Here is the link for those who are interested

Not a whole lot of surprises. Lots of 2010 contract/DSL guys, which is always fun to see. Off the top of my head, the most glaring omission is Miguel De Los Santos. Makes you wonder what is going on there. The team seemed confident that he would be able to return by the end of the AZL season, and now he's not even at instructs.

If you're going to be in the Phoenix area during instructs, I highly recommend going out there. It's a lot of fun to see all of that talent on the field at one time.

Just letting you guys know that, during the World Cup, Tim Smith will be blogging every day or two on my site, and I'm going to make all of his entries free.

The first installment can be found here: The Link

He has also created a Facebook group for the blog.

If there are any questions or comments for Tim (or myself), either post them here, on the thread on my message board, or send me an e-mail.

Haven't seen it anywhere, but at least according to a release that I just got from University of Tennessee baseball...

Former Tennessee baseball All-America performer Julio Borbon was called up to the Major Leagues by the Texas Rangers Monday. A standout centerfielder for the Volunteers from 2005-07, Borbon was drafted 35th overall by the Rangers in the 2007 MLB Draft and has been starring this summer for the Class AAA Oklahoma City Redhawks of the Pacific Coast League.
 
“This is a very important day for me and my family,” Borbon said. “It is so exciting and satisfying to see my dream come true. To think that just two years ago I was at Tennessee and now I’m experiencing this lifelong dream—it’s hard to describe how I’m feeling right now. I owe thanks to so many people for helping to guide me along the way.”

Borbon ranked sixth in the PCL in hits, tied for sixth in triples (5), eighth in runs, tied for ninth in stolen bases and was 25th in batting average.
 
Texas Rangers Director of Player Development Scott Servais had an opportunity to personally evaluate Borbon and other Texas prospects during a visit to Oklahoma City last week. After being notified of his promotion, Borbon flew to Dallas on Monday and is unsure of when he’ll see his first action with the Rangers.
 
“I’ll be ready whenever they need me,” Borbon said.
 
With Borbon’s promotion, there are now 10 former Vols presently suiting up in Major League Baseball. He becomes the 35th Vol ever to play in the Majors and the third player from UT’s 2005 NCAA College World Series team to reach the big leagues (joining Luke Hochevar and Chase Headley).

 

Tennessee Media Relations

I don't usually like to promote my own site here, but I figured I would give a heads-up about this.

I get a lot of questions here and in other places, so I decided it's about time I started a Minor League Mailbag. I especially wanted to start this feature now because I just got back from a trip where I saw one game in Oklahoma City, six games in Clinton, and two Frisco games in Arkansas.

Even if you are not a subscriber, don't worry. The first mailbag will be a free article.

You can send all questions to lonestardugout@gmail.com. Try to include your first name and where you're from so I know who to credit the question to.

I'll answer as many questions as possible. If I don't get to your question in the first feature, I will eventually, without a doubt. It just depends on how much response I get.

Thanks!

Some interesting minor league moves today:

--Blake Beavan to Clinton

--Evan Reed to Bakersfield

And others to help fill out the minimum requirement:

--Chris Dennis to Clinton

--Yukinaga Maeda (37 year old LHP from the Yomiuri Giants) to Oklahoma. Maeda is listed at 5-foot-10, 155-pounds and here is a YouTube video of him with the Giants: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cRpVTdBLJ4

--and John Bannister makes his Double-A debut with Frisco tonight.

Just thought I'd let you guys know that Joaquin Arias is now out of the AFL altogether. He's still nursing his shoulder and isn't quite ready to play in games.

Taking his place on the roster will be Elvis Andrus, who joins the taxi squad, meaning he can technically only be activated twice per week.

Chris Davis and German Duran are no longer on the taxi squad -- they're now full timers.

Also, in case you didn't hear from a few days ago, Scott Feldman replaced Josh Rupe. It wasn't necessarily because of an injury setback with Rupe, they just didn't feel he needed to re-fire up the arm after taking nearly a month off.