Prospect Central: Volume Twenty Six

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By Aaron Gleeman

Hello and welcome to Prospect Central.  Throughout the season (from 2003 Posting), Prospect Central has often covered the various prospects who have been called up for their first action in the major leagues.  Some weeks there are just one or two names on the “newcomers” list, other weeks have a dozen players getting their first taste of the big leagues.  September is a whole different story.

As soon as major league rosters expand from 25 men to 40 men on September 1st of each year, the amount of “new” major league baseball players is astonishing.  This year is no different.  In the three weeks since rosters expanded, there have been over 30 players who have made their major league debuts.

In some keeper leagues, a player becomes available to join a roster as soon as, and not before, he debuts in real life, so knowing about players who are making a late-season MLB debut can be a very important part of building for the future.  This week I will take a look at four of the new major leaguers, as well as one guy who just seems like he’s making his big league debut.

RICKIE WEEKS – 2B

Organization: Milwaukee Brewers

Acquired: Milwaukee’s first round pick (2nd overall) in 2003 draft.

Bats: Right

DOB: 9-13-1982

After one of the most productive careers in the history of college baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers took Southern University second baseman Rickie Weeks with the second overall pick in this June’s draft.  Weeks had an absolutely amazing final college season, hitting .500 with 16 homers, 13 doubles and eight triples in 50 games.  He scored 85 runs, drove in 67, and even added in 27 stolen bases for good measure.  Weeks’ .500/.619/.987 stat line at Southern was enough to make even Barry Bonds blush.

After signing, Weeks began his pro career with the Helena Brewers of the Pioneer (rookie-level) League.  He went 2-4 with four RBIs in his first (and only) game there, and was immediately promoted to Single-A Beloit.  At Beloit, Weeks hit .349/.494/.556 in 20 games.

A polished college hitter, Weeks was definitely expected to move very quickly through Milwaukee’s system, but I don’t think anyone expected him to be in the major leagues this season, especially by jumping straight from Single-A.

Whether he starts next season on the Brewers or back in the minor leagues, Rickie Weeks is the real deal and is certainly a gigantic part of Milwaukee’s immediate and long-term future.  I will be shocked if he isn’t their starting second baseman by the end of next season.  His defense is not great, but he will provide elite offense at second base and should be a huge part of what looks to be a very promising future for the Milwaukee lineup for a long time to come.

Gleeman long-term grade: A

BOBBY CROSBY – SS

Organization: Oakland A’s

Acquired: Oakland’s first round pick (25th overall) in 2001 draft.

Bats: Right

DOB: 1-12-1980

Barring some sort of complete change of plans by Billy Beane and the Oakland A’s, Bobby Crosby will replace Miguel Tejada as Oakland’s starting shortstop next season.  Tejada is a free agent after this year and the A’s have suggested all season that they will not be able to re-sign him for the kind of money he will likely be looking for.

Enter Bobby Crosby, Oakland’s first round pick in the 2001 draft.  A career .302/.372/.434 minor league hitter coming into this season, Crosby added the power development that the A’s have been waiting for out of him.  In 127 games at Triple-A Sacramento, Crosby hit .308 with 22 homers, 32 doubles and six triples.  His .395 on-base percentage ranked eighth in the Pacific Coast League and his .544 slugging percentage ranked third.  Crosby also ranked third in the PCL in extra-base hits (60) and runs scored (86), and was fifth in RBIs (90).  In addition to what he did with the bat, he also made just 15 errors in 125 games at shortstop and stole 24 bases, while being caught just four times.

If Tejada leaves, and I expect that he will, it is possible Oakland will look to sign a veteran middle-infielder to serve as a short-term fill-in and stop-gap, until Crosby takes over.  More than likely though, I think Crosby will be awarded the job in spring training next year and never look back.  He may not be able to immediately replace Tejada’s offense, but Crosby actually projects as a similar offensive player and certainly looks like he will become an elite offensive shortstop.

Gleeman long-term grade: A

KHALIL GREENE – SS

Organization: San Diego Padres

Acquired: San Diego’s first round pick (13th overall) in 2002 draft.

Bats: Right

DOB: 10-21-1979

Khalil Greene was the College Player of the Year in 2002, after he hit .470/.552/.877 with 27 homers and 33 doubles in his senior season at Clemson.  The Padres selected Greene with the 13th overall pick in the 2002 draft and he now appears ready to take over as their starting shortstop.

Greene hit .309/.374/.486 after being drafted last season, playing a total of 56 games between two levels of Single-A.  He showed good power (nine homers and 10 doubles in 220 at bats) and surprisingly good defense at shortstop.

This season, Greene began the year at Double-A Mobile, and hit .275/.327/.406 in 59 games.  He had just three homers in 229 at bats and posted a sub par 55/17 strikeout/walk ratio.  The Padres promoted him to Triple-A Portland, where he hit slightly better.  In 76 games at Triple-A, Greene hit .288/.346/.442 with 10 homers and 19 doubles in 319 at bats.

