Minor League Ball Gameday, May 14

Good afternoon prospect watchers. Let's get right to business.

***I posted the notes for the Quad City River Bandits this morning. There will be two more articles in this series, one article about Niko Goodrum, Adam Brett Walker, Travis Harrison, and Jorge Polanco, followed by an additional article summarizing the other players on the Cedar Rapids roster who made an impression on me.

***I have a rough draft for the next 2013 Mock almost finished. I hope to have that article up on Thursday.

***Yesterday's Minor League Ball Gameday thread has the relevant highlights from Monday's action.

***Eleven strikeouts in seven innings for Tampa Bay Rays prospect Alex Colome yesterday. He now has a 2.84 ERA in 44 innings for Triple-A Durham with a 51/20 K/BB and 34 hits allowed. There's no real change in the scouting report for Colome: plenty of stuff, but his command remains an issue and he could still develop into anything from a mid-rotation starter to a closer to a back-of-the-bullpen arm.

***New York Yankees catching prospect Gary Sanchez has homered in two consecutive games for High-A Tampa and currently has a line of .280/.356/.500. Reports on defensive progress behind the plate remain positive as well.

***No problems for Arizona Diamondbacks prospect Archie Bradley in his third Double-A start: six innings, two hits, three walks, no runs, nine strikeouts for Mobile. He now has 62 strikeouts in 42.2 innings on the season, combined between High-A and Double-A.

***People were getting really down on Mariners prospect James Paxton after a rough spring, but he fanned 10 in 5.1 innings for Triple-A Tacoma yesterday. Overall he has a 3.93 ERA in 36.2 innings with a 44/17 K/BB. His control has been better lately and he has a 22/5 K/BB in his last three starts.

***Cincinnati Reds speed demon Billy Hamilton was another slow starter, but he's been hot lately for Triple-A Louisville, 11-for-24 (.458) with two homers and four steals in his last five games. Miniscule sample, obviously, and his overall line of .236/.291/.343 remains disappointing, but perhaps this will give him some momentum. He still steals bases at will when he gets on base (21 in 24 attempts), granted at his current pace he would "only" steal 80 bases or so on the season.

***Marc Normandin points out that University of San Diego slugger Kris Bryant has more home runs to his credit this spring than most college baseball teams.

***Today's minor league baseball schedule.