Lou Marson - Catcher - Age 23 - Here is a guy who was for a time regarded as our best positional prospect. He has already spent time with the Phillies big league club. In 2008 he made the Eastern League All-Star game, the Olympic team, played on our MLB roster, and stuck around in the playoffs in case an injury happened. Up until this year, and even in the beginning of this year, a lot of people in the system thought he would be our starting catcher by maybe the all-star break. He is a very athletic catcher who loves to hit for average, and has a accurate arm which helps him throw out base runners. This year has been really a down year for Marson though, and was now our number 2 catching prospect behind Travis D’Arnaud. Marson is batting .294 with 1 HR and 24 RBI's this year in Triple A. He was batting .235 in the 7 games he spent up in Philly this year. He could become your every day catcher, especially now with Garko being traded, moving V-Mart to first and Marson being your catcher could be possible.
Jason Donald SS - Age 24 - Another player who is having a bad year but is a huge name in our farm system. Here is a guy who was regarded as our SECOND best positional prospect behind you got it, Lou Marson. The problem for Donald is that he’s 24 now, turns 25 in September, and needs to get back on track fast. Spent time on the DL this year and is only batting .235 with 1 HR and 17 RBI's. He was also an Eastern League All-Star last year along with making the Olympic team. He is a grinder, who always puts up consistent numbers (til this year) and would make a great SS for any team once he breaks out of his slump.
Carlos Carrasco Pitcher - Age 22 - Last year, this guy was our Kyle Drabek. Carrasco was the star of the Futures game out in San Francisco and even now with his numbers not looking so good, people still think he could be the best pitcher in our farm system. He is 6-9 with 5.18 ERA but strikes out an average of 9 batters per 9 innings and has a 112/38 K:BB ratio. He battled for the 5th spot in our rotation, eventually losing it to Chan Ho Park, but if things went well this year, he was supposed to come up and pitch for us, the way Happ is now. His fastball is anywhere between 89-93 MPH and has outstanding late life. He complements the fastball with the best changeup in the system, and he commands it to both sides of the plate with good depth and fade. His curveball continued to make strides in 2007, ranging from a soft 71-72 mph breaker to a harder 76-78 mph offering that more resembles a slider. His body allows him to unleash all his pitches from a steep downhill plane, and when he’s on, he pounds the strike zone. The bad thing about him is when he gets in trouble he rushes his delivery and gets smoked. If the Indians can help him fix that, then he will be in their MLB rotation by next year.
Jason Knapp Pitcher - Age 18 - Knapp lit the world on fire in his first few starts, and even though hes hit some bumps in the road, he’s still showing one of the biggest arms in A ball, despite being only 18. Hes still a little rough around the edges, but he’s proven to be worth the investment. Like the MSN article said, he looks like a clone of Doc Halladay. Standing in at 6'5", he has a big frame and is known for striking guys out because of his mid 90's fastball. Knapp could potentially become a number two starter in the future and has a lot of time to grow.
Here are the mechanics of Carrasco and Knapp.
Carrasco:
Knapp:
