craig

Shafer has also had a very nice day. Hopefully those 7 Ks weren't the result of smoke and mirrors. Shafer is throwing a lot of strikes to get in 7 innings under the mid-April pitch count, while getting some K's and allowing some baserunners. One walk in 12 innings thus far. Last summer, he was 5 walks/32IP at Boise. Pretty clear that he's a strike-thrower at this level. Whether the stuff is any good and will be playable versus better hitters, time will tell.

Ascanio: he looked great at times in camp, and was great in opening start. Can he sustain and do it again? Russell: was awful most of last year, and was at least as bad in opener. Probably a no-interest washout. If not, he needs to start putting some games together quickly. Mateo and Searle piggy-backed last time, so I expect Searle again. Both are interesting and significant. Both could get increasingly interesting if they could sustain some success. Shafer's interesting. Russell's the only obvious blah tonight.

Utility prospect Spears is playing SS tonight. And while his bat hasn't caught fire yet, he's batting 3rd in Iowa's lineup. Lots of ifs, but I'm hopeful that he might end up becoming a useful big-league utility guy someday. But he's got to hit for that to happen. Fox is 26, but he seems to be showing that he's an improved and improving player. Two years ago he was in AA. Last spring he started in AAA and stunk. What he did as summer progressed showed he was much better than last spring or the summer before. So even though a lot of propects have plateaued by his age, he seems to be turning out to be a real hitter. Too bad we don't have the DH in the NL. Fox and Hoffpauir might make a nice tandem if we did.

I was going to mention what you just did. Games 1 and 2 Flaherty SS/Lake 2B. Both games today reversed. And the game when Vitters was out on Saturday, Flaherty moved to 3B. Will be interesting to see whether they flip-flip Lake/Flaherty periodically, or have just kind of decided that flaherty isn't going to be a SS and why delay the inevitable. Perez already has 2BB/3K. If he maintains that kind of ratio, he could surprise. I still can't help but call him "Neifi" when I see N Perez. Lake, who profiled as a potential walk-hater, also seems to be taking a few. Kreier off to a good start thus far.

Fox getting a start in RF today. I may have missed it, but that might be his first OF start thus far. Jake has had an interesting and I think perhaps sustainable transformation as a hitter. Over his career he's had some back and forth between being a no-walk guy and a hints-of-possible-patience guy. Last year he started off at the bad extreme; 31/2 K/BB in 117 AB, and got sent down. After that, he got demoted to AA, and for the first time became a strong walk-taker, 46BB/388AB. Now he's off to a 4BB/3K/15AB start, pretty good for walks. Another interesting thing is that Spears is again playing 3rd. He's off to a poor start hitting-wise, and if he doesn't hit it will never matter. But I've though that if he was to hit like a decent major league bench guy, that he'd need a spot besides 2B where he could play. So I'm glad he's getting his chance to learn 3B and show whether or not he can handle it. Samardz labors through a 19-pitch 1st inning but escapes without any runs.

Hank Williamson has finally made an appearance for Daytona, in relief. Since he hadn't pitched for so long, I'd wondered if he was the last starter. Presumably not. Which is OK with me, since he's the oldest pitcher on the roster I think. Albuquerque remains unaccounted for. Check that. He's coming in for the 6th inning. Dolis makes the 4th guy to start, I assume Searle is the 5th when the time comes.

... i don't know much about mcdaniel, except that he had nice numbers (K-rate especially, and low BAA) as a reliever with boise. i guess the cubs must feel pretty good about him if they jumped him to daytona and put him in the rotation. his numbers are good so far tonight - 5.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K. Here's what I remember, Truff: he was supposedly a candidate to be a high-round pick entering last year, but he had a lousy season in JC as a result of some non-arm injury that he pitched through. Came on strong in the JC playoffs. Was committed to I believe Oklahoma State and was expected to attend; I never heard what he got paid, but I've always assumed we must have paid him superslot. He's only 20, 6'3", so he's got plenty of time to develop and at 20 is pretty young for A+. My friend passed on a scouting report from his friend who is a longterm Baltimore scout. He said that McDaniel throws in 90's and has saw him at at least 94 this camp; but that his fastball has a sharp break in toward RH hitters, so that his fastball is better than you'd guess based on velocity alone. Said he has a hard excellent slider that breaks away, so it sounds like the movement on these two pitches might be complementary. Said his change is a work in progress.

