Saturday, August 01, 2009

Minor League Scorebook

News

No. 2 CARLOS SANTANA, C INDIANSTeam: Double-A Akron (Eastern)Age: 23Why He's Here: .480/.480/1.040 (12-for-25), 4 HR, 2 2B, 12 RBIs, 7 R, 0 BB, 3 SOThe Scoop: As the trade deadline hits this afternoon, Santana has
continued to remind everyone this week (and all season, frankly) that
he was the biggest heist of the 2008 trading deadline [emphasis
mine — RLM], when the
Indians picked him up from the Dodgers in exchange for Casey Blake and
cash. He's one of the best offensive catchers in the minors, with a
well-rounded skill set of patience, power, athleticism and the
defensive tools to remain at catcher and eventually take over for
Victor Martinez. Santana already has 63 walks in 96 games but didn't
walk once this week. He did get plenty of work to practice his home
run trot, as he blasted a homer in four consecutive games, including
one as a pinch-hitter.

No. 4 SEAN O'SULLIVAN, RHP ANGELSTeam: Triple-A Salt Lake (Pacific Coast)Age: 21Why He's Here: 9 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 KThe Scoop: O'Sullivan was one walk away from throwing a perfect
game in his return to Triple-A Salt Lake, which just adds intrigue to
what's been an inexplicable season. O'Sullivan struggled after an
April promotion to Salt Lake, but with the big league rotation in need
of some help, he was called up anyway, and responded with five very
solid starts for the Angels. His 3-0, 3.72 big league record looks a
lot better than his 6-3, 5.66 season at Salt Lake, but it's a sign of
his maturity that he didn't let a slow start, or a demotion back to
Triple-A, affect his pitching.

No. 10 DEE GORDON, SS DODGERSTeam: low Class A Great Lakes (Midwest)Age: 20Why He's Here: .438 (14-for-32), 10 runs, 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 B, 2 K, 4 SB, 2 CSThe Scoop: Gordon is an example of the advantage good scouting can
give a team. He was declared ineligible at Seminole (Fla.) CC before
the 2008 season, which meant that no one got to see him in game action
that year. But the Dodgers liked what they saw in a pre-draft workout
and selected him in the fourth round anyway. He's paying the Dodgers
back for their belief by quickly turning into one of the better
shortstop prospects in the minors. He leads the minors in stolen bases
(58) and leads the Midwest League in hits (129), runs scored (80) and
triples (10.)

No. 11 TREVOR RECKLING, LHP ANGELSTeam: Double-A Arkansas (Texas)Age: 22Why He's Here: 1-0, 0.00, 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 9 KsThe Scoop: There's no doubting Reckling's stuff—he has three solid
average to plus pitches and a clean delivery. He almost matched
O'Sullivan this week to give the Angels two minor league
no-hitters. Reckling allowed only a second-inning double that bounced
off Peter Bourjos' glove on his attempt for a basket catch at the
warning track. The Travelers' bullpen finished the game off with two
hitless innings to preserve the one-hitter. Reckling does a good job
of keeping the ball in the park and he's deadly on lefties—they have
three extra-base hits in 101 at-bats this year. Command is the only
thing he needs to polish as he moves up. He's walking 4.9 batters per
nine innings, and his control troubles have gotten worse as the season
has gone along. He's walked four or more in four of his past five
starts.