• Eduardo Escobar, ss, White Sox: The White Sox have a rich tradition with shortstops from Venezuela—see: Luis Aparicio and Ozzie Guillen—and coming into the year, Escobar looked like a potential candidate to be the next in line. The 5-foot-10, 150-pound Escobar put a poor April behind him with a solid May at Triple-A Charlotte, hitting .271/.291/.469 with four home runs, nearly equaling his total of six last year. So far in June, though, he's slipped back to his early season woes. In his last 10 games Escobar has gone 5-for-35 and is still in the middle of a 0-for-17 hole with seven strikeouts.

• Chun Chen, c, Indians. Chen had been holding his own with Double-A Akron, but this week is one he'll want to forget, both offensively and defensively. At the plate, the 22-year-old hit just .083/.115/.125 (2-for-24) with a double and 10 strikeouts. Chen had been hitting a solid .292/.335/.487 coming into the week, so it could be written off as an aberration. His defense, which was the biggest sore point for him entering the year, took a nose dive. Chen allowed three passed balls this week—including two in one game—and has 10 for the season, the third most among Eastern League catchers. He also committed an error Thursday, getting called for catcher's interference. The good news is that was his first error of the season, and he leads EL catchers in throwing out basestealers at 36.5 percent (27 of 74).

• Gary Brown, of, Giants: Brown hit his lone bump in the road this week in what has otherwise been a breakout campaign. After torching high Class A Cal League pitchers in May, hitting .397 with a 1.064 OPS, the Giants' first-rounder of a year ago has suddenly stumbled in June, going just 2-for-27 in San Jose's last six games. Strikeouts have been one of the only red flags on the 22-year-old's resume this spring, and he went down six times last week. Brown still sports a .332/.403/.487 line, indicative of how well he had been doing.

• Brett Eibner, of, Royals: Kansas City's robust farm system has taken its share of hits so far in 2011, and you can tack Eibner's name to the list of unexpected injuries and inconsistent performances. A two-way standout for Arkansas this time last year, Eibner signed late as a second-round pick and had a hand injury that delayed his pro debut until early April, when he hit a home run in his first at-bat for low Class A Kane County. The next night, Eibner hurt his left thumb while making a diving catch and has struggled since returning to the Cougar lineup, hitting 2-for-23 in his first six games back.

Henry Sosa, rhp, Giants: After reestablishing himself as a prospect with a strong 2010 campaign, Sosa quickly saw the goodwill he earned vanish when he racked up a 10.41 ERA in 23 innings for Triple-A Fresno this season. Accordingly, San Francisco removed him from their 40-man and assigned him to Double-A Richmond, where he's very quickly turned his season around. Coming out of the pen on June 11, Sosa hurled four scoreless innings and induced eight ground outs along with three strikeouts. He made his first start for Richmond this season on Wednesday, going another five clean innings with four strikeouts. Sosa has yet to be scored upon in his 10 2/3 innings at Double-A this season, and he needs more performances like this week (nine innings, no runs, four hits, two walks, six strikeouts) for the clock is ticking for the 25-year-old.

Rougned Odor, ss, Rangers: Our friends in the scouting world have eyes beyond just the teams playing official games. Bill Mitchell has a report today on a Mariners prospect who was throwing up to 100 mph in spring training and will start in the short-season Northwest League. Odor, a 17-year-old shortstop who signed out of Venezuela for $425,000 in January, will join him in the NWL, following in the aggressive path the Rangers used when they assigned shortstop Jurickson Profar to Spokane in 2010 after signing him for $1.55 million out of Curacao in 2009. Odor separated himself at extended spring training with his sweet swing, advanced approach at the plate and ability to hit the ball to all fields. He probably projects better at second base down the road, but his he should have plenty of bat for a middle infielder.