Article on Jarrod Parker

The South Bend Tribune picked up an AP article about Jarrod Parker for today's paper.  It has some quotes from new GM Kevin Towers about how he will be used and brought along this season as well.

More on the Instructs

Nick Piecoro is flat out killing it on his blog lately. You want information on just about every Silver Hawks player that is in the desert right now? His blog is the place to go: http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/NickPiecoro/Page0

He has thoughts on Keon Broxton, David Nick, Chris Owings, Bobby Borchering, and Tyler Skaggs from the 2010 club, not to mention former Silver Hawks Jarrod Parker and Brandon Webb.

Baseball America Chat

This time of year, one of my main sources for blog posts is Baseball America's website. Every so often they do a "Prospects Chat", and while I certainly won't copy and paste the whole thing here, you can read about all the prospects this week at this link.

However, from this week, here's the questions that stood out as they related to the Silver Hawks (or former Silver Hawks) and what Jim Callis of BA had to say about them:

Mark (Reseda, Ca.): Where do you put Skaggs on your list. After his trade he had a 1.69 era , a 5-1 k/BB , his fastball sat at 93-95 and his change was killer. If you take the 2009 class of high school pitchers he is in the top 5 in every stat.

Jim Callis: Skaggs wasn't in the same class as those 2009 elite high school pitchers I mentioned, but he performed as well as any of them this year. He belongs in that discussion now.

Victor (San Diego): Jarrod Parker's consistently throwing 93 and touching 97, also adding a 2-seamer to his arsenal. Is he still a top 50 prospect for you?

Jim Callis: Yes. He had fabulous stuff before he got hurt, so I wasn't too worried about the Tommy John surgery.

Jarrod Parker Begins Throwing

The odds of Parker pitching in 2010 are still very slim, but an encouraging sign is that he began throwing again this week.

The article states that the plan was for him to be ready to pitch in the Fall Instructional League this year, but if everything goes ahead of schedule, he could pitch before then.

Diamondbacks Top 10

Baseball America has released the Arizona Diamondbacks Top 10 Prospects today.

If you want to read what they have to say about the farm system, click here.

If you want the Silver Hawks side of the story, click here.

Or if you just want the list and my opinion, keep reading:

1) Jarrod Parker
2) Bobby Borchering
3) A.J. Pollock
4) Brandon Allen
5) Daniel Schlereth
6) Chris Owings
7) Mike Belfiore
8) Marc Krauss
9) Ryan Wheeler
10) Collin Cowgill

My unsolicited opinions:

-I'm not surprised Jarrod Parker is number one, nor should any of you. He's clearly the best pitcher in the system, even with recent surgery.

-Borchering is young, and likely a Silver Hawk in 2010. Baseball America always gives preferences to younger players over older ones, because their ceilings are always higher.

-I was surprised to see A.J. Pollock at #3. He had a fine year, just not an overwhelming one. However, I think you'll see Pollock dominate the Cal League in 2010, and then it's just a matter of making the proper adjustments to continue to see success on the way up.

-Allen was acquired via a trade, so we don't have a lot to go on with him.

-Schlereth comes in fifth, but that's irrelevant now since he just was traded (see previous post). I would imagine Baseball America would update this list before publishing their top 30 Prospect Handbook.

-Owings and Belfiore are the real deal from what I hear. And they should both be in South Bend on Opening Day 2010.

-Krauss is a guy I struggle with at #8. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve it, or that he's not good. He has enormous power and showed some ability to hit for average. However, he was limited due to ankle injuries, and I don't think we saw everything he could do. I'd like to see him play a full season at 100% before I judge his prospect rating.

-Ryan Wheeler should be higher than #9. In my book, he's top 5 in the system (and that's coming from only seeing him play about two weeks). His swing is so smooth that it's hard for me to imagine his average ever being below .300, and the power numbers will be there as well. He's the real deal.

-Collin Cowgill at #10 is fine. Like Krauss, he had an injury last season that limited him. Again, a full season should help us determine whether the top 10 ranking is justified.

Notable players that dropped out of last year's top 10:

#2 Gerardo Parra (no longer a prospect since he made it to the Majors)

#4 Mark Hallberg (hit .257 for Mobile -- should still be in top 30 I would imagine)

#5 Wade Miley (will still be in top 30, but not a surprise he dropped out of top 10)

#6 Kevin Eichhorn (pitched just 10 games for Missoula)

#7 Cesar Valdez (went 7-6 with a 4.78 ERA in Reno)

#8 Billy Buckner (majors)

#10 Reynaldo Navarro (I actually thought he improved this year. Would like to see his average higher, but he should still be ranked between 11-15 at worst, I would think)

Baseball America, Jarrod Parker, and the Padres

No sooner had I finished the last post about the Padres changes, that I went to www.baseballamerica.com and read this article about the Padres situation and former Silver Hawks pitcher Jarrod Parker.

The first question asks about how far Parker would drop in the prospect rankings with Tommy John surgery scheduled for this week (not very far, according to BA).

