Official minor league transactions, conveyed to us by Major League Baseball, for the period March 9-13.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Signed: RHP Dan Cortes (did not play in ’12)
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Chase Anderson, RHP Charles Brewer, LHP Eury de la Rosa, OF Alfredo Marte
Optioned to Double-A: RHP Eric Smith, RHP Zeke Spruill, OF Keon Broxton

This is the same Dan Cortes who was once a prospect for the White Sox, Royals and Mariners, and you can get a sense of how the industry viewed his potential because he was traded twice for big leaguers. Kansas City parted with Mike MacDougal to acquire Cortes in July ’06, and Seattle sent Yuniesky Betancourt to K.C. in July ’09 to add Cortes.

Non-tendered by the Mariners following the ’11 season, Cortes maintained a high strikeout rate to the end. As a reliever for Triple-A Tacoma, he struck out 59 in 52 innings, but also walked 33 and allowed 56 hits.

Atlanta Braves
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Cory Rasmus
Optioned to Double-A: RHP Juan Jaime, RHP Aaron Northcraft [...] Continue Reading »

The annual American League and National League media guides, the so-called Red (AL) and Green (NL) books, offer a wealth of contemporary and historical information on all 30 major league clubs: 2012 league leaders, comprehensive managerial registers dating back to the Deadball Era, and listings for all-time league category leaders and award winners, to name just a few.

Of the greatest interest to BA readers of the Red and Green books, however, is the inclusion of each organization's official list of rookies for 2013. This takes the guesswork out of service-time considerations, particularly for relievers, who can log weeks of big league time while making few appearances. The Red and Green books even include an official definition for rookie qualifications (which we have conveniently included at the bottom of this post).

So as an accompaniment to our Top 20 Rookies list, let's take a closer look at rookie candidates for every National League club (we'll do the American League tomorrow). We've broken each club's rookie candidates into one of four groups:

• Rookies: Players who have reached the major leagues but still have rookie eligibility.
• No MLB Experience: Players on the 40-man roster who have not reached the major leagues. A single asterisk (*) denotes a player added to the 40-man last offseason, while a double asterisk (**) signifies a Rule 5 draft pick.
• Who You Calling Rookie?: Players who appear in the 2013 Prospect Handbook yet are not eligible for the Rookie of the Year balloting because they have too much major league service time. Not every team has a player in this category.
• On The Horizon: Players who were on a Top 10 Prospects list but are not yet on a 40-man roster, yet have sufficient experience (200 plate appearances or 200 batters faced at Double-A or higher) to forecast at least a cup of coffee in 2013. This group includes elite prospects such as the Cardinals' Oscar Taveras and the Pirates' Gerrit Cole.

We also identify each team's top rookie—right out of the Prospect Handbook—and the rookie with most potential for fantasy impact in 2013. Bear in mind that with few exceptions, such as Mike Trout and Bryce Harper last year, rookies are poor percentage plays in fantasy sports. That's why we recommend most rookies only in keeper or deep single-league formats.

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

Rookies (4)
LHP Tyler Skaggs, SS Didi Gregorius, OF Adam Eaton, OF A.J. Pollock
No MLB Experience (8)
RHP Chase Anderson*, RHP Charles Brewer*, LHP Eury de la Rosa*, RHP Starling Peralta**, RHP Eric Smith*, RHP Zeke Spruill*, OF Keon Broxton*, OF Alfredo Marte*
On The Horizon
LHP David Holmberg, 3B Matt Davidson, SS Chris Owings

Top Rookie: Tyler Skaggs made three strong starts for Arizona before tiring in September and has a good chance to win a rotation job in spring training.

Fantasy Impact: A blend of speed and patience in the minors makes Adam Eaton a safe bet to accumulate runs and double-digit stolen bases for the Diamondbacks, and batting average risk is mitigated by a high contact rate. Just don't expect any contributions in home runs or RBIs. (Leagues: deep mixed) [...] Continue Reading »

Here we present official minor league transactions, conveyed to us by Major League Baseball, for the period Sept. 4-10.

Organizations have begun re-signing players to minor league deals to preempt minor league free agency in November. Elsewhere, teams restore players from the disabled list.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Added to 40-man roster: OF Adam Eaton
Placed on 7-day DL: 3B Matt Mangini, OF Ollie Linton

Atlanta Braves
Signed: RHP Aldo Silva
Recalled: RHP Erik Cordier, RHP Cory Gearrin, RHP Jair Jurrjens, RHP Julio Teheran, RHP Anthony Varvaro

Baltimore Orioles
Recalled: RHP Jake Arrieta, LHP Zach Britton [...] Continue Reading »

Here we present official minor league transactions, conveyed to us by Major League Baseball, for the period July 24-Aug. 1.

