Bullpen Banter started  our NL and AL Central Previews with the Pirates and the Royals (with the Astros being released today too).  Sorry for the delayed post (for those of you who have enjoyed it!), I've experienced a few difficulties today. Here is the Prospect to Watch excerpt from these articles:

Royals:

JD Sussman: I really like what the Royals have done in the draft. Wil Myers, Aaron Crow, Mike Montgomery, Tim Melville, and the list goes on, were all great moves by the organization. One guy, who they signed over slot in the fourth round of the 2009 Draft, who I like is Chris Dwyer. In addition to having a good fastball, he has a power curve that profiles as a plus pitch too. I love projectable arms who can spin breaking balls.

Michael Herrick: I like Dwyer a lot also, but he probably ranks as no better than 6th or 7th arm in the Royals system, there is just that much talent here.  I'm going to go with another lefthanded pitcher in this system, one I have just ahead of Dwyer actually, John Lamb.  Lamb has good velocity for a lefty, sitting in the 90-93 mph range though I think he could add a tick or two if he fills out a little bit.  He throws a curve that is in the above average to plus range and a changeup that could be an average to above average offering in time.  He's also two years younger than Dwyer but already has comparable, if not better stuff.

Al Skorupa: I really like Dwyer and Lamb. Add Arguelles in there and that's a neat little trifecta of lefty pitching prospects. Especially considering those are only the 5th, 6th and 7th best pitching prospects they have.

Pirates:

Michael Herrick: There are so many choices you could make here.  Any of the overslot arms from the 2009 draft, Brett Lorin who came over from Seattle in the Jack Wilson deal, Brad Lincoln or Rudy Owens, Jeff Locke or Gorkys Hernandez...plenty of options.  However, I'm going to give you two other names to watch: Chase D'Arnaud and Starling Marte.  Two guys on different ends of the developmental spectrum but both with the talent to impact the next winning team in Pittsburgh.

D'Arnaud is a polished shortstop who hit very well in both the Sally and Carolina Leagues in his first full year of pro ball.  He has very good plate discipline walking just under 12% of the time at both stops while keeping his K rate in check.  He has the potential for 10-15 HR with high doubles totals and while he's not a burner he uses his speed very well, with 30+ SB potential at a high success rate.  If I had to find a comp for what I see as his offensive peak, I'd say 2006 Edgar Renteria with 10-15 more SB is possible.  Defensively he has a good arm and sound fundamentals and his positioning helps to offset his lack of range.  I think he can stay at SS and could be a 3-4 win player there in his prime.

Marte is a raw athlete with plenty of tools but little refinement.  He signed with the Pirates out of the Dominican Republic in 2007 and made his stateside debut in the Sally League in 2009.  He's a CF right now but I can see him and McCutchen in some combination of RF/CF.  Marte has plus speed and could steal 50+ bases in the majors someday and the Pirates believe he has some power potential as well.  He needs to work on his plate discipline and his routes in the OF, but he has plenty of potential.  I normally shy away from these toolshed types, but call it a gut feeling I just really like this kid.

JD Sussman: I started writing about some of the guys who Huntington got in trades like Brett Lorin (Jack Wilson to the Mariners trade), and then I remembered that Tim Alderson was acquired for Freddy Sanchez in July. People have picked Alderson apart so much that he went from an extremely overrated prospect, to an underrated prospect. After the trade, he was crushed in Altoon, but prior to that he wasn't that bad with the Giants.

He has the size and a projectable body (6'6", 215), I think he'll regain his some of the "stuff" he seeming lost after the trade. He fastball velocity isn't great (his control is), but again, with his size, there is reason to believe he can add velocity and take a major step forward. This season he'll be 21 as he tries to battle through AA Altoona again.

Al Skorupa: I've always liked OF Gorkys Hernandez. Going to stick with him. Chase D'arnaud is also a good choice.

Stephen Kuperman: Okay, here's a good name for everybody to keep in mind. The 2009 draft got a lot of talk for the overslot deals that the Pirates cut, and rightfully so. The Pirates added a lot of interesting names that are all worth keeping tabs on (a personal favorite among them is LHP Colton Cain). But you don't need to look quite that deep in the draft to find a nice arm, as RHP Brooks Pounders was a 2009 second round draft pick who could really make a name for himself this year. He has ideal height at 6'5" and a little room to add on weight, and gets a lot of praise for his mechanics and pitching savvy. While his fastball is pretty average at this point, sitting in the high 80s, he has the size and time to add a little to it. Pounders has three other pitches that all show at least above-average potential, and while his rookie ball numbers don't show it, his control is impressive as well. Everything checks out but the fastball velocity, and while that might limit Pounders' upside to a No. 3 starter, it could certainly improve, and he seems like a guy who could move quickly. Buy on Pounders in confidence.

Astros:

JD Sussman: When I look at the Astro's farm system, I love to take a look at pitchers who did well in Lancaster (A+). Lancaster is a hitters haven in the California league and we've seen non-prospects like Koby Clemens rake there. Starter turned reliever Fernando Abad pitched so well there that he was penciled in as a starter (again) when he got promoted to Corpus Christi. Baseball America has him sitting in the low 90s from the left side with a good change and curve. He is old, but could rise quickly.

Michael Herrick: Since JD stole my first choice here in Abad, I think I'll go with Tanner Bushue.  He's more projection than results at this point, being a cold weather pitcher he just doesn't have the experience some of his warm weather counter parts do.  He projects to add a few ticks to his fastball as he fills out his 6'4" frame and he'll need to work on his secondary stuff but in a year or two he could be the something special.

Al Skorupa: This is tough, since after the top three prospects the Astros have pretty much nothing (and I'm not sure the top three are even all that good). The rest of this system is filled with the kind of guys you find at the back end of every system in baseball. I might take the 20th best prospect from the Rangers, Rays, Indians and Red Sox before I'd take the 4th best Astros prospect. If I have to pick someone, I'll say C Koby Clemens might be underrated. Yes, he benefited a tremendous amount from playing in the Cal. League and in Lancaster... I still like his approach and think he made some real progress. Much like Alex Liddi and Tyson Gillies, its difficult to separate the progress from the park/league effects, but that doesn't mean there wasn't progress.

Stephen Kuperman: Okay, I'm going a little risky here, but OF T.J. Steele is a name to watch in the Astros system. He was a little old for Lancaster at 23, but he's got the raw tools to succeed at higher levels. The big question is whether or not Steele's going to have the plate discipline to turn those tools into meaningful production, but his 2009 campaign in Lancaster was encouraging. I'll totally admit that there's a very good chance that Steele will fall flat on his face. On the other hand, it's not like I'm going out on a limb here by taking Steele over most of the other names in the Astros system. The only other guy I'd look at is OF Jay Austin, another toolsy guy who is much younger than Steele but doesn't have his power upside.

Stop by and check out the overall previews. They are pretty good!