Prospect Report:
Coastal Catch

David Cameron

Before we go on, I'd just like to wish my condolences and prayers to the families of Gerik Baxter and Mark Hilde who were lost in a car accident over a week ago. I had the opportunity to see Baxter pitch in high school he had a major-league future. From all accounts, he was a better person than he was a baseball player.

Welcome back to this week's prospect report, covering that other half of the National League West. The NL West remained the most active trading division so here's a brief rundown of the players changing jerseys.

San Diego traded Sterling Hitchcock to New York but didn't do nearly as well in this trade as they did in the Jay Witasick deal. Hitchcock returned them Brett Jodie, a 24-year-old right-handed pitcher and Darren Blakely, a 24-year-old outfielder. Jodie has good control and a mediocre fastball but nothing resembling an out pitch. His K/IP ratio is horrible and it's no surprise he got bombed in his ML debut. Darren Blakely is an "athletic outfielder", which is scouting lingo for "he can't hit." Never has, never will.

The Giants moved one of their better young arms in Ryan Vogelsong to help bring them Jason Schmidt and John Vander Wal. Vogelsong throws hard and has good off-speed stuff, but has inconsistent mechanics and is a good bet to sustain some injuries. If he can stay healthy, the Giants will miss him, but he's expendable in their organization. The Giants also traded Kevin Joseph for Jason Christensen. Joseph is a 25-year-old reliever who can throw hard but doesn't have a second pitch. He may succeed for a little while in the majors but needs a breaking ball badly. Paging Dave Duncan...

The Rockies finally moved Pedro Astacio and ended up with Scott Elarton and a player to be named. The Bombers really should get a good prospect (say, Carlos Hernandez) out of this or they settled for a low price on Pedro. Don't believe the rumors who say it will be Daryle Ward; that can't happen. They also traded the useless Juan Acevedo for the equally useless but cheaper Josue Espada.

The Dodgers moved Adrian Burnside, one of their better left-handed pitching prospects, for a guy who made his major league debut before my birthdate. Terry Mulholland needs to lead them to the World Series for this to not be a butcher of a deal. Burnside throws in the low 90's and has solid movement on his pitches. He should crack Pittsburgh's rotation next year.

In a separate move, the Dodgers picked up Mike Trombley, who is at least useful. They parted with hard throwing right-hander Kris Foster, who some believe will be better than Trombley next year. However, the Dodgers are playing for this year and Foster is expendable. He may have a decent career as a major-league setup man, but those aren't exactly rare. The Dodgers also gave up Geronimo Gil, but no one in LA will ever care or remember.

Back to business we go.

San Diego Padres

Kevin Towers is the second-best general manager in baseball and will begin to get a lot of national credit next year. He's developed the most underrated farm system in baseball, which will be feeding the Padres some top-echelon players for the next two or three years.

The pride and joy of the system is Sean Burroughs, currently ranked number two on the Prospect Ten and the best hitting prospect still in the minor leagues. Burroughs has a great line-drive swing and a good enough eye to be an on-base machine. He's not hitting for a lot of power yet, but most scouts expect that to come soon. He's only 20 and hitting .340 in AAA. Phil Nevin will be moving off third base next year, and Sean Burroughs is why.

Xavier Nady, the best third baseman in college two years ago, was an interesting but intelligent selection by Towers. He can hit and has the skills to play another infield position. The Padres may end up with another Jeff Kent if he can handle the move to second base. Keeping in form, the Padres drafted another college 3B who can hit this year in Jake Gautreau and will find another position for him; likely left field. He's having a solid debut in the Northwest League and could push for a job in San Diego in 2003.

While the bats will help, its arms like Dennis Tankersley who will help push San Diego back into contention really soon. The worst move Dan Duquette ever made will be shipping Tank to San Diego for Ed Sprague. He throws four different pitches, has control of all of them, and has great movement on his fastball. He looked fantastic in the Futures Game and is having no problems with AA after blowing away the California League to the tune of a 0.51 ERA. He's on the Prospect Ten to stay.

His teammate at Lake Elsinore, Jake Peavy, is also having a fantastic season. The 20-year-old is lighting up the California League with a 3.08 ERA and 144 strikeouts in 105 innings. He has good control, three major-league pitches, and a developing knowledge of how to work the plate. The best arm in the organization belongs to 19-year-old lefty Mark Phillips. He's battled injury problems to start his career but has been dominating when he's on the mound. He throws hard, has a gigantic curveball, and can mix in a nice slider for the strikeout. He needs work on his control, but he projects as a top-of-the-line starter.

