The minor leagues' highest level hosts the hoards of veterans on the fringe while also weeding out another wave of supposed prospects, meaning AAA isn't always much of a prospect hot spot.  Indeed, the Rainier's roster features several players trying to eek out another big league paycheck or get their career back on track in Josh Bard, Manny Delcarmen, Denny Bautista and others, as well as rehabbing David Aardsma and several prospects that have lost the luster of years past like Matt Tuiasosopo (who is now a 1B/OF exclusively) and, to a lesser degree, Mike Wilson.

Many of the other youngsters on the club aren't in much better shape.  Alex Liddi jump started his career with High Desert back in 2009 and had a strong follow up season with the bat in 2010, but there have been red flags all along the way and early reports on Liddi this season aren't positive.  Here's a excerpt from Jason Churchill's recent writeup over at Prospect Insider:

"He can't play there," the scout said of Liddi's chances to play third base. "He doesn't have good hands and he I wrote the word 'stiff' by his name after the first two games here."

Liddi's swing path is long and he lacks the bat speed to make up for it. His other plate skills -- pitch recognition, strike zone judgment, plate coverage -- all grade below average right now. He's not hitting the ball the other way like he did a few years back in High Desert, prompting the scout to suggest that "somebody told him to hit home runs."

It's too early to write off the 22 year old (as JAC goes on to note), but it's hard to see Liddi as a major part of the Mariners' future.

Continue reading this post »

Getting a little late for roster previews.  Whoops!

Roster: Jackson Generals - Southern League (AA)

The best thing about this team is that they're no longer known as the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx.  The second best thing is that they're harboring some somewhat interesting talent just a quick jump from the big leagues.  

The top prospect on this squad might be rifle-armed right fielder Johermyn Chavez, the supposed "throw in" of the Brandon Morrow trade.  Chavez is coming off of a strong year with High Desert in which he hit .315/.387/.577 with 69 extra base hits over 605 plate appearances.  His .815 OPS on the road lessens the doubt cast by the extreme hitting environment in Adelanto, just in case you didn't believe the scouting reports that say his power to all fields will play just about anywhere.  Chavez strikes out a lot and will have to continue working on pitch recognition and discipline.  After a rough opening week+ he's caught fire and brought his line to .322/.369/.441 through 15 games.

While others may not share my level of interest, the #2 guy I'll be watching on the Generals is shortstop Carlos Triunfel.  He was supposed to break out at some point over the last couple seasons but instead saw his 2009 wiped out by a broken leg and followed that up by hitting just .257/.286/.332 last year with the Jaxx, leading many to focus their attention elsewhere.  I haven't quite given up on Triunfel, however, given that he's still just (listed at) 21 years old.  If he can finally add some power to his great contact ability he could become quite interesting once again. I'm not holding my breath but he might still have that breakout in him.  He has two homers and four doubles through 14 games, which is a great sign after he had just 20 extra base hits all last season.

First baseman Rich Poythress hit .315/.381/.580 last season with High Desert, drawing some attention with a minor league leading 129 RBI.  The best part of Poythress' year was that his power was even better on the road, something not often seen from Maverick mashers.  He had 3 more homers and 50 more points on his ISO while playing on the road. Poythress' swing still needs work and there is some concern about his bat speed as he advances but so far, so good, at least stat-wise. 

Continue reading this post »

Roster: High Desert Mavericks - California League (A adv.)

Last time out we took a look at a Clinton roster that yields all kinds of prospect depth but doesn't offer a ton of upside.  The Mavs aren't as stacked but have two guys that might just knock your socks off, three that are of definite interest and a handful of others worth keeping in the back of your mind.

Nick Franklin leads the parade as the second best Mariner prospect still in the minors behind you know who.  Most -- the supposedly informed and speculators alike -- expected Franklin to skip High Desert altogether but for now he'll play his home games in Adelanto, California.  A couple possible explanations might be that the Mariners aren't ready to give up on Carlos Triunfel as a shortstop but want to see a little more out of his bat before promoting him to AAA, or (more likely) that they've simply decided not to take any chances by promoting Franklin too aggressively.

