Posts Tagged ‘jason heyward’

The Daily Dirt from Monday

Posted by Todd Lammi on April 5th, 2010

Roy Halladay was on top of his game in his first start in the National League, allowing one run in seven innings with nine strikeouts to pick up his first win with the Philadelphia Phillies. To me, he is the odds on favorite to win the National League Cy Young award and could easily win 20 games this season. In other fantasy baseball news around the diamond on Monday…

Hitters:

Placido Polanco delivered a grand slam for his new club and hit second in the batting order. That pushed Shane Victorino down to seventh in the line up which means Victorino will see a drop in runs scored this season.

Albert Pujols had some injury issues in spring training but once the lights came on for real, he delivered in his usual stellar fashion going 4-for-5 with two home runs.

Colby Rasmus went 2-for-4 with his first home run of the season hitting 5th for the St. Louis Cardinals. There is a great chance he hits over 20 home runs in his second go round in the major leagues.

Wonder how many people are kicking themselves today for passing on David Wright at the end of the first round? Wright delivered an opposite field home run at home in the New York Mets 7-1 win over the Florida Marlins.

Garrett Jones delivered two home runs with three runs scored and three RBI and catcher Ryan Doumit added a three-run shot as the Pittsburgh Pirates hammered the Los Angeles Dodgers 11-5.

Comeback kids Alex Rios of the Chicago White Sox and Vernon Wells of the Toronto Blue Jays both went yard on opening day.

Carlos Gomez went 4-for-5 with his first home run of the year and a stolen base in the Milwaukee Brewers 5-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies.

Jim Edmonds got the start for the Brewers in right field over Corey Hart and went 1-for-4.

The opening day line up for the Atlanta Braves was pretty impressive as they beat up the Chicago Cubs 16-5. Rookie Jason Heyward went 2-for-5 with four RBI and homered in his first at bat of the game. Shortstop Yunel Escobar added five RBI. Nate McLouth was dropped to 8th in the batting order with Melky Cabrera moved up to lead off.

Second basemen Chris Getz went 2-for-4 with a stolen base for the Kansas City Royals. If you are looking for stolen bases and he is on the waiver wire still, go and grab him.

Kyle Blanks hit his first home run of the season for the San Diego Padres hitting clean up. If there is a player that comes out of no where to hit 30 home runs this season, Blanks would be the person to do it.

Pitchers:

Opening day starter Vicente Padilla for the Dodgers? That did not work out so well. Padilla was shelled for seven runs in 4 1/3 innings with two strikeouts.

Mark Buehrle had an easy day at the office against the Cleveland Indians, working seven scoreless innings with three strikeouts.

Shaun Marcum carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, but finished the game with a no-decision after allowing a three-run home run to Nelson Cruz. Marcum struck out six in seven innings of work.

Carlos Zambrano allowed eight runs in 1 1/3 innings leaving him with a 54 ERA after his first start of the season. Zambrano surrendered two home runs, six hits and also hit a batter.

Zack Greinke allowed one run in six innings with four strikeouts but was denied a win after the bullpen coughed up the lead.

News of Tim Lincecum’s loss of velocity in spring training did not appear to be evident Monday night as he hurled seven scoreless innings with seven strikeouts. He was hitting 94 on the gun, but what sets him apart from other pitchers is his ability to throw his change up at any time or any count and get hitters out.

Ben Sheets was hitting 94 on the gun for the Oakland A’s but had trouble locating his fastball and curveball in the strike zone. As a result, he only made it through five innings before hitting 94 pitches. He allowed four hits and four walks with three strikeouts.

Closers:

Jason Frasor of the Blue Jays failed to deliver in his first save opportunity of the season, allowing five baserunners in 1/3 of an inning as he took the loss.

Franklin Morales converted his first save try filling in for the injured Huston Street for the Rockies.

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2010 Fantasy Baseball ADP – Rising / Falling

Posted by Todd Lammi on March 29th, 2010

With the last week of fantasy baseball drafts upon us, here is a look at some of the players with changes to their average draft position (ADP), based on a 15 team mixed league.

Rising:

Jose Reyes (round 1-4) – it all depends on your league and your level of risk but I saw him being drafted from the end of the first round until the middle of the fourth round in various drafts this past weekend.

Mike Napoli (round 8-9) – Napoli’s power outburst in spring training has him going ahead of some catchers strictly based on his spring training stats which is a mistake.

Jason Heyward (round 10) – the announcement that Heyward has won the starting job for the Atlanta Braves has pushed him up to the 10th round in recent drafts.

