the plan and a few notes

I’ve been staring at some stats lately, and though I’ve found that you can’t conjure up any more baseball, you can learn some things. I will post some of the stuff either tonight or tomorrow, including a compilation of stats sorted by position. After that, I will get into the season wrap-up stuff that I’ve been promising.

For now, a few interesting tidbits.

• Santa Clara’s official web site did a cool Q&A with pitcher Steve Kalush, who helped lead Harwich to the Cape League championship. Kalush and his Santa Clara teammate Tommy Medica both played big roles for the Mariners, and in the championship, they beat their teammate Nate Garcia, who played for Cotuit. Interestingly, both Kalush and Garcia won the Alaska League championship last summer with the Mat-Su Miners.

• Jim Callis of Baseball America’s had some high praise for Grant Green in this week’s “Ask BA” column: “Green is clearly the top shortstop for the 2009 draft at this point, and he’s the top overall position prospect as well. He was an easy choice for the No. 1 prospect in the Cape this summer. One scouting director I spoke to said he embodied the best of Troy Tulowitzki and Evan Longoria, and others compared his bat to Longoria’s, high praise indeed. Though he’s 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, Green should be able to stay at shortstop.”

• With so many of this summer’s stars signing pro contracts, we’re getting an earlier-than-usual look at professional returns. The short-season Northwest League has a nice little Cape League flavor, with Dusty Coleman, Mike Bianucci and Cole Figueroa all making their debuts there. Coleman is hitting .243 in 10 games with the Vancouver Canadians (Oakland); Bianucci is hitting .318 with four home runs for the Spokane Indians (Texas); and Figueroa is hitting .284 with four home runs for the Eugene Emeralds (San Diego). Also out west, but in a different league, Cape League batting champ Jimmy Cesario is hitting .271 in 17 games with the Rookie Pioneer League’s Casper Ghosts (Colorado). Other guys who signed this year: Danny Meszaros has made nine appearances for the New York Penn League’s Tri-City ValleyCats (Houston) and has a 3.26 ERA with 33 strikeouts in only 19.1 innings of work. J.J. Hoover made his professional debut last week for the Applachian League’s Danville Braves (Atlanta). He hasn’t allowed a run in two outings. Bryce Stowell has been assigned to the Penn League’s Mahoning Valley Scrappers (Cleveland) but has yet to make an appearance.

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