FanNation

NL Prospect Spring Training ReportSpring Training stats are not the best indicator of future performance but, when applied to prospects, it does tell you a little bit about how they are handling the pressure of being under the watchful eye of management on a daily basis. Are the prospects taking walks or striking out? Are the pitchers inducing ground balls or giving up some long balls? And, most importantly, what are the scouts and writers saying about them? Since we only have 1 Pags, I'll try to sum up some observations and conversations on the hottest prospects.

NL East

In Met camp, it looks like Fernando Martinez has felt pretty comfortable at the plate this spring. I expected a few more K's (only 4 in 29 AB) but have only seen patient and professional at bats this spring from the 19-year-old. Where he has struggled is in the outfield. He took his eyes off of a routine fly ball for an error last week and has misplayed a handful of others. Even with Moises Alou on the shelf to start the year, don't look for Martinez to have an impact in the Mets outfield until next year.

And I don't think Kyle Kendrick has fully recovered from the shock of learning he was traded to Japan for Kobayashi, a fictional pitcher turned hot dog eater and, subsequently, finding out that it was just an elaborate joke orchestrated by fellow pitcher Brett Myers (if you haven't seen this clip, you must). Kendrick's also ran into some hot bats and continues to work on his complimentary pitches which has lead to some rough outings and a gaudy 16.43 ERA. As is the case with all players who struggle in Spring, he said "if this was June, I'd be worried."

But it's not June and the Atlanta Braves 2007 Future's Game representative, Brent Lillibridge, hopes that he's able to make some contributions at the big league level by then. Yunel Escobar is comfortably settling in to the starting shortstop job in Atlanta so Lillibridge is getting himself ready to be the go to utility guy for the Braves. And in Washington, Lasting Milledge is showing glimpses of the five tool prospect that everyone's heard about. His five doubles in 32 ABs, low strikeout rate and .486 OBP isn't going to make him an All-Star just yet, but it does hint at the fact that he's much more comfortable in Washington than he was in NY.

NL Central

Is Geovany Soto ready to take over as the Cubs everyday catcher? It looks like he doesn't have much of a choice. Whatever Soto does at the plate this spring, good or bad, will be overshadowed by his defense. After struggling through seasons with Jason Kendall and Michael Barrett handing base stealers, Cubs fans will welcome Soto's cannon with open arms. In the outfield, it looks like Sam Fuld will roam the friendly confines' centerfield parcel to start the year. An injury to Felix Pie gives the Stanford product a clear path for now.

Staying in Arizona, Manny Parra has looked solid this spring in his bid to become the Milwaukee Brewers fifth starter. A highly contested position battle sees Carlos Villanueva, David Bush, Claudio Vargas and Chris Capuano joining Parra in the race, but Parra has stood out among this group (9 ip, 8 k's, 4 h, 1 er, and 11 groundball outs versus only 8 fly ball or pop ups.)

Colby Rasmus was supposed to step into the starting CF spot in St. Louis since the day Jim Edmonds left for sunnier times but there's a surprise in Redbird camp. According to Jeff Lufnow, the Card's VP of Player Development, Brian Barton has been playing "without restrictions" from an off season knee surgery and making the most of it. The Rule 5 pickup has been on a tear in the last 2 weeks and is challenging for that starting CF spot. Barton has a career .417 OBP in 1,278 minor league at bats.

Speaking of "on a tear", Hunter Pence is not on a tear - yet. There's something about this kid (and his single, left hand, batting glove) that says "I'm going to stay under the radar and just keep raking as long as I possibly can." Unfortunately, in Cincinnati, Jay Bruce has been hampered by a strained quad for much of the spring and no longer looks like the opening day centerfielder. I call it a blessing in his thighs. Bruce will be better off starting in AAA. He can get his legs under him and come help the Reds finish behind the Pirates by May.

Meanwhile, in Bradenton, the aforementioned Pirates had their first round of cuts on Monday and 24-year-old first base prospect Steve Pearce went into his meeting just like all his teammates. When he came out he was 24-year-old right field prospect Steve Pearce. The move comes because Pearce has proven he can contribute. What he can't do is unseat Adam LaRoche at first, so he'll learn a new position to make himself more valuable.

NL West

The Diamondbacks have four young household-name-former-prospects-turned-Major League-stars in Mark Reynolds, Steven Drew, Justin Upton and Chris Young. So who are we going to talk about in the prospect report? How about Max Scherzer? Scherzer is a 2006 first round pick out of the University of Missouri. The 6'3″ RHP came into camp with an outside shot at the fifth starter spot but has so far sputtered slightly this spring. He's having some trouble keeping the ball down and, consequently, keeping it in the yard. Scherzer's got some electric stuff, so don't expect the problems to persist. I expect he'll have a breakout season in Tucson and be ready to break into the D'backs rotation in 2009.

If there's one person in Colorado camp that is making some over-the-top, scream your lungs out noise, it's Chris Iannetta. Iannetta made it no secret that he wanted to challenge Yorvit Torrealba for the starting catcher's job and has made the most of his 13 ABs ripping four doubles and a home run (off of Randy Johnson). I doubt very much that Iannetta will overtake Torrealba by opening day, but you have to respect his feistiness.

Staying with catchers, San Diego's up and coming catching prospect, Nick Hundley, has been named to the Padres' China travel roster. Hundley had an above average AA campaign in San Antonio and, if he continues to show this type of improvement, could be a prime September call up option.

The Dodgers top prospect, Andy LaRoche, continues to be bitten by the injury bug as a freak pickoff throw tore the tendon in his thumb. Fellow Dodgers prospect Jonathan Broxton, on the other hand, is in position to have a huge year setting up saves for Takashi Saito. Last year's 11 K/9 and 4:1 K/BB ratios are solid predictive indicators.

And in San Francisco, everyone's so happy that Barry Bonds isn't around that they've hardly noticed that their team is still very old and lacking young talent. Tim Lincecum and Nate Schierholtz are really the only two in the organization worth mentioning. Lincecum is battling a nagging groin injury and Schierholtz needs to find his power stroke before we talk about them shedding their "prospect" tags and actually contributing.

By Jesse Santos of www.DugoutCentral.com