Monday, January 16, 2012
Pretty Girl 01.16.12 - Moon Bloodgood
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Pretty Girl 01.15.12 - Tania Raymonde
Friday, January 13, 2012
Pretty Girl 01.13.12 - Paz Vega
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Pretty Girl 01.12.12 - Dawn Olivieri
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Pretty Girl 01.11.12 - Julie Gonzalo
Tribe Prospect Countdown: #14 OF Thomas Neal
Bats: Right; Throws: Right
2011 Stats (AAA Fresno/ AAA Columbus): .289, 2 HR, 26 RBI, .734 OPS, 4.07 K/BB
Acquired from the Giants last summer in exchange for Orlando Cabrera, Neal struggled through an injury plagued season both before and after the trade. While he placed in the Baseball America Top 100 prior to the 2010, Thomas has yet to duplicate his phenomenal 2009 production (.337, 22 HR, 90 RBI, 1.010 OPS). Still, his AA season (.799 OPS, 11 SB) was successful, before a recurring shoulder problem and a heal issue ruined his 2011. Neal is right-handed (Yay!) line drive hitter who rakes against lefties and was still respected enough to place #7 on San Francisco's prospect list last year. While the power boon of '09 is likely an abberation, Thomas has all of the intangibles to be a third or fourth outfielder at the big league level. In fact, every single opinion that I have read has said exactly as much. The only troubling number is his massive K/BB value, but last year's ratio is double the average of his other seasons combined (2.02) and his career .371 OBP goes a long way in mitigating it anyway. Assuming that he can keep his shoulder healthy, he has an above average arm and plays all three outfield effectively. Although I honestly do not expect Neal to compete for a spot out of Spring Training, I do see him rebounding well with Columbus and joining the Indians before summer's end. He will help the Tribe and help them soon, that's why they kept him on the 40-man roster and that is why he is ranked so high on this list.
Up Next: #13 C Chun Chen
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Pretty Girl Update! - Lizzie Banks
Monday, January 9, 2012
Tribe Prospect Countdown: #15 1B Beau Mills
Bats: Left, Throws: Right
2011 Stats (AA Akron/ AAA Columbus): .289, 18 HR, 67 RBI, .860 OPS, 1.84 K/BB
What? Who? I thought that we had declared this guy a bust long ago. So, how did the 2007 1st rounder put himself back on the map? Mills got healthy, screwed his head on straight and, most importantly, the kid hit. Beau remains a line drive hitter with power to all fields and a serviceable defender. That sounds awesome, but wasn't that also true during the two full seasons (one middling, one truly dissapointing) that the kid spent at AA? Well, Mills had a wicked 2008 at Kinston (.293, 21, 90, .880) before pushing through an adjustment year at Akron (.267, 14, 83, .724) in 2009. 2010 was riddled with injury and incident as Beau fought a nagging intercostal strain all year and dealt with an assualt charge (Bar brawl, Josh Tomlin was charged as well, everything was eventually dropped) leading to just an awful season (.241, 10, 72, .689). 2011 began inauspiciously as well, with Mills in extended Spring Training rehabbing an Achilles strain. Then, Beau got into game action and simply tore the cover off of the ball. His .880 OPS at Akron matched his career high and the .822 he posted after his promotion to AAA was nearly a hundred points higher than his first AA campaign. It seems as if he has figured it out. The strange thing is Mills projects offensively much like Jason Kipnis. There will be bursts of power, but the bacon will be made on fighting off tough pitches and consistently driving the ball to the gaps. If you are looking for a single statistic to define this son of an MLB skipper (see Brad Mills), that is RBI. Even when he was struggling, Beau found a way to bring the runs home. He is, sadly, a left handed batter, but if Mills can produce again in Columbus, he will be on speed dial when Matt LaPorta hits .220 and/or Travis Hafner sprains his eyebrow.
Up Next: #14 OF Thomas Neal
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