I was asked to join up with some of the best farm reporters in the business for a United Baseball Blogger Mock Draft  which is underway (click on the link to follow the action).

In a bit of a shocker, ESPN's Keith Law, selecting on behalf of the Tampa Bay Rays, went with Florida State catcher Buster Posey as the top pick in the draft.  

Somewhat surprisingly, Eric Hosmer was still on the board when my turn came up to select on behalf of the Rangers and I couldn't resist.

The objective of this draft wasn't to go with the guy the selectors would want their team  to pick, but to predict who they would actually pick.    Thus,  while Hosmer likely would have been a top five pick based on talent alone, he dropped down the board because he is a Boras client who is asking for a $7 million signing bonus.

As most of you know, the Rangers have done a lot of business  with Boras over the years and pounced on Boras client Julio Borbon when he slid into the sandwich round last year.    The Rangers have also paid well over slot for Boras clients Vincent Sinisi and Taylor Teagarden in recent years.

As long as Boras doesn't insist on a major league deal for Hosmer, I believe that the Rangers commitment to stockpiling as much talent as possible in the farm system will allow them to find a way to come to terms with Boras and Hosmer.    Say what you want about major league payroll, but clearly, the Rangers have not skimped when it comes to spending on acquiring and developing young talent in recent years.

Hosmer, a 6'4",  220 lb. first baseman out of a Miami-area high school,  wields the most powerful bat in the draft. He is the two-time Miami Herald state player of the year, the 2007 Connie Mack and 2007 World Wood Bat Association MVP and a 2007 Rawlings High School Gold Glove winner. 

Swinging from the left side,  he drives tape-measure shots out of every part of the yard and has incredible bat speed that allows him to wait for the ball to get deep in the zone before contact.   He was also the closer on his state championship high school team, dealing 96 mph cheese.

The leader among American League second baseman in OPS.

The leader among American League second baseman in SLG.

The leader among American League second basemen in Homers, RBI's, Runs Scored,  Stolen Bases.   Never been caught stealing.

A close second among American League second baseman in batting average.

Fourth among American League second baseman in OBP.

Now go get it done for Kins.  Send him to Yankees Stadium.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2008/ballot_reg.html

Lots of good stuff yesterday.

At Visalia,   Bakersfield second baseman Jose Miguel Vallejo (.295 / .352 / .486)  posted  what stands, without question, as the box score line of the year for an offensive player in this system, going 3-4 with a triple, two homers, two walks,  four RBIs,  four runs scored and a stolen base as the Blaze posted a 13-7 victory over the Oaks.

Vallejo, whose physical maturity started to catch up to his mental and emotional maturity this past off-season,  came into the season with five career homers in 1382 minor league at-bats.   This year, he has nine bombs in 220 at-bats.   His outstanding base running has not suffered in spite of the fact that he's packed probably 15 pounds of muscle on to his frame.  He's nabbed 19 bags while being caught just three times.  And he remains probably the most outstanding defensive infielder in the system, Elvis and Joaquin notwithstanding.

Now in his third full year as a switch hitter, Vallejo is hitting .316 / .355 / .579 from his natural right side and .288 / .352 / .454 from his 'weaker' left side.    Impressive stuff all the way around.   Between the physical gifts and the makeup, Vallejo is a bonafide jewel.

If not for Vallejo's freakfest, we'd be leading off this edition of Stars with Julio Borbon (.330 / .379 / .436) who homered, doubled and walked in a 2-5 outing from the top of the Bakersfield order, driving in three, scoring three runs and stealing his 19th bag of the season.

Can someone buy Julio a ticket to Frisco already?

Evan Reed (4-2;  5.15) was the beneficiary of the Blaze lineup's big performance, but he didn't need anywhere near half of their production.    He held the Oaks to a run on four hits and five walks over six.

The best thing about minor league Spring Training isn't seeing the guys you went there to see, but finding the guy you didn't know about.   My friend Jamey Newberg and I will live off of our tales of realizing that an obscure 17th round shortstop from Missouri was 'actually a pretty big deal,'  back in 2004.    I'll never forget seeing Edison Volquez pitch for the first time and thinking that he was, by far, the most talented pitcher in camp back in 2005.

This year, the day after I'd watched Wilmer Font and Neftali Feliz light up the radar gun in the high 90's, I saw a skinny Dominican kid stride to the mound and make hitters look sillier than either of his more heralded flamethrowing teammates had the day before.

And on March 15, I wrote:   "The most interesting young pitching prospect to take the mound today was perhaps Kennil Gomez,  a 6'3" 165 lb. 19 year old who posted a 9.96 K/9 for the Arizona League club last summer (3.15 ERA & 1.17 WHIP).   He threw a 90ish fastball with explosive life and he's obviously in love with his slider, which features sharp, hard late break and he throws it for strikes."

Two weeks later, Gomez was dispatched to Clinton, Iowa and now five weeks after making his MWL debut, everyone knows about him.

Yesterday, Kennil Gomez (2.21 ERA) held Beloit scoreless on one hit for seven innings, fanning four and getting ten ground ball outs as Clinton topped the Snappers in ten innings.

Gomez isn't posting huge strikeout figures (7.11  K/9), but he's holding the MWL to a .196 batting average, getting 2.26 grounders for every ball hit in the air, and has a 0.91 WHIP.  

It won't be long before Gomez moves on to Bakersfield.

OK, so he doesn't lead the National League in about five pitching categories or sport one of the ten best ERAs in the American League at the tender age of 23 years and one month,  but D-1 has still got skills, and it won't be long before he joins he's making noise in the bigs like his old buddies Edinson and John.

Thomas Diamond made his second start in an official game since undergoing Tommy John surgery a little more than  one year ago and held Tulsa to one earned run on three hits and two walks in five innings while racking up seven strikeouts as Frisco opened a six-game homestand and the confluence of Dallas Tollway and Highway 121 with a 6-3 victory over the Drillers.

Emerson Frostad (.281 / .343 / .475) paced the RoughRiders attack, going 3-4 with a double to drive in two and Max Ramirez (.374 / .455 / .678)  made his first start of the year at first base and went 0-2 with a pair of walks.

Just emptying out my head of a few thoughts:

Worst Fans in Baseball:

More on Money and the Farm:  

Your friends make fun of you for following minor league baseball?     They give you the Dan McDowell line about how it doesn't matter and, like their leader, believe that the only way to build a winning ballclub is to spend wildly in free agency?

Read on.

For a long time now, I've been arguing that the Rangers woes have absolutely nothing to do with the owner's decision to cut back on payroll from a top-5 ranking to a bottom half to bottom third ranking.  I wrote extensively on this subject last summer: 

HERE:  http://rangersfarmreport.mlblogs.com/archives/2007/08/money_cant_buy_.html

And HERE: http://rangersfarmreport.mlblogs.com/archives/2007/10/you_reap_what_t.html

In baseball, in spite of an asinine disparity in payroll, it still all comes down to scouting, drafting and developing more talent than the other guy.

This year?   More of the same.

Lowest payroll in the AL East:   Tampa -- 1st place

Lowest payroll in the NL East:   Florida -- 1st place

Lowest payroll in the NL West:  Arizona -- 1st place

The three highest payrolls in MLB?   Yankees (last place),  Detroit (last place) and Mets (next to last and in disarray).

2010:

I'm enjoying this run as much as the next guy,  but I pray Jon Daniels doesn't take his eye off the ball.    Please don't be a buyer JD.   Sell off the parts that you won't need in two years for the best pitching you can get and shoot to build a strong young starting rotation around this lineup:

2b = Ian Kinsler

3b = Michael Young

RF = Josh Hamilton

DH = Max Ramirez

C = Jarrod Saltalamacchia

1b = Chris Davis

LF = David Murphy

SS = Elvis Andrus

CF = Julio Borbon

4th OF = Brandon Boggs

UTIL:  German Duran

Just two games on the ledger as the Midwest and Texas Leauges took the day off to switch dance partners.

Bakersfield and Oklahoma both lost and there wasn't much to write home about in either game, but Eric Hurley (2-4;  5.49) battled his way to a quality start in the Redhawks'  5-2 loss at beautiful Rosenblatt Stadium in sunny south Omaha.   The 2004 first rounder gave up three runs, one earned, on seven hits -- including two more bombs, giving him a league-leading 13 gophers -- and a pair of walks in six. 

Given that there's not much else to tell you about this morning, maybe this is a good time to take a look at where Hurley's season has been and where it's headed.

My enthusiasm for Hurley has always been pretty muted when compared to others who follow the Rangers minor league system and I've been critical of the way that he has failed to develop fully as a starter by leaning too heavily on his lively four-seam fastball as he rose through the system.  

Yeah, he consistently posted excellent ERAs at every stop, but his splits were horribly lopsided and he had a disturbing trend at every stop during his career that saw leagues catch up to him the longer he stayed around (his ERAs by month in Frisco last summer were 1.50 in April,  3.46 in May and 5.49 in June -- pretty standard for Hurley).   This, to me, signaled a problem in that a league's hitters consistently adjusted to Hurley rather than the other way around. 

