a long-odds thing.  Hey Bill, the other day one of our local radio sports talk hosts asserted that, in the major team sports, defense periodically gets ahead of offense, which forces the leagues to make adjustments in the rules to redress the balance—whereas the opposite basically does not happen. ... I regard it as a plausible thesis. . . .in fact, I think it is probably mine, although I don’t believe in taking credit for anything.  The thing is, managers and coaches always LIKE defense; they always prefer defensive players.   Managers like to control things.   Allowing the other team to score runs (or points) is a loss of control of the situation.   Many managers (and coaches) in all sports, historically, wax poetic about how it is defense that wins championships.   Just reading Joe Posnanski’s brilliant new book about Joe Paterno (in manuscript), and Paterno does this familiar schtick about how it’s defense that wins games, which is what coaches tend to believe.   Very few managers are ever going to take over a team and say “We’ve got to get some of these defensive clowns out of here and bring in some bangers”, even though this has been done with great success on some occasions, like Milwaukee in 1980 and the Red Sox in 2003. hey bill, do you think that there is sufficient information now available that calls into question the future health of football, in terms of risks to it, at the one end by players and former players facing health problems, and at the other end by diminished participation at the youth level? It makes no difference whatsoever to the commercial product whether the talent base diminishes.   It’s two separate markets; if the talent base diminished by 80% nobody would ever notice.     About 61 AD, Seneca convinced the Emporer [sic] Nero to ban the practice of killing gladiators… But then a couple of years later [Nero] had Seneca put to death… and a hundred years later they were back to killing gladiators. ” cols=“100” rows=“20”> Many people, including you, have stated that there is no real reason why a left-handed catcher could not play at the major league level. Could this be an inefficiency that could be exploited, or does the tradition go too far down the levels of baseball to allow a major league team to take advantage of the inefficiency? Well. . .the tradition going way down the ladder is not necessarily a problem; in fact, it could help you make it work… We draft a lot of “conversion” guys; I think all major league teams do.   Scouts are always looking for third basemen and infielders who maybe could be catchers, since everybody generally needs catching in their system…   But everybody knows that efforts to convert players from other positions into catchers will fail 95% of the time, plus.   Being a catcher is the hardest defensive position on the field, and the hardest position to learn to play at the extremely high level demanded at the major leagues.   When a player starts out the learning process six or eight years behind, the odds are against his being able to catch up.    We always TRY, and occasionally you get guys pretty far up the minor league ladder with those efforts, but. ....it’s a long-odds thing.  Hey Bill, the other day one of our local radio sports talk hosts asserted that, in the major team sports, defense periodically gets ahead of offense, which forces the leagues to make adjustments in the rules to redress the balance—whereas the opposite basically does not happen. ... I regard it as a plausible thesis. . . .in fact, I think it is probably mine, although I don’t believe in taking credit for anything.  The thing is, managers and coaches always LIKE defense; they always prefer defensive players.   Managers like to control things.   Allowing the other team to score runs (or points) is a loss of control of the situation.   Many managers (and coaches) in all sports, historically, wax poetic about how it is defense that wins championships.   Just reading Joe Posnanski’s brilliant new book about Joe Paterno (in manuscript), and Paterno does this familiar schtick about how it’s defense that wins games, which is what coaches tend to believe.   Very few managers are ever going to take over a team and say “We’ve got to get some of these defensive clowns out of here and bring in some bangers”, even though this has been done with great success on some occasions, like Milwaukee in 1980 and the Red Sox in 2003. hey bill, do you think that there is sufficient information now available that calls into question the future health of football, in terms of risks to it, at the one end by players and former players facing health problems, and at the other end by diminished participation at the youth level? It makes no difference whatsoever to the commercial product whether the talent base diminishes.   It’s two separate markets; if the talent base diminished by 80% nobody would ever notice.     About 61 AD, Seneca convinced the Emporer [sic] Nero to ban the practice of killing gladiators… But then a couple of years later [Nero] had Seneca put to death… and a hundred years later they were back to killing gladiators.

1976 Topps Traded: The Missing Cards - #405T Rollie Fingers

Like Vida Blue and Joe Rudi, the league voided Charlie Finley's sale of Rollie Fingers to the Boston Red Sox at the June 15th trade deadline in 1976. Fingers was granted free agency at the conclusion of the 1976 season. The All-Star and leading fireman signed with San Diego.

Kerry Wood's retirement got me thinking about Texas high school pitchers, so I put together a little list.

Here is a summary of all Texas high school pitchers drafted (and signed) in the first round from 1981 through 2010. Take a look and draw your own conclusions.

Texas High School Pitchers Drafted in the First Round, 1981-2011

Rickey Barlow, 1981, Tigers Did not pitch in majors
Jimmy Jones, 1982, Padres 4.46 ERA in 755 innings, ERA+ 82, 5.6 WAR
Jackie Davidson, 1983, Cubs Did not pitch in majors
Wayne Dotson, 1983, Tigers Did not pitch in majors

Scott Scudder, 1986, Reds 4.80 ERA in 386 innings, ERA+ 80, 0.6 WAR
Brian Bohanon, 1987, Rangers 5.19 ERA in 1116 innings, ERA+ 94, 10.6 WAR
Todd Ritchie, 1990, Twins 4.71 ERA in 836 innings, ERA+ 98, 10.6 WAR
Todd Van Poppel, 1990, Athletics 5.58 ERA in 907 innings, ERA+ 80, 2.1 WAR

Robbie Beckett, 1990, Padres 11.57 ERA in 7 innings, ERA+ 49, -0.3 WAR
Kerry Wood, 1995, Cubs 3.67 ERA in 1380 innings, ERA+ 117, 23.4 WAR
Andrew Yount, 1995, Red Sox Did not pitch in majors
John Patterson, 1996, Expos 4.32 ERA in 454 innings, ERA+ 100, 5.9 WAR

Mark Mangum, 1997, Rockies Did not pitch in majors
Josh Beckett, 1999, Marlins 3.86 ERA in 1763 innings, ERA+114, 37.9 WAR
Josh Girdley, 1999, Expos Did not pitch in majors
Colt Griffin, 2001, Royals Did not pitch in majors

Clint Everts, 2002, Expos Has not pitched in majors, currently in Double-A
Scott Kazmir, 2002, Mets 4.17 ERA in 1022 innings, ERA+ 105, 16.6 WAR
John Danks, 2003, Rangers 4.15 ERA in 965 innings, ERA+ 108, 16.4 WAR
Homer Bailey, 2004, Reds 4.85 ERA in 477 innings, ERA+ 85, 4.9 WAR

Aaron Thompson, 2005, Marlins 7.04 ERA in 8 innings, ERA+ 56, -0.2 WAR
Clayton Kershaw, 2006, Dodgers 2.83 ERA in 769 innings, ERA+ 137, 18.2 WAR
Kyle Drabek, 2006, Phillies 5.01 ERA in 142 innings, ERA+ 86, 0.3 WAR
Blake Beavan, 2007, Rangers 4.35 ERA in 134 innings, ERA+ 87, 0.7 WAR

Chris Withrow, 2007, Dodgers Currently in Double-A
Shelby Miller, 2009, Cardinals Currently in Triple-A
Jameson Taillon, 2010, Pirates Currently in High-A
Zach Lee, 2010, Dodgers Currently in High-A

Click through for this awesome Adrian Beltre GIF.  He’s the most charming player in the game.

Prospect Retrospective and Career Profile: Kerry Wood

I'm old enough to remember when Kerry Wood was a young phenom instead of a grizzled veteran. Let's take a trip in the Wayback Machine and see how Wood was viewed as a prospect.

Kerry Wood was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the first round of the 1995 draft, from high school in Grand Prairie, Texas. One of the best high school pitchers of his generation, he drew comparisons to fireballers like Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens. Drafted fourth overall, he didn't sign right away and pitched some games for his high school team after the draft, including a 200-pitch outing in a double-header. He walked six hitters in his first seven professional innings, but his mid-90s fastball and unhittable curve pushed him up the prospect lists quickly,

Wood pitched for High-A Daytona in 1996, as a 19-year-old against older competition in the Florida State League. He went 10-2, 2.91 ERA with a 136/70 K/BB ratio in 114 innings, allowing just 72 hits. He also spent a month on the disabled list with a sore elbow, and there was grumbling that he was already paying the price for pitching too much in high school. I had him as a Grade A- and the number two pitching prospect in the minors.

In my comment for Wood in the 1997 book, I wrote

"Scouts are always on the lookout for Texas high school pitchers, hoping for the next Nolan Ryan. They haven't found him. Between 1980 and 1990, nine Texas high school pitchers were drafted in the first round. None of them, that's right, none of them, developed into decent major league pitches. Here's the list: Rickey Barlow, Jimmy Jones, Jackie Davidson, Wayne Dotson, Scott Scudder, Brian Bohanon, Todd Ritchie, Todd Van Poppel, and Robbie Beckett. . .Wood could be the next Nolan Ryan, but he could also blow his arm out."

The Cubs sent Wood to Double-A Orlando to open 1997. He had serious control problems, posting a 4.50 ERA with a 106/79 K/BB in 94 innings, but they moved him up to Triple-A anyway, where he posted a 4.68 ERA with an 80/52 K/BB in 58 innings for Iowa. He made 29 starts and threw 158 innings, fanning 186 but walking 121. This struck me as a very aggressive and unwise workload. I gave him a Grade A- in my 1998 book, noting his amazing stuff and his strong K/IP ratios, but with some caveats:

"The Cubs took a big risk by promoting him to Triple-A. His control was bad in Double-A and I don't understand what Triple-A hitters could teach him about control that Double-A hitters couldn't. I can't shake the feeling that he is going to get hurt. He was overused in high school, and has already had elbow trouble in the pros. He was healthy last year, but while his mechanics look smooth from behind home plate, if you watch him from the first base side, it looks like his motion puts strain on the elbow. Don't get me wrong, this guy is a gem. I don't doubt his ability, but I wonder if he is being handled correctly, and if he will stay healthy."

Kerry made one start in Triple-A in 1998 (fanning 11 in five innings), and spent the rest of the year with the cubs, going 13-6, 3.40 ERA, with a 233/85 K/BB in 167 innings with just 117 hits allowed. His 20-strikeout game in his fifth major league start was phenomenal and possibly the best single-game pitching performance in major league history.

You know the rest of Wood's story: at his best he was very much like Ryan and Clemens, but he just couldn't stay healthy. He wasn't quite the same after 1998 Tommy John surgery, and eventually his shoulder proved troublesome as well. He had a brief career revival as a closer, and it is fitting that he ended his career as a Cub after brief diversions with the Indians and Yankees.

All told, Wood finished with an 86-75 (.534) record, a 3.67 ERA, 1582/666 K/BB ratio in 1380 innings, just 1083 hits allowed, and a 117 ERA+, with a 23.4 WAR.

Why can’t the Red Sox get cheap productive players like this?As the A’s go into their 40th game, and close to the quarter mark of the season. how does Josh Reddick compare to other OF options the A’s could have possibly gone after this offseason? At the league minimum, he’s been an incredible bargain; a steal. Carlos Beltran and Michael Cuddyer weren’t in the range in terms of salary, but I had thought Josh Willingham was not only a decent gamble, but fan favorite. Using Fangraphs Dollars metric, Reddick’s production is currently worth $7.2 M in FA.

The surging Phillies bring baseball's longest win streak into Game 2 of their series with the Red Sox. Joe Blanton and the Phils try to push it to seven against tough customer Jon Lester. First pitch is 7:15 p.m. Beerleaguer: The cream always rises to the top, and while the Phillies aren't out of the woods, they've clawed closer to that "x games over .500" threshold pragmatic Beerleaguers were targeting as the end of May goal. Carlos Ruiz continues to...

And the especially comical Morel of the story is… One reason so many teams get so little out of that spot is … well … they give the job to a mediocre hitter. You’d think it elementary that a manager wants to have his better batters bat the most, but what can you say when the majority of White Sox lineups have had Brent Morel or Gordon Beckham batting 2nd? Their career OBPs before this year were .285 and .318, respectively. Sure, no one foresaw them being as horrid as they’ve been so far — but was there any reason to think either one would do well in the #2 role? Morel was an especially comical choice, going 6 for 43 with 20 strikeouts and 3 walks before that particular experiment was scuttled. ...The ChiSox rank 3rd in OBP from the leadoff spot (.375) and 5th from #3. But their cleanup men (mainly Paul Konerko) rank 11th in PAs with RISP and with any runner on. And so Konerko, batting .362 over all and .387 with RISP, and playing in every game but one, is on pace for 30 HRs, but only 90 RBI. I offer one last stat line: In 1991, a young sweet-swinging lefty with some pop batted 2nd for the White Sox most of the year and drove in 100 runs on the nose. In 114 games hitting 2nd, he produced 87 RBI (that’s 124 RBI per 162 G), with 21 HRs, a .294 BA and .378 OBP. He sacrificed just 4 times. The White Sox had just 2 other regulars with OPS+ above 98, and they played in a neutral park, but they were well above average in scoring. That sweet-swinging lefty now makes out the White Sox lineup cards. Robin Ventura, free your mind. Free Adam Dunn. Bat him 2nd!

Hey…who wouldn’t pay good money to see Alan Ogg getting out of a clown car? The Rangers are the the ones who are the Miami Heat of baseball. This truth is never more apparent than when they roll into the home of their Houston counterparts, their American League forced, would-be future division rivals, and absolutely take over. Make no mistake, this is what’s happening at Minute Maid Park this weekend. It doesn’t matter if you’re among the many (maybe 60 percent?) of the 34,000-plus (take that Dynamo!) rooting for Rangers or if you’re among the valiant throng trying to stick up for H-Town and all that’s holy about hating anything Dallas, this series is all about the Rangers. ...It’s the least he can do for the guy who hit eight home runs in a week, the superstar around which all of baseball suddenly orbits. You know, the guy who will overshadow Nolan Freaking Ryan on his own bobblehead night. Oh, they’ll line up awfully early at the gates of Minute Maid Saturday afternoon for the Ryan bobbleheads. But they line up awfully early on Friday just to see Hamilton hit BP. “He’s a phenomenal player who is very fun to watch,” Ryan says. “I don’t believe there’s anybody who’s ever played the game who is any more talented.”

Use the View-Master Model GEE-WHIZ! So, while our eyes tell us that Murphy is getting the job done in the field, the numbers tell us the exact opposite thing. Which one should we believe? Sometimes the eyes show us what we want to see and believe. That is why it is important to have non-biased numbers to fall back on. Perhaps being a Murphy fan has caused me to minimize his defensive shortcomings and exaggerate his achievements in the field. David Wright seems to be doing a great job at the plate and the numbers back this up. Murphy seems to be doing fine in the field but the numbers tell us he has been terrible. The one saving grace is that defensive numbers take longer than offensive numbers to stabilize. So, while Murphy grades out as a rotten fielder after 36 games, it will not be a huge surprise to see the numbers tell a different story by the All-Star break. ...My heart and my head tell me two different things about Murphy’s defense in 2012, leaving me ambivalent about his play. But with the Mets holding a winning record and Collins firmly in his corner, there seems little doubt that Murphy will continue to play second base. Hopefully he will continue to make highlight-reel plays like he did Thursday while also improving his range and getting to more balls than he has the first seven weeks of the season.

No K Records here! As mentioned earlier, Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson was at Comerica Park on Friday to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before a game between the Tigers and Pirates. He also took part in batting practice with the Tigers and hit a home run. Johnson attended the game with his fellow receivers, and Nate Burleson also took part in some batting practice and hit a ball to the warning track. He wasn’t able to send one out like Johnson, but like I said before, it’s no real surprise Johnson was able to go yard. He’s a freakish athlete, and in high school he played baseball and even drew some interest from the Cincinnati Reds.

www.youtube.com Click here to watch Playmakers with Constant 7/8/10! Playmakers w/ Constant 7/15/10 (Madden Throw, Gardner/Granderson/Thames Home Run Challenges) S01E10 We get an update on our Madden NFL 10 Challenge. You must pick the Minnesota Vikings and go up against the Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints on All-Madden Difficulty. Be sure to record the difficulty selection screen and forward so we know you aren’t cheating. Then you must substitute Tarvaris Jackson for Brett Favre and you must bring in Jaymar Johnson as your Wide Receiver. The goal of this challenge is to record the longest throw from Tarvaris Jackson to Jaymar Johnson against the Saints using the All-Madden Difficulty. You have until Sunday, July 18th 2010 to deliver your video. In honor of the late George Steinbrenner, our next Challenge is dedicated to the Yankees. This Challenge isn’t simple because you can’t pick the big guns A-Rod, Jeter, Swisher, or Teixeira. You must hit a home run using either Brett Gardner, Curtis Granderson, or Marcus Thames. The longest distance wins the challenge. Let’s play ball! CONTACT CONSTANT & THE MACHINIMA SPORTS TEAM: sports@machinima.com – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - Follow Machinima on Twitter! Machinima twitter.com Inside Gaming twitter.com Machinima Respawn twitter.com Machinima Entertainment, Technology, Culture twitter.com FOR MORE MACHINIMA, GO TO: www.youtube.com FOR MORE GAMEPLAY, GO TO: www.youtube.com FOR …

“Guests may not carry in the following items: Laptop computers.” Okay…so that wasn’t the problem. After going to old Yankee Stadium for four decades, Dusty Baker had a slight delay on his first trip to the new ballpark. “It’s hard to get in this bad boy,” the Cincinnati Reds manager said Friday before his team opened an interleague series in the Bronx. “Some guy asked me today, `Could I help you?’ I was in the front, trying to get in. I said, `Yeah. I’m here for the game.’ He goes, `The gates aren’t open yet.”’ “I said, `OK, man. I’m the manager,”’ Baker explained. “Of what?” “The baseball team.” “Yeah, what’s your name?” “Dusty Baker.” That didn’t work.

