BluGrass Baseball rankings in BA’s 2010 Prospect Handbook

Minor League Baseball

The Baseball America Prospect Handbook is simply a must-have for any minor-league baseball fan. My handbook, in which Baseball America ranks the top 30 prospects in each organization, came in today, and since I ordered it straight from BA they included a 31st prospect supplement for each team. I’m listing where Kentucy players rank in their organizations below, but I’ll leave all BA’s analysis out as incentive for you to go buy their great product.

Houston Astros

  • 3) — RHP Jordan Lyles — 2009 Lexington Legends
  • 4)  — RHP Sammy Gervacio — 2005/2006 Lexington Legends
  • 6) — RHP Ross Seaton — 2009 Lexington Legends
  • 8 — OF Jay Austin — 2009 Lexington Legends
  • 11) — SS Tommy Manzella — 2006 Lexington Legends
  • 12) — RHP Daniel Meszaros — 2009 Lexington Legends
  • 14) — LHP Fernando Abad — 2008 Lexington Legends
  • 15) — RHP Matt Nevarez — 2009 Lexington Legends
  • 19) — RHP Arcenio Leon — 2009 Lexington Legends
  • 20) — C/OF Koby Clemens — 2006/2007 Lexington Legends
  • 21) — OF Brian Bogusevic — 2006 Lexington Legends
  • 23) — RHP Evan Englebrook — 2005 Lexington Legends
  • 25) — OF Collin DeLome — 2008 Lexington Legends
  • 26) — LHP Polin Trinidad — 2007 Lexington Legends
  • 27) — RHP Henry Villar — 2009 Lexington Legends
  • 28) — RHP Ashton Mowdy — 2009 Lexington Legends
  • 29) — LHP Brad Dydalewicz — 2009 Lexington Legends
  • 30) — RHP Kyle Greenwalt — 2009 Lexington Legends

Oakland Athletics

  • 27) — LHP Justin Marks — University of Louisville

Toronto Blue Jays

  • 1) — RHP Zach Stewart — 2009 Louisville Bats
  • 7) — RHP Josh Roenicke — 2009 Louisville Bats
  • 20) — RHP Daniel Webb — Ashland, Ky. (Blazer)
  • 22) — RHP Trystan Magnuson — University of Louisville

Atlanta Braves

  • 22) — LHP Richard Sullivan — Louisville, Ky. (Ballard)

St. Louis Cardinals

  • 27) — LHP Ben Jukich — 2009 Louisville Bats

Arizona Diamondbacks

  • 9) — OF Collin Cowgill — University of Kentucky

San Francisco Giants

  • 18) — 3B Chris Dominguez — University of Louisville

Baltimore Orioles

  • 31) — C Craig Tatum — 2009 Louisville Bats

Philadelphia Phillies

  • 24) — RHP B. J. Rosenberg — University of Louisville

Texas Rangers

  • 7) — LHP Robbie Ross — Lexington, Ky. (LCA)

Tampa Bay Rays

  • 4) — LHP Matt Moore — 2009 Bowling Green Hot Rods
  • 6) — SS Tim Beckham — 2009 Bowling Green Hot Rods
  • 10) — RHP Nick Barnese — 2009 Bowling Green Hot Rods
  • 13) — RHP Joe Cruz — 2009 Bowling Green Hot Rods
  • 26) — LHP Frank De Los Santos — 2009 Bowling Green Hot Rods
  • 29) — C Jake Jefferies —  2009 Bowling Green Hot Rods
  • 31) — OF Keyong Kang — 2009 Bowling Green Hot Rods

Cincinnati Reds

  • 1) — INF/OF Todd Frazier — 2009 Louisville Bats
  • 2) — 1B Yonder Alonso — 2009 Louisville Bats
  • 4) — OF Chris Heisey — 2009 Louisville Bats
  • 5) — 3B Juan Francisco — 2009 Louisville Bats
  • 7) — LHP Travis Wood — 2009 Louisville Bats
  • 8 — LHP Matt Maloney — 2009 Louisville Bats
  • 12) — SS/2B Chris Valakia — 2009 Louisville Bats
  • 14) — RHP Logan Ondrusek — 2009 Louisville Bats
  • 19) — RHP Enerio Del Rosario — 2009 Louisville Bats
  • 22)  — LHP Pedro Viola — 2009 Louisville Bats

Colorado Rockies

  • 2) — LHP Christian Friedrich — Eastern Kentucky University
  • 24) — RHP Chaz Roe — Lexington, Ky. (Lafayette)

Kansas City Royals

  • 19) — OF Jordan Parraz — 2007 Lexington Legends

Detroit Tigers

  • 11) — 1B Ryan Strieby — University of Kentucky
  • 24) — 3B Wade Gaynor — Western Kentucky University
  • 28) — RHP Scott Green — University of Kentucky

Minnesota Twins

  • 5) — OF Ben Revere — Lexington, Ky. (Lex Cath)

Chicago White Sox

  • 25) — OF John Shelby — University of Kentucky
  • 26) — RHP Nathan Jones — Northern Kentucky University

Bluegrass connection to three-team blockbuster

College Baseball, Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball

Joe Blanton; UK Athletics Wallpaper

The Hot Stove is abuzz with news of the three-team blockbuster between the Philadelphia Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners, and if you look hard enough there is a Bluegrass angle to the story. For Kentucky fans the real question is what does the trade do for Phillies starting pitcher and University of Kentucky alum Joe Blanton?