By the time he left Frisco for Oklahoma last summer,  he was still hanging about half of his sliders and even my daughter Erin was able to see his changeup coming before he threw it because he telegraphed it so vividly by changing his arm speed and angle.   I didn't like it that he was leaving double-A with only one quality pitch he could go to reliably for strikes.

As I've often said,  I admire Hurley enormously for his tenacity and I have long suspected that he's one of those guys who has to learn the hard way.   Hitters never really made Hurley learn how to pitch because he enjoyed so much success coming at them with almost nothing but fastballs for so long. 

Well, the PCL is making Hurley learn.  In 133.2 Triple-A innings to date, Hurley has surrendered a ******** 26 homers, including the two yesterday.

This year, lefties are crushing him to the tune of a .306 / .370 / .537 line.    In other words, the average PCL left-handed hitter becomes Adrian Gonzalez when standing in against Hurley this year.

Having said all of that, I do think that Hurley's pride and desire will get him over the hump eventually, but you can't compare him to a guy like Chris Young or John Danks -- or even Doug Mathis --  right now because he came to Oklahoma with such a dramatically different experience in the lower minors than those guys did.  Adjustments most guys make before they get to the PCL, Hurley is having to make now.   Making adjustments is a skill and it's one that Hurley hasn't honed yet, but he's in the process of doing so.

I still suspect that Hurley's future may be in the bullpen where his plus fastball and intensity would seem to play well, and given his propensity for giving up the long ball, I wouldn't be surprised if he joins the armada of pitchers --  Young, Danks, Volquez, Galarraga, Cruceta, Duchsherer, Masset -- that the Rangers have sent packing just before or shortly after reaching the Show.   

Blake Beavan (4-1; 2.90) kept up with his Clinton rotation-mates with six strong innings of work in the LumberKings 7-2 victory at Cedar Rapids, holding the Kernels to two unearned runs on four hits and no walks, fanning four.    Amazingly, Beavan has allowed just one walk in 31 innings while holding the opposition to a .226 batting average.

Catcher Justin Pickett, who has spent the past two years in the Padres organization (shout out to Billy Killian), homered and doubled twice, driving in three runs in support of his pitcher.

Engel Beltre (.269 / .295 / .406) extended a five game hitting streak, going 2-5 with his third homer of the year.   Beltre, who is hitting .300 over his past ten games,  is struggling mightily against lefties (.203 / .354 / .254) and at Alliant Energy Field (.192 / .223 / .313).

The first two hitters in the Bakersfield order -- Julio Borbon (.328 / .376 / .414) and Jose Vallejo (.289 / .343 / .441) each went 2-5 -- with Bobron driving in two and Vallejo three, but the Blaze fell 12-8 to Inland Empire at San Bernardino.   Borbon notched his 18th stolen base of the year while Vallejo went deep for the seventh time this season.

Taylor Teagarden (.310 / .459 / .483) extended his 15-game hitting streak with a 1-4 outing while Chris Davis singled twice and fanned twice in four trips as Oklahoma dropped a 6-4 decision in Des Moines.   4-A  doubled and tripled in four at-bats.

Luis Mendoza was roughed up, getting chased after just two having surrendered five runs on six hits.   Lizard took the ball from Mendy and held the I-Cubs to one unearned run on six hits and a walk in six innings of work.

Frisco suffered a 5-2 loss in Fort Smith as the mighty Riders lineup was held to just five hits.   Dustin Majewski (.295 / .386 / .447) doubled and walked in four trips and Thomas Berkery (.237 / .333 / .395) tripled and walked. 

The reigning Texas League player of the week went 0-4.   Just for fun, take a look at what I wrote about the great Maximiliano last summer, the day after he was acquired in the Kenny Lofton deal:  http://rangersfarmreport.mlblogs.com/archives/2007/07/maximiliano_ram.html  

After walking on, he spent five years toiling in various roles at Georgia Tech, then lasted until the 33rd round in last year's draft.  The Rangers sent him out for 18 appearances, all out of the pen, spread out over three stops in the organization last summer. 

He's really never been anybody's first choice for anything except the Dean's List. 

This year, he's spen t most of his spring in the Bakersfield bullpen, but with Omar Poveda on the shelf and Tommy Hunter off to Frisco,  Jared Hyatt (5-0;  3.29) has gotten an opportunity to start and he's making the most of it.

Yesterday, Hyatt (pictured) held Inland Empire to a run on just one hit while punching out six in seven very strong innings as the Blaze ran off to an 11-2 victory.

The Bakersfield  lineup recorded a dozen base hits and as many walks. Johnny Whittleman (.280 / .398 / .434) reached base five times, going 1-2 with four walks, driving in two and scoring three times while Julio Borbon (.325 / .375 / .414) went 3-6, stole his 18th bag of the year and scored three times from the top of the order. 

In Iowa,  the LumberKings continued to use Cedar Rapids as a punching bag, recording their ninth straight victory over the Angels affiliate as southpaw starter Derek Holland (5-0;  2.47) did his part to maintain the legacy of what must be the most dominant starting rotation -- top to bottom -- in minor league baseball. 

Holland went seven,  limiting the Kernels to a pair of runs on six hits.  He fanned three and induced 11 ground ball outs.  

Toolsy 18 year old center fielder Engel Beltre (.266 / .293 / .391) tripled in a 3-5 outing to drive in three.  He also recorded an outfield assist, nailing a baserunner at third.   The Midwest League's leading hitter (by .025), Renny Osuna (.365 / .439 / .528) also went 3-5 and hit his ninth double of the year.

Ben Harrison (.351 / .449 / .649) homered twice in  four trips, driving in three, but it wasn't enough for the Riders-sans-Davis as Frisco dropped a 6-5 affair at Fort Smith.  

Harrison's 1.098 OPS is second in the league -- ahead of Chris Davis and behind you know who.   Harrison is also second in the league in OBP and slugging percentage, third in batting average, and sixth  in both dingers (9) and RBIs (35). 

Any notions  Tommy Hunter (1-1;  5.25) might have had about the Texas League after his first dominant start against double-A competition were tempered yesterday as the Naturals chased him after five having gotten to him for six runs on six hits -- two of which left the yard -- and four walks.  

In Iowa,  4-A doubled and homered in four trips but the I-Cubs trounded Oklahoma 9-2.  Dustin Nippert wasn't so good.   Chris Davis went 0-1 in a pinch hitting appearance.  

Kasey Kiker (3-0;  4.83) merits first star after dealing 7.2 dominant frames against Visalia, holding the Oaks to just one run on three hits and a walk while racking up nine strikeouts as Bakersfield posted a 6-1 victory at Historic Sam Lynn Ballpark.

In Des Moines,  Rob Tejeda (1-1;  2.18) blanked the I-Cubs on four hits and two walks for six innings, fanning eight and batterymate Taylor Teagarden (.315 / .471 / .500) continued his assault on the PCL, going 2-2 with a pair of walks and his second dinger of the year for the RedHawks.

Teagarden now has 54 at-bats with Oklahoma after mysteriously hitting .169 / .279 / .305 in 59 at-bats for Frisco to begin the season.  His hitting streak has now reached 14 games.

Fabio Castillo (2.88 ERA) got things off to a good start for the winningest team in all of professional baseball, but 33-12 Clinton needed 14 innings to get by Cedar Rapids for the eighth straight time and Castillo did not factor into the decision.  

Castillo held the Kernals to a run on three hits and two walks while fanning five in as many innings.   In his two starts, Castillo has a 0.90 ERA and has limited the opposition to a .152 batting average.

Renny Osuna (.357 / .434 / .519) drove in four runs while knocking out four singles and a walk in seven trips and shortstop Andres James (.268 / .297 / .299) singled four times in five trips.   Engel Beltre (.257 / .286 / .376) doubled in a 3-7 outing from the top of the order. 

Frisco said goodbye to first baseman Chris Davis, who moves on to Oklahoma today, with a 4-2 victory at NW Arkansas as Matt Harrison (3.15 ERA) followed up his no-hitter last Sunday with a solid 5.2 innings of work, holding the Naturals to two runs on seven hits. 

Ben Harrison (.345 / .448 / .600) and Craig Gentry (.277 / .339 / .364) each went 2-4 with a double.

The other day over lunch, I told my friend Jamey Newberg that he had to get out to see Frisco ASAP -- before the two -headed monster,  or even half of it, goes away.   "It's like having Josh Hamilton and Lance Berkman in the same lineup,"  I explained.

And last night, the duo marched into the old ballyard at the corner of 15th and Yale in Tulsa and simply tore it down, leading the Riders to a 12-2 victory.

Chris Davis (.335 / .379 / .626):  4-5 including his 13th and 14th doubles of the year as well as his 12th and 13th dingers, driving in three.

Max Ramirez (.399 / .473 / .728):   3-4 with his 12th double, his 12th homer, a walk and three RBIs.

Starter Michael Schlact (2-3;  4.60) took the mound in the bottom of the second, already up 8-0.  He surrendered one in that frame on a pair of singles.  He left after seven with his best start of the year on his resume, having given up just the one earned run on six hits and three walks, fanning five.  

"I just wanted to throw strikes," said Schlact, who did so on  59 of his 92 pitches. "We have the whole package, pitching, hitting and defense. With a team like this we can win a bunch of ball games."

