AngelsWin.com Prospect Hotlist – 5-7-2010

It is with great pleasure that AngelsWin.com brings back its weekly Hot Prospect lists. In our weekly column, we will be providing a look at who’s been hot down on the farm. Unlike our annual Top-50 Prospects, our Hot Prospects column is not ranked based on the ceiling of the prospect, and instead is just a snapshot of the week that just past on the farm. This year, AngelsWin.com will be presenting the Hot Prospect reports every Friday throughout the season.

What’s Up: Just a week ago first base prospect Gabe Jacobo was hitting .249 and in an 0-14 stretch. Today, he tops our Prospect Hotlist after posting four multi-hit games out of his last six contests, including two three hit games and one four hit contest last night. Jacobo has driven in 10 runs in 10 games, giving him a team leading 25 on the season.

What’s Up: Chatwood shutdown the opposition on Wednesday, throwing five shutout innings against Modesto. Chatwood struck out nine and walked just one. One the night, Chatwood’s fastball was registering 92 to as high as 96 mph. His breaking ball made opposing hitters look really bad at the plate and he even threw a few changeups to keep hitters off-balance. Chatwood leads the Quakes with a 2.25 ERA. If he continues to pitch like this, Chatwood could earn a mid-season promotion to Double-A Arkansas.

What’s Up: Roberto Lopez hit .400 and nearly captured the Pioneer League Triple Crown in 2008. This season, Lopez is back to hitting after sporting just a .271 average with a .780 OPS last season with the Cedar Rapids Kernels. Lopez is still looking for a permanent position, as he’s played 1B, LF, RF and catcher so far this season with the Quakes. If Lopez can play a solid LF and continue to hit, he could be someone to watch as a future run producing contributor in the big leagues down the road. If not, he will more than fit the description of a solid off the bench role player for the Angels.

What’s Up: The UCLA product has been on fire of late, going 10-16 with a home run and five RBI’s. Haerther has just two home runs through a little over a month of the season and power will always be a question mark for the first baseman, but if he continues to hit for average he could be a nice right-handed bat off the bench down the road. Haerther hit .350 last season in the Pioneer League, but had no home runs in 206 at bats.

What’s Up: Sully has put together two straight quality starts, going seven innings both times out. The best part of O’Sullivan’s time in the PCL this season has been his strikeout ratio, striking out 32 batters in 36.1 innings, while posting a solid 1.18 WHIP. If Joe Saunders continues to get hit hard in the big leagues, either O’Sullivan or Trevor Bell will be the first two to get a crack.

What’s Up: Dillon Baird hit .302 in his last 10 games and if it wasn’t for his 15 strikeouts over that span, he’d be higher up on this list. Still, slugging two home runs, five doubles and driving in 12 runners over his 10 games, Baird has been producing from the third base position. The left-handed batter hit .372 with seven home runs, 17 doubles and drove in 49 batters last season with the Orem Owlz in 57 games.

What’s Up: In 19 innings this season, the southpaw has given up just one run, (0.47 ERA) his first outing of the season back on April 12th. The Southpaw was selected in the Supplemental 1st round (40th overall) of the 2009 amateur draft. Baseball Beginnings has a really good full writeup, video and interview with Tyler on their website. Check it out here. We also took some video of Skaggs a week ago, which you can see here.

What’s Up: Mike Trout has clubbed 2 home runs, 2 triples, 2 doubles, walked four times and stolen six bases in his last 10 games. Though he hit just .325, lowering his batting average to .345 on the young season, Trout has begun to show that extra base power that scouts believe will come later. Trout leads the organization with 16 stolen bases.

What’s Up: Local Fountain Valley product Eric Oliver has been on a tear of late, hitting .441 with a home run and six RBI’s over his last 10 games. Oliver continues to show good plate discipline: 8 walks, 9 strikeouts and  a .386 OBP in 2010, a year after walking 28 times vs. 26 strikeouts as a member of the Arizona Angels club in 2009.

What’s Up: Fabio led the front end of a combined no-hitter last Friday, going five innings without giving up a run, while striking out nine. In his next outing, Fabio was hit hard, giving up four runs on seven hits, though he struck out six in six innings of work — giving him a total of 15 strikeouts in his last two starts.  Fabio possesses a mid to high 90’s fastball and an above average slider. The development of his changeup and command will determine if he sticks as a starter or is moved to the bullpen where he could be an electric closer down the road.