Beamer Weems ... And Other Top Padres Prospects

I'm fully on board with the Beamster. Normally I don't get too excited about dudes from Baylor, but I'm officially in Beamer's camp, if you'll pardon the mixed metaphor.

I've never actually seen Beamer play, but no matter. He tops this month's list of Padres hitting prospects as of July 1. As you may remember from past monthly prospect posts, this is a ranking based on peformance to-date this season. That's why guys like Ced Hunter and Kellen Kulbacki, beasts of yesteryear, are not on the list.

Something new this month, only dudes with .400 OBP or higher were eligible for the list. And because I didn't want to leave anyone out, if you had a .400 OBP or higher, you made the cut.

On to the list:

1. Beamer Weems, SS, LE: Beamer is playing a slick SS - traditionally my favorite position - and rolling with a .302 2 26 and .471 OBP line. That works for me.

2. Logan Forsythe, 3B, LE, SA: Quickly becoming the beast of the entire Drino minor league system. The .480 OBP is sick, not to mention the .332 8 32 at two levels. He's actually hitting better since moving up to AA. September cup o' coffee?

3. James Darnell, 3B, LE: The OBP is slightly down his first week in High A but the power numbers are still there: two bombs already. His overall line is a pretty .324 9 44 .457.

4. Jaff Decker, LF, FW: He's been sitting out a lot lately with some back issues but that's okay, no need to rush young Jaff. He may be the prize of the system, after all. When he's not nursing his back he's raking to the tune of .298 8 30 .462.

5. Sawyer Carroll, RF, FW, LE: Another hitter who earned a recent promotion, Sawyer went 4-4 in the Midwest League All-Star game and is now playing in High A. Overall he's a steady .316 6 47 .408.

6. Mike Baxter, RF, SA, Por: Still hitting nicely after the move to AAA Portland. One wonders what the Padres are thinking with this guy. Probably at least a couple at bats this September in the Diego, one would think. He's hanging in at .349 5 54 .422.

7. Craig Cooper, 1B, SA: Still smokehousing the Texas League, Craig is at .339 6 56 .424. He may make a run at Texas League Player of the Year. That's got to get him some notice with the higher ups, you'd think.

8. Lance Zawadzki, SS, LE, SA: Rated a sleeper pick by Baseball America this season because of his power from both sides of the plate, Lance has raked steadily since an early power explosion to start the season. He's currently holding ground at .316 13 55 .402.

9. Daniel Payne, CF, LE: Surprise, surprise. Daniel is one of the least regarded of the Padres slew of 2007 Supplemental First Round picks (a group that included Payne, Kulbacki, Cumberland, Canham and Luebke), but he is putting together a moderately strong season. Apparently he is a legitimate CF and, if you ignore the .254 batting average which smacks of some bad luck, and focus on his 6 bombs, 25 ribeyes and .416 OBP, you realize Daniel has a discerning eye and some pop. I'm keeping an eye on him.

10. Allan Dykstra, 1B, FW: Quietly starting to learn his modified, wooden bat swing. The eye is still there, as his .400 OBP attests. His .212 4 27 other numbers should start to improve soon.

Padres Organizational Lineup

As a mini-preview of the Padre prospect rankings through June that I will run tomorrow and Thursday, it occurred to me today that putting together a Padre Organizational Lineup might be an interesting exercise in looking at which players throughout the Padre system are truly performing this season.

What is a "Padre Organizational Lineup," you ask? Simply put, it's a starting lineup, position-by-position, of the Padres who have most dominated their position so far this season. What makes it interesting is that the lineup is determined based on performance measured against one's league peers. In other words, Kevin Kouzmanoff's performance is measured against other Major League third basