• Wilson Ramos, c, Twins. Ramos had his day in the sun. The 22-year-old went 7-for-9 with three doubles in his first two big league games at the beginning of May. But the drop off since then has been precipitous. Ramos went just 1-for-18 in the other five games of his big league stay, and he has yet to recover his stroke with Triple-A Rochester. In 10 games (three of them as DH), he has batted .116/.116/.233 (5-for-43) with no walks and nine strikeouts. Ramos has contributed the occasional long hit in that time, clubbing two doubles and a home run.

• Josh Vitters, 3b, Cubs. The Cubs promoted the 20-year-old Vitters from high Class A Daytona to Double-A Tennessee in early May just as he was starting to heat up in the FSL. At the time, he was riding an eight-game hitting streak and had upped his line to .291/.350/.445 in 110 at-bats. Going to the Southern League has cooled Vitters' bat off once again. He's hitting just .246/.259/.368 in 57 at-bats for the Smokies, and he suffered through a tough .048/.091/.048 (1-for-21) week with five strikeouts. Vitters always goes to the plate to hit—he's yet to draw a walk in 17 Double-A games.

• Jaff Decker, lf, Padres. High Class A Lake Elsinore has won two-thirds of its games and cruised to the top of the California League standings. However, they haven't gotten much production from one of the Padres' best hitting prospects. The 20-year-old Decker has a powerful lefthanded stroke and a discerning batting eye, yet he's batted just .133/.204/.267 through his first 12 games in one of the friendliest hitter's leagues out there. He cracked three doubles last week but otherwise went 4-for-22 (.182) with no walks and 12 strikeouts. His ratio on the year: 2-to-22. Decker began the season on the disabled list with a hamstring strain, which might explain some of his early trouble—but we never would have expected this from a man who carried a .466 on-base percentage into the season.

• Shelby Miller, rhp, Cardinals. Miller's pro debut has been filled with ups and downs, which is somewhat to be expected with a teenager with an elite fastball and sometimes iffy command. A couple of weeks ago, his manager called out his mound presence in a relatively short outing. This week, Miller seemed to struggle with the heat of a noon start. Miller, 19, lasted only two innings as he was lifted after giving up hits to the first four batters of the third inning—his line of 2 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO is the worst of his brief career. Despite a 5.25 ERA, Miller hasn't been awful, but he's had too many deep counts which explains why he's made it out of the fifth only three times in nine starts.

MAN AMONG BOYS

• Jonathan Singleton, 1b, Phillies. Singleton caught scouts' eyes on the high school showcase circuit in 2008, but an underwhelming season as a high school senior last year kept him on the draft board until the Phillies nabbed him in the eighth round. Philadelphia trusted their reports that Singleton was an advanced hitter for his age and gave him $200,000. He's looking like a bargain right now. Singleton, 18, joined low Class A Lakewood in mid-May and has hit in 13 of 14 games since getting in the lineup.

The lefthanded hitter currently is riding an 11-game hitting streak and has shown his share of both patience and power, having homered four times and walked nine times on his way to a .429/.508/.755 line through 49 at-bats. This week alone, Singleton hit .520/.556/.920 (13-for-25) with a pair of homers, four doubles and nine RBIs.