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AA Pitchers Stats Through 8/24/08

Written by Jason Revelia, RotoExperts.com Baseball Operations

Thursday, 24 April 2008

If you're asking yourself why you need to know about or read up on the minor leagues, then there is a good chance you missed out on guys like Ryan Braun and Fausto Carmona last year, which probably cost you a title. The Minor League Review will focus on most of the top talent in the minor leagues and what they have done over the past week. This is great to let you see how the studs everyone else already knows about are doing...but we are going to take it even a step further and dig a little deeper in our "Diamond in the Rough" section. Here you will also see guys that may not be on everyone's Top Prospect List, but should be. We will look at players that are hot and cold, those that you should know about and those you need to know about and why. I know a lot of guys in ten or twelve team leagues with shallow benches that don't worry about minor league players. That is why guys like you and me will always kick their ass in Fantasy Baseball. So let's go take a look at the building blocks of future Fantasy Championship Teams.

Diamond in the Rough
7/29/2008

Bowie Baysox

SP David Hernandez, 23 (RHP), Bowie Baysox (Baltimore Orioles)

The word of the day is "opportunity". The Major League Baseball trade deadline is coming up fast and with it comes opportunity. These trades always open up spots for minor leaguers to get their chance. Already we have seen Steven Pearce finally get his full-time gig with the Pirates after the Xavier Nady deal. There will also be opportunities for prospects who may be blocked in their own system to get a better opportunity with another organization. We have witnessed that as well in the Joe Blanton to Philadelphia trade. Second baseman Adrian Cardenas, a very good fantasy prospect, was completely blocked by Chase Utley in the Phillies System. Now, in Oakland (here's that word again), opportunity is his for the making.

There is also a lot of opportunity for you "dynasty" and "keeper" league (DKL) fantasy managers this time of year. Tons of fantasy GMs are throwing in the towel already and are looking to make a deal for some prospects. Prospects are huge in DKL, because you can build from the ground up, but don't overvalue them either. Don't get caught up in the hype of a player if you can get good value for them now. Take a look at Jake McGee blowing out his elbow this year. Hello "Tommy John". There just isn't any guarantee 'til they're in the bigs producing. Besides, there is a ton of talent in the minors, so if you have the opportunity to make a deal that could win your league, take it. At the very least, give it some long hard thought. If you're stuck, check out our RotoExperts forum and "Ask the Expert".

David Hernandez (not the stripper from American Idol) is one of the guys I am talking about, when I mention depth in the minor leagues. Hernandez is a 16th round selection of the Orioles in 2005. He has some of the numbers I look for in fantasy pitching prospects and given the opportunity he may just surprise people.

Hernandez's 10.6 K/9 rate this year is something that gets me excited. At 23 years old, he's not young for double-A, but it's not exactly old either; especially not for a pitcher. He is a flyball pitcher. A 0.64 GO/AO ratio scares me a bit and his 4.53 BB/9 is a problem. I feel he makes up for that with .213 BAA equally enforced against all hitters (.211 BAA righties, .214 BAA lefties). His K/9 rate was about the same last year and his walks are down which gives me hope his control will be better down the road.

Hernandez's fastball sits in the low to mid 90's and he also has a nasty slider that gives him that nice K/9 rate. I can see him getting his opportunity at the end of this year . Making him Roto-useful (I just made up that word and trademarked it. That's called multi-tasking.) during a two start week down the stretch for some Ks.

Take this opportunity to e-mail Jason Revelia about minor league fantasy prospects at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

2007 A+ (22)
7 W 11 L 4.95 ERA 28 G 27 GS 145.1 INN 139 H 86 R 80 ER 16 HR 47 BB 168 SO 0.66 GO/AO .249 BAA

2008 AA (23)
5 W 4 L 2.63 ERA 21 G 21 GS 109.1 INN 84 H 43 R 32 ER 10 HR 55 BB 129 SO 0.66 GO/AO .213 BAA

Graduates of the Double-A Minor League Review

The following players have been promoted to Triple-A for what should be an extended period of time.

David Robertson RHP NYY, Yhency Brazoban RHP LAD, Jamie Garcia LHP STL, Carlos Rosa RHP KC, Daniel McCutchen RHP NYY, Daryl Thompson RHP CIN, Josh Roenicke RHP CIN, Matt Harrison RHP TEX, David Huff LHP TEX, Kevin Jepsen RHP LAA, Matt Torra RHP ARI, Derek Rodriguez RHP CHW, Jeff Samardzija RHP CHC, Wade Davis RHP TB, Michael Bowden RHP BOS, Jon Niese LHP NYM, Carlos Carrasco RHP PHI, Anthony Swarzak RHP MIN, David Price LHP TB, Fabio Castro LHP PHI, James McDonald RHP LAD, Samuel Gervacio RHP HOU, Josh Outman LHP OAK, and Jess Todd RHP STL.