Greene got the call up to the majors on September 3rd and has essentially been San Diego’s starting shortstop ever since.  In 14 major league games through September 20th, Greene is hitting .267/.327/.533 with two homers, four doubles and a triple in just 45 at bats.  His main competition for the starting shortstop job for next year (and beyond) seems to be Ramon Vazquez, so I would expect Greene to come out on top of that competition as soon as next season.

He won’t steal many bases, but Greene projects as a solid all-around hitter with significant power potential for a middle-infielder.

Gleeman long-term grade: A

EDWIN JACKSON - SP

Organization: Los Angeles Dodgers

Acquired: Los Angeles’ sixth round pick in 2001 draft.

Throws: Right

DOB: 9-9-1983

This is what a phenom looks like.  Edwin Jackson made his major league on September 9th, on his 20th birthday, against Randy Johnson.  Not a bad way to start things off, huh?  Interestingly, Johnson’s birthday is on September 10th, meaning he was just one day too old to have been exactly twice as old as his 20 year old opponent.

Edwin Jackson was originally projected as a hitter coming out of high school in Georgia, but the Dodgers believed he had an even brighter future on the mound.  A couple years later, it looks like they were right.  Jackson spent last season at Single-A, where he went 5-2 with a 1.98 ERA in 19 starts.  He had a very solid 85/33 strikeout/walk ratio in 105 innings and struck out 7.3 batters per nine innings pitched.

This season, Jackson pitched for Double-A Jacksonville and had a breakout year.  He made 27 starts there before being called up, posting a 3.70 ERA in 148.1 innings.  He struck out 157 batters (9.5/9 IP), walked just 53 and limited opponents to a .219 batting average.  His 157 Ks were good for second in the entire Southern League.

Through his first two major league starts, both of them against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Jackson looks great.  In his debut against Randy Johnson, Jackson pitched six innings while allowing just one run on four hits.  He struck out four and didn’t walk a single batter.  A week later, stepping in for an injured Odalis Perez, Jackson pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on five hits.  He struck out four once again, this time walking two batters.

Jackson could probably use a little time in Triple-A, but he’s about as ready as he’s likely to get.  He projects as a definite front-of-the-rotation starter and has established himself as one of the baseball’s top pitching prospects.

Gleeman long-term grade: B+

MATT RILEY - SP

Organization: Baltimore Orioles

Acquired: Baltimore’s third round pick in 1997 draft.

Throws: Left

DOB: 8-2-1979

It really seems like Matt Riley have been around forever.  Once upon a time, he was considered to be among the elite pitching prospects in all of baseball.  After being drafted by the Orioles in the third round of the 1997 draft, Riley debuted at Single-A in 1998 and posted a 1.19 ERA in 83 innings.  In 1999, split between Single-A and Double-A, he won 13 games with a 3.03 ERA in 178 innings.  He also made his major league debut that year, pitching 11 innings for the Orioles, with a 7.36 ERA.

Had I been writing this column back then, I suspect I would have taken notice of the heavy workload Riley had in 1999 and I may have even cautioned that, because he pitched nearly 200 combined innings that year, at the age of 19, he was at risk for an injury.  Of course, it’s easy to say that now.

Riley pitched horribly in 2000, posting a 14.14 ERA in two Triple-A starts and a 6.08 ERA in 19 appearances at Double-A.  Near the end of the year, he underwent Tommy John surgery on his pitching elbow, causing him to miss all of the 2001 season.

Riley returned to the mound last season, pitching at Double-A.  The results were mixed.  Perhaps most important is the fact that he avoided any sort of serious injury.  He also had a very good strikeout rate, which is an encouraging thing to see from someone coming right off of such a serious injury.  The bad news was his 6.34 ERA and the fact that he gave up 136 hits in 109, while struggling with his control.

This season, Riley has looked completely healthy and has pitched like the Matt Riley of old, which is a funny thing to be saying about a guy who just turned 24 years old last month.  Riley went 5-2 with a 3.11 ERA in 14 Double-A starts, striking out 73 batters while walking just 23.  He limited opponents to a .210 batting average and served up only four homers in 72 innings.

Then he moved up to Triple-A and had similar success.  In 13 starts for Triple-A Ottawa, Riley went 4-2 with a 3.58 ERA.  He struck out more than a batter per inning and had a strikeout/walk ratio of nearly 3-1.

I’m very hesitant to get too excited about Riley, just because of his history with injuries and his overall struggles along the way.  That said, he’s still fairly young, he just finished a very good and injury-free season in the minor leagues, and I expect him to get a serious shot in Baltimore’s starting rotation next season.