Franklin surprised even his biggest supporters with a .281/.351/.485 line and Clinton record 23 homers during his historic 2010, finishing the season ranked among the top prospects in baseball (#53 for Baseball America and Keith Law alike).  All eyes will be on the switch hitter in 2011 as he tries to prove himself at the plate and in the field while continuing to smooth out the rough edges in his game. 

How much power can we expect moving forward?  I think his strength and lefty-swing will allow him to easily have above-average pop for his position but last season's power output was such a shock that it's easy to want further confirmation before buying in. Will he figure out how to hit lefties?  As is often the case, Franklin's right-handed swing isn't as refined and it showed in the stats-- .149/.208/.246. Will he be able to remain at shortstop?  Scouting reports and projections for his defense seem to be all over the map, with many scouting-types believing he's best suited to play second base.  Obviously, the Mariners would rather have him stick at shortstop with Dustin Ackley penciled in as the second baseman for the next several years.

James Jones is the other top prospect with the Mavs after emerging as one of the most intriguing prospects in the system.  Says Keith Law, who ranked him as baseball's 100th best prospect (linked above): 

Continue reading this post »

Opening Day rosters for the Seattle Mariners' full-season minor league affiliates began trickling in on Monday.  Let's start at the bottom.

Clinton Lumberkings - Midwest League (class-A)

The Lumberkings have lost Nick Franklin and James Jones to promotions but feature a roster littered with interesting talent, including a few breakout candidates. 

Behind the plate we have Steve Baron. The 33rd pick in the 2009 draft had been absolutely atrocious at the dish, enough so that many fans had already given up on him following his first full season in the system. We knew he was going to be a long-term prospect offensively given that his swing had to be torn down and rebuilt from head to toe, but sometimes it's hard to have patience and tolerance when these high school players face long odds to begin with.

Don't look now, but Baron had a great showing offensively this Spring Training, hitting .500 with a couple extra base hits during Cactus League play as well as a couple doubles off of Felix Hernandez in a B game.  Ryan Divish's article on the adjustments he's made provides reasons for optimism heading into the new season.  Hopefully his hot spring was a preview of things to come, though 2011 is hardly a make or break year for the 20 year old.  His defense has always been his strong suit, so keep on eye on his batting line this year. 

Continue reading this post »

You may remember this post.  As a primer for this this year's edition, let's take a look back and see how some of those storylines played out.  Nothing too in-depth here as many of these topics will carry over.

"Breakout sluggers leave hitter haven High Desert" - We planned to keep an eye on Alex Liddi, Carlos Peguero and Joe Dunigan as they moved from High Desert to West Tenn after their big-time offensive seasons in 2009.  Their wide home/away splits put their supposed breakouts in doubt and a more normal environment in AA figured to give us a better idea of where each player stood. 

Liddi proved that his transformation from Italian novelty back to interesting prospect was legitimate with a .281/.353/.476 line.  Peguero proved that he can hit the ball out of any ballpark, but his good overall line can mostly be attributed to a blistering hot start.  Strikeouts continue to be a major problem for him, though he was at least able to maintain an above-average walk rate.  Of the three, Dunigan was expected to see the harshest drop in production and indeed he did, dropping completely off the radar.

Continue reading this post »

2010 didn't allow me to become Lookout Landing's "minor league guy" as Jeff and I had hoped, let alone the dedicated Mariners blogger I've been in the past. I'm hoping to get back to being more involved in the new year, however, and I've started by keeping busy back at Pro Ball NW. Conor and I just finished up our comprehensive rundown of Seattle Mariners prospects in Pro Ball NW's second annual Prospect Report, and I thought it was something worth sharing over here (with Jeff's approval of course). We've spotlighted 34 prospects while giving mention to many more over the course of the four-post series. 

The goal of the series is simply to introduce you to the system's up-and-comers while updating you on the progress made by those you're already familiar with. Keeping track of these guys adds another dimension to the fan experience and is something to fall back on when the big league club lets you down.

Infielders (2B, 3B, SS) - Half of these ten guys are Bill Bavasi era holdovers, but the guys brought in by Jack Zduriencik's front office have the edge in probability.

