• Jordan Lyles, rhp, Astros: We don't want to be too hard on Lyles. After all, the 19-year-old's had a tremendous season as the youngest pitcher in the Double-A Texas League. But the fact remains that Lyles has been fairly hittable lately. He surrendered 10 hits in six innings on June 25, his last start before the TL's all-star break, then had his shortest outing of the season Tuesday at Northwest Arkansas. Lyles failed to make it out of the fourth inning against the Naturals, allowing six runs (all earned) on eight hits and six walks—he hadn't walked more than four in any previous start—over 3 1/3 innings.

•Josh Vitters, 3b, Cubs: Vitters continued his rough transition to Double-A Tennessee with a 2-for-16 week from the plate. Both hits were just singles and, through 51 games in the Southern League this season, Vitters is slugging just .331. The Cubs are probably hoping he can start to flash more power, as would be expected for a corner infielder selected with the No. 3 overall pick. His K/BB ratio is also 3:1, which is slightly worse than it had been at the lower levels.

•Jay Austin, cf, Astros: Early in the year, Austin looked like a breakout prospect just waiting to happen. A month into the season, Austin, 19, was hitting .322/.388/.539, drawing nearly as many walks as strikeouts. Now? Austin's season has taken a tumble, as he's down to .257/.305/.401 with 22 walks and 72 strikeouts in 351 plate appearances, numbers that are even worse when you consider he gets to play half his games in high Class A Lancaster.

• Casey Crosby, lhp, Tigers: Always be wary of pitchers who have gone under the knife. Crosby returned from Tommy John surgery last year throwing 92-95 mph and hitting 98, striking out more than a batter per innings in his domination of the low Class A Midwest League. Yet Crosby's been able to manage just three starts this year and they've all come in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League, where Crosby is rehabbing from an elbow injury. The results haven't been pretty either, with GCL hitters blowing up Crosby for 15 runs in 12 1/3 innings. There's still plenty of upside with the 21-year-old Crosby, but there are also considerable questions about his durability.


• Chris Tillman, rhp, Orioles: Tillman has yet to prove that he can pitch in the big leagues. But he sure seems to have Triple-A mastered. The pitching-poor Orioles, who rank last in the American League with a 5.12 ERA and 99 home runs, will give Tillman another crack at sticking in the rotation by recalling him from Triple-A Norfolk for tomorrow's start in Texas. The move comes after the 22-year-old Tillman tossed a nine-inning, one-hit shutout against Charlotte on Monday. Tillman struck out five and walked one in the outing, lowering his overall record with Norfolk to 8-4, 2.72 with 60 strikeouts and 17 walks in 79 innings. Tillman has yielded just four runs on 10 hits in three starts (22 innings) since being sent down from Baltimore. Tillman has not been able to duplicate the success in the majors. He was 0-3, 8.40 in four starts (15 innings) with the Orioles—two of which he failed to make it into the third inning—after going 2-5, 5.40 in 65 innings in his introduction to the majors last year.

• Nathan Baker, rhp, Pirates: In the minors, development trumps winning and losing. It also trumps getting your name in the record book, as Baker, the Pirates' 2009 fifth-round pick out of Mississippi, found out. Baker threw eight hitless innings for the West Virginia Power this week, but he didn't get to go out for the ninth to try to wrap up a no-hitter. He'd come too close to his pitch limit (he was at 95 pitches and he had a limit of 100), so on came reliever Gabriel Alvardo, who quickly gave up the no-hitter and ended up giving up three runs before the Power finally finished up the win. For Baker, a three-pitch lefty with solid average stuff, the move to the starting rotation in pro ball has worked out pretty well. He's 6-5, 3.21 and has shown the ability to work relatively deep into games.