Gleeman long-term grade: B

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Archives: 

Volume 1  JERIOME ROBERTSON – SP COLBY LEWIS – SP KURT AINSWORTH – SP GARY KNOTTS – SP JOSH STEWART – SP  OSCAR VILLARREAL – SP MARK TEIXEIRA – 3B/1B

Volume 2  ERICK ALMONTE – SS  ROCCO BALDELLI – OF JEREMY BONDERMAN – SP  RICH HARDEN – SP AARON HEILMAN – SP JESSE FOPPERT – SP

Volume  3  COCO CRISP – OF ALEXIS GOMEZ – OF JOHN-FORD GRIFFIN – OF GRADY SIZEMORE – OF B.J. UPTON – SS HANLEY RAMIREZ – SS

Volume  4  JASON GRABOWSKI – OF/C/3B/1B AARON TAYLOR – RP LEW FORD – OF  JASON LANE – OF  FREDDY SANCHEZ – 2B/SS ROBB QUINLAN – OF

Volume  5  JEROME WILLIAMS – SP CLAUDIO VARGAS – SP CHASE UTLEY – 2B/3B JODY GERUT – OF JASON BAY – OF

Volume  6 GERALD LAIRD – C ANDREW GOOD – SP KIRK SAARLOOS – SP TODD SEARS – 1B WILLIE HARRIS – OF/2B JOSE REYES – SS

Volume  7 Top Ten Hitting Prospects

Volume  8 Top Ten Pitching Prospects

Volume  9 JOHNNY ESTRADA  – C BUBBA CROSBY – OF ROB STRATTON – OF JUSTIN DUCHSCHERER - SP ESIX SNEAD – OF CHONE FIGGINS – IF

Volume  10  DONTRELLE WILLIS - SP ANTONIO PEREZ – SS/2B JASON PHILLIPS – C/1B JASON YOUNG - SP PAT STRANGE - SP

Volume  11 NICK SWISHER – OF/1B ANDY MARTE – 3B PRINCE FIELDER – 1B BRAD NELSON – 1B/OF JUSTIN HUBER – C

Volume  12 DAVID KELTON 3B/1B/OF JHONNY PERALTA – SS/3B  ZACH SORENSEN – IF  MIKE NAKAMURA – RP  EDGAR GONZALEZ – SP

Volume  13  MATT KATA – 2B  FRANCISCO SANTOS – 1B/OF JOSE VALVERDE – RP  MARIO RAMOS – SP BO HART – 2B

Volume  14 DAVE MATRANGA – IF  RODRIGO ROSARIO – SP  BRANDON CLAUSSEN – SP  CARLOS VALDERRAMA – OF  CARLOS RIVERA – 1B

Volume  15 CODY ROSS – OF DAN HAREN – SP JIMMY JOURNELL – SP MIKE GALLO – RP NATE BUMP – SP

Volume  16 LAYNCE NIX – OF LUIS TERRERO – OF  EDWIN ALMONTE – RP  JASON STANFORD – SP CHRIS MEARS – RP

Volume  17 ALEJANDRO MACHADO – IF VICTOR DIAZ – IF RYAN SNARE – SP WILL SMITH – OF ADRIAN GONZALEZ – 1B

Volume  18 RICH HARDEN – SP RENE REYES – OF RYAN WAGNER – RP MARK MALASKA – RP CHIN-HUI TSAO – SP

Volume  19 RYAN HANNAMAN – SP JOE VALENTINE – RP KENNY KELLY – OF PHIL DUMATRAIT – SP

Volume  20  GARRETT ATKINS – 3B  JIMMY GOBBLE – SP JON SWITZER – SP JOSH HALL – SP AARON LOOPER – RP

Volume  21 DERNELL STENSON – 1B/OF NEAL COTTS – SP J.J. PUTZ – RP JON ADKINS – SP

Volume  22  JOSE LOPEZ – SS  JASON STOKES – 1B   MIGUEL CABRERA – 3B  JEFF MATHIS – C  CASEY KOTCHMAN – 1B

Volume  23 JUSTIN MORNEAU – 1B JOSE REYES – SS  VICTOR MARTINEZ – C JOE MAUER – C  MARK TEIXEIRA – 1B/3B

Volume  24  JEROME WILLIAMS - SP  JEREMY BONDERMAN - SP JASON ARNOLD - SP CLINT NAGEOTTE - SP ADAM WAINWRIGHT - SP

Volume  25 GAVIN FLOYD - SP SCOTT KAZMIR - SP  FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ - RP RICH HARDEN - SP  JESSE FOPPERT - SP

Volume  26 RICKIE WEEKS – 2B  BOBBY CROSBY – SS KHALIL GREENE – SS EDWIN JACKSON - SP MATT RILEY - SP

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Aaron Gleeman analyzes minor league prospects exclusively in the Fantistics Insiderbaseball.com member area.

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