Minor League Daily Update: Friday 6/11/2010

Here is Friday’s group of minor league players.  Their statistics shown are for June 4 through June 10.  Lots of movers this past week – obviously the Stephen Strasburg and Mike Stanton debuts have been well covered thus far.  We will make a quick mention below.  Also making debuts were Brad Lincoln, Jose Tabata, and Jake Arrieta. 

Tonight Carlos Santana will make his MLB debut – this has been highly anticipated by anyone following the success of Santana and the corresponding struggles of Lou Marson.

Some others that should follow very soon are Pedro Alvarez and Madison Bumgarner.  Alvarez has been absolutely on fire lately (see his stats in the list below for the last week) and Todd Wellenmyer was recently injured with may prompt San Francisco to get Bumgarner back in town.

Click below for more stats and information.

• Michael Stanton made his MLB debut this week – in 2 games thus far he has batted in the 7 hole and started in RF.  Stanton has gone 3 for 9 (all singles) with 2 Runs scored and 3 K’s.
• Pedro Alvarez had a nice week with the bat and people are starting to report that it may be as soon as a week before he gets called up to Pittsburgh.  For the season Alvarez is batting .2891 with 12HR and 50 RBI.  The Pirates aren’t going anywhere fast and he can get his feet wet and start his introduction to the league.
• Carlos Santana will make is MLB debut tonight.  I do not expect him to ever grace the ranks of minor league baseball again (save for injury rehab).  A bad Carlos Santana most certainly has to be better than any kind of Lou Marson (sorry Lou).  Santana thus far at AAA is hitting .313 with 13 HR and 51 RBI.  He has even added 6 for 6 in stolen bases – however, don’t expect him to do any of that at the MLB level.
• Michael Brantley is heating up and starting to use his speed again.  With 3 steals this week he is now 7 of 10 on the year (nothing huge but a big improvement from where he was at).  He is still way off his SB pace of a year ago but I feel he is starting to right the ship.  He is batting .298 with 21K’s and 20BB. 
• Still nothing happening in Jordan Danks land – he is 12 for 15 in stolen bases but other than that he has been bad.  73 strike outs in 218 AB thus far. 
• Chris Davis has been very solid.  He had a nice week with the bat and is now, for the year, hitting .333 with 6HR and 35 RBI in 41 games played since coming to AAA.
• Trevor May is 3-5 on the year with 71 K in 51 IP – the kicker is his 42 walks. 
• Not sure what to think about Aaron Crow – is he hurt?  Is he having trouble adjusting to the league?  Was he over-rated?  I don’t know – what I do know is that he isn’t pitching well and has been so inconsistent all year that one has to start wondering what is up.
• Kyle Drabek hadn’t walked more than 3 batters in a game the entire month of May.  In two June starts he has walked 4 and 5 batters in each start respectively.  Thus he racked up a ND and a Loss to start June.  In my opinion, he should spend another year or more at this level.
• Alex Colome won four straight games headed into the end of May – after those 4 consecutive wins?  Three straight losses.  He is young and in a deep system so there is time for development.  In the last three games he has allowed 13 runs – 10 earned.

Brad Lincoln took a ND in his debut on Wednesday this week.  He threw 6 innings giving up 7 hits, 5 Runs (5 ER) with 3 strike-outs and 2 walks.  I think this is what should be expected for the remainder of the season from him – he will learn to limit the damage but doesn’t overpower you to get guys out.  He has good control so the walks should remain low but his K’s will also hover around 3-5 per game pitched.

Jose Tabata also made the jump on Wednesday this week and has played fairly well.  He is 3 for 8 with 2 Runs scored, a double, and is 1 for 1 in SB attempts after racking up 25 SB in the minors this year on 31 attempts.

Jake Arrieta threw his debut yesterday against the Yankees.  6 IP, 4 Hits, 3 Runs (3 ER), 6K, 4 BB, Win.  Not bad.  He didn’t have to face A-Rod but the entire Yankee’s team is formidable in any configuration.  He can’t keep walking 4 guys per game and expect to win, but the 6 K’s are nice as are the 4 Hits allowed.  I wouldn’t expect anything more than what you would think of getting from Brian Matusz or Chris Tillman.  Baltimore struggles offensively and they play in a tough division.

Comments and Questions are welcome.