After hitting two long balls yesterday, Cameron Maybin came through with another home run today. Looks like the youngster is making a push for that CF job. Maybin had come into the game as a pinch runner earlier in the game.
Kosuke Fukudomewowed fans with his defense today, making a spinning acrobatic catch to save an extra base hit. Piniella also batted Fukudome in the 5 hole today, wanting to put a solid bat behind Aramis Ramirez.
As we reported a few days ago, David Price has been cut from the big league squad. It was announced today that Price will be starting the season at Class A. This is pretty standard for first year players, but Price proved this spring that he isn’t a standard prospect. It had been speculated that Price might start a little higher than Single-A ball. Regardless of where he starts, Price should end up at the big show in no time.
Jonathan Mayo of MiLB.com released his list of the top five farm systems. Mayo had the Rays at #1 (no surprise there), the A’s at #2 (okay, that’s surprising), the Rangers at #3, the Reds at #4, and the Red Sox rounding it up at #5.
The Giants are trying speedster Eugenio Velez at 3B. Two weeks into March and the Giants still don’t really have a leading candidate for the 3B spot, so Velez definitely has a shot. The Giants have been reported to be surveying the trade market for a third basemen, but if Velez wins this job, look out. With a little bit of playing time Velez is definitely a fantasy sleeper to watch for his SB totals.
Most teams have made their final cuts of spring training over the past few days. This means that the remaining players not cut will more than likely spend the remainder of the spring with their respective teams. We’ve listed below the more noteworthy prospects who have been sent back to the minors:
Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News reports that Rangers’ president Nolan Ryan was very impressed with the teams prospects after their solid production on Saturday against Kansas City. Elvis Andrus, Julio Borbon, Chris Davis and John Mayberry Jr. combined to go 6-for-11 with nine RBIs. That doesn’t even include prospect German Duran, who subbed in later in the game and is perhaps the closest to the Majors.
Elvis Andrus had a pair of hits, and Julio Burbon hit a grand slam. Chris Davis had a three-run homer in the third that sparked off a five-run inning.
Davis, who hit 36 home runs last season with Class A Bakersfield and Double-A Frisco, has great power potential at the major league level and has been moved to first base after being tried at third base and right field.
Davis, Andrus, and Duran have all done extra defensive work with the Rangers veterans during workouts in hopes that they will be better prepared at the next level, whenever that may come.
Now that spring training is well underway, here is some buzz from around the camps:
Pirates prospect Brad Lincoln is making a return from reconstructive elbow surgery from April 3, 2007. Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says that the 22 year old threw his first bullpen session Jan. 28.
While it might be a year or two away, T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com reports that the Rangers made a very strong deal when they traded away Mark Teixeira for prospects including short stop Elvis Andrus and pitcher Neftali Feliz. Both players are 19. Andrus has tremendous fielding and offensive potential and will most likely start at Double A Frisco this year. Feliz throws 95 mph with “no effort”, however the Rangers will probably bide their time with him to make sure he fully matures.
Clay Buchholz bedazzled the Red Sox slugging section on Tuesday, facing David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, and Mike Lowell in a 40 pitch session, says Rob Bradford of the Boston Herald. Buchholz was “filthy” according to Kevin Cash. He is penciled in to start Sunday against the Twins. Needless to say, this is a sleeper stud that you should definitely draft in your fantasy league this year.
“Ladies and Gentlemen… Elvis has left the building.”
