Chris Carter scouting report

Baseball-Intellect’s Chris Eisenberg lists Oakland’s top prospects and a certain ex-Sox prospect is atop the list:

The biggest change from Carter’s 2008 season to his 2009 season is his batting average. Taking strikeouts and homeruns out of the equation, Carter’s BABIP went from .296 to .406. That .406 number is obviously unsustainable and there was plenty of luck involved in achieving that number. However, the improvement in BABIP is certainly real to a certain extent as all we have to do is look at his line drive percentage, which went from 7.6% all the way up to 24%. Almost all of those line drives came from the fly ball department. …

Don’t question Tyler Flowers’ catching skills

Merkin:

… The book on Flowers centers on a strong performer with the bat, who cannot come close to matching those skills with the glove. That characterization bothers Flowers, who understands how offense can be his top attribute, but has “made defense a priority.”

His 2009 work with a pitching staff featuring various styles for the 92-47 Barons proved his dedication to defense started to pay dividends.

“To be honest, I’ve heard everything you can call out a catcher on defensively,” Flowers said. “And yeah, it does bother me.”

“But over the course of time, I really saw a guy who improved,” said White Sox Minor League pitching coordinator Kirk Champion of Flowers’ development. “Flowers was very instrumental in keeping things on an even keel with that Birmingham pitching staff. He grew a lot last summer.”

Flowers would like to:

“When I look at the whole offseason, I’m preparing myself to be the starting catcher for the White Sox,” said Flowers, during a phone interview from his home in Atlanta. “When the White Sox tell me I’m not starting, then I’ll prepare to be the backup. And if I’m not the backup, then I’ll prepare myself to be back in Charlotte.”

January 5 links

- Jim: A lot of mediocrity or not?

- SoxNet reviews the Sox off-season so far and tries to project the Sox opening day lineup. Please sign Big Jim Kenny!

- Jake Peavy, Matt Thornton and J. J. Putz will attend Cooper’s pitcher mini-camp. There won’t be any pitching. Just playing catch and and talking about pitching.

- John Danks isn’t sweating over the arbitration process.

- What was the only occasion after 1954 that a team used 4 pitchers who appeared in a game for 1 batter or less, the pitchers pitched consecutively, and those pitchers didn’t end the game?

- Alexei Ramirez: Not a lot of XBHs in 2009.

- How long did they go? 2009 edition.

- Pitcher wanted. Must be good.

- Baseball America’s All-Bust teams.