With due respect to Jose Guillen, I have two words to describe Darren O’Day – “Un-hittable”. In his last 9.1 innings over the span of 9 games, the big right hander has given up one measly hit and walked three while striking out 9. On the season he is 4-0 with 11 saves, has 26k’s in 24ip, has held opponents to a .120 avg., and has a microscopic ERA of 0.75. WOW! At 24 years old he is a little old for A ball, but I doubt he will be there much longer putting up those numbers.
2. Matthew Sweeney, 3b, Low Class A Cedar Rapid (Angels)
Matt has been eating his Wheaties. He turned around his early season power outage and has 3hr in his last three games, and 5 in his last 9. He has 1/3rd of his extra base hits in the last ten games. His average is holding steady at .276 and he has knocked in nine in his last nine games. If he starts to show a bit more patience at the plate like last season (23bb/27k) his current OPS of .789 will continue to approach the 1.007 mark he put last year in the AZL.
3 . Tim Schoeninger, SP, Low Class A Cedar Rapids (Angels)
Tim continues to control batters in the Midwest league. He turned out another strong start of 5ip, 6h, 1er, 0bb, and 5k’s to run his season totals to a 2.67era in 81ip while striking out 64 and only giving up six free passes moving his record to 9-2.
4. Bobby Wilson, C, Class AA Arkansas (Angels)
Bobby continues to steadily improve. Since the last weeks hot list, he has gone 7 for 22 with a hr, 2 doubles, 7rbi and 4bb/3k in his last 6 games to raise his avg. to .273 and his ops above to .800. In addition to being the primary C for the Travs, Bobby has been seeing some time at 1b and DH. It may not be long before he passes Jeff Mathis on the organizational depth chart.
5. Anthony Ortega, SP, Class AA Arkansas (Angels)
Anthony is putting together a very fine season for the Travs. Although at times he seems to struggle with his control, he continues to get guys out and go deep into games. His last two starts he has gone 7ip and is threatening to move his season ERA below 3.00 (currently at 3.16). Sometimes lost in the shuffle, the 21 year old Venezuelan product has outperformed his more highly touted teammates, Robert Mosebach and Stephen Marek.
6. Brandon Wood, SS, Class AAA Salt Lake (Angels)
Has Wood finally turned the corner this season? We’ll have to wait and see yet for now he continues to show signs of returning to form. He ran his hit streak to 13 on Wednesday night with a 3b giving him 10 extra base hits in his last ten games. Although he is only hitting .249 overall, he is showing signs of becoming a more patient hitter by improving his BB/SO ratio which is now near 1/2 where as last year it was 1/3.
7. Jason Bulger, RP, Class AAA Salt Lake (Angels)
After his scoreless streak ended, Bulger returned to form in his next two outings, pitching a scoreless inning in each and striking out four. His ERA for the season is back below three at 2.96 and he now has a total of 44 strikeouts in 27.1ip. He certainly is making it difficult to justify the jobs of Oliver and Carrasco. Maybe that’s why Hector sweats so much.
8. Rich Thompson, RP, Class AA Arkansas (Angels)
Although taking the loss tonight the 22 year old right hander dropped his ERA to 2.18 on the season and now has 44 strikeouts in 41.1ip and has held batters to a .193 avg. Rich had some problems giving up the long ball last year to the tune of 13 in 66.2ip which ballooned his ERA to 5.13 even thought he held batters to a .218avg. He seems to have turned a corner in that area giving up only five so far in his second go around with the Travs.
9. Vladimir Veras, SP, Short Season Class A Orem (Angels)
The first of the Orem crew to be a part of the hotlist, Veras was a bit overmatched in his first 3 starts for Cedar Rapids posting an 8.18era. However, in his first start for Orem it was a different story. The 21-year old right-hander went 6.0 innings giving up no earned runs on two hits while walking one and striking out 8. The slight of build (6’0”, 150lb) Dominican native is looking to build on a strong 2006 AZL debut where he posted a 1.35era in 60ip while striking out 58 and limiting opposing batters to a .210 avg.
10. Miguel Gonzalez, SP, Class AA Arkansas (Angels)
Gonzalez appears to have flown under the prospect radar during his tenure as an Angel farm hand. Converted to a starter in 2007 the 6’0” 165lb native of Mexico has done nothing but put up solid numbers. He recently threw 7 solid innings of four hit ball giving up an earned run against a Springfield team that touched him for 5er in 5ip in his previous start. On the season, the recently turned 23 year old righty has pitched 54.2 inning giving up 55hits while walking 14 and striking out 41 with a 3.62 ERA.
Keep an eye on: Jordan Walden, SP, Short Season Class A Orem (Angels)
A 12th round pick by the Angels in 2006, Walden was considered one of the top high school pitching prospects in last years draft. Due to current rule changes, he was one of the final players that the Angels were allowed to “draft and follow” as he agreed to a seven figure bonus in the 25th hour before this years draft. The 19 year old has a classic pitchers build at 6’4”, 225lbs and will look to make his first pro start with the Owls sometime this week.
On the outside looking to get in soon:
Chris Pettit, Mark Trumbo, Jose Arredondo, Robert Mosebach, Nick Adenhart, P.J. Phillips, David Herndon, Sean O’Sullivan, Freddy Sandoval, Peter Bourjos, Sean Rodriguez, Stephen Marek, Jeff Mathis, Ryan Aldridge, Jeremy Haynes, Nick Gorneault, Jordan Renz, Kendry Morales, Kevin Jepsen, Brok Butcher, Trevor Bell, and Hainley Statia.
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