Brent Morel named best defensive 3B in International League (AAA)

FutureSox tweets “Brent Morel named best defensive 3B in International League by manager/scout poll over at Baseball America”

John Sickel’s 2010 Chicago White Sox Pre-Season Top 20 Prospects in Review

John Sickels reviews his last White Sox prospects list (original list from December 9, 2009):

1) Dan Hudson, RHP, Grade B+:  3.47 ERA, 108/31 K/BB in 93 innings in Triple-A, 81 hits. 2-1, 4.56 with 18/12 K/BB in 24 innings so far in the majors. The White Sox will regret trading him.

2) Jared Mitchell, OF, Grade B: Missed entire season with nasty ankle injury. Rehab reportedly going well.

3) Tyler Flowers, C, Grade B:  .220/.326/.447, 16 homers, 106 strikeouts in 83 games for Triple-A Charlotte. Has drawn some walks but strikeouts are eating him up. Stock dropping.

4) Brent Morel, 3B, Grade B-:  .313/.354/.439 combined between Double-A and Triple-A. Doesn’t hit for much home run power and his walk rate is low this year, but has good contact hitting skills and a strong glove. …

Hit the link for the entire list.

Washington wants Dan Hudson and a top prospect for Adam Dunn

Levine:

Washington Nationals first baseman Adam Dunn could be dealt to the White Sox if Chicago is willing to sweeten the pot and add a second substantial minor league player in return.

Any deal for Dunn would have to include Daniel Hudson, the White Sox’s top pitching prospect. The Nationals also want one of three White Sox prospects: catcher Tyler Flowers, outfielder Jordan Danks or injured infielder Brent Morel, according to a major league source.

The White Sox turned down a Washington request for a Dunn-for-Gordon Beckham deal straight up, according to the source. …

Seattle wants Brent Morel for Russell Branyan; White Sox scouting Brad Hawpe

Gonzales:

Bill Scherrer, one of the Sox’s top evaluators, was in Florida last week for the Marlins’ series with Colorado, which has left-handed hitter Brad Hawpe.

The Sox had a limited chance Monday to watch Seattle’s Russell Branyan, who has been sidelined with back stiffness. But the Mariners made an indirect inquiry about Sox third base prospect Brent Morel.

The two top targets appear to be Washington’s Adam Dunn and Milwaukee’s Prince Fielder. A Nationals scout watched the Sox’s Triple-A Charlotte affiliate last week, and a Brewers scout observed the Sox in Seattle and in Oakland on Friday. …

FutureSox’ Midseason Top 25 Prospects

Cassidy:

Rank	Player	Points	Previous	Change
1	Dan Hudson	179	1	unch
2	Dayan Viciedo	172	4	+2
3	Chris Sale	168	n/a	NEW
4	Tyler Flowers	161	2	-2
5	Jared Mitchell	156	5	unch

…

I’d rank them in this order: Hudson, Sale, Flowers, Mitchell, Viciedo.

SoxMachine’s midseason prospect progress report

Jim @ SM:

Jose Martinez

.333/.392/.486 in 72 ABs; 2 2B, 3 HR, 7 BB, 10 K.

It feels like he’s pushing 30, but Martinez will turn only 22 later this month.  He’s been out of baseball for two full years, but the Sox aren’t shying away from testing him.  He played just 39 games at Kannapolis before his knee injury, but he’s succeeding in Winston-Salem.

That could be a factor of the apparently friendly hitting environment at BB&T Ballpark, but if Martinez can finish the year healthy and hitting like this, the Sox have a genuine outfield prospect in the fold.

Martinez’ stats @ FI.

More prospects reports at the link.

Chris Sale, Tyler Flowers and Brent Morel put on their acting faces [UPDATE]

SPMag:

Next week the production of the MLB Network reality series The Club will take place at Knights Stadium.  Camera crews will be in town for the Charlotte Knights home stand as they follow the career of several Knights players including 2010 first round pick pitcher Chris Sale, catcher Tyler Flowers and infielder Brent Morel.  White Sox Assistant General Manager Rick Hahn is expected to be at Knights Stadium next week as well.