First basemen and catchers - The top three first basemen behind Justin Smoak are the same three guys we discussed last year, but the graduation of Adam Moore has left the catching position bare enough that we felt it wasn't worth posting alone. Yuck.

Outfielders - This top nine is dominated by players with premium power and features several great all-around athletes. Most of these outfielders face long odds, but there is a lot of room to dream here.

Pitchers  - One man stands head and shoulders above the rest, but the many interesting hurlers that emerged from the rookie levels gave us plenty to write about.

Keep in mind that the rankings in these posts were used as a framing device first and foremost. Trying to agree on a top 10 anything with another person is damn near impossible, so we instead focused our energy on agreeing upon which players deserved to be featured. The best guys landed near the top of the lists and the more marginal guys fell toward the bottom, but we didn't let ourselves get stuck trying to figure out each placement. 

Given how we did the first four posts, we thought it would be a good idea to post our own top 20s in an attempt to show readers where we might differ and how we each weigh the prospects against each other. 

Top 20 Seattle Mariners Prospects

Rebounding Rainiers

Of Seattle's full season underlings, Tacoma has been the most boring from a prospect watcher's standpoint.  Michael Saunders' promotion left the thoroughly unexciting Mike Carp, extra outfielder Ezequiel Carrera, 2009 flop Greg Halman and forgotten first rounder Matt Mangini as the team's best prospects.

Carp and Carrera have played up to or below expectations, but Halman and Mangini have been pleasant surprises.

Halman's .250 batting average and 38.2% strikeout rate leave much to be desired, but his 11.8% walk rate is certainly intriguing-- about double anything he's done in the past and in a league where pitchers can generally throw strikes.  Add those walks to the power that never left and Halman's line stands at .250/.338/.575 entering Wednesday.

That's not to say that Halman is "fixed."  There is work to do for Halman.  He's still enigmatic.  But we can hope that the walk rate stays up.  Even if it drops a bit we'll still take the improvement.  The strikeout rate is still unacceptable and shows a complete lack of pitch recognition even if he's added some discipline.  Baby steps.  We'll take any sign of progress after the disappointment that was last season.

Mangini has alternated between putting up bad numbers and mediocre numbers since becoming a (supplemental) first round pick in 2007 and being labeled Adrian Beltre's successor.  But just when he was about to fall right off the prospect radar, his numbers started picking up toward the end of last season and earned him (with help from Alex Liddi) a promotion to AAA.  Mangini's bat appears to have turned a corner this season with the Rainiers.  He's hitting .305/.355/.556 with an ISO and home run pace that dwarfs anything he's done in the past. 

It's still too early to know what to make of the new Mangini, but if he keeps it up he suddenly becomes a new possibility at third or first for the Mariners in the near future. 

>>>Expanded at PBNW

Liddi starting to prove it

Coming off of an out of nowhere MVP performance in a hitter friendly environment last year, Alex Liddi had something to prove in 2010 in a tougher league and ballpark.  Early on it wasn't going so well.  Liddi was showing that he had legitimately improved while at High Desert (which isn't disputed), but did he improve enough to perform in an environment that wasn't made to order?

After putting up mediocre numbers in April and May, Liddi has taken off in June, hitting .375/.456/.625 with more line drives, more walks and fewer strikeouts, bringing his season line up to .296/.359/.482.  We'll keep watching to see if he can maintain a corner infielder's line this season, but it's looking more and more like he's legit.  The Casey Blake comp seems valid to me.

Of course, hitting is only part of it.  He may have more to prove with his hot corner defense.

Peguero start was too good to be true

Carlos Peguero turned some heads with his red hot start to the season, hitting .390/.457/.780 with 9 homers in April while striking out significantly less than he had in the past.  Had the big man figured it out?  If so he's a star!

Not so fast.  Peguero has quickly faded back to his norms, with his strikeout percentage jumping back near 30% in May and June and his power output coming back down to earth.  His walk rates remain higher than normal, so that's good, but I'm reluctant to view him any differently than I have the last couple years: a big man with a ton of raw power and probably not enough else to make him a big league regular.  Hopefully he can find some middle ground this season.

