Chronicles of the Lads

WATCH LIST UPDATE: MIDSEASON
I last did this on June 16.

Erick Aybar
SS, AA Arkansas

When?  AB   H   2B   3B   HR   BB   SO   AVG  OBP  SLG
Now   325  93   18    6    4   17   34   286  338  415
Then  247  70   13    4    4   13   27   283  342  417

Erick appears to have settled into a rather solid performance.

Alberto Callaspo
2B, AA Arkansas

When?  AB   H   2B   3B   HR   BB   SO   AVG  OBP  SLG
Now   333 100    9    0    9   27   16   300  350  408
Then  252  83    7    0    7   24   13   329  386  440

His hot streak cooled off, and he's reverted back to slap-hitting and punchless. If he can maintain that line as he ascends the system and play a good defense at second, that would be great. The downside? Gary DiSarcina.

Nick Gorneault
OF, AAA Salt Lake

When?  AB   H   2B   3B   HR   BB   SO   AVG  OBP  SLG
Now   304  88   16    8   15   28   74   289  346  543
Then  209  64   14    6    9   22   53   306  368  560

Aside from the homers, all his numbers are down over the past few weeks. Could he be a throw-in in a trade for a starting pitcher?

Howie Kendrick
2B, A Rancho Cucamonga

When?  AB   H   2B   3B   HR   BB   SO   AVG  OBP  SLG
Now   257  95   21    5   11   14   39   370  409  619
Then  177  66   11    4    9    9   30   373  406  633

Coming off a DL stint for a strained oblique, Kendrick responds by -- ho-hum -- continuing to hit .370.

Baltasar Lopez
1B, A Rancho Cucamonga

When?  AB   H   2B   3B   HR   BB   SO   AVG  OBP  SLG
Then  151  38    9    0    0   16   44   252  320  311

He's been injured. From the drug suspension forward, it's been a half-year to forget for a guy who has a lot of people ahead of him on the organizational depth chart.

Warner Madrigal
OF, A Cedar Rapids

When?  AB   H   2B   3B   HR   BB   SO   AVG  OBP  SLG
Now   251  57   12    1   11   15   60   227  274  414
Then  186  41    8    0    9    9   45   220  261  409

Well, the strikeout-to-walk ratio has improved. A little.

Jeff Mathis
C, AAA Salt Lake

When?  AB   H   2B   3B   HR   BB   SO   AVG  OBP  SLG
Now   261  74   19    2   12   27   58   284  351  510
Then  178  48   13    2    8   19   36   270  340  500

A nice little bounceback from the future backstop.

Kendry Morales
1B, AA Arkansas

When?  AB   H   2B   3B   HR   BB   SO   AVG  OBP  SLG
Now    82  21    5    0    4    5   15   256  299  463
Then   11   0    0    0    0    1    3   000  083  000

One you take off that 0-11 start, you see some delicious numbers: 296/342/535.

Morales played in the Futures Game Sunday afternoon. He went 1-2; I missed his second at-bat, a flyout, but in his first at-bat he took a thigh-high fastball on the outside corner from Justin Verlander and dispatched it posthaste to the left-center gap. It was a nice bit of hitting off of what is, by definition, a major-league fastball (Verlander was hitting 95 and above in his inning of work).

Kendry was a bit stockier than I had realized from photos and other clips I've seen -- Bob Starr would undoubtedly refer to him as a "burly fellow." He looks a lot more like a first baseman than a left fielder, just making a really silly conclucion from his body type. He looked comfortable around the bag at first (on the plays I saw), though he wasn't really challenged at any point; the one hop he had to pick out of the dirt was a long hop, so no real problem there.

Mike Napoli
C/1B, AA Arkansas

When?  AB   H   2B   3B   HR   BB   SO   AVG  OBP  SLG
Now   262  69   17    1   16   59   85   263  404  519
Then  206  61   16    1   11   44   64   296  427  544

I think 8-56 qualifies as a slump -- though five of those eight hits went over the fence. Still solid numbers overall. With Mathis heating up ahead of him, is Napoli potential trade bait? Or the next Shawn Wooten?

Sean Rodriguez
SS, A Cedar Rapids

When?  AB   H   2B   3B   HR   BB   SO   AVG  OBP  SLG
Now   268  71   17    3    5   48   48   265  389  407
Then  213  57   13    3    3   42   35   268  402  399

He had been bringing that average up after a slow start, though he's leveled off for a few weeks, as you can see. Brandon Wood obviously started the season just a bit ahead of S-Rod on the depth chart, and has just obviously taken a humongous leap this season. But Rodriguez is still quite young, so it's definitely not panic time -- especially with his plate discipline and the possibility that Wood gets moved off of the position.