Chris Perez (round 13) – the injury to Kerry Wood opened the door for Perez as the Indians closer. There is no reason to expect Wood to return as the closer when he returns unless Perez falters in the role. With Wood a free agent at the end of this season unless he hits 55 games finished in 2010, the most likely scenario in which he closes is if he is traded to another team.

Sean Rodriguez (round 16) – remember that he only qualifies at outfield to begin the season so don’t wait until the late rounds of the draft thinking you are going to grab him at second base. His strikeout rate from his previous stints in the major leagues is still some cause for concern going forward.

Speed / Power combo outfielders – I think there was a lot of surprise this past weekend in drafts as speed / power combo outfielders were taken much higher than their average draft position. Guys like Nelson Cruz, Carlos Gonzalez, Andrew McCutchen, etc. were all going a round or two higher. If you are targeting those types of hitters in drafts this weekend, you might need to bump them up your draft board.

Falling:

Brian Roberts (round 4) – injury concerns of his back and a possible drop in stolen bases has dropped him a round in drafts.

Lance Berkman (round 8) – injury concerns plus the possibility of him starting the season on the disabled list has dropped his average draft position by three to four rounds.

Huston Street (round 13) – another injured player that dropped four rounds based on the uncertainty of his status.

Carlos Beltran (round 13-15) – it still looks like he will be back around the end of April / early part of May assuming he does not have any setbacks. Expect a decrease in stolen bases when he does return.

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2010 Atlanta Braves Team Preview

Posted by Todd Lammi on March 22nd, 2010

This is the second part our series of 2010 fantasy baseball team previews looking at the National League East. The team previews will include the projected batting order, projected rotation, rookies that could make an impact in 2010 as well as each players current ADP for a 15 team mixed fantasy baseball league.

2010 Atlanta Braves Projected Batting Order:

1.  CF Nate McLouth (ADP 82)
2.  2B Martin Prado  (ADP 208)
3.  3B Chipper Jones (ADP 128)
4.  1B Troy Glaus (ADP 261)
5.  C Brian McCann (ADP 42)
6.  SS Yunel Escobar (ADP 149)
7.  RF Jason Heyward (ADP 244)
8.  LF Melky Cabrera (ADP 307)

2010 Atlanta Braves Projected Rotation & Bullpen:

1.  Tim Hudson (ADP 211)
2.  Derek Lowe (ADP 334)
3.  Jair Jurrjens (ADP 138)
4.  Tommy Hanson (ADP 85)
5.  Kenshin Kawakami (ADP 388)

Closer – Billy Wagner (ADP 142)
Handcuff – Takashi Saito

2010 Atlanta Braves prospects with potential impact this year:

1.  Jason Heyward – RF


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Auction Keeper League – How to Rebuild

Posted by Todd Lammi on March 9th, 2010

If you are new to fantasy baseball auction leagues or have been playing in an auction league for a few years but have not had much success winning, this article will take you on a step-by-step guide of how to rebuild in an auction league format.

The majority of keeper auction leagues have contract limits which means you are likely going to be able to be competitive for a certain amount of years before you have to rebuild. Some owners think they can draft every year and have a shot at winning, but that is not the case. In an auction league with keepers, there is too much inflation to prices to be able to draft a team and make a run at the title unless you get extremely lucky, it is a shallow league and the rest of the owners are not very good.

Your best chance at rebuilding is by doing it from day one of the season. That way you can focus on which rookies you want to target in the draft as well get first dibs on the best keepers in trade from other owners. If you wait until June before deciding to throw in the towel and rebuild for next year, you are already behind the other rebuilding teams. At that point, you are rebuilding for two years away instead of being competitive the following season.

Heading into the auction there are two types of players you are trying to draft. Players that will help your team next year and form your core and the second group are players that you can trade to bring back in return younger players and draft picks.

Here is a look at my team from a NL only auction league from last season. This is a 14 team league with a $275 salary cap plus a six round reserve draft where the draft picks can be traded.  I went into the draft knowing I wanted to rebuild from day one.

My keepers:

  • Ryan Doumit – 11
  • John Baker – 10
  • Rickie Weeks – 25
  • Cameron Maybin – 16
  • Tim Lincecum – 22
  • Chad Qualls – 6

Out of this group, the only players I wanted to keep for this year were Lincecum, Qualls and Doumit; the other players were traded.

