2007 Angelswin Prospect Hotlist, 8th edition

1. Freddy Sandoval, 3B, Class AA Arkansas (Angels) The switch hitting, speedy 3B from Tijuana, Mexico has been on fire in the last 10 games, hitting .361 over that span, with 4 multi hit games out of his last 6 contests, earning him the top spot in this week’s prospect hotlist. Sandoval has upped his average to .322 and has shown excellent plate discipline, posting a .413 on base pct. (24 walks to 23 strikeouts). Sandoval has also stolen 11 bags and is on pace to equal or surpass his 30 stolen bases last season with Rancho. With good defense around the bag at third, Sandoval has a future in the big leagues as a Bill Mueller type, but with more speed.

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2. Brok Butcher, SP, Class A Rancho Cucamonga (Angels) Brok just keeps getting it down, notching his 8th straight quality starts in as many starts (8) on the season. Last night he fanned 8 Bakersfield hitters, while going a 7 strong, only giving up a 2 run homer to John Mayberry Jr. A couple more starts like this and I could see the Angels promoting Brok to Arkansas along side top pitching prospect Nick Adenhart.

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3. Nathan Haynes, OF, Class AAA Salt Lake (Angels) Haynes had a 0-5 night last night that saw his batting average drop down to .386, but was back at it this afternoon with a couple more hits, 2 more walks and an RBI pushing his average back up to .391, which leads the PCL. If he were in Marlins organization he might be up with the big league club right now. Boy, if Juan Pierre can get what he’s being paid there has to be a starting gig for Haynes somewhere!

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4. Douglas Brandt, SP, Low Class A Cedar Rapids (Angels) The southpaw, Brandt continues his dominance in Low A ball, hurling 6 scoreless innings last night, fanning 6 along the way. His ERA stands at 1.11 and has fanned 44 batters in 40 2/3 innings. He’s 3-0
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5. Christopher Pettit, OF, Low Class A Cedar Rapids (Angels) Pettit continues to push his average upwards and is now hitting .350 for the Kernels with a .411 on base pct. Pettit has stolen 5 bases in his last 10 games giving him 12 so far this season, while slugging at a .573 clip.

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6. Aaron Peel, OF, Class AA Arkansas (Angels) Peel who started off the season slow, hitting .190 in the month of April, is hitting .294 in May and last night hit for the cycle in a losing effort. Peel hit 16 Hr’s, stole 13 bases and batted .285 in High A Ball last year for Rancho Cucamonga. Keep an eye on him!

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7. Jason Bulger, RP, Class AAA Salt Lake (Angels) Bulger hasn’t given up a run since April 28th and has been striking out batters at an impressive clip of late. Bulger has fanned 13 hitters in his last 5 appearances and boasts a 28 strikeouts to 19 Innings pitched ratio. His ERA sits at 2.79 which is impressive considering where he pitches half of his games.
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8. Jose Arredondo, RP, Class AA Arkansas (Angels) With Darren O’Day given up his first runs of the season (2) it was about time Jose made his prospect hotlist debut. The league is hitting .182 off Arredondo and has fanned 22 batters in 19 innings. If you take away a bad outing he had on the 1st of this month his #’s would look even stellar. Like Bulger, Jepsen, O’Day and when healthy, Aldridge, keep an eye on Arredondo, as all of these guys have excellent stuff and could be added to an already impressive bullpen in the near future.

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9. Terry Evans, OF, Class AAA Salt Lake (Angels) Evans, with 9 RBI’s in his last 10 games, has continued his hot hitting in the PCL. Evans has hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games and is currently hitting .324, with 6 Hr’s, 16 doubles and 10 stolen bases to go along with his 29 RBI’s.

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10. Joe Saunders, SP, Class AAA Salt Lake (Angels) Saunders looked good against a very good hitting Sacramento club last night, fanning 9 batters in 6 innings, while giving up just 2 runs to earn the win. Saunders is an injury to one of the Angels starters or trade away from getting another promotion to the majors.
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Keep an eye on: Ben Johnson, C, Class AAA Salt Lake (Angels) Selected by the Angels in the 23rd round (683rd overall) in the 2004 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Washington. Ben Johnson who hit 19 home runs with Rancho Cucamonga last season is with the Bees and getting some work in behind the dish. In just 7 games with the Bees he’s driven in 6 runs while hitting .333.

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On the outside looking to get in soon: Nick Adenhart, Brandon Wood, Brad Coon, Peter Bourjos, Sean Rodriguez, Stephen Marek, David Herndon, Jeff Mathis, Ryan Aldridge, Timothy Schoeninger, Matthew Sweeney, Jeremy Haynes, Trevor Bell, PJ Phillips, Amalio Diaz, Nick Gorneault, Hank Conger, Jordan Renz, Andrew Hill, Michael Collins, Mark Trumbo, Anthony Ortega, Kevin Jepsen, and Hainley Statia.