Minor League Ball Gameday Discussion, May 28

Good afternoon prospect watchers. Another stormy day on tap here in the Midwest, with a slight chance of severe weather tonight, then a very good chance of storms tomorrow and Thursday with some possibility of a major tornado outbreak.

There was a large tornado in northern Kansas yesterday that didn't hit a populated area, which was good because it was at least an EF-4 from the look of it. Some stormchasters in a specially-modified armored chase vehicle were caught by the storm and got some video from inside of the tornado itself. Their instruments recorded 175 MPH winds before breaking. They are lucky to be alive. A normal car would have been destroyed and the occupants killed. Check out the video.

On to baseball.

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

***Tomorrow will be Jarred Cosart of the Houston Astros for Prospect of the Day, to be followed by Nate Karns of the Washington Nationals (who makes his major league debut today) on Thursday. Friday is undecided.

***I am working on an article called "Integrating Baseball Knowledge." I hope to have it finished by the end of the week.

***Boston Red Sox prospect Jackie Bradley is 8-for-16 in his last four games for Triple-A Pawtucket and is hitting .360/.461/.547 in 19 games since being sent back to the minors after opening the season on the major league roster. The International League might not have much to teach him at this point.

***Chicago White Sox prospect Scott Snodgress took a no-hitter into the seventh inning yesterday for Double-A Birmingham. He ended up giving up two hits and a run on two walks, fanning seven. Overall he has a 4.33 ERA in 10 starts with a 35/22 K/BB over 60 innings. A fifth-round pick out of Stanford in 2011, the 6-6 lefty has a low-90s fastball but is still working to refine his curveball and changeup. I'd like to see more strikeouts, but lefties with live arms get lots of chances.

***Astros prospect George Springer hit two homers and drive in five for Double-A Corpus Christi, giving him 15 homers on the season with an overall line of .301/.418/.618. He's also stolen 15 bases in 19 attempts. Contact remains an issue with 60 whiffs in 173 at-bats, but he's also drawn 31 walks and the power/speed combination is terrific.

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

***Yasmani Grandal is back.

***Lots of Drafty Goodness over at Crawfishboxes, SB Nation's Houston Astros site. There is a series of draft scouting reports for your perusal. There is a Mock Draft complete with cool Jonathan Gray vs. Mark Appel graphic. And David Coleman discusses why you shouldn't pass on the top talents.