• Alex Liddi, 3b, Mariners: Liddi has had trouble with pitch recognition and strikeouts before, but his first week in Triple-A Tacoma couldn't have gone much worse. The 22-year-old Liddi has gone down on strikes 14 times in 29 at-bats, doing so at least once in all eight games the Rainiers have played. When he has gotten the bat on the ball, things haven't gone much better, as he's hitting .103/.182/.138 with one double, one RBI and three walks thus far.

• Travis d'Arnaud c, Blue Jays: Remember when the Rangers had a "problem" of figuring out what to do with all of their catching prospects like Taylor Teagarden, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Max Ramirez? Even layers of prospects have a way of falling apart, and the Blue Jays are hoping for better results from their troika of J.P. Arencibia, d'Arnaud and Carlos Perez. D'Arnaud isn't off to a great start for Double-A New Hampshire, though, as the 21-year-old is just 2-for-23 (.087) with a double and a pair of walks so far.

• Alex Wimmers, rhp, Twins: Minnesota drafted Wimmers with their first-round pick thanks in large-part to his strike-throwing ways. That just makes his complete inability to find the strike zone or even the catcher's glove the more vexing. Working for high Class A Fort Myers, Wimmers walked the first six batters he faced before his first start of the year ended, an outing that included multiple wild pitches, strikes you could count on one hand and an array of balls bouncing off the backstop. The Twins placed Wimmers on the disabled list with "flu-like symptoms," but there's greater cause for concern here than anything a hearty bowl of chicken soup might fix.

• Nick Castellanos, 3b, Tigers: The Tigers' top draft selection last year as a sandwich pick, Castellanos has not had a full-season debut to remember. Playing at low Class A West Michigan, he started the year 0-for-9. In five games the 19-year old is 3-for-21 (.143) with one extra base hit and one walk. He has already struck out six times, one more time than he did in his seven-game stint in the Gulf Coast League last year.


• Chris Davis, 1b/3b, Rangers: Josh Hamilton's injury opened the door for the Rangers to recall Davis from Triple-A Round Rock, where he had hit the stuffing out of the baseball—just as he has every year in the minors. His home venue changed with Texas' Oklahoma City-for-Round Rock swap with the Astros, but the 25-year-old Davis has produced the same stellar results. The corner infielder opened the Pacific Coast League season by batting 5-for-21 (.429) with four homers and two doubles in five games. In parts of four Triple-A seasons, he's now batting .331/.396/.564 with 34 homers in 695 at-bats. But for a man who homered 17 times in 80 games as a 22-year-old Rangers rookie in 2008, Davis just hasn't been patient enough in the big leagues (.21 walk-to-strikeout ratio in MLB compared with .42 in Triple-A) for his power to play consistently. Mitch Moreland passed him on the organizational depth chart last year, so it's now or never for Davis.

• Drew Hutchison, rhp, Blue Jays: When the Blue Jays whiffed on signing picks in the top three rounds in 2009, they did land a consolation prize, as that freed up the $400,000 to sign righthander Drew Hutchison, a 15th-round pick out of a Lakeland, Fla., high school. When you draft a somewhat skinny high school righthander, scouts hope he'll add velocity as he fills out, and that's exactly what's happened with the 20-year-old. When Hutchison signed, he featured an 88-92 mph to go with an erratic, but promising low-80s slider and a useful changeup. Now he's sitting at 92-95 mph, and his slider has become a potentially devastating 86-88 mph rapier.

The Blue Jays big league staff got a taste of Hutchison's improvement when he came from the back fields to make an emergency start in spring training. Facing the Phillies' big leaguers, Hutchison held Philadelphia to two hits and two runs in 4 2/3 innings. Comparted to that test, returning to low Class A must have seemed easy. Hutchison cruised through his first start with Lansing, allowing three hits while striking out 11 and walking one in seven innings of work.

• Ramon Flores, lf, Yankees: Can you call a 19-year-old Venezuelan outfielder who signed for $775,000 a sleeper? Perhaps, since the 5-foot-10 left fielder is still fighting an uphill battle with his lack of size, but his swing and ability to get on base are hard to question. After hitting .329/.436/.481 in 189 plate appearances last year in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League (where he ranked as the league's No. 13 prospect), Flores had an adjustment period in a brief call-up to Charleston at the end of the year. The sweet-swinging lefthanded hitter is off to a better start this year in the South Atlantic League, hitting .407/.515/.556 with more walks (5) than strikeouts (3) in his first 33 trips to the plate. While teammate Slade Heathcott's tools stick out in a more obvious fashion, Flores is the RiverDog with more advanced feel for hitting and for the strike zone.