• Marlins pitching prospect Chris Volstad had a great start on Wednesday, giving up one run on five hits in six innings.  He is now 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA in Double-A Carolina.  The 6-foot-7 right hander has a great chance at being fantasy-significant if he keeps pitching well, as the Marlins have already brought up Burke Badenhop from Double-A this year to replace the struggling Rick VandenHurk, and wouldn’t be afraid to promote another young pitcher if necessary.  According to Joe Frisaro of MLB.com, Volstad’s experience in Double-A last has made him slightly ahead of other pitching prospects in the Marlins organization.

• The Marlin’s center fielder of the future, Cameron Maybin, is off to a fast start in Double-A Carolina.  He’s batting .474 (9-for-19) with two homers and seven walks.  Marlins president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest says:

“It’s great. It’s good for his confidence,” Beinfest said. “Spring Training was a little rough for him. Not being on field the whole time, and then he struggled a little bit at the end. It’s good for him to get off to a good start. He just needs to work on getting the experience and getting ready.”

• John Frisaro of MLB.com reports that Marlins pitching prospect Burke Badenhop, acquired from the Tigers in the Miguel Cabrera/Dontrelle Willis trade, will join the big league club today and will get the start on Friday or Sunday. This will be the 25-year-old’s first major league appearance. He was impressive throughout spring training and was the opening day starter for Double-A Carolina, going 6 1/3 innings with 3 strikeouts, no walks, and 1 unearned run on 6 hits. The Marlins now have two pitchers acquired in the Tigers trade in their rotation. (In related news, Detroit has yet to win a game this season.)
• Despite injuries to outfielders, the Marlins are still not considering bringing up Cameron Maybin until they believe he is ready.

Today was a big day for big name prospects getting the ax.  One such top prospect was the Marlins CF prospect, Cameron Maybin.  Despite showing flashes of the potential that has earned Maybin his status as one of the very top prospects, his spring overall was merely mediocre.  It was for this reason that the Marlins decided Monday afternoon to option Maybin to Double-A Carolina.  Marlins’ president of baseball operations, Larry Beinfest, pointed to a lack of big league experience as the main reason for sending Maybin down:

“We still see him as the center fielder of the future. It’s not going to be on Opening Day. He still needs to refine a few things. He probably needs additional Minor League at-bats to work through those things, and hopefully he will be our center fielder for a long time.”

• 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 Fukudome wowed 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.
• Twins RHP Nick Blackburn finally gave up a run.  The youngster hadn’t given up a run this spring, until surrendering 3 ER in 3 IP today.

Since coming back from a tweaked hammy last week, Florida Marlin’s prospect Cameron Maybin has been playing well enough to make a strong case for the center field starting gig. He came back last Thursday and immediately showed that he felt no ill-effects from the injury, hitting a single in his first at bat and then stealing 2nd. His speedy performance prompted manager Fredi Gonzalez to say:

“It was like he was never hurt. It’s nice to be 20 again, feeling no pain.”

He has hit in every game since then, going 1-for-3 on Friday and 1-for-3 on Sunday and this spring is batting .294 with 2 doubles, 2 runs scored, 2 RBI, and a stolen base. According to Joe Fisaro of MLB.com, the only thing holding Maybin back is his lack of experience against big league pitchers, as he has only 69 at-bats higher than Class-A. Maybin will be a great source of stolen bases for fantasy owners if he starts, and it looks like soon we’ll have to bump him to the top tier on our 2008 Rookie Fantasy Sleepers page.

So, you’re diligently preparing for your fantasy draft and searching desperately for this year’s Ryan Braun - the rookie fantasy sleeper stud that takes everyone by surprise and catapults your squad to a championship. Unfortunately, all you can find are experts’ “Top 100 Prospect” lists, which include prospects that are still a year or two away, or so-called “Sleeper” lists consisting of 2nd and 3rd year players that everyone in your league has already heard of (and are already planning to draft before you). What if - hypothetically - someone had organized a constantly updated list of rookie fantasy sleepers, tiered by starting status, ranked by predicted fantasy impact, and linked to recent news on each rookie, that you could have running in the background of your draft as a quick reference?

