Baseball Instinct – Do You Have It?

Los Angeles Angels OF Prospect Mike Trout was 2 for 4 with a double and stolen base as the USA crushed the World 9-1 in Anaheim in the futures game.  No one saw Trout's 2010 coming. Not in this way. Not this fast or this level. He's continued to hit at a high rate currently sitting at .361 and he's not hitting everything in sight. He's walked almost as much as he's struck out. While on base this season he's managed 44 SB. He's been a man amongst boys. But he's only 18. He won't even turn 19 until August 7th.

The Futures game will be played today July 11, 2010 at 6pm EST and can be seen on MLB.tv and ESPN2 (HD). Who are the names to watch on the 2010  Futures Game rosters? Who will make a big late season splash this year? Who will be the up and coming 2011 Rookie of the Year candidates? Let's take a look...

1B Justin Smoak and Minor Leaguer's SP Blake Beavan, SP Josh Lueke and SP Matt Lawson were acquired from the Texas Rangers for SP Cliff Lee and RP Mark Lowe on Friday. Our Instinct: Lueke is going to be an excellent reliever in short order. He's a strikeout machine and has anasty high 90s fastball. He's actually the prize prospect of this deal. The one with the biggest upside. But he's a RP. Not the ready soon starter the Mariners need. But I like him as a piece to the deal.

1B Justin Smoak and Minor Leaguer's SP Blake Beavan, SP Josh Lueke and SP Matt Lawson were acquired from the Texas Rangers for SP Cliff Lee and RP Mark Lowe on Friday. Our Instinct: Beavan is the prize prospect in the Cliff Lee deal, but Beavan is far from a prized prospect. His numbers in Triple A look enticing at 10-5 with a sub 3.oo ERA, but he doesn't strike out many batters and it's questionable if he'll be able to make it through major league batting orders more than once.  We're looking at rotation filler at best in Beavan and the Mariners left many young Rangers arms unclaimed in the Lee Sweepstakes.

Baseball Instinct is going to go from league to league over the next few weeks and highlight the players who are lighting up the field so far. I’m not going to be doing a Top 10 or a Top 21 for each league. I’m breaking down the statistics and performances for 2010 so far. We’ll be pulling out names that most have never heard of right along with the top names that everyone knows. If you want to get into the know on the ground floor, this is the only way to do it. I’ll be shelling out pitchers and hitters from every league and giving you my opinion on some of the top names and some who probably should be top names.

Now that the 2010 MLB amateur draft is over, it's time for the International player signing period.  Teams now have another chance of snagging their next future star.  Hanley Ramirez, Miguel Cabrera, Ubaldo Jimenez, and Carlos Gonzalez are some of the stars to come out of the International player signing period.

Baseball Instinct is going to go from league to league over the next few weeks and highlight the players who are lighting up the field so far. I'm not going to be doing a Top 10 or a Top 21 for each league. I'm breaking down the statistics and performances for 2010 so far. We'll be pulling out names that most have never heard of right along with the top names that everyone knows. If you want to get into the know on the ground floor, this is the only way to do it.

In a Google search, if you spell his name Geovany instead of Giovanni, you will get mostly updates on a promising Chicago Cubs major league catcher. The correct spelling gets you a peek into the budding career of the surprising Giovanni Soto who was just recently chosen (along with top pick Jacob Turner) for the Midwest League All-Star game. Let it be known that BI reported on him first on April 15 as someone to watch.