Minor League Ball Gameday, April 29

Good morning prospect watchers. Let's get to it.

INTERESTING THINGS THAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY

***Yesterday's Minor League Ball gameday thread has relevant highlights and commentary from your fellow fans.

***Los Angeles Dodgers prospect Yasiel Puig was arrested yesterday in Tennessee and charged with speeding, reckless driving, and "financial responsibility" which means he was driving without car insurance. I suppose it is a good thing that he wasn't intoxicated as well. Do they even have car insurance in Cuba?

***Baltimore Orioles prospect Kevin Gausman mowed down the Harrisburg lineup yesterday, the Double-A Bowie right-hander giving up one run in 7.2 innings on five hits and zero walks, fanning eight. He now has a 29/1 K/BB ratio and a 2.00 GO/AO.

***Cardinals prospect Oscar Taveras went 2-for-5 with a walk and a home run in doubleheader action for Triple-A Memphis. He's now at .284/.324/.418 but is showing signs of heating up the last few games.

***Phillies prospect Jesse Biddle continues to dominate, fanning 10 in six shutout innings for Double-A Reading. He has a 26/5 K/BB ratio in his last two starts, with an overall season line of 1.74 ERA, 40/12 K/BB in 31 innings and a mere 12 hits allowed.

***Pittsburgh Pirates pitching prospect Nick Kingham is on a roll. His first two outings for High-A Bradenton were mediocre, but his last three starts have been excellent, including 13-strikeout game against Brevard County yesterday. He now has a 3.04 ERA with a 33/4 K/BB in 27 innings, but his K/BB in his last three starts is 26/1.

***Kansas City Royals outfield prospect Bubba Starling is 3-for-8 with a home run and two walks in his last two games for Low-A Lexington. His overall season line is weak at .181/.253/.337 with seven walks and 31 strikeouts in 83 at-bats. Opinions are really mixed on him. Everyone respects his excellent tools, but buzz about his actual future varies between "he will be just fine, just be patient, the tools will definitely play" to "he has some work to do with that swing but he will probably be ok" to "his approach is terrible and those tools will likely go to waste."

***I was looking at Astros prospect Carlos Correa and his fairly slow start for Low-A Quad Cities. He's at .200/.358/.385 overall with 14 walks and 23 strikeouts in 65 at-bats. The thing I noticed in his splits was an extreme platoon difference: .364/.588/.364 against lefties but .167/.297/.389 against right-handers. At this point the sample sizes are so tiny that I would not draw any conclusions,but I think it is interesting that he is showing much better on-base skills against lefties but more power against right-handers. Interesting and worth watching, but again, the sample is extremely small.

INTERESTING THINGS TO WATCH FOR TODAY

***Today's slate of minor league games. Several are already in progress.

***Intriguing starting pitchers in action today: Shane Watson (RHP, Phillies, Low-A Lakewood); Martin Agosta (RHP, Giants, Low-A Augusta), Chad Bettis (RHP, Rockies, Double-A Tulsa), Simon Castro (RHP, White Sox, Triple-A Charlotte), Trevor Bauer (RHP, Indians, Triple-A Columbus), Steven Wright (RHP, Red Sox, Triple-A Pawtucket), Adam Morgan (LHP, Phillies, Triple-A Lehigh Valley), Andy Oliver (LHP, Pirates, Triple-A Indianapolis), Jake Odorizzi (RHP, Rays, Triple-A Durham).

ITEMS OF AMUSEMENT AND EDIFICATION

***Was Hawk Harrelson right about something?

***Rob Neyer wonders about baseball in the Year 3000. For some reason this makes me think of Conan O'Brien.

***You already knew this, but Bryce Harper is a monster.

***Mark Smith at Fangraphs has a scouting report on Atlanta Braves prospect Sean Gilmartin and the Gwinnett Braves.