• Look no further than the MLBProspectNews.com 2008 Rookie Fantasy Sleepers page, located under the MLBPN Features section of our navigation bar.

• Jo-Jo Reyes is making a strong case for the #5 spot in the Braves’ rotation. It appears that he has taken the lead for the rotation spot over Braves’ pitching prospect Jair Jurrjens.
• According to the ESPN Spring Training Blog, Marlins skipper Fredi Gonzalez expects to see Cameron Maybin back in the lineup sometime this week. Good news for Maybin, as he’ll need all the time he can get if he’s going to win that CF job.
• Kosuke Fukudome has been struggling at the plate so far this spring. Cubs new manager Lou Piniella is going to try moving Fukudome from 3rd to 2nd in the lineup, hoping that it will put the Japanese import at ease. Fukudome’s defense has been top notch all spring, however. As long as Fukudome remains at the top of that stacked Cubs order, he’s in line for a great rookie season.
• Very interesting article today in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about 3B prospect Neil Walker. Apparently the Pirates organization has issued a challenge to Walker to get in better shape to be able to handle the rigors of a full season at 3B. Walker has encountered injury or late-season fatigue in each of his pro seasons. He’s only 22, though, so hopefully he can turn things around and realize the lofty projections scouts have put on him.
• The former Notre Dame two-sport standout, Jeff Samardzija, pitched two scoreless innings today and got the win. Jeff (way easier to spell) was picked up in the 5th round by the Cubs in the 2006 Draft.
• Astros’ prospect Felipe Paulino continues to impress new Houston manager Cecil Cooper as he battles for a spot on the team’s rotation. Cooper said that Paulino’s outing was the second most impressive all camp, behind only Wandy Rodriguez. If Paulino makes the rotation, he could be a major sleeper this year.
• An injury update today on Orioles’ pitching prospect, Troy Patton, and it isn’t good. Nothing conclusive has been released yet, but all indications are that Patton will miss the 2008 season because of his shoulder. This is a real bummer too, as Patton was practically a shoe-in for a roster spot.

UPDATE (3.1.08): Juan Rodriguez of the Sun-Sentinel checked up on Cameron Maybin and found that he was feeling much better today, a day after he tweaked his hamstring running out a single. The Marlins will still be cautious bringing him back. This is, of course, good news for Maybin, who will need all the playing time he can get to work his way onto the big league team.

2.29.08: In the 9th Inning of today’s game between the Marlins and Nationals, Cameron Maybin hit a hard grounder through the legs of Felipe Lopez for a single. It was apparent, though, that he had tweaked something as he pulled up a little limp, as Juan Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports. After the game, Maybin said he came out of the game only as a precaution. Manager Fredi Gonzalez was adamant that the team would exercise extreme caution with their stud prospect.

Joe Frisaro of MLB.com writes that rumblings around Marlins’ camp indicate that Maybin will probably start the season in the minors. Continue to follow this situation, but that would obviously hurt his status as a sleeper pick this year.

After an ill-advised late season call-up in Detroit last year, Cameron Maybin is hoping to get a fresh start with the Florida Marlins.  As Tom D’Angelo of the Palm Beach Post notes, Marlins’ GM Dave Dombrowski thinks pretty highly of Maybin, calling him the “finest young player he has seen in 29 years”.  Maybin thinks he’s ready to start the season in Center, and there doesn’t seem to be anyone really blocking him from doing so.  We’ll have to wait and see if Maybin can correct the contact problems he had during his big league stint last year.  If he does, Maybin could be a great sleeper for 2008.

Also in D’Angelo’s article is a fun tidbit about Maybin.  He was playing a little game of 1-on-1 hoops with his cousin, Rashad McCants of the Minnesota Timberwolves, when apparently the 6′4″ baseball stud dunked over the 14th overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft.  Who said baseball players aren’t good athletes?