For more on the July 31 trade deadline please see Trade Central, which has *free* scouting reports on *all* prospects involved in trades, a summary of trade imports/exports for all 30 clubs and Jim Callis' summation of the top prospects traded.

Arizona Diamondback
Released: RHP Cesse DeJesus, 2B Rusty Ryal
Traded: 3B Ryan Roberts to Rays for 2B Tyler Bortnick
Traded: OF Bobby Borchering and OF Marc Krauss to Astros for 3B Chris Johnson
Removed from 40-man: RHP Yonata Ortega (outrighted to Double-A)
Reinstated from DL: RHP Cesse DeJesus, OF Tyler Graham, OF Kyle Greene

Atlanta Braves
Signed: RHP Miguel Batista (released by Mets), 2B Rusty Ryal (released by Diamondbacks), OF Emmanuel Alvarez, OF Josh Kroeger (released by Red Sox), OF Juan Puello
Released: RHP Eric Junge, RHP Charlie Robertson, 2B Lance Zawadzki
Traded: OF Christian Marrero to Pirates for 2B Brian Friday
Recalled: RHP Cory Gearrin
Optioned to Triple-A: OF Jose Constanza
Placed on 7-day DL: RHP Caleb Brewer, RHP Peter Moylan, OF Jordan Parraz, OF David Rohm
Reinstated from DL: RHP Juan Jaime, C Evan Gattis, 1B Chris Garcia

The Braves' acquisition of Reed Johnson and Paul Maholm from the Cubs pushed Jose Constanza to Triple-A and Kris Medlen to the bullpen. [...] Continue Reading »

Each player who makes his major league debut this season had a scout and/or scouting director recommended him to his signing organization. To give credit where credit is due, we'll track those scouts and those directors for each player to make the big leagues for the first time in 2012.

Players are sorted in alphabetical order by debut date. Included with each listing is signing organization, year and draft round in parentheses where applicable. Source indicates the high school, college or country from which each player signed. The BA Executive Database supplies the names of scouting directors.

Players listed with an asterisk (*) were major league Rule 5 draft selections last December, while a cross (†) indicates players who were drafted one year and signed the next as part of baseball's defunct draft-and-follow process.

[...] Continue Reading »

Here we present official minor league transactions, conveyed to us by Major League Baseball, for the period July 10-18.

Any player listed with an asterisk (*) signed a minor league contract with the organization after being removed from the 40-man roster and clearing waivers.

Please see the Baseball America Draft Database for much more detailed information on draft picks, including scouting reports (for subscribers) and select signing bonuses.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Signed: RHP Chase Brewer (NDFA—UCLA)
Released: LHP Taylor Sinclair, OF Alan Santiago
Optioned to Triple-A: LHP Pat Corbin
Placed on 7-day DL: RHP Eric Smith

Atlanta Braves
Signed: RHP Mike Lee (Rockford (Frontier)), 3B Terry Tiffee (Lancaster (Atlantic))
Draft pick signed: RHP Matt Kimbrel (31)
Released: LHP Chad Rodgers, LHP Matt Talley, SS Greg Paiml
Recalled: C J.C. Boscan, SS Tyler Pastornicky
Added to 40-man roster: RHP Ben Sheets
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Randall Delgado, C J.C. Boscan
Placed on 7-day DL: RHP Dave Filak, RHP Cory Gearrin, LHP Chris Masters, 2B Tommy La Stella
Reinstated from DL: RHP Peter Moylan, LHP Chad Rodgers, C Chad Comer, SS Fernando de los Santos

The Braves came to terms with 31st-round righty Matt Kimbrel the day before the signing deadline, one year after failing to sign him as a 32nd-rounder out of Shelton State (Ala.) CC. He's the younger brother of Braves closer Craig Kimbrel, who like Matt also attended community college in Alabama. Craig signed with Atlanta as a third-rounder in ’08 out of Wallace State (Ala.) CC. [...] Continue Reading »

Here we present official minor league transactions, conveyed to us by Major League Baseball, for the period July 3-9.

