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July 2, 2007

Future Shock

Monday Morning Ten Pack

by Kevin Goldstein

Clay Buchholz, RHP, Double-A Portland (Red Sox)

On Saturday night, Buchholz struck out just four batters, his third-lowest total on the season. But that also didn’t matter, as he also tossed five hitless innings to lower his ERA on the season to 1.69. Pulled after just 65 pitches in order to give him some rest and allow him to be ready for an inning in the upcoming Futures Game, Buchholz has been one of the most dominant pitchers in the minors, and is arguably the top right-hander in prospect land now that many of the players ranked above him have been called up to the big leagues. With three (and maybe four) plus pitches, he has future ace potential. Pitching in front of general manager Theo Epstein, who was in the stands on Saturday, doesn’t hurt his chances of getting a look later this year.

Ronny Cedeno, SS, Triple-A Iowa (Cubs)

The Cubs have made a run in the last couple of weeks, taking two of three from Milwaukee over the weekend to move to .500 and second place in the NL Central; they're also just five games out of the wild card. There’s still a pretty big hole on the team however, and that’s at shortstop, where Cesar Izturis has an anemic bat (.250/.301/.311), while Ryan Theriot (.266/.323/.346) hasn’t been much better. Enter Ronny Cedeno. Dispatched to the minors after beginning the year by going 3-for-31, no kind of chaser for an awful 2006 in the starter’s role last year (including a .211 Equivalent Average), but his scouting reports were better than that, and he’s putting everything together since going back to the minors. Currently batting .387/.466/.638 in 45 games as an I-Cub, Cedeno is showing unprecedented power, including five home runs in his last five games. After compiling a miserable strikeout-to-unintentional walk ratio of 109-13 for the Cubs last year, he has more walks (23), than strikeouts (21) in 163 at-bats for Iowa. If the Cubs think they’re in it, and it seems like they do (and are), there’s a free in-house upgrade awaiting them in the Hawkeye State.