All games in progress. Iowa 0-0 after 2, Tenn up 3-1 after 5, Daytona up 1-0 in 6th, Peoria 0-0 in 1st. Early results on the pitchers: *Caridad 3 K's and a single in the first 2 innings. *Coleman 6K/1BB 1 run in five. Not overmatched tonight! *McDaniel has allowed a single and a walk in his 6 shutout, GB-heavy innings. Not overmatched tonight! -I've gotta figure McDaniel and Coleman must have been throwing strikes to get that many innings in under their 85-pitch pitch counts. *Archer with some classic Archer through 3. He's got a no-hit shutout going. He walked the first three guys in the 3rd, then K'd the next couple and got a flyout. His pitch count will be exhausted soon if not already.

Great point. In the BA book, Caridad is the only one of the four listed, in the 20's, but the other 3 are talented and interesting enough to be listed but outside the top 30's. (Archer was the 1st RHP behind the listed ones on BA's chart.) These are all the kinds of guys who are on the radar, and who could indeed elevate their status and the system's status with good results. Especially with the kinds of jumps several have had (Caridad opened in Daytona; Coleman was in Boise; McD Boise also). Any of these could be serious fast-risers. And each seems to have enough fastball to be serious major leaguers and well-regarded prospects. I've been really happy with many of the early returns on the B/C prospects. Ascanio was not on BA's top 30; but he looked great at times in camp, and obviously had things working yesterday. If he can show consistency, I see no reason why he can't become a very effective major leaguer. Possibly even as a starter someday, if opportunity worked that way. Chen did not make top-30. But he's in AA now, throws strikes, and gets groundouts. He's a guy who could become a major league prospect if he can show some consistency and if he has enough fastball. (I'm not sure whether he does or doesn't.) Thomas is a fringy 20's-ish guy. If he hits, and reestablishes that his defense is actually good, he could rise. castro obviously vaulting to A+, and in two games looking like he can hit. BA projected him only for Boise. So if he can hit in A+ at 19, he could rise in status. And if Barney can show some hitting and OBP, with his defense he could look like a player. Spears could establish himself as a player. Carpenter and Shafer are obviously really volatile prospects, could get some solid respect or could fall off the map. Both started well. Mateo could become more serious. Two shutout innings are a nice start. Leverton and Searle both could rise a lot and become respected prospects. Searle had the groundball stuff going, then gave up a flurry of hits. Hopefully he'll show that as 19-year-old in A+, that he's a groundball and strike machine. Leverton allowed one hit and had 4 K's; he had the one three-walk inning, but hopefully will show that his arm is big-league and that his command and consistency will end up pretty interesting. I guess it's always that way, but it seems we've got so many guys who are on the bubble. And these last 5 or 7 days, finding out who goes where, and getting preliminary feedback on who can handle their promotions, it's really fun. I know that Truffle doesn't care about hardly anybody, but i've got dozens of guys I'm very interested in and think might become useful major leaguers or useful trade chips.

Outshined, thanks much for the report. Nice to hear that Carpenter looked reasonably good and reasonably controlled. I've kind of been assuming that he'll be a bust and a wildman. But yesterday's outing and your report sounds like his control issues might not be hopeless, and his breaking ball sounds promising. Any sense with his fastball whether it looks a little sinky, 2-seamer, versus 4-seamer? BA always talks Carpenter as if he's so exceptionally fast, 95's and touch 98 mph kind of talk; your report that he's fast but working more in the 92-93 kind of range puts it into better context. Disappointing that Huseby is that slow. But thanks for the info. Hatley and Perconte: how did Hatley come in velocity-wise? We've at times gotten reports that he could get pretty up into the 90's. Was that the case last night?

No air outs in his 4 innings, 4 K's, and 8 groundouts on only 55 pitches. Nice. I don't recall exactly, but I recall talk that in relief last year he only threw fastballs and sliders, and that his slider wasn't good like it had been when they'd scouted him. So I recall the idea was that they wanted him to get enough innings to at least rediscover his knockout slider. And perhaps work on his change as well.

