May 27, 2009

Future Shock Blog

May 27th

by Kevin Goldstein

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Celebrate good times, c'mon!

Matt Wieters, C, Orioles (Triple-A Norfolk)
Tuesday's stats: 4-for-4, 2B, 4 RBI, BB
With the announcement that Wieters will be in the big leagues on Friday, the top prospect in baseball decided to go out in style with his first four-hit game of the year. For all of the questions as to what's wrong with Weiters, the guy is hitting .305/.387/.504, which just shows how crazy the hype has gotten. With Wieters in the big leagues later this week and Price hitting the majors, the fun question now is who's the best prospect still in the minors? I'll take Madison Bumgarner. .

This is just getting ridiculous

Josh Vitters, 3B, Cubs (Low-A Peoria)
Tuesday's stats: 2-for-4, HR (11), 2 R, RBI, BB
With last week's streak of four straight games with three hits and a home runs out of the way, Vitters now is on another role with home runs in four of his last five games. Adding up his last ten contests, one gets a 19-for-43 run with three doubles and eight bombs. I'm just out of words of praise here as it's one of the hottest streaks in recent memory.

Tough day at the office

Andrew Brackman, RHP, Yankees (Low-A Charleston)
Tuesday's stats: 3.1 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 10 BB, 1 K
When pitchers are off a bit, they tend to have command troubles. When that pitcher is six-foot-ten, it can equal nightmares, as the 2007 first-round pick not only walked ten of the 19 batters he faced, he also uncorked five wild pitches. How he gave up just three runs involves a lot of smoke and mirrors and his teammates rallied in the middle innings for a 9-4 win. .

He seems to really miss his brother

Jordan Danks, OF, White Sox (Double-A Birmingham)
Tuesday's stats: 3-for-4, HR (2), 2 R, RBI, BB, CS
After getting through the Carolina League in about a month, Danks is now showing little trouble getting the job done at the upper levels, going 14-for-26 with five walks in his last seven games to raise his Southern League averages to .391/.473/.531. With that kind of production, people stop wonder about why his six-foot-four, 210 pound frame doesn't generate more power, and start wondering about how quickly he can get to the big leagues.

Anything but nepotism

Alex Avila, C, Tigers (Double-A Erie)
Tuesday's stats: 3-for-4, RBI, K
Not an eyebrow was raised with the Tigers selected Avila in the fifth round of last year's draft. Despite being the son of assistant general manager Al Avila, his son was one of the more solid college catchers on the board. Now 9-for-19 in his last five games and batting .292/.368/.475 overall at Double-A in his first full year, Avila's once-maligned defense has been even more impressive, as he's committed just one error on the season while gunning down 22 of 48 attempted base stealers.

Sleeper alert

Dusty Coleman, SS, Athletics (Low-A Kane County)
Tuesday's stats: 1-for-4, HR (7), 2 R, 2 RBI, BB
The A's certainly had their most aggressive draft in 2008, which included giving Coleman a $675,000 bonus as a draft-eligible sophomore in the 28th round. Rangy and athletic, Coleman has been a surprising source of power for the Cougars this year, slugging .561 thanks to 27 of his 48 hits going for extra-bases while showing off a strong arm from the left side of the infield.

Kevin Goldstein is an author of Baseball Prospectus. 
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