8/5 AA Minor League Report

Posted by Jeremy on August 6, 2009 under Uncategorized | Read the First Comment

Juan Francisco cranked out two more homeruns last night, raising his total to 22, and drove in four runs as part of a three hit night.  Since I wrote about Francisco yesterday, I will seek out some new AA prospects to tout today. 

Drew Locke became the first 100 RBI guy in the minor leagues this season after rapping four hits in five at bats yesterday.  Locke is hitting .330 this season for the Corpus Christi Hooks and has hit 17 HR and 25 doubles.  At 26 years old, the Boston College alum is way too old for AA and does not have an clear shot at any OF position with the Astros.  Carlos Lee is under contract from now until….forever and there is no one that will supplant Hunter Pence from the other spot.  End result?  A good hitting AAAA player in the mold of Chris Carter (Red Sox), Jaime D’Antona, and Joe Koshansky.

Today’s top AA Player is Oakland A’s 1B prospect Chris Carter.  The burly slugger went 3-4 yesterday with a double, two RBI and two runs scored.  Carter’s transformation into a complete hitter this season has been something to behold.  So far, Carter has been able to raise his average 70 points over last season’s totals in the much more hitter friendly California League.  He’s smacked 19 HR 84 RBI 35 doubles and has scored 94 runs with Midland and has an respectible 69 BB/102 K rate this season.  The power is there for Carter to hit more than 30 HR every year as a major leaguer but his willingness to use the whole field and work deeper into counts has made him a multi-dimensional hitter.  At just 22 years old, Carter seems primed to take over the 1B duties as early as opening day next season.  The market for Carter’s cards is not as hot as one might expect.  His 2007 Bowman Chrome Prospects cards sell for $1.00-1.75 each and his 2008 Donruss Threads autos, his only autos to date, are hard to find but can be had for $17-20 each.  I think there is considerable room for growth in his cards as he has now found a way to pair his extraordinary power with sound plate discipline and a whole field plate approach.  

AA Player of the Day—CHRIS CARTER 

 

Other Notable Performances

Hitting:

• Jon Lucroy—2-3 3B RBI R BB
• Matt Dominguez—2-4 2 2B
• Jorge Jimenez—2-5 3B 2 RBI R
• Jon Still—2-5 2B R RBI
• David Cooper—1-2 HR(6) 2 RBI 2 BB
• Ruben Tejada—3-5 2B R 2 SB(12)
• Ike Davis—2-5 2R RBI
• Luke Hughes—1-3 HR(9) 4 RBI
• Brennan Boesch—2-4 HR(24) RBI 3R
• Brett Pill—3-5 2B 3 RBI
• Beau Mills—2-5 R RBI
• Eduardo Nunez—2-4 HR(8) 2 RBI 2R SB(13)
• Dominic Brown—2-4 HR(12) 2 RBI 2B 2R
• Chad Tracy—2-4 2 2B 2R 3 RBI
• Chris Carter—3-4 2B 2R 2 RBI BB
• Matt Spencer—1-4 R 2 RBI
• Drew Locke—4-5 2B R RBI
• Jose Duarte—2-3 2B 3 RBI BB 2 SB(19)
• John Shelby III—3-4 2 2B R RBI BB
• C.J. Retherford—2-3 2 2B R 2 RBI BB
• Evan Frey—3-5 R 3 SB(20)
• Freddie Freeman—1-3 2B R RBI BB
• Mark Trumbo—2-4 HR(12) 4 RBI
• Peter Bourjos—1-4 HR(5) RBI 2R BB
• Drew Sutton—2-4 2 2B 2R 2 RBI SB(12)
• Juan Francisco—3-4 2 HR(22) 4 RBI 2R
• Ty Wright—2-4 HR(8) 2 RBI 2R BB

Pitching:

• Kenny Rodriguez—7 IP H 3 BB 9K W (8-6)
• Eric Niesen—5 IP 5H 2 ER 2 BB 10K W (5-10)