MLB Prospect Watch

Prospect Action - 6/13/13

Triple-A

• Giants right-hander Chris Heston turned in a rare minor league complete game, striking out nine in the scoreless outing while allowing just five hits, writes Brandon Simes of MiLB.com.
• Zack Wheeler was dominant in what is expected to be his final start in the minor leagues, says Robert Emrich of MiLB.com.  The Mets right-hander, who is slated to start in the majors next week, tossed 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball while striking out seven.
• As the Tigers continue to have issues at the back of their major league bullpen, Bruce Rondon continues to dominate Triple-A, collecting his 11th save on Thursday and lowering his ERA to 0.74 on the season.

Double-A

• After seeing Xander Bogaerts receive a promotion to Triple-A, Anthony Ranaudo turned in the best start of his strong season making a case for a promotion of his own, notes Kevin Thomas of The Portland Press Herald.  The Red Sox right-hander struck out 13 batters over 7 2/3 innings of two hit baseball to advance to 7-1 on the season.
• Zach Lee took a hard-luck loss, dropping to 5-4 on the season despite allowing just two runs over six strong innings while striking out eight.  The only mistake the Dodgers prospect made was a home run allowed to Brewers outfielder Kentrail Davis, which proved to be the difference.
• Jonathan Singleton was perfect at the plate on Thursday, reaching base all five times including a pair of home runs.  The Astros prospect provided all the run support needed for Nick Tropeano, who turned in five innings of one-run baseball.

High-A

• Francisco Martinez, now back with the Tigers organization, hit a two-run home run, notes David Yates of The Lakeland Ledger.  It's the second blast in nine games since returning to the Tigers after having been dropped off the 40-man roster by the Mariners.  Martinez was originally a member of the Tigers organization but was sent to the Mariners in the 2011 Doug Fister trade.
• Jason Martinson put up the top performance of the day as the Nationals outfield prospect blasted three home runs in support of teammate A.J. Cole, who struck out 10 in seven innings of work, notes Emrich.
• Phillies third base prospect Maikel Franco homered again, giving him 15 on the season as he continues to emerge as one of the top prospects in their system.

Low-A

• Michael Ynoa is still healthy and still pitching, as the A's right-hander threw five scoreless innings while striking out five to earn his second win of the season on Thrusday.
• Rangers third base prospect Joey Gallo continues to blast home runs, hitting his 21st of the season, but he's also hitting more consistently, going 3-for-4 with a double as well to raise his batting average to .245 on the year.
• Byron Buxton went just 1-for-5 (to lower his batting average to .343!) but the Twins prospect did hit his eighth home run of the year in the game.

Prospect Promotions: Polanco, Cuthbert, Miller

Now that the draft is complete and prospects are being summoned to the majors to replace injured/ineffective veterans, there is a re-shuffling of prospects taking place within the ranks of the minor leagues.  As those players change levels, we've got you covered.  I took a look at Xander Bogaerts promotion to Triple-A seperately because, well, he's Xander Bogaerts.  But these guys are pretty good too.

Polanco to Double-A

I wrote Bogaerts up separately because of the caliber of player he is and the implication his promotion could have on the Red Sox this season.  Gregory Polanco isn't quite ready to have an impact on this year's Pirates team, but if he continues to progress and players above him continue to graduate to the majors, he could move his way up the prospect ladder into a similar status of single digit prospect rankings.  He's one step closer to that now that he is in Double-A.

After a breakout season in 2012 that he spent exclusively at Low-A West Virginia, the Pirates outfield prospect is speeding up his own timetable by hitting his way out of the tough Florida State League and onto Double-A.  He leaves Bradenton hitting .312/.364/.472, which is actually down across the board from his numbers from last season, but in the context of the pitcher-friendly FSL, might actually be more impressive.

Polanco's promotion in no way puts him in the discussion to help the notoriously slow-moving Pirates out in the majors this season, but it does show their willingness to move him along mid-season rather than have him go station-to-station throughout the minors.

 

Cuthbert Jumps a Level

The Royals made a similar decision with Cheslor Cuthbert to the one the Pirates made with Polanco, moving their third base prospect up to Double-A, reports Michael Engel of KingsofKauffman.com.  There are similarities in the moves in that both are 20-year-old former international signees who were already young for their leagues and just got even younger, but that's where the similarities end.

Unike Polanco, Cuthbert has been more tools than production to this point.  Cuthbert was also promoted from a level he was repeating from last season, making his second trip to High-A Wilmington, which is one of the most difficult places to hit in the minor leagues, especially for right-handed power.  Cuthbert had some timing issues last year that led to his return, but he seems to have them under control this season.

