The minor league season is now well underway with a plethora of high-level performances by intriguing names from triple-A all the way down to low-A. Below is just a snapshot highlighting five strong starts to the season.

Tony Cingrani, LHP, Cincinnati Reds
Current Level: A+
2012 Top 15 Prospects Ranking: 8th
Current Value: Holding Steady

It’s not easy jumping from short-season ball to high-A ball but Cingrani made it look easy. His first start – in which he allowed just one hit in 6.0 innings – was all the more impressive when you realize it took place in the hitter friendly California League. The southpaw also walked a batter but he struck out five. Of the balls put into play, Cingrani recorded more outs via the fly ball than the ground ball so that gives him something to work on for his next start.

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It has been a good week to be a second baseman. On the heels of Ian Kinsler’s big extension with the Rangers, Brandon Phillips received a roughly similar six-year, $72.5 million deal from the Cincinnati Reds. Unlike Kinsler’s five-year contract, which begins after this season, Phillips’ new contract begins this year. Does this make sense for the team given the Reds current situation?

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Every player processes the news of their first big league call up differently. Some whoop and holler. Some suppress the excitement and act as if they expected it all along.

Right-hander Joe Wieland, however, experienced an outpouring of emotion in the Tucson Padres dugout when he learned of his promotion to the Padres’ big league club. He broke down crying and began hugging all of his teammates that surrounded him.

Wieland is expected to make his first major league start on Saturday evening on the road against a division rival, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

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Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.

1. Brief Previews for Select Games
2. Video: Verlander’s Curveball Against Boston
3. Crowdsourcing Broadcasters: Los Angeles (NL) Radio

Brief Previews for Select Games
Here are brief previews for four of today’s games — each including the preferred television feed of FanGraphs readers, per the results of our offseason crowdsourcing project. (Information on probable pitchers from MLB.com.)

Chicago AL at Cleveland | 12:05 ET
Justin Masterson makes his second start for Cleveland. He was excellent on Opening Day. To wit: 8.0 IP, 27 TBF, 10 K, 1 BB, 10 GB on 16 batted-balls (62.5%). Also, from the box score: 2.19 FIP, 1.14 xFIP, 30 xFIP-, 86.9% fastballs (89.3 mph), 13.1% sliders (81.3 mph), .296 WPA.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Cleveland.

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Matt Harvey doesn’t shy away from the “power pitcher” label. And he doesn’t avoid talking about how he’s close to joining the Mets’ starting rotation. The 23-year-old right-hander only has one year of professional baseball under his belt, but his confidence and power arsenal don’t portend a long stay in Triple-A. That’s where the 2010 first-round pick is beginning the season, and he talked about his repertoire — which includes a pair of new-and-improved pitches — following his first start, a 4-2 loss to Pawtucket on April 5.

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David Laurila: How would you describe yourself as a pitcher?

Matt Harvey: I like to think of myself as a power pitcher. I throw my fastball a lot — whether it’s my sinker or my four-seamer. I try to get ahead with that, get weak contact and move it in and out. It’s what I’ve always done. I’ve always thrown pretty hard. My curveball is pretty hard. My slider is pretty hard. My fastball is pretty hard.

DL: How important is velocity to your game? Read the rest of this entry »

The Atlanta Braves have followed up their 2011 collapse with an 0-4 start to the 2012 season. The Braves have simply been terrible in 2012. Their .229 wOBA is 29th in the majors, they rank 29th in BABIP against, and they are tied for 29th in run differential. Not all of this can be blamed on the manager and it is only four games, but Gonzalez is in line for criticism for his bullpen usage and playing time decisions.

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As we round the corner and storm full-steam ahead through week two of the big league season, today I thought it might be apt to take a peek at a few players’ starts and wonder aloud what exactly they might mean for the season ahead. Of course we have the small sample size caveats — likely suggesting we take most trends with a grain of salt — but sometimes a hot or cold start is all it takes to spur a career-altering season, especially if it comes on the heel of a torrid previous September or something like that.

On a semi-related note: How awesome is it to finally be able to click on a 2012 season on the sortable leaderboards?

But I digress. Let’s take a peek at a few trends and see what we think. Again, I’ll emphasize it’s only been three to five games, so I’m not going super serious with how I think these will play out.

Yoenis Cespedes – .250/.368/.875 (.505 wOBA/244 wRC+)

Cespedes is off to a sizzling start which obviously won’t continue, but there have been a few key elements of his game that I’ve found interesting. For one, he’s yet to hit a single, and has only drawn a single walk — two HBP in 19 PA keep his isolated discipline reasonable — so despite a healthy triple-slash, it’s hard to get an exact feel for how his season will extrapolate.

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Ubaldo Jimenez and Troy Tulowitzki engaged in a war of words over the winter. When the former teammates met on a baseball field in the last week of spring training, the war of words escalated. Jimenez pitched inside to Tulowitzki, hitting him on the elbow with a 90+ miles per hour fastball. Tulowitzki charged the mound. Jimenez came forward to challenge him. Benches cleared. When order was restored, Jimenez was on the mound and Tulowitzki was at the hospital getting x-rays. The umpires made no ejections and issued no warnings.

After the game, Rockies manager Jim Tracy called Jimenez “gutless.”  Jimenez said he did not intend to hit Tulowitzki. The Commissioner’s Office apparently disagreed, overruled the umpires and suspended Jimenez for five games, the equivalent of one start.

Change the names of the players. Change the teams involved. Change the circumstances leading to the beaning. It’s all about retaliation, a ritual as enmeshed in the fabric of baseball as stealing signs and never bunting to break up a no-hit bid. The Baseball Codes: The Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastime, as baseball writer Jason Turbow called them in his best-selling book and on his on-going blog.

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