Please see the Baseball America Draft Database for much more detailed information on draft picks, including scouting reports (for subscribers), select signing bonuses and a running tally of team spending.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Signed: RHP Chris Thomas (NDFA—Lander (S.C.))
Draft picks signed: OF Evan Marzilli (8), OF Damion Smith (27)
Released: RHP Chris Jakubauskas, C Jae Yun Kim, C Mark Reed
Placed on 7-day DL: LHP John Pedrotty, C Fidel Pena
Reinstated from DL: RHP Mike Bolsinger, C Mark Reed, 3B Carter Bell, OF Alfredo Marte

Atlanta Braves
Signed: RHP Ben Sheets
Released: RHP D.J. Carrasco, OF Cory Harrilchak
Recalled: LHP Luis Avilan
Reinstated from DL: OF Jordan Parraz

Baltimore Orioles
Signed: OF Henry Urrutia
Draft picks signed: RHP Matt Price (7), 1B Christian Walker (4)
Recalled: RHP Chris Tillman, 1B Joe Mahoney, 2B Steven Tolleson, OF Xavier Avery
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Jake Arrieta, RHP Steve Johnson, 1B Joe Mahoney
Optioned to Double-A: RHP Chris Tillman
Removed from 40-man: LHP Zach Phillips (outrighted to Triple-A)
Placed on 7-day DL: RHP Brandon Erbe, RHP Jaime Esquivel, LHP Dustin Ward, C Cameron Edman, C Pedro Perez, OF Austin Knight, OF Ronnie Welty
Reinstated from DL: C Michael Ohlman, 2B Nicky Delmonico, OF Ronnie Welty

The Orioles signed Cuban outfielder Henry Urrutia for $778,500, and his bonus will not count against Baltimore's international signing budget. [...] Continue Reading »

Baseball America's major league correspondents file 25 prospect reports a year, providing essential information on the up and coming players in every organization. Yet a steady flow of content on our site sometimes buries their Organization Reports at the foot of the mountain, beneath an avalanche of words.

To make sure you don't miss our midseason prospect reports, we're unveiling them 10 at a time this week—we started with the East organizations yesterday, have the Central today and will post the West on Thursday. For each organization, we selected the best overall player (among those who have spent most of the season in the minors), the prospect who has taken the biggest leap forward, and the one who has been the biggest disappointment.

Our Organization Reports are a subscriber-only feature, so if you'd like to read them you can find your various subscription options here. But for everyone we present below a handy index to all 11 of the reports from the Central, with an overview of the category winners for Best Player, Biggest Leap Forward and Biggest Disappointment of the first half. The team name links you to the complete report, which includes an explanation of why each player won his respective category. You can find the overall Organization Reports index for 2012 here.

Here we present official minor league transactions, conveyed to us by Major League Baseball, for the period June 25-July 2.

Any player listed with an asterisk (*) signed a minor league contract with the organization after being removed from the 40-man roster and clearing waivers.

Please see the Baseball America Draft Database for much more detailed information on draft picks, including scouting reports (for subscribers), select signing bonuses and a running tally of team spending.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Recalled: RHP Trevor Bauer, LHP Pat Corbin
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Jonathan Albaladejo, 3B Josh Bell
Placed on 7-day DL: C Mark Reed
Reinstated from DL: RHP Bryan Henry, C Zach Jones

Atlanta Braves
Signed: RHP Donovan Drake (Windy City (Frontier)), LHP Fabian Williamson (Winnipeg (American Association)), 2B Bobby Stevens (released by Orioles)
Draft picks signed: LHP David Starn (7), OF Fernelys Sanchez (16)
Placed on 7-day DL: RHP Brett Cammons, C Chad Comer
Reinstated from DL: LHP Ryan Buchter, OF Cory Harrilchak

Baltimore Orioles
Draft pick signed: RHP Jake Pintar (29)
Released: 3B Miguel Tejada
Traded: RHP Kyle Simon and C Gabriel Lino to Phillies for 1B Jim Thome
Recalled: RHP Miguel Gonzalez, RHP Steve Johnson, OF Xavier Avery
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Tommy Hunter, LHP Brian Matusz, 2B Steven Tolleson, OF Xavier Avery
Designated for assignment: LHP Zach Phillips
Placed on 7-day DL: LHP Jorge Rivera, LHP Rich Rundles, C Zach Booker, 2B Nikcy Delmonico
Reinstated from DL: C Adam Davis, C Scott Thomas [...] Continue Reading »

Baseball America's Midseason Top 50 Prospects list is one of our tougher rankings because it's a moving target. We considered adding 2012 draftees but didn't because the signing deadline still comes after the July 1 midpoint of the season. Prospects have to have (a) not used up their rookie eligibility and (b) be in the minor leagues on our July 1 cutoff date. That date kept the likes of Yasmani Grandal, Martin Perez and Drew Pomeranz off the list.

