With the major league draft going on this week, it is time to check in again on how our current prospects are doing.
Martin - down, Eovaldi - up, McDonald - Up, Elbert - Up, Abreu - down, Josh Wall Up
Added to the list Josh Wall, subtracted Dee Brown, Hector Luna. On the cusp St. Clair
Clicking on any of the player links will take you to http://firstinning.com an excellent site with easy to read advanced statistics for the current season.
James McDonald -two starts in June and two effective outings, with the last outing qualifying as dominant. Ten punchouts, and only two walks in seven innings. Easily his best outing of 2009, maybe he's turned a corner.
Blake DeWitt--brought up to the big club this week. Has yet to see any action other then as a pinch hitter. Maybe with the DH in Texas he will get a few at bats.
Xavier Paul--still on DL.
AJ Ellis--like Martin, still waiting to hit his first home run of 2009
Jason Repko--One for Twenty in June will not get it done in the PCL
Chin Lung-Hu--with a wOBA of .257 in the PCL he might not even be able to carry Adam Everett's bat. Quite a fall for a guy who had a .360 wOBA in the same league in 2007 at the age of 23.
Jamie Hoffman--.Riding the pine for the Dodgers, should get regular at bats once Paul is activated off the DL. If Paul takes to long then he gets life until Manny comes back on July 3rd. Either way he will be off the major league roster by July 3rd and then will have to wait until Sept barring injury.
Charlie Haeger--continues to lead the PCL in innings pitched but with a FIP of 5.49 he is not exactly doing Milton type of work. Still much of that FIP was generated from his awful April. Each month he's gotten better so who knows.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joshua Bell--carrying the 15th best wOBA (.363) in the league, Bell is doing about as well as the ballyhooed prospect for the White Sox, Gordon Beckham. They are both 23, and while Beckham was drafted as a SS it looks like he's going to end up as a 3rd baseman. Bell has a much better walk rate but also strikes out more, while Beckham had the higher ISOP(.198) to .180 for Bell. For his age Bell has one of the better walk rates in the Southern league. Only four other players his age have a better rate.
Andrew Lambo--After a dismal May, Lambo is bouncing back with a decent run in June. Nothing special but at least he's starting to hit the ball with some authority again. His ISOP in May was .096 but in June so far it is .154. His K rate in May escalated to 25% but is now a solid 10% in June. Hopefully as June moves forward he keeps the K rate down, starts to increase his walk rate, and shows the power we know he has.
Jesus Castillo--15th in FIP(3.78), he continues to have a solid season after a rough start. Since he got bombed on May 5th, he's made six starts and has a 27/5 K/BB ratio.
Scott Elbert--after a number of solid starts, Elbert now qualifies among the league leaders so let us see how he places. He's moved past Lindblom on the FIP chart is now 3rd in the league in FIP at 3.04. He leads the league with a 29% K rate, four % points better then Aaron Poreda who was just recalled by the White Sox. His walk rate was the main concern when he was demoted but even that seems to be under control. Right now I'd say Elbert is pitching the best of the start rotation candidates as these last few games would attest.
| Date | Level | IP | R | ER | H | 2B | 3B | HR | SO | BB | |
| June 9 | AA | @ Tennessee | 6.2 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| June 4 | AA | vs. Mobile | 6.0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 4 |
| May 29 | AA | @ West Tenn | 6.1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 3 |
| May 23 | AA | vs. Carolina | 3.1 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 |
| May 18 | AA | vs. Tennessee | 5.0 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| May 13 | AA | @ Huntsville | 6.0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 |
| May 8 | AA | vs. Jacksonville | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 |
| May 3 | AA | @ Carolina | 5.0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 |
Josh Lindblom--Was leading the league in FIP until he got hit hard in his last start and watched Elbert zip by him. The walk ratio of 4.0% is still the best in the league. When combined with the 7th best K rate in the league you have a good prospect. The Dodgers still limit him to only 5 innings per game. They said recently they are doing that on purpose to make sure he will be able to help the big club if they need him later in the season.
Francisco Felix--He's not seeing alot of action but when he does pitch in relief he is doing a solid job. A FIP of 2.36, a K Rate of 23% and a walk rate of only 7%, his peripherals are solid.
Tony Abreu--hurt again, back on the DL
Brent Leach--Major League Loogy at the moment...
Victor Garate-He's starting to get batted around. His last three outing have been ineffective with six earned runs, in five innings, along with eight hits.
Travis Schlichting--promoted to the Dodgers last week.
Eduardo Perez--.the 25 year old Perez is still adjusting to the Southern League after having his way with the California League. We will check back later, nothing to note at the moment.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A+ - Inland Empire 66ers Team Statistics
Scott Van Slyke--MLB-Scott Van Slyke-- His .388 wOBA is good for 11th place in the league now that Eduardo Perez moved up. He's had a consistent season and what would be considered a break out for him. At 23 he needed this season to put himself back into the running as a prospect.
Trayvon Robinson--having a good June so far the 22 year old CF is keeping his ISOP above .200 and with an wOBA of .361 he's been one of the best offensive center fielders in the league.
Pedro Baez--doing okay, ISOP at .190, wOBA at .344, four game hitting streak.
Steven Caseres--the walk rate has gone up each month but not at the same rate as his strikeout rate. He's now striking out at a 36% clip in June. He needs to get that under control.
Steve Johnson--a few weeks ago he was leading the league in strikeouts, strikeout %, and looked like he was having a breakout season. After averaging over a strikeout an inning he's only struck out six in his last 12 innings (3 games) and four of those came in his last game. With a current FIP of 5.05 he needs to get out of the rut and back on the fast track. His last game was better then his previous two but still not close to what he had been doing in April and most of May.
Chris Withrow--Has been getting better, his FIP of 3.76 is good for 10th in the league. The 20 year old looks like the best young pitcher in the league. All the other pitchers doing better are at least 23 years old. 3rd in the league with a K rate of 28.3 and only a 24 and 25 year old are a head of him. Has given up only one earned run in each of his last four starts. Given the offensive environment that Withrow is pitching in, he might be the most impressive pitching prospect we have right now.
Josh Wall - one of Logan White's high draft disappointments the 22 year old has pitched a few good games since coming back on May 10th.
| Date | Level | IP | R | ER | H | 2B | 3B | HR | SO | BB | |
| June 10 | A+ | vs. Lancaster | 6.0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| June 5 | A+ | @ Lake Elsinore | 4.2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| May 30 | A+ | vs. Modesto | 6.0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A - Great Lake Loons Team Statistics
Jaime Pedroza--has dropped from his torrid start but still has the 10th best wOBA in the Midwest League. The strikeout rate of 26% for a 23 year old in the A league is a cause for concern. With an ISOP of only .207, it is hard to justify the quantity of strikeouts.
Dee Gordon--May have hit a wall as he leads the league in plate appearances. No extra base hits in June, his wOBA is now down to .316. If the numbers are to be believed he has not hit a line drive in 38 plate appearances in June.
Kyle Russell--4th in the league in wOBA and first in ISOP (.296) and first in slug% at (.579) he does damage when he makes contact but contact is becoming a big problem. The trend is not good as his K rate has gone from 24% to 31% to to 40% in the last three months.
Tony Delmonico--at one time Tony could be found among the league leaders in wOBA, Slug%, ISOP but his dismal May knocked him out of all those categories. He's starting to come back in June but most of that is luck based with a BABIP over 40. His power has gone awol from April and he's sporting an ISOP below .100 in June, with only 3 XBH in his last 18 games.
Austin Gallagher--hasn't played since May 26th
Alfredo Silverio--Unimpressive, has yet to walk in June, and doesn't seem to do anything well. His excellent rookie league season in 2007 when he had a .407 wOBA is fast becoming a distant memory.
Ethan Martin--His scintillating professional debut has been replaced by reality. It was about a month ago when one of our excellent posters pointed out how similar Kershaw and Martins first series of starts were. Hate to call jinx but since then he's made four starts and was really crushed on May 23rd. He's made three more starts since then and he's doing okay but no one is comparing his numbers to Clayton anymore. He's among the leaders in K's, K rate, and FIP but a few weeks ago he was the leader.
Nathan Eovaldi--.Now this is a high riser. We were all excited to see what the 19 year old could do this year and after a terrible April he seems to be showing us that the hype was not misplaced. Three straight games without giving up an earned run and a 9/2 K/BB ratio. Has not allowed an XBH in those three starts and his FIP for the season now sits at 3.86
| Date | Level | IP | R | ER | H | 2B | 3B | HR | SO | BB | |
| June 9 | A | vs. Dayton | 5.0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| June 3 | A | @ West Michigan | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| May 26 | A | vs. Kane County | 5.0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
Javy Guerra--continues to dominate the kids