Drew Toussaint
2B/OF, A Cedar Rapids

When?  AB   H   2B   3B   HR   BB   SO   AVG  OBP  SLG
Now   233  67   17    2   12   28   71   288  368  532
Then  155  44   13    1    7   21   46   284  376  516

Toussaint may be on his way to becoming my favorite prospect that no one's ever heard of. I don't know anything about his defense, but that's solid production for a guy in his first full professional season.

NEW ADDITION!
Mark Trumbo
1B, R Orem

When?  AB   H   2B   3B   HR   BB   SO   AVG  OBP  SLG
Now    78  23   10    0    2    5   22   295  337  500

The Angels performed a great public good by keeping Trumbo out of U$C. Will he repay the Angels with good play? The strikeouts are scary, but otherwise this is a good start; remember, it his his first exposure to pro ball and wooden bats.

Reggie Willits
OF, AA Arkansas

When?  AB   H   2B   3B   HR   BB   SO   AVG  OBP  SLG
Now   285  88   16    4    0   39   38   309  390  393
Then  209  66   11    4    0   28   28   316  391  407

Nothing has changed.

Brandon Wood
SS, A Rancho Cucamonga

When?  AB   H   2B   3B   HR   BB   SO   AVG  OBP  SLG
Now   338 100   28    3   28   30   74   296  357  645
Then  261  82   23    2   21   20   59   314  365  659

A tiny bit of a slump, but he's drawing more walks as he gains further respect from Cal League pitchers.

Wood was the other Angel to play in the Futures Game. He was 1-1 on an infield single up the middle -- he was actually out at first, it looked from the replays, but the ump (apparently) thought the first baseman had come off the bag.

Wood's a lanky kid. He's listed at 6'3''-185, which seems roughly correct. He still has a lot of filling out to do, and if this is his power now ... watch out.

Wood allowed an infield single on a slow chopper with a fast runner, but looked pretty smooth defensively. His arm was impressive; it seems like if he gets moved off of short third base would be his destination, though I know some might salivate at the potential for a Jeff Kent on the keystone. He has enough development in front of him that these questions don't have to be resolved for a few more seasons.

NEW ADDITION!
Nick Adenhart
SP, Arizona League

When?   W   L   SV   G  GS    IP    H   HR   SO   BB   ERA
Now     0   0    0   4   4   8.7    5    0    9    9  1.04

Adenhart is coming back from Tommy John surgery, so this is his first competitive pitching in awhile. That brief line is indicative of good stuff but lackluster command, which is to be expected from someone coming back from an injury.

Steve Andrade
RP, AA New Hampshire (Blue Jays org)

When?   W   L   SV   G  GS    IP    H   HR   SO   BB   ERA
Now     1   2    1  16   0  22.7    9    1   28   10  2.78
Then    1   2    1  13   0  19.0    6    0   22    7  1.89

Our boy hit a rough patch coming off the DL, but he's still way too good for AA. FREE STEVE ANDRADE!

Daniel Davidson
SP, AA Arkansas

When?   W   L   SV   G  GS    IP    H   HR   SO   BB   ERA
Now     7   4    0  18  16  97.0  110   11   63   31  4.64
Then    5   3    0  13  12  71.3   44    7   51   22  4.54

The hits just keep on coming. (Obviously, the "44" I had before was a typo.)

Abel Moreno
Has not played.

Steve Shell
SP, AA Arkansas

When?   W   L   SV   G  GS    IP    H   HR   SO   BB   ERA
Now     5   6    0  17  17  93.7  105   16   72   39  5.00
Then    3   4    0  13  13  70.7   81   12   54   30  4.84

The vaunted Arkansas rotation has really had some problems since the promotion of Santana.

Von Stertzbach
RP, AA Arkansas

When?   W   L   SV   G  GS    IP    H   HR   SO   BB   ERA
Now     3   4   10  36   0  41.3   45    6   39   21  4.79
Then    3   3    8  28   0  31.3   36    4   27   16  4.60

The Travelers are just having problems with that hill in the middle of the infield.

NEW ADDITION!
Jered Weaver
SP, A Rancho Cucamonga

When?   W   L   SV   G  GS    IP    H   HR   SO   BB   ERA
Now     2   1    0   5   5  20.0   21    3   28    4  5.85

He had the one really rough outing, but, aside from that, seems to be getting things in order. That SO:BB ratio is marvelous.

Bob Zimmerman
RP, A Rancho Cucamonga

When?  W   L   SV   G  GS    IP    H   HR   SO   BB   ERA
Now    4   7    7  29   0  33.0   34    2   41   17  4.36
Then   3   6    6  23   0  26.0   27    2   32   16  4.50

So at least one pitcher on this list has been doing well of late.