Not really about the 18 year olds (yet) but there's some movement in the system now that the All-Star games have happened (or will soon in the case of AAA).
Kyle Seager has been promoted to AAA, and Nick Franklin has made it to AA Jackson. A little surprised about Franklin, who's been a bit static this year and still struggles mightily against lefties, but either they saw what they wanted to see and felt like challenging him, or they wanted him to get with a different batting coach. Something. ;) Should be an interesting time-share at SS/2B with Triunfel for as long as he's there too.
And Seager's value keeps growing. Maybe we'll just use him at 3B next year instead of going outside the system. I don't expect that, but stranger things have happened.
There were 7 Jackson Generals in the All-Star game, which was nice. Mostly pitchers - congrats to Erasmo, Carraway, Grube, Kasparek (boo for the injury) and LaFromboise. Lotta soft-tossers, but we've had very interesting pitchers to go with a couple of hitters (Seager and Shaffer). Shaffer hit in the HR derby, which was funny since I don't think he's 200 pounds in concrete boots. He's a leadoff hitter until his power showed up this year.
Also, Paxton and Liddi were named to the Futures game. Liddi's not a surprise. Paxton was, at least for me, with only a handful of innings under his belt. He was deadly in the All-Star game though, and I'm hoping for a promotion for him shortly as well.
Wilhelmsen's getting properly stretched out as a starter now in AA, so that's good to see (back-to-back games of 6 innings). Robles has come back in the last week (at High Desert) and is trying to get the rust off after his surgery. Beavan's throwing well (at LAST). Churchill says he's still 89-92, so hopefully he's figured out better control of his pitches. Last 3 starts: 21 IP, 15 hits, 4 runs (3 HR but 2 were in Colorado), 18K / 5 BB. His ERA for June is 1.85 with a 4:1 K:BB ratio. Nice to see.
Paolini and Pimentel are hitting well in Pulaski in their first couple of games, but I don't weight batting lines in Pulaski as meaning much of anything. Still their power in the early games is good to see. Now we'll see how they do with plate patience and batting eye.
And can I give a shout-out to Tony Butler? After a series of injuries and bad fortune that have nearly destroyed his baseball careeer, he came back to the team that drafted him and took a stab at short-season while trying to get his arm to be effective again.
2 starts, 10 IP, 1 run, 4 hits, 14K/ 3BB, and a chance.
He blew his arm out halfway through 2008, missed basically all of 2009, was terrible with his command in 2010, giving up 10 runs per 9 in the process.
I'm glad for a good start for him. After a long and brutal road back, it's got to be nice to get a couple of good starts under way immediately and feel like maybe your career isn't quite done yet. He's still just 23 and not even the oldest pitcher on his team.
I love a good comeback story. Best of luck, Mr. Butler - and may all our prospects have a great second half.
~G
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