Obviously Rafael Rodriguez (AZ). But besides him:

Hector Sanchez (AZ) – Venezuelan Catcher; keeps hitting and getting on base (.296/.400/.418) w/ great K/BB ratio (17/13); don’t know if he can stick at catcher – may have to move to 1B, but bat still looks good; power should develop, but don’t know if it’ll be enough from 1B (he’s 6’0", 180 lbs.); will turn 20 in November.

Julio Izturis (AZ) – Venezuelan 2B (.326/.404/.411); don’t think he’ll develop much power; don’t know about his defense, but only charged with 1 error so far this year; has some speed (9/1 sb/cs ratio); will turn 20 at the end of the month; obviously has strong bloodlines.

Ydwin Villegas (AZ) – our next athletic switch-hitting Venezuelan SS; hitting .325/.368/.389; moved Ochoa off of SS to 3B for him, so I’m assuming he’s solid on defense; will turn 19 in September.

Sundrendy Windster (AZ) – hitting .246/.333/.404; big kid with good power potential; good BB rate (10.1% BB%), but contact issues (28.7% K%); was a CF in the DSL, but I think he’s moved to a corner this year (can anyone confirm?); turned 20 last February.

Edward Concepcion (AZ) – Dominican RHP w/ good size (6’3"); K-rate (28.8%) and GB/FO ratio (2.21) are fantastic; BB-rate acceptable (9.1%); Power pitcher w/ FB that can run up to the mid-90s; don’t know anything about his off-speed stuff; will turn 21 in October.

Cameron Lamb (AZ) – Australian RHP w/ good size (6’3"); good K-rate (25.5%); BB-rate high (12.2%); has gotten lucky w/ BABIP (.250); don’t know about his stuff; turned 20 in May.

Kendry Florez (DSL) – 6’2" RHP from the Dominican; will turn 18 in November; K% = 22.7%; BB% = 9.6%; 1.85 GO/AO ratio

Ariel Hernandez (DSL) – RHP from the Dominican w/ good size (6’3"); will turn 18 next March; K% = 18.4%; BB% = 9.4%

Jose de la Cruz (DSL) – Right-handed hitting OF from the Dominican (.296/.345/.395); turned 18 last April; doesn’t strike out (K-rate = 13.3%), but also doesn’t walk (BB-rate = 4.2%); don’t know about his physical size – assume it’s OK since he’s playing right.

Nice to see Posey pick up where he left off.

I was at the Fresno game last night (and will be for all 4 games). FWIW, here are my impressions. Clearly, I’m not a scout, but I do play one on tv.

Steve Hammond: somewhere in the middle innings I realized that I couldn’t remember him throwing a first-pitch strike. Not to say he never did; I hadn’t been keeping track. I just thought “dang, another ball-one count.” He faced an entirely RHH lineup, and I only recall 2 or three inside pitches. His first pitch was invariably outside to the RHH. What he did do well was spot his changeup. Buster did a good job of calling for it in appropriate situations. Hammond has an easy, repeatable delivery. I didn’t get a chance to see the radar gun readings, but I’d guess he topped out around 88-89. If he’d mix in a few first-pitch strikes, I could imagine him having some role on a ML team. One interesting note: he never faced more than 4 batters in an inning! The HR given up to Troy Glaus was just crushed, however.

Waldis Joaquin: brings serious heat. The announcers mentioned 94-95mph. He is a max-effort kind of pitcher; unfortunately, when he throws his changeup he alters his delivery, almost flinging the ball towards the plate, which makes it obvious what he’s doing. The local announcers (including Charlie Lea, who no-hit the Giants back in the day) noticed that right away. But the fastball is a good one, with some movement.

Steve Edlefsen: for some reason, I was expecting a huge guy. Average-looking; I don’t recall his velocity (I’ll try to find out the rest of this week), but his pitches have good lateral movement, and he clearly knows what he’s doing out there, setting up the hitters well.

Buster Posey: he showed a willingness to hit the outside pitch to RF, and got RBI that way. Both strikeouts were looking, and both over the outside edge of the plate. The first was definitely a strike (I think he was guessing offspeed and got a fastball), but the second one could have been called either way. He just walked off with no comment each time – smart, since he has to work with the umpire the whole game. Posey looks graceful and athletic, all the stuff you hope for and read about. He looks very comfortable behind the plate, and showed no ill effects from the concussion or near-concussion he missed time for (maybe “concussion-like symptoms” is the new “flu-like symptoms”?). He hit nothing but ropes in BP.

Speaking of BP, although I didn’t to see all of it (I hope to today), the most impressive hitter there was Kevin Frandsen. Everything hit hard, on a line, and most to the warning track. I didn’t know their jersey numbers at that point, but I saw Doug Greenwald, the Grizz announcer, and asked him who #19 was. (should have figured, I guess). Very impressive BP.

The player that stood out, to me, in the game was Ben Copeland. He hustled his way into a double, and he made a strong turn at 1B on his single, just in case the OF bobbled the ball in any way. Even the announcers commented on his aggressive play. Also FWIW, they commented that the whole team played sound, fundamental baseball.

I saw that Felipe Alou, Dick Tidrow, and scout Lee Elder were with the team. I got to shake Felipe’s hand as he came through the control room (the Redbirds have a wall that they ask visiting famous people to sign). I’ll try to find Tidrow and Elder and talk to them a bit. Any questions you guys want me to ask in particular, other than “when does Wheeler make the bigs?”

I’m looking forward to seeing Kevin Pucetas tonight, and I hope to get some decent pictures around BP to share with you guys (assuming I can master that technology).

WE NEEDZ THAT FOR THE STRETCH RUN, GITTUR DUNN SABES

is troy glaus too old to be considered a prospect?

How many of last year’s draft picks are in the majors at this point?

Off the top of my head, the only ones I can think of are Gordon Beckham and Brian Matusz.