Elvis Andrus (.275 / .330 / .319) set the table, going 1-3 with a walk, reacing on an error, stealing two bases and scoring three times from the one hole.   After hitting .260 / .302 / .310 in 100 April at-bats,  Andrus has bumped it up to .293 / .363 / .329 in 82 May at-bats.

A.J. Murray (2-2;  4.17) is rounding into form for Oklahoma.   The Pirate held the I-Cubs to just one run on six hits and a walk, ringing up seven strikeouts in eight innings,  but the RedHawks failed to put a number on the board and Murray was saddled with the loss in spite of his outstanding effort.

Julio Borbon (.321 / 374 / .409) belted his 14th double of the year while going 3-5 from the top of the order in Bakersfield's 5-1 loss to Visalia. 

In Clinton's 3-1 victory, Neftali Feliz (2.27 ERA) held Cedar Rapids to one unearned run on four hits and a walk in five innings,  strangely recording just one K.   Jorge Quintero (3-1;  5.97) got the win with three scorless innings of relief, punching out four while allowing two hits and a walk.

A few baseball friends who are aware of my background in thoroughbred horse racing have asked me questions about Big Brown's place in history.   

Seeing this horse being hyped as potentially one of the greatest horses of all time  I am compelled to point some facts about the horse known in racing circles as "Big Red":  

Secretariat.

Bottom line:  If Big Brown would have been born in 1970 instead of 2005, he'd be a very minor footnote not just in horse racing history, but among the colts in his crop.

Big Brown's mile and a quarter time in the Kentucky Derby (2:01.8) would have resulted in a 12 length beating at the hands of the great Secretariat (1:59.2) who still holds the Derby record -- by a full second -- 35 years after he set it. 

He ran each quarter of a mile faster than the one before.   This is simply unheard of in horse racing.

Secretariat's 35 year old World Record at a mile and a half, set in the 1973 Belmont Stakes has never been broken.    He broke the previous World Record at that distance by two seconds.  The record he broke is still the second fastest mile and half ever run on dirt, anywhere in the world.   Put differently, the second fastest mile and a half ever run would have been 10 lengths behind Secretariat's World Record.

He also destroyed the track record in the Preakness.

Secretariat also set a World Record at a mile and an eighth.

Secretariat's Beyer Speed Figure in the Belmont was 139.

The great Cigar never topped 121.

Big Brown's best so far is 109.   He posted a flat 100 in the Preakness.

Sports Analogies:

Secretariat would be like a hitter who routinely smashed 600 foot homers;   a long jumper who popped a 35 footer;  a sprinter who ran 100 meters in 8 seconds;  a golfer who shot four rounds of  60....

In all four majors....

In one year. 

In what is universally regarded as the weakest crop of three year olds in decades,  what you are seeing from Big Brown is the equivalent of watching a really good hitter -- say, Milton Bradley -- spending two months in the Texas League.

Big Brown is a good horse beating bad horses in a down year.

Big Red -- as he was known -- was the greatest of all time.

More often than not, he's great, but Bakersfield starter Zach Phillips (4-3;  5.13) has had some inexplicably bad bumps in the road this year.  

Six days ago, the southpaw from Sacramento surrendered nine runs on a dozen hits at Lancaster, but he quickly put that wreck in the rear-view mirror with yesterday's complete game victory over Visalia where he held the Oaks to a run on three hits and no walks while recording five strikeouts in the Blaze's 5-1 victory. 

Phillips had a no-hitter through five.

The Blaze got a 3-4 performance from catcher Manny Pina (.283 / .336 / .368), who hit his first dinger of the season.  Sparingly used first baseman J.T. Restko homered twice and  drove in four runs in a 3-4 outing.

Up at the Brick,  another starter rebounded from a disappointing start in his previous outing as Eric Hurley (2-3;  5.93) gave the RedHawks faithful an all-too-rare glimpse at the pitcher many regard as the best prospect in the system, blanking New Orleans on six hits and three walks for seven frames, setting five down on strikes.

Hurley has a K/9 of 9.39 this year.  Other than his 18-start swim through the Cal League in 2006, Hurley has never surpassed 9 K's per 9 innings at any other stop in his career.   However, the PCL is hitting a robust .293 against the righty, which is a far cry from his career .235 opponents average.

Jason Ellison (.293 / .380 / .420) went 4-4 with a double and a walk from the top of the order and designated hitter Joaquin Arias (.317 / .345 / .396) went 2-5 with a triple to drive in two.

Clinton starter Kennil Gomez (7-1;  2.52) suffered his first loss of the year,  but still turned in what was technically a quality start as he yielded five runs, only two of which were earned, on five hits in six innings a the LumberKings fell 5-1 to Beloit.   Right fielder  Mitchell Moreland (.303 / .352 / .513) doubled in his second consecutive 2-4 outing.

Finally,  Max Ramirez (.390 / .464 / .701) tied Chris Davis for the Texas League lead with his 11th big fly of the year as Frisco topped Tulsa 7-5.   Ramirez finished 1-3 with a walk and took one for the team.   Ben Harrison's (.343 / .448 / .598)  excellent season continued as the left fielder went 2-3 with a pair of walks to drive in two.   Right fielder Dustin Majewski (.308 / .401 / .453) remained hot, going 3-5 with a double. 

Where to begin?    

We could begin with Thomas Diamond's return to the mound for Frisco after missing a year of action while recovering from Tommy John surgery.   It had it's moments, good and bad, but we'll save TD talk for a brighter day. 

How about Bakersfield second baseman Jose Vallejo (.307 / .359 / .460)  going 3-4 with his sixth homer of the year and 18th stolen bag in the Blaze's 5-3 loss to Visalia?  

One of the hottest hitters in the system through the first four weeks slumped badly at the beginning of the month, but over his last ten games, Vallejo is hitting .415 / .455 / .659.

We could talk about Chris Davis (.331 / .378 / .593) going 3-5 with his 12th double of the year, stealing a base and driving in four in Frisco's 13-9 victory at Tulsa.   Or maybe we could talk about Max Ramirez (.391 / .460 / .689) trumping Davis by going 4-5 with his 11th double and 10th homer of the year to drive in four himself.

It wouldn't be right to lead with anything but Ian Gac's (.366 / .472 / .769) second game back after missing a week of action for Clinton, would it?    His first game  back was sort of embarassing, fanning  four times in four trips, and all.   How did the big fella respond?   Gac went 4-4 with three doubles in the LumberKings 7-2 pasting of Beloit.

To heck with it.  Now I've buried the lead....

Here's your top story:

Blake Beavan (3-1; 3.60)  took a perfect game into the fifth, surrendered a single with two down in that frame, and left after five with that lone blemish on his ledger, having fanned three.

There he is:  less than a year removed from his senior prom with his tidy little 3.60 ERA in a full season league.    And that's the worst ERA in his Clinton rotation.

Kennil Gomez:  2.45

Derek Holland:  2.45

Neftali Feliz:     2.53

Fabio Castillo:  3.03

Blake Beavan:  3.60

Think about that for a minute.  Or think about it all day if you want.

One other random prospect dream:

With all due respect to guys like Frosty, Corey Ragsdale, Foxy and Craig Gentry, I can't help but fantasize about this lineup that we could possibly see in Frisco before too long:

CF:   Julio Borbon

SS:   Elvis Andrus

C:     Max Ramirez

1b:    Chris Davis

RF:   Ben Harrison

LF:   Steve Murphy

3b:   Johnny Whittleman

2b:   Jose Vallejo

DH:  Ian Gac

Wouldn't that be sorta fun to see?   Can we terrorize the Texas League with that bunch for just a week or so?  Please? 

Frisco and Bakersfield were off, but Clinton got another great performance from southpaw starter Derek Holland (4-0;  2.45) who held Beloit to two runs, one earned, on five hits and no walks in  six innings as the LumberKings improved to 30-11 with a 4-2 victory at Alliant Energy Field.

Holland (pictured - left), who won't turn 22 until after the season, has held the opposition to two runs or less in each of his eight starts this year.   He's surrendered just one home run in 44 innings of work so far.   

With Spokane last year, his G/F ratio was 0.83 but with Clinton so far, it's a fairly severe reversal:  1.70.

He's starting to remind me quite a bit of another lefty prospect we used to have around here and who is doing quite well in the AL Central lately.

Jonathan Greene continued to distance himself from a horrible opening month, going 2-3 with a double and a walk, bumping his season line up to .277 / .390 / .462.

Greene's April:   .214 / .309 / .329 (70 at-bats)

Greene's May:   .350 / .474 / .617 (60 at-bats)

Ian Gac, in his first game back after missing a week of action, donned a golden sombrero.

In OKC, the RedHawks got an excellent start out of Lizard Ramirez (5-3;  4.17) who held the Zephyrs to two runs on six hits and no walks in seven frames.

4-A went 3-4 to drive in three.

This is about as exciting as anything going on in the system right now:   Taylor Teagarden (.292 / .452 / .438) extended his 12-game hitting streak, going 1-2 with a double and a pair of walks, driving in two.    

You'd take an .890 OPS and gold glove defense from your catcher, right?