True…the Prudhomme/Prudaway splits are hilarious! Hight believes the “Moneyball” theories of Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane can reduce his maddening inconsistency of last year, when he won five races—including four of the first nine—but was eliminated eight times in first rounds, including the last two races of the regular season and first two in the Countdown playoffs. “We were all or nothing last year,” said Hight, who finished fourth in the standings in 2011. “This year, we took a smarter approach to racing by not giving it away. A lot of times in drag racing, you beat yourself. If we smoke the tires, we didn’t get beat by the other guy, we beat ourselves. We didn’t give ourselves a fair chance to win that race by going down the track.” So while “Moneyball” emphasized walks, bunts and on-base percentage instead of batting average, slugging percentage and home runs, Hight’s Auto Club team focused on small ball for drag racing. “It’s going down the track, not trying to be the quickest car every run,” said Hight, the 2009 funny-car champion. “If you’re swinging for the fence, you strike out a lot. Hit the ball, go down the track.

Heads up Morrie Rath! Roy Oswalt is back in play. Oswalt, a free-agent right-hander, threw bullpen sessions for the Philadelphia Phillies last week and the Boston Red Sox this week, according to major-league sources. He is scheduled to throw for two additional teams, one on Friday, one source said. The identities of those teams are not known. Oswalt intends to sign with a team soon, possibly within the next week, and could pitch in the majors by mid- to late June, sources said. The New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers are not in the mix for Oswalt at this time, sources said.

Dear Readers,

We here at The Baseball Card Blog are growing restless with our blog template. So over the weekend we will be trying out new layouts. Lots of things will be taken into account, including ease of navigation, reliable load time, decent mobile viewing experience, large images, and bells and whistles that make it easier to share our content.

We have lots of great stuff to share with you, and we want to present it all in a format where it can shine. So if things are different the next time you visit, please have patience; we're aiming high.

Thanks,
Ben

What could have clogged it?

Getting an ump suspended is apparently an offense that gets you suspended as well. Major League Baseball has suspended Bob Davidson one game for “repeated violations of the Office of the Commissioner’s stanards for situation handling.” While MLB says this is a culmination of several incidents (and they’re not wrong) it would appear Tuesday’s incident with Phillies manager Charlie Manuel put it over the top. Manuel was also suspended a game, but for just the one incident, not repeated violations.

This is so awesome! If Sam H. doesn’t get one of these, I will be very disappointed in him.

On Wednesday, I spoke with a scout friend of mine who has done some extensive pre-draft scouting of college players in the Midwest. For job security purposes he needs to remain anonymous, but I thought you might be interested in some of his observations.

John: Of all the hitters you saw this year, who impressed you most and why?

Scout: The most impressive hitter I have seen this year is probably Barrett Barnes of Texas Tech from an overall standpoint. I'd pay to watch him take batting practice. He didn't perform to well in the series that I saw him though, missed at least 4-5 pitches that were big mistake pitches. However the two hits he had in the three-game series were absolutely smoked. He is the best overall hitter from this year I have seen when you combine the power and hit tools. Not as sold on him as other scouts about being able to hit for a very high average at the next level though.

John: What about the pitchers? Which one was your favorite and why?

Scout: Mississippi State's Chris Stratton was by far the best pitcher I have seen this year. He is about 6'3/200lbs but looks like he could really fill out more and nicely. Had plus arm speed, consistent mechanics, and throws all his pitches from the same slot. Here are the verbatim scouting notes I took about him:

Pitch Breakdown/Notes:

Fastball-(has both 4 and 2 seam) sat 92-94 with the 4-seam and had natural arm side run. His 2-seam was 88-90 which had plus arm side run and downward life. Did a very good job of working both in/out and lived at the knees against both LH and RH hitters.

Slider- is his go to pitch. Sitting at 82-85, his slider has plus two-plane break and he can throw it with command as well as a strikeout pitch. He also does a very nice job of setting up this pitch, especially with his fastball.

Curveball- which he throws mainly as a show me pitch I believe has a chance to play up in the pro ranks if he can improve his command on the pitch. The curve has an 11-5 break and is sharp but used it mainly to keep guys honest and off balance.

Change- Another pitch that he really sets up well. Has a ton of late drop, and has good arm speed when he throws it. Mostly used it as an out pitch to left handed hitters but didn't hesitate to throw it against right handed hitters.

John: How do you see those two guys fitting into the draft? First rounders?

Scout: Stratton is a for sure a 1^st round guy for me. The projections I have seen from both your site as well as others he is projected to be a late first rounder, but I would pop him in the top 15 based on the one game that I saw him. Add in the crazy numbers he is putting up in the SEC, I think someone is going to get a huge steal if he drops to the late 1^st round.

Barnes is a guy I am not as confident in about being a 1^st rounder. He has plenty of tools, but I am not sold on him being able to stick in CF. His arm is not even close to a big league CF arm. I don't think he could play CF at the AA level. He is going to have to be a LF at the next level. He has the power potential to stick there, but his hit tool really needs to catch up to the power tool. I see him more as a mid-late supplemental or early 2^nd rounder. I have talked to other sources who share the same opinion as I do, and have talked to others who are high enough on him to where they would pop him in the 1^st round.

John: Outfielder Tyler Naquin of Texas A&M has also been getting early draft attention as a pure hitter. How did he look to you? How much power can he develop?

Scout: Naquin had the best hit tool I have seen all year (quite a bit ahead of Barnes) with good speed to go with it. In regards to power, he has very little of it right now and I really don't see him grading out higher than a 35 power wise in the future. The body I just don't think has much pop in it no matter how much more he fills out. His swing is built to hit for average, which I think he will do right away in the pro ranks as well. Very quick hands and doesn't swing at pitches out of the zone. Seemed to always be in a good hitting count in the three games I saw him in and sprayed line drives to every field. Very impressed with the hit tool and think it will keep developing. Not as confident in the power potential though however to answer your question.

John: Did you see his teammate Michael Wacha? Do you buy him as an early first-rounder?

Scout: Wacha is another four pitch guy, who features plus velocity with his fastball which was 91-93 and flashed 95 twice. Located his fastball very well in terms of in and out, but didn't live down much at all with it. Mostly belt high fastballs that he got away with due to being able to paint the corners and having velocity good enough to have a lot of room for error at the college level. His curveball had a 12-6 break sitting between 74-77 and was his best pitch the day I saw him. Used it in any count and lived at the knees with it and also used it as a quality chase pitch.

Arm speed was also very good when throwing the curve. His slider was not impressive and he is either going to have to make very large strides with it or throw it out once he gets to the pro level. Wacha seemed to love his changeup and threw it to RH hitters more than I have seen in quite a while. It along with his curve was his out pitch to both LH and RH hitters. Lived low with the change and had good arm side life. Velo on the change was 80-82.

I wouldn't draft him early 1^st round. His problems with commanding his fastball by living at the belt rather than the knees really bothered me. Along with the fact that I don't think his slider will play up very well at the next level, making him just a three pitch guy. If he could improve his slider or add something like a cutter that would be something that would make a huge difference and change my opinion on whether or not he is an early first rounder or not.

John: Andrew Heaney of Oklahoma State is another Big 12 pitcher who took a big step forward this year. What's your take on him?

Scout: Unfortunately the start I saw out of Heaney seemed to be his only bad one thus far this year. He was up with his fastball and had a tough time throwing it for a strike. His velo for his fastball was still there though, sitting 89-92, flashing 93 a few times with good arm side run. His slider, which is probably his best pitch he also didn't have command of the outing I saw. He could only throw it for a chase pitch and almost every one that he threw was in the dirt or below the knees. On the positive side however, the slider did have a good sharp break. He did not use his changeup that much, as he had problems controlling that too.

Other scouts I have spoken to about Heaney have been very impressed and see him as an easy early-mid first rounder, but I just did not see it out of him but my sample size is very small and I have no questions about his ability if he can still get strike outs without his stuff being anywhere close to where it usually is.

John: Can you name three sleeper prospects you saw who might be under the radar but who could be a positive surprise in pro ball?

Scout:

1. Logan Vick, OF (Baylor) (JR) impressed me with the bat quite a bit. A L/R guy who has plus hands and stays in the zone and tracks the ball well. Has gap power right now to both fields, but his body looks like it will fill out more and I am confident in saying that he will develop more power in the future.

2. Hoby Milner, LHP (Texas) (JR) was a bullpen arm for Texas that sat 90-93 flashing 94 from the left side. Listed at 6'2 165, he has a frame that will fill out and could possibly add a few ticks on his fastball. Threw a slurve that had 10-4/11-5 break but did not throw it too much. Throws over the top, and was affective against both LH and RH hitters. I think that he will be a steal for someone in the mid-late rounds. I see him being a bullpen guy still at the next level that could go through an order more than once.

3. Kyle Matlin, RHP (Texas A&M) (JR) he's not really a sleeper but I haven't discussed him yet, and he was more than impressive. Currently the closer for A&M and has a submarine delivery but still sits in the low-mid 90's with his fastball even with the submarine delivery. Tons of downward life which is complimented by a sweeping slider. My opinion would be to get him throwing over the top again at the next level to add some velo to his fastball, that is if he can throw his secondary stuff from an over the top/ ¾ angle. Has the velo to be a potential back-end bullpen guy.

This is a very early look at the players available starting on July 2nd. While there are surely more players that will sign than this, these are the players that I am aware of and what I have seen of them. I will likely have another article with more information about these guys as I learn more, this is just something to whet the appetite a little.

