Bill Mitchell's Minor League Ramblings

Minor League Ramblings For the week of :
June 22, 2004

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

Who's Hot and Who's Cold
June 22, 2004

HOT

Ian Kinsler

Ian Kinsler, SS – Texas (Frisco, AA Texas League) – OK, it's time to get serious about this guy; he just refuses to stop hitting the ball. He's so HOT that we're going to include a picture of him. But first, the bio info --- Kinsler was drafted in the 17th round last year out of the University of Missouri. He played his first professional season with Spokane of the short season, batting .277/.352/.410. A decent first season, but nothing that would indicate how he would perform in 2004. After batting .402/.465/.692 with Low A Clinton, Kinsler skipped a level to AA. Surely, he would not hit as well there. Wrong! In his first seven games, Kinsler batted .419/.486/.1.032, took a rehabbing Andy Pettite deep in one of his first games, and then followed with a couple of two-homer games. Gosh, this kid's on a roll!

Justin Morneau, 1B - Minnesota (Rochester, AAA International League) - Morneau has proven over and over again that he's ready to play regularly in the big leagues, but he still toils away down on the farm. The native Canadian is batting /310/.379/.615 with 17 HRs in 226 ABs.

Jeff Keppinger, 2B – Pittsburgh (Altoona, AA Eastern League) – Alright, who's this guy and where did he come from? Not found on any prospect lists, the University of Georgia product is now in his third pro season. He's quietly hitting .404/.446/.469, and has fanned only 11 times in 213 ABs.

Bobby Livingston, SP – Seattle (Inland Empire, A California League) – Livingston had two strong starts last week, giving up only one earned run in 15 IPs. The southpaw is 8-2 with a 3.11 ERA and a solid 86/15 K/BB rate.

David Wright, 3B - New York Mets (Tidewater, AAA International League) - Hasn't someone told Wright that 21-year-olds aren't supposed to dominate AAA pitchers like this? Didn't he get the memo? Wright is now at .345/.412/.690 with two HRs in his first 29 AAA ABs.

Jairo Garcia, RP - Oakland (Kane County, A Midwest League) - Repeating the Low A level has allowed Garcia to significantly improve his command (49/6 vs. last year's 28/19 K/BB rate). The result is that the 21-year-old right-hander is one of the most dominant relievers in baseball right now, with 16 saves and a microscopic 0.30 ERA.

Chuck James, SP - Atlanta (Rome, A South Atlantic League) - This Atlanta southpaw pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out 13, in has last start to drop his season ERA to 1.99. He's recorded 85 strikeouts in 77 IPs.

Jon Rauch, SP - Chicago White Sox (Charlotte, AAA International League) - Rauch blew up at the White Sox organization after his only major league start this year; it appeared that he might have made his last appearance with the big league team. Instead, he returned to Charlotte and has been lights out since then. Rauch is 6-2 with a 2.30 ERA, and has pitched his way back into Chicago's good graces.

John Danks, SP - Texas (Stockton, A California League) - What a week it was for Texas' 2003 #1 pick! Just one year after graduating from high school, the southpaw received a promotion to High A, threw five scoreless innings in his first game with Stockton, and was named to the USA roster for the Futures Game. Danks' final totals for Low A Clinton were 3-2, 2.17, 64/14.

Matt Cain, SP - San Francisco (Norwich, AA Eastern League) - Ditto the above for Cain. The 19-year-old right-hander jumped a level to AA last week and pitched seven innings with no earned runs in his Norwich debut. Cain was also named to the Futures Game. His numbers in High A were very, very impressive --- 7-1, 1.86, 89/17.

Merkin Valdez, SP - San Francisco (San Jose, A California League) - "Magic" Merkin came back from his rehab time in Arizona with four strong starts for San Jose. He's at 3-0, 1.27, 24/2. Look for Valdez to make it to San Francisco before the end of the season.

Nelson Cruz, OF - Oakland (Modesto, A California League) and Javier Herrera, OF - Oakland (Vancouver, SS Northwest League) - Despite the Oakland organization's heavy emphasis on stocking their system with college players, a couple of Latin Americans are beginning to make some noise at the lower levels. Cruz rode a succession of multi-hit games, one in which he homered three times, to finish the week with .350/.411/.590 totals. Herrera was slated to spend another year in Rookie ball since he missed much of his first season due to a bad injury, but was instead sent to Short Season Vancouver. He belted a pair of homers and went 5 for 15 in the first week of the season.

HOT MINOR LEAGUE VETS

Instead of a COLD list this week, we instead pay tribute to four career minor leaguers that are off to hot starts. If there's any justice in the world, these men will all wind up on a big league roster before the end of the season.

Calvin Pickering, 1B – Kansas City (Omaha, AAA Pacific Coast League) – Big Cal has been hitting homeruns at an astronomical pace this season, yet he still hasn't gotten the call from the big club. The left-handed hitting behemoth has 25 long bombs in 189 ABs, and is batting .328/.455/.772.

Marcus Thames, OF - Detroit (Toledo, AAA International League) - Just behind Pickering is former Yankee / Ranger farmhand Thames, with 24 dingers to date. His hitting totals (.329/.410/.735) are also about the same as those of Pickering.

Joe Dillon, 3B - Florida (Albuquerque, AAA Pacific Coast League) - Dillon was actually out of the game for over a year until he signed a AA deal with the Marlins organization. He proceeded to hit .342/.426/.684 with AA Carolina and continued raking (.380/.438/.852) at Albuquerque. The most surprising number has been his homerun totals --- he's smacked a combined 26 bombs. Dillon was never much of a power hitter with the Kansas City organization, so something happened in the year he was serving as a volunteer assistant coach at Texas Tech.

Bryant Nelson, 2B - Chicago White Sox (Charlotte, AAA International League) - The 30-year-old switch-hitter finally made his MLB debut two years ago with a six-week stint in Boston, then went to Japan for the 2003 season. He returned to the States an improved hitter, batting .314/.362/.540 with 12 HRs so far this year. Nelson is a consistent contact hitter and can play both infield and outfield.

--- Bill Mitchell