Shortstop Smelin Perez goes to the Marlins (from the Pirates), while the Reds take Juan Apodaca from the Dodgers system. RHP Santo Luis of the Astros goes to the White Sox, then the Nats pass. Apodaca hit eight homers at low Class A Great Lakes and slugged .415, well over the Midwest League average, while Luis had 99 strikeouts in 75 innings at low Class A Lexington. Hey, it’s the Triple-A phase; why not?

We’ll have more later but we need to confirm these names, but one highlight of these proceedings is watching Josh Boyd announce the Rangers picks. He was covering this event for us five years ago, now he’s announcing the picks. Nice. And now the Rangers just took Clayton Hamilton from the Pirates, saving him from the Pirates medical staff that misdiagnosed Hamilton’s cracked rib for a muscle strain. Hamilton had to have the rib removed this offseason.

Again, we’ll have the complete Triple-A phase up soon when we have the names spelled correctly and can do it intelligently.