My spin on Hernandez in January:

“Anyway, I think Hernandez (and Spoone, for that matter) is exactly the type of guy that exceeds his first glance impression. As orioole26 stated, he closed the season in a dominant fashion, striking out 18 in one game. He’s got a big frame (6’3”, 214), and has struck out more than 9 per game both of his first two professional seasons, and his slider was called the best in the system by BA.

The nice thing is that he’s thrown exactly 145 innings the last two years. The development this year: his k’s have gone from 154 to 168, from quite nice to really nice, especially considering that he was going from low to hi A. In addition to the small spike in k’s, his walks have gone from 71 to 47, giving him better than a 3:1 k:bb ratio. A small counter: he gave up 3 more homers and 5 more hits this year; but, for me, this is quite negligible.

So, on the surface, you see a guy with a 7-11 record with a 4.95 era in hi-A. Which looks like a C prospect and maybe a top twenty guy in an average system like Baltimore’s. But, if you ask me, a little more digging around shows someone who is easily a high-ceiling C+ prospect, and who a (perhaps reckless) fella like me would be aggressive and call a B- prospect.”

what about him?

he showed progress with the bat last season and has continued it again. I hope he gets a chance since i dont care for crosby and Pennington is proving to be a bust. petit doesnt walk as much as you’d like or hit for power, but he’s improved his contact approach and always has GG caliber defense. he sort of reminds me of a betancourt or hu.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Petit%20%20SS&pos=&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=463610

Before the ‘07 draft, Baseball America listed Cusick, along with Wieters and Doolittle, as among five best pure hitters in the draft, but was also ranked just the 29th best prospect in the system by BA.

Steve Evarts of the low A Rome Braves has a 1.50 ERA through 18 innings/3 starts. He has given up 15 hits but has only walked 1 and he has still yet to give up a home run at any level so far. What really stands out about him is his 6.67 ground out to fly out ratio in those 18 innings. That is absurd. Last year in rookie ball he induced 2 ground outs for every fly out.

He doesnt have the K rate of an uber prospect but he is striking out 7 per inning at Rome which is manageable. But what more can you ask for than a young lefty that induces tons of ground balls, walks less than 1 per 9 innings and has not given up a home run in 98 career innings.

He throws a 89-91 mph fastball with good movement and has a projectable body that hopefully can added a few mph. Braves scouts compared his body to Steve Avery. He has maxed out around 93-94 mph. His changeup is considered a plus pitch already. His ticket to the majors is going to ride on his curveball which is a fringy pitch right now. They were going to start him at low A last year but he got in trouble for damaging someones car and they sent him to Danville instead. Considering that he might get a mid season promotion. I have heard BA say that while they would take Locke right now they would take Evarts long term.

Goldstein rundown of hottest starts in each league, chose doolittle for Cal League

http://http//baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=7433

High-A California League: Sean Doolittle, 1B, Athletics
Doolittle was the 39th overall pick in the draft last year based on his gold glove-caliber defense and a swing so pretty he could probably hit .300 with his eyes closed. The reason he didn’t go higher was that he lacked the power to profile well for his position. What a difference an offseason makes, as a winter workout regiment added some bulk to Doolittle’s frame, and sessions with hitting instructor Greg Sparks added extension and lift to his swing. The results so far have been nothing short of a complete transformation, as the University of Virginia product is hitting .341/.408/.682 in 22 games for the Ports, including seven home runs in 85 at-bats. Being in the hitter-friendly Cal League helps, but this is still a legitimate leap forward, giving Oakland yet another prospect to watch closely.

Dodgers catcher in AA. Not sure what kind of defense he plays and he is just a touch old at 23 but given it’s his first taste of AA it’s tough to argue with the .328 .397 .655 line he’s putting up right now for Jacksonville. He’s always had a problem with strikeouts and he’s never walked very much but he seems to be turning that around somewhat this year with a 13/7 k/bb rate so far this year all while continuing to show the plus power that’s really been his calling card throughout his minor league career.

Of course it all depends on whether or not he’s a passable defender but catchers with his power potential don’t come around all that often.

Good call on Hernandez. kicking myself for not picking him up in my league. terrific ratios and insider reports—reportedly teh O’s love him.

I’m not sure I’d call Arrieta under the radar, but Allen Craig definitely was, and I’m with you in expecting good things from him.

more than Arrieta, I’d say Brandon Erbe is the real breakout candidate. hot prospect. then not. but seems to have serious juice this year, now combined with great control.

A few others:

- Michael Burgess…..I think he is this year’s Marrero/Snider

- A few Cards players are looking good in the early going….Pete Kozma (SS) swinging a hot bat in Class A and Jon Jay is in AA. On the pitching side, Jess Todd and Tyler Herron (pitchers) are putting up good peripherals after already-good numbers in 2007.

- Dexter Fowler has been a tools guy, with “breakout” potential because of his frame….pretty much a lost year in 2007, but so far in 2008 he is looking like that power is finally developing.