Minor League Ball Gameday, June 21

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

***I did an interview with Carson Cistulli of Fangraphs yesterday. He asked me about how I got into this business, how I go about doing what I do and preparing the book every year, and some other things including a self-scouting report. Give it a listen!

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

***I am currently working on a Prospect Retros for Corey Kluber of the Cleveland Indians and Jeff Locke of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

***Boston Red Sox prospect Brandon Workman threw seven shutout innings for Pawtucket in his third start at the Triple-A level, giving him a 1.89 ERA in 19 innings with an 18/8 K/BB. He performed very well in Double-A before his recent promotion (3.43 ERA, 74/17 K/BB in 66 innings) and at his current pace would be in line for a major league trial sometime late in the season. The second round pick out of the University of Texas in 2010 has been brought along fairly cautiously but has been effective at each level to which he's been exposed. I still see him as an inning-eating workhorse type.

***Seattle Mariners prospect Taijuan Walker fanned 12 in 6.2 innings for Double-A Jackson yesterday and now has 96 whiffs in 84 innings. He's been dominant in eight of his last 10 starts and I doubt he'll be in the Southern League much longer. Next stop: Tacoma.

***New York Mets catching prospect Kevin Plawecki went 2-for-5 with a homer in his first game for High-A St. Lucie after being promoted from Low-A Savannah, where he hit .314/.390/.494 in 245 at-bats before moving up. In addition to being a solid hitter, he's very good defensively, throwing out 32% of runners thus far with low error and passed ball rates and positive reviews from scouts for his glovework. The supplemental first round pick out of Purdue last June has met or exceeded every expectation thus far.

***Cincinnati Reds prospect Amir Garrett threw five strong innings last night for Billings in the Pioneer League, allowing one unearned run on three hits, walking one, and fanning six.

***Twins outfield prospect Max Kepler finally took the field yesterday after being sidelined all spring with elbow soreness, going 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout for Low-A Cedar Rapids.

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

***Andrew Ball at Faketeams looks at Phillies prospect Maikel Franco. I'll write up my own view of him soon.

***Craig Goldstein at Faketeams looks at Padres prospect Reymond Fuentes. I'll write up my own view of him soon too.

***Check out this fascinating story from Benjamin Hill at MinorLeagueBaseball.com about bringing baseball to Kenya.