It will be interesting to see how Cuthbert progresses now that he's out of Wilmington.  Cuthbert is expected to develop moderate power but Frawley Stadium has zapped the power of better prospects than him.  He'll be extremely young for his new level, so that will buy him some time, but it would be nice to see him begin to tap into some of that power in games.

 

Miller Next to Seattle?

Now that Nick Franklin and Mike Zunino have been summoned to Seattle, everyone's natural inclination is to wonder when shortstop Brad Miller will get his call.  Miller just got promoted to Triple-A Tacoma (to coincide with Franklin's big league call-up), but as Larry Stone of The Seattle Times points out, the Mariners already have a template for Miller's call-up in what they did with Kyle Seager a few years ago.

That template suggests that Miller could be up by mid-to-late summer, joining Franklin and Zunino in an increasingly youthful lineup.  Miller has hit at every stop and hasn't slowed down one bit in Triple-A which will make any promotion more justifiable, at least more so than was Zunino's.

The Mariners will probably have Miller up at some point this season, and at this point, they might as well.  The keys are clearly being handed over to the youngsters, and Miller is as good as any of them.

Mariners Rush Mike Zunino to the Majors

In a move that reeks of desperation, the Seattle Mariners announced on Tuesday that 2012 first round pick Mike Zunino will be joining the major league team.  It's a move that doesn't make any sense.

After being selected third overall last season, Zunino signed quickly and went on to dominate the low minors. Zunino made easy work of the short-season Northwest League, hitting .373/.474/.736 in 29 games then hit .333/.386/.588 in a brief call-up to Double-A.  The production was enough for the Mariners to justify starting him in Triple-A this season.

But he hasn't hit this season, or done anything to justify his most recent promotion.  Zunino is hitting just .238/.303/.503 this season for Tacoma, continuing to hit for power, but otherwise taking a huge step back.  Exceptionally concerning is his 28.4 percent strikeout rate in his first real taste of advanced pitching.  Yet that didn't stop the Mariners from promoting him in a desperate attempt to save an already lost season.

There are almost no good argument being made to properly explain this move, but there are plenty of bad ones.  Dave Cameron of the USS Mariner has his explanation:

Instead, this is a hail mary to try and save some jobs. Both Jack Zduriencik and Eric Wedge are in the final year of their contracts, and they almost certainly know that they need to show some progress in the second half of the year in order to get another contract. The team isn’t performing well, the young core hasn’t lived up to expectations, and right now, there’s no good argument either one can make that they should be retained. If they catch lightning in a bottle with Mike Zunino and he has a monster second half, he might just provide the kind of hope and faith in the rebuilding effort that both men need in order to keep themselves employed with the Mariners.

Cameron is dead right, but man, is that a bad reason to call up a prospect.  It's just a completely negligent way of running an organization.

The other argument being made, and likely the one the Mariners will use, is that the organizational depth at catcher has been hurt by injuries and they were running low on options.

Should note the M's are short catchers after having to place Jesus Sucre on the DL couple days ago. Montero torn meniscus. Options are thin.

— Al Skorupa (@alskor) June 11, 2013

This isn't a much better argument.  Backup catchers are interchangeable and aren't hard to acquire.  There's always a couple on waivers, or a team willing to trade one for an insignificant minor leaguer or "cash considerations."  An inability to find a career backup catcher to use as a placeholder for a few weeks could only be from a lack of effort.

More so than anything, however, this move is about trying to save a season, and jobs.  Zunino is largely the same prospect he was a year ago when the Mariners drafted him, but he's yet to prove he can hit advanced pitching.  He'll be able to hold his own defensively, but he's going to struggle with the better fastballs and good off-speed stuff.

The bigger risk, however, is that he never learns how to hit them properly and always struggles with them.  This is the issue with rushing prospects.  The Phillies are just now reaping the benefits of Domonic Brown after bouncing him back and forth from the minors the past three years after his "failure" to stick in his first short stints in the majors.  Even with his power, however, he's still an undiciplined hitter.  Would a steadier path to the majors, one that included a full season in Triple-A in 2010 and a perminant promotion to the majors in 2011 have fixed that?  We don't know for sure.  But it couldn't have hurt.

Brown is just one example of what could happen if Zunino is bounced back and forth.  Is it sure to happen?  Certainly not.  Zunino could start his career off red-hot.  It's baseball, funny things happen.  But that doesn't make this the right move.  Even if the outcome is what the Mariners want, that doesn't mean it was necessarily a good idea.

If Zunino was left in Triple-A, would he figure things out?  Probably, although there were some concerns about his ability to make contact even when he was drafted.  But if he never gets a chance to learn how to hit advanced pitching, there's a chance the Mariners just drastically limited his ceiling.