Subscribers can read further analysis of these players, as well as looks at breakout prospects of the first half, prospects who have disappointed and those who are stuck on the disabled list.

[...] Continue Reading »

Here we present official minor league transactions, conveyed to us by Major League Baseball, for the period June 19-24.

Please see the Baseball America Draft Database for much more detailed information on draft picks, including scouting reports (for subscribers), select signing bonuses and a running tally of team spending

Arizona Diamondbacks
Signed: OF Michael Lang (Sioux City (American Association))
Released: OF Henry Zabala
Recalled: RHP Jonathan Albaladejo
Placed on 7-day DL: OF Alfredo Marte, RHP Robert Buller, RHP Cesse DeJesus, RHP Bryan Henry, RHP Juan Valdez
Reinstated from DL: 3B Raoul Torrez

Atlanta Braves
Signed: LHP Brent Leach (released by Dodgers)
Draft pick signed: RHP Kevin McKague (23)
Released: C Victor Gomez
Recalled: RHP Jair Jurrjens
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Todd Redmond
Placed on 7-day DL: 2B Fernando de los Santos, OF Cory Harrilchak, OF Matt Lipka
Reinstated from DL: RHP Caleb Brewer [...] Continue Reading »

The unveiling of the Top Prospect Performers page today provides a suitable backdrop to reflect on (and provide context for) the top game scores in the minors during the first half of the season. If you're not familiar with the game score metric, please see the Wikipedia entry before proceeding.

Here we divvied up pitchers by level, presenting a top 20 list for each full-season classification—but with a catch. Only pitchers who are age-appropriate for their level of competition were considered. That means that to qualify for one of the lists, a pitcher must meet (or be younger than) his classification's median age as of July 1 this year. The median cutoff ages are as follows: 26 for Triple-A, 24 for Double-A, 23 for high Class A and 22 for low Class A.

All performances up through Sunday, June 24, were considered. Lefthanded pitchers denoted with an asterisk (*). To qualify, a pitcher must either have started the game or thrown at least five innings in relief. The second clause sometimes triggers when minor league starters begin in the second inning (or later) in games in which rehabbing major leaguers start the game.

Youngest Pitcher: Only 22-year-old Marlins lefty Brad Hand can challenge the Diamondbacks' Trevor Bauer when it comes to youth. The third pick in last year's draft, Bauer doesn't turn 22 until January. In eight starts for Reno he went 4-0, 2.82 with 11.3 strikeouts and 4.4 walks per nine innings. Slated to make his big league debut on Thursday, Bauer leaves the minors as the overall leader in wins (11) and strikeouts (116). [...] Continue Reading »

Pitchers condense their work into short bursts. A minor league starter will face 20 or more batters in one outing, providing repetitions that it would take a position player five-to-seven games to accumulate. For that reason, one particularly good start by a pitching prospect carries a fair amount of weight. String together three or four such starts and a pitcher may be on to something.

Here we present the top 10 single-start pitching performances, as measured by game score (Wikipedia explanation), at each classification of the minors in April. (In case you're wondering, the top major league game score thus far is a tie (96) between Phil Humber's April 21 perfect game against the Mariners and Matt Cain's April 13 one-hitter—with 11 whiffs—against the Pirates.

• The Yankees recently called up D.J. Mitchell to work in a bullpen role, and Pirates lefty Justin Wilson could receive a similar call from the Pirates this season if he can carry forward the control he showed in his last start, a combined no-hitter against Durham.

• Though he delivered seven strong innings in his lone home start in Colorado Springs, Rockies lefty Christian Friedrich turned in his gem above on the road in Tacoma.

• Major league veteran Jeff Francis is the only pitcher who appears on a chart in this blog post who allowed a home run in his exemplary start. [...] Continue Reading »

Tyler Thornburg was already off to a quality start after his first two outings, but the Brewers righthander took things to another level in Monday night’s start for Double-A Huntsville. The 23-year-old flirted with a perfect game, retiring the first 22 hitters he faced from Tennessee (Cubs) before yielding a one-out single in the eighth and promptly being removed.

Thornburg, who’s getting his first taste of Double-A this spring, had allowed just one earned run on seven hits over 11 innings in his first two starts. Against Tennessee, Thornburg set a career-high with 11 strikeouts and mixed in seven groundouts. For the season, Thornburg’s 24 strikeouts in 18 1/3 innings put him second in the minor leagues.

