It’s been a long time since we’ve taken a tour of the minors in cyberspace. With the Arizona Fall League over and some of our favorite sites releasing top prospect lists, it seemed like a good week to check in with some of our friends.
As we sprint out of the box, we check in with Mike Newman, the scouting aficionado of Scouting The Sally. Mike recently provided a first-hand report on Julio Teheran, a starting pitcher in the Atlanta Braves organization. Just 18-years-old, Teheran was recently listed as the No. 3 prospect in the Braves system by Baseball America (BA). Mike believes the kid has some maturing to do, but could soon garner elite prospect status:
Teheran will likely begin the 2010 season back in Rome [Low-A] where I may catch him again in mid-May. By then, I hope to see him beginning to move from pure thrower to pitcher as he begins to refine his game. The fastball is elite, but the rest of his repertoire lags significantly behind. With a healthy season, Teheran should cement himself firmly in the top 100 prospects and will undoubtedly start to draw Neftali Feliz comparisons since Feliz started as a part of the Atlanta Braves organization as well.
Newman also runs a site called Prospect Tube, where we found this great video footage of Teheran:
Our loyal readers know that our Bill Root recently scouted White Sox prospect, Dan Hudson, as our #15 Top MLB Fantasy Prospect. Today, Marc Hulet at FanGraphs is furthering the Hudson-hype by listing him as the No. 2 prospect for the Chi-Sox. The right-hander has had a meteoric rise to the majors. Not even listed among Chicago’s 2009 Top 10 Prospects at BA, he logged 18.2 innings last year for the big squad. Both Root and Hulet believes Hudson will be pitching in the majors in 2010. An amazing feat, as Marc points out, “He has a chance to spend all of 2010 in the White Sox rotation despite beginning ‘09 in low-A ball.”
Time to give our Twins fans some love. Lisa Winston, a reporter for MLB.com, offered a glance of Minnesota's minor league system last week. Her pick for the organizational pitcher of 2009? David Bromberg.
Not to be confused with the folk singer of the same name, the 22-year-old made sweet music on the mound for Fort Myers, going 13-4 with a 2.70 ERA while striking out 148 in 153 1/3 innings and limiting hitters to a .227 average. The 6-5, 255-pounder led the Minors with 177 strikeouts in 150 innings in 2008 at Low-A Beloit, and led the Florida State League in strikeouts this season. A draft-and-follow sign in 2006 after being taken in the 32nd round of 2005, he's finally getting some love (and a 40-man roster spot) with his lively low-90s fastball, changeup and curveball, which are his bread and butter. He’s a gamer with tremendous poise and mound presence.
Time to head for home as we check in with our buddy Grey at Razzball.com, who spotlighted another one of Bill Root’s Top Fantasy Prospects, Logan Morrison. As part of his 2010 Fantasy Outlook series, Grey sees much of the same potential in Morrison as Bill did. Specifically, pointing out how a hand injury sapped Logan’s power last season. While Rooter thinks it’s possible that “Bam” Morrison could get a look as Jeremy Hermida’s replacement in RF for the Marlins, he’s a shoe-in for the regular lineup in 2011. Grey’s outlook is similar:
Morrison is still only 22 so the Marlins will probably hold off on bringing up, but if they do (remember, like that pony-tailed guy standing in front of your student union, the Marlins promote aggressively), then he will definitely be someone to look at. Though all I expect in 2010 is 30/7/45/.265/3 and a mid-season call up. Not worth it in mixed leagues, but definitely someone to look at in NL-Only and keeper leagues.
So that’s what I’ve been reading. How about y’all? Have you come across any interesting prospect reading, lately?
