From April through July, Mike Olt was the most prodigious slugger in the minor leagues. The former University of Connecticut star hit .288/.398.579, with 28 home runs, for Double-A Frisco. His power explosion helped prompt Baseball America to rank the right-handed-hitting corner infielder 11th on its midseason top-prospect list. It also prompted a call-up to the big leagues.

Since debuting for the Texas Rangers, on Aug. 2, the 24-year-old has mostly languished on the bench, logging just 39 plate appearances. There is little doubt that he has a bright future. Whether his development was advanced or hindered by riding the Texas pine — instead of getting regular playing time in Triple-A — is the question.

Olt talked about his whirlwind season, including the call-up and his emergence as a power hitter, when the Rangers visited Fenway Park in August.

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Olt on playing in this summer’s All-Star Futures Game: “It was obviously a great game to be a part of. There was a lot of talent on that field, and being there, competing with them, gives you the confidence that you belong. I hit the ball hard three out of four times and that had me feeling like I could compete at any level.

“I knew that I was getting closer to the big leagues, but I still felt that I had some things to work on. Playing in the Futures Game definitely had me making sure to keep pushing myself every day to get better.”

On hearing his name in trade-deadline rumors: “Everyone was saying that it must be hard to deal with that, but it really wasn’t. I knew that it was a win-win for me. If I got traded, there was going to be something good for me in that organization. And if it didn’t, I knew that I was already in a great organization with a winning atmosphere. If I stayed here, I was going to be a part of something special, and whatever happened was going to happen. I mostly just blocked it all out.”

On getting promoted from Double-A: “I was very surprised, despite the fact that some things were happening in Frisco. Read the rest of this entry »

Ben and Sam discuss whether teams will get creative with their Wild Card rosters, then talk about Miguel Cabrera’s Triple Crown chances and why we should care if he wins.

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There exists the perception that the Detroit Tigers are just this total disappointment. The Tigers, you’ll recall, came into the year looking like the favorites in the AL Central, and now it’s the middle of September and they’re three back of first. They’re about as far out of the wild card as the Padres are, which means for the Tigers it’s probably division title or bust. They won’t play the leading White Sox again down the stretch. Many thought the Tigers would be able to coast to the playoffs, and now the Tigers are fighting for their very playoff lives.

Truthfully, I’d say it’s less about the Tigers being surprising, and more about the White Sox being surprising. Major media types liked the Tigers because of their stars, but check out those linked projections above. Statistically, the Tigers didn’t look like an elite team, and they’re on pace to win 85 games. People just didn’t expect for the White Sox to give them such a push.

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Tony Cingrani struck out 80 of the 191 batters (41.9%) he faced in the Rookie-level Pioneer League last season. The achievement was mitigated considerably by the fact that the left-hander was a 21-year-old, four-year college draftee facing (in most cases) considerably younger talent. Still, it was a promising professional debut.

Cingrani began this season at High-A Bakersfield. A college pitcher, one with designs on a major-league career, should also have no little success here — a statement which requires the qualifcation that, this being the California League, “success” is somewhat relative, given the circuit’s decidedly robust run environment. In point of fact, Cingrani’s success was absolute: he struck out 71 of 220 batters faced (32.3%) while walking only 13 (or, 5.9%), leading to a 1.84 FIP and 1.11 ERA. He also posted the top regressed pitching line of all California League starters.

Cingrani’s dominance earned him a mid-season promotion to Double-A Pensacola, where he continued to succeed, recording the second-highest regressed strikeout mark and overall line among starters — behind only Trevor Bauer (taken 111 picks ahead of Cingrani in 2011) in both cases.

Recognizing that he might of some use to their stretch-run, the Reds promoted Cingrani at the beginning of September. So far, he’s made two relief appearances, and the results, on a per-batter basis, have been quite similar to those from his various minor-league campaigns: of the 17 opponents he’s faced, Cingrani has struck out eight of them (47.1%).

Of note is this maybe trivial, maybe entirely prescient observation: despite his early success, Cingrani has induced swinging strikes on his fastball alone so far — even while sitting at a very average 91 mph with the pitch.

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Rick Porcello throws a slider. He doesn’t throw it very often, but when he does, the results are typically disastrous. You might be able to work in a not-very-great pitch if everything else you had in your repertoire was overwhelming, but for the ground-balling Porcello, that’s just not the case.

But let me step back a moment. Rick Porcello is having a very Rick Porcello-like season, which, objectively, is just a wee bit better than your average starter. His 4.57 ERA is spot on with his career 4.55, his 3.82 FIP is the lowest of his career, and he’s striking out more batters than he has in his career with a 13.6% strikeout rate. Peachy.

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In a piece of news that would have seemed impossible at one time, there’s scuttlebutt that New York Mets might be open to trading Ike Davis this offseason. A source told Adam Rubin of ESPNNY that the option of moving Davis in order to both upgrade the team elsewhere and move Lucas Duda to his natural position is on the table. Though much of Queens would be dismayed — “We like Ike” T-shirts abound — it’s definitely possible that this is the right move for the Metropolitans.

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Tentative rosters for the Arizona Fall League were released on Aug. 29. The fall developmental league is designed to help prospects received extra seasoning and coaching at the conclusion of the minor league season. Each organization contributes players to the six-team league. The league typically shifts in favor of the hitters because teams are generally reluctant to assign top arms to the league – unless they’re attempting to make up for lost innings due to injuries.

We’ve already broken down five AFL clubs:
Mesa Solar Sox
Peoria Javelinas
Phoenix Desert Dogs
Scottsdale Scorpions.
Surprise Saguaros

The Salt River Rafters club consists of players from five organizations – Toronto, Arizona, Washington, Colorado, and Chicago (AL). Below are some interesting names set to appear on the roster. Full rosters can be found here.

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The current talk of the National League is a reliever turned starter with a small body type dominating the league with three solid pitches and, specifically, a killer changeup. Kris Medlen’s season has been one of the more interesting storylines this year, which has to do with both his impressive performance as a starter and the fact that he has done so for a contending team. In the American League, there is a pitcher that I find to be strikingly similar to Medlen. They both have a similar body type, they both have changeups that make hitters look absolutely silly, and they both have displayed top notch command. While he will need a bigger sample size to be evaluated more in depth, Erasmo Ramirez looks like he has the tools to be a rather successful starting pitcher.
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The San Diego Padres didn’t play on Monday, which means the San Diego Padres didn’t win on Monday. We currently live in a world in which this is an infrequent occurrence. We currently live in a world in which the Padres, Orioles, and A’s keep on winning, and the Red Sox have one of their worst rosters people can remember. In some ways this was a gradual shift and in other ways this was rather sudden. Anyhow, the Padres have been amazing, and one of the players allowing them to be amazing has been Cameron Maybin.

Last offseason, it wouldn’t have seemed weird to know that Maybin would help the Padres down the stretch in 2012. Two offseasons ago, sure, for two reasons, but last offseason, Maybin was coming off a year in which he seemed to put his skills together. Maybin was 24 years old in 2011, and for three years in a row he had been a Baseball America top-10 prospect. Last year was a career year and the Padres rewarded Maybin for his development with a five-year contract. It seemed like he was becoming the player he was supposed to be.

But after Maybin figured it out in 2011, he lost it again to begin 2012. Maybin was left in the position of having to figure it out again.

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