His defense and his ability to stick at 3B have been questioned at time, and I think for a while in XST he was making more errors than he was getting hits. So "great hands" and "good range" are very nice qualities to read about, and encouraging that his defense at 3B will be just fine. The stuff about Ceda having a great spring, that's also great to read. Cal, thanks for all the info and research that you pass along. Nice to get so much stuff here without doing the work of finding it! Tangent question: was it you who said that Bristow and Suarez were the last trims from Peoria rotation? If so, do you know anything more about Bristow? As a 5th rounder, if I thought he was healthy I'd be interested. Maybe he's just fine and will emerge later, although if he's been 100% for ages it's perhaps interesting that 7 other guys, 5 of them drafted later than him, are getting rotation jobs while he's going to XST. Perhaps given his arm issues last summer they were unnecessarily but appropriately careful, and even though his arm is 100% they brought him along more slowly this camp? Which prompts a tangent thought. This has been a nice camp in terms of pitcher injuries. Often it's in spring when arm injuries manifest themselves, and guys I'd expected in a rotation show up with arm problems or need to be held back because of arm issues. for minors I usually assume there will be some openings as a result of arm problems. I know we've got Rhee with arm stuff, but we knew that going into camp. So when we come out of camp where the only minor league prospects with unanticipated arm issues are Marco Carillo and perhaps Robert Hernandez, that's an extremely healthy camp for arms. Very good news.