[...] Continue Reading »

The Brewers have struggled to develop pitching in recent years, but they have some intriguing arms on the way. That includes their No. 4 prospect, righthander Tyler Thornburg, who had his second strong start of the season tonight.

Pitching for Double-A Huntsville, Thornburg threw six innings and allowed only one run (it was unearned) with four hits, one walk and six strikeouts while running his fastball into the mid-90s, lowering his ERA to 0.82 with a 13-3 K-BB mark in 11 innings through his first two starts.

Thornburg, 23, could find his way to Milwaukee at some point this season, though he likely wouldn't settle into a regular role until 2013. Milwaukee's top four prospects are all pitchers, and all four of them–righthanders Wily Peralta and Taylor Jungman, lefthander Jed Bradley and Thornburg–have gotten off to solid starts in 2012.

With all of Baseball America's League Top 20s now posted, let's tally up the results. The League Top 20 lists can be a good indicator of the strength of teams' systems. It isn't a perfect indicator because it includes some players who have since graduated as prospects and does not include this year's top draft picks that signed late.

The leagues aren't all equal, either. A player that narrowly missed the Eastern League list, for example, could very well be more valuable than a player that ranked in the second half of the Pioneer League Top 20. There are also rare instances when key players don't have enough innings or at-bats to qualify for a minor league Top 20 list.

Also note that, for this study, players are only listed once (even if they made two lists) and are listed with their current organizations. With all that said, let's look at the results. First, the raw totals. . .

But the raw tallies only tell part of the story. While they would look even based on this list, a team would much rather have a group of prospects in Triple-A and Double-A than a group of prospects at the Rookie-level. Here is how the teams stack up when only given credit for prospects in full-season leagues, not including players that graduated from Prospect Handbook eligibility this year (surpassed 130 at-bats as a hitter or 50 innings/30 appearances for a pitcher). . .

[...] Continue Reading »

This time: Sept. 20-26

Most of the players recalled in this installment did not play in the big leagues, of course, but the time for organizations to station them in the minors on optional assignment has come to an end this season.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Recalled: RHP Trevor Bauer, RHP Barry Enright, RHP Kam Mickolio, RHP Yonata Ortega, RHP Esmerling Vasquez, LHP Zach Kroenke, C Konrad Schmidt
Removed from 40-man: SS Tommy Manzella (outrighted to Triple-A)
Reinstated from DL: RHP Chase Anderson, RHP Armando Galarraga, RHP Matt Gorgen, RHP Trevor Harden, RHP Reid Mahon, RHP Miguel Pena, RHP Daniel Stange, RHP Casey Upperman, RHP Jason Urquidez, RHP Andrew Wolcott, LHP Cody Wheeler, C Zach Jones, 2B Mike Freeman, 3B Michael Weber, SS Eddie Rogers, OF Michael Restovich, OF Bobby Stone, OF David Winfree
Assigned to Arizona Fall League: RHP Charles Brewer, RHP Kevin Munson, RHP Eric Smith, RHP Bryan Woodall, 2B David Nick, 3B Ryan Wheeler, OF Adam Eaton

Atlanta Braves
Signed: LHP Yohan Flande (re-signed), OF Trent Baker
Traded: RHP Eliecer Cardenas to Pirates to complete deal in which Pirates traded OF Matt Diaz to Braves for a player to be named
Designated for assignment: OF Matt Young
Reinstated from DL: RHP Mike Broadway, RHP Reidy Escobar, RHP Tyler Hess, RHP Juan Jaime, RHP Jason Lowey, RHP Stephen Marek, RHP Ian Marshall, RHP Kyle Mertins, RHP Angelo Paulino, RHP Cory Rasmus, RHP James Weber, LHP Chad Rodgers, C Cory Brownsten, C Ramon de los Santos, C Evan Gattis, 1B Jakob Dalfonso, 2B Phil Gosselin, OF Willie Cabrera, OF Chris Carter, OF Adam Milligan

A native of Brisbane, Australia, Trent Baker got cut by the Indians at the end of spring training this year. The Australian Baseball Digest indicates that the Braves will try the lefthanded Baker on the mound. [...] Continue Reading »

The Class A all-star games are behind us, and we're about one week past the minor league season's midpoint. In other words, we have a meaningful sample of games with which to check in on the overall leaders from full-season leagues. Presented here are the top 15 players in eight categories—four batting and four pitching—with statistics running through Sunday, June 26. [...] Continue Reading »

This time: June 8-14

Many thanks to John Manuel and Jim Callis for pinch-hitting with transactions last week. John tracked down the draft pick signings, while Jim concentrated on finding schools for nondrafted college free agents. It's a lot of work, and they did an excellent job. Or as Aaron Fitt would say: Great job, boss!

