Presented here are the top 10 runs created tallies for position-player prospects from weekend series.

• Brian Goodwin isn't the only Nationals center-field prospect making noise in the second half. High Class A Potomac's Michael Taylor, a prep shortstop who moved to the outfield last season, clubbed two of his three homers over the weekend, and he's now batting .296/.359/.521 with 10 extra-base hits in 20 games this month.

• Pop-up prospect Gregory Polanco has batted .412/.470/.637 with 17 extra-base hits and just 10 strikeouts in 29 games since the South Atlantic League all-star break. Going a bit further back, just two SAL batters have a higher OPS than Polanco's .999 since June 1. Look for much more on the Pirates' center field prospect this week in a feature by J.J. Cooper. [...] Continue Reading »

Now that all of the 2012 draft picks who are going to sign have signed, it's time to take another look at who are the youngest players in each league. But before we do that, it's also worthwhile to take a look at what are the median ages in each league. What's notable is that the International League's median player is roughly half a year older than the other Triple-A league and the Eastern League's median age is a half year older than the other Double-A leagues.

When looking at the youngest players in each league, there are a couple of roster quirks. Phillies prospect Carlos Tocci hasn't played a game in the South Atlantic League this year, but he is on the Lakewood disabled list because of roster technicalities. Any player who is on the disabled list is marked by an asterisk.

Bryce Harper is not only the youngest player in the majors by over a year, but he'd also be the youngest player in both Triple-A leagues by over a year, two of the three Double-A leagues and the high Class A California League [...] Continue Reading »

One of the great stories of the 2011 season was Neil Ramirez's rise from slow-developing pitcher to top prospect. Ramirez jumped from high Class A to Triple-A for a spot start and pitched so well that he got to spend most of the season at the higher level.

Ramirez won't remember 2012 so fondly. He pitched poorly enough in a return to Round Rock that he was demoted back to Double-A Frisco recently. Then he was limited to roughly 60 pitches in two recent starts because of shoulder fatigue. The pitch limit wasn't an issue on Tuesday, general ineffectiveness was. Ramirez gave up six runs and eight hits in 2 1/3 innings while walking two and striking out one. In a rough season for Ramirez this was the third time he's failed to get out of the third.

Ramirez's velocity is down and his control this year has generally not been as sharp was it was in 2011, so there are some explanations for his struggles. But for a pitcher who has battled some injury issues in the past, it's not necessarily a comforting explanation.

Ramirez's struggles masked what was another nice day for the Frisco lineup. First baseman/third baseman Mike Olt hit his 23rd home run of the season and Jurickson Profar doubled. Profar started the game at second while normal second baseman Leury Garcia got a chance to start at shortstop, but Profar had to return to his normal spot after Garcia left the game with a foot injury after being hit by a pitch.

Presented here are the top 10 runs created tallies for position-player prospects from weekend series.

• The 26th pick in the 2010 draft, Kyle Parker missed most of April after being struck in the hand by an errant pitch. He returned to the field for high Class A Modesto in May, though the right fielder didn't return to form until June. In fact, since June 2 Parker has batted .338/.459/.534 (50-for-138) with seven homers, eight doubles and a walk-to-strikeout ratio of 30-to-35.

• If he sticks around the Arizona League long enough, Rangers third baseman Joey Gallo has a real shot at the league's home run record of 16, which was established by Wladimir Balentien in 2003. Drafted out of high school 39th overall in June, Gallo is batting .349/.528/.952 with 10 homers through his first 20 pro games. [...] Continue Reading »

Presented here are the top 10 pitcher game scores from weekend series.

• While an Indians minor leaguer threw a no-hitter at the Double-A level (see below), righthander Cody Martin's start for high Class A Lynchburg on Friday was arguably more masterful. He allowed the same number of baserunners (three) but struck out more than twice as many batters and didn't allow a run. In fact, Martin's 14-strikeout, two-hit shutout—which he won 1-0 for an added degree of difficulty—was so dominant that he registered the highest game score of the minor league season, a 96.

So what kind of prospect is Martin, a 22-year-old whom the Braves drafted out of Gonzaga in the seventh round last year? In short: a modest one, though his overall command and above-average curveball make him a prospect with a real chance to pitch in the big leagues as middle reliever or back-of-the-rotation starter. Martin sits at a modest 89-90 mph, but he works his fastball effectively in and out, up and down, and he expertly mixes in an average changeup and an out-pitch curve. With 101 strikeouts, he trails only Hillcats teammate Aaron Northcraft for the Carolina League lead. [...] Continue Reading »

In his first week in Double-A, we've received another example of just how fast Billy Hamilton is.

