clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Minor League Ball Gameday, August 15

New, 257 comments
By John Sickels
257 comments / new
Oscar Taveras
Oscar Taveras
USA TODAY Sports

Good afternoon prospect watchers.

The big prospect news today of course comes from St. Louis, where Cardinals mega-prospect Oscar Taveras is out for the season, requiring surgery for an ankle/leg injury that has bothered him most of the season. Cardinals GM John Mozeliak indicated that the injury should be resolved by the time spring training begins.

There was speculation in yesterday's thread about what this will mean for Taveras' rating as a prospect. Although some are disappointed in how he performed this year, he still hit .306/.341/.462, facing Triple-A competition for the first time, at age 20/21, and doing so while injured. He gets some slack.

But how much? I had him as a Grade A pre-season and I still think the Grade A talent is there. Is this enough to knock him down to an A- or even a B+? I can see a case for an A-, which would still make him a Top Ten prospect, but fortunately we don't have to decide right now. When the time comes, we should have up-to-date medical reports and a better feel for how the injury could impact his future.

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

***The New York Yankees promoted outfield prospect Mason Williams to Double-A Trenton today. He had a nice hot streak in June and July but has been in a slump lately, giving him a tepid season line of .261/.327/.350 for High-A Tampa. He's stolen 15 bases and continues to show good defense, but the lack of power continues to be an issue and his numbers this year are weaker than last year at the same level. It will be interesting to see how he responds in Double-A.

***Williams will get some at-bats previously allocated to outfield prospect Slade Heathcott, who is out for the rest of the season with a knee injury. It has been a tough season for the highly-touted Yankee outfield prospect trio: Williams wasn't great at Tampa, and neither Heathcott nor the also-injured Tyler Austin (out with a wrist injury) lived up to expectations at Trenton.

***Arizona Diamondbacks prospect Archie Bradley combined with four Mobile relievers to throw a no-hitter against Huntsville yesterday.

***Andrew Ball looks at Chicago Cubs pitching prospect Pierce Johnson over at Faketeams.com.

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





More from Minor League Ball:

More From Minor League Ball

Loading comments...