Big Fish Promotions: Tyler Chatwood, Jeremy Moore, Alexia Amarista and Andrew Romine to AAA Salt Lake. Mike Trout, Garrett Richards, Luis Jimenez and Orangel Arenas to AA Arkansas. Jean Segura to High A Inland Empire. Dan Tillman, Donn Roach, Travis Witherspoon, and Drew Heid to A-Ball Cedar Rapids.
Surprises...
Trevor Reckling returns to Arkansas while twenty-one year old Chatwood battles Salt Lake's thin atmosphere. Chatwood does not yet have a full season of AA under his belt or great peripherals against advanced minor leaguers. Exposing him to AAA this early increases the likelihood of a setback and seems needlessly risky after Reckling's rough 2010.
Amarista experienced success in his limited time at Salt Lake, but was not as impressive in AA, the more challenging hitting environment. Other than the presence of Ryan Mount in AA, what reason is there to rush the 22 year old (happy birthday Alexia)? Certainly there's no shortage of middle infield types at the major league level.
No prep picks from the '10 draft were assigned to Cedar Rapids, including Kaleb Cowart, Cam Bedrosian, Chevez Clarke, Tayler Lindsey, Wendell Soto or Ryan Bolden. That gives the Halos a full cupboard of toolsey, high upside teenagers in extended spring training. It's the right choice to hold them back if they're not ready, and everyone knew those guys would need lots of time to polish their respective games; but not having a single teenager from the 2010 draft class make the jump to full season league is disappointing.
Absences: Fabio Martinez-Mesa, Randal Grichuk, Gabe Jacobo, Tyler Kehrer, Steven Geltz, Amalio Diaz, Dan Reynolds, Efren Navarro, Jeremy Cruz, Jon Bachanov, and John Karcich are nowhere to be found on the organizational rosters. PJ Phillips is also missing, though he remains a wildcard and may not have made the cut. Most of those guys are likely nursing injuries in Arizona.
Take Aways: The organization is rushing Chatwood and Amarista at the higher levels without clear cause, since neither has much of a role on the major league depth chart presently, while playing it safe with last year's prep picks. It's sad to see so many injuries this early, but that's not unusual.