Deep down on the Washington Nationals farm, there is an exciting trio atop the Hagerstown Suns lineup. Victor Robles, Max Schrock and Kelvin Gutierrez are lighting up the Sally in an offensive barrage that has the Suns sitting at 18-9 heading into the final two games of the weekend.
The Hagerstown Trio sounds more like a 1920s jazz group that an upstart gang of prospects. That is exactly what they are. All three are in the top ten in the South Atlantic League in batting average, and they combine to litter the top ten in nearly every other statistical category.
Luis Severino’s recent struggles have brought up eerie, unpleasant memories for New York Yankees fans. Phil Hughes. Joba Chamberlain. Ian Kennedy. Ivan Nova. Manny Banuelos. Andrew Brackman. The past five years have heard the Yankees brass convincing people that their next ace was on the horizon, that their pitching prospects were indeed elite. The sad truth is that not since Andy Pettitte have the Yankees produced a starting pitcher with any sort of staying power.
Wayne Cavadi | NCAA.com Last Updated – May 6, 2016 07:48 EDT
The University of Central Missouri baseball program has a long tradition of excellence. They are the winningest team of the 2000s, with more wins than any other program across collegiate baseball. No team has won more MIAA titles than the Mules 24, including five consecutive regular season and tournament sweeps in the early 2000s.
It’s always been funny to me as a long time New York Yankees fan when it comes to prospect talk. Yankees fans seemingly automatically think the next big name prospect they hear about is the answer to all of the problems on the big league level. Remember when Jesus Montero was the next Jorge Posada?
The 64-team DII Softball championship field was announced this past Monday. While there are many fascinating and exciting storylines that come with nearly every team in the postseason, there are three heading into the first weekend of the regional play that should be paid close attention.
The list of great Milwaukee Brewers pitching prospects who panned out in the major leagues in the 2000s starts with Yovani Gallardo and, well, it pretty much ends right there. The Brewers front office did a lot of work this offseason to replenish a barren farm system. In doing so, they may have found that next great pitching prospect, as Josh Hader is off to a hot start in 2016.
This was supposed to be a down year for the Philadelphia Phillies. They were supposed to be transitioning from the years of mistakes that Ruben Amaro, Jr. (who incidentally went from GM to first base coach for the Boston Red Sox) made. They were supposed to be a few years away.
One full month into 2016, only four teams in all of baseball have a better record? What is going on in the City of Brotherly Love?
This past Saturday night, I was on hand in Hickory to take on my first Crawdads game of the season. The Crawdads are the reigning 2015 South Atlantic League Champions and their current roster is filled with quite a few of the Texas Rangers Top 25 prospects. None are hotter than second baseman Andy Ibanez.
Blake Swihart was once the future at backstop for the Boston Red Sox. Last season, not only was he one of the Red Sox top prospects, he was widely regarded as the top catching prospect in all of baseball. Now he is a man without a home.
Perhaps that’s not fair. His home is still in the Boston Red Sox organization, at least for now. It may, however, no longer be behind home plate. Swihart is one year removed from being a consensus top-20 prospect in baseball by nearly every minor league expert, but now his future seems like a huge question mark.
The Houston Texans have been able to quietly rebuild this franchise over the past two seasons without having to tear the walls down completely. Bill O’Brien came in and laid a foundation and slowly worked each one of Gary Kubiak‘s system guys out of town. They seemed to be heading in the right direction until a colossal meltdown in the playoffs.
OB and Rick Smith came into this offseason wanting a new offense. While the defense lost a few parts, there was enough depth that they could overlook that area and get help for DeAndre Hopkins and their new quarterback Brock Osweiler. It’s safe to say the days of grinding out the ball on the ground and letting Arian Foster run out the clock seem to be long gone.
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