It’s a small ripple in a very large pond but the Baltimore Orioles front office made another astute move involving a lesser known prospect.

I originally complimented the organization back in the spring when it signed former Arizona Diamondbacks catching prospect John Hester (who was later released and is now playing at the big league level with the Angels) and then again when the club acquired former Boston Red Sox catching prospect Luis Exposito (an admitted upgrade over Hester). Both Exposito and Hester represent excellent, cost-efficient second-string catchers for a club that features a strong starting option like Matt Wieters.

The Orioles’ latest move saw the club receive pitching prospect Mike Belfiore – again from the Arizona Diamondbacks. The left-hander is the return that Baltimore receives for former third base prospect Josh Bell who fell out of favor with the organization (for good reason) and was traded to Arizona for a player-to-be-named-later back in late April. Although I favor Belfiore, 23, by a wide margin it’s a decent trade for both organizations as Arizona adds some corner infield depth and can afford to part with a B-level arm thanks to a minor league system that boasts plethora of top-shelf arms such as Trevor Bauer, Tyler Skaggs, Pat Corbin, and Archie Bradley. Baltimore, on the other hand, desperately needs the pitching depth.

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Matt Adams, 1B, St. Louis Cardinals
Current Level: AAA
2012 Top 15 Prospects Ranking: 8th
Current Value: Nearly Ready

Barring injury, St. Louis probably won’t be looking to shake its roster up anytime soon given its success in 2012 despite the loss of Mr. Albert Pujols. Lance Berkman and Allen Craig, both capable of playing first base, are also getting healthy, which could mean an extended stint in Triple-A for the hot-hitting Adams. Despite his innocuous entrance into pro ball as a 23rd round draft pick, the first base prospect has done nothing but hit since signing. He has a career batting average above .300 and has hit with power everywhere that he’s played during his four-year career. He’s currently hitting .310 with 12 extra base hits (five homers) in 30 Triple-A game. Adams is struggling with southpaws, though, and his walk rate (6.7%) is a tad low.

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When seeing Colorado Rockies shortstop prospect Trevor Story in person, very little about his all-around game strikes one as sexy beyond his current triple slash line of .283/.395/.535. However, as a teenager in the South Atlantic League, Story’s numbers are on par with the best middle infield prospects in the game which has led to many questions about his ceiling and comparisons to Nolan Arenado, the current king of the Rockies prospect mountain.

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Last year was an exceptional one for the state of Oklahoma. Its high school baseball programs gave Major League Baseball not one, but two potential star pitchers. And another three prep arms are loaded with potential. I personally cannot remember the last time I was this excited about the future of a state-specific draft class. It’s even more impressive coming from a state like Oklahoma that is not a baseball hotbed like Texas, Florida or California. The last top-flight prep arm to come out of an Oklahoma high school was Miami’s Chad James, a 2009 draftee.

Dylan Bundy, RHP, Owasso
Selected: 4th overall by Baltimore
2011 Top 15 Prospect Ranking: 1st

Perhaps you’ve heard of Bundy, the best prep prospect to come out of the high school ranks since… forever? The teenager has carved his way through the low-A lineups. He’s given up just two hits and two walks in 20.0 innings of work. That is not a typo. Bundy finally gave up a run (although unearned) in his sixth start of the year. He’s whiffed 33 batters and is also getting a healthy number of ground-ball outs. Bundy could probably jump to double-A at this point and hold his own, although it’s hard to get a true read on his current skill level because he’s only pitching 3.0 or 4.0 innings at a time. As long as he stays healthy Bundy looks like a surefire of a No.1 starter – a comment I normally never make about a prep pitcher with six pro starts. You typically see top flight prep prospects reach the Majors in three to four seasons; Bundy could reach the Majors within one to two years.