Drafted:

  • Edgar Renteria – 13
  • Matt Kemp – 36
  • Jake Peavy – 31
  • Aaron Cook – 13
  • Ricky Nolasco – 26

This entire group were players I wanted to trade. While Kemp was at a good price, there are always outfielders in the $30 range I knew I could grab in 2010.

Core: these were the main players I targeted to form the cornerstone of my team for the next few years:

  • Alcides Escobar – 2
  • Carlos Gonzalez – 3
  • Jonny Gomes – 3 (did not plan on him being a core guy but at $3 for 15-20 home runs makes him a core guy)
  • Jason Heyward – 1
  • Pedro Alvarez – 7
  • J.A. Happ – 2 — I was able to get him as a relief pitcher due to our rules based on a certain number of appearances as a starter / reliever.
  • Tim Hudson – 3 — injured players are a great place to look for keepers when you are rebuilding. If you are in an NL only league this season and are rebuilding, you should be targeting guys like Edison Volquez and Jordan Zimmermann.
  • Stephen Strasburg – 5

Farm System:

Before the auction I had several other players I did not want to keep going into the draft so I flipped those for draft picks, so instead of the usual six picks per team, I went into the draft with close to 20 picks to search for players that would be able to have an impact for me in 2010. As from my previous articles, I am always looking for players that have the best chance of helping me the following year so I am targeting guys that are in Triple-A or in Double-A with a shot to get to the major leagues based on the guys ahead of them at their position. Here is who I got:

  • Drew Stubbs – 5
  • Chris Coghlan – 5
  • Everth Cabrera – 10 – his salary was higher because he started the year in the major leagues
  • Gerardo Parra – 5
  • Bud Norris – 5
  • Aroldis Chapman – 10 – picked up September 1 when rosters expanded. Again, it pays to know and understand the rules of your league. In my league in September we can add three slots so I look for guys that may be coming over from Japan or were drafted in the June draft and could make a direct leap to the major leagues.

Picked up in trade:

  • Bronson Arroyo – 8
  • Omar Infante – 3
  • Eric Young Jr. – 5

In addition I have 23 out of the 84 draft picks in the reserve round. Six of my own picks plus 17 I picked up in trade, including three additional first round and second round picks.

So overall my team looks something like this heading into 2010:

  • C – Doumit – 11
  • C – open
  • 1b – open
  • 2b – Infante 3 / E. Young 5
  • ss – A. Escobar 2, E. Cabrera 10
  • 3b – open
  • of – C. Gonzalez 3, Gomes 3, Stubbs 5, Coghlan 5, Parra 5,
  • utility – Heyward 1, P. Alvarez 7
  • sp – Lincecum 22, Arroyo 8, Norris 5, Strasburg 5, Happ 2, Hudson 3, Chapman 10
  • rp – Qualls 6

You can see from the roster layout that there are several trade opportunities I will have to improve the team by moving a shortstop, outfielder and starting pitcher.

With the additional draft picks I will also be able to use those to trade for guys from other teams that will be rebuilding this season.

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2010 Fantasy Baseball Rookies

Posted by Todd Lammi on February 27th, 2010

As I have wrote in several previous articles, when drafting rookies in fantasy baseball, I am always looking for the player that has the best chance of producing for me this season, unless it is a dynasty league.

In a one year league or a league with keepers, but not the entire roster, it does no good to roster a guy like Josh Vitters in Single-A when you could use that roster spot for a guy that is going to help you in 2010.

When evaluating rookies, I am looking at two things. One is the players skill set and the other is the chance for an opportunity.

Here is a look at the top 2010 fantasy baseball rookies (for the purposes of this article, I am using my definition of a rookie as a player that did not appear in the major leagues last year) that have the best chance of making an impact in 2010.

1) Jason Heyward (OF) – has shown the ability to do everything at the minor league level despite being only 20 years old last year. Has a very good eye at the plate and owns a .318 minor league batting average along with a 84% stolen base success rate. Has the frame to hit 30+ home runs as he gets older. With Bobby Cox in his last year as Atlanta Braves and the willingness of the Braves to promote prospects through the system regardless of age leads me to believe that Heyward starts the season in the major leagues.

2) Stephen Strasburg (SP) – the No. 1 pick out of San Diego State appeared in the Arizona Fall League and went 4-1 with a 4.26 ERA. He struck out 23 batters while allowing seven walks in 19 innings. There is no one better than him currently in the Washington Nationals rotation and the fact the Nationals are having him pitch in home games only in spring training to draw fans (they are already working on marketing him) leads me to believe  he starts the year in the major leagues.

