Ryan Zimmerman is hitting the DL with a hamstring strain, and to replace him, the Nats are calling up their top prospect, Anthony Rendon. Rendon showed he was big league ready during spring training, and many wondered if he might begin the season at the highest level. But in an effort to maximize the 22-year-old’s plate appearances, Washington opted to reassign him to Double-A Harrisburg where through 65 PA he’s hit .292/.462/.500 with 2 homers. With Zimmerman shelved, Rendon becomes the starting third baseman, and you should certainly grab him if he’s still available. Featuring a plus-plus hit tool and an advanced approach at the dish, he’ll help immediately in AVG and OBP categories, and he might even toss in a few homers. For more detail on Rendon, here’s my Nationals’ top ten, where he ranked #1. Also, check out this Scouting the Unknown post from last August.

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Organizational Talent Rankings via Baseball America
2012 (6) | 2011 (5) | 2010 (22) | 2009 (15) | 2008 (5)

2012 Affiliate Records
MLB: [95-67] AL East
AAA: [84-60] International League – Scranton/Wilkes-Barre
AA: [79-63] Eastern League – Trenton
A+: [65-70] Florida State League – Tampa
A: [73-63] South Atlantic League – Charleston
A(ss): [30-45] New York-Penn League — Staten Island

Graduated Prospects
Cody Eppley (RHP)

The Run Down
It was an interesting 2012 for this Yankees system, as high-impact bats (see Austin and Williams) took huge steps forward, while a slew of promising pitching prospects (see Campos, Banuelos, Hensley) were held up because of injury, or risk thereof. The Yankees also watched helplessly as the wheels completely fell off of the once highly-touted RHP, Dellin Betances. What’s left is a system that appears out of balance in favor of hitting. But that’s not to suggest there’s no hope for the arms — both Jose Campos and Manny Banuelos bring front-of-the-rotation potential if they’re able to stay on the field. Sure, the health factor makes the pitching depth incredibly uncertain here, but there are plenty of systems who are worse off with regard to starting pitching. And even if all these dudes have their arms fall off this summer, Yankees fans can rest assured that big league acquisitions will keep New York at (or near) the top of the AL East.

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Okay, it’s more of a blog post than an awards show, but it’s still really effing prestigious.  Well, maybe it’s not prestigious either, but no one watches sports award shows anyway, and I think we can all agree that the ESPY’s would be much better if it were simply a short-form blog post.  I’ll be digging into team-by-team 2013 previews in the coming weeks, so what we have for you here is one last look around the 2012 Minor League Baseball action.  Enjoy.

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Transparency isn’t a strong suit of Major League front offices, nor should it be.  Nowhere is this fact more glaring than in the case of the Kansas City Royals and the immediate future of top hitting prospect Wil Myers.  The Royals have insisted that they’ll practice patience with Myers and let him marinate in Omaha for the duration of the season.  Meanwhile, in Jeff Francoeur, KC holds an outstanding trade chip — an experienced bat who’ll undoubtedly be pursued by contenders across the bigs.  The Royals have been pretty wishy-washy regarding Francouer’s availability, but with guys like Kevin Youkilis and Carlos Lee off the market already, one would imagine that buyers will look aggressively toward the veteran outfielder.  Kansas City will be hearing offers for Frenchy, indeed, and I’m thinking there’s a good possibility he’ll be shipped out.  And if this scenario plays out, the path will be cleared for Myers, who continues to post monstrous numbers at Triple-A.  There’s still plenty of uncertainty surrounding this situation — a trade of this sort might not even be necessary for a Myers call-up.  Nonetheless, it’ll be worth keeping an eye on the KC rumor mill during the coming weeks.

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The Rangers have promoted two pitchers from their minor league ranks to fill openings in the big league rotation.  Familiar fantasy face, Roy Oswalt, is one of the two.  The other is 23-year-old Justin Grimm, who debuted last week and was rather effective.  Grimm was having a nice campaign in Double-A — nothing eye-popping, but he was among the most efficient pitchers in the Texas League, which is surely why the Rangers are giving him a look.  I’m not so sure he’s worth the same look in the fantasy game, however.  He’s slotted to throw twice next week, so if you’re two-start streaming… whatever.  But he’s hardly rosterable outside of AL-Only formats.  What’s interesting to note here is that Grimm leaped over the Rangers’ top pitching prospect Martin Perez.  Perez had been having a lousy year in the PCL, so it’s not necessarily surprising that Grimm was given the nod, but the move seems to have ignited Perez.  He’s surrendered only two runs through his last two outings, one of those being a complete game (only 90 pitches, too).  Featuring a plus fastball with sneaky velocity, a plus-plus change, and a sharp curve, Perez has frontline stuff.  It’s hard to say how long the Rangers will have room for either Grimm or another arm, but if Perez continues this recent hot streak, I’m confident he’ll supplant Grimm.  Should that scenario come to pass, add Perez in all formats.

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New York Yankees 2011 Minor League Review

Organizational Talent Rankings via Baseball America:

2012 (6) | 2011 (5) | 2010 (22) | 2009 (15) | 2008 (5) | 2007 (5)

2011 Affiliate Records

MLB: [97-65] AL East

AAA: [73-69] International League – Scranton

AA: [68-73] Eastern League – Trenton

A+: [74-64] Florida State League – Tampa

A: [55-85] South Atlantic League – Charleston

A(ss): [45-28] New York-Penn League – Staten Island

The Run Down

The Yankees system took a bit of a blow after losing Jesus Montero, but it’s still in good shape.  Offensively, there isn’t much exciting going on at the high levels of the minors, but there are some high-upside guys (Sanchez, Heathcott) in A-ball.  The pitching side of things is a little more interesting as a number of guys are primed to push through with into the bigs.  The Scranton rotation this year will feature a group of arms, each of whom could surely occupy a major league role with a different organization.

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