The Progress of the Top Dominican Prospects in the AL
Last year before the season started myworld rated the top ten prospects from many of the foreign countries or regions. Like Venezuela, because there were so many Dominican prospects to choose from we broke them out into American and National League. This first list is the progress of those top ten prospects in the AL.
1. Neftali Feliz RHP (Rangers) - One of many prospects percolating up through the system that were acquired with the trade of Mark Teixeira. He was moved to the bullpen after 13 starts in AAA and found some success. In 13 starts his ERA was 3.86 while in the pen it was 2.16. This led to a promotion to the Rangers where he got 20 appearances in the pen and finished with a 1.74 ERA. Major league hitters had trouble making contact off him, struggling with a .124 average and 39 whiffs in 31 innings. These numbers were much better than his AAA stats so it will be interesting to see if he can repeat the dominating performance as major leaguers see more at bats and film against him. The Rangers may have decided his secondary pitches would not develop enough to put him in the starting rotation, where many projected him as a number one type pitcher if he could better improve his secondary pitches and the command on his fastball.
2. Carlos Santana C (Indians) - Myworld sees a Carlos Delgado path being set for Carlos Santana and that “isn’t no evil way.” Sorry. I couldn’t resist that. Many question whether Santana will have the defensive capabilities to fit at catcher, but like Delgado he should have enough bat to stick at first if the Indians wanted to get his offense in there. He played a full year in Akron, leading them to the AA Eastern League title. He hit .290 with 23 homeruns and 97 RBIs. He also coaxed 90 walks to just 83 whiffs. Interesting that the Indians should trade for catcher Lou Marson from the Phillies if they really had plans for Carlos Santana behind the plate.
3. Michael Inoa RHP (Athletics) - One of the risks you run when you throw $4 million contracts at 16 year olds with no experience in organized baseball is that you could be stuck with a bust. Not that Inoa is a bust, but arm injuries prevented him from pitching at all for the Athletics this year. He still has a projectable frame at 6′7″ and already heaves the ball at 94 miles per hour. That velocity should increase as his body gets stronger. He just has to get over the elbow injuries that sidelined him all of 2009.
4. Carlos Triunfel SS (Mariners) - Carlos signed for $1.3 million. He only played seven games in AA before breaking his leg in his second game of the year to virtually end his season. He did come back before the season ended and five more games finishing with a .231 average. Carlos is not a fast runner and as he fills out he will get even slower. The broken leg certainly won’t help his speed. Shortstop is probably not his ultimate position when looking at the major leagues. The Mariners are looking at second base. The layoff may have impacted his timing. Hitting in the AFL Carlos is only hitting .111 in five games, striking out six times in 18 at bats.
5. Engel Beltre OF (Rangers) - Beltre was acquired from the Red Sox in the Eric Gagne trade. Engel couldn’t build on his succesful 2008 campaign when he hit .283 with eight homeruns and a .403 slugging percentage. Promoted to the tough California League he hit only .227 with three homeruns and a slugging percentage of .317. There is no doubting Engel’s five tools, but he is still having trouble utilizing them. Engel had a 17 to 77 walk to K ratio and 17 stolen bases against seven steals. With all those sevens something tells me that Engel is a pretty good gamble. He’s playing for Toro in the Dominican League and has only got one at bat, a strikeout so far this season.
6. Wilken Ramirez OF (Tigers) - Wilken had a down year in AAA compared to the numbers he put up in AA last year. Injuries to the major league team gave him a cup of coffee in the major leagues where he hit a homerun in his first major league game. He’s going to be giving up some defensively so if he wants to make it as the Tigers left fielder he will have to hit. The .258 average with 17 homeruns in 113 games with 143 whiffs needs some improvement. He is working down in the Dominican Republic playing for Licey where he is hitting .306 with one homerun and three RBIs in eleven games.
7. Michael Almanzar 3B (Red Sox) - Another high profile player signed for $1.5 million. He was signed as a shortstop but the Red Sox recognized his weak defensive tools and moved him to third base. Like Wilken, he had trouble making contact, striking out 105 times in just 108 games. Michael seems to be taking some steps backward, only hitting .220 last year between two levels. His .298 slugging is not indicative of the power he is expected to show as he matures as a player. At 19 years old this December he is usually one of the younger players in the league.
8. Kelvin de la Cruz LHP (Indians) - The Indians signed Kelvin in 2004 and after last year’s 18 starts in Lake Country where he had a 1.69 ERA it appeared that he was ready to take off. He got off to an excellent start with the Kinston Indians winning the pitcher of the week honors after two starts and a 1.50 ERA. But he felt some discomfort in his elbow and the Indians shut him down until three South Atlantic League starts where he struggled with an ERA of 9.39. The good news is that he did not need to have surgery and in bullpen sessions in instructional league he was pitching fine. Surgery would have ended his 2010 season.
9. Jhormidy DeJesus 3B (Mariners) - He didn’t turn 20 until August of this year so the Mariners will show some patience in the Dominican they signed for $1 million in 2007. He continued his career in the short season leagues, hitting .255 at two levels with eight homeruns. His 71 whiffs in 76 games still needs to be tamed. He was signed initially as a shortstop but the Mariners immediately moved him to third base where he will be competing with equally talented Venezuelan Mario Martinez for playing time.
10. Michael Pineda RHP (Mariners) - He’s got a nice 6′5″ frame and a 88-92 mile per hour fastball that he controls well. In his three years prior to the 2009 season he has never had an ERA higher than 2.29. Last year he was named Mariners pitcher of the year. He missed a lot of the early season in 2009 with elbow problems limiting him to four starts in April, three starts in May and then finishing the season out with four starts in August and September, all for High Desert. He finished with a 2.84 ERA, but more importantly with a 1.98 ERA in his last four starts with 22 strikeouts in 13 innings. Time will tell if these elbow problems become chronic.