Without much fanfare, Javier Vazquez is having an incredible second half of 2011, and he continued his good work last night, going 7 innings and giving up two hits while striking out 6 and walking 1. Another brutal offensive performance and a decent start from Derek Lowe (6.1 IP, 6 H, 3 ER) diminished the […]

When you’re the 3rd overall pick, people expect you to hit, and they expect you to dominate the lower levels. If you don’t, you hit a weird grey area. Some scouts still see the guy who did enough to be picked so high, and others begin to believe that what they saw has not and […]

Making his major-league debut with much less hype than rotation mate Stephen Strasburg, Brad Peacock went 5 innings, giving up 2 hits and 0 runs while striking out 2 and walking 3. While the K/BB ratio wasn’t stellar, it was a momentous occasion for the 23-year old as he notched his first major-league victory with […]

Drafted out of high school by the Washington Nationals in the 41st round, there weren’t a lot of expectations for Brad Peacock, but while many consider this to be Peacock’s breakout campaign, there were indications this might be coming, not to mention that 2010 might have been a breakout. Peacock was one of the last […]

Never heard of Phipps? Even most prospect mavens haven’t heard of Denis Phipps, but after a .346/.397/.527 season in AA and AAA parts of the Cincinnati Reds organization, he’s put himself on the radar. And it is put himself on the radar. Phipps has never been on a Baseball America list, John Sickels didn’t even […]

Over the four previous games, the Twins had scored 2 whole runs. Over the past 20 innings, they had scored 0. Over their previous 32 games, the Twins had won 7. To say that things haven’t gone according to plan for the Twins this season would be an understatement, but the Twins got a 5-4 […]

Louisville Bats When I first saw Neftali Soto, I thought, “This is the guy limited to first base?” He looks to be in excellent shape, but I haven’t seen him in the field at any position other than first, at which he looked fine showing good hands on a couple scoops and flashing range on […]

Author’s note: For the month of September, we’ll be looking at prospects who have had weird and/or unexpected seasons, and we’ll ask what we should make of it. After that, we’ll examine the Arizona Fall League rosters and who you should be paying attention to when prospects head to Arizona in November. When Tyler Matzek […]

After a look at the NL on Monday, it’s time for the AL. New York Yankees: Jesus Montero C There’s really no reason to keep running Posada out there as a DH, and while Montero’s .288/.348/.467 line is a bit underwhelming, it’s tough to motivate a 21-year old who is repeating AAA after a successful […]

Well, that was quick. Not even a year after Neftali Feliz notched 40 saves in his rookie campaign, Craig Kimbrel broke the record with a month left in the season by completing the Atlanta Braves’ 3-1 victory over the Washington Nationals for his 41st save of the season. Derek Lowe began the game with 6 […]

It’s hard to exactly explain just how good Roy Halladay is. On the way to a 9-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds that would give Halladay his 16th of the season, Halladay went 7 innings, gave up 2 hits and 2 walks, and struck out 9 hitters. That’s domination. To top it all off, he […]

Considering the time of year, I figured I would outline a a guy for each team that could be brought up for the last month of the season. Today will be the NL, and the AL will come on Thursday. Philadelphia Phillies: Scott Mathieson RHP Mathieson has never really gotten much of a chance in […]

A few thoughts from Monday night’s game between the Toledo Mud Hens and Louisville Bats Edinson Volquez (7 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 6 K) Edinson Volquez was demoted because he had trouble finding the zone, and in order to find the plate more often, he’s noticeably simplified his delivery to help him […]

Sometimes, you just can’t please everyone. With the 2nd pick of the 2010 draft, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected Jameson Taillon, who many compared favorably to Josh Beckett at this stage of their careers. That, of course, causes expectations to skyrocket, and as one of the most polished high school arms in recent memory, people expected […]

James Paxton took a rough road to professional baseball. Drafted 37th overall by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2009, Paxton was one of the few college juniors that did not sign, and he went back to the University of Kentucky (my alma mater, BTW). Well, he tried to go back. The NCAA launched an investigation […]