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Manny Banuelos, LHP, New York Yankees
Current Level: AAA
2012 Top 15 Prospects Ranking: 1st
Current Value: Monitor Closely

Banuelos, 21, returned from a brief stint on the disabled list with an impressive performance that saw him strike out five batters in 3.0 innings of work. He gave up two hits but did not allow a walk or a run. He followed that up last night with another five innings of one run ball. It was a far cry from his first two starts of the 2012 season when he allowed 14 hits, seven walks and six runs in 5.1 combined innings. With the starting rotation in a state of flux in New York, the triple-A prospect could be a sight for sore eyes come mid season. Banuelos’ control still needs a fair bit of fine tuning but he has the ceiling of a No. 2 starter with a little more polish.

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Aaron Altherr, OF, Philadelphia Phillies
Current Level: A-
2012 Top 15 Prospects Ranking: 15th
Current Value: Monitor Closely

The organization lacked a first round pick in the 2009 draft and its first actual pick (second round, 75th overall), outfielder Kelly Dugan, hasn’t done very much. The club still found a lot of talent, though, with the likes of Brody Colvin (7th round), Justin Singleton (8th), Josh Zeid (10th) and Altherr. At the time of the draft, Baseball America had a telling report on the outfielder: “He hasn’t played a lot of baseball, and the game doesn’t come easy to him. He’s a project, but has athleticism you can’t teach.” The Arizona native was an astute selection by the organization that has been burned by its love of raw athletes in the past with the likes of Greg Golson, Anthony Hewitt and Zach Collier. Altherr is still putting everything together but he’s showing flashes of brilliance on a more regular basis while taking the field in low-A ball.

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The 2007 amateur draft was an exciting time if you were a fan of the San Diego Padres, the San Francisco Giants, the Texas Rangers or the Toronto Blue Jays. Each organization had at least five picks before the second round, thanks to supplemental picks obtained for the losses of free agents the previous winter. It’s been five years since that draft, so it’s a good time to look back and see which team made out best with its additional selections.

1. San Francisco Giants: The organization found the best player out of the four clubs, a potential No. 2 starter and possibly landed a couple of future utility infielders. The club also flipped one of the prospects for a veteran infielder.

Madison Bumgarner, LHP, 10th overall: Drafted out of high school, the southpaw reached the majors in his third professional season — technically his second, since he didn’t pitch after signing in 2007. The 22-year-old has the ceiling of a No. 2 or a No. 3 starter at the big-league level and already has one 200-plus inning season under his belt.

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From the moment Trevor Bauer’s name was announced as the third overall pick in the 2011 draft, the pitcher with my favorite twitter handle (@BauerOutage) has been in the conversation for best pitching prospect in all of baseball. Against Chattanooga, the former UCLA ace (sorry Gerrit Cole) carved up double-A hitters at times, but struggled to command a fastball up in the zone, leading to mixed results in the stat column.

Video after the jump.

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Charlie Culberson, IF, San Francisco Giants:
Current Level: AAA
2012 Top 15 Prospects Ranking: NR
Current Value: Leveling Off

After making 75 errors playing on the left side of the infield between 2008-09, Culberson has found more consistency on the right side of the field at the keystone. In truth his offensive profile fits better at second base too and he’s shown some nice gap power. Unfortunately he has an overly aggressive approach which hindered him at double-A in 2011 and his wOBA sat at just .303. Moved up aggressively to triple-A this season the 23-year-old infielder has walked just four times in 26 games. He also has 21 strikeouts and whiffs too much for a player with modest home run power. With experience at three infield positions Culberson’s future big league role will probably come as a utility player and the organization with have to look elsewhere for its second baseman of the future.

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To write that Arizona Diamondbacks pitching prospect Tyler Skaggs is very good isn’t exactly going out on a limb. However, with the young lefty ranking no lower than number-21 on major prospect lists and posting gaudy double-A numbers this season, readers expect Skaggs to rank among the truly elite pitching prospects in the game. For me personally, it was Skaggs being universally ranked above Mariners Danny Hultzen this past off-season that left me anticipating he would become my standard bearer for southpaws. In this particular start, he fell a bit short.

Video after the jump

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