Minor League Daily Update: Thursday 5/20/2010

Here is Thursday’s group of minor league players.  Their statistics shown are for May 14 through May 19.  Jason Donald made the jump to the Indian’s infield with Asdrubal Cabrera breaking his arm and going to the DL.  Fernando Martinez remains out of commission.  Andrew Cashner and Mike Minor continue to roll.  Click below for stats and player updates.

• Josh Bell keeps striking out – he is really keeping himself out of consideration for a promotion with the O’s.  Cut down the K’s and he becomes a nice piece to add to the MLB roster.  I don’t see the upside if he can’t get it under control.  42K’s in 152 AB with only 6BB.
• Lars Anderson had a down week and hasn’t done a ton since being promoted to AAA.  He does own a .391 OBP over 52 AB at that level with 9BB.  David Ortiz has gotten hot and all but ensured that Lars stays at AAA for the foreseeable future.
• Jason Castro has no power – but, he is seemingly a patient hitter.  He has 23 BB vs. 14 K’s in over 100 AB.
• Brett Lawrie has a 31% K rate and he is no Mike Stanton in the power department.  I like Lawrie if he gets his K rate down to the 20% range – it’s a long season so maybe.
• Josh Reddick continues to struggle – on the season he owns the following line:  .189 AVE / .223 OBP / .597 OPS
• Andrew Cashner is cruising at AAA.  After his last start he is 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA.  Once the Zambrano situation clears up (trade maybe?) Cashner could get a shot to show what he can do with a MLB line-up.
• Andrew Brackman has a 8.31 ERA on the year in A-ball
• Brandon Erbe is 0-7 on the year and remains a long way off with all the young arms in the Baltimore system.
• Mike Minor struck out 11 batters and only walked 1 in his last start.  For the season he has struck out 65 in 45 IP at the AA level.  Looks good to me.
• Alex White has thrown at least 6 innings in his last 4 starts (spanning 25.1 innings) and has only allowed 6 ER in that span.  The Indians are terrible so I hope they let him develop and not rush him in any way.
• Jay Jackson has been excellent since being converted to the bullpen – 5.1 IP with 1ER and 3K’s vs. 0 BB.
• Daniel Schlereth still walks way too many players to be effective long term at the MLB level but he is not letting the walks hurt him at AAA thus far.  He has allowed only 2 ER in 21 IP (0.86 ERA).
• Aaron  Poreda also issues walks regularly, but he has limited the damage as well.  In 7 May innings he has allowed 2 ER and owns a 2.00 ERA on the year.  Still his 17BB to only 15 K’s will catch up with him at this level or the next.

Comments and Questions welcome.