Rank	Name	Pos.	City	Birthday	Bats	Throws	Height	Weight
1	Gustavo Cabrera	OF	La Romana, DR	1/23/1996	Right	Right	6'2"	190
	Speedy with pop in the bat. Good arm, bit of a funky swing but very, very good prospect. Will likely get the largest bonus of the year.
2	Frandi Delarosa	SS	Comendador, DR	1/24/1996	Both	Right	6'1"	180
	Huge ceiling. Good actions up the middle will be plus at 3B or really good at SS. Bat will play at corners. Enormous potential if he can stick at SS.
3	Luis Torrens	3B		5/2/1996	R	R	6'	171
	Very good defensively. Solid bat with a lot of offensive potential.
4	Jairo Beras	OF		12/25/1995
	Somewhat awkward in the field. A lot of moving parts in his swing but huge power potential.
5	Wendell Rijo	SS	La Romana, DR	9/4/1995	Right	Right	5'11"	170
	Carries himself well on the field. Knows how to play the game. Player more than tools.
6	Alexander Palma	OF		10/18/1995	R	R	6'	200
	Smooth swing, good power potential. Solid defensively. One of the more polished players in this years crop.
7	Nathanael Javier	3B	Santo Domingo, DR	10/10/1995	R	Right	6'3"	185
	Nice swing, athletic. Has a few bad habits defensively. Could be very good all around player.
8	Amaurys Minier	3B	San Cristobal, DR	1/30/1996	Both	Right	6'2"	190
	Quick bat creates power. Not sold on the contact ability. Good defense at 3B.
9	Kelyn Jose	P	Nagua, DR	5/19/1995	L	L	6'4"	185
	Big velocity on the lefty. Needs a ton of work but very high ceiling.
10	Yancarlos Baez	SS	San Cristobal, DR	9/21/1995			6'2"	165
	The best defensive outfielder of the class has room to grow at the plate and could be an average or better CF.
11	Deivy Grullon	C	Bonao, DR	2/17/1996	Right	Right	6'	180
	Better defensively than offensively. Bat has potential. If he can hit .26 with 15 homers, he could be a top 15 MLB catcher.
12	Luis Barrera	OF	Tamboril, DR	11/15/1995	Left	Left	6'1"	180
	RAW. He has a lot of potential with the bat but is RAW in all parts of his game. Just awkward defensively. Swings out of his shoes.
13	Jose Pujols	OF	Santo Domingo, DR	9/29/1995	Right	Right	6'3"	175
	Big athletic RF with good arm and range. Plus bat speed will create power but will swing and miss a lot with current swing.
14	Ronny Carvajal	OF	Bani, DR	10/9/1995	Right	Right	6'3"	180
	Will grow into a monster. Should add 4-5 LBS in a few years in the states. Who knows what that will do to him. Power will be his game.
15	Jose Mujica	P		6/29/1996	R	R	6'2	180
	Good arm action. Nice movement on fastball. Not sure about the rest.
16	Branly Crisotomo	P		10/25/1994	R	R	6'1	180
	Polished for a Dominican, he only hits upper 8's on the gun. Need to see what happens before expecting a lot.
17	Julo De La Cruz	3B	Yamasa, DR	10/5/1995	Right	Right	6'1"	190
	Average defensively at 3B. Bat may be light for that spot but he has bat speed and could improve to show more power.
18	Felix Suarez	SS	Santo Domingo, DR	1/9/1996	Right	Right	6'1"	175
	Suarez has solid actions up the middle and could end up as a reliable SS with a solid bat.
19	Euri Minaya	OF		10/11/1995	R	R	6'4"	202
	Has one swing and the ball needs to find his bat. Needs a lot of AB's but could pay off if he can figure things out.
20	Juan Carlos Arias	1B/3B			r	r	6'3"	199
	Big raw power but will likely need to really hit with future 1b profile.
21	Richard Urena	SS	SF Macoris, DR	1/26/1996	Left	Right	6'1"	160
	More of a slap hitter than anything. Looks like a solid ss defensively.
22	Leury Vargas	1B		8/30/1996	Left	Right	6'3"	210
	Massive kid and not overly athletic. Bat plays well and will have to play really well because he is a 1B all the way.
23	Joel Gonzalez	C	San Cristobal, DR	8/1/1996	R	R	6'1"	175
	Very good defensively. Will need to see what the bat does.
24	Franklin Barreto	SS		2/27/1996	Right	R	5'9	174
	ok bat, ok at short. Looks like a utility guy or a 2nd tier 2B at best.
25	Luis Castro	3b		9/19/1995	R	R	6'1"	187
	Future 3B. Not a fan of the bat at this point.
26	Jose Castillo	p		1/10/1996	L	L	6'4	199
	Poor mechanics and upper 8's fastball. Will need work to get anywhere.
27	Juan Uribe	P
28	Ignacio Valdez	OF		7/16/1995			6'3"	185
29	Joaquin DelaCruz	3B	Santo Domingo, DR	10/13/1995	Right	Right	6'3"	170
30	Rafael Santana	OF		10/24/1995	Right	Right	6'	160
31	Rafael Uribe	P
32	Wilfredo Magallanes	P
33	Alberto Uceta	P	Montecristi, DR	9/21/1995	Right	Right	6'2"	170
34	Bienvenido Morales	P	Cibao, DR	6/26/1996	L	L	6'2	170
35	Bryan Munoz	P	Pimentel, DR	7/26/1995	Right	Right	6'0"	187
36	Alberto Sanchez	3B	Oviedo, DR	2/14/1996	Right	Right	6'1"	180
37	Lugo Octavis	SS	Neyba, DR	11/19/1995	Right	Right	6'1"	170
38	Emmanuel Tapia	OF/1B	Santo Domingo, DR	2/26/1996	L	L	6'2"	220
39	Luis Guzman	OF		9/10/1995	L	L	6'	190
40	Jean Carlos Mejia	P	Gaspar Herandez, DR	8/26/1996	Right	Right	6'2"	170
41	Johnny Rodriguez	OF	Mao, DR	7/20/1996	Left	Left	6'3"	170
42	Miguel Munoz	OF	Samana, DR	12/27/1995	Right	Right	6'2"	175
43	Natanael Delgado	OF	Los Cacaos, DR	10/23/1995	Left	Left	6'1"	160
44	Winder Novas	P	Vicente Noble, DR	3/6/1996	Right	Right	6'1"	165
45	Alvaro Castillo	P	Santo Domingo, DR	9/26/1995	Right	Right	6'6"	195
46	Raivy Barias	SS	Bani, DR	9/25/1995	Right	Right	6'1"	175
47	Richard Nunez	C	Santaigo, DR	3/14/1995	Right	Right	6'1	185
48	Andres DeAza	OF		11/17/1994	Right	Right	6'4"	190
49	Angel Heredia	P
50	Angel Moreno	SS		10/13/1995
51	Crucito Mieses	P	Santo Domingo, DR	4/18/1996	Right	Right	6'3"	175
52	Francis Peguero	SS		10/4/1995
53	Francisco Castro	C		1/0/1900
54	Grofi Cruz Martinez	SS		5/3/1996
55	Hector Morales	P
56	Juaquin DelaCruz	3B		10/13/1995
57	Kelvin Esteves	3B		11/17/1995	Right	Right	6'1"	170
58	Luis Castillo	3B		7/12/1996
59	Michael Medina	OF		8/24/1996	Right	Right	6'2	185
60	Natanael Javier	3B		10/10/1995	Right	Right	6'3"	185
61	Neivi Pelier	3B		8/1/1996	Right	Right	6'1"	180
62	Nelson Alvarez	OF		3/10/1996
63	Oliver Toribio	C		6/18/1996	Right	Right	5'10"	175
64	Vicson Graciano	SS		11/23/1995	Both	Right	6'1"	180
65	Yairo Munoz	SS
66	Yamil Echevarria	p	Miami, Fl	9/16/1990		L	6'4"	215

Much of this was randomly generated by assigning a range where I expect each player to be taken. I randomly generated a number in that range, then sorted it. It makes some teams draft seem odd but it's an idea of how things could fall. This is more of an exercise in where players could go than putting deep thought into 300+ picks. Don't tear me up too much :) Enjoy!

Ovr	Team	RD	Name	Position	School	LEVEL
1	Astros	1	Mark Appel	P	Stanford	JR
2	Twins	1	Michael Zunino	C	Florida	JR
3	Mariners	1	Byron Buxton	OF	Appling County	HS
4	Orioles	1	Kyle Zimmer	P	San Francisco	JR
5	Royals	1	Kevin Gausman	P	Louisiana State	SO
6	Cubs	1	Carlos Correa	SS	PR Baseball Academy	HS
7	Padres	1	Marcus Stroman	P	Duke	JR
8	Pirates	1	Lucas Giolito	P	Harvard Westlake	HS
9	Marlins	1	Albert Almora	OF	Mater Academy	HS
10	Rockies	1	Courtney Hawkins	OF	Carroll	HS
11	Athletics	1	Richie Shaffer	3B	Clemson	JR
12	Mets	1	Max Fried	P	Harvard-Westlake	HS
13	White Sox	1	Deven Marrero	SS	Arizona State	JR
14	Reds	1	Andrew Heaney	P	Oklahoma State	JR
15	Indians	1	Michael Wacha	P	Texas A&M	JR
16	Nationals	1	Gavin Cecchini	SS	Barbe	HS
17	Blue Jays	1	David Dahl	OF	Oak Mountain	HS
18	Dodgers	1	Zach Eflin	P	Hagerty	HS
19	Cardinals	1	Lance McCullers	P	Jesuit	HS
20	Giants	1	Ty Hensley	P	Santa Fe	HS
21	Braves	1	Chris Beck	P	Georgia Southern	JR
22	Blue Jays	1	Stephen Piscotty	3B	Stanford	JR
23	Cardinals	1	Taylore Cherry	P	Vandalia Butler	HS
24	Red Sox	1	Travis Jankowski	OF	Stony Brook	JR
25	Rays	1	Stryker Trahan	C	Acadiana	HS
26	Diamondbacks	1	Chris Stratton	P	Mississippi State	JR
27	Brewers	1	Matthew Smoral	P	Solon	HS
28	Brewers	1	Nolan Fontana	SS	Florida	JR
29	Rangers	1	Addison Russell	SS	Pace (Fla.) HS	HS
30	Yankees	1	Austin Maddox	P	Florida	JR
31	Red Sox	1	Trey Williams	3B	Valencia	HS
32	Twins	1s	Pierce Johnson	P	Missouri State	JR
33	Padres	1s	Clate Schmidt	P	Allatoona	HS
34	Athletics	1s	Martin Agosta	P	St. Mary’s	JR
35	Mets	1s	Walker Weickel	P	Olympia	HS
36	Cardinals	1s	Tyler Naquin	OF	Texas A&M	JR
37	Red Sox	1s	Nick Travieso	P	Archbishop McCarthy	HS
38	Brewers	1s	Adam Brett Walker	1B	Jacksonville	JR
39	Rangers	1s	Jesse Winker	OF	Olympia	HS
40	Phillies	1s	Victor Roache	OF	Georgia Southern	JR
41	Astros	1s	James Ramsey	OF	Florida State	SR
42	Twins	1s	Pat Light	P	Monmouth	JR
43	Cubs	1s	Mitchell Traver	P	Houston Christian	HS
44	Padres	1s	Adrian Sampson	P	Bellevue CC	J2
45	Pirates	1s	Dane Phillips	C	Arkansas	SR
46	Rockies	1s	Peter O'Brien	C	Miami	SR
47	Athletics	1s	Rio Ruiz	3B	Bishop Amat	HS
48	White Sox	1s	Patrick Wisdom	3B	St. Mary’s	JR
49	Reds	1s	Tom Murphy	C	Buffalo	JR
50	Blue Jays	1s	Joey Gallo	3B	Bishop Gorman	HS
51	Dodgers	1s	Lucas Sims	P	Brookwood	HS
52	Cardinals	1s	Josh Elander	C	TCU	JR
53	Rangers	1s	Hunter Virant	P	Camarillo	HS
54	Phillies	1s	A.J. Vanegas	P	Stanford	SO
55	Padres	1s	Jesmuel Valentin Diaz	SS	Puerto Rico Baseball Academy	HS
56	Cubs	1s	Alex Bregman	SS	Albuquerque Academy	HS
57	Pirates	1s	Avery Romero	3B	Pedro Menendez	HS
58	Reds	1s	Jake Barrett	P	Arizona State	JR
59	Blue Jays	1s	Nolan Sanburn	P	Arkansas	SO
60	Cardinals	1s	Branden Kline	P	Virginia	JR
61	Blue Jays	1s	Brandon Thomas	OF	Georgia Tech	JR
62	Astros	2	Tanner Rahier	SS	Palm Desert	HS
63	Athletics	2	Sam Selman	P	Vanderbilt	JR
64	Twins	2	Brady Rodgers	P	Arizona State	JR
65	Mariners	2	Clint Coulter	C	Union	HS
66	Orioles	2	Lex Rutledge	P	Samford	JR
67	Royals	2	Kevin Plawecki	C	Purdue	JR
68	Cubs	2	Kyle Hansen	P	St. John's	JR
69	Padres	2	Preston Tucker	1B	Florida	SR
70	Pirates	2	Kevin Brady	P	Clemson	JR
71	Padres	2	D.J. Davis	3B	Stone	HS
72	Mets	2	Kenny Diekroeger	SS	Stanford	JR
73	Twins	2	Barrett Barnes	OF	Texas Tech	JR
74	Rockies	2	Matt Koch	P	Louisville	JR
75	Athletics	2	Rhett Wiseman	OF	Buckingham Browne & Nichols	HS
76	Mets	2	Brett Mooneyham	P	Stanford	JR
77	White Sox	2	Christian Walker	1B	South Carolina	JR
78	Phillies	2	Stefan Sabol	C	Orange Coast	J2
79	Reds	2	J.T. Chargois	P	Rice	JR
80	Indians	2	Kurt Heyer	P	Arizona	JR
81	Nationals	2	Hoby Milner	P	Texas	JR
82	Blue Jays	2	Lewis Brinson	OF	Coral Springs	HS
83	Dodgers	2	Brian Johnson	P	Florida	JR
84	Rangers	2	Nelson Rodriguez	C	George Washington	HS
85	Giants	2	Sam Stafford	P	Texas	SR
86	Braves	2	Matt Price	P	South Carolina	JR
87	Cardinals	2	Matt Olson	1B	Parkview	HS
88	Red Sox	2	Ty Buttrey	P	Providence	HS
89	Yankees	2	David Thompson	OF	Westminster Christian	HS
90	Rays	2	Cody Poteet	P	Christian	HS
91	Diamondbacks	2	Josh Henderson	OF	Home school	HS
92	Tigers	2	Andrew Pullin	OF	Centralia	HS
93	Brewers	2	Austin Dean	3B	Klein Collins	HS
94	Rangers	2	Corey Seager	3B	Northwest Cabarrus	HS
95	Yankees	2	Jeremy Baltz	OF	St. John's	JR
96	Phillies	2	Jason Goldstein	C	Highland Park	HS
97	Astros	3	Christopher Chinea	C	Gulliver Prep	HS
98	Twins	3	Corey Oswalt	3B	James Madison	HS
99	Mariners	3	Carson Kelly	3B	Westview	HS
100	Orioles	3	Teddy Stankiewicz	P	Fort Worth Christian	HS
101	Royals	3	Ryan McNeil	P	Nipomo	HS
102	Cubs	3	Matt Reynolds	3B	Arkansas	JR
103	Padres	3	Tucker Simpson	P	Oxford	HS
104	Pirates	3	D.J. Baxendale	P	Arkansas	JR
105	Marlins	3	Jose Orlando Berrios	P	Bayamo, PR	HS
106	Rockies	3	Kieran Lovegrove	P	Mission Viejo	HS
107	Athletics	3	Mason Melotaikis	P	Northwestern State	JR
108	Mets	3	Austin Fairchild	P	St. Thomas	HS
109	White Sox	3	Stephen Johnson	P	St. Edward's (Texas)	JR
110	Reds	3	CJ Hinojosa	SS	Klein Collins	HS
111	Indians	3	Justin Jones	P	California	JR
112	Nationals	3	Kyle Twomey	P	El Dorado	HS
113	Blue Jays	3	Max Foody	P	IMG Baseball Academy	HS
114	Dodgers	3	Logan Ehlers	P	Howard	J2
115	Angels	3	Blake Hauser	P	Virginia Commonwealth	JR
116	Giants	3	Skye Bolt	OF	Holy Innocents	HS
117	Braves	3	Hudson Randall	P	Florida	JR
118	Cardinals	3	Buck Farmer	P	Georgia Tech	JR
119	Red Sox	3	Carson Fulmer	P	All Saints Academy	HS
120	Rays	3	Damien Magnifico	P	Oklahoma	JR
121	Diamondbacks	3	Eric Jaffe	P	UCLA	SO
122	Tigers	3	Daniel Robertson	3B	Upland	HS
123	Brewers	3	Fernando Perez	3B	Central Arizona CC	J1
124	Rangers	3	Josh Conway	P	Coastal Carolina	JR
125	Yankees	3	Jameis Winston	OF	Hueytown	HS
126	Phillies	3	Ruben (RJ) Ybarra	C	Riverside Poly	HS
127	Mariners	3s	Shane Watson	P	Lakewood	HS
128	Marlins	3s	Wyatt Mathisen	C	Calallen	HS
129	Rockies	3s	Kolby Copeland	OF	Parkway	HS
130	Astros	4	Mac Williamson	OF	Wake Forest	JR
131	Twins	4	Andrew Aplin	OF	Arizona State	JR
132	Mariners	4	Fernelys Sanchez	OF	George Washington	HS
133	Orioles	4	Brandon Lopez	SS	American Heritage	HS
134	Royals	4	Freddy Avis	P	Menlo	HS
135	Cubs	4	Daniel Starwalt	P	Granite Hills	HS
136	Padres	4	Ian Gardeck	P	Alabama	JR
137	Pirates	4	Edwin Diaz	P	Naguabo	HS
138	Marlins	4	Justin Gonzalez	SS	Florida State	JR
139	Rockies	4	Matt Reckling	P	Rice
140	Athletics	4	Eric Neitzel	3B	Gulliver Prep	HS
141	Mets	4	Zack Jones	P	San Jose State	JR
142	White Sox	4	Alec Rash	P	ADM	HS
143	Reds	4	DJ Hicks	1B	UCF	SR
144	Indians	4	Adrian Marin	OF	Gulliver Prep	HS
145	Nationals	4	Brian Adams	OF	Kentucky	JR
146	Blue Jays	4	Rock Rucker	OF	Redan	HS
147	Dodgers	4	Chris Serritella	1B	Southern Illinois	JR
148	Angels	4	Jonathan Rodriguez	OF	Yavapai
149	Giants	4	Jack Wynkoop	P	Cape Henry Collegiate	HS
150	Braves	4	Darnell Sweeney	SS	Central Florida	JR
151	Cardinals	4	Tyler Gaffney	OF	Stanford	JR
152	Red Sox	4	Russell Reynolds	P	Parkview Baptist	HS
153	Rays	4	Brett Lilek	P	Marian Catholic	HS
154	Diamondbacks	4	Joe Rogers	P	Central Florida
155	Tigers	4	Blake Forslund	P	Liberty	JR
156	Brewers	4	Curt Britt	P	Scotland	HS
157	Rangers	4	Dominic Leone	P	Clemson	JR
158	Yankees	4	Tanner Poppe	P	Kansas	SR
159	Phillies	4	Brandon Kuter	P	George Mason	JR
160	Astros	5	Dylan LaVelle	SS	Lake Stevens	HS
161	Twins	5	RJ Alvarez	P	Florida Atlantic	JR
162	Mariners	5	Trey Killian	P	Mountain Home	HS
163	Orioles	5	Jabari Henry	OF	Florida International	JR
164	Royals	5	Christian Powell	P	Charleston	JR
165	Cubs	5	Steven Golden	OF	St Francis	HS
166	Padres	5	Cole Irvin	P	Servite	HS
167	Pirates	5	Dylan Floro	P	Cal State Fullerton	JR
168	Marlins	5	Carlos Pena	P	West	HS
169	Rockies	5	Matt Carasiti	P	St. John's
170	Athletics	5	Anthony Alford	OF	Petal	HS
171	Mets	5	Jake Thompson	P	Rockwall-Heath	HS
172	White Sox	5	Nick Palewicz	P	Washington	SO
173	Reds	5	Kevin Koziol	SS	Parkland	J1
174	Indians	5	J.T. Phillips	3B	Columbus	HS
175	Nationals	5	Anthony Bazzani	P	Eastern Kentucky	JR
176	Blue Jays	5	Ty Moore	P	Mater Dei	HS
177	Dodgers	5	Taylor Dugas	OF	Alabama	SR
178	Angels	5	Mikey White	SS	Spain Park	HS
179	Giants	5	Zach Green	SS	Jesuit	HS
180	Braves	5	Matt Crownover	P	Ringgold	HS
181	Cardinals	5	Nick Williams	OF	Ball (Galveston, Texas)	HS
182	Red Sox	5	Cameron (CJ) Saylor	C	South Hills	HS
183	Rays	5	Jake Lamb	3B	Washington	JR
184	Diamondbacks	5	Michael Yastrzemski	OF	Vanderbilt	JR
185	Tigers	5	Luke Bard	P	Georgia Tech	JR
186	Brewers	5	Robert Whalen	P	Haines City	HS
187	Rangers	5	Tony Renda	2B	California	JR
188	Yankees	5	Michael Ratterree	OF	Rice	JR
189	Phillies	5	Connor Harrell	OF	Vanderbilt	JR
190	Astros	6	Troy Conyers	P	El Capitan	HS
191	Twins	6	D'Vone McClure	OF	Jacksonville	HS
192	Mariners	6	Joe DeCarlo	3B	Garnet Valley	HS
193	Orioles	6	Dan Langfield	P	Memphis
194	Royals	6	Shane Brown	OF	Simeon HS	HS
195	Cubs	6	Ronnie Freeman	C	Kennesaw State	JR
196	Padres	6	Scott Griggs	P	UCLA	JR
197	Pirates	6	Mitch Nay	1B	Hamilton	HS
198	Marlins	6	Mitch Mormann	P	Wichita State	SR
199	Rockies	6	Tomas Nido	C	Orangewood Christian School	HS
200	Athletics	6	Trey Griffin	OF	Santa Fe CC	J2
201	Mets	6	Eddie Butler	P	Radford	JR
202	White Sox	6	Tyrone Taylor	OF	Torrance	HS
203	Reds	6	Joey DeMichele	3B	Arizona State
204	Indians	6	Nathan Kirby	P	James River	HS
205	Nationals	6	Christian Dicks	OF	Providence	HS
206	Blue Jays	6	Joe Munoz	3B	Los Altos	HS
207	Dodgers	6	Ryan Burr	P	Highlands Ranch	HS
208	Angels	6	Kayden Porter	P	Spanish Fork	HS
209	Giants	6	Chase DeJong	P	Woodrow Wilson	HS
210	Braves	6	David Gonzalez	P	Gainesville	HS
211	Cardinals	6	Cole Miller	1B	Darlington School	HS
212	Red Sox	6	E.J. Encinosa	P	Miami	JR
213	Rays	6	Jason Coats	OF	TCU	SR
214	Diamondbacks	6	Willie Ethington	P	Mountain View	HS
215	Tigers	6	Cameron Tekker	P	Cuthbertson	HS
216	Brewers	6	Steven Rodriguez	P	Florida
217	Rangers	6	John Wooten	1B	East Carolina	JR
218	Yankees	6	Blake Hickman	C	Simeon	HS
219	Phillies	6	Max Muncy	1B	Baylor	JR
220	Astros	7	Austin Aune	SS	Argyle	HS
221	Twins	7	Morgan Bunting	1B	Woodward Academy	HS
222	Mariners	7	Dan Gulbransen	OF	Jacksonville	JR
223	Orioles	7	Braden Bishop	OF	St. Francis	HS
224	Royals	7	Jake Jefferies	3B	Foothill	HS
225	Cubs	7	Cameron Perkins	3B	Purdue	JR
226	Padres	7	Jacob Stewart	OF	Stanford	JR
227	Pirates	7	Xavier Turner	3B	Sandusky	HS
228	Marlins	7	Alex Wood	P	Georgia	SO
229	Rockies	7	Krey Bratsen	OF	Texas A&M	SO
230	Athletics	7	Andrew Rash	OF	Virginia Tech	SR
231	Mets	7	Tyler Wagner	P	Utah
232	White Sox	7	Matt Snyder	1B	Mississippi	SR
233	Reds	7	Robert Refsnyder	OF	Arizona	JR
234	Indians	7	Jayce Boyd	1B	Florida State	JR
235	Nationals	7	Wilfredo Rodriguez	C	Puerto Rico BB Academy	HS
236	Blue Jays	7	Kevin Maxey	OF	Poly	HS
237	Dodgers	7	Zac Elgie	1B	Kansas	SR
238	Angels	7	Tyler Gonzales	P	James Madison	HS
239	Giants	7	Drew Jackson	SS	Miramonte	HS
240	Braves	7	Christian Jones	P	Oregon	JR
241	Cardinals	7	Logan Vick	OF	Baylor	JR
242	Red Sox	7	Ryan Ripken	1B	Gilman	HS
243	Rays	7	Robbie Buller	OF	Houston Baptist
244	Diamondbacks	7	Ross Stripling	P	Texas A&M	SR
245	Tigers	7	Kyle Smith	SS	Mt. Juliet	HS
246	Brewers	7	Jacob Scavuzzo	OF	Villa Park	HS
247	Rangers	7	Jamodrick McGruder	2B	Texas Tech
248	Yankees	7	Matt Boyd	P	Oregon State	JR
249	Phillies	7	Keon Barnum	1B	King	HS
250	Astros	8	Michael Palazzone	P	Georgia	SR
251	Twins	8	Matt Gonzalez	SS	Harrison	HS
252	Mariners	8	Connor Baits	P	Point Loma	HS
253	Orioles	8	Danny Canela	C	N.C. State	SR
254	Royals	8	Bryan De La Rosa	C	Bucky Dent Baseball School	HS
255	Cubs	8	Cody Johnson	P	North Shore	HS
256	Padres	8	Dietrich Enns	P	Central Michigan	JR
257	Pirates	8	Joey Curletta	1B	Mountain Pointe	HS
258	Marlins	8	Daryl Norris	1B	Mississippi State	SO
259	Rockies	8	Mitch Haniger	OF	Cal Poly
260	Athletics	8	Jamie Jarmon	OF	Indian River	HS
261	Mets	8	Michael Morin	P	North Carolina	JR
262	White Sox	8	Nick Wittgren	P	Purdue	JR
263	Reds	8	Jeremy Rathjen	OF	Rice	SR
264	Indians	8	Cal Becker	P	Redwood	HS
265	Nationals	8	Jamie Callahan	P	Dillon	HS
266	Blue Jays	8	Carlos Martinez	OF	West Covina	HS
267	Dodgers	8	Chris Taylor	SS	Virginia	JR
268	Angels	8	Felipe Perez	P	Fairmont Prep	HS
269	Giants	8	Michael Taylor	P	Christ Church School	HS
270	Braves	8	Tim Cooney	P	Wake Forest	JR
271	Cardinals	8	Taylor Jones	P	Kentwood	HS
272	Red Sox	8	Randy McCurry	P	Oklahoma State	SR
273	Rays	8	Bralin Jackson	OF	Raytown South	HS
274	Diamondbacks	8	Matt Bowman	P	Princeton	JR
275	Tigers	8	Steve Nyisztor	2B	Louisburg JC	JR
276	Brewers	8	Stephen Perez	SS	Miami	JR
277	Rangers	8	Nolan Gannon	P	Santa Fe Christian	HS
278	Yankees	8	Adam Matthews	OF	South Carolina	SR
279	Phillies	8	Andrew Smith	P	Charlotte	SR
280	Astros	9	Stephen Bruno	SS	Virginia	JR
281	Twins	9	Ty Blach	P	Creighton	JR
282	Mariners	9	Joseph Shaw	P	Ennis	HS
283	Orioles	9	Geno Escalante	C	Chipola (Fla.) JC	JR
284	Royals	9	Kyle Wren	OF	Georgia Tech	SO
285	Cubs	9	Max White	1B	Oklahoma	JR
286	Padres	9	Will Clinard	P	Vanderbilt	SR
287	Pirates	9	Ryan Shober	SS	Illinois-Chicago
288	Marlins	9	Christopher Triplett	2B	Chipola (Fla.) JC	J2
289	Rockies	9	Matt Moynihan	OF	Texas	JR
290	Athletics	9	Yency Almonte	P	Columbus	HS
291	Mets	9	Jonathan Dziedzic	P	Lamar
292	White Sox	9	Johnny Coy	1B	Wichita State	SR
293	Reds	9	Tyler Hanover	SS	LSU	SR
294	Indians	9	Ryan Dalton	3B	Texas-San Antonio	JR
295	Nationals	9	Tyler Spencer	1B		HS
296	Blue Jays	9	Kevin Ross	SS	Niles West	HS
297	Dodgers	9	Willie Argo	OF	Illinois	SR
298	Angels	9	Richie Martin	SS	Bloomingdale	HS
299	Giants	9	Tom Lemke	P	Nebraska	JR
300	Braves	9	Brandon Brennan	P	Orange Coast Col	J2
301	Cardinals	9	Joe Mantiply	P	Virginia Tech	JR
302	Red Sox	9	Micheal Fuda	OF	Rice	SR
303	Rays	9	Michael Hamann	P	Toledo	JR
304	Diamondbacks	9	Kyle Martin	P	Texas A&M	JR
305	Tigers	9	Austin Southall	1B	Chipola (Fla.) JC	J2
306	Brewers	9	Daniel Bowman	OF	Coastal Carolina	SR
307	Rangers	9	Tucker Donahue	P	Stetson	SR
308	Yankees	9	Michael Heller	P	Miami-Dade College	J2
309	Phillies	9	Vahn Bozoian	OF	Ayala	HS
310	Astros	10	Jharel Cotton	P	East Carolina	JR
311	Twins	10	Jordan Guth	P	Wisconsin-Milwaukee
312	Mariners	10	Ryan Farrar	P	Virginia Commonwealth	JR
313	Orioles	10	Thomas Girdwood	P	Elon	SR
314	Royals	10	Geoff Thomas	P	Southern Miss	JR
315	Cubs	10	Scott Firth	P	Clemson	JR
316	Padres	10	Kyle Barraclough	P	St. Mary’s	SR
317	Pirates	10	Jonathan Walsh	OF	Texas	JR
318	Marlins	10	Zach Tanner	3B	Wright State	SR
319	Rockies	10	Alex Yarbrough	2B	Mississippi	JR
320	Athletics	10	Bryce Dial	OF	Coastal Carolina
321	Mets	10	Jon Procinski	P	Seton Hall
322	White Sox	10	Matt Duffy	SS	Long Beach State	JR
323	Reds	10	Tyler Molinaro	OF	UNC Wilmington	JR
324	Indians	10	Jeb Stefan	P	Louisiana Tech
325	Nationals	10	Sam Gillikin	OF	Hoover HS	HS
326	Blue Jays	10	Jonny Locher	OF	Highline	HS
327	Dodgers	10	Joshua Urban	P	Texas	JR
328	Angels	10	Drew Verhagen	P	Vanderbilt	JR
329	Giants	10	Derek Dennis	SS	Michigan	JR
330	Braves	10	Jake Boyd	P	Stetson	SR
331	Cardinals	10	Brady Lail	P	Bingham	HS
332	Red Sox	10	Justin Amlung	P	Louisville	SR
333	Rays	10	Taylor Ard	1B	Washington State	SR
334	Diamondbacks	10	Preston Beck	OF	Texas-Arlington
335	Tigers	10	Marvin Campbell	OF	Nevada-Las Vegas
336	Brewers	10	Kevin Brown	OF	Bryant	JR
337	Rangers	10	Adam Barry	3B	Cal State Northridge	JR
338	Yankees	10	Clayton Crum	P	Howard	J1
339	Phillies	10	Ryan Harvey	P	Seton Hall	JR

