Reds OF Billy Hamilton Credit: Denny Medley, US Presswire
In the second segment of our feature regarding top prospects in big league camps this spring, we take a look at the White Sox, Reds, Indians, Rockies and Tigers.
All the camps have opened to date, with most teams already having full squad workouts on a daily basis.
The young crop of talent in the Minor League systems of the five teams we look at today is quite impressive, with the Reds and the Tigers boasting some of the best young prospects out of this group, including the speedster to the left. That man is Billy Hamilton, the Minor League stolen base king.
Detroit has the biggest chance of seeing some of its top prospects make a huge impact at the big league level this season.
White Sox Pitcher Jhan Marinez Credit: Jeff Gross/Getty Images
Chicago White Sox
The White Sox have just one of their prospects from their top 20 list found on their website that has big league experience under their belt.
That prospect is Jhan Marinez, who pitched in just two ML games in 2012.
Marinez was part of the trade package the White Sox received from the Miami Marlins for manager Ozzie Guillen.
Marinez originally made his big league debut in 2010, pitching in just four games for the Marlins. He missed an early portion of 2011 due to injury but when he returned to the bump he was stellar. He projects as a Major League setup man and White Sox fans could see him at the back end of the bullpen sometime in 2013.
Other top 20 prospects in big league camp this spring include Trayce Thompson, Carlos Sanchez, Jared Mitchell, Scott Snodgress, Keenyn Walker, Andre Rienzo, Nestor Molina, Charlie Leesman, Simon Castro, Josh Phegley, Marcus Semien, Santos Rodriguez and Tyler Saladino. This is an excellent group of talent in the pipeline for the White Sox and it is led by Phegley.
With A.J. Pierzynski no longer in Chicago, Tyler Flowers will take over the starting catching duties for the club. Should Flowers struggled, or suffer an injury, Phegley could step into the starter’s role if he is having a good season at Triple-A.
Cincinnati Reds
Out of the top 20 prospects in the Reds system, just two players have Major League experience and they are lefty Tony Cingrani, who made his big league debut in 2012, and infielder Henry Rodriguez. Cingrani pitched in three games out of the bullpen for the Reds, recording a 1.80 ERA. He was a starter in the minors after being drafted out of Rice in 2011. Rodriguez played in 12 games, putting up a .214 average.
Most of the Reds top prospects have graduated to the big leagues, with this year’s list not jumping off the page outside of Cingrani and speedy outfielder Billy Hamilton, who could see himself in the Reds outfield at some point this season should injuries rear their ugly head.
Top prospects from the Reds list in their big league camp include Daniel Corcino, Kyle Lotzkar, Neftali Soto and Ismael Guillon. Out of this group, keep an eye on Soto. Despite hitting just .245 at Triple-A in 2012, Soto did crack 14 homeruns. He is another outfielder who could reach the bigs this year.
Cleveland Indians
Cleveland is still trying to find the formula for winning and they hope that the additions of Terry Francona as manager, Mark Reynolds, Brett Myers and Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn in the outfield will help them in 2013 and beyond. The Indians, in a three-team trade with the Reds and the Diamondbacks, landed top pitching prospect Trevor Bauer.
Bauer made his ML debut with the Diamondbacks in 2012, starting four games and pitching to a 6.06 ERA. He has the makeup right now to be in the Indians rotation, but he more than likely will begin the season in the minors.
Bauer is being joined in big league camp by Danny Salazar, Jesus Aguilar, Chris McGuiness and Scott Barnes. This is one of the smallest group of top prospects in a big league camp this spring. Barnes was acquired in the 2009 trade that sent Ryan Garko to the Giants. He made his ML debut in 2012 out of the bullpen, pitching to a 4.26 ERA in 16 appearances.
Rockies Infielder Nolan Arenado Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
Colorado Rockies
Colorado’s system has added some solid prospects over the past couple of years due to trades and a couple of those guys are sitting on this years top 20 list.
The list is led by the number 10 overall pick in the 2012 draft, David Dahl, who was drafted out of high school.
His performance this past season made the Pirates kick themselves for selecting Mark Appel number eight overall. Appel did not sign and returned to Stanford.
Dahl had such an excellent pro debut that he catapulted straight to the number one spot on the Colorado top 20 prospects list. He is not going to be a regular in big league camp this year, but he might find himself appearing in some Spring Training games.
Top prospects in camp for the Rockies include Nolan Arenado, Chad Bettis, Kyle Parker, Tyler Anderson, Tim Wheeler, Edwar Cabrera (60-day DL), Charlie Culberson, Rafael Ortega, Corey Dickerson, Joe Gardner and Christhian Adames. With 11 of the team’s top 20 prospects in camp, first-year manager Walt Weiss will get a good look at what he has in the system in the event of injuries or struggles at the ML level.
Detroit Tigers
Detroit has possibly the best crop of top prospects in big league camp this spring out of the five teams discussed in this article. The two players responsible for this are potential big league closer Bruce Rondon and outfielder Avisail Garcia. Garcia made his Tigers debut late in the regular season and was in the lineup almost everyday during the playoffs.
The Rockies number one prospect, outfielder Nick Castellanos, will be in big league camp this spring. He will be joined by Casey Crosby, Tyler Collins, Daniel Fields, Eugenio Suarez, James McCann, Hernan Perez, Kenny Faulk, Jeff Kobernus, Melvin Mercedes and Ramon Cabrera. Kobernus hits the list at number 16 after being taken by Detroit from the Washington Nationals in the 2012 Rule 5 Draft this past December.
Garcia and Rondon should make major impacts with the Tigers in 2013. They could be joined by Kobernus, who has to remain on the active roster for the Tigers the entire season or be offered back to the Nationals.
The third installment of this series will focus on the top prospects in the camps of the Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers and the Miami Marlins.
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Jim is the creator and editor of At the Dish, Cinn City Sports, Life with Tony and Enzo and owner of JAVFreelancing. He coached baseball for five years, three at his former high school (Holy Cross in Delran, NJ) and two at prominent Division III program Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. He has worked for the Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, NJ; Metro Networks in Bala Cynwyd, PA; and was the play-by-play announcer for the Camden Riversharks of the Independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball for two seasons (2007-2008) on Rowan Radio 89.7 WGLS-FM, the student-run radio station at Rowan University. Jim earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications and minor in Journalism from Rowan University in 2008. While in school he was the Assistant Sports Director at WGLS for two years and the Sports Director for one year. He also covered the football, baseball, softball and both basketball teams for the school newspaper 'The Whit.' Jim lives in New Jersey with his wife Nicole, sons Tony and Enzo and dog Phoebe. He can be reached at jimvassallo@mlbdrafts.com.
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