http://blog.al.com/birmingham-news-sports/...acked_with.html

 

Birmingham Barons packed with prospects

Posted by Doug Segrest -- Birmingham News April 07, 2009 6:00 AM

Categories: Birmingham Barons

Mark Almond/Birmingham News

 

The Barons will likely open the season with five of the top six prospects in the White Sox organization. Shortstop Gordon Beckham, in exhibition action Monday night, is rated No. 1.

The Birmingham Barons debuted a new video scoreboard last year. But this year, it will get a true workout.

 

The 2009 Barons open the Southern League season Thursday at home looking nothing like Birmingham teams of the recent past.

 

The pitching, usually stellar, should be good. But it's a potent offense that has baseball people buzzing from the Magic City to Chicago.

 

"It's going to be pretty nice to sit and watch them," Chicago White Sox General Manager Kenny Williams said last week.

 

 

The Barons will likely open the season with five of the top six prospects in the White Sox organization. 
 Shortstop Gordon Beckham is rated No. 1, 20-year-old Cuban third baseman Dayan Viciedo is ranked second, catcher Tyler Flowers is listed fourth and first baseman Brandon Allen is No. 6 on Baseball America's list.

 

Also cracking the list is left-hander Aaron Poreda, who could be with the major league club by midseason and is listed the No. 3 prospect overall.

 

Birmingham has made the Southern League playoffs seven of the past nine years thanks, primarily, to an annual infusion of pitching talent.

 

But this year, the Barons could be all about offense. Beckham, who played at Georgia, made a bid for the big-league team in the spring. Viciedo is a veteran of the Cuban national team. Flowers is a 23-year-old from Roswell, Ga., who quickly ascended the Chicago minor-league ladder.

 

Allen, a former linebacker signee at Rice University, made a splash during a midseason promotion to the Barons last summer, hitting 14 home runs in 41 games. He also was the first professional ballplayer to homer off David Price during the No. 1 pick's meteoric 2008 season.

 

The list of boppers doesn't end there. The Barons outfield is expected to include returning veterans David Cook, Stefan Gartrell and Lee Cruz, plus former University of Kentucky star John Shelby.

 

Put an asterisk by Cook's name. He's proved himself at the Double-A level each of the last two seasons. But Chicago waived Jerry Owens late in spring training, then assigned him to Triple-A Charlotte.

 

The club then shipped Cook to Birmingham just to make certain he got daily at-bats. 


 

While the Barons' roster won't be officially unveiled until Wednesday, the nucleus was in place Monday for an exhibition game with the University of Montevallo.

 

The 2009 Barons will be managed by Ever Magallanes, a former Cleveland Indian who came to the organization after managing minor leaguers for the California Angels.

You beat me to it, I check that website all the time.

This might be the first time in my 18 years as a Sox fan that I'm slightly more excited for the start of the minor league season than I am the major league season.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/st...ue&sid=t247

I noticed the AA schedule is pretty much all 5-game series throughout the season. Is this new for 2009, or have they done this before? I kinda like it. One time through everyone's rotation.

I noticed the AA schedule is pretty much all 5-game series throughout the season. Is this new for 2009, or have they done this before? I kinda like it. One time through everyone's rotation.

 

Since 2006. Homestands are either 5 or 10 days. Only one 10 game homestand this year for the Barons though.

Since 2006. Homestands are either 5 or 10 days. Only one 10 game homestand this year for the Barons though.

 

Interesting. I guess this is the first time I looked at minor league schedule.

I noticed the AA schedule is pretty much all 5-game series throughout the season. Is this new for 2009, or have they done this before? I kinda like it. One time through everyone's rotation.

Hm, I didn't realize that until you said something. I looked back on the previous schedules, and they didn't start doing that until 2006. It isn't like for any of Charlotte, Kanny, or W-S (they play primarily 4 game series).

 

I wonder why they do that only for AA. Hmm, I don't know. The only thing I can think of is that it is widely considered that AA has the most talent, so they want to make it mainly 5 game series so scouts have more opportunity to look at players in a series.

Since 2006. Homestands are either 5 or 10 days. Only one 10 game homestand this year for the Barons though.

 

Why do they only do for AA then?

The only thing I can think of is that it is widely considered that AA has the most talent, so they want to make it mainly 5 game series so scouts have more opportunity to look at players in a series.

I don't think AA has the best talent. That level might have more prospects, but AAA has talented guys that are a bit older.

Maybe it's to cut down on travel expenses. Pearl, Mississippi to Zebulon, North Carolina is long drive.

I don't think AA has the best talent. That level might have more prospects, but AAA has talented guys that are a bit older.

I'm going to take the other side. In terms of talent, great fastballs, great pure stuff, AA has far more of it than AAA. However, AAA has more developed players so if a guy is a good fastball hitter, he might still dominate in AA but than struggle massively in AAA where you are going against more veteran pitchers who typicaly have much more command and willingness to use there off-speed stuff.

I just think there are enough guys in AAA who busted with great stuff and never got better. How many guys skip AAA anyway? It's a sizable number, but I don't think it's a majority.