Prospect of the Day: Nick Castellanos, 3B, Detroit Tigers

Two years ago, Nick Castellanos was a high school star in Florida, preparing for the 2010 baseball draft. Fast forward to 2012, he's hitting over .400 in full-season baseball, establishing himself as one of the best hitters in the minor leagues.

Castellanos was drafted in the supplemental first round in 2010, from high school in Southwest Ranches, Florida. He was considered a certain first-round pick for much of the spring, but his bonus demands and a University of Miami scholarship scared teams off. The Tigers took a shot and signed him for $3,450,000 (a record for the supplemental round) a few minutes before the draft deadline. He went 8-for-24 (.333) with four walks in a seven-game trial in rookie ball, then moved up to the Low-A Midwest League for 2011. He got off to a slow start, but hit better as the season progressed, finishing with a .312/.367/.436 mark despite a high strikeout rate (130 whiffs in 507 at-bats).

Promoted to Lakeland in the High-A Florida State League for 2012, he's had a remarkable spring, hitting .405/.451/.554 with 13 walks and 28 strikeouts in 148 at-bats.

Listed at 6-4, 210, Castellanos is a right-handed hitter and thrower, born March 4, 1992. He has a strong throwing arm, and the former high school shortstop is making steady strides at third base. He's still error-prone but is showing better range this year, and with further improvements to his reliability he'll stick at the hot corner. Although not much of a stolen base threat, he's not a slug and runs well for a bigger player.

The key here is the bat. In high school, Castellanos had a reputation for being a power hitter who would hit for a decent average. His batting average has turned out better than expected: he's a career .333 hitter in his first 179 pro games (all in pitchers leagues), and it's not a fluke. Instead, it turns out that home run power is the issue: he hit just seven homers last year and has just two so far in '12, giving him nine bombs in 755 plate appearances.

Although he hasn't been a home run masher, he hits plenty of doubles, 36 last year and 12 this season, and most scouts anticipate that his home run production will increase as he matures. He uppercut more often in high school but has taken a more balanced hitting approach as a pro. He's also made strides with his plate discipline and is making better contact this year, showing a considerable reduction in his strikeout rate (28 in 148 PA), lowering his K-rate from 26% to 19%.

Word from Detroit is that the Tigers don't want to rush him and are planning to keep him in High-A for awhile longer, working on his defense and plate discipline, while watching his power development. This seems a reasonable course of action. If everything works out, he will develop into a regular third baseman, hitting for average and power with a solid glove. There are a few unanswered questions here, but Castellanos has All-Star upside.

Check out some highlights from the Skate Park Finals at the 2010 ISF Skate Open in Boston — the first stop of the 2010 Dew Tour.

I have always tried to give Mickey Hatcher a certain amount of credit, or at least to not abuse him based on speculation or results. That said, this Paul Oberjuerge piece is as damning a portrait of the man as I have ever heard.

The Angels fired hitting coach Mickey Hatcher yesterday.

Lots of “oh, what a great guy” stuff out there, particularly from those in the sports journalism community.

And I say … bosh!

I found Mickey Hatcher to be an aggressively ignorant clod.

I realize that he has a reputation as a fun guy, a prankster, a jokester … but I never saw that. Ever. Just heard about it, and marveled at it.

...

The measure of Mickey Hatcher was his persistently out-of-touch style as a hitting coach. Boiled down, it was this: “See a pitch … hack at it.”

It led to Angels teams that often had below-average on-base percentages. And this in an era where “everyone” pretty much had agreed that OBP is a very important statistic, because getting somebody to first base means you are far more likely to score a run. But Mickey Hatcher never coached “working the count” or “take a walk” because he didn’t believe in it.

If this is true — and the results certainly speak for themselves — the Angels have already upgraded at hitting coach. Too bad that's not enough. (Hat tip to Rev. Halofan.)

Update: Mike Petriello reminds me that Oberjuerge has a rather checkered history at judging character, at one point calling Matt Kemp a "dolt" for his actions in a meaningless late 2009 game.

So that happened.

Seriously, it's hard for me to say much about yesterday's win that sounds neither trite nor obvious, so I'll get the homers by Pujols and Wells out of the way first. Pujols in particular was interesting, not because of the home run but because of the first inning popout to second base. Any ball he hits the other way is good news, even if it results in an out. I am not yet convinced Pujols is out of his slump, but I do think the signs are more propitious than at any previous moment.

