Minors Melting Pot

With a 12 game losing streak in place, perhaps it’s time for some of the fringe farm followers to flip flop from following the floundering Flubs and follow the farm. Let it begin with a look at notes from around the web pertaining to the team we all love.

The biggest news around the Twitter world was that Anthony Rizzo was pulled yesterday from his start, which set off wild speculation that he was going to be called up. Turns out it was due to a sore wrist. No call up yet. Keep your pants on.

In case you missed it, Junior Lake got a late start on his season due to a back injury suffered this spring. He made the Fan Graphs regular post: Prospect Stock Watch:

If you’re impressed with tools than you’re probably already familiar with Lake. The shortstop injured his back in spring training and missed all of April while rehabbing in extended spring training. He’s been quite impressive since returning. He split 2011 between high-A and double-A ball. Returned to double-A to begin ’12, Lake has already walked 10 times in 63 at-bats. This is particularly important because his over-aggressive nature at the plate has been a detriment to his development over the years. He walked just 13 times in 242 double-A at-bats last year. He probably won’t keep up the 14% walk rate but hopefully he can keep it above the 5% he had at double-A last season and definitely over the 2.8% rate he had in high-A ball. As well, Lake’s strikeout rate is currently under 20%, something he has never done in a full season. If the 22-year-old prospect keeps showing improvements to his approach at the plate, he could definitely be a solid contributor at the MLB level with good gap power, the ability to hit 10-12 home runs and steal 15-20 bases. He also showcases a plus arm on defense but questionable range for the position ~ Fan Graphs

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