3) Austin Jackson – expected to start the season in center field and hit lead off for the Detroit Tigers. Minor league batting average of .287 with a 78% stolen base success rate. Needs to cut down on his strikeouts and power is still developing so keep expectations realistic for him in 2010.

4) Desmond Jennings (OF) - has a .305 career batting average with good plate discipline. Has a career stolen base success rate of 82%. With two potential openings in Tampa Bay in place of Pat Burrell or Matt Joyce, Jennings should be up for good in May and could post numbers similar to Carl Crawford.

5) Drew Storen (RP) – it was a rapid rise up the ladder for Storen in 2009. After being drafted in the first round by the Washington Nationals, he pitched at three levels and ended the year by pitching in the Arizona Fall League. Had a 1.95 ERA with a .78 WHIP ratio with 49 strikeouts in 37 innings in the minor leagues. He followed that up with a .66 ERA in the AFL with 13 strikeouts in 13 2/3 innings. He is the future closer of the Nationals and could see some save opportunities late in the season.

6) Aroldis Chapman (SP) – Cuban left-hander that has a slight chance to break camp with the Cincinnati Reds. Reportedly needs some work on his command but has looked good throwing to hitters so far. Of course that is entirely different from facing an entire batting order in game conditions. The Reds only have one spot in their rotation up for grabs, so he is in the mix with several other contenders.

7) Pedro Alvarez (1B/3B) – not a bad first season with 27 home runs and 95 RBI while split between two levels. Nice to see improvement in his batting average after being promoted to Double-A where he hit .333 compared to .247 in High-A. Should be up in June after spending a couple of months in Triple-A.

8.) Michael Taylor (OF) – the trade to the Oakland A’s in the off-season gives him a faster track at making it to the major leagues. Hit 20 home runs with 85 RBI and 21 stolen bases between two levels in 2010. The lack of power in the A’s outfield should put Taylor in the major leagues by mid-season.

9) Carlos Santana (C) – switch-hitting catcher with power and plate discipline. Hit 23 home runs in Double-A last season with 97 RBI. Has a career minor league batting average of .287 with more walks than strikeouts (288 vs. 283). Will start the season in Triple-A and should be ready to take over as full-time catcher for the Cleveland Indians the second half of the season.

10) Jeremy Hellickson (SP) – could probably step into the Tampa Bay rotation now with some success but there is no room with five solid starters currently in the rotation. Dominated between Double-A and Triple-A with a 2.45 ERA and a .886 WHIP ratio. Had a 10.4 K/9 ratio while allowing only 2.3 walks per nine.

11) Chris Carter (1B) – power potential on a team lacking in power makes him a player to target for 2010. Finished the season with 54 at bats in Triple-A for the Oakland A’s. Crushed Double-A pitching to the tune of a .337 average with 24 home runs, 101 RBI and 41 doubles. With the Daric Barton era on its last legs, Carter should see time the second half of the year.

12) Justin Smoak (1B) – struggled at Triple-A after being promoted at the end of the 2009 season. The 11th overall pick in the 2008 draft, Smoak has made a rapid rise up the Texas Rangers farm system. Gives the Rangers an option at first base if Chris Davis struggles and is unable to cut down his strikeouts.

13) Brett Wallace (1B) – could have won a spot in the major leagues with the Oakland A’s to start the year, but the trade to the Toronto Blue Jays means he likely starts the year in the minor leagues. Career .305 minor league hitter that should be a 20 home run per year type of guy once he gets to the Show. Probably won’t see action until after the trade deadline assuming the Blue Jays can move Lyle Overbay.

14) Logan Morrison (1B) – suffered a fracture in his right wrist in 2009 which limited his at bats to 278. Has great plate discipline as he walked 17 more times than he struck out. Power still needs to develop, but with the budget conscious Marlins, he has a chance to open the year at first base. Could put up similar stats to James Loney of 2009.

15) Jake Arrieta (SP) – another good arm in the Baltimore Orioles farm system that made it to Triple-A the second half of last year.  Was easier to hit once he got there, posting a 3.93 ERA and a 1.418 WHIP with 7.7 K/9. Numbers were much better in Double-A before the promotion with a 2.59 ERA, 1.153 WHIP and 10.7 K/9. Look for Arrieta to appear in the Orioles rotation the second half of the season.

16) Hector Rondon (SP) – the Indians rotation is a mess so it’s not like he has a bunch of stud pitchers to pass on the depth chart. Split time last season between Double-A and Triple-A. Has shown good control in the minor leagues with 1.9 walks per nine innings and eight strikeouts per nine. Even if he starts the year in Triple-A for more seasoning, he should not be down there too long. Just turned 22 this week.

