Minor League Ball Gameday Discussion, May 26

Good afternoon prospect watchers. I hope your Memorial Day weekend is going well.

***I agree with Steven Goldman's take on Memorial Day, patriotism, and baseball. I particularly like this:

...the point of a holiday of this kind isn't to give people a chance to have a barbeque, take in a ballgame, or even to attend a parade and pat an aged veteran on the shoulder. It's to give us, as a people, a common frame of reference and an understanding of what it has meant to be an American, what decisions and sacrifices that entailed, and even (and especially) what kind of trouble we got ourselves into, so that if similar circumstances arise in the future, we all come at it with the same vocabulary.

***Stuff I'm working on: the next two Prospects of the Day will be Carlos Triunfel on Monday and Jarred Cosart on Tuesday. I am also working on a Prospect Smackdown between Los Angeles Dodgers outfield prospect Joc Pederson and New York Mets outfield prospect Cesar Puello.

***Yesterday's Minor League Ball Gameday thread.

***Six shutout innings for Arizona Diamondbacks prospect Archie Bradley for Double-A Mobile yesterday, with two hits, five strikeouts, but also five walks. Overall he has a 0.69 ERA in five starts since moving up to the Southern League, with a 30/13 K/BB and just 14 hits allowed in 26 innings. No real surprises here: he needs to get the walks down as he moves up the ladder, but his stuff is so good that Double-A hitters can't do much against him even with less than perfect command.

***Eight shutout innings for Minnesota Twins prospect Kyle Gibson last night for Triple-A Rochester. He now has a 2.82 ERA with a 53/17 K/BB in 61 innings with 48 hits allowed and has been especially effective in his last two starts, throwing 17 shutout frames. I can't imagine that he'll be down much longer.

***Back in action after a month on the DL, Texas Rangers outfield prospect Nick Williams went 3-for-5 with a home run for Low-A Hickory last night and is now hitting .302/.330/.616 in 86 at-bats. Sources who have seen him in the Sally League gush about his bat speed and power, but also note that his extremely aggressive approach (he has three walks and 25 strikeouts) will prove problematic against better pitching. At age 19 he has lots of time to work on that of course. It will be interesting to see how aggressive the Rangers are about promoting him if he remains this hot.

***Seattle Mariners infield prospect Brad Miller went 0-for-3 but with two walks in his first game since being promoted from Triple-A Tacoma.

***Cleveland Indians shortstop prospect Francisco Lindor got on base five times for High-A Carolina yesterday. He's currently hitting .335/.405/.468 in 45 games, with 12 steals and impressive reviews for his shortstop defense.

***Royals pitcher Danny Duffy goes to the mound today for Double-A Northwest Arkansas, rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.

***Today's slate of minor league games.