Some prospect injury news that is still a bit developing. First, No. 1 overall draft pick Stephen Strasburg will miss his scheduled start in Saturday’s Rising Stars game at the Arizona Fall League. The National righthander has a muscle strain in his neck, according to an AFL press release. Righthander Tommy Mendoza (Angels) has replaced Strasburg on the Rising Stars roster.

Second, Twins catcher Wilson Ramos, who is tearing up winter ball in his native Venezuela, left a game last night with an apparent right knee injury. Twins general manager Bill Smith said the club is aware of the injury but is not yet aware of the severity of the problem. Ramos ranks second in the Venezuelan League in batting at .403 with a league-high six home runs through 20 games and 77 at-bats.

As we roll out the Top 10 Prospects lists for each of the NL East teams, we’ll also be posting them here so you can leave your comments. Subscribers can chat with the authors of the Top 10s, but everyone is free to share there likes and dislikes here on the Prospects Blog.

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The World Series will be over by Saturday, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any baseball on TV. Set your TiVo for 8:15 p.m. ET on Saturday, Nov. 7 on MLB Network, and you can watch the fourth-annual Arizona Fall League’s Rising Stars Game.

The teams are split up by AFL divisions. The East team will have players from the Mesa Solar Sox (Angels, Cubs, Marlins, Red Sox and Twins), Phoenix Desert Dogs (Athletics, Blue Jays, Nationals, Orioles and Rays) and Scottsdale Scorpions (Giants, Diamondbacks, Phillies, Pirates and Rockies). The West team will be comprised of players from the Peoria Javelinas (Brewers, Dodgers, Mariners, Tigers and White Sox), Peoria Saguaros (Astros, Braves, Indians, Padres and Reds) and the Surprise Rafters (Cardinals, Mets, Rangers, Royals and Yankees).

The game is arguably as loaded with talent as the Futures Game and the scheduled starting pitchers are two first rounders: Nationals righthander, and first-overall pick, Stephen Strasburg will take the hill for the East squad and Braves lefthander Mike Minor will toe the rubber for the West.
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This time: Oct. 14-25
Previous installment: Oct. 6-13

More 40-man roster maneuvering, a handful of new free agents and one club’s foray into the independent leagues . . . it’s all next on a very special Minor League Transactions.

Check out the Transactions Glossary for the key to deciphering the various inactive lists presented here.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Assigned to Arizona Fall League: RHP Bryan Augenstein, RHP Cesar Valdez, LHP Thomas Layne, LHP Scott Maine, 1B Brandon Allen, SS Pedro Ciriaco, OF Cole Gillespie

Atlanta Braves
Granted free agency: OF Reid Gorecki

Boston Red Sox
Granted free agency: RHP Marcus McBeth, RHP Takashi Saito
Outrighted to Triple-A and removed from 40-man: RHP Takashi Saito [...] Continue Reading »

BA’s AFL maven Bill Mitchell reports that Athletics farmhand Grant Desme has homered twice again Wednesday. Batting cleanup for the Phoenix Desert Dogs, Desme hit his ninth and 10th home runs in an 11-6 victory against the Peoria Javelinas.

Desme, a second-round pick in 2007 out of Cal Poly, homered in the first inning off Brewers righthander Josh Butler, a three-run shot. He hit a solo homer in the eighth inning off Brewers righty Omar Aguilar for his 10th. Desme, the minors’ only 30-homer, 30-steals performer in 2009, is now just four home runs shy of the AFL record set in 2005 by Brandon Wood, and he’s done his damage in just 12 games. [...] Continue Reading »

The Arizona Fall League lost a little of its star power this week, as Mike Stanton and Jason Heyward, two of the top outfield prospects in baseball, were sent home by their teams because of injuries.

Stanton, Florida’s top prospect, was hitting a Fall League-leading .478 before being shut down with a back injury. He had hit only one home run but was 11-for-23 with four stolen bases before the injury flared up. Heyward, the Braves’ top prospect, was sent home with a strained hamstring that also led to back inflammation according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was 4-for-14 with three doubles in four games in Arizona.

Both players are expected to be fully healthy before spring training.

The Royals have replaced outfielder David Lough in their Arizona Fall League contingent, with the Surprise Rafters, with outfielder Jarrod Dyson.

Lough left the AFL with a back injury, ending what had been a breakout season. Splitting his season almost evenly between high Class A Wilmington and Double-A Northwest Arkansas, he hit .325/.370/.496 with 14 home runs and 19 stolen bases. The 23-year-old out of Mercyhurst (Pa.) was the system’s best position player in the minors this season.

Dyson, 25, is a different kind of player, a 25-year-old speedster who stole 46 bases this season and made his first trip to Double-A. He has yet to hit a home run in 801 professional at-bats and hit .276/.345/.337 overall this season between low Class A Burlington and Northwest Arkansas. He struck out 68 times in 315 at-bats.

Diamondbacks pitching prospect Jarrod Parker is going to have Tommy John surgery, after going down in the middle of the season with elbow trouble.

Arizona shut down the righthander, the organization’s top prospect, with elbow tightness in late July when he was pitching at Double-A Mobile, and hoped rest and rehab would fix the problem. During instructional league he played catch at 120 feet, and he was scheduled to resume throwing off a mound in January.

But Parker’s agent broke the news on Thursday afternoon that he planned to have Tommy John surgery next week, and the Diamondbacks confirmed it later in the day. [...] Continue Reading »

We had the final batting leaderboards last week.

Note that players are listed with the teams for which they finished the season. Ages are as of Sept. 1. As always, (*) denotes a lefthanded pitcher. Make use of our Player Finder to learn more about players’ schools or countries of origin. In most cases the Acquired column provides draft year and round, e.g. 2007 (5).

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By Dave Perkin

Stephen Strasburg made his long-awaited and highly-anticipated professional debut here Friday night in an Arizona Fall League contest.

The righthander was one of the most highly publicized prospects in baseball history, Strasburg enjoyed a sensational junior season at San Diego State in 2009 and was named BA’s College Player of the Year on his way to being the No. 1 overall pick by the Washington Nationals in June.

Taking the mound for the Phoenix Desert Dogs in a game against the Scottsdale Scorpions, Strasburg delivered 52 pitches in 3.1 innings of work. Overall, the 6-foot-5, 220-pounder faced 11 hitters, allowing two hits, one walk and striking out two. He got eight ground outs and no fly outs. Thirty-two of his pitches were strikes, and he notched first-pitch strikes on six of the 11 batters he faced.

BA spoke to a veteran pro and amateur scout and received his assessment on Strasburg’s outing. [...] Continue Reading »