Obviously any of the surprise guys could do poorly. If they all do poorly, obviously the system rank won't elevate. Most of the surprise assignments were pitchers. The only surprising player assignments was Castro, and to a much lesser degree Guyer. (Guyer is 23, and played in a high-level college conference where a lot of pitchers throw breaking balls. So while I didn't expect it, I don't see his as a reprehensibly rash promotion.) So the real volume of surprises were the pitchers: Searle, McDaniel, Coleman, Jackson, and to a lesser degree Leverton (level) and Lambert (rotation not relief). I'm less concerned about those assignments than you are, for logic I've probably belabored before. IMO either a pitcher has the potential to end up with the arm and the stuff and the control to make it or not; and either he improves towards his potential or he doesn't. To a large degree I think progress towards his ceiling is largely independent of level. The plate is the same distance and shape in A-, A+, and AA. Example Coleman: My friend is an old friend of a Baltimore scout who scouted Cubs camp this spring. he said that Coleman is low-mid 90's, has a good slider, a developing change, has been very impressive this spring, is athletic, has a lot of talent, as much if not more than his father (1st round pick, two-time 20-game winner, all-star). If that talent eval is accurate and if his arm holds up, then if Coleman can optimize his mechanics and location he'll become a major leaguer. I have no idea whether the stuff this scout thought he saw in camp will really hold up over the season or over multiple seasons; by May his arm may be tired and he'll be 87-91mph for all I know. And I have no idea whether his command will ever improve, whether his change will ever evolve into a useful pitch, or whether he'll ever be able to fairly consistently pitch toward the higher end of his velocity range. But my point is that I don't think his progress toward those targets will matter much whether he's in A-, A+, or AA. If he's locating 90-94 fastballs and locating good sliders, he'll succeed at any of those levels. If he's not locating 89mph fastballs, his change is a throwaway pitch, and his slider is hanging or bouncing, he'll struggle regardless. I think some of the same applies to jackson and McDaniel. If Jackson's signature slider is commanded and diving down and away from RH hitters, and if he's locating a fastball that rests at 92 and touches 96 on rare occasion, he'll succeed at any of those levels. If his fastball devolves to 89 and loses it's life and location, and if he can't locate the slider, he'll be giving up HR's and runs in any of those leagues. McDaniel, somewhat similar. He scouts with a fastball that touches as high as 94 but is more notable for it's diving action in on RH; he has a decent slider that breaks down and away; and lacks a change but will try to work on one. If he can sharpen the slider and it's consistency and keep the life and action on his fastball, then if he has command and consistency you've got a good reliever. If both of those things were to happen and he were to invent an effective change, you'd have a serious prospect. Will his slider get more consistent? How consistently will he be able to locate his fastball and slider? He needs to get more consistent; but will his improvement in consistency be any faster at Peoria than it will be at Daytona? It's up to him. If he gets better, he gets better; if he doesn't, he doesn't. I don't think it matter too much whether he's facing Flaherty, Lake, and Burke in A- or Smith, Castro, and Rundle in A+. It's more about him than about the guys he's facing. Will all these guys continue to impress and improve? Most likely not. But I just think their progress will mostly be their progress, regardless of level. Any of these pitchers has the stuff to compete well at the level that they are assigned to. It's mostly a question of how consistently they locate their better stuff. Other rambles: obviously they don't all need to succeed. But Harden is on a terminal contract, and his health issues (combined with his ineffectiveness this camp and low velocity) make me wonder whether he'll be back next year. Lilly isn't young and is nearing the end of his contract. Marshall may become a mainstay, but it remains to be confirmed whether he has the durability or the excellence to be a long-term rotation building block. So their may well be rotation opportunities arising in the relatively near future. If Coleman and/or jackson and/or McDaniel and/or Searle pass the challenge this year, that might help impact longer-term planning. Do you need to sign a Marquis next winter? Or might you have answers coming up through the system? If Coleman and/or Jackson and McDaniel and/or Searle end up passing the test, that might also give you the ammo you might need in June to acquire a Peavy. At present, I'm not sure what we've got for high-leverage trade chips in pitching. Possibly Samardz is he pitches well this season, and if he doesn't maybe nobody. But if some of these new guys excel, then maybe you've got the value to acquire some Nowacrat help. Last, we know that most prospects fail, sooner or later. We'll have eight 2008 draftees pitching rotation; of course most of them will probably wash out. But we don't need to have them all click. If three of them eventually work out, that could still be a fantastic and organization-improving draft. I really like the relievers at AA. I certainly wouldn't want to replace any of them, other than perhaps Perkins, with roster-fillers like Reinhard or Estrada. So if we get somebody for Iowa that knocks off Reinhard or Estrada, I'd hope they get released rather than dominoing down to Tenn. For 3B, I've assumed that bobby Scales is the main guy. Fox 1B, Scales 3B (he's a switch, so he already would provide the RH 3B), Blanco SS, Spears 2B, Rivas/Matulia utility. Rivas and Scales are obviously career guys; I'd be more than pleased if we could pick up some other career guys who were better to replace them. I'd certainly like to see some 3B signed who might be a better option than Scales in case ARam gets injured. The other 3B consideration is that I like Spears as a player. But I think he needs to show he can play more than just 2B to be ready to serve a Cubs bench role. So I hope that they don't play just to win at Iowa, but play to develop Cubs. So I hope that somehow they work their infielders such that Spears plays a bunch of 3b, and perhaps even some SS, not just 2b.

Thanks cal. I'd really been hoping for that. I'd assumed he be at Peoria in relief. But before the roster news this week I'd hoped they'd start him at Peoria. That he's both skipping and starting, that's pretty interesting. That would leave one spot left, and I'll guess Albuquerque with Dolis in relief. Perhaps if Cashner returns sometime that might come at expense of AAl. So it's looking like we'll have 7 pitchers drafted last June in full-season starting rotations, and if/when Cashner gets back it will be 8: Coleman/Jackson AA, McDaniel/Leverton/(Cashner) A+, and Shafer/Carpenter/Belliveau A-. Not sure I can ever remember a deal like that. Hopefully that reflects a historically good draft. Probably it reflects the huge vacuum that we had in terms of rotation prospects. Certainly it reflects some shift back to a traditional philosophy of putting pitchers into rotation even if you expect them to end up as relievers. I think it also reflects how one good draft/signings can really transform a system. If a bunch of those 8 guys impress, the system could easily shoot up from 27th within a single year.