… Award-winning actor, Chicago native and die-hard Chicago White Sox fan Michael Clarke Duncan will provide narration for The Clubhitting coach Greg Walker.

UPDATE: Here’s the latest trailer:

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=9917167&topic_id=9991168&c_id=cws (2:06)

And two older trailers:

Video: http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=9263879&topic_id=7417714&c_id=cws (1:18)

Video: http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=7739931&topic_id=7417714&c_id=cws (5:57)

Brent Morel scouting report

http://soxmachine.com/soxmachine/2010/06/24/first-impressions-brent-morel/

White Sox promote 3B Brent Morel to AAA-Charlotte

Gonzales:

Morel was promoted Tuesday to Triple-A Charlotte, a source told the Tribune. Morel, a third-round pick in the 2008 draft, batted .324 with 12 doubles and 30 RBIs for Double-A Birmingham.

Second baseman C.J. Retherford was demoted to the Barons after batting .201 in 44 games with Charlotte.

John Sickels on Brent Morel

Sickels:

White Sox third base prospect Brett Morel is having a good transition to Double-A, hitting .308/.350/.444 in 34 games, including .351/.385/.514 in his last ten contests. Plate discipline is an issue: he’s drawn just eight walks against 24 strikeouts in 133 at-bats. The strikeouts aren’t bad but I would like to see a few more walks, granted his overall production has been just fine. He’s a solid defensive third baseman, and if his offensive development continues at the current pace he should be ready for a major league trial next year, although I’d like him to get some Triple-A time in first. If I were running things, he would remain in Double-A until August, then move up to Triple-A at that point assuming his numbers remain where they are now.

SoxMachine’s Minor-league review [UPDATE]

Here’s the section on Tyler Flowers:

Flowers is clearly in time-biding mode.  If Andruw Jones is ever pressed into full-time outfield duty, whether it’s due to Juan Pierre’s ineptitude or Carlos Quentin’s poor health, Flowers should be the first option to serve as the majority DH and occasional catcher.

Allow me to reiterate that Flowers seems like he’ll be a slow starter at the major-league level due to his K-rate.  For whatever reason — probably because A.J. Pierzynski is a great clubhouse source — there are a lot of people waiting, perhaps even hoping, for Flowers to fail.  But he’s the only hope the Sox have of getting an above-average hitter for the league minimum, so that kind of pressure seems to be counterproductive.

Much more at the link.

UPDATE: Here’s Part II.

FutureSox Minor-League podcast

Mazzuca:

This month, Anthony Mazzuca talks to Alex Vispoli, Winston-Salem Dash Director of Media Relations and Broadcaster, and Josh Ellis, who holds the same positions with the Kannapolis Intimidators. Dan Santaromita also gives a run down of the recent happenings with the Knights and Barons, as the FutureSox.com Podcast has the White Sox minor league system covered.

Scouting the Birmingham Barons (Brent Morel and a lot more)

FutureSox has the scouting reports and videos.

Here’s a video clip (1:49) of Brent Morel:

FutureSox’ Top 25 White Sox prospects

FutureSox:

Rank	Player	Points	Previous	Change
1	Dan Hudson	208	2	1
2	Tyler Flowers	203	1	-1
3	Jordan Danks	194	4	1
4	Dayan Viciedo	186	3	-1
5	Jared Mitchell	184	6	1
6	Brent Morel	178	7	1

…

Baseball America on Dan Hudson and others

Badler:

Prospect Star Of Camp: Dan Hudson is what he is, solid but not spectacular. The 23-year-old righthander came into camp showing exactly what he showed in breezing through four levels of the minor leagues en route to Chicago in 2009, flashing a low-90s fastball, a solid-average changeup and an inconsistent slider with average tilt at times and more sweeping action at others. All of Hudson’s stuff plays up because of his advanced feel for pitching, and it shouldn’t be too long before he returns to Chicago after opening the year with Triple-A Charlotte.

He also touches on Sergio Santos, and Dayan Viciedo.