Playing against the Jacksonville Suns on Sunday, Hamilton hit one of the fastest inside-the-park home runs anyone has ever seen. Hamilton hit a line drive that Suns right fielder Kyle Jensen dove and couldn't catch. Center fielder Donnie Webb came over quite quickly to back up the play, but a couple of bobbles handling the ball were all Hamilton needed to round the bases. He scored standing up without even a real throw home.

Timing the play, Hamilton rounded the bases in 13.8 seconds. The fastest home run in the past couple of years in the big leagues is a 14-second round trip by Angels outfielder Peter Bourjos.

Hamilton was held without a stolen base on Sunday, which means he still sits at 109 steals for the season. Here's the home run if you want to see it yourself.

By Everett Merrill

READING, Pa.—Mets righthander Zack Wheeler began his first season in Double-A in fine fashion, going 6-3, 1.88 with a strikeout per inning through 12 starts for Binghamton. He hit the proverbial wall soon after, allowing 12 runs and 17 hits in his next two outings, totaling 13 2/3 innings.

The 22-year-old Wheeler didn't dwell on the bad performances or let them fester. He had the maturity to put the drubbings in proper perspective.

"Sometimes you can get away with throwing hard and missing your spots," he said, reflecting on those two starts in late June. "But in those games I was missing my spots, and they were hitting me. That reminded me of what would happen if I was in the big leagues. It was a good learning experience, so actually I'm glad it happened."

Wheeler responded with one of his finest starts of the season on July 5, a six-hitter with six strikeouts and one run allowed over 7 1/3 innings in a win against Richmond. [...] 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've rolled out the East and the Central, and we're wrapping up with the West today. 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 nine of the reports from the West, 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.

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.

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—the East organizations today, the Central tomorrow and 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 10 of the reports from the East, 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.

Presented here are the top 10 pitcher game scores from weekend series, July 6-8.

• Triple-A Toledo righty Jacob Turner turned in a three-hit shutout of Louisville on Saturday, facing 29 batters and striking out six in 100-degree heat. Bats manager David Bell told the Louisville Courier-Journal afterward that the Tigers prospect had good stuff. "He looks like a big league pitcher with the way he throws the ball, using both sides of the plate," Bell said. "He can sink it, cut it and he throws his pitches for strikes."

• Braves lefty Sean Gilmartin has received credit for three complete games with Double-A Mississippi this season, yet when he went nine innings for the first time on Friday he did not add another CG to his tally. That's because the M-Braves and Jackson Generals battled through 12 innings, with Mississippi rallying from down one to win in the bottom half of the 12th. [...] Continue Reading »

Presented here are the top 10 runs created tallies for position-player prospects from weekend series, July 6-8.

• Blue Jays corner outfield prospect Chris Hawkins hit .160 (15-for-94) with three extra-base hits in June, but he's already struck two doubles and a triple through eight July games with low Class A Lansing. The 2010 third-rounder is batting .289/.346/.365 through 318 at-bats after going 8-for-10 with five walks and a stolen base over the weekend.

• Brewers 2010 fourth-rounder Hunter Morris has an outside shot at winning the Double-A Southern League triple crown. He's batting .314 (second in the batting race) with 14 homers (fourth) and 67 RBIs (first) for Huntsville. [...] Continue Reading »

A couple weeks ago, we were wondering whether Billy Hamilton could have 100 steals before the Futures Game, coming up this Sunday. Turns out, he made it with time to spare. Hamilton entered Monday's game for high Class A Bakersfield against Lake Elsinore with 98 steals. He walked and stole second in the fifth for No. 99, and No. 100 came three innings later after a single and then another steal of second (Box Score).

We've chronicled Hamilton's pursuit of Vince Coleman's minor-league steals record of 145, set in 1983. With Hamilton owning 100 steals through Bakersfield's first 81 games, he remains on track to blow past Coleman's mark. Hamilton, who went 1-for-3 in Monday's game and is hitting .327/.417/.447, is officially 100-for-121 stealing on the year. There are plenty of amazing numbers to choose from regarding Hamilton, but we'll try this for now: his 100 steals as an individual surpass the totals for all but 14 of the other 119 full-season minor league teams (excluding Bakersfield).

Anyone figuring Tony Cingrani’s momentum would slow will have to keep waiting. The Reds lefthander delivered another strong outing Monday in his sixth start for Double-A Pensacola, striking out nine over 6 2/3 shutout innings.

