{"id":3360,"date":"2011-03-28T08:30:07","date_gmt":"2011-03-28T13:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/?p=3360"},"modified":"2011-03-28T08:32:43","modified_gmt":"2011-03-28T13:32:43","slug":"prospect-buzz-part-ii-zach-britton-brandon-belt-michael-pineda-and-jerry-sands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/archives\/3360","title":{"rendered":"Prospect Buzz Part II: Zach Britton, Brandon Belt, Michael Pineda, and Jerry Sands"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/britt.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3361\" title=\"britt\" src=\"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/britt.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"342\" height=\"191\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- @font-face {   font-family: \"Times New Roman\"; }@font-face {   font-family: \"\u30d2\u30e9\u30ae\u30ce\u89d2\u30b4 Pro W3\"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: \"Times New Roman\"; }a:link, span.MsoHyperlink { color: blue; text-decoration: underline; }a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { color: purple; text-decoration: underline; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: \"Times New Roman\"; }p.Body1, li.Body1, div.Body1 { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Helvetica; color: black; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } --><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>After surviving another round of the cuts this past week, Baltimore Orioles&#8217; left-hander <strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/minors\/player.cgi?utm_source=direct&#038;utm_medium=linker&#038;utm_campaign=Linker&#038;id=britto001zac\">Zach Britton<\/a><\/strong> will likely get one more Spring Training start before he is either sent to Triple-A or chosen as the O&#8217;s fifth starter.\u00a0 The 22-year-old, <a href=\"..\/archives\/2870\">our No. 25 prospect<\/a>, has been ridiculous this spring, giving up only one earned run in 14 innings of work while walking four and fanning nine.\u00a0 But just like with any high-profile prospect, the organization has a decision to make: have him begin the 2011 season in Triple-A and control his contract for an extra year, or immediately put him to work.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/birdswatcher.com\/2011\/03\/25\/zach-britton-decision-looming\/\">For everyone over at Birds Watcher it&#8217;s a no-brainer<\/a>: keep this promising left-hander in the organization as long as possible.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The Giants&#8217; <strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/minors\/player.cgi?utm_source=direct&#038;utm_medium=linker&#038;utm_campaign=Linker&#038;id=belt--001bra\">Brandon  Belt<\/a><\/strong> is in the same boat as Britton \u2013 he is yet to be assigned to Triple-A and is being considered (perhaps even favored) for an Opening Day roster spot.\u00a0 Compared to other prospects, Belt has received an inordinate amount of playing time this spring \u2013 kind of like a big league crash course \u2013 and has played well enough (.292 BA, 5 doubles, 3 home runs, and 13 RBI) to keep himself in mix.\u00a0 Our friends at <a href=\"http:\/\/splashingpumpkins.com\/\">Splashing Pumpkins<\/a> weigh in on the situation in a piece called, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.splashingpumpkins.com\/2011\/03\/brandon-belt-conundrum.html?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SplashingPumpkins+%28Splashing+Pumpkins%29\">&#8216;The Brandon Belt Conundrum,&#8217;<\/a> and establish a set of criteria that, if met, would justify the first baseman&#8217;s spot on the Opening Day roster.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Of the all the top-rated prospects still in the hunt for a final roster spot, it is the Mariners&#8217; <strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/minors\/player.cgi?utm_source=direct&#038;utm_medium=linker&#038;utm_campaign=Linker&#038;id=pineda001mic\">Michael  Pineda<\/a><\/strong> that now seems to be a lock, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lookoutlanding.com\/2011\/3\/26\/2074434\/michael-pineda-seattle-mariners-roster\">according to Jeff Sullivan of Lookout Landing<\/a>.\u00a0 The 22-year-old right-hander \u2013 <a href=\"..\/archives\/2969\">our No. 17 prospect<\/a> \u2013 has been impressive in his four starts this spring (17 IP, 14 hits, 4 ER, 15 strikeouts, 6 walks), and was tremendous in his most recent outing when he two-hit the Brewers over six innings. In addition to recording seven strikeouts, the 6-foot-5 Pineda threw only 40 pitches in those six innings \u2013 yes, that&#8217;s right, 40!\u00a0 Even though the Mariners will surely impose an innings limit for his rookie campaign, Pineda seems poised for success as the team&#8217;s fifth starter (presumably), and having last year&#8217;s Cy Young winner behind him in the rotation can&#8217;t hurt&#8230;right?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Even though he didn&#8217;t appear in our <a href=\"..\/the-golden-sombreros-top-50-prospects\">Top 50<\/a>\u2013 we snubbed him; that\u2019s on us \u2013 the Dodgers&#8217; <strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/minors\/player.cgi?utm_source=direct&#038;utm_medium=linker&#038;utm_campaign=Linker&#038;id=sands-002ger\">Jerry  Sands<\/a><\/strong> could reach the majors at some point this year if <strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/l\/loneyja01.shtml?utm_source=direct&#038;utm_medium=linker&#038;utm_campaign=Linker\">James  Loney<\/a><\/strong> or <strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gibboja01.shtml?utm_source=direct&#038;utm_medium=linker&#038;utm_campaign=Linker\">Jay  Gibbons<\/a><\/strong> were to land on the DL or simply flat-out suck.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.minorleagueball.com\/2011\/3\/24\/2070398\/prospect-smackdown-los-angeles-dodgers-trayvon-robinson-vs-jerry-sands\">In John Sickels&#8217; latest installment of Prospect Smackdown<\/a>, he evaluates the Dodgers&#8217; two best outfield prospects, Sands and <strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/minors\/player.cgi?utm_source=direct&#038;utm_medium=linker&#038;utm_campaign=Linker&#038;id=robins001tra\">Trayvon  Robinson<\/a><\/strong>, and projects their impact at the Major League level.\u00a0 It turns out that Sands was drafted in the 25th round in 2008 out of Catawba College (Division II) in North Carolina, and subsequently signed for $5,000.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Prospect Buzz is the new, prospect-related link drop of <a href=\"..\/..\/\">The Golden Sombrero<\/a>.\u00a0 As you may already know, we love prospects here at the Sombrero.\u00a0 So if you have an article or link that you would like us consider for this segment, feel free to either <a href=\"mailto:thegoldensombrero.com@gmail.com?subject=Prospect%20Buzz\">email us<\/a> or send it our way on <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/GoldenSombrero\">Twitter<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After surviving another round of the cuts this past week, Baltimore Orioles&#8217; left-hander Zach Britton will likely get one more Spring Training start before he is either sent to Triple-A or chosen as the O&#8217;s fifth starter.\u00a0 The 22-year-old, our No. 25 prospect, has been ridiculous this spring, giving up only one earned run in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1300,6,16,11,13,1779,10,14],"tags":[624,1261,1450,1451,1447,559,1847,94,584,574,1336,3463,2027,1969],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3360"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3360"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3367,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3360\/revisions\/3367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}