Ackley remains hot

Back in mid May we talked about how Dustin Ackley's bat was starting to come around after a terribly slow start.  Well, he hasn't stopped hitting since then.  He's hit .336/.481/.456 since May 4th, putting up a .303/.475/.447 line in May and .313/.404/.417 so far in June.

It's certainly nice to see Ackley hitting above .300 the last couple months, but the thing that has been most impressive about Ackley may be his plate discipline.  His walk rate sits at 17.3% as he refuses to reach and get himself out, even when he's in a hitting slump or against lefties, against whom he has struggled so far. The home run power isn't there, but it wasn't supposed to be.  If Ackley adds power to his game, it's expected to come after he's been around a while.  He's going to be a helluva top of the lineup hitter.

Flexing Franklin

There was much gnashing of teeth when the Seattle Mariners selected Nick Franklin with the 27th overall pick in last year's draft, passing over more recognizable names and high upside arms like James Paxton (who we ended up with in the 4th round of this year's draft anyway), Tanner Scheppers, Rex Brothers et al.  But Franklin is doing his very best to convince the skeptics that he was the right pick.  The Clinton shortstop is hitting .310/.352/.565 with 13 homers so far this season.

Baseball America said he "might top out near 10 homers annually with wood" in their 2010 Mariner prospects ranking.  While he still isn't expected to show the power he's showing now in the upper levels, that quote helps illustrate just how surprising his power surge has been this season.  The switch hitting shortstop ranks 4th in the Midwest League in slugging and second in home runs. 

There are some mild concerns with Franklin, such as his sub-par walk rate or struggles hitting against lefties, but it's hard to take away from how great a full season debut he's having.

Short season

Short season baseball is upon us!  Everett opens up on Friday while Pulaski and Arizona open up next week.  We'll do some prospect spotlighting once the rosters get settled.

You have met Taijuan Walker and probably know Marcus Littlewood, so let's move on and take a look at Seattle's 3rd through 6th round picks.

#99  - Ryne Stanek, RHP, Blue Valley HS (KS)

Another prep arm who is big and strong and throws hard, but that's probably where the similarities end between Walker and Stanek.  Where Walker is new to being a full time baseball player, Stanek is a veteran of the prep showcase circuits and as such has much more refined and consistent mechanics and secondary pitches.  He throws a fastball that sits in the low 90s, touching as high as 96 with good tailing action to go with a good curveball and so-so changeup and slider.  He is committed to Arkansas and isn't a lock to abandon that commitment, so Seattle will likely have to use some of the money they saved on Walker and Littlewood to sign Stanek.  If he signs Seattle may opt to shorten up his arm action and bring his release point up a bit to allow for some sink to his fastball.  I like this pick quite a lot.  Here's the scouting video.

#132 - James Paxton, LHP, Grand Prairie (Indy)

This pick was a dream come true for some Mariner fans.  Last year there were quite a few of us who wanted the Mariners to pop a high upside college arm with the 27th and/or 33rd pick in the draft, and Paxton was one of the favorites.  He ended up falling past both picks and going to the Blue Jays at #37, where he failed to come to agreement.  Paxton planned on returning to Kentucky for his senior year, but after a violation having to do with the Jays negotiating directly with his agent Scott Boras, he was suspended.  He didn't really fight it and instead went to play indy league baseball.  Paxton has garnered mixed reviews in his time with Grand Prairie, but reports about his velocity being down or curveball losing its bite can hopefully be attributed to some rust.  Paxton does have an injury history, however, including problems with his elbow in high school, as well as back and knee more recently.  Last summer the book on Paxton went something like this: good command of a plus fastball sitting in the low 90s and touching 96 to go along with a plus curve and a work in progress changeup.  If Paxton can stay healthy the Mariners may have gotten a steal in the 4th round.  Here's the scouting video.

#162 - Stephen Pryor, RHP, Tennessee Tech

Tennessee Tech?  This pick wasn't a reach.  Pryor is a burly reliever who has racked up 75 strikeouts in 41 innings as Tech's closer thanks to a fastball that sits around 94 and has been clocked as high as 98.  His slider is an average pitch for him but if he can get a little more out of it once joining the Mariners he could be a fast riser out of the bullpen.  He can be wild at times, but that seems to come with the territory.  With the heat he's bringing, Pryor has a very good chance to be a contributor out of the 'pen even with minimal progress. 