  • John Paul Morosi of FoxSports.com tweets that for now Joe Blanton appears likely to stay in Philadelphia.
  • 2009 Louisville Bats Zach Stewart and Josh Roenicke, traded by the Reds for Scott Rolen, were named the No. 1 and No. 7 prospects in the Toronto Blue Jays system by Baseball America. Of course this is before the Blue Jays pick up several prospects in the Roy Halladay trade.
  • UK Athletics reports Futurebacks.com has named former University of Kentucky catcher Sean Coughlin the Arizona Diamondbacks Offensive Position Player of the Year.
  • Jeff Arnold and Adam Duvall were named captains of the 2010 University of Louisville baseball team.
  • Finally, in the category of fail by the World Wide Leader (ESPN) super-agent Scott Boras was on The Scott Van Pelt Show this afternoon and Van Pelt failed to ask him anything about the James Paxton case or the college no-agent rule in general.

All BluGrass Baseball Team: KY Minor Leagues

Minor League Baseball

Brian Pellegrini

Today I’m unveiling the first of two All BluGrass Baseball teams for the 2009 season. As with most features on the site, we’ll divide BluGrass players into two divisions: one made of rosters of the state’s three minor league teams and the other made of Kentucky natives and college alums. The first team comes from the rosters of the Louisville Bats, Bowling Green Hot Rods and Lexington Legends.

  • Catcher: Jake Jeffries, Bowling Green Hot Rods — .261, eight home runs, 50 RBI
  • First Base: Brian Pellegrini, Lexington Legends — .291, 27 home runs, 74 RBI
  • Second Base: Isaias Velasquez, Bowling Green Hot Rods — .278, two home runs, 40 RBI
  • Third Base: Juan Francisco, Louisville Bats — .359, five home runs, 19 RBI
  • Shortstop: Tim Beckham, Bowling Green Hot Rods — .275, five home runs, 63 RBI
  • Left Field: Daniel Dorn, Louisville Bats — .275, 14 home runs, 47 RBI
  • Center Field: Drew Stubbs, Louisville Bats — .268, three home runs, 39 RBI
  • Right Field: Kyeong Kang, Bowling Green Hot Rods — .307, five home runs, 42 RBI
  • Starting Pitcher 1: Matthew Moore, Bowling Green Hot Rods — 8-5, 3.15, 176 SO
  • Starting Pitcher 2: Jordan Lyles, Lexington Legends — 7-11, 3.24, 167 SO
  • Starting Pitcher 3: Matt Maloney, Louisville Bats — 9-9, 3.08, 125 SO
  • Starting Pitcher 4: Chris Andujar, Bowling Green Hot Rods — 10-4, 2.70, 79 SO
  • Starting Pitcher 5: Justin Lehr, Louisville Bats, 13-3, 3.31, 60 SO
  • Closer: Henry Villar, Lexington Legends, 3-4, 2.60, 109 SO

Notes: Third base was, by far, the worst position among the three teams. Francisco wins due to his domination of AAA pitching in his brief audition for Louisville. The rotation had plenty of competition with as many as five other starters having an argument for inclusion.  If we’d included multiple relievers, Logan Ondrusek, Patrick Urckfitz and Josh Roenicke could have all made the team. Arguably the state’s top position prospect (Chris Heisey) didn’t make the cut because of spending half the season in AA and posting worse numbers than his teammate Dorn in the half season of AAA.

Deadline Wrap-Up

Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball

Zach Stewart

The non-waiver trade deadline came and went today with only one deal involving players with Kentucky ties.  In a deal that just sneaked in before the deadline the Cincinnati Reds sent Louisville Bats reliever Zach Stewart and former Bats Josh Roenicke and Edwin Encarnacion to the Blue Jays for third baseman Scott Rolen.

Tuesday Links: Walk-Off Wins

College Baseball, Minor League Baseball

Robi Estrada

Monday was another crazy night of baseball in the Bluegrass.  Lexington came from behind in the ninth to win in walk-off fashion for the second consecutive game and Bowling Green got in on the walk-off fun as well.  Check out those stories and more in today’s hot links:

  • Bowling Green’s walk-off victory wasn’t your typical clutch win.  The Hot Rods defeated Lake County 3-2 on a walk-off bunt from Robi Estrada.
  • Lexington’s second consecutive walk-off victory was even more unorthodox as Michael Diaz “drove” in the winning run with a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch in the ninth to defeat Hagerstown 6-5.
  • Louisville cut an 8-0 lead to 8-5 late in the game but couldn’t finish the comeback against Syracuse.
  • According to the C-J, Bats’ pitcher Justin Lehr was named the International League pitcher of the week.
  • We’ll generally stay away from politics on the blog, but this note is baseball related.  Ky. Sen. Jim Bunning, the Hall of Fame pitcher, announced he would not seek re-election in the U. S. Senate.
  • Several BluGrass players were called up over the weekend.  Former UK pitcher Chris Rusin was promoted from rookie AZL Cubs to short-season Boise.  Former UK infielder Michael Bertram was promoted from high A Lakeland to AA Erie.  The Reds promoted pitcher Josh Roenicke, pitcher Robert Manuel and infielder Drew Sutton from Louisville to replace injured Reds Jared Burton, Micah Owings and Chris Dickerson.
  • I try and tweet roster moves like that as I hear about them.  You can follow BluGrass Baseball on twitter here.