Daily notes on prospects from lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen. Read previous installments here.

Jose Marmolejos, 1B, Washington (Profile)
Level: Double-A   Age: 24   Org Rank: 19   Top 100: NR
Line: 3-for-4, HR, BB

Notes
Marmolejos returned from a non-throwing forearm strain that required a 60-day DL stint on the 12th, and he has a hit each day since then. He’s got terrific bat-to-ball skills and is a good defensive first baseman but is blocked, not only at the big-league level by a resurgent Ryan Zimmerman, but at Triple-A by veteran Clint Robinson. He probably lacks the power to play every day, but it looks like he’s going to hit enough to merit a bench spot.

Jake Rogers, C, Houston (Profile)
Level: Hi-A   Age: 22   Org Rank: 20   Top 100: NR
Line: 3-for-3, 2B, 2 HR

Notes
And all that in a rain-shortened, five-inning game. Rogers has been swinging and missing a lot since his recent promotion to High-A, but he went bonkers last night. He does have some bat speed and might run into a dozen annual homers if his excellent glove earns him an everyday job.

Brent Rooker, 1B, Mississippi State
Level: SEC   Age: 22
Line: 3-for-5, HR

Notes
There are lots of reasons to discount Rooker’s prospectdom. He’s a R/R college first baseman, he was essentially passed over in last year’s draft, he didn’t perform particularly well on the Cape last summer with a wood bat. But this is his line from this season, and keep in mind this is the SEC: .415/.519/.873 with 21 home runs — the most at Mississippi State since the Bush Administration (the first one) — and almost three times as many walks as he had last year. Lots of eyes are on Rooker at the SEC tournament in Hoover and, if he continues to hit like this, he might find himself drafted in the first round after falling all the way to the 38th last year.

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Notes from the back fields
Rain cut short yesterday’s action for me at the ACC tournament, but I got a good look at Florida State shortstop Taylor Walls, who has an incredible 51 walks against 35 strikeouts this season. Walls has plenty of range and arm strength for short, though his hands and footwork are respectively less sure and athletic than is typically found there. He takes quality at-bats and has a playable swing from both sides of the plate. I have him projected as a utility man, fitting somewhere in the fourth or fifth round.

Notre Dame has several relevant draft arms in righties Brad Bass, Brandon Bielak, Peter Solomon, and lefty Sean Guenther. I saw all but Solomon yesterday. Bass sat 90-93 and touched 94 with a fringe slider in the mid-80s that flashed average and should mature there. He threw strikes and flashed command of the slider to both sides of the plate. He projects as a depth arm. Bielak and Guenther are both pure relief prospects and similarly sat in the low-90s. Bielak has a nasty, above-average curveball against which several Seminole hitters either swung over top or were frozen for a called strike. Guenther has a short but late-breaking slider that slipped under several bats. Both project in middle relief for me.