Pitchers, Hitters and some International Flavor

I think Tommy Hanson has proven that he can handle the Carolina League. Now, I'm not sitting in the Braves front office or anything but if this kid has another start or two along the lines of the four he's already had, it will be time to move him up to the Southern League.

Hanson is 2-0 through four starts with Myrtle Beach. He's allowed an unearned run in 22 innings, held the opposition to a 0.71 batting average while striking out 32 and walking only six. The numbers are hard to ignore. He may be the best pitcher in the Minor Leagues at the moment and the folks in Atlanta would probably benefit from pumping him up and making him a poster boy of sorts for doing it the right way after the Jordan Schafer debacle earlier this month.

San Antonio's Will Inman had his start pushed up a day in the Texas League and didn't figure in the decision in a victory over Midland. He did, however, allow his first earned runs of the season, giving up three in 6 1/3. His ERA through four starts is 1.35. He's looked much better this season than he did after coming over from Milwaukee and some of the people with whom I spoke in San Diego are much more impressed with him now then they were seven months ago.

Staying in Double-A, Binghamton's Mike Carp continues to destroy Eastern League pitching and you have to wonder when will the Mets bump him up to Triple-A New Orleans. He's hitting .446. He's riding a 13-game hitting streak and has clearly made all the requisite adjustments in his second season at Double-A. Considering how thread bare New York's system is, it might be nice to see if he can handle Pacific Coast League pitching. The Mets are going to need a first baseman soon enough, the rapidly declining Carlos Delgado isn't going to be around forever, and Carp may be the answer.

Whether he can turn into another Mike Jacobs, a New York product that has done well in Miami, is another question. He struggled last year in Double-A after an impressive Spring Training with the parent club but that was due mostly to an injury and over compensation when he returned. He worked out a few things by using video during the Arizona Fall League and that seems to have carried over into this season.

I'm down on the Mets' farm system, it's awful, and that's no secret. But I'd love to see Carp make it and prove me wrong. He's a good guy and deserves the chance.

Believe it or not, Carp isn't leading the Minor Leagues or the Eastern League in hitting. Las Vegas' Terry Tiffee is leading the Minors with a .508 through 17 games, which is simply amazing. The 29-year-old journeyman infielder is off to a blazing start. Maybe it will earn him a spot on the bench in L.A. Portland's Luis Rodriguez is second in the Pacific Coast league and the Minors in hitting at .465 while New Hampshire's Scott Campbell leads the Eastern League with a .460 average.

And one final note this week, I received an e-mail from reader Diego Arcos. He points out that in my Seattle organizational preview, which ran last month, that I failed to mention Alfredo Venegas. The theme of the story was that the Mariners have put together a real international smorgasbord with players from all over the globe dotting their Minor League system. I failed to mention Venegas, who is from Ecuador - Arcos claims he is the first Ecuadorian to ever play affiliated ball - not because I didn't think he was worth mentioning but simply because I didn't know of his existence.

Well, here's to giving Venegas his props. As of Monday morning, he had appeared in one game for High Desert of the Cal League, allowing two earned runs in 3 2/3 innings against Inland Empire on Saturday. He was 4-5 with a 5.12 ERA in 14 games (12 starts) last season in the Arizona, Northwest and Cal Leagues.