Minor League Look In

With an off day it seems good to take a minute and look at the Minor Leagues.

Indy is almost a waste of our time. All the talent is in the majors. Pearce, Karstens, Alvarez, Walker, Tabata, Lincoln, and some others from the pen are all up in the bigs. A prime example of their struggles is the double header they just played getting shut out in both. They have some cast off major leaguers that we will probably see in call up time like Morton (doing awful), Eveland (lost tonight), and Aki (getting better), but the real people to watch are yet to arrive with the exception of Daniel Moskos. He is pitching just as well so far in AAA. He looks real good.

Altoona is the home of the stars of the next wave to arrive late next year. While Tim Alderson is having a so-so year, Rudy Owens has been great. Jordy Mercer and Harrison have been excellent at the plate. Chase D'Arnaud is struggling with his average, he still is second in the whole league in doubles. The man hits for extra bases. A very good sign. Gorkys is not doing so well. Hovering at .250 is not good enough.

Bradenton also featured the Next Next Wave, but sadly they are all hurt. Sanchez, Kratz, Holt, and others have all hit the DL. That left Robbie Grossman, but he is not hitting any more. He strikes out a lot, but does draw the walk. So too early to give up on such a young kid, but not exactly a leap forward for him. Jeff Locke, however, is amazing. He needs a promotion. As does Nathan Adcock. The pitching of these two guys keeps Bradenton a place to watch.

West Virginia are not a great team. Hopefully some people will join them out of State College. Evan Chambers is a possible prospect. He is not tearing it up. Even my man Zachary Foster is struggling there. All around a bad year. This is the worst spot right now for the Pirates. A surprise in WV is David Rubenstein, 11th round in 08. He is hitting .328 with an .829 OPS. He is hitting over .300 off both righties and lefties and hitting almost .400 away from home. Maybe there is something to this guy.

State College is full of pitching prospects, but not many with the stick. Von Rosenberg is here, but not dominating. Trent Stephenson is doing just okay. Zachary Dodson might be doing the best. He got a no decision with 5 strikeouts in 4 innings on the 4th. These guys are going to be fine, but for the Spikes to win they need unbelievable pitching. They are not getting it. Some of this year's guys are here. Kevin Decker is pitching okay here. Tyler Waldron looked good in one of his starts here. And right now Alberto Santos (22nd round pick) is hitting .358 with a 1.021 OPS.

GCL is a pretty poor looking group right now as well. Colton Cain is pitching down here and did good once, but struggled his next time out. He did strike out five in 3.2 on the 3rd of this month. So he is looking pretty good. The rest of the team is really a lot of non-drafted signees. Some look good, but it is a bit early to tell. Eric Avilia is hitting .333, Kevin Mort is hitting .292. Joey Schonfield is struggling (last year's 10th round guy). He is the everyday catcher, but he needs to be hitting better.

That is a quick look at the minors. I will try to get run down of draftees signed soon.