It would’ve been tough for Cingrani, 22, to encore his previous start, when he fanned 15 over eight scoreless innings on June 27, but he did extend his scoreless streak to 14 2/3 innings. Cingrani came out and retired the first 10 Jacksonville hitters he faced, though his control wasn’t as sharp the rest of the way. He walked four and gave up two hits over his last 3 2/3 innings, but he escaped unscathed each time and picked up his third Double-A win to improve to 3-1, 1.75 in 36 innings for Pensacola (Box Score).

Although Cingrani’s secondary pitched don’t blow scouts away, his low 90s fastball has some deception to go with the velocity, and Southern League hitters haven’t been able to solve him much better than California League hitters before them. Cingrani’s holding Double-A hitters to a .190 average, having allowed 24 hits in 36 innings. His nine strikeouts Monday gave him 118 in 92 2/3 innings between the two levels, and he climbed to second on the minor league strikeout list, trailing only the A’s Dan Straily (134). Cingrani retained his lead in the minors’ ERA race, dropping his to 1.36.

When the Royals took Bubba Starling with the fifth overall pick in last year’s draft, they knew there were getting a player with tremendous upside but whose lack of polish would dictate a long development process. Starling backed up both of those notions with his performance Monday for Rookie-level Burlington.

The ultra-athletic center fielder has no shortage of tools, and he put his raw power on full display Monday, homering twice—the first two long balls of his career—as Burlington clobbered Danville 13-5 (Box Score). The righty-swinging Starling pulled both of his homers, a two-run shot in the first and a three-run in the seventh, to left field. He also mixed in an RBI single to center in the third, giving him six RBIs for the game.

Starling, 19, went 3-for-6 on the night, and he showed where his feel for hitting still has some catching up to do with his physical tools as he struck out in each of his other there at-bats (two swinging, one looking). Slowed by a hamstring problem that cost him the first nine games of Burlington’s season, Starling was just 2-for-11 in his first three games for the B-Royals coming into Monday’s action.

Presented here are the top 10 pitcher game scores from weekend series, June 29-July 1.

• Triple-A Buffalo righthander Matt Harvey struck out nine Louisville batters on Friday, pushing his season strikeout total to 96 (good for second place in the International League) and notching a season-high 81 game score. His previous best: a 74 against Lehigh Valley on April 25 (seven innings, four hits, no runs, five whiffs). The 23-year-old Harvey quietly had a fine month of June in Triple-A, going 2-2, 2.45 in six starts with 40 strikeouts, 14 walks and 29 hits allowed in 33 innings. His fastball sits consistently in the 93-94 mph range and his slider has made strides since his amateur days, and Harvey can throw it in the low 80s as a backdoor breaker to lefties and dial it up to 86 mph as a chase pitch versus righties.

• The Double-A Pensacola pitching staff leads the Southern League with 9.2 strikeouts per nine innings, and with a rotation headed by Daniel Corcino, Tony Cingrani, Kyle Lotzkar and J.C. Sulbaran it's easy to see why. Cingrani notched 15 strikeouts his last time out for the Blue Wahoos, and Corcino followed on Friday with a strong eight-inning performance in which he allowed one run on five hits while striking out seven. Corcino surpassed that 73 game score only one other time this season, when he recorded an 88 on June 16 when he completed eight no-hit innings.

Top Performance By A Prospect-Eligible Pitcher Outside His Team's Top 30

Triple-A Tacoma righthander Andrew Carraway, a Mariners 12th-rounder from Virginia in 2009, threw a two-hitter against Fresno on Saturday, facing just 29 batters. One of the two hits the 25-year-old Carraway allowed was a Todd Linden solo home run, however, so his final line was one run allowed, seven strikeouts and zero walks. With an 86 game score, Carraway moves into a tie for third place on the top Triple-A game scores of the year.

Noteworthy Performance In Short-Season League Play

Diamondbacks righty Blake Perry tossed a nine-inning complete game for short-season Yakima on Saturday, allowing three hits and one run while striking out five. The 20-year-old, a sixth-round pick in 2010, got knocked around in the Midwest League this spring (8.10 ERA, 19 walks in 13 innings), but he's been sharp in the Northwest League thus far, notching a 16-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 15 innings.

Worst Game Score By A Prospect

While Josh Reddick and Miles Head enjoyed monster first halves in the Athletics system following the December trade that sent them from Boston to Oakland, 19-year-old righthander Raul Alcantara has had a rougher go of things. He lasted just four innings in his start for low Class A Burlington on Sunday, permitting 10 runs (seven earned) while allowing nine hits and two walks. That worked out to a game score of 11 for Alcantara, who has a 39-to-30 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 74 innings this season.

