Minor League Ball Gameday, May 2

Good afternoon prospect watchers. It is a cold miserable raining day here in eastern Kansas, with occasional sleet and snow mixed in with the rain. The computer models are predicting up to 6 inches of snow here tonight, but the meteorologists don't seem to fully believe it. If we get more than 1.8 inches of snow, it will be the biggest May snowfall ever in the Kansas City area. We are also going to be setting record cold/high temps by a good 10 degrees it seems. All in all, this is not baseball weather.

It is supposed to be back in the 70s next week with a chance for severe weather. Roller coaster. I am planning a trip to Iowa next week to see Byron Buxton play, so I'm hoping for a nice 1-for-16 slump in the meantime so that any temptation the Twins may have to promote him to Fort Myers is tempered. Then he can get hot again once I'm in the stands.

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

***Oakland Athletics prospect Sonny Gray threw a nine-inning complete game for Triple-A Sacramento yesterday, fanning six and allowing one run. He now has a 2.61 ERA in five starts with a 25/12 K/BB in 31 innings. Reports on the quality of his curveball and change-up are positive, and he's likely in line for a shot in the majors later this year if he continues throwing this well.

***Hard-throwing 20-year-old Kansas City Royals pitching prospect Miguel Almonte fanned nine over six innings of one-hit shutout baseball for Low-A Lexington yesterday. He now has 4.13 ERA with a 22/8 K/BB in 24 innings.

***New York Mets catching prospect Kevin Plawecki went 3-for-5 with three doubles for Low-A Savannah, raising his season line to .402/.462/.696 in 24 games with an incredible 15 doubles. The former Purdue standout and 2012 supplemental first round pick is also considered a solid defender. His bat looks too good for the Sally League right now and a promotion to High-A seems inevitable.

***Boston Red Sox prospect Garin Cecchini continues to rip at High-A Salem and is now batting .398/.479/.711 after a 2-for-4 day yesterday. I'm glad to see the power increasing and he's maintaining good command of the strike zone.

***Texas Rangers prospect Cody Buckel has completely collapsed at Double-A Frisco, not getting out of the first inning yesterday. He now has a 20.25 ERA and has walked 28 guys in 9.1 innings. Command was a strong suit previously, so there is something seriously wrong here, either a sudden and severe case of Steve Blass Disease, or an injury that he's not admitting to. Either way I think the Rangers have to shut him down.

***Milwaukee Brewers prospect Drew Gagnon threw seven perfect innings for High-A Brevard County yesterday, fanning 10. This lowers his ERA to 5.59 with a 32/11 K/BB in 29 innings.

***Today's schedule of minor league baseball games and weather cancellations.

***Speaking of weather and baseball, MinorLeagueBaseball.com has a look at all the weather-related delays and postponements plaguing the Midwest in April.

***Crawfish Boxes, SB Nation's Houston Astros site, came out with their first 2013 MLB Mock Draft today. We will be doing one here at Minor League Ball shortly.

***How much money should the San Diego Padres give Chase Headley?

***The Dangers of Twitter. One idea I'm working with is that the relentless infiltration of social media into everyday life is now causing some people to HIDE their true opinions about things, lest they lose friends or annoy their employers. Baseball players seem to be discovering that anyway.

***Dave Cameron at Fangraphs looks at Manny Machado, Superstar (in the making).