Royals pitching prospect Luke Hochevar may get called up to start Sunday after the Royals placed starter John Bale on the 15-day DL to recover from a “dead arm”.  He may be a good spot-start option for fantasy owners, as he is pitching very well at Triple-A Omaha with 12 strikeouts in 17.1 innings and a 2.60 ERA in three starts and is regarded as one of the top prospects in the minors.  If Hochevar pitches well and Bale is out for longer than expected he could be a great long term roster addition as well.

Former top overall draft pick Luke Hochevar was optioned to Triple-A Omaha yesterday. The Royals SP had been impressive this spring, and was threating to make the starting rotation.  Manager Trey Hillman had this to say:

“The bottom line is where he’s at right now and where we’re at right now, that’s the best thing for him and the best thing for us. He had a great camp and we told him that. He just simply stated that he was going to work as hard as he can and get to the Major League club as soon as he could.”

Personally, I don’t really understand this move.  Hochevar is 24, so he’s not exactly a baby, and he put together one of the best springs of any Royals pitcher.  The Royals still have no clue how they are going to fill their #4 and #5 spots in the rotation, and appear to be content with the idea of letting the likes of Brett Tomko occupy the bottom of their rotation.  While this move clearly hurts Hochevar’s potential sleeper status in 2008, he could still get the call-up and be effective later on in the season.

Around the Grapefruit league:

• Roch Kubatko of the Baltimore Sun reports that Scott Moore, the 8th overall pick in the 2002 draft, has been working at third base, first base, left field, and even gotten some time at second. Combining his utility on defense with a .571 BA and 4 RBI this spring is giving the 24-year-old a good shot at making the Orioles’ 25-man roster.
• Interesting background on speedy, switch-hitting Rays prospect Fernando Perez. Joe Smith of the St. Petersburg Times seems to think that Perez, who has hit over .300 in his past two seasons of class A ball, could start the year in Triple-A.
• Twins prospect Nick Blackburn only needed one inning of work to impress manager Ron Gardenhire on Wednesday, retiring the side in the fourth inning while striking out two. It’s a good thing he did, because the Twins’ skipper has a lot of pitching to choose from.

From the Cactus League:

• 2005 No. 1 overall draft pick Luke Hochevar has been impressive in Royals camp, retiring 11 of 12 in two two-inning appearances. This bodes well for his chances to make the club, although manager Trey Hillman has indicated that Hochevar may not be a candidate for the starting rotation.
• Manny Parra threw 3 scoreless innings with 4 strikeouts Wednesday, furthering his case for a spot in the Brewers’ rotation.

This post marks our new feature, the “Daily Pepper”.  In this feature, we will quickly cover a handful of prospects under one post.  Pepper is that game we all used to play as a pre-game warm up: One person hits quick grounders and liners to a group of fielders standing close by, who then promptly throw the ball back to the hitter, who then hits it back to the fielders…  It’s pretty much the same thing right?

• The Royals’ Luke Hochevar faced six hitters and got six outs, without the ball ever leaving the infield.  Great start to his Spring.
• Giants’ OF John Bowker is trying to parlay his great season at Double-A last year into a strong Spring showing, and potentially a big league gig.
• Cubs’ catching prospect Josh Donaldson has the skills to be a big league catcher, and he thinks his unusual training regimen has something to do with it.  It looks like Geovany Soto might be blocking that position for a while though.
• A couple of the Yankees’ top pitching prospects are having trouble keeping up with old man Andy Pettitte.  Ian Kennedy, Joba Chamberlain and Philip Hughes are all training with the veteran, and already seeing the effects.
• A first-round draft pick in 2003, the Royals’ Chris Lubanski is opening some eyes at camp.  He’s still only 22…

As Dick Kaegel of MLB.com reports, former #1 overall pick Luke Hochevar is in the running for the Royals’ starting rotation.   BaseballAmerica has Hochevar ranked as the 63rd top prospect in 2008.  But as Kaegel mentions, Hochevar has quite a battle on his hands:

“His performance, because he has had no Major League experience, would have to be above and beyond anyone else’s who has already had the experience of being able to do that,” manager Trey Hillman said.

If he doesn’t make the rotation, the Royals would consider him for the pen.  Regardless, Hochevar is a long ways from being fantasy relevant any time soon.

Number two overall draft pick from the 2007 draft, SS Mike Moustakas, is in attendance at the Royals’ minor-league camp in Arizona.  This is according to Bob Dutton of The Kansas City Star, who notes that players in the minor-league camp could be called upon to join the major-league camp should the need for additional players arise.

Josh Leventhal points out in BaseballAmerica’s review of the top 10 Royals’ prospects that Moustakas’s progress to the bigs could be slowed by his lack of a clear position on the field.  Moose is currently at Shortstop, but most people agree that he will soon outgrow a middle-infielder position.  Third base would be an option, except Alex Gordon is expected to hold that down for the next decade or so.  Some scouts think he’d make a great catcher, but as Leventhal points out, this would delay his call-up even further.  Don’t forget that he has been clocked as high as 98 mph on the mound as well.  While the future is bright no matter where he ends up, there’s no need to follow Moustakas for the 2008 fantasy season.