17) Ike Davis (1B) – the 18th overall pick in the 2008 draft made it to Double-A last year where he hit .309 with 13 home runs and 43 RBI in 207 at bats. With Daniel Murphy and Mike Jacobs the New York Mets option at first base, it could be only a matter of time before Davis gets a look.

18) Jason Castro (C) – only has Humberto Quintero in front of him and the Astros need all of the offense they can get. Reached Double-A last season and it would be quite jump for him to reach the major leagues. However, holds a .295 career minor league batting average with good plate discipline (77 walks to 108 strikeouts). Struggled in the Arizona Fall League hitting .143 in 42 at bats.

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Fantasy Baseball – the Daily Dirt for Wednesday

Posted by Todd Lammi on June 3rd, 2009

by Todd Lammi

If you are an Atlanta Braves fan, today has provided quite a swing of emotion. Three events happened which all somewhat coincided with each other depending on who’s version of the story you want to believe to shuffle the Atlanta roster. The first move was the Braves fleecing the Pittsburgh Pirates out of Nate McLouth for three prospects, none of whom were named, Tommy Hanson, Kris Medlen, Jason Heyward or Freddie Freeman. Even with the addition of McLouth who takes the spot of Jordan Schafer who was recently demoted, the Braves are still short a bat in their line up. At only $2 million, the Braves take on very little salary by adding McLouth this season.

The next move the Braves made frees up salary, by surprisingly releasing Tom Glavine who was due to return from the minor leagues on rehab assignment very shortly. The release of Glavine saves the Braves $3.5 million in salary, in addition to creating a roster spot for top prospect Tommy Hanson who was called up from Triple-A. Hanson will move into the Braves rotation Saturday and get the start against the Milwaukee Brewers. Kris Medlen gets a pat on the back for striking out nine in his six innings in his last start and a trip to the bullpen.

For the Pirates, the trade of McLouth opens up center field for Andrew McCutchen who should see the majority of starts for the rest of the season. McCutchen was hitting .303 with four home runs, 20 RBI and 10 stolen bases in 201 at bats in Triple-A.

If you are a fan on minor league players or have some on your team, these last two weeks have to feel like Christmas with Matt Wieters getting called up and then Hanson and McCutchen getting called up today. If that was not special enough, late Wednesday night it was announced that Gordon Beckham has been recalled by the Chicago White Sox.  If the White Sox are calling him up after just a week in Triple-A, it stands to reason he is going to be in the starting line up somewhere in the infield. Beckham was hitting .464 in Triple-A with three RBI and one steal in seven games. Between two levels on the season, he was at .326 with four home runs and 25 RBI. In other fantasy baseball news around the diamond on Wednesday night…

Hitters:

Ben Zorbist, wow, where did all the power come from?  Zorbist should be a permanent fixture in the Tampa Bay Rays line up going forward, and is rewarding fantasy baseball owners, by connecting for home runs on consecutive days. Zorbist is currently on pace for a .300 average with 33 home runs, 105 RBI and 16 steals.

Nice to see Elvis Andrus finally turning on the jets a little bit, as he stole two bases and went 2 for 3 at the plate. With stolen bases in consecutive games, he is now on pace for 30 thefts on the season.

Jorge Posada homered for the second straight and has been on a nice roll since returning from the disabled list on May 29th with three home runs in six games with six RBI.

Bobby Abreu went 2 for 5 with 4 RBI including his second home run of the season. After being on a stolen base tear for the first month and a half of the season, Abreu has not stolen a base since May 19th.

Dan Uggla homered for the second consecutive day and is now up to 11 home runs with 39 RBI. His batting average is s-l-o-w-l-y creeping up t0 .219 after being around the Mendoza line for much of the season.

Hunter Pence went 4 for 5 with 3 RBI and slugged his sixth home run of the season. The home run Wednesday night matched Pence’s home run total for the entire month of May.

Ryan Howard hit home run number 16 and knocked in two runs giving him  45 RBI on the season. He has now driven in a run in five consecutive game, totaling 11 plated runners.

Laynce Nix hit two home runs and drove in four, giving him seven RBI in June which matches his total for the entire month of May. He should continue to get the majoirty of at bats against right-handed pitching.

Brandon Phillips went 3 for 5 with 3 RBI and two stolen bases and has homered three times in his last five games.

Scott Hairston was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained biceps. Will Venable was recalled from Triple-A and should see time along with Tony Gwynn Jr.

