The call ups continued last week as Wilson Ramos was promoted by the Minnesota Twins from the minor leagues in week 4. Washington Nationals phenom Stephen Strasburg received a promotion to Triple-A and while Mike Stanton has been going nuts at the plate, the Florida Marlins are keeping him at Double-A for now.
Stanton is hitting .360 on the season with 13 home runs and 29 RBI, despite striking out in 29% of his at bats. His slugging percentage is currently .884 with an OPS of 1.388 thanks to 25 walks drawn. It is only a matter of time before he is patrolling the outfield for the Marlins.
I have created a Minor League Tracker spreadsheet that shows all of the year-to-date stats for players that I highlighted in my team-by-team Triple-A minor league reports so you can easily keep an eye on possible players to target on the waiver wire in future weeks.
Hitters:
With A.J. Pierzynski struggling at catcher for the Chicago White Sox, keep an eye on Tyler Flowers in Triple-A. Flowers is hitting .284 with four home runs and 21 RBI on the season.
Outfielder Jose Tabata (Pitt.) has shown little power in 2010, but is hitting .340 with 10 RBI and 12 stolen bases. He should become a permanent fixture in the Pirates line up the second half of the season.
Ryan Strieby (Det.) and Desmond Jennings (TB) have both been out of action the past week due to injuries.
Pitchers:
Jeremy Hellickson (TB) carries a 5-0 record in Triple-A with a 2.57 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP. With the way the Tampa Bay Rays rotation is going, Hellickson might end up pitching the second half of the season in relief barring an injury to a starter like David Price did in 2008.
Jay Jackson (Cubs) has a 1.50 ERA through six starts with a .90 WHIP ratio. Jackson has struck out 20 in 29 innings while allowing only seven walks.
Jake Arrieta (Balt.) has slowed down a little bit in his last two starts, walking nine in 11 innings with seven strikeouts. Despite those two games, he is still holding opposing hitters to a .165 batting average on the season with a 1.50 ERA.
The Toronto Blue Jays have more young pitchers on the way with Kyle Drabek in Double-A and Brad Mills in Triple-A coming up through the system. Mills has struck out at least six hitters in each of his five starts this season and now has 38 punchouts in 29 2/3 innings on the season to go along with his 3.03 ERA.
