Minor League Ball Gameday, April 4

Good morning prospect watchers. Minor League Baseball gets cranking today. Pitching match-ups to watch include:

***Yankees prospect Nik Turley takes on Red Sox prospect Drake Britton in the Double-A Eastern League contest between Trenton and Portland.

***Padres prospect Joe Ross opens up against Dodgers prospect Angel Sanchez in the Low-A Midwest League match between Fort Wayne and Great Lakes.

***Mariners prospect Taijuan Walker will throw against Marlins prospect Brian Flynn for Jackson against Jacksonville in the Double-A Southern League.

***Giants prospect Clayton Blackburn takes on hard-throwing Diamondbacks lefty Andrew Chafin in the High-A California League contest between San Jose and Visalia.

You can find the complete listing of games and match-ups here.

Other news items of interest:

***Minor League Baseball has a list of particularly devastating minor league lineups.

***Andrew Ball discusses the concept of "replacement level" at Beyond the Boxscore. By the way, if you aren't already doing so, you really need to check out BoB for your daily dose of sabermetrics.

***Rob Neyer believes that roster ennui in Baltimore will cost the Orioles in their quest to win the division.

***The Rangers are receiving trade feelers over shortstop Jurickson Profar, now that Elvis Andrus has been locked up to a long-term deal. I really can't imagine that any sort of Profar trade will happen soon. The logical thing for the Rangers to do is hold Profar until July, when they can assess any trade needs at that time. There's always the chance that something could happen to Andrus or someone else injury-wise, opening up a spot for Profar.

***Rob Castellano at Amazing Avenue looks at park effects and pitching statistics for the short-season Brooklyn Cyclones in the New York-Penn League. This article is a must-read for Mets fans.

***Conor Glassey at Baseball America looks at Opening Day major league rosters. He finds that of 750 players in the majors, 572 of them (76%) came through the draft. The most successful scouting directors in terms of filling major league roster spots were current Astros GM Jeff Luhnow (21), Detroit Tigers front office executive David Chadd (18), and Nationals executive Roy Clark (18).