Prospect three-day weekend
by Jeff MooreSeptember 09, 2011
Lots of transactions this week to discuss, and lots of prospects on the move.
I touched on a slew of prospect promotions this week, including Alex Liddi of the Mariners, who became the first born-and-raised Italian to appear in the major leagues, and Stephen Lombardozzi of the Nationals, who the team was unwilling to depart with to get Denard Span from the Twins, and is the main reason Drew Storen is still a National.
Heading to the Yankees is Dellin Betances, who is joining the team to get exposure to the major leagues, but not see game action.
Not getting the call to the majors are such bigger-name prospects as Adeiny Hechavarria of the Blue Jays and Brett Jackson of the Cubs, both of whom made it as high as Triple-A this season and were anticipated as possible promotion candidates.
Reports out of Arizona this week discussed the professional debut of the seventh overall pick from this year's draft, Archie Bradley, who dazzled in his first inning of work. Bradley was a late signee and high school pick, so it would have been easy for the Diamondbacks to hold him out for the remainder of the season and let him debut next season (much like was done with Jameson Taillon and others last year), but the Diamondbacks have been aggressive with their assignments and debuts of this particular draft class.
Sticking with the debut category, the Rockies' announced that Drew Pomeranz will make his team and major league debut this Sunday, recovering sooner than expected from emergency appendectomy surgery.
Jeff Moore is the creator of MLBProspectWatch.com, your one-stop site for all the information you need about minor league prospects. He can be reached via e-mail at mlbprospectwatch AT gmail DOT com and can be followed on Twitter at @MLBPW
I am high on Pomeranz- saw him live during his college career and he was outstanding.