#192 - Christian "Keanu" Carmichael, C, Mililani HS (HI)

The Mariners drafted and signed two prep backstops in last year's draft-- Steve Baron and Carl Tanabe-- and Carmichael appears to fit into the same mold as those two.  He's athletic behind the plate and has a good defensive foundation, displaying good footwork, a quick release and a strong throwing arm.  Carmichael has the physical tools to hit for some power but not until the swing is tinkered with, which is something the Mariners don't seem to mind doing as long as their young receivers can flash the leather. Here's the scouting video.

More coming.

Continue reading this post »

Round 31: Jake Schlander, SS, Stanford
Round 32: Andrew Giobbi, C, Vanderbilt
Round 33: Doug Peterson, 3B, Gilbert HS (AZ)
Round 34: Tyler Whitney, LHP, Mississippi State
Round 35: Ethan Paquette, 1B, Hofstra U
Round 36: Forrest Snow, RHP, Washington
Round 37: Ryan Kiel, LHP, Marshall
Round 38: Ben Versnik, RHP, U of Wisconsin - Whitewhater
Round 39: Josh Krist, RHP, Cal Poly Pomona
Round 40: Nathan Reed, LHP, Kutztown U
Round 41: Billy Marcoe, C, Cal St Fullerton
Round 42: Michael Aviles, RHP, St. Thomas Aquinas College
Round 43: Matt Browning, 3B, James Madison U
Round 44: Timothy Boyce, RHP, U Rhode Island
Round 45: Stephen Kohlscheen, RHP, Auburn
Round 46: David Rollins, LHP, San Jacinto College North
Round 47: James Wood, RF, Trinity Col
Round 48: Patrick Brady, UTL, Bellarmine Col
Round 49: Colton Keough, CF, Tesoro HS (CA)
Round 50: Dave Holman, RHP, Hutchinson CC

The first day of the draft was excruciating.  The first round featured 5+ minutes between picks leading into a completely unnecessary five minute break before finally picking it up to one minute for the compensation round.  In all, it took about three hours, and the Mariners only had one pick that came towards the end of it.

With that one pick the Mariners grabbed a big high school right hander named Taijuan Walker, who you can read about here.

It was an interesting first day to be sure.  Coming into the draft it looked as if no one had any idea where anyone was going after Harper, Taillon and Machado, and that's just how it played out.  There is no shortage of quotes and tweets out there from industry veterans saying that this was one of the most hectic day ones ever.  Several highly regarded players made it through day one without having their names called, leaving a better than expected group of players on the board for day two, including two of the players Seattle was connected to pre-draft - SS Marcus Littlewood and CF Joc Pederson - as well as high quality arms Stetson Allie, Brandon Workman, A.J. Cole, Brett Eibner* and position players Austin Wilson, Jedd Gyorko, among many others.  That said, some of these guys could continue to tumble due to signability concerns.

*Eibner reportedly wants to be drafted as a position player, but teams prefer him as a pitcher.

Today's session - beginning at 9am PT (follow along here) - will see much quicker selections, but since they're covering 29 rounds it figures to take eight or nine hours.  Pace yourself.  Please don't stare at your monitor all day waiting for Seattle's picks.  Break up your work day by checking in every so often.  We'll update this with the picks as often we can.