Tommy Hunter's Texas Leauge debut was a stunner as the big righty taken by the Rangers as their fifth and final first round selection in the 2007 draft held San Antonio to a run on five hits and no walks, striking out four in seven innings as the RoughRiders posted a 4-1 victory over San Antonio.

Hunter enjoyed the support of Frisco's two-headed monster as  Chris Davis (.323 / .372 / .587) smacked his 10th homer of the year in a 3-4 outing and Max Ramirez (.377 / .450 / .658) homered for the ninth time this season and walked in four trips.

Bakersfield eeked out a 10-9 victory over Lancaster as Johnny Whittlman (.296 / .402 / .465) bounded towards the.300 / .400 / .500 line I'm expecting him to ultimately post for the Blaze with a 4-5 outing that included a pair of doubles.    Whittleman is hitting .395 over his last 10 games.   The suddenly red hot David Stoneburner (.214 / .250 / .405) homered twice in five trips to drive in four.

In Clinton, Fabio Castillo (3.03 ERA) made his first start of the year and held Beloit to one unearned run on three hits and no walks in five frames, punching out three, but the L-Kings bullpen gave up six runs, including three in the ninth and Clinton lost 6-5.

You want to see an exciting young starting pitcher?  You can't go wrong picking which Clinton game to go to these days:   Neftali Feliz, Kennil Gomez, Derek Holland, Fabio Castillo and Blake Beavan.   Yeesh.

Renny Osuna (.368 / .443 / .556) continued to blister MWL pitching with a 2-3 outing that included a homer and two walks.   Osuna is hitting .548 with two homers, two triples, five doubles, five walks and two K's in his last 10 games (42 at-bats).

Jonathan Greene (.268 / .381 / .449) seems to have completely emerged from his early-season woes after going 3-4 with a walk and driving in wo.   The former catcher turned third baseman is hitting .400 / .511 / .657 over his last ten games.

Finally, Oklahoma wiped the floor with New Orleans as 4-A (.333 / .467 / .697) homered twice and walked twice in a 2-3 outing, driving in three and scoring four times.    Taylor Teagarden (.283 / .431 / .413)  smacked his first Triple-A homer and Travis Metcalf went 3-4 with a double in his fourth game back from a hamstring injury that has had him on the shelf all year. 

Matt Harrison (3-1;  3.15), got his own entry for his no-htter in Frisco's 2-0 victory over San Antonio.

In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Neftali Feliz (4-1;  2.53) saw his scoreless innings streak come to an end at 23.1, but he was still utterly dominant, holding the Kernals to a run on three hits and no walks while six down on strikes in six innings of work as the LumberKings improved to 29-10, extending their lead in the Midwest League West Division to 3.5 games over Kane County.

A seventh inning two-run jack from Mitchell Moreland (.292 / .324 / .472), who finished 1-4, put Feliz in line for the victory.   Shortstop Andres James (.233 / .250 / .267) posted Clinton's only multi-hit effort, going 2-4.

In Memphis,  war horse Steve Rowe (2.91 ERA) blanked the RedBirds on four hits and no walks over the first five and Kam Loe held them to just one hit over the last three, but the hit Loe surrendered was a homer and Memphis kept the RedHawks off the board to post a 1-0 victory.

Bakersfield got four RBIs from outfielder Grant Gerrard (.293 / .349 / .490) who finished 2-4 with his fifth homer of the year, but it wasn't enough to overcome a bit of a rough outing from Kasey Kiker (5.67 ERA) who surrendered five runs on eight hits while punching out eight over six innings.

But for one day, he was unhittable.

Matt Harrison (3-1;  3.15 ERA) gave Frisco a complete game (7 inning) no hitter in game one of the RoughRiders double-header against San Antonio on Sunday.    He walked six and fanned five, needing 120 pitches to get the job done.

Tommy Hunter is a RoughRider.

Rangers (22-22):  2.5 games out

RedHawks (24-19):  1st place 

RoughRiders (27-14):  1st place 

Blaze (26-17):  3 games out

L-Kings (28-10): 1st place 

A leading hitter;  one winningest pitcher; the OPS leader in three leagues; the Home Run leader -- in two leagues.   The OBP leader -- in two leagues. 

Another five-for-five sweep.  

Max, Renny, Gac, CD, Kennil G,  Neftali, Borbon, Vallejo, Whittleman, Hunter, Mayberry, Teagarden, Harrison, Murphy....  Prospects breaking out all over the place.

Top colts like Michael Main, Neil Ramirez and Wilmer Font haven't even been let out of their stalls yet.   Fabio still loping along, waiting for the rider to give him his head.  

Doug Mathis coming through. 

Brandon Boggs worthy of that spot on the 40. 

David Murphy and Kason Gabbard proving that, whether or not Engel Beltre ever reaches his ceiling, the Gagne deal was a felony theft. 

Ramon Vazquez proving to be the right guy.

Freakin' Milt.  Practically for free.

Josh Hamilton leaving no doubt whatsoever that he is the most talented player in baseball.

And you just know that you're never more than a week away from the next "fire Jon Daniels" column from some idiot columnist who doesn't actually pay any attention to this great game or what is happening in this system. 

He hasn't been perfect.  He's made mistakes -- they all do.  But he's gotten a lot of things right too, and anyone who doesn't see that Jon Daniels has this thing headed in the right direction is nothing less than a complete buffoon.

Good times.

With 72 Triple-A at-bats under his belt, Junior Mayberry (.361 / .395 / .667) is getting to the point where things like his 4-5 outing yesterday (including a game-winning RBI in the 10th) can't be dismissed as an anomoly.   He's evidently found something that he didn't find in his 327 Double-A at-bats.

Rob Tejeda (2.67 ERA) was brilliant, holding Memphis to two runs on three hits, punching out 11 in seven innings of work.   

The Renny Osuna (.373 / .446 / .548)  free-for-all continues to roll through the corn fields of Iowa as the 23 year old Venezuelan native went 3-4 with a double as Clinton improved to 28-10 with a 10-5 victory over Cedar Rapids.

One month ago today, Osuna was hitting .225 / .311 / .350.   Yesterday, he seized the lead in the Midwest League batting race.

Cristian Santana (.233 / .316 / .427) belted a three-run homer and ultimately drove in four runs while going 1-4 with a walk and Jonathan Greene (.248 / .356 / .438) -- who didn't creep over the Mendoza line until the last day of April -- doubled, homered and walked in a 3-4 outing to drive in three.

Kennil Gomez (7-0;  2.45) surrendered one single, one double and one triple in five innings, walking two and fanning six while limiting the Kernals to three runs.   In 44 innings of work this year, Gomez has allowed 33 hits and eight walks, giving him a WHIP of 0.93.

Bakersfield banged out 19 hits in an 11-10 victory at Lancaster, improving to 26-17.   Jose Vallejo (.299 / .352 / .446)  remained hot, going 3-6 in a rare appearance at the top of the order as Julio Borbon took the night off.   Over the last ten games,  Vallejo is hitting .325 with five walks, four strikeouts, a home run and four doubles.

Truan Mehl and Mauro Gomez each went 3-5 with three RBIs.

Johnny Whittleman (.287 / .400 / .453) went 3-6.  Over his last ten games,  Whittleman is hitting .351 / .455 / .486), while striking out nine times and drawing seven walks in 44 plate appearances. 

In Frisco,  Elvis Andrus and Corey Ragsdale turned 4 double plays during starter Michael Schlact's six innings of work and Frisco came from behind to post a 6-5 victory at Dr. Pepper Ballpark.

Dustin Majewski's eighth double of the year in the eighth capped his 2-4 performance and delivered what would be the winning run.  

You're lucky if, during your lifetime, you have the privilege of watching one of the greatest talents of all time don your team's colors.  

Oh, and Ian Kinsler is everything anyone could have ever dreamed he'd be, and a lot more.     

Clinton improved to 27-10 as they fought through a rough outing by starter Blake Beavan and overcame deficits of 3-0 and 6-2 to post a comeback 7-6 victory in  the 10th inning when Engel Beltre (.259 / .294 / .401) tripled and scored on a single by the phenomenally hot Renny Osuna (.361 / .434 / .533), who finished up 4-6 with a triple and three RBIs.

Osuna has now produced multi-hit performances in seven of his last nine games.

After Cedar Rapids chased Beavan (4.50 ERA), who surrendered six runs on six hits -- including three homers -- in just three innings without recording a single strikeout, Ryan Tatusko (3.91 ERA) gave  the L-Kings a chance with three scoreless frames of relief, allowing just one hit and fanning four.

Fabio Castillo (3.52 ERA) followed Tatusko with two hitless frames and Hector Nelo (1-1;  2.70) (pictured)  finished the job, holding the Kernels scoreless over the final two, punching out two along the way.

Bakersfield was trounced by Lancaster as Zach Phillips (3-3; 5.98) had his second absolutely horrendous start -- mixed  in among several very good ones.   The lefty surrendered nine runs on a dozen hits and three walks in five.

The good news  is  that Jose Vallejo (.292 / .347 / .444) seems to have emerged from his late-April / early-May slump.   Vallejo was hitting .347 / .390 / .510 on April 26 and then saw his line dip all the way down to .277 / .329 / .405 by May 10.   Yesterday, the exciting Vallejo went 3-4 with his 11th double of the year and drove in two runs.