Bill James' game score calculation (Wikipedia entry) rewards pitchers who work deep into games without allowing many runs or hits while providing extra credit for dominance (strikeouts) and control (few walks).

Presented here are the top 10 runs created tallies for position-player prospects from weekend series, June 29-July 1.

• While West Virginia teammate Alen Hanson receives most of the attention because he's a 19-year-old, switch-hitting shortstop, some scouts prefer center fielder Gregory Polanco as a prospect. The 20-year-old Dominican displays strong instincts in the outfield and could grow into power (perhaps turning a few of those five doubles into homers) as his 6-foot-4 frame matures. Polanco is batting .308/.369/.507 with 11 homers and 17 doubles in 292 at-bats, an excellent showing in his first taste of full-season ball.

• If we fans are lucky the Royals will keep Wil Myers in Triple-A through mid-July. It's not that they need worry about service time or supplying extra development time for the 21-year-old phenom. No, keeping him with Omaha through July 11 would entail stops in the Futures Game in Kansas City and the Triple-A all-star game in Buffalo. Myers now has spent more time in Triple-A this season than Double-A, but it's had little effect on his overall line. He's batting .329/.408/.688 through 301 at-bats with a minor league-leading 27 home runs. He ranks third in the minors with 71 RBIs and fourth in slugging. [...] Continue Reading »

Twins shortstop prospect Niko Goodrum hit for the cycle and drove in four runs for Rookie-level Elizabethton on Saturday as the 20-year-old continues to show across-the-board improvement in his second go-round in the Appalachian League. Through 10 games with the E-Twins, he's batting .333/.400/.810 in 42 at-bats, while hitting two-hole for the league's top offense. Goodrum leads the league with 14 RBIs, 10 extra-base hits, six triples and 12 runs scored.

The 2010 second-round pick entered pro ball with a thud, hitting .161 in 36 games in the Gulf Coast League during his first summer out of high school in Fayetteville, Ga. Goodrum improved in 2011, notching a .735 OPS for Elizabethton that represented progress, but not enough to crack the league's top prospects list at season's end. Observers liked his swing but thought he'd be served by greater physical maturity.

The switch-hitting Goodrum has delivered on that prophecy this season by hitting for more power. He already has tied his homer output from last season, two, and he needs just five extra-base hits to match his total from last year. Goodrum has the system's best throwing arm, he runs well and his hands are soft enough to stay on the infield, so there could be further development in his near future. [...] Continue Reading »

The Rays have signed Dominican catcher Erick Maria for $300,000.

Maria was originally known as Eric Otanez when he signed with the Rays for $300,000 last year soon after July 2 while presenting himself as a 16-year-old. That would have been the top international signing bonus the Rays handed out in 2011, but the deal fell apart after a Major League Baseball investigation revealed that his date of birth was inaccurate. By his new date of birth, Maria turned 18 yesterday. MLB had declared Maria ineligible to sign for one year, but the league ended up reducing his sentence.

Maria is 6-foot-2, 200 pounds and moved behind the plate two and a half years ago. He shows good defensive tools with a strong arm and a quick release. His righthanded bat has also shown improvement and he has developed into a better prospect than he was a year ago, but he appears to have remained loyal to the Rays to honor his original deal.

Since Maria signed before July 2, his bonus will not count against Tampa Bay's $2.9 million international signing bonus pool for 2012-13, which begins tomorrow. The Rays are expected to be one of the most aggressive teams for the top talent on the market, particularly in Venezuela.

Shelby Miller's 2012 has left him further from the big leagues than he was when spring training began, but last night was a significant step in the right direction.

In what was easily the best start of the season for Miller, the 21-year-old righthander held Albuquerque to one hit (a solo home run by Matt Angle) in five innings. Miller struck out eight and walked three, lowering his ERA with Triple-A Memphis to 5.70.

Miller was skipped for a turn through the rotation so that he could work on his mechanics. On Wednesday night, we saw the results: improved control, a fastball that sat at 92 mph and touched 95 and a more consistent arm slot.

Perhaps just as importantly, Miller was operating under a no-shake rule. The Cardinals told him that he was to throw whatever the catcher signaled. So if catcher Bryan Anderson called for a curveball, Miller no longer had the leeway to shake him off to go back to his fastball. Miller had gotten a little fastball happy earlier this year, so the new rule ensures that he uses his curveball and changeup.

The new approach worked. Miller wasn't particularly fine with his control–his 57.47 percent strike percentage was actually his worst percentage of the season. But with hitters no longer able to focus on his fastball, he was able to dominate anyway.