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Minor League Level Review (Low-A and Rookie): A.J. Cole, Joey Gallo, Albert Almora and Others

By Jason Hunt
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Every other Wednesday through the end of the minor league season, I will be taking a look at some of the top prospects at the Low-A and Rookie levels and seeing how they have performed so far. We're starting to see enough game data from the short season leagues to at least get a somewhat more useful picture of how these players could perform. All statistics are for the player at this level, and are current through Monday's games, courtesy of MILB.com

Pitchers

Player

Team

League

W

ERA

IP

H

BB

K

Steven Mata

NYM

Appy

1

1.96

23

14

14

26

Daniel Norris

TOR

Appy

1

4.87

20.1

17

9

22

Archie Bradley

ARI

Midwest

8

3.65

98.2

54

63

96

A.J. Cole

OAK

Midwest

4

2.11

59.2

50

11

68

Noah Syndergaard

TOR

Midwest

7

2.72

72.2

39

20

90

Adys Portillo

SD

Midwest

6

1.87

91.2

54

45

81

Luis Heredia

PIT

NYPL

2

1.85

34

28

7

19

Victor Sanchez

SEA

NWL

5

3.70

48.2

40

19

37

Henry Owens

BOS

Sally

9

5.30

74.2

73

33

107

Charlie Lowell

MIA

Sally

5

3.66

91

65

46

106

  • Charlie Lowell is a name moving up on prospect radars, as he has posted an excellent season thus far in Low-A. John Sickels of Minor League Ball wrote about him briefly last week, so I'll defer to him on Lowell.
  • Adys Portillo was promoted to AA in the last two weeks, after finishing up with some very interesting numbers in Low-A. The walks are a bit concerning to me, but I really want to see what he can do in AA.
  • A.J. Cole was demoted back to Low-A earlier in the season, and it appears he has rebounded nicely to form. I think he ends up staying in Low-A for the rest of the season, and the A's try him again at High-A to start 2013.
  • Not mentioned above, but Kyle Zimmer, the Royals' 1st round pick this year, has been promoted from the Arizona League to the Midwest League.
  • Also of note: Lucas Giolito was assigned to the Nationals' GCL rookie level affiliate.

Read more about some of the hitting prospects after the jump...

Hitters

Player

Team

League

G

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OBP

SLG

Bubba Starling

KC

Appy

19

15

4

15

3

.267

.389

.507

Courtney Hawkins

CHW

Appy

29

20

3

13

5

.274

.320

.434

Addison Russell

OAK

AZL

20

26

4

22

8

.443

.532

.747

Joey Gallo

TEX

AZL

26

33

12

30

4

.337

.483

.854

Albert Almora

CHC

AZL

1

1

1

2

0

.333

.333

1.333

Jorge Soler

CHC

AZL

3

2

1

2

0

.167

.167

.417

Carlos Correa

HOU

GCL

23

12

1

4

7

.196

.237

.337

Miguel Sano

MIN

MWL

95

55

20

69

6

.240

.358

.491

Jorge Bonifacio

KCR

MWL

91

53

10

56

5

.296

.354

.461

Luigi Rodriguez

CLE

MWL

87

61

9

42

19

.276

.345

.419

Chris Bostick

OAK

NYPL

31

24

3

14

9

.298

.376

.444

Mike Zunino

SEA

NWL

10

11

4

5

0

.378

.465

.784

David Dahl

COL

PIO

30

22

3

23

7

.353

.409

.563

Adalberto Mondesi

KC

PIO

21

16

4

16

0

.299

.371

.391

Alen Hanson

PIT

Sally

96

82

15

50

27

.319

.383

.552

Rougned Odor

TEX

Sally

77

50

8

38

13

.282

.338

.449

Javier Baez

CHC

MWL

47

31

10

24

19

.326

.380

.594
  • Baez just continues to rake in the Midwest League, now up to 10 home runs on the season. I don't foresee a promotion to High-A this year, but he seems likely to start there in 2013.
  • Mike Zunino has been crushing everything in the Northwest League, and I'm wondering if the team could send him to High-A to finish the season.
  • Joey Gallo has been destroying AZL pitching to the tune of 12 home runs, but the reports seem to indicate that he could have contact issues very soon. Someone worth watching though based on the power potential.
  • Two of the Cubs' top prospects both made their debuts in the AZL in the last week, as both Albert Almora and Jorge Soler hit home runs this week.