At any rate, draft signing season has begun. I decided to fold in the draft and NDFA info from the John & Jim report in order to preserve Minor League Transactions blog continuity.

The numbers in parentheses denote draft round, of course, and I encourage one and all to check out our Draft Database. It's the easiest place on the Web to find out, 1) who drafted whom, and from which school and which state, and 2) which players have signed. That's all free. Subscribers can visit the Advanced Draft Database, which has scouting reports and bonus information for all the top picks. The ADD also lets the reader sort by school, state and position.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Draft picks signed: RHP Derek Eitel (17), RHP Greg Robinson (32), C Kawika Emsley-Pai (10), C Andrew Whittington (33), 1B Yazy Arbelo (26), 1B Jimmy Comerota (18), 3B Eric Groff (44), OF Adam Eaton (19), OF Justin Hilt (36), OF Michael Hur (20), OF Chris Jarrett (42), OF Westley Moss (16)
Released: OF Tim Sherlock
Placed on suspended list: RHP Cristian Beltre, OF Alfredo Marte
Added to 40-man roster: RHP Blaine Boyer
Removed from 40-man: RHP Saul Rivera (Triple-A)
Optioned to Triple-A: C John Hester
Reinstated from inactive list: RHP Cristian Beltre, RHP Billy Spottiswood, C Chris Davis, OF Alfredo Marte

Atlanta Braves
Draft picks signed: RHP Jonathan Burns (26), RHP Dave Filak (4), RHP Tyler Hess (19), RHP Willie Kempf (27), RHP Matt Lewis (10), RHP Ian Marshall (40), RHP Matt Suschak (7), RHP Richard Tate (14), RHP Dan Winnie (16), LHP Stephen Foster (39), LHP Chase Shreve (11), C Ryan Delgado (32), C Evan Gattis (23), 1B David Rohm (9), 3B Todd Cunningham (2), SS Brandon Drury (13), SS Barrett Kleinknecht (12), SS Matt Lipka (1.5), SS Andrelton Simmons (2), OF Kenny Fleming (30), OF Kurt Fleming (8), OF Jason Mowry (20)
Released: 1B Derek Wiley, SS Ryan Barba, OF Layton Hiller
Recalled: SS Brandon Hicks
Placed on 7-day DL: LHP Chris Masters, LHP Brett Oberholtzer, 3B Eric Duncan
Reinstated from DL: RHP Ty'Relle Harris, LHP Steven Kent, OF Willie Cabrera

Second-rounder Todd Cunningham signed quickly but was stuck in limbo for 10 days while waiting for MLB to approve his contract with the Braves, a deal that included a $674,100 bonus. The former Jacksonville State standout won the Cape Cod League batting title last year and went 1-for-3 in his pro debut with low Class A Rome on Sunday. [...] Continue Reading »

This time: June 8-14

John Manuel pinch-hitting for Matt Eddy with a special edition noting just Draft Picks Signed as well as Non-Drafted Free Agents who signed. Check out the Transactions Glossary for the key to deciphering the various inactive lists presented here.

An asterisk (*) denotes an instance of a player agreeing to terms on a minor league contract with an organization with which he already had a major league agreement.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Draft Picks Signed: RHP Derek Eitel (17); Cs Kawika Emsley-Pai (10), Andrew Whittington (33); 1B Yazy Arbelo (26); 2B Jimmy Comerota (18); 3B Eric Groff (44); OFs Adam Eaton (19); Justin Hilt (36), Michael Hur (20), Chris Jarrett (42), Westley Moss (16)

Atlanta Braves
Draft Picks Signed: RHPs Jonathan Burns (26), Dave Filak (4), Tyler Hess (19), Willie Kempf (27), Matt Lewis (10), Ian Marshall (40), Andrew Suschak (7), Richie Tate (14), Dan Winnie (16); LHPs Stephen Foster (39), Chasen Shreve (11); Cs Ryan Delgado (32), Evan Gattis (23); OF/3B Todd Cunningham (2); SS Brandon Drury (13), Barrett Kleinknecht (12), Matt Lipka (1s), Andrelton Simmons (2); OF Kenny Fleming (30), Kurt Fleming (8), Jason Mowry (20), David Rohm (9).

[...] Continue Reading »