Minor League Ball Gameday, Wednesday, August 17

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the Minor League Ball Gameday Discussion thread for Wednesday, August 17th. Here are some items worthy of your attention.

****Los Angeles Dodgers pitching prospect Yadier Alvarez threw five hitless innings for Low-A Great Lakes yesterday, fanning eight and reportedly topping out at 100 MPH according to MinorLeaguebaseball.com. He's made six starts for the Loons with 26.2 innings on the docket, a 2.36 ERA, and a spectacular 42/7 K/BB ratio.

What kind of grade would you assign the 20-year-old Cuban? Would you go to a Grade A? Or do you want more data?

Here's some recent video from Great Lakes:

****At Beyond the Boxscore, Thomas Bennett looks at five players who could be traded before or at the August 31st waiver deadline.

****At Fangraphs, David Laurila looks at the career of Adam Loewen: interview with Loewen himself included!

****At Baseball Prospectus, John Choiniere looks at how average statistics for pitchers hae changed over time, going back to 1950.