Mariner Picks

Round 1: Taijuan Walker, RHP, Yucaipa HS (CA) [picked yesterday]
Round 2: Marcus Littlewood, SS, Pineview HS (UT)
Round 3: Ryne Stanek, RHP, Blue Valley HS (KS)
Round 4: James Paxton, LHP, Indy leagues
Round 5: Stephen Pryor, RHP, Tennessee Tech
Round 6: Christian Carmichael, C, Mililani HS (HI)
Round 7: Maguire Wiswall, 1B, Boston College
Round 8: Jabari Blash, RF, Miami Dade CC
Round 9: Luke Taylor, RHP, Woodinville HS (WA)
Round 10: Tyler Burgoon, RHP, Michigan
Round 11: Jon Keller, RHP, Xavier HS (IA)
Round 12: Stefan Romero, 3B, Oregon State
Round 13: Jason Markovitz, LHP, Cal St. Long Beach
Round 14: Tyler Linehan, LHP, Sheldon HS (CA)
Round 15: Charles Kaalekahi, RHP, Campbell HS (HI)
Round 16: Jordan Shipers, LHP, South Harrison HS (MO)
Round 17: Danny Lopez, SS, Pittsburgh
Round 18: William Kesler, RHP, New Mexico
Round 19: Frankie Christian, CF, Upland HS (CA)
Round 20: Matthew Bischoff, RHP, Purdue
Round 21: Luke Guarnaccia, C, St. Thomas Aquinas HS (FL)
Round 22: Stephen Landazuri, RHP, Carter HS (CA)
Round 23: Jandy Sena, RHP, Marion Military Institute
Round 24: Bennett Whitmore, LHP, Concordia
Round 25: Ernesto Zaragoza, RHP, Kaiser HS (CA)
Round 26: Robert Anston, CF, Boston College
Round 27: Nick Fleece, RHP, Texas A&M
Round 28: Tim Griffin, RHP, Rollins College
Round 29: Jonathan McGibbon, 1B, Lindehurst HS (NY)
Round 30: Derek Poppert, SS, U San Francisco

The 2010 First Year Player Draft starts at 4pm.  You can watch live at MLB.com or on MLB Network.  Today the Mariners are picking #43.

(Jeff's note: tomorrow will feature rounds 2-30, while Wednesday will finish it off. Both tomorrow and Wednesday start at 9am PT.)  

I'll be updating this post with Seattle's pick and the corresponding scouting report as it comes in, followed by some final thoughts when we're through.

So far the Mariners are rumored to be strongly considering a pair of prep bats for their first pick: sure-handed infielder Marcus Littlewood and toolsy centerfielder Joc Pederson.  It looks like early rounds are very murky, however-- more than normal-- so there's really no telling who the Mariners or anyone else might end up with.

Pro Ball NW plug: If you're interested, check out my rundown of last year's draft as well as this roundup of Littlewood scouting reports and links.  Also, I'll be live chatting over there leading up to our pick with the rest of the PBNW crew and other fans.  Pulling double duty!

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With the 43rd pick of the draft, the Seattle Mariners selected RHP Taijuan Walker out of Yucaipa (California) High School.  Walker is a projection pick whose best features include a lanky and athletic 6'6/200 frame, a fluid arm action and a fastball that tops out in the low-to-mid 90s.  His secondary pitches are very much a work in progress, but both his curveball and changeup have shown real promise at various points in his prep career.  He also experiments with a slider when his curveball isn't working for him.

Walker is fairly new to baseball, at least full time, not opting to focus on the sport until this past year.  He's raw and as such will have his growing pains, but if he can learn to refine and repeat his delivery while gaining control of his changeup and big curveball the Mariners could have a very good power starting pitcher on their hands. 

It seems like a lot of fans had their eye on alternative arms like Peter Tago, who went a few picks later, and Stetson Allie, who was highly rated but has gone unselected, but Walker doesn't appear to be a bad pick at #43.  Prep arms were all the rage day one with 13 going in all, and the Mariners wanted to get a piece of the action.

Scouting report roundup after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

Jeff's post about IFA Luis Heredia is below this and still fresh.

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Michael Pineda first caught our attention in 2008 when he carved up the Midwest League and out-pitched his higher profile rotation-mates.  He picked up right where he left off in 2009 in a much tougher pitching environment with High Desert, but had his breakout spoiled by a pair of DL stints that ate up most of his regular season before he came back strong in the California League playoffs.

Coming into 2010 the feeling was that Pineda could emerge as one of the best starting pitching prospects in all of baseball if he could show that last season's elbow problems were not to be a reoccuring problem.  From what I can gather around the 'net, it's not just Mariner fans who want to put him in that group of elite starting pitching prospects but are reluctant due to his abbreviated 2009.