The second question addresses the Padres situation, and what Hoyer takes over. Baseball America is not as kind to the Padres farm system as I was in the previous post. While I agree with BA that the major league team stinks, and there's not a ton of talent in the upper levels of the minors, I think they are selling the low level talent short. They admit that they were off when they ranked the Padres farm system 29th of the 30 teams, but they don't seem to give a lot of credit to the young players who had great seasons at the A-level this season.

Click the link above and read it all.

Surgery for Jarrod Parker

Ugh...not the news you wanted to hear if you're a Diamondbacks fan. Former Silver Hawks pitcher and future star Jarrod Parker is going to have Tommy John surgery later this month, the Diamondbacks announced yesterday.

Tommy John surgery is so commonplace these days, that not too many people think twice about it. He'll miss the 2010 season of course, and hopefully should be ready to go by 2011. Parker is only 20 years old, so he still has plenty of time to be a star in the majors. However, we can't overlook the fact that this is still surgery on a youngster, and the Diamondbacks plans of having him as a major part of their rotation in 2010 is not going to happen.

Did You Miss Me?

Sorry for the long layoff from the blog. I was a groomsman for a wedding this weekend in St. Pete, Florida (yes, I know you are jealous). I have now been a groomsman eight times, but this was the first time I didn't need a tuxedo because the wedding was on the beach. I also hit the links twice with another friend who lives in Tampa, with the temperatures hitting 90 degrees every day I was there. It was a great weekend, but now it's back to work in the cold climate of South Bend.

Since I had a long weekend, I'm trying to get caught up on some things. To get back into the flow though, here are the Baseball America rankings for the leagues that I missed over the past few days.

Southern League -- Where does former Silver Hawks pitcher Jarrod Parker rank? Click and find out.

Eastern League

Texas League -- Headlined by a pitcher who played against the Silver Hawks this season.

Jarrod Parker to Start Throwing Program

Jarrod Parker was shut down at the end of July with an arm injury. I saw this story today about how he's starting a throwing program, and depending on how that goes, they'll determine if he needs surgery or not.

Jarrod Parker Shut Down

More from Steve Gilbert about former Silver Hawks pitcher Jarrod Parker being shut down for 4-6 weeks, with surgery still a possibility if he doesn't improve.

Story here.

Injury News - Jarrod Parker and Marc Krauss

We've talked about Justin Parker and his shoulder injury a lot this year, but now there is injury news on the other Parker brother, Jarrod.

He is going to have his right elbow examined because of some discomfort he felt in his last start.

Here's hoping that it is nothing too serious, and even if he has to shut it down for the year, that he can avoid surgery and be ready to go in spring training next year.

Also, as expected, Marc Krauss will have surgery on his ankle and will miss the rest of the season. He should be fine for spring training next year.

Jarrod Parker and Leyson Septimo on Futures Rosters

Read my story here.

Read the minorleaguebaseball.com story here. This link has more info about the game and complete rosters.

Top 10 Prospects

I mentioned earlier this week that Gerardo Parra was listed as the #2 prospect in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization according to Baseball America. I've listed the top 10 prospects below, but you can find the list and much more at: http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/rankings/organization-top-10-prospects/2009/267467.html

1. Jarrod Parker, RHP
2. Gerardo Parra, OF
3. Daniel Schlereth, LHP
4. Mark Hallberg, SS/2B
5. Wade Miley, LHP
6. Kevin Eichhorn, RHP
7. Cesar Valdez, RHP
8. Billy Buckner, RHP
9. Collin Cowgill, OF
10. Reynaldo Navarro, SS

In case you are wondering, Miley, Eichhorn, and Navarro are the prospects that are most likely to spend time in South Bend in 2009. Certainly nothing guaranteed, but they were all in either short-season A or rookie ball to end last season.

What a game!

I realize we are in the middle of college basketball's postseason (and trust me, I love March Madness as much as anyone), but did you catch that World Baseball Classic game last night between the USA and Puerto Rico? Down by two in the bottom of the ninth, the USA scores three times to walk-off with the win and advance to the semifinals. David Wright was the hero for the USA, going 3-for-4 including the game winning two-RBI single in the bottom of the ninth.

FYI...Former Silver Hawk outfielder Gerardo Parra is on the Venezuelan team, but isn't playing very much. He's 0-for-5 in the Classic, with one stolen base. Parra is a guy that I'd love to see do well. When he was in the Midwest League in 2007, he absolutely owned the Dayton Dragons (the team I was broadcasting for at the time). Come to think of it, I'm sure he owned a lot of teams in the league that year. Parra hit .320 for the year, then hit .301 in high-A to start the '08 season, and finished up in double-A hitting .275.

It'll be interesting to see where the D-Backs start Parra in '09. I'd like to see him make the jump to triple-A, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him start in double-A for a month or two. Baseball America still has Parra rated as the #2 prospect in the Diamondbacks system, behind '08 Silver Hawks pitcher Jarrod Parker.