how are they doing?
i thought it would be interesting to take a look at the top prospects and where they are playing.

conor jackson is on the arizona diamondbacks. he's doing well.

delmon young is playing in durham. he's batting .420 with a .455 on-base and a .480 slug.

daric barton is a river cat. he's drawing tons of walks and hitting for contact and power.

francisco liriano is a twin. he likes the strikeout.

jered weaver is with the salt lake bees. he has 14 strikeouts and no walks in 12 innings.

jeremy hermida is a marlin. he's on the dl, but don't worry, he'll be fine.

knock on wood. i'm knocking on wood. i don't wanna jinx him.

ryan zimmerman is also in the majors. he's a national.

stephen drew is a tucson sidewinder. he's got 4 home runs in 51 at-bats.

carlos quentin is also a tucson sidewinder. no home runs so far, but he'll get 'em.

prince fielder is a brewer. a little trouble with strikeouts so far, but he's got the hits.

justin verlander is with the tigers. 4 dongs, but he'll get through it.

dustin pedroia is playing second base for the paw sox. he got a late start cause of a strained shoulder.

yusmeiro petit is pitching in albequerque. new mexico can't be a good place for him. thin air + heat = home runs.

jeff mathis is with the angels. catching.

anthony reyes, pitching for the memphis redbirds, has 17 strikeouts and 1 walk in 18.1 innings.

howie kendrick is a salt lake bee. there are many salt lake bees on this list.

andy marte is kickin it for the buffalo bisons.

so far, no one is below triple-a.

russell martin is in vegas. he'll be ready soon. he probably is already.

felix pie has started well for the iowa cubs. power and walks.

chad billingsley is a 51. he's off to a good start.

brandon wood is our first double-a player on the list. he has 8 extra base hits and 6 walks for the arkansas travelers. he also has 18 strikeouts.

chris ray is a major-leaguer. in 6.1 innings he has allowed 2 hits and 1 walk, with 7 strikeouts. and no runs.

bobby jenks. now that i think about it, that rating is a little high. he had great success last year, but a little trouble with walks. not a lot, just a little.

lastings milledge is in triple-a. he's having a good time.

ronny cedeno is a cub and he's playing well.

jonathan broxton is destroying people in vegas.

scott olsen is a marlin.

wily aybar is a dodger and he's killin 'em. in vegas. the 51's. if you get a chance, go see them.

hayden penn hasn't pitched yet, apparently. he's supposed to be on the lynx.

nick markakis is playing in baltimore.

jason kubel is a twin.

joel zumaya is a tiger.

erick aybar is a bee. he's killin it.

jarrod saltalamacchia is the second double-a player on the list. he'll rank higher next year.

hanley ramirez has had a hot start for the marlins.

andy laroche is another dodger prospect. they have too many third basemen, so he's playing in double-a.

chuck james is with the braves. he's looking good.

cesar carrillo is a mobile baybear. in retrospect i may have put him a little high. i fell in love with his curveball.

matt cain is a giant.

adam lind is in new hampshire. with a .600 slug.

curtis thigpen is also a fisher cat. rought start so far.

billy butler is in wichita. he's playing outfield.

alex gordon is also playing in wichita. and he's tearing it up.

kendry morales is a bee.

kurt suzuki is in midland. great strike zone numbers so far (10-1 bb/k).

eddie martinez-estevez is killin it in connecticut.

anibal sanchez is a carolina mudcat. he's lookin good.

neil walker has not played yet, due to a wrist injury. he's with the lynchburg hillcats.

ian kinsler is a ranger, but he got hurt. he'll be back in the middle of the season.

jon lester is in pawtucket. rough start.

jon papelbon is the closer for the red sox. i didn't rank him higher because of his age. i didn't know he'd be the closer, obviously.

that's the list. one guy i haven't talked about is josh barfield. he's off to a good start with the padres.

Career Batting Statistics for Josh Barfield:
Year Team         Lg. Age Org Lvl AAB   W   K  HR  23  WAL  CON  POW  AVG
2001 Idaho Falls  Pio  18 Sd  Rk  281  19  54   4  19 .063 .808 .101 .310
2002 Fort Wayne   Midw 19 Sd  A   541  30 105   8  25 .053 .806 .076 .306
2002 Lake Elsinor Cali 19 Sd  A    24   1   4   0   0 .040 .833 .000 .087
2003 Lake Elsinor Cali 20 Sd  A   560  54 122  16  52 .088 .782 .155 .337
2004 Mobile       Sou  21 Sd  AA  528  53 119  18  31 .091 .775 .120 .248
2005 Portland     PCL  22 Sd  AAA 523  53 108  15  26 .092 .793 .099 .310

he didn't seem to have enough contact, or power, to make it. but he's so close to the thresholds of breakout that a small improvement anywhere will cause a big improvement overall. i guess i should have had him on the list. i wanted to be contrary, or something, to all those prospect people that said he's so great.

the rest:

chris young is in tucson. he hasn't played yet.

adam jones is a tacoma rainier.

josh willingham is a marlin. mike jacobs is too (and josh johnson, who i probably should have mentioned.)

brian bannister is a met.

cole hamels is in clearwater.

corey hart is a brewer.

nate mclouth is a pirate. so is ronny paulino.

troy patton is on the salem avalanche. that's houston's high-a team.

craig hansen is in portland (maine).

jacoby ellsbury is a wilmington blue rock.

elijah dukes is in durham, along with chad orvella, but chad orvella got called up.

josh banks is with the sky chiefs. their whole staff is good (league, mcgowan, rosario, janssen).

ryan garko is crushin in cleveland. actually, it's buffalo, but "crushin in buffalo" doesn't sound as good. bruisin in buffalo? still no good. franklin gutierrez is crushin there too. bruisin. whatever.

alex gordon we mentioned earlier. he's in wichita. donnie murphy is there too. that's a good little group they got there.

our final player on the list, hong-chih kuo, is a dodger. he's got some strikeouts, and some walks.

triple a teams that didn't make the list:
charlotte knights
columbus clippers
indianapolis indians (although they had paulino. and tom gorzelanny's pretty good.)
louisville bats
richmond braves
rochester red wings (jason bartlett, though)
scranton-wilkes barre red barons
toledo mud hens (wilfredo ledezma)
colorado springs sky sox
fresno grizzlies
nashville sounds
new orleans zephyrs
oklahoma redhawks
omaha royals
portland beavers
round rock express

double-a teams that did not make the list:
all but the travelers, braves, suns, fisher cats, wranglers, defenders, and sea dogs. go to minorleaguebaseball.com for the links. they also have single-a. and everything else. minorleaguebaseball.com rules.
- posted by julien @ 10:50 PM