Pineda is doing what he can.  Through 10 starts this season he has already surpassed his 2009 regular season workload by 13 innings all while increasing his fastball velocity to the 93-95 range-- topping out in the high 90s-- and continuing his assault on minor league hitters.

57.1 IP, 63 K, 14 BB, 2.21 FIP

He's had some favorable luck, including a tiny HR/BIA rate and high strand rate, but that doesn't take away a whole lot.  He's been extremely good.

There is some nitpicking we could do.  He is looking less and less like a groundball pitcher nowadays and has been more or less neutral this season. And his walk rate has taken a small jump from last year with the added velocity, probably a product of him pitching closer to max effort this year (according to a scouting report).  He has good enough control that we're okay with that trade-off, however.

The drawback to Pineda's game that I would first point out, however-- outside of the 2009 injuries, of course-- would be his changeup usage.  Pineda's changeup has flashed as a good pitch at times, but according to scouting reports he hasn't been using it nearly as often as he should this season.  I don't necessarily blame him because he is showing that he can put up good numbers without it, but the splits show that he could use a little help versus lefties.  He actually has a higher K-rate against lefties, but when they hit him they hit him hard as evidenced by their LD%, number of extra base hits and super high BABIP against him.  Pineda needs to start throwing his changeup more so he gets comfortable with it. 

But overall this has been a very good bounce back year for Pineda so far.  He's 6th among Southern League starting pitchers in K/9, 10th in BB/9 and 5th in ERA all while being the youngest starter in the league.  (edit: second youngest)

Pineda continues to fly under the radar nationally-- not necessarily unnoticed but certainly un-hyped.  He's capable of becoming a top starting pitching prospect nationally however as long as he can stay healthy and stay the course.  If he were playing under the Yankees, Red Sox or Phillies banner you know the entire country would know his name by now.

6 other Pineda videos here.

Hello all.  I apologize for the break in minor league coverage.  Any of you who follow my site know that I've been laying low for the past few weeks and have been pretty well disconnected from the blogosphere.

Since it's been awhile since the last update I'm going to abandon the previous format and just play it by ear from here on out.  I just haven't had the time (or the desire to make the time, really) to run through every single prospect for these posts.  Here we'll talk about what's going on with Dustin Ackley.

After getting generally good reviews in last season's Arizona Fall League and this year's Spring Training some fans were already penciling Ackley into the big league infield for the second half of the season.  But while most of the focus on Ackley coming into the season was his defense and how he adjusted to playing a new position, his bat provided a nice reality check.  The Southern League is an extremely aggressive landing spot for a new pro-- even the consensus most mature hitter in the draft.

Ackley hit just .147/.289/.227 with few extra base hits during the month of April (90 PAs). The process was sound however.  Scouting reports indicated that there was nothing broken in his swing, and his high pitches per plate appearance and 14.4% walk rate were certainly encouraging.  It seemed as though it was just a matter of time before balls started falling in for Ackley. The adjustment time was certainly understandable for Ackley.

Ackley talked to AOL Fanhouse about these adjustments a few weeks ago: 

Continue reading this post »

Full season minor league baseball kicked off almost two weeks ago, so let's take a moment to see how some of our more notable prospects have fared so far.  We'll hit on West Tenn and Tacoma soon.

Clinton Lumberkings - Midwest League (A)

First off, a transaction.  RHP Erasmo Ramirez, who is known for putting up video game numbers in the Venezuelan Summer League, has been promoted to class-A Clinton.  Last year I wrote about some of the reasons why he may have been able to put up those big numbers despite not being known as a guy with great stuff.  But while he's not projected as a future ace he is a prospect, and will begin trying to prove that he can get higher level hitters out with his combination of great command and so-so stuff.  So far he has appeared in one game with Clinton, pitching 2 innings in relief in which he surrendered one hit and struck out one.  Here is some video of Erasmo from Spring Training, uploaded by Lonnie of Mariner Central. 

Continue reading this post »

Jeff's 1-2 game thoughts below.

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Last time we checked in on the more interesting talent with Seattle's class-A affiliates in Clinton and High Desert.  Clinton has pretty well stacked and High Desert had some interesting guys.  How do the Mariner farm teams of the upper minors stack up?

