Bill Mitchell's Minor League Ramblings

Minor League Ramblings For the week of :
March 18, 2002

Minor League Ramblings is produced by Bill Mitchell for Minor League Watch.

Notes From Minor League Spring Training
March 24, 2002

The minor league spring training schedule headed into its second week with quite a few good match-ups at the Arizona complexes.

Cliff Nageotte

One of the best pitching duels was in Tuesday's game between the class AA affiliates of the Angels and Mariners at Gene Autry Park in Mesa. Anaheim's Chris Bootcheck (see earlier interview with Chris) and Seattle's Cliff Nageotte squared off for a few innings. Both young pitchers looked impressive, not surprising since they're both ranked highly in their respective organizations' prospect lists. The Angels' Francisco Rodriguez came on later in the game for one inning and looked very sharp.

Nageotte's next game came on Saturday against the Cubs' high A squad, and this time he didn't fare as well. While he still had good movement on the ball, he was just missing with his pitches and getting too many balls up in the strike zone. The Cubs' hitters were pounding the ball, especially in the first inning when they tallied four runs.

Hee Seop Choi and Sang Hoon Lee

The burgeoning movement of players from Korea was never more evident than in two separate games at Mesa's Fitch Park, minor league home of the Chicago Cubs. On Thursday, Chicago AAA first baseman Hee Seop Choi faced Oakland AAA southpaw reliever Sang Hoon Lee. In a low-A game two days later, Seattle outfielder Shin-Soo Choo came to bat against the Cubs' Jae-Kuk Ryu. Meanwhile, Cubs' high-A catcher Yoon-Min Kweon was playing on the adjacent field.

Three slick-fielding shortstops showed their stuff this week, with two of the players coming from the Seattle organization. Ruben Castillo didn't hit much at either the high-A or AA levels last year, but has a rifle for an arm. Fellow Mariner prospect Jose Lopez, who just turned 18 in the off-season, has excellent range and great hands. Lopez has more offensive potential than Castillo, as hit .256 in his pro debut in short season A ball last year with good gap power. He's also built more solidly than most kids his age. The third shortstop to watch this year is Anaheim's Brian Specht. He moved up to class AA last season at the age of 20, so the Angels haven't been hesitant about challenging the switch-hitter.

Steve Jackson crosses home plate after his first homerun on Friday afternoon

The best display of power this week, other than the dust devil that blew through Gene Autry Park this afternoon, came from the bat of Oakland first baseman Steve Jackson in Friday's high-A game against the Mariners. The right-handed hitting slugger, who played last year for Visalia of the California League, slammed a pair of long homeruns as well as a fly ball to the warning track at Phoenix's Papago Park complex.

--- Bill Mitchell