Oklahoma got another disappointing outing from starter Eric Hurley (6.80 ERA) who gave up seven runs, five earned, on five hits -- two of which left the yard -- and two walks as the RedHawks fell, 13-8 at Memphis. 

Hurley fanned just two and needed 101 pitches to get through his five.    In 47.2 innings of work, Hurley has surrendered 11 home runs, worst in the PCL.     Lefties are hitting .304 / .363 / .598 against Hurley and they've taken him downtown seven times in just 93 at-bats.

Check this out:    Oklahoma's first baseman Junior Mayberry (.328 / .366 / .657) homered and took one for the team in a 2-3 outing.

Frisco completed the Rangers Farm ofer by losing 8-4 to San Antonio at Dr. Pepper Ballpark.   Steve Murphy (.318 / .353 / .541) belted his sixth homer of the year in a 2-5 outing, while Max Ramirez, Craig Gentry and  Emerson Frostad each went 2-4.   Frosty doubled and allegedly stole home. 

Continuing to prove my theory that he can do whatever he wants to do, Chris Davis (.340 / .384 / .607) went 4-4 with three doubles and drew a walk as the Frisco juggernaut beat the snot out of Midland,  16-9.

It's worth noting at this juncture that there is a paucidy of southpaws in the Texas League this year, so only 21 of his 150 at-bats this year have come against lefties (.238 average).   In 94 at-bats against lefties in the Cal League last year, he hit .351 / .408 / .585.   After moving up to the Texas League for the final month of the season, he hit .229 / .308 / .543 against them in 35 at-bats.

Ben Harrison (.354 / .444 / .659) went 3-4 with a grand slam to drive in six runs.  He's a few at-bats short of qualifying for the leader board, but if he did qualify, Harrison would be second in the league, behind Max Ramirez, with a 1.103 OPS.

Starter Michael Ballard (3-2;  5.73)  bounced back from a couple of very rough outings to hold the Rockhounds to a pair of runs in five innings to earn the victory. 

Time to take a hard look at what appears to be the arrival of Clinton's Renny Osuna as a true prospect.   After going 3-5 with a double and two RBIs in yesterday's 4-2 LumberKings victory over Beloit, Osuna is hitting a robust .345 / .423 / .509 while seeing time at both second base and shortstop.

Osuna, a native of Venezuela, was a coveted prospect as a teenager, but was never signed because of visa problems.   Eventually, he made his way to America, graduated from a Houston area high school, and signed to play at New Mexico Junior College where he teamed with former Rangers pitching prospect Johnny Lujan, who was traded to the White Sox last year.

Osuna led New Mexico JC to the JUCO World Series title in 2005 (he was the tournament MVP), hitting .435 with four homers and 60 RBIs during the season and coming  within one hit of breaking Kirby Puckett's JUCO World Series record of a .688 batting average.  

Pre-draft scouting reports suggested that Osuna had plus bat speed, a plus glove and solid arm strength.  Texas took him  in the 32nd round, but couldn't get him a visa and deposited him in the Dominican.

In 2006, Osuna hit .333 / .470 / .439 in 22 games (drawing 15 walks while fanning just 5 times) for the DSL club before getting his visa and moving to the Arizona Rookie League club for the final 21 games, hitting .234 / .289 / .312.    Assigned to Spokane in 2007, Osuna hit .274 / .336 / .349 in 252 at-bats while once again exhibiting fine strike zone judgment and bat control with 33 strikeouts and 21 walks.  The right-handed Osuna is especially adept at taking the ball the other way.

On April 23 -- the day before his 23rd birthday -- Osuna was hitting .241 / .333 / .352, and then he went on a tear that has continued through last night.   In the 16 games since he turned 23, Osuna has hit safely in 15 of them and collected multiple hits in eight of them.

With Marcus Lemon and Jose Vallejo ahead of him in Bakersfield (and Elvis Andrus installed as the shortstop in Frisco, giving Lemon nowhere to go), it appears that it will take a Vallejo promotion to Frisco before Osuna will get his first crack at the Cal League.

Southpaw Derek Holland (3-0;  2.61) continued to shine for the L-Kings, holding the Snappers to a pair of runs on seven hits while fanning six in five innings as Clinton improved to 26-10.

Jason Botts homered and walked in a 2-5 outing and 4-A (.345 / .480 / .707)  went 3-6 with a triple as Oklahoma fell 6-4 to Memphis in a dozen innings.

Taylor Teagarden (.289 / .449 / .368) has righted his ship since his promotion from Frisco where he started the season in a horrible slump.   After going 1-4 with a pair of walks yesterday, Teagarden has an enviable 11 / 10 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 38 at-bats with Oklahoma. 

Wow.   Oklahoma was off, so there were only three games but the array of stars from yesterday was astounding.

Trey Hodges (5-2;  3.40) was the beneficiary as the big red train from Frisco got back on track and rolled through Midland with an 11-5 victory, improving to 25-13 and increasing their lead in the Texas League South to 4.5 games.

A rehabbing Luis Mendoza got the start and allowed a run on two hits and two walks in 1.1 frames before turning it over to Hodges who posted the victory after limiting the RockHounds to a run on three hits and four walks over the next 5.2 innings.

Shortstop Elvis Andrus (.281 / .337 / .333)  set the table with a huge game from the top of the order going 3-4 with two doubles, a walk, three stolen bases and three  run scored.   Andrus came into the game hitting  .171 / .171 / .244  from the one hole.

Chris Davis (.322 / .365 / .575) ended a nine game homerless streak with his league-leading 10th bomb of the year and added his seventh double of the year in a 2-5 outing.  

Both Ben Harrison (.333 / .426 / .615), and Max Ramirez (.383 / .453 / .672) went 2-4 with a pair of RBIs.  Harrison hit his sixth homer of the year while Ramirez executed on a sac fly opportunity.

Finally,  Steve Murphy (.313 / .250 / .510) turned in another strong outing, going 2-3 with a sac fly, driving in two and scoring twice.

In Bakersfield -- where the 25-15 Blaze have won nine of their last ten -- big Tommy Hunter (5-4;  3.55)  continued to build his case for a ticket to Frisco with eight strong innings, holding High Desert to two runs on six hits and no walks, punching out eight.   The University of Alabama alum  is averaging better than seven innings per outing over his last five starts.   He leads the league in innings pitched (58.1) and has a stellar 50 / 8 K/BB ratio.

Jose Vallejo (.282 / .341 / .429) continues to emerge from a two-week megaslump, going 3-4 with a double, a walk, two RBIs, his 15th and 16th stolen bases of the year and two runs scored.

Julio Borbon (.321 / .374 / .418) went 2-5 from the top of the order, stole his 16th bag of the year and scored a run.   Johnny Whittleman (.285 / .404 / .460) doubled and executed on a sac fly in a 1-3 outing to drive in one.

First off, let me say that this is a freakin' beautiful game.  It's especially so when your team is playing it the right way.   Baseball, played well, is magical.   David Murphy's catch.  Ian Kinsler executing the sac fly to right.  Gabbard efficiently giving the club 5+ innings on a strict pitch count.  Laird taking the extra base when Ibanez let him have it.  Eddie G thowin' like it's 2002.

Way to go Rangers.

Congrats to old friend Edinson Volquez, who became the third pitcher in MLB history to allow one or fewer earned runs in each of his first eight starts.   Here at the Farm Report, we honor our alumni.

Here's how nasty Volquez is right now:   "He's got good stuff, man," said Florida second baseman Dan Uggla, who struck out with the bases loaded to end the fifth inning. "I was sitting on a slider, and that's what he threw me, but it was almost impossible to hit. I could've been more patient."

"It was a changeup," Volquez said. "That might have been the best pitch I threw the whole game."

Good hitters like Uggla are so baffled, they don't even know what it is that they are unable to hit.

"I couldn't recognize the rotation [of the ball],"  outfielder Alfredo Amezaga said. "His arm was the same on every pitch. Nothing was straight."

"His arm speed, you can't tell," said Jeff Brantley, a former Reds & Rangers pitcher and current broadcaster for Cincy. "I have to look at the gun. I've never had to do that. That's how good it is.

"I know when Pedro's throwing the changeup."

__________________________________________________

On to the important stuff.......

Kasey Kiker (2-0;  5.57) held the High Desert Mavs to two runs on two hits -- both solo homers -- and one walk while punching out three in seven frames as Bakersfield improved to 24-15 with an 8-2 victory.

Julio Borbon's 17-game hitting streak came to an end, but he walked, took one  for the team, drove in a run, stole three bags and scored once.    Borbon (.318 / .373 / .419) is one of those guys who is going to make a significant impact on the game every day, somehow, some way.

Grant Gerrard (.294 / .349 / .485) drove in five of Bakersfield's runs with a fifth inning grand slam and a walk in four trips and Johnny Whittleman (.284 / .407 / .455) remained hot, going 2-4.   

Marcus Lemon (.304 / .431 / .468)  homered, singled and drew a pair of walks.   

