Amy Amanda 'Triple A' Allen - contributing reporter
Hello Hardball Stitches fans, Jessica appears to have the Major League covered in her recent Top Players series, but let's take a look at some of the names still in the minors that could make a difference this season. For now we'll cover those ready for promotions, but there are plenty who will make an impact by being traded for ML talent. All positions listed are based upon currently positions within their franchise - the blog is not responsible for you not looking at their glove to know where they actually belong. In future years we'll provide thoughts on players, but this year there are far too many ready for the big leagues that we'll just break them down into a single list.
- Catchers
- John Hearn - St. Louis - AAA
- Shin-Soo Ishii - Texas - AAA
- Brian Matsuzaka - Charlotte - AA
- Shooter Brewer - New York - AAA
- Darryl Sadler - Tacoma - A+
- First Base
- Liam Steinbach - Fresno - AAA
- Jason Bako - Trenton - AAA
- Dustan Nevin - Durham - AAA
- Bucky Ward - Boston - AAA
- Wayne Pennington - St. Louis - AAA
- Will James - Tacoma - AA
- Charles Tuivailala - Los Angeles - AA
- Clint Melker - Philadelphia - AAA
- Jeremy Gray - Philadelphia - AAA
- Second Base
- Victor Ayala - Charlotte - AAA
- Ivan Gonzalez - Scranton - AAA
- John Wayne - Tucson - AAA
- Shortstop
- Yadier Mendoza - Philadelphia - AAA
- Chan Wang - Vancouver - AA
- Jason Wagner - Tacoma - AA
- Frank Ball - Cincinnati - AA
- Third Base
- Roy Munro - Salt Lake City - A-
- Jeremy Prinz - Cleveland - AAA
- Left Field
- Matt Roberts - Baltimore - AAA
- Andy Barker - Syracuse - AAA
- Randy Uribe - Fargo - AAA
- Center Field
- Tyreace Moore - Syracuse - AAA
- Jeff Gray - Indianapolis - AA
- Brian Fujikawa - Vancouver - AAA
- Michel Camacho - Tacoma - AAA
- Right Field
- Mickey Villegas - Los Angeles - AAA
- Designed Hitter
- Tony Parnell - Baltimore - AAA
And that's just the position players, let's take a look at the pitchers. We had to stop the list somewhere, there are plenty that appear to be ready or close to ready for the majors.
- Starters
- Derrek Cone - Montgomery - AAA
- Vladimir Ordonez - Baltimore - AA
- Bernard Moran - Chicago - AA
- Ned Gaillard - Syracuse - AAA
- Gregory James - New York - AAA
- Dayan Martin - Montgomery - AAA
- Marcus Carpenter - Buffalo - AAA
- Darwin Solis - Scranton - AA
- Stubby Lowry - Trenton - AAA
- Allen Maysonet - Tucson - AAA
- Adam Loup - Scottsdale - AAA
- Bernie Rosado - St. Louis - AAA
- Neal Barker - Scranton - AA
- Douglas Tomlinson - Buffalo - AAA
- Francisco Cordero - Nashville - AAA
- Vinny Jenson - Nashville - A+
- Relievers
- Adam Saltalamacchia - Scranton - AAA
- Rubi Sanabia - Tacoma - AAA
- John Ni - Buffalo - AAA
- Hank Donovan - Colorado Springs - AAA
- Audry Despaigne - Charlotte - AAA
- Jimmie Esposito - Scranton - AAA
- Roger Williams - Indianapolis - AAA
- Steve Hannity - Nashville - AAA
- Matt Rhodes - Helena - AA
- Robin Burns - Trenton - AAA
- Bingo Pryce - Boston - AAA
- Max Aguilera - Los Angeles - AAA
- Ryota Yamada - Scranton - AAA