Daytona Cubs

I really don't get too excited about the Daytona roster.  Donald Veal clearly has talent and is doing well since being promoted from Daytona.  And he's still young.

Other than Veal, maybe Mark Holliman can advance.  Grant Johnson seems to be pitching better lately-- mostly from the bullpen.  But Johnson is 23.

And I don't think there are any position players at Daytona who will make it to The Bigs.  Looking at their numbers and ages, I assume many of them will stall out at AA or lower.

has had very good numbers at Stanford and with the Cubs. Unfortunately for him, he is blocked from advancing by both Pie at Iowa and Walker in West Tenn. Something will have to happen because he is clearly worth advancing and has the best stats of all the CF prospects. I wouldn't be surprised to see either Walker or him part of a 7/31 trade. Personally I hope we keep him.

I for one haven't given up on Harvey, maybe it is just the optimist in me.  He's been hitting the cover off the ball lately, so I'm going to remain hopeful.

Another guy that has impressed scouts is shortstop, Jonathan Mota, who hasn't hit for a whole lot of power yet, but his glove is reportedly very impressive.

I'm not a minor league expert, but I have seen both these guys play and will share what I do know.

Both are relatively speedy little-pop CF types who are a old for their leagues.  Both have shown the ability to hit for average.  Walker switch-hits, has been named the fastest player in the Cubs org and going into yesterday's action was tied with Eric Patterson for the SL lead in stolen bases.  He has said his work with Vince Coleman last year improved his running game. K rate has been a concern in past years.  He has lowered it a bit so far this season.  Great attitude and work ethic.   After a rough start in rookie A, he has shown improvement at each level.  I'd guess the Cubs like the speed and the switch-hitting ability.

Fuld bats lefty, is obviously a more advanced (and older) hitter than the pro leagues he's played in so far, and his biggest attribute is a remarkable command of the strike zone.  He is a high contact hitter who rarely Ks and manages to draw BBs in ~10% of his plate appearances.   He also plays a fine defensive CF which I've seen (small sample size) and heard raved about on radio broadcasts.  He doesn't have the raw speed of a Walker (or a Pie), but is demonstrating better SB abilities this season (last season he went 18SB - 11CS in Peoria, but those numbers are sometimes deceiving in low-A ball given that the running game is used much more often at that level for instructional purposes and because the few sluggers in the league tend to get promoted quickly unless plate discipline is a huge concern).  I'd guess the Cubs like the plate discipline, but who knows how much they value it.

I think of Fuld as an Adam Greenberg type with a better walk rate so far.  

Chris Walker could be a useful backup OFer/PR type (and I'd rather have a legit OF like that on the roster instead of 2-3 "versatile" Macias-type IFers who end up getting stuck in CF or -- shudder -- RF).   Fuld I think has some future value in as a 4th OFer decent-OBP defensive type (or even a CFer on a team with big boppers elsewhere, dare I dream), but I don't see this organization trying much to develop his sort of talent in the minors or keeping it on the bench if there's a switch-hitting low-obp 2Bman available anywhere.

I'd trade either.  Do note that while both of these two have much lower ceilings than a Felix Pie type, they also likely have a higher chance of hitting that ceiling.  I enjoy seeing Pie play, but expecting him to be manning CF (much less a corner OF slot) full-time next year is way too optimistic for me.