Jerome Williams pitched a wonderful game, especially good considering it came on the heels of a catastrophe outing against the Rangers in which he was called on without warning to complete a start after a lengthy rain delay.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

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And we all know how this story ends. Thanks mainly to putting shaving cream hijinks on the back burner and, in some small way, Orel Hershiser’s decent season and Gibby’s more direct baseball contributions, the Dodgers won the 1988 World Series. More importantly though, they won the division.

www.youtube.com Click here to watch Hands On: Skate 3! Skate 3: Video Game Review – Turtle Gonzalez (8/10) S02E31 This week on the VGR Turtle will be taking you into the latest installment of the Skate series with Skate 3. Does the series bring enough new things to the skate park this time around? Or, does the game fall flat on its face? Time to find out! – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - Follow Machinima on Twitter! Machinima ‪twitter.com Inside Gaming ‪twitter.com Machinima Respawn ‪twitter.com Machinima Entertainment, Technology, Culture ‪twitter.com FOR MORE MACHINIMA, GO TO: www.youtube.com FOR MORE GAMEPLAY, GO TO: www.youtube.com FOR MORE SPORTS GAMEPLAY, GO TO: www.youtube.com TAGS: Video Game Review VGR Rob Talbert Matt Dannevik Turtle yt:quality=high Skate 3 EA Black Box Electronic Arts Playstation 3 Xbox 360 PS3 Xbox360 Sports Skateboard Tony Hawk UPC 014633192926 014633192933

Per Bill Plunkett. Kind of amazing, really, but honestly too little, too late, in some wise. As others have observed, if Dipoto's adherence to the received wisdom of OBP is true, why did the team long-term Aybar and Kendrick, both guys notoriously dependent on batting average to get on base? I'm not entirely convinced that this is anything other than a symbolic firing. Hatcher, I have never been convinced, is himself sufficient if one is going to clean house; the whole rotten structure has to go. That means, at the very least, getting a buyoff on the end of RISP2 hitting madness as the primary offensive tenet. This, I think, is really a warning shot for the Angels, for Mike Scioscia, and even for Jerry Dipoto. While this is in some ways a welcome recognition that the team is scuffling, it does nothing to fix the offense.

Update: Bill Shaikin mentions the significant intelligence that the move was announced by Dipoto, not Scioscia. Definitely a warning shot to Scioscia. Mike DiGiovanna thinks this was all Arte's doing.

Update 2: Angels.com story.

"We think the absolute world of Mickey as a person and thank him for all of his contributions to this organization," Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto said in a statement.

"Sometimes in the sports world a point is reached where perhaps a new voice is needed in order to attain the desired goals and objectives. Unfortunately, we feel this is one of those times. Offensively, we have underachieved, and everyone shares in the responsibility of what has transpired thus far."

The new hitting coach will be Jim Eppard, previously AAA Salt Lake's hitting coach.

OCR story.

Update 3: Mark Saxon analysis at ESPN/LA:

Under former GMs Bill Stoneman or Tony Reagins, Tuesday's move seems unlikely, certainly in May. But Dipoto has brought in his own people and has his own vision for this team, one which doesn't always align with the way Scioscia and Hatcher viewed things. He vowed back in November to increase the Angels' emphasis on on-base percentage. Scioscia and Hatcher continued to preach patience only as a means to an end -- getting a good pitch to hit -- not as an end in itself -- a walk.

Of course, the man in the middle of all this is Pujols, who so far has a cost-to-home run ratio of 240 million-to-one. Mix in one struggling superstar, one new and powerful GM and you get a manager with less ability to stand up for his own guys.

Of course, when you bring in guys like Pujols who are arguably approaching the end of their careers — with warning signs, to boot — it makes you question the general manager, too.

It's less than three months away... The autograph-guest lineup for the National has been announced and it looks like the entire Major-League roster from the late 1970s will be in attendance: Carlton Fisk, Jim Rice, Pete Rose, Ferguson Jenkins, George Foster, Joe Morgan, Jim Palmer, Bruce Sutter, etc. It should be interesting to see what the hierarchy of superstars will be, if everyone will sit peacefully side by side at long tables, or if some of the old timers will conspire on a power grab or coup for the best folding chair and a spot near the men's room ...

I'm interested to see what some of these guys look like now. Did Bruce Sutter just let his beard consume the rest of his face? Does George Foster still look like he did on his 1986 Topps card (the one where he's wearing shades like he's getting ready for his moonlighting gig as a keyboardist in a funk band)? Or do they all look like normal, older men?...

I don't see this anywhere on the NSCC website, but I would love to see some panel discussions as part of the show. Certainly on the state and future of the sports trading card and memorabilia industry, but also on the emergence of blogging (probably about four or five years overdue on this topic) and customer interaction ...

I also hope Topps, Tristar, Panini, Upper Deck, and some of the other larger companies do Apple-like product presentations. It would be encouraging to see the thought-leader companies take a commanding presence with customers in a venue away from the trade show floor, because I have a feeling I know what the industry trade show floor booths will be like: tons of people grabbing for anything and everything not bolted down. I'm thinking stacks of sell sheets, bins of individually wrapped promo packs, boxes of VIP card sets stacked behind presentation tables, lanyard-wearing industry types swigging bottled water and checking their BlackBerrys, and kids presenting fistfuls of bunched-up pack wrappers to trade in for a special Cal Ripken card. Oh, and lots of pushing ...

I'm not a fan of big crowds, which will make my few days at the National all the more harrowing, but I'll be impressed greatly if the show is anything like or anywhere near the intensity of Comic Con ...

What I'm hoping to accomplish at the show:

1. Meet the company representatives. Learn about their stuff for 2013 and beyond.
2. Meet reps from smaller, more eccentric companies and independent entrepreneurs with booths.
3. Get a few cards I've always wanted and hoard up on miscuts, blank-backs, and wrong-backs
4. Try to talk with some of the autograph guests without waiting in line for an hour (or more)
5. Swig bottled water with a lanyard around my neck and try not to get trampled by the teeming masses.

The reason I'm going:

To live-blog and tweet about what I find. This has been one of my goals since all the way back in 2006, when I started The Baseball Card Blog. I figure I'll post some videos, maybe an audio interview, some Twitter and Facebook updates, and write, write, write. I've never been to a show of this size, and despite all my bluster, I really don't know what kind of experience I'll have.

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Unquestionably.

Pujols isn’t the Angels’ only problem — the distribution of playing time also remains an issue.

Case in point:

Left fielder Vernon Wells has made 124 plate appearances, or 26 more than infielder/outfielder Mark Trumbo.

Oops: Wells’ OPS is .666, while Trumbo’s is 1.012.

Listen, we all know Wells is owed nearly $60 million through 2014, but fans are right to be upset when their team is not putting its best players on the field (and yes, the same will apply to the Red Sox if third baseman Will Middlebrooks is still hot when Kevin Youkilis returns).

See also Jeff Sullivan's analysis of Mark Trumbo's swing improvements.

We’ll be rolling out a new Step By Step each Friday so you can get some tips from the pros on how to do the basic tricks and some advanced ones too. Today BMXer Simon Tabron goes through all the steps needed to pull off your first 540.

Forget everything else about this game: the catch Justin Sellers made in the ninth on Miguel Montero's pop is going to be what you remember.

Kershaw was predictably awesome.

The Dodgers' bizarre 2012 cruise seems to continue without any hitches, or at least, until now, when Matt Kemp went on the 15-day DL for a strained left hamstring; Jerry Sands got the callup from Albuquerque.

ESPN Box • Dodgers recap

1976 Topps Traded: The Missing Cards - #26T Andy Thornton

Let's talk about lopsided trades: Andre Thornton was traded straight up to the Cleveland Indians prior to the 1977 season for Jackie Brown. While not exactly Milt Pappas for Frank Robinson, with 20-20 hindsight it was an incredible deal for Cleveland.

Per an Eric Stephen tweet; Elian Herrera will get the callup.

Update: Trent Oeltjen will be DFA'd to make room.

Torii Hunter was placed on the restricted list for "personal reasons" according to a tweet by Victor Rojas. The team is expected to call up Ryan Langerhans from AAA Salt Lake.

Update: Hunter's 17-year-old son was arrested in Dallas on sexual assault charges.

I was somewhat surprised to see that this was the fourth time in his career Jered Weaver had given up eight runs, though it does tie a personal worst for innings pitched, getting chased as he did in the fourth after only one out and giving up two runs on a Josh Hamilton double. Let's face it: this is a bad team, though there are things that can be done to rectify it.

• Vernon Wells needs to be cut. Wells has been a .220 hitter since 2010 and provides no actual value defensively (in fact, negative value); last night, he misplayed a ball into a double.
• Bench Pujols. I don't pretend here that Pujols is over, only that this remains within the realm of possibility given the very real decline in unintentional walk rate, a canary in his coal mine of recent suck. Mark Trumbo should be getting more starts in his stead, and this should not be controversial. Trumbo, at least, sounded the right note when he called on the team to play with some attitude, which I esteem to mean better relief pitching, and more offense.

I have little else to contribute here; the bullpen is unlikely to get fixed anytime soon, as last night's outing showed. So far, the team seems fixated on leaving both situations as is, and so the trend of losing two of every three games will likely continue into 162. The Angels just stink, management doesn't seem to care especially, and there's little that can be done. Another long, dull season awaits.

ESPN Box • Angels recap