All of the pitchers below are in AA and are sorted by age youngest to oldest. They are not ranked in any order according to talent or skill level. Stats are updated through 8/24/08

DOUBLE-A FANTASY PROSPECTS
Player	POS	TM	AGE	LVL	W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	GO/AO	BAA
Neftali Feliz	RHP	TEX	20.3	AA	4	2	3.12	9	9	0	0	0	40.1	28	14	14	1	21	41	0.72	.204
				A	6	3	2.52	17	17	0	0	0	82	55	25	23	2	28	106	1.64	.193

Chris Tillman	RHP	BAL	20.4	AA	9	4	3.32	26	26	0	0	0	124.2	106	51	46	9	59	139	0.85	.228

Clayton Kershaw	LHP	LAD	20.5	AA	2	3	1.91	13	11	0	0	0	61.1	39	19	13	0	19	59	1.02	.179
				MLB	2	4	4.11	15	15	0	0	0	76.2	81	35	35	7	38	69	1.57	.275
Has been called back up.
Trevor Cahill	RHP	OAK	20.5	AA	6	1	2.19	7	6	0	0	0	37	24	15	9	2	19	33	3.06	.190
				A+	5	4	2.78	14	13	0	0	0	87.1	52	29	27	3	31	103	2.19	.174
Maybe the best out of all the young Oakland arms.
Brett Anderson	LHP	OAK	20.6	AA	2	1	1.80	5	5	0	0	0	25	18	6	5	3	8	29	2.50	.202
				A+	9	4	4.14	14	13	0	0	0	74	68	35	34	5	18	80	1.78	.238

Jeremy Jeffress	RHP	MIL	21.0	AA	2	0	1.93	3	3	0	0	0	14	11	3	3	1	10	13	0.79	.224
				A+	4	6	4.08	15	14	1	1	0	79.1	65	39	36	5	41	102	1.59	.226

Jeremy Hellickson	RHP	TB	21.4	AA	3	3	3.92	11	11	0	0	0	64.1	72	31	28	13	10	62	0.98	.296
				A+	7	1	2.00	14	14	0	0	0	76.2	64	19	17	7	5	83	1.09	.224
Another promising arm in the Rays system.
Daniel Cortes	RHP	KC	21.5	AA	9	4	3.98	22	22	0	0	0	110.2	103	51	49	13	53	106	0.80	.251

Aaron Thompson	LHP	FLA	21.5	AA	1	5	6.03	15	15	0	0	0	74.2	103	59	50	8	40	47	2.29	0.334

Henry Rodriguez	RHP	OAK	21.5	AA	1	6	8.17	11	9	0	0	0	36.1	48	38	33	1	41	38	1.50	.316
				A+	2	3	3.96	20	13	0	0	2	75	57	38	33	5	40	104	1.21	.208

Will Inman	RHP	SD	21.6	AA	8	8	3.66	27	27	2	1	0	130.1	118	67	53	10	69	138	0.66	.239
Looking like the real deal.
Jose Ceda	RHP	CHC	21.6	AA	1	1	2.15	21	0	0	0	9	29.1	25	8	7	2	13	40	0.66	.231
				A+	2	2	4.80	15	12	0	0	0	54.1	41	29	29	4	28	53	0.84	.212

Ryan Tucker	RHP	FLA	21.7	AA	4	2	1.34	23	12	0	0	0	87.1	59	14	13	2	37	72	1.04	.188
				MLB	2	3	8.39	10	6	0	0	0	34.1	42	32	32	8	22	26	0.97	.302
Has been called up.
Jared Lansford	RHP	OAK	21.9	AA	2	0	0.00	11	0	0	0	5	20.1	12	0	0	0	7	16	3.30	.182
				A+	2	6	4.41	31	2	0	0	3	63.1	62	33	31	4	20	75	1.33	.258

Derek Holland	LHP	TEX	21.9	AA	3	0	0.90	3	3	0	0	0	20	10	3	2	0	4	22	1.62	.152
				A+	3	1	3.19	5	5	0	0	0	31	20	12	11	1	5	37	0.93	.185
				A	7	0	2.40	17	17	0	0	0	93.2	77	30	25	2	29	91	1.30	.228

Aaron Poreda	LHP	CHW