Wow, lots more interesting stuff. Ascanio in rotation. I know they'd talked about maybe doing that, But I didn't really expect that they would, and with the big club he was doing one-inning relief as usual. He's only started a few games at any level of the minors, I think. I like it. He's got a good arm and some good pitches; what if he does really well? Could be good for us, or good for trade. Back in October I'd kind of assumed we'd have some junker vets in Iowa rotation, Mathes or some other fringy FA's, but Wells is the only one like that. Caridad, Ascanio, Samardz, Atkins, those are all guys young enough that if they perform well, you could have something. I'd hoped that Cashner would be caught up enough to pitch, so that's disappointing. But not only Albuquerque but Dolis being healthy enough and rushed all the way up to Daytona, given how little and with such limited success either has ever pitched at A-, I hardly expected them to be at A+. Obviously a week ago I'd hardly have imagined Searle being there, although Nathan already tipped us off on that yesterday. But looking at that roster, Cales Muyco Sasser Williamson Muschko Sommer and Vento seem like relievers to me. But who's going to be the starters? Obviously Searle and Leverton. Presumably Mateo will start again, that's three. But that would seem to leave Albuquerque, Dolis, and McDaniel as the main candidates for 4 and 5. McDaniel in rotation, that would be a surprise for sure; and at Daytona, that would be a double surprise. If that happened, and he excelled, I'd be all gaga with enthusiasm for him as a prospect. If it's both AAlb and Dolis, it would be really surprising to have Dolis who's hardly pitched at all and was a wildman supreme when he did to be pitching rotation. I'd have assumed that he'd be lucky to be able to control any pitches, much less the two needed for big-league relief, much less the three or more that a rotation pitcher is expected to have. but think how enthused we'd all get if he was not only in Daytona's rotation but was able to excel there? Would be really cool.

OK, with Peoria and Tenn defined, I'll make my guesses for Daytona: C: Carlos Perez (another high jump?), Mark Reed (attempting to set a record for the same number of consecutive years with the same class-A team), and perhaps John Contreras (switching to C) IF: Rosa 1B, Samson 2B, Castro SS, Marques Smith 3B, Marwin Gonzalez utility, possibly Jhon Mota? OF: Johnston RF, Rundle CF, Canzler LF, Wyatt utility OF, Colvin DH Rotation: Cashner (if/when he's healthy enough), Searles (big jump), Mateo (interesting that he's repeating when so many others are jumping), Leverton, and perhaps Marco Carrillo again or a surprise. Relief; I'm thinking the appropriate number from perhaps a pool of McDaniel (another high jumper), Muyco, Cales, Vento, Williamson, and maybe as needed from Hernandez, John Muller, Siegfried, Sasser, Muschko, Luke Sommer type pool of options.

Marcus Mateo was not on that Tennessee roster. DL'd, rushed all the way up to Iowa while they're skipping everybody else much higher than I expect, or did he get bypassed and he's returning to Daytona?

Marcus Mateo was not on that Tennessee roster. DL'd, rushed all the way up to Iowa while they're skipping everybody else much higher than I expect, or did he get bypassed and he's returning to Daytona?

A few days ago Az Phil had posted some stuff from AZ speculating on assignments; at the time I thought there didn't seem to be much for surprises in terms of players. But wow, now there are tons of surprises. The kind of guesses we would have had a month ago aren't even close. Big surprises thus far: 1. Coleman starting in AA? wow 2. Jackson starting in AA? wow 3. Lambert starting in AA? wow 4. Guyer starting in AA? wow 5. Castro starting in A+? wow 6. Ryan Searle starting in A+? wow Other things that struck me or surprised me: 1. Huseby being on a full-season roster at all, in any capacity. Didn't expect that. Will be interesting to see whether he can find the plate during real games, and get anybody out. 2. 2nd and 3rd rounders Shafer and Carpenter starting in low-A, while at least three lower-drafted pitchers starting at higher levels: Not only Jackson (8th round) and Coleman (15th round) all the way at AA, but James Leverton (9th round) must be starting at Daytona, and probably in rotation. 3. I expected to see Dan McDaniel (14th round) at Peoria. I assume that means that he too skipped right up to daytona. 4. Flaherty skipped over by Castro. as with the other skippings, not expected by me. With all of these guys being unexpectedly rushed up/skipped up to unexpectedly high levels, it raises all kinds of questions. 1. Is there some new philosophy going on? In recent years it seemed that other than an occasional Acosta-at-Peoria, that Fleita hasn't done a lot of dramatic or surprising promoting. Some fans were bugged that guys weren't moving up more aggressively given their ages. Has Fleita been persuaded somehow to try a more aggressive mode? 2. They often recite this "We're in the earn it business"? Are some of these meant to show how they don't care how you did last year or where you were drafted or how old you are, if somebody looks better than you in camp we're going to give jobs and promotions to the good-camp guys? Some really surprising placements. Lets just hope that some of these rushed-along guys can produce in the real season, and not just look good in the 2-3 weeks of camp games. If Jackson and Guyer and coleman excel in AA, we'll be all enthused. But what if Jackson and Coleman are 4.5 and 5.0, and Guyer is hitting .240, and Lambert is 6.5 ERA? What if Castro hits .230 with a .605 OPS, and Searle is cooking along with a 5.5 ERA? Then these "wow" promotions might not look so wow.