Asdrubal Cabrera was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained left shoulder and is expected to be out 2-4 weeks. Jamey Carroll should see time at third base with Jhonny Peralta moving over to shortstop. Carroll went 2 for 6 batting second on Wednesday. Peralta, back at his old position of shortstop went 3 for 5 with 3 RBI, including his second long ball of the year.

Pitchers:

Possibly there is light at the end of the tunnel for Jeff Niemann who tossed a complete game shutout with nine strikeouts to earn his fifth win of the season and lower his ERA to 3.77. Niemann has allowed two runs in his last 18 innings with 18 strikeouts and has seen his overall ERA decrease in his last five outings.

Jered Weaver hurled seven innings of one run ball with 10 strikeouts to improve his record to 5-2 on the year.  He has now allowed one run in five of his six last starts, although he only has two wins in those outings due to a lack of run support.

Ted Lilly allowed one run in seven innings with seven strikeouts in a no decision against the Atlanta Braves. He cost himself a win with a throwing error that caused an unearned run to score.

Josh Beckett tossed 7 2/3 shutout innings with nine strikeouts to up his record to 6-2 on the year.  He has allowed two runs or less in his last four starts while shaving two full runs off of his ERA.

Scott Feldman allowed two runs in 6 1/3 innings with five strikeouts to improve to a perfect 5-0 on the season. As a starter this season, remember that he had three relief appearances that threw his ERA out of whack, Feldman had an ERA of 2.59 heading into the game.

Josh Outman moved to 3-0, after allowing two runs in 6 2/3 innings with two strikeouts. Check out the top 2o in pitching for May, he ranked high in several statistics.

Cliff Lee allowed one run in eight innings with five strikeouts to notch his third victory of the year. Despite his 3-6 record, Lee has a 2.96 ERA as the Indians have been shut out or scored one run in six of his starts this year.

J.A. Happ tossed seven shutout innings with four strikeouts to earn his fourth win of the season and second in three starts.

Chad Billingsley hurled six shutout innings with nine strikeouts to up his mrk to 7-3 on the year. His numbers would be even more impressive if he managed to reduce his walks, after walking four or more batters in 5 of his last 7 starts.

Closers:

Jose Valverde is expected to go on a short rehab assignment next week and if all goes well is on track to return from the disabled list around June 12th.

Joakim Soria returned to action, facing two batters and throwing 13 pitches. I would still hold on to Juan Cruz for another week or two if you need saves, just in case.

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Fantasy Baseball – Minor League Report

Posted by Todd Lammi on April 12th, 2009

by Todd Lammi

Each week we will take a look at the top happenings in minor league baseball from a fantasy baseball perspective. Here is a recap of some of the top minor league players in action in week one.

David Price of the Tampa Bay Rays made his minor league debut Saturday, allowing two runs on four hits in 3 2/3 innings, while limited to a 75 pitch count.

Jordan Zimmermann of the Washington Nationals in his first AAA start gave up three runs in 5 1/3 innings.

Tommy Hanson of the Atlanta Braves struck out 10 in 4 1/3 shutout innings on Thursday. Hanson allowed three hits and two walks will throwing 84 pitches.

Neftali Feliz made his AAA debut for the Texas Rangers and overcame some wildness to pitch four shutout innings, allowing four hits and six walks.

Third basemen Brett Wallace (AA) of the St. Louis Cardinals hit two home runs and drove in six runs on Thursday.

Catcher Carlos Santana (AA) of the Cleveland Indians homered and drove in four runs on Thursday.

Seattle Mariners prospect Carlos Triunfel in AA suffered a broken left fibula while sliding into second base on Friday. Preliminary estimates are that he could miss six to eight weeks of action.

Florida Marlins first baseman Logan Morrison (AA) suffered a small fracture at the base of his right thumb and is expected to miss six to eight weeks.

For those of you looking at long term minor league keepers, check out the article at Baseball America that talks about two of the top young outfielders in the game in Jason Heyward of the Atlanta Braves and Mike Stanton of the Florida Marlins.

Baseball America also has their list of where the top 100 prospects are starting out in 2009. You can access the list here. If you live in the San Jose, CA area, be sure to swing by one of the San Jose Giants games. That team boasts several of the top prospects in all of minor league baseball in pitchers Madison Bumgarner and Tim Alderson,  catcher Buster Posey and first basemen Angel Villalona. Also keep an eye on third basemen Conor Gillaspie who saw time in the major leagues last year, and second basemen Nick Noonan.

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