Batting: Neil Walker is a nice 3B prospect who can catch in an emergency. Andrew McCutchen is a toolsy if overrated CF who has breakout potential. Steven Pearce might actually be the best player on the Pirates right now. It says a lot about their management that he isn't even in the majors.

Overall: A thin team that only ranks high in lost potential with Bullington, Burnett, and Van Benschoten trying to salvage careers as back-end starters. McCutchen and Walker are a nice duo, and Pearce has no business being still in AAA. The faster he comes up, the better.

Lehigh Valley IronPigs

Pitching: Kris Benson is here to rehab. Travis Blackley has a shot at some type of swing career if he makes some improvements. Vic Darensbourg is the ultimate Quad-A situational lefty; odds are 50-50 he wears a Phillies uniform this year. J.D. Durbin has one of the best curves around and wasn't overmatched in the majors last year. He could make 20 starts in the bigs. John Ennis and Gary Knotts are better veteran swing insurance than most teams have. Brian Mazone is a good pitcher who has never gotten a chance; you can't help but root for him because of this.

Batting: Catcher Pete LaForest, 1B/3B Andy Tracy, and OF Val Pascucci are three Quad-A bats who are better than that; all would hit 20+ HR as big league regulars, especially in Philly. Gookie Dawkins has an awesome name and an awesome glove. Casey Smith can play everywhere, even catcher, and impressed in camp, so who knows? T.J. Bohn, Brandon Watson, and Chris Snelling are all good fourth OF candidates; all could even be decent starting CFs, although none are as good as Shane Victorino.

Overall: I'm kind of looking through the rosters as I'm writing this, and this is easily the best team I've seen so far. Put the IronPigs, Giants, Orioles, Pirates, and Marlins in a division and I'd bet the IronPigs finish in the top two. The Phillies don't have much depth further down in the system, so they'd be well-served to trade some of their less-important MLB players for less-advanced prospects and promote some guys here. LaForest or Tracy could outhit Pedro Feliz, Greg Dobbs, and Wes Helms at third, although Feliz is a better defender than either. Just something to think about. Look for Kyle Kendrick to pitch his way down here and see Durbin or Blackley go up. Pascucci could replace Pat Burrell easily enough; he hit 34 homers in AAA last year.

Louisville Bats

Pitching: Homer Bailey is a good prospect with two plus pitches, but he got rocked in the majors last year. His chance of not panning out thus doubled. He's still got time on his side though. Bill Bray is a good young situational arm. Dave Gassner is Mike Bacsik, version 2.0. I'm higher on Matt Maloney than most: comparing him to Tom Glavine is a stretch, but Jamie Moyer might not be. Marcus McBeth is a smaller Fernando Rodney, with a mid-90's fastball, great change, and nothing else. Adam Pettyjohn switches teams, levels, and organizations every few months, but he actually has some degree of talent.

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