September Call Ups – AL West
With the summer ending and the calender flipping to September, it’s time for some of the leagues prospects to get a shot at the majors as rosters expand before the playoffs. So we’re going to finish up our look around the league with the AL West.
Los Angeles Angels - SP Garrett Richards was called up on August 10th only to be placed on the DL after his 2nd big league start with a right abductor strain. He was recently activated and after a short rehab stint, he’s back in the majors, but he’s been sent to the bullpen, with the recent success of SP Jerome Williams.
SP Tyler Chatwood is also back with the Angels. He’s having a serious up and down season, posting a 4.63 ERA and a 1.63 WHIP, while going 6-10 with the Angels this season. It seems unlikely that he will factor into the Angels plans for the rest of the season. Like Richards, Chatwood should be in the pen.
31 year old career minor leaguer, SS Gil Velazquez will get another shot in the big leagues. He was last with the Red Sox in 2009 and should provide a little depth for the Angels in the middle infield.
OF Jeremy Moore, is making his major league debut this September after posting a .298-15-66-76-21 line at AAA Salt Lake City. He also had 24 doubles and an impressive 18 triples. Moore doesn’t provide more than depth for the Angels for the rest of the season, but could be a sleeper candidate in 2012 if he can establish some plate discipline.
Texas Rangers - As they did last year, the Rangers called up 33 year old 3B Esteban German for their potential post season roster. German was hitting .301 with 44 stolen bases for AAA Round Rock. He makes an excellent pinch runner – and that’s it. They won’t be counting on him to do much of anything else.
RP Michael Kirkman was recently recalled after being sent down to AAA on July 1st. There’s no way to sugar coat it; he’s been horrible with Texas and Round Rock. I can’t imagine him being on the post season roster.
OF Leonys Martin has 5 at bats without a hit yet. The 23 year old Cuban defector has a blend of speed and power that could be a very nice piece to the Rangers quest for a title this season. If Martin performs well it could spell the end of the Julio Borbon in Texas come 2012.
The last piece of the Mark Teixeira deal with the Braves could reach the majors this September; RP Beau Jones. Jones has a 3.62 er and a 1.37 whip in 39 games at AAA Round Rock.
Seattle Mariners – It’s been one big September call up for the Seattle Mariners all season long. One of the Mariners top prospects, 3B Alex Liddi was called up on September 7th, going just 1 for 8 since then after hitting .258-30-101-124-5 with AAA Tacoma. He’s sharing 3B duties with Chone Figgins and Kyle Seager.
RP Steve Delabar, made his major league debut on Sunday at age 28, throwing a perfect inning and striking out 2.
OF Michael Saunders, is back in Seattle after finding his swing again in Tacoma. The question is will the 24 year old be able to hit major league pitching? He’s got 47 K in 142 big league AB’s in 2011.
Oakland Athletics – RP Andrew Carignan, made his major league debut on September 2nd and has a 5.79 ERA through his 1st 4.2 major league innings after going 1-0 with 8 saves and a 46 to 12 k to bb ratio over 39 innings across 3 minor league levels.
OF Michael Taylor was called up on September 2nd and is currently 3 for 14 after going .274-16-64-51-14 in 349 AB’s at AAA Sacramento. Taylor hasn’t yet become the 5 tool player the A’s had hoped they were trading for, but he still has time.
Don’t expect a lot of playing time for the 26 year old OF Jai Miller, but after going .276-32-88-81-15 at AAA Sacramento, he deserves the late season call-up.
That’s the final installment of our September Call Up Series. We’ll continue to keep an eye on key call ups and will be bringing them to you with our Prospect Instinct look.
Check back soon as we profile many more Top MLB Prospects and also get our baseball geek on and take a look at some of the later draft picks from the 2011 draft that we think could be big names on the prospect radars in the near future. Anyone can tell you that Mike Trout is going to be a stud now, but who told you that when he was drafted? So take a look at our Touch’em All | GCL Pitchers and be a step ahead of the game. Thanks for checking Baseball Instinct. We’re working hard to bring you the best of the minor leagues and make the site the best experience it can be. So don’t hesitate to tell us what you would like to read about. Email us now at Tom@baseballinstinct.com.