Prospect Moves - Zunino, Demny, Workman

Zunino Passed Over

When the Mariners passed over top prospect Mike Zunino in favor of minor league veteran Brandon Bantz, many assumed it was due to "Super 2" salary reasons.  But as Larry Stone of The Seattle Times points out, the reasons were more developmental than financial.  Read the entire article for a full explanation as to why, but it makes sense, given Zunino's struggles in Triple-A this season.

This time last year, Zunino was about to be selected third overall out of the University of Floria, and soon thereafter, he was tearing up every professional competitor he faced all the way through to the Arizona Fall League.  Whether the extended season is taking its toll on him this year or he simply came back down to Earth and is struggling, Zunino hasn't been the same player this season as last.

There's no need to worry just yet - lots of players struggle with their first taste of Triple-A.  Zunino is still a 22-year-old catcher with a .287 ISO in Triple-A.  But his strikeout rate, which has spiked from 19.5 percent in Low-A last year to 28.9 percent in Triple-A this year, is an issue that needs more time in the minors.

Credit the Mariners for recognizing that Zunino isn't quite ready yet and having the restraint to keep him in the minors until he is.

 

Demny Promoted

The Nationals have moved right-handed pitcher Paul Demny from Double to Triple-A, but Luke Erickson of NationalsProspects.com questions whether or not the move is a promotion or one made out of necessity.  Geoff Marrow, who covers the Harrisburg Senators, says it's a one-start move:

FYI: Paul Demny to Syracuse is, for now, a temporary move. Nothing is written in stone, but he's expected to return to Harrisburg.

— Geoff Morrow (@RageAgainstGMo) June 5, 2013

Demny has transformed into a different pitcher this year, raising his strikeout rate to over a batter per inning, a level he hasn't come close to since 2009, his first year in Low-A ball.

 

Workman Headed to Pawtucket

Brandon Workman has been promoted to Triple-A as well, according to Mike Antonellis of MiLB.com, but unlike Demny, Workman's move should be more permanent.

The Red Sox right-hander is also striking out hitters at a career-high rate, coming in at 10.14 K/9 this season despite never reaching a batter per inning before in his career.  Other than that, he's continued near his career norms, but the increased strikeout rate is a strong sign of further development, and he'll get his final test in Pawtucket.

Prospect Action - 6/3/13

Triple-A

• Chris Owings wend 3-for-5 on Monday as the Diamondbacks shortstop prospect extended his hitting streak to 22-games, notes Jake Seiner of MiLB.com.  Owings is now hitting .348/.365/.465 on the season, but his 49/6 K/BB ratio is still a major concern.
• Evan Gattis might have filled the need for him on the Braves roster, but Joey Terdoslavich has showed that he's ready to hit in the majors, and added to that case with his 10th home run of the season.
• Billy Hamilton isn't getting the attention he got last year when he set the minor league record for stolen bases in a season, but in case you forgot, he's still really fast, as evidenced by his 14.3 second inside-the-park-homerun, writes Ashley Marshall of MiLB.com.
• Mike Olt put together a much-needed three-hit night on Monday, as the Rangers prospect upped his batting average to .169 since joining the Round Rock Express.

Double-A

• Archie Bradley battled control issues last season, and those issues reared their ugly head again on Monday.  The Diamondbacks pitching prospect was still effective allowing just two runs over six innings to earn his fifth win despite walking five batters in the outing.
• Taijuan Walker took another hard luck loss to drop to 3-6 on the season despite his 2.67 ERA.  Last night's outing saw the Mariners right-hander allow two runs over five innings, and while he's pitched well, he has yet to dominate the way many expected.
• The typical all-or-nothing production from White Sox outfielder Trayce Thompson wasn't evident on Monday, but he was productive anyway, reaching base four times without striking out.  Thompson is hitting just .242 on the season, but his patient approach, which helps lead to those strike outs, has also allowed him to draw 36 walks on the season and post a .371 on-base percentage this year.

High-A

• Alen Hanson hit his second home run of the season, but was upstaged fellow Pirates prospect Gregory Polanco, who collected three hits, including a pair of doubles.
• Mets lefty Noah Syndergaard struck out five batters in as many innings, but took a loss despite allowing just two runs in the outing.  Syndergaard has pitched well this season, but dropped to 2-3 despite a 2.81 ERA.
• Shawn Morimando threw seven shutout innings on Monday, making it three-straight scoreless outings for the Indians left-hander.

Low-A

• In his first outing in full-season ball, Reds 2012 first round draft pick Nick Travieso allowed four runs in as many innings while striking out three.
• Dillon Maples turned in the best start of his young season, throwing five scoreless innings and striking out seven.  The Cubs prospect lowered his ERA to 7.06 on the year after struggling in his transition to full-season ball.