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers' once-dominant farm system finds itself a bit thin these days, though perhaps a bit stronger than thought in preseason. The resurgence of Chin Feng-Chen has to excite LA fans. After a 30-30 year in A-ball two years ago, Chen fell flat on his face in AA last year. He's made it back, hitting .323 with power and an amazing 33 walks in 133 AB's for Jacksonville. His combination of power, plate discipline, and speed are not common for someone his age, and he should get a real look in LA next year.

Shortstop Jason Repko has been one of the biggest disappointments in recent Dodger prospect history and is putting up a truly horrible season. He's walked nine times in 288 at-bats, which, when combined with his .243 batting average, means he's got a woeful .271 on base percentage. He's too young to totally write off, but someone please remove him from the Rey Ordonez path to business success.

Some scouts are really high on Luke Allen because he has a projectable body and shows decent power. The Dodgers recently promoted him from AA for no particular reason, and he still wasn't walking enough in Jacksonville. He struck out nearly once every four at-bats while drawing only 39 walks. He needs to be more patient to be a major-league success.

Ben Diggins, the consensus number-one prospect for the Dodgers this year, is having a disastrous debut in Wilmington. His 4.33 ERA doesn't tell the story: in 73 innings, he's walked 32 and struck out 45. Diggins is a 22-year-old college-polished pitcher who can't blow anyone away in A-ball. That's just not a good sign. There was some debate to whether he was a better pitcher or hitter coming out in the draft. I hope he remembers how to swing a bat.

Hong Chi-Kuo is beginning the road to recovery from Tommy John surgery. He has a fantastic arm and can bring it near triple digits when healthy. The wonders of modern medicine may help him grab a spot on the Dodgers' staff in two or three years. Jose Rojas is putting up some very impressive numbers as Diggins' teammate in Wilmington, despite being just nineteen. He has good control, an above-average fastball, and knows how to change speeds. He projects as a solid third starter.

San Francisco Giants:

Tony Torcato and Lance Niekro were supposed to fight it out to see who will become Third Baseman of the Future in San Francisco. It looks like the real answer may be neither. Torcato has battled some shoulder injury problems that have landed him in left field. He has good gap power, a nice line-drive swing, and acceptable plate discipline, but I'm not sure he'll hit enough to be a good major league left fielder.

Niekro is still at third base, but he just doesn't walk there. In fact, he doesn't walk anywhere. Unfortunately, I'm not talking about his hustle. In 163 at-bats in San Jose, he has four walks. He is hitting .288, but 34 of his 47 hits are singles. Color me unimpressed. He needs to be a lot more patient and drive the ball or he'll stall out in AA and never see San Francisco.

Carlos Valderrama (not the soccer player with the crazy hair) is having another solid season for the Giants. He's showing good patience in AA and has a nice compact swing. He probably won't hit for a lot of power in the major leagues, but if everything breaks right, he could have a Rusty Greer-type career ahead of himself.

Pitching is the strength of the Giants' farm system, but even that hasn't been all that good this year. Kurt Ainsworth was thought to be almost major league-ready, but he's posted a 5.65 ERA in AAA. He's pitched better than that, but his control still needs work. His strikeout rate is encouraging as it's over the 1 K/IP mark and he probably isn't all that far away from contributing in San Francisco. He is a good power arm that should fit in nicely in the helpful Pac Bell Park.

Jerome Williams was drawing comparisons to a young Dwight Gooden after last year's breakthrough season, but the more apt comparison now would be the 30-year-old Dwight Gooden. Williams started the season late with some personal problems and has picked it up lately, but his overall numbers in AA still aren't very good. He is a hard thrower with two out-pitches, so he really should do better than his 68 strikeouts in 106 innings. Low strikeout totals can indicate an injury; so don't be too surprised if Williams has off-season surgery.

The real bright spot in San Francisco's system this year has been the development of the great-named Boof Bonser. No, he's not the WWF's new champion. He's the hard-thrower making SALLY league hitters look like Andre The Giant just stepped on the mound. He has a ridiculous 145 strikeouts in 107 innings and has won 10 straight starts. He's been tough to hit and has thrown enough strikes, though his control needs improvement. He should be in AA pretty soon and could challenge for a spot in the Giants rotation in 2003.

That wraps up the NL West. We'll bounce over to the six-team AL Central next week. Thankfully, there are only three or four good prospects in the whole division, so it won't take long. So please, Royals fans, come back next week and bring your Prozac.

about the author

No, David Cameron is not an actual doctor and cannot provide Prozac subscriptions himself. Not Viagra either, so you folks in Tampa can sit down too. However, he can help you regain your svelte figure with specials on Hydroxycut at dac@strikethree.com.