Minor League Ball Gameday, Thursday, August 18

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the Thursday, August 18th edition of the Minor League Ball Gameday discussion thread. Here are some items worthy of your notice.

****MinorLeagueBaseball.com has a nice update on Chicago Cubs outfielder Eloy Jimenez, currently leading the Low-A Midwest League in slugging percentage and ranking second in batting average. Overall he's hitting .336/.378/.531 and the scouting observations coming out of the MWL are as glowing as you'd expect from the numbers.

****Another Midwest League player with loud buzz at the moment is right-handed starter Franklin Perez, pitching for Quad Cities. At age 18 he's thrown 64 innings with a 2.83 ERA, a sharp 72/16 K/BB, drawing praise for a fastball hitting 94-95 MPH, a major league quality change-up, and a curveball that flashes plus. Grab him now if you're in a long-term fantasy league with an extensive farm system and are willing to invest in young pitching.

****Jason Hunt at Faketeams is reviewing his pre-season prospect lists, beginning with the top ten catchers.

****At Fangraphs, David Laurila interviews Toronto Blue Jays catching prospect Max Pentecost.