We have Opening Day rosters for most of the minor leaguers, at last. Oddly, the low-A Augusta Greenjackets as of noon today are the only affiliate to have the roster posted anywhere correctly. Prospect geeks, behold: Villalona, Culberson, Noonan, and Bumgarner. I assume that means Alderson will start in San Jose. (The Little Giants roster is not up yet.)
[[UPDATE: Yes it is. Right here, pal. And yes, Tim Alderson is on it. Other interesting names: Ryan Rohlinger, who impressed the big-league brass this spring; LHP Clayton Tanner, a Concord kid considered a sleeper prospect by some; first baseman Andy D'Alessio, a mid-round draftee from Clemson U. who raked against younger competition last year.]]
As for the higher minors, I’ll list the entire Fresno roster, as emailed by their PR staff, for the heck of it:
The pitchers, by alphabetical order: Espineli, Foppert, Fortunato, Gryboski, Hinshaw, Mateo, Messenger, Misch, Palmer, Sadler, Santos.
The catchers: Alfonzo and Jennings.
The infielders: Burriss, Cordido, Harper, Leone, McClain, Ochoa, Wald.
The outfielders: Bowker, Horwitz, Schierholtz, Timpner.
Comments: We all hope Schierholtz gets significant time in S.F. this year, and another strong year from Bowker — he hit 22 homers last year in AA out of the blue — could make him an intriguing name for 2009.
It’s a bit odd that Manny Burriss will jump directly from A-ball to AAA even though last year he struggled at high-A and had to go back to Augusta. My take on this is the Giants are desperate to get infielders up the pipeline quickly because the current big-league alignment is untenable.
Jesse Foppert sighting! It would be great to see him back in S.F. Hard-throwing young Giant starter, early big-league experience, derailed by serious injury, long road to recovery….you can’t help but think “Joe Nathan.” No pressure, Jesse.
I won’t list everyone in Connecticut. Instead, a few names to watch: Travis Denker, who lit up A-ball last year after coming over in the Mark Sweeney trade. Travis Ishikawa, on his last legs as a prospect. Eddy Martinez-Esteve, once a heralded hitter but nearly forgotten. Adam Cowart, a funky sidearmer who threw well in low-A ball last year. It should be a good bullpen with Kelvin Pichardo, Osiris Matos and Sergio Romo.
