Some observations

as the minor league season winds down:

Luke Hochevar has made three starts for low-A Burlington, pitching 9 1/3 innings. He’s allowed 4 hits, one run (unearned), walked two, and fanned 10. His minor league splits have him as a pretty extreme fly ball pitcher so far, although it is only 22 BIP. I’m of the opinion that he should probably be at Wichita (and maybe he’ll join them for the postseason, although he’s already been announced for the AFL).

In Tim Lincecum’s last two starts at San Jose, he’s fanned 21 in 10 1/3 innings, while walking 4. I have a feeling that the teams ahead of the Giants who passed on him are going to regret it.

Joel Guzman has fallen so far off the prospect map that he’s going to need a guide dog to find his way back. I saw him play three games this past week in Durham, and he has (a) a very slow bat and (b) slow reflexes in the field. He totally misjudged two popups (only one of which cost him an error), was caught flatfooted on a routine grounder (which he booted), dived for a grounder that wasn’t more than about two feet to his left (making what should have been a relatively simple play took hard) and didn’t hit a single ball with any authority whatsoever. I have no idea what happened here, but he’s not someone who I’d even take a flyer on at this point.

Worst DP combo I’ve seen in recent memory: Luis Ordaz (SS) and Luis Rivas (2B). Ordaz, at least, has decent enough instincts, but he has no arm and very little range. With the suspension of Elijah Dukes and the callup of Delmon Young, the Bulls were fielding a lineup that included Brent Butler in left and Rodney Nye in right. Yeesh.

Daniel Barone pitched one of the best games I’ve seen this year the other night at Five County. At one point he’d thrown first-pitch strikes to 19 of 22 hitters faced. His reward was a ticket back to Jupiter - so then Jamie Brauer comes up and throws six shutout innings himself in his AA debut. The Marlins seem to have something of a knack for developing pitchers, and they’ve got some good live arms at Greensboro if they can keep them healthy.

Bill Plummer deserves some kudos for keeping Tennessee in the second-half title chase in the Southern League. He’s had to deal with a patchwork pitching staff almost all season, thanks to callups (Micah Owings, Adam Bass, Tony Pena, Doug Slaten), trades (Garrett Mock, Matt Chico), injuries (Steven Jackson), and the Olympics (Greg Smith). At various times, the Smokies have been two and three players under the roster limit. Yet somehow, they go out there night after night and battle the opposition, and Plummer’s gotten production out of guys who looked as though their careers were headed for the toilet (Jamie D’Antona, Jerry Gil). He’s got to get some votes for Manager of the Year.

If you have any questions, comments, etc. about prospects, suspects, etc., this thread is a good place to ask them.