Matt Harrison (2-1;  3.95) delivered another solid start in Frisco's 8-4 victory,  holding Midland to a run on five hits and a walk, setting five down on striked in 5.1 frames while Ben Harrison (.324 / .422 / .581) homered and walked in a 2-3 outing to drive in a pair.

Max doubled for his only hit in four trips while CD went 0-3 but drew another walk.

The DMN's  Evan Grant  reports that "the club has had catching prospect Max Ramirez, who began the week second in the Texas League in hitting, start taking ground balls at first base.   I saw Ramirez take some balls at first during spring training as well.   Don't be surprised to see him on the bag in Arlington before the season is over.

Elvis Andrus (.26.8 / .323 / .309) went 1-5 from the top of the order, driving in two.   Here's an interesting fact about Andrus that may or may not be meaningful:   the shortstop is hitting .171 / .171 / .244 from the top of the order and .326 / .402 / .360 in the two hole.  He's hitting .147 / .171 / .265 when leading off an inning and .313 / .361 / .343 with runners on base. 

If they can just get Joaquin Arias back to the other side of second base, he just might salvage his career.   The tantalizingly gifted shortstop has seen virtually all of his action at second base this year as he continues to nurse a shoulder injury that cost him the entire 2007 season.   After last night's 3-4 outing that included a double, a triple and three RBIs, Arias is hitting .324 / .350 / .400 for Oklahoma.   He's even drawn five walks in 120 plate appearances.

Clinton prevented a system-wide sweep but you can't blame starter Neftali Feliz (2.70 ERA) who dominated Beloit for five innings, blanking the Snappers on two hits and a walk over five frames, punching out four.   The L-Kings bullpen struggled and Beloit posted a 7-5 victory.    White hot middle infielder Renny Osuna (.324 / .406 / .491) went 3-5 with a double.  

Edinson Volquez:         (5-1, 1.06 ERA)

John Danks:                (3-3, 3.18 ERA)

Justin Duchscherer:     (3-1, 2.45 ERA)

Armando Galarraga:     (2-1, 3.07 ERA)

Chris Young:               (3-3,  3.94 ERA)

Scott Feldman:           (1-1,  4.07 ERA)

A.J. Murray:                (1-0,  3.38 ERA)

Just saying....

Out of nowhere, Junior Mayberry (.370 / .404 / .722) is suddenly looking like the prospect the Rangers have hoped he'd become since selecting him in the first round of the 2005 amateur draft with a plan to rebuild his "aluminum bat" swing.

Yesterday's 2-4 outing that included his third homer of the year in Oklahoma's 7-6 victory over Fresno brought Mayberry up to 54 Triple-A at-bats.  After striking out at a 25% clip at each and every stop along the way, he's below 10%.    Though he has only two walks to his credit, I find myself shocked that his contact rate has improved so much.

In Bakersfield, Julio Borbon (.325 / .372 / .429) ran his hitting streak to 17 games by going 2-4 with his 13th double of the year in support of starter Evan Reed (3-1;  5.59) who struck out eight while holding High Desert to a run on five hits in six innings of work.

Craig Gentry is having a nice year for the RoughRiders, but I don't think the Rangers are going to allow him to stand in Borbon's way for much longer.

Jose Vallejo (.280 / .329 / .427) seems to be getting back on track after enduring a horrible start to the month.  With his fifth homer of the year in a 1-4 outing yesterday, he's 6-43 since May Baskets were handed out.  

I continue to like what I'm seeing from Johnny Whittleman (.277 / .405 / .454) lately after seeing the third baseman go 1-3 with a walk.  He's hitting .316 / .500 / .447 in 38 May at-bats.

Frisco lost to Midland by a 4-1 count after traversing southern Texas to get from Corpus to the Permian Basin on Sunday.   Michael Schlact came within one out of a quality start.

Chris Davis (.326 / .367 / .565) went 1-3 with...a WALK.  ("There.  You happy now?  Mind too much if I go back to driving 500 footers into the atmosphere?")

Clinton starter Kennil Gomez (6-0;  2.31) worked his way around two LumberKings errors to hold Beloit to two runs, one earned, on three hits and and three walks, punching out seven in five innings of work.    A struggling Jonathan Greene (.225 / .333 / .402) went deep, doubled and took one for the team in a 2-3 outing to propel the 25-8 L-Kings to a 6-5 victory.

Engel Beltre (.277 / .300 / .403), who has been pulled from a game at least once this year when swinging at the first pitch,  went 2-5 with a double. 

I was  WRONG about Junior Mayberry. 

It appears he's going to be a player, and quite possibly exactly the player the Rangers need.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Mayberry%20%20RF&pos=&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=460055

I simply did not see this coming.

That is all.

The highest concentration of stars aligned themselves in Clinton where Blake Beavan (2-1;  2.65) held Peoria to a run on six hits and a walk, fanning five along the way as the mighty LumberKings improved to 24-8 with 12-4 victory.

Ian Gac (.364 / .479 / .788) went deep twice -- giving him an incredible 14 bombs on the year -- and drew a walk in five trips while Cristian Santana (.261 / .340 / .455) showed signs of pulling out of a horrendous slump, going 2-3 with a walk, an  HBP and his fourth homer of the year.

In Bakersfield, first baseman Mauro Gomez (.268 / .311 / .362) hit his second homer of the year and then drove in the winning run as the Blaze scored a 7-6 victory over Stockton in extra innings.

Get this:   Thirteen games ago, Johnny Whittleman was hitting .225 / .303 / .375.   After going 2-3 with a pair of walks last night, he's up to .276 / .403 / .457 and headed north.   During the run, he's drawn 18 walks and fanned 10 times.

An old problem isn't getting better, however.  Whittleman is hitting .309 / .412 / .536 against righties and .167 / .375 / .200 against lefties.  

Part of what interests me about those numbers is that it really underscored his selectivity.  That .375 OBP against lefties -- who, you would think, know very well that he's highly unlikely to do much damage against them (given the .167 batting average and .200 slugging percentage) -- demonstrates that Whittleman is simply not going to swing at a pitch that he doesn't think he can do something with.   He's drawn walks in 25% of his plate appearances against lefties this year.

The 23-12 RoughRiders saw their Texas League South division lead shrink to 2.5 games with a 6-4 loss at Corpus Christi in spite of a big effort from Chris Davis (.326 / .363 / .570)  who extended a five-game hitting streak, going 4-4 with a double and an RBI sac fly, driving in two overall.  

In spite of his perfect evening, I'm becoming somewhat concerned about Davis as he has regressed to his Cal League numbers in one significant way:   he's striking out in more than 27% of his at-bats without drawing many walks.   Last year, Davis fanned in 32% of his at-bats for Bakersfield before cutting that down to 25% after his promotion to Frisco when he made a deliberate effort to shrink his strike zone.  

More important than the reduction in strikeout percentage, however, is the fact that he has regressed to his Bakersfield walk numbers after seeing significant improvements in those categories in Frisco last summer.

Davis' BB/K improved from 0.18 with Bakersfield to 0.48 with Frisco.    His BB/PA with Bakersfield in 2007 was 0.052, but improved immensely to 0.105 in Frisco.

This year, Davis's BB/K has regressed to 0.24 (Ryan Braun's BB/K with Milwaukee is 0.23)and his BB/PA has regressed to 0.062 (the same as Ian Kinsler).  

The MLB player with the most similar combo of BB/K and BB/PA is Houston's Hunter Pence  (0.27 / 0.058) who has regressed horribly in his second big league season (.258 / .299 / .412) after a sensational rookie season in which he hit .322 / .360 / .539 in 456 at-bats.

When Davis arrived in Frisco last summer, I had pictured an unabashed hacker who just ran into a lot of mistake pitches in the hitter-friendly Cal League, but I changed my opinion after watching him play.  

It seemed to me that, more often than not, Davis struck out not because he was hacking at balls out of the strike zone or because  his stroke was too long, but because he swings under balls from time to time trying to drive them into the stratosphere 

This year, I have seen a bit more hacking than I saw last year and he'll still miss balls because he's trying to drive them to Oklahoma.   Certainly, that could account for the regression to some degree.   And I'm not exactly down on the guy:  anybody who ranks eighth in his league in OPS, and second in both homers and RBI's certainly sort of owes it to himself to keep doing what he's doing, but I worry that this regression in statistical categories that measure plate discipline will catch up to him.

Having said that, I have enormous trust that Davis -- who I sometimes feel can do anything he wants in the batters box (if they asked him to hit  .420 with no power, he could do that) --  will make the necessary adjustments to ensure that he'll never slide into a prolonged slump. 

Oddly enough for a power hitter with these peripheral numbers, he's really not streaky.    His longest hitless streak this year is one game (and he's gone hitless just four times in 33 games). 

In Bakersfield, shortstop  Marcus Lemon (.300 / .424 / .443) doubled and tripled in a 2-4 outing as the Blaze posted an 8-2 victory over Stockton.

Julio Borbon (.325 / .375 / .427)  ran his hitting streak to 15 games with his 12th double of the year and Johnny Whittleman (.266 / .389 / .452) went deep for the fourth time this year in a 1-3 outing, drawing two walks, driving in two and scoring twice.

