Minors Summary: 8/7/10; Tracking the Minors 8/8/10

Late night games give me a little bit more time to check on minors scores and results. I'm following some key prospects and fan favorites as they march on their journey to The Show. Most of the guys I'm following and listing lines for here are either on or close to the Top 20 prospect lists. There's a few fan favorites like Josh Wilkie for me, Boomer Whiting for Mevans, and Michael Martinez for grizzy. If you've got a minors guy you care about, add him to the comments, and I'll try to add him to future posts. This is kind of an experiment. If I enjoy doing it enough or if there's enough feedback in the comments, I'll make it a regular thing and try to delegate it or summarize multiple days when I'm at the park or otherwise occupied. The minors summary for Friday 8/7/10 at www.nationalsprospects.com serves as the foundation for this. They link to the boxscores that helped me fill out some of the extra details.  My summary and comments after the jump.

AAA Syracuse: They lose 3-2 to the Rochester Red Wings, Wilson Ramos' former team. Experienced MLB guy Nick Blackburn shuts down the Chiefs while allowing only 2 runs in 6.2 IP in a no-decision before the Red Wings blow a save and then manage to come back and get a win on Ron Villone. I don't know much about Blackburn, but he's pitched 104.2 bad innings for the Twins so I guess they sent him down since the Twins are trying to provide some games to close for Matt Capps. He'd been okay before that and had two solid but unspectacular years for the Twins from 2008-2009. Probably an upgrade over the guys that Espinosa was seeing in AA and a good test for him.

• Fringy fan favorite Boomer Whiting, OF: 0-4, K
• Fan favorite Michael Martinez, utility OF today: 0-4
• Wilson Ramos: 0-4, C, 2K, 1 runner thrown out
  
• Danny Espinosa, SS:1-4 on a bunt single
• Shairon Martis, SP: 7IP, 10H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 3K, 1HR, 12B, 109Pitches, 77stikes
• Ron Villone, RP: 2IP, 1R, 0BB, K, takes the L with a now 6.92 ERA. Yikes!

AA Harrisburg: Altoona destroys Harrisburg 18-6, although the last 10R occur late. 7 of those earned runs occured in .1IP in the 9th inning against Mexican League international signee Rafael Martin, a relief prospect of interest. Tanner Roarke, making his debut for Harrisburg after being acquired in the Guzman trade, does manage a quality start before the carnage but does yield 2HR and takes the loss.

• Chris Marrero, 1B: 0-2, R, 2BB, K. Marrero is now sporting a .360/.455/.815 OPS. Admittedly, I've been pretty down on him this year, but he's picked it up. He's got a .447/.541/.981 OPS his last 10 games.
  
• Tanner Roark, SP: 6IP, 7H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 4K, 2HR, 2 2B

High A Potomac: Potomac played a double header yesterday. Organizational depth guy Jason Jones loses the first game, 6-1. Trevor Holder starts the second game, but earns a no decision in a 4-3 win.

• Stephen Lombardozzi, 2B: Game 1: 1-3, 2B; Game 2: R, 1-3, 2B, BB. Lombardozzi's at .372/.414/.785. He's a steady player and I like him. Not much pop and scouts aren't but so high on him, but I expect him to start at Harrisburg next year.
• Michael Burgess, OF: Game 1: 1-3, K; Game 2: 0-3, 2BB, K. Burgess has been in and out of the lineup lately. I believe he's missed some games due to bereavement leave.
• Derek Norris, C: Game 1: 0-3, 2K; 1 SB against, 1 runner caught stealing; Game 2: bench
• Tyler Moore, 1B, Game 1: 1-3; Game 2: 1-2, R, HR, 2RBI, BB, K
• Trevor Holder, SP, Game 2: 4.1 IP, 3H, 3R, 3ER, 4BB, 2K. While Holder certainly earned a promotion from Hagerstown with a strong first half at low A, I remain pretty down on Holder. He has allowed 2R or less in only 5 of his 10 Potomac starts and has yet to go more than 5.1 in any of those starts.

Low A Hagerstown: Hagerstown lost 14-9. 2009 29th round draft pick Evan Bronson got tagged for 6R in the loss.

• Rick Hague, SS: 2-5, RBI, BB, K. 2010 3rd round pick Rick Hague is already at Hagerstown after signing quickly. Rizzo highlighted him during his call-in during the Nats rain delay game as the first prospect of interest from this year's draft class.
  
• Adrian Sanchez, 2B: 2-5, R, 3RBI. This 20 year old Venezuelan 2007 international signee is off to a hot start in his Hagerstown debut, hitting 5-13 with a HR. I don't know what the plans are for him. Jeff Kobernus, a high draft pick from 2009, remains hurt. It will be interesting to see what happens with Kobernus and Sanchez when Kobernus is ready to come off of the DL.
• Justin Bloxom, 1B, 1-3, BB
• JP Ramirez, LF, 1-6, R, K
• Destin Hood, RF, 0-2, R, 2BB, K
• Eury Perez, CF, 2-4, 3R, RBI, BB, 3SB. 20 year old Eury Perez is a raw Dominican player who played in the Futures game for the international side. Hopefully, he can learn to outNyjer Nyjer Morgan. He's got 43 SB against 9CS for the year.

Right now, I'm focusing on the high minors. I know the prospects for the high minors better than the guys at short season Vermont, the GCL, and the DSL. The guys in the lower leagues aren't usually on prospect lists because they were either  drafted this year, are old for their level, or are too far away from the majors. I'm more interested in highlighting players who are close to the majors or who you can actually see by driving to Potomac, Hagerstown, and Harrisburg or catching road games for Potomac in Frederick or road games for Harrisburg at Bowie.

Hope this is of interest, and I look forward to your feedback.