The Detriot Dirt Dogs are a franchise that should be on the rise. The owner "The _kid" is an owner who makes sure all levels are taken care of. This being said, it was hard to only get about 10 players to talk about.
1.Tommy Jordan....... Tommy "don't call me Michael" Jordan is a stud in the making. He has very very good splits, great batting eye, great base runner, and he can bunt too. He should be a player that reminds everyone of a right handed Todd Helton. He will hit for average, drive in alot of runs, hit alot of doubles, and have a great OBP. Right now he is hitting .370 with 18 doubles, 4 triples, 8 homers, 44 RBI'S, and has a mere .459 OBP. His total OPS is only 1.079. I think alot of ML players would kill to have that. What is scary, is he is only going to get better at each level.
2. Pedro Feliz....... Feliz is a scrappy ball player. He will not hit alot of extra base hits, will not hit alot of homers, or steal alot of bases. What he will do is get on base and be a very good table setter in the minor leagues. He is hitting .447 so far in Low A. He has an OBP of .504 and a total OPS of 1.171. That is not too shabby considering his ratings.
3.Boomer Scalici ...... Boomer will be a Rafael Furcal type player. He will steal 60-70 bases a season, have about 30-40 doubles, 15 triples, and maybe 6-10 homers. He is hitting .328 so far in Low A, and supports a .391 OBP. He lack of slugging % keeps his OPS around .800. He should be a nice leadoff hitter, and cause some problems for pitchers on the base path.
4.Todd Yashian ...... Todd is a hitter who could make it to the big leagues as a bench, or part time player. He has good contact, low power, medium batting eye, and not so go splits. He is hitting .357 with a very good OBP of .446 so far in High A. His total OPS is .867 due to his lack of power.
5. Phil Lawrence...... Phil is a player player who should hit 30-40 homers if he is able to play in the ML. He will be a nice doubles hitter, and should be a DH. He is hitting .376 with 20 doubles and 15 homers in only 46 games. He also has 61 RBI'S and an OBP of ..446. He has walked 21 times and only fanned 26 in just under 200 at bats. His total OPS of 1.168 is not too shabby either.
6.Thumper Carpenter....... Thumper should be a very good closer in the ML. He has 2 very good pitches, and averages over a strikeout per inning. He has very good control, very good splits, and he should save 35-40 games a year. He is 11 for 12 in chances so far in AAA. In 20 innings, he has given up 19 hits, walked 7 , struck out 31. He has yet to surrender a homer.
7.Luis Gutierrez...... Luis should be a Jamie Moyer type pitcher, but about 20 years younger. His strikeout to walk ration will be about 2:1. He should win 10-15 games a year, and support an ERA of about 4-4.5. In AAA he is 5-1 and has a 2.98 ERA. In 56 innings, he has given up 48 hits, 23 walks, 39 strikeouts, and surrendered 5 homers.
8.William Shin....... Shin is looking to be a lights out closer in the near future. Right now he has a 15:1 strikout to walk ratio. Shin is in High A right now, and is 12 for 12 in save chances. In 28 innings he has given up 22 hits, 2 homers, 2 walks and 30 strikeouts. H e reminds me of a Billy Wagner(before his injuries). He should be in the ML in 2-3 seasons.
9. Cord Howard...... Cord, will problably be using a cord before his career is through. He has good numbers in Low A now, but his age 24, and his ratings, will problably never let him see the big time. He will be good in the minors, but by age 27 or 28 he will retire if he is not given the chance. He is 4-2 with a 2.08 ERA this season. In 53 innings, he has given up 48 hits, 5 homers, 9 walks and has 46 strikeouts.
10. Howie Howe..........If not for anything, just his name. He has 2 mediocre pitches, good control not so good spilts, but he has managed to pitch extremely well in Low A. He has pitched 32 innings so far this season. He has given up 31 hits, 1 long ball, 5 walks, while striking out 26. I guess this is "HOWIE" do it.