West Tenn Diamond Jaxx - Southern League (AA)

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Joe Dunigan, 1B/OF (24) - In 2010 Dunigan will be trying to prove that 1.) his breakout 2009 wasn't just a product of the environment, 2.) that he can continue cutting down on the strikeouts, and 3.) that he can improve his numbers against lefties enough to avoid getting labeled as a platoon hitter.  That's a tall order, but while he may not project as a sure-fire regular he is certainly an interesting athlete.  Listed at 6'1/240, Dunigan smoked 30 homers but also stole 20 bases last season.

Dustin Ackley, 2B (22) - Do I really need to say anything more?  The focus will be on his defense, but a strong showing with the bat would certainly be nice as well.  The New Kid could be ready for regular big league duty some time next season.

Carlos Triunfel, INF (20) - Far too many fans have written this guy off after his 2009 season was wiped out due to injury, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.  I seem to remember some fans calling him "the next A-Rod" back in 2008, which is obviously setting him up for a pretty spectacular failure.  But Triunfel is healthy, has lost all his I've-been-stuck-on-the-couch-with-a-broken-leg weight, has shown new maturity and is ready to get back on track.  Triunfel figures to see plenty of time at shortstop, but will probably sneak in a few starts at third and second as well.

Alex Liddi, 3B/1B (22) - Of all the power hitters that had breakout seasons in High Desert last year, Liddi may have shown the most "real" improvement.  The Cal League MVP still has a lot to prove, however.  How far will his batting average fall with a normalized BABIP?  His pull power should play anywhere, but can the all fields power he showed last season transfer to a tougher environment?  Can he maintain his higher walk rate?  Will he stick at third base defensively, or have to embrace a move to left field or first base?  He should be one of the most closely monitored Mariner prospects this season. 

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Now that full season baseball is upon us and the minor league rosters have been released, let's take a moment to locate and discuss some of Seattle's more notable prospects, starting with Seattle's class-A teams.

Clinton Lumberkings - Midwest League (A)

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Steve Baron, C (19) - This is a pretty aggressive promotion for a teenager who hit just .179/.241/.292 in his debut with rookie level Pulaski, but the Mariners like him a lot and are going to push the 33rd overall pick in last year's draft.  Pulaski and the Appalachian League was an aggressive assignment in itself for a high school player.  Baron, as you know, is a defensive whiz kid who has a long way to come with the bat.  Check out this high school highlight video for a good look at how the he moves behind the plate.

Dennis Raben, 1B (22) - If it weren't for the year layoff, I would have expected him to start off in High Desert, but this is a decent starting point for him as he returns from microfracture surgery in his knee.  Raben looks like his old self in the spring videos I've seen and the reports are positive.  Hopefully he can find his way back to the fast track he was expected to be on before he got hurt. 

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Hello everyone!  For those of you who don't know me I can normally be found over at my Mariners blog Pro Ball NW (formerly known as Bleeding Blue and Teal).  Jeff contacted me a while back and asked if I could pop in from time to time to bring back some minor league presence to Lookout Landing.  Don't expect massively detailed daily game wraps or anything like that, but I will try to keep you all updated on some of the major developments going on down on the farm.

To start things off, I thought I'd give a quick run through a few of the minor league story lines I'll be paying attention to in 2010 .

Breakout sluggers leave hitter haven High Desert

The High Desert Mavericks, Seattle's California League advanced-A affiliate, play their home games in one of the very best hitting environments in all of affiliated baseball. With help from the high elevation and prevailing desert winds, hitters are able to loft pitches into the jet stream and watch them sail over the outfielders' heads (while groundball hitters may benefit from rock hard infields, but don’t quote me on that). Some monster numbers have been produced, and as you might imagine it can be tough to figure out which players actually had a breakout season and who was just enjoying some home cooking. Adam Moore put up some big numbers there in 2007 but didn't get a ton of play as a top prospect until he started replicating the numbers the following year with AA West Tenn.

The Mavericks lineup put up ridiculous numbers from top to bottom last season, but there were three power bats in particular who are about to try and prove themselves in a tougher environment in 2010.  Carlos Peguero, Joe Dunigan and Alex Liddi.

Here are some quick splits.

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