Minor League Ball daily notes, April 27, 2016

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the Wednesday, April 27th edition of Minor League Ball (nearly) daily notes. Here are some news items and baseball links for your edification and amusement.

****Baseball Prospect Book update. I am enormously frustrated with this. The printing company has had the book files for more than five weeks now, yet the binding process is still taking place and we do not have a good explanation for the delay. I suppose this is what happens when you use the lowest bidder. The problem is, the book wasn't economically viable without using the lowest bidder printer.

At this point, it is fair to say that the 2016 edition will definitely be the last one. The book was about two weeks late on my writing end, but is now a month late on the printing end, meaning the readers have had to wait six weeks longer than planned. Some of that was unavoidable, but even in a perfect circumstance with the files turned in two weeks earlier, I'm not sure it would be done yet.

Bottom line: I'm most likely retiring the book. Something will have to replace it. I don't know what yet, but the format we've been using since 2003 is no longer viable for many reasons.

Once the print copies finally come in and get mailed we will make a final official determination and announcement. Thank you for your enormous patience, and I'll have a lot more to say once the books get here and then mailed to you.

****Turning to current baseball news, here's a nice run-down on 2016 MLB draft prospects from Carl Triano at Beyond the Boxscore.

****More draft stuff from Hudson Belinsky at Baseball America, looking at the crop of intriguing college catchers.

****Also at Beyond the Boxscore, Matt Jackson draws a comparison between Phillies outfielder Odubel Herrera and Marlins outfielder Christian Yelich.

****The Oakland Athletics will promote lefty Sean Manaea to start on Friday. We'll have an update on what to look for.

****Sam Dykstra at MinorLeagueBaseball.com looks at Pirates prospect Tyler Glasnow. How soon until he follows Manaea and Jose Berrios to the majors?