1. Brandon Wood, 3B, Class AAA Salt Lake (Angels)
Wood is on fire hitting 321/.396/.667 this month with six bombs, eight doubles and 21 RBIs in 21 games. Wood’s bat has come alive in June, after struggling through April and May with just six homers in 167 at-bats. His average is up to .266, with 13 HR’s, 45 RBI’s and with 8 SB’s. The most impressive part of Wood’s game this season is his plate discipline; he’s making more contact at the plate. After striking out 149 times last year, Wood has posted a .353 on-base pct., fanning 69 times, while walking 34. If Wood continues his hot hitting through July it will be interesting to see what they do with Figgins and the third base situation.
2. Mark Trumbo, 1B, Low Class A Cedar Rapids (Angels)After hitting .220 last year in Cedar Rapids, Mark Trumbo appears poised to improve this season and so far, the results have been there. Trumbo has been consistently good of late, seeing his average rise to .282 on the season. In Mark’s last 10 games he’s batted 344 with 3 multi-hit games out of the last 5.
3. Young-Il Jung, SP, Short Season A Ball Orem (Angels)In his first start of the season for the Orem Owlz, Jung tossed 5 innings, giving up just one run (a home run), while fanning 5. His velocity as reported was in the low 90’s with movement and he showed a good breaking ball and change. Keep your eye on the Korean hurler as he possesses some top of the rotation stuff.
4. Christopher Garcia, 3B, Short Season A Ball Orem (Angels)Garcia selected 477th overall in this years amateur draft out of St. Petersburg JC, scouted by Tom Kotchman, is on fire for the Orem Owlz. The left-handed swinging, 6’2, 225 lb slugger is hitting .400 through 7 games, leading the Owlz in batting average and on-base pct. Kotchman knows the area in Florida and the Angels think they scored late in the draft here with Garcia. Keep an eye on his progress in short season A Ball.
5. Jeremy Haynes, SP, Low Class A Ball Cedar Rapids (Angels)Haynes is back on track and has not allowed more than 2 runs in his last 7 starts, though a few of those starts have been shortened by rain or cold weather. In 11 starts this season, Haynes has posted a 3.62 ERA.
6. Matt Sweeney, 3B, Low Class A Ball Cedar Rapids (Angels)Sliding from the #2 spot to #6, Sweeney who took a couple of 0’fers after his ascent to no. 2 last week, picked it back up with 2 multi-hit games, going 3-4 last night with another dinger, giving him 10 on the season.
7. Freddy Sandoval, 3B, Class AA Arkansas (Angels)Sandoval got some recognition outside of Angelswin.com when he was selected to the World’s Roster for the Future Game coming up in July. Sandoval has an impressive batting eye as he’s walked 47 times, opposed to 46 strike outs. Freddy has been hitting around .300 all season, showing some gap power (18 doubles, 1 triple and 6 Hr’s) at the hot corner. With his speed, it seems like he has a nice shot at being at worse, a major league utility guy.
8. Rich Thompson, RP, Class AA Arkansas (Angels)Like Sandoval, Thompson made the Futures Game World roster. Rich has a 12-6 curveball that’s one of the best in the minors. He compliments that with a low 90’s fastball that he commands very well. After a dismal 2006 season, Thompson has put it all together with a 2.14 ERA, fanning 49 in 46.1 innings of work out of the pen. Thompson could be a nice addition to the roster in Sept. for the Los Angeles Angels.
9. Brok Butcher, SP, Class A Rancho Cucamonga (Angels)It’s hard to leave Butcher, who turned in another quality start at home vs. Stockton with his last start off the list somewhere. Butcher is making a case to be the Angels minor league player of the year with the type of season he’s had. His ERA is at 2.15 and the opposing batters are hitting just .239 against him, which amazing considering his low 90’s sinker gets a lot of balls put in play.
10. Douglas Brandt, SP/RP, Class A Rancho Cucamonga (Angels)After posting a 2.35 ERA with 64 strikeouts in 61.1 innings at Cedar Rapids, 9 of which were starts, Brandt was promoted to Rancho Cucamonga (High-A Ball) last week. As of now, the Angels are using Brandt, the lefty out of the bullpen. He’s thrown just 1.1 innings of work, fanning two, while giving up 0 runs on 1 hit thus far. Track his progress as he could be a future lefty out of the pen, not named Romero or Oliver.
Keep an eye on: Jay Brossman, 1B, Short Season Class A Orem (Angels)What does former Ute baseball star Jay Brossman hope to have in common with annual Cy Young candidate Roy Oswalt, Cleveland Indian’s masher Travis Hafner and future Hall-of-Fame catcher Mike Piazza? Well, besides massive amounts of money, which would basically ensure financial security for his children’s children’s children, the former first-base standout is hoping for a shot at a good old-fashioned Cinderella story. Brossman–recently drafted by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the 36th round of Major League Baseball’s first-year player draft–will now begin a long and, more often than not, unsuccessful journey to the major leagues. Through 8 games, the 6’2, 210lb first baseman Brossman, hasn’t disappointed, hitting .341 with 4 doubles and 5 RBI’s for the Orem Owlz.
On the outside looking to get in soon:Chris Pettit, Jose Arredondo, Anthony Ortega, Jordan Walden, Hank Conger, Robert Mosebach, Nick Adenhart, P.J. Phillips, David Herndon, Sean O’Sullivan, Peter Bourjos, Sean Rodriguez, Stephen Marek, Jeff Mathis, Ryan Aldridge, Terry Evans, Nick Gorneault, Jordan Renz, Kevin Jepsen, Trevor Bell, and Hainley Statia.
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