I think this one has been up for a while (Billy Petrick being on there stirred up some discussion on whether or not he was really out of the organization). Looks like Castillo and Robnett are the only cross overs which makes things a bit easier to guess. Castillo and Robnett are off; no current overlap with the AA list. But the list has some names that won't be there (Petrick and harben), and is missing a bunch (no catchers yet...), and is missing some really obvious names (Caridad). Obviously it's more active a list then just leftovers from last year; because Stevens has been added, and Robnett and Castillo removed.

Having the skills, athleticism, arm, and power to be a corner outfielder is one thing. But if you hit like a Harvey, you don't go far. I assume the issue with Jones is whether he has the pitch recognition and the stroke to hit the ball often enough for his power to matter. I hope he does. Most likely he doesn't. I have a friend who is friends with a long-term Orioles scout, who is responsible for scouting the Cubs prospects every spring, and who had some comments about what he saw this spring. He tends to be somewhat enthusiastic, so sometimes guys sound better than they are. But to pass along some tidbits: 1. he said that Coleman has looked good this spring and might possibly even open at Tennessee, certainly no lower than Daytona. 2. He said that Castro has added an inch and 15 pounds, and thinks he may be done growing at this point so that he'll probably be able to stay at SS. Scouted his SS defensive tools very favorably, seemed to think he has a chance to become a good big-league SS defensively. Seemed to think he had a pretty good stroke and was reasonably disciplined at the plate. 3. He thinks Flaherty might be able to stick at SS, might have the power for 3B, but his guess was that if he had to guess he's a bit more likely to end at 2B than at either SS or 3B, although any of the three are possible. Seemed to think Flaherty's stroke is long and that he'll have K problems, even though his plate discipline is good. 4. Very favorable about Clevenger. It probably speaks to the scout's lack of objectivity or brains, but he still seems to think Clev might end up hitting as many as 15-20 HR's. Seemed to think he was a natural in terms of defense, calling pitches, all of that stuff. Said Castillo has improved and can make some really great stops, but is inconsistent and can let some easy ones sail by. Thinks his swing is kind of long and that it's iffy whether he'll end up with a starter's bat or a backup's bat. 5. Very enthusiastic about Guyer. Said he has looked great this spring, excellent plate discipline, uses all fields and showing some HR power, said he plays mostly center but has the arm to play right. 6. Very positive stuff on Gaub, said his breaking pitch has been more consistent then before, death on lefties, but also has a cutter that works against righties so might be more than a Loogie. Says he typically works at 91-92, but his velocity is inconsistent and he has often hit 95 this spring.

True. But I think to some degree it reflects what the manager will use when the season opens, and how they view the guys they've got. Those views are often based on experience or on short-sighted stuff, I'm sure. But for Daytona, the lineup looked pretty much what you'd expect: Samson leadoff, Castro 9th, Colvin and Rosa 3rd/4th, Rundle near the bottom. For Peoria Harrison leadoff, Bautista 4th, Nelson Perez 5th, those are some power guys. Interestingly, Lake is 3rd, where typically a top guy would go. Vitters and flaherty 6th and 7th. Minor league camp is pretty short. I'm just thinking that if Flaherty and Vitters had been hitting .400 with power, and Perez and Lake hitting .110 with tons of K's, that probably Flaherty and Vitters would be batting 3rd and 4th. But all of that could get turned around in a weekend, it's really early.

Some surprising stuff from Phil. Guyer to AA? Castro to A+? Vitters and Flaherty batting near the bottom of the order for Peoria in that Peoria box? Harrison as a left fielder? Other than Guyer and perhaps Castro, no hints of anything to raise our hopes for any of these guys. No pitchers to get very interested in in either of those box scores, either. But it's not uncommon for things to still change some compared to what things look like a few days before camp breaks.

Agree, it will give Clevenger a nice and needed opportunity. BA had Clevenger as our #11 prospect, so it stands to reason that his development does merit consideration. I just didn't expect that would be important enough or that Castillo would be advanced enough to be in AAA. Castillo is 21; has played in less than 200 minor league games; has supposedly only been catching for a couple of years after being moved off 1B; by several accounts (ask ping about this) is not a very advanced receiver at this point (has too many passed balls and balls he could stop that he doesn't); and last year he had a .720 OPS. Given how young and unpolished he is, I just assumed it would make sense to start him at AA, no rush. But, perhaps he's developing faster than expected? That would be wonderful. Perhaps it's just about Clevenger, as you suggest. And perhaps they simply believe that Castillo is advanced enough so that he really can be the #3 catcher, the guy who'll get called up if Soto or Hill get DL'd. Soto of course played three full seasons at iowa, IIRC. So perhaps they feel that what worked well for Geo is good for Castillo too. Perhaps catching some of the more experienced guys at AAA might be better for him, more breaking balls etc. and simply more experienced and wiser pitchers who can teach him more. His hitting might also benefit from being exposed to all the AAA junkball stuff thrown by a lot of the AAAA pitchers he'll see. And as you say, they may simply figure that AA/AAA are pretty similiar, so why not when it helps Clev. I do agree with you, talented young catchers are not abundant. If Castillo could be really productive at AAA, he'd turn into a very useful trade piece. Clevenger, being the LH guy and with no power, he projects more as a backup. So if both were to develop well and become successful major leaguers, trading Castillo for serious value while keeping Clevenger as a career backup would make more sense.

cal, I also don't pay for Holley's material. How expensive is that, and is it pretty good? I'd also appreciate highlight info from there. (Or feedback on how worthwhile it might be to pay, for a guy on a very tight budget...) Wrigley and cal, thanks for a lot of interesting info. The farm rosters and who pitches rotation is always really interesting with some surprises. Glad to hear Guzman is switching to pitching, couldn't hit. Glad to hear Marwin Gonzalez mentioned in the "athletic" class. When guys are tabbed as athletic, then if they ever hit I can take them seriously. Guyer seems to have had a good spring, that's very encouraging. I hope it carries over into the actual year. Phil mentions having him in his top-10 at this point. If he starts at AA, that would be pretty impressive, would mean he's had a strong spring, and then if he produces you'd know you've got a prospect. But I don't have a problem with him at Daytona.... as long as he produces there. Stunned to see Latham released, obviously not based on performance. (1.98 ERA last year with peripherals that were similarly intriguing.) That Acosta was off-field stuff was pretty obvious from the start. Fleita is gush, so having him talk optimistically about the pitching may not mean much, but it's still encouraging. His comment about lack of athleticism in the outfield, that's pretty obvious. No real surprises in Phil's forecast for the AA/AAA rosters. If Guyer were to make it, that would be the fun surprise. The other surprise, which is not a surprise at this point, is Castillo at Iowa. Given the spring he's had it's no longer a surprise; but if you'd asked me back in December, I'd almost certainly have assumed that he'd be opening at AA again. That provides a nice opportunity for Clevenger. With Castillo at AA, Clevenger would have had limited AA work. But now he'll have the chance to be the primary catcher and catch as much as his performance merits. Obviously most of AA/AAA positions are roster-fillers, not a lot of surprises or suspense there. The A assignments and the rotation assignments will probably have more surprises.