Whittleman, whose minor league statistical profile is very similar to Brandon Boggs', leads Bakersfield in both OBP and OPS.   He's the kind of hitter who is a pretty solid bet to explode when he gets to Frisco and sees better, more consistent pitchers on a daily basis.

John Bannister returned to Bakersfield after a month in Frisco and held the Ports to a run on two hits and six walks over the first 4.2 frames before turning the ball over to Ryan  Falcon (3-2;  2.95)  who yielded one single and fanned five in 3.2 scoreless frames to get the W.

Southpaw starter Derek Holland (2.45 ERA)  (pictured-left) was outstanding for Clinton once again, holding Peoria to two runs while scattering seven hits and two walks over 8.2 innings, punching out six along the way. 

Holland got 13 ground ball outs against just six in the air.  His G/F ratio for the season is 1.91 and he's averaging almost a strikeout per inning.    

And get this:  

RH Hitters vs. Holland:   .239 / .302 / .330

LH Hitters vs. Holland:   .222 / .317 / .333

Strong K rates, grounders aplenty, dead-even splits:   this is a special package folks.

In Oklahoma's 3-1 loss to Fresno, Bottsy went deep again, and drew another walk.  But you could have guessed that.

Rob Tejeda was solid, if not terribly efficient, allowing a run on  two hits and three walks, punching out five.  It took him 91 pitches to get through 5.1 frames.     

Oklahoma starter Eric Hurley (1-3;  6.54) righted his ship with a tough seven-inning performance, holding Sacramento to three runs, two earned, on five hits, a walk and an HBP while setting eight down on strikes, but it wasn't enough as the RedHawks fell by a 5-2 count.

One of the hits Hurley surrendered was a homer to Travis Buck, who was Oakland's top rookie last year, but who has battled shin splints this year and finds himself on rehab assignment with the Rivercats. 

After the game, Buck told the Daily Oklahoman's Matt Patterson:  "Hurley is an unbelievable pitcher. He's got a bright future. So it was finally good to have some quality at-bats against a good pitcher."

In Bakersfield, two young men less than a year from their last collegiate appearances continued their excellent seasons.  

The Rangers third first round pick in the 2007 draft,  Julio Borbon (.327 / .374 / .425)  extrended his 14-game hitting streak with another outstanding game, doubling twice in four trips from the top of the order.    When Borbon sustained a minor injury to his foot a month ago, he was hitting  .214 / .207 / .250.  In spite of missing that time,  Borbon ranks fifth in the Cal League with 11 two-baggers and sixth on the circuit with 11 thefts.

Starter Tommy Hunter (4-4;  3.75), the Rangers  fifth and final  first rounder in the 2007 draft,  scattered nine hits and three walks over seven innings for the Blaze, holding Stockton to just two runs while batterymate Manny Pina (.288 / .337 / .338) went 1-2.  The 20 year old Pina has now hit safely in ten of his last eleven games.

Clinton's co-MWL Players of the Week -- Renny Osuna (.305 / .395 / .442) and Engel Beltre (.273 / .304 / .402) -- delivered multi-hit performances in Clinton's 7-6 win over Peoria at Alliant Energy Field.    

The 23 year old Osuna doubled, tripled and walked in a 3-4 outing to drive in three runs while Beltre singled twice from the one hole, joining  the consistent Tim Smith (.327 / .379 / .491)  with a 2-5 outing.  Smith hit his third triple of the year and drove in three.

Finally, in a rare blowout loss, the RoughRiders got another ho-hum 2-3 outing from the great Maxamiliano Ramirez, who bumped his batting average above .400 and smacked his eighth double of the year.    

Ramirez -- the league leader in OBP, slugging percentage and, of course, OPS -- has collected multiple hits in eight of his last ten games and 12 of his last 16.

A postscript: I can't help myself, but you heard it here first:   http://rangersfarmreport.mlblogs.com/archives/2007/07/shhh_brandon_bo.html  

Easily the best  hitter in the Texas League,  Max Ramirez (.398 / .480 / .722) got back to the business of being Max in Frisco's 12-8 victory over Corpus Christi, going 3-4 with a double, his eighth homer of the year and a base on balls, jacking his league-leading OPS up to 1.203.    He also leads the Texas league in both OBP and slugging percentage and is now second in batting average.

In Clinton,  Neftali Feliz (3-1;  3.13) blanked Peoria for 5.1 innings, holding the Chiefs to two hits and fanning five while walking three.    Feliz -- the subject of a recent Baseball Prospectus profile by my friend Kevin Goldstein -- is averaging 11.09 strikeouts per nine innings. 

Goldstein took in Feliz's May 2 start against Kane County and was treated to five shutout innings during which the lanky Domincan fanned eight.    An unnamed scout with whom Goldstein watched the game had this to say afterwards:

He was very impressive. The arm is electric, and he established his fastball early in the game. He certainly flashed some average breaking balls, and that changeup has a good chance to be plus. He should end up with average command and control, as he's smooth and repeats his delivery very well. The things I really liked was how he could turn it up a notch when he needed it--that's what big leaguers do.

Jason Botts reported to Oklahoma after clearing waivers and picked up right where he left off last year when he hit .320 / .436 / .545, going 2-3 with a homer in his first game for the Redhawks this year.   It was Oklahoma's only run in the nightcap of a twinbill at the Brick swept by Sacramento.

Bakersfield's Julio Borbon (.321 / .370 / .404)  continues to light up the Cal League, extending a 13-game hitting streak with a 3-4 outing that included his 9th double of the year in the Blaze's 7-3 victory over Modesto.  

And finally, keep your fingers crossed that this little run has some long-term significance:   Blaze catcher Manny Pina (.282 / .333 / .333) went 2-4, giving him five multi-hit games in his last seven outings.  

Only two games on the ledger as both Clinton and Oklahoma were postponed.

The top batting performance of the day came from Bakersfield's Julio Borbon (.305 / .351 / .381) who went 3-5 with a pair of doubles and a walk, driving in four, stealing his 11th bag of the year (he's been caught only once) and scoring twice from the top of the order in Bakersfield's 10-6 win at Modesto. 

Borbon (pictured - right) extended a 12-game hitting streak during which he has hit .368 / .410 / .491 and improved his core numbers by more than 30% across the board.

In 105 at-bats for the Blaze, Borbon has fanned just 12 times while drawing eight walks.   While it would be nice to see a few more walks from a leadoff man, the 12 / 8 K/BB ratio to go along with the .305 batting average suggests that he is certainly a step ahead of Cal League pitching.  

The Rangers' third first-round selection in the 2007 draft is already on the 40-man roster, so there's incentive for the organization to push him along, and if he keeps this up, he'll see Frisco within a year of signing his first professional contract.

There's another great development happening in Bakersfield as the system's most gifted defensive catcher, Manny Pina (pictured - left) is actually starting to heat up with his stick.

It's doubtful that Pina (.270 / .329 / .324) will ever become an asset at the plate, but if he can hit just a little bit, he's got a chance to carve out a long career as a backup catcher given his unparallelled defensive skills.

With last night's 3-5 outing that included a double, Pina has now posted multi-hit performances in four of his last six games.   He's also one of the very few players in the system with more walks (5) than strikeouts (3) this season. 

The Texas League's most dangerous lineup was tamed at Whataburger Stadium in Corpus Christi as Frisco, which had been averaging a league-high 6.29 runs per game, managed just one run while losing this series opener 2-1.

The Riders wasted a brilliant start by 6'8" righty Michael Schlact (1-2; 4.73 ERA) who was saddled with the loss in spite of holding the Hooks to two runs on five hits and one walk in seven innings of work.

Schlact began the season with three excellent starts and then struggled through  his last three, getting bogged down in one bad inning while otherwise pitching very well on two of those three occasions.  Last night, he obviously avoided the one bad inning,  threw 66% of his 104 pitches for strikes, and game was over in just 2:32, suggesting that he worked quickly and maintained his tempo throughout the game. 

His stuff -- especially his vastly improved slider and his always nasty two-seamer -- has been (somewhat surprisingly) very good and I remain confident that he is "this close" to putting it all together and stamping himself as a reliable innings eater.

He's so good right now, he get's his own lone star.

I can't explain what's going on with Junior Mayberry (.500 / .529 / .906) through these first 32 Triple-A at-bats.   

Last night, Mayberry went 2-4 with a double and a triple, driving in a pair of runs. 

Keep in mind that this is a guy who hit .241 / .307 / .453 in 245 at-bats for Frisco last year.   He hit .230 / .314 / .496 in 244 at-bats for Bakersfield last year. 

I had a chance to watch Mayberry in four games with Frisco this year and I didn't see any significant difference in either his stroke or his approach.  He was still a strikeout machine with a big hole in his swing.  

So what's this all about?   Mayberry has struck out just twice in his eight games with Oklahoma.

He struck out in just a bit more than 25% of his at-bats for Frisco this year before the promotion.

He struck out in just a bit more than 25% of his at-bats for Frisco last year.

He struck out in just a bit more than 25% of his at-bats for Bakersfield last year.

He struck out in just a bit more than 25% of his at-bats for Clinton in 2006.

He struck out in just a bit more than 26% of his at-bats for Spokane in 2005.

Stunning consistency.

Suddenly, he's a guy who's striking out 6% of the time?

One factor that I thought might help to explain Mayberry's torrid streak is that he's actually had more at-bats against lefties than righties, but up until this year with Frisco when he suddenly started mashing against lefties, he's always struggled against them.   

Last year, Mayberry hit .225 / .267 / .535 against lefties in the Texas League  and .203 / .299 / .305 against them in the Cal League.   Then this year in Frisco, he suddenly reversed course and crushed southpaws at a .357 / .400 / .643 rate (though in only 14 at-bats) and he's continued his success against PCL lefties, hitting .353 in 17 at-bats.   All-in-all, it's too small of a sample to draw any conclusions, but it bears watching as the summer continues to unfold. 

Mayberry has a long, poor track record to overcome at this point to make a believer out of me, but he's off to a helluva start towards getting there.

Keep your fingers crossed.  

Jon Daniels finally solved the decade-long question of who would occupy center field in Arlington when he acquired Josh Hamilton, but since the halcyon days of Juando, right field has been just as big of a mystery for the Texas Rangers.   It would be quite a boon for the organization if Mayberry -- whose huge arm will certainly be an asset at Rangers Ballpark --  can confirm what appears to be a possible breakthrough and nail down right field for a decade or so. 

Pretty cloudy night on the farm and there weren't many stars out.  So I'm going to take this opportunity to delve into the numbers that one of the breakout players in the potent Frisco lineup is posting this season.

Last night, Steve Murphy (.336 / .384 / .566) doubled, drove in two, stole a base and scored twice while going 3-5 in Frisco's 8-5 victory over Midland.  

I'll  be the first to admit, that I never saw this coming from Murphy.

Having watched  Murphy with Frisco last year, I had all but written him off as a guy whose game played well in A-ball but wouldn't get him through Double-A because of his poor approach.   He was, in my mind, the anti-Brandon Boggs.   Boggs, I have theorized, has always gotten better against better pitching because he's seeing more strikes.   Murphy got worse as he moved up the ladder because he saw fewer mistake pitches. 

But like Travis Metcalf before him, Murphy seems to have learned the hard way that he needed to become a different  kind of hitter than he was in Spokane or Bakersfield if he wanted to survive the Texas League.  

As is often the case, Murphy's tremendous increase in his core numbers correlates to improvements in objective selectivity data .  

In his very mediocre 2007 season with Frisco (.277 / .319 / .424), Murphy walked once every 18.89 plate appearances (or, an atrocious 5.4% walk rate) and struck out once every 4.74 at-bats (21.1%).  

This year, he's drawing a walk once every 13.89 plate appearances (7.3% walk rate) and fanning once every 5.65 at-bats (17.7%).   

Better, yes.  But still not great.   And you have to keep in mind that Murphy is batting second almost all of the time this year -- with two of the Texas League's biggest threats in Max Ramirez  and Chris Davis  coming up behind him, and with the lightning quick Craig Gentry in front of him and on base more than a third of the time.   So he's assured of seeing more fastballs and more strikes.

There's also some luck involved here.   The expected batting average on balls in play  (BABIP  =  the sum of hits , minus homers, divided by the sum of at-bats, minus homers, minus strikeouts) is .290.   Last year, Murphy's BABIP was a relatively 'lucky' .329.  This year, it's an incredibly lucky .382.

I'm happy for Murphy and hoping that he'll keep this exceptional run going, but I remain a bit skeptical.    Between the extraordinarily high BABIP, the unbelievable lineup protection and the still pretty woeful K and BB rates, I have to question whether this new and improved Murph is really all that new or all that improved.   Hope so.

Since I've already done a game report for the Frisco game, I'm going to make this short and sweet, focusing on three players.

Johnny Whittleman is getting locked in.   In yesterday's 8-3 Bakersfield victory, Whittleman went 1-2 with three walks to extend a seven game hitting streak.   During the streak, Whittleman has gone from .222 / .323 / .370 to .264 / .376 / .453.   

The .300 / .400 / .500 I expect from him is just around the corner.

Tommy Hunter (4-3;  3.95) gave the Blaze another quality start, holding Visalia to three runs on eight hits and a walk, punching out seven in 6.2 innings.     He leads the Cal League in innings pitched (43.1),  ranks third in strikeouts (37), tenth in WHIP (1.22) and 17th in ERA.

Clinton's Engel Beltre (.295 / .331 / .446) delivered his third consecutive multi-hit performance with a 4-5 effort in Clinton's 11-4 victory over Clinton.    The toolsy center fielder hit his second homer of the year and stole his fourth base.

FRISCO --   I've told people recently that I thought that Kansas City's Billy Butler was the best hitter to come through Dr. Pepper Ballpark in the six years I've been going out there, and that Max Ramirez is the next best.

Now I think it's a tie.

Let's start with the bad news:  Ramirez -- who had caught two four tips before the end of the first inning,  one while behind the plate that stopped play for five minutes and one off his foot in his first at bat that had him hobbling around for much of the game -- was awful behind the plate, allowing the Rockhounds six stolen bases, one of which induced a terrible throwing error. 

At least part of that was on starter Michael Ballard, whose heavy reliance on a 68 mph curveball and an 80 mph change gave runners plenty of time to get going, but Ramirez's pop time remains a concern.

Now back to the good news:   this guy is simply a phenomenal hitter.  

Ramirez's ability to consistently square the ball and drive it to whatever part of the ballpark the pitch allows him to is uncanny.

After going 3-5 with his seventh dinger and his sixth double (his two outs were hit very hard as well),  Ramirez now leads the Texas League in batting average at .390,  slugging percentage (.700), and  OPS (1.175).   He's also second in OBP (.475), and thrid in homers (7).

His OPS against lefties is 1.149.

His OPS against righies is 1.179.

He uses the entire field.   

His first at-bat was a screamer just a bit to the left of dead center,  right at the center fielder.   His second at-bat was a line-drive homer that sailed into the bounce  house behind the corral over the left field wall.  

Ramirez's third at bat resulted in a double deep down the right field line that kicked up chalk.   His fourth at-bat was a hot shot down the third-base line that would have been a base hit for anyone else on the roster, but which Ramirez -- already a bit slow, but especially so after getting nicked up pretty badly in the first -- couldn't quite leg out.  

Finally, he capped his afternoon with a single down the right  field line.

Center, left,  right, left, right.   All of them hit hard.  And I mean really really hard.

Starter Mike Ballard (3.60 ERA) was sloppy and seemed to be having a hard time getting his 87 mph fastball over the plate with consistency, so he relied heavily on his big, slow (66-69 mph)  bender and a good 79-80 mph change.  He left after five having allowed three runs on five hits and five walks.   I was impressed with his ability to throw the loopy curve for strikes, and he battled hard when he got himself into trouble. 

It's very good to see  Ben Harrison (.362 / .429 / .681), whose been through a lot of adversity in his pro career, finally getting a chance to show what he can do.  And he can do a lot.  After spending another stint on the DL to  begin the year, Harrison has appeared in a dozen games for Frisco and he's driven in 13 runs.   Yesterday's home run was his fourth of the year.  He's dialed in. 

The Rangers top two center field prospects are both starting to gain traction after getting off to slow starts.

Clinton's Engel Beltre (.271 /.310 / .402) went 2-5 last night to extend a five-game hitting streak.   Beltre has struggled terribly against lefties (.194 / .256 / .250) and his K/BB of 20-3 must improve.

Almost everyone on the Bakersfield roster is starting to cool off from hot starts except center fielder Julio Borbon (.300 / .340 / .367) (pictured) who extended a nine-game hitting streak with a 2-5 outing while tossing in an outfield assist (at home, no less) for good measure.

After a slow start and then missing a week of action with a foot injury, Borbon has now hit safely in 15 of 21 games overall and raised his batting average from .211 to .300  and his OPS from .462 to .707 during his current nine-game hitting streak.

Catcher Manny Pina (.246 / .315 / .292) is starting to hit just a little bit.   He has posted three multi-hit performances including last night's 3-4 outing while hitting safely in six of his last seven games.   Pina never strikes out.  He's fanned just three times in 65 at-bats this year.  With Clinton in 2007, he struck out just 28 times in 281 at-bats.

In  Frisco,  Maxamiliano (.379 / .469 / .663) increased his lead in the Texas League OPS race (1.132) with a triple and a pair of walks in four trips while Chris Davis (.311 / .351 / .613) homered in his third straight game, giving him nine overall and the league lead. 

4-A (.370 / .520 / .783) went 1-2, drove in a pair, drew two walks, scored twice and stole his 11th bag of the year in support of Lizard (4.11 ERA) who gave Oklahoma a quality start, allowing three runs on three hits and three walks in 6.2 innings.  

Kam Loe (2-1; 5.30) seems to have righted his ship.   He picked up the win with 1.1 perfect frames of relief, fanning two and stranding an inherited runner.  Loe threw 17 pitches, 12 for strikes.   His G/F ratio this year is 2.83. 

This  is either the easiest Derby to handicap in recent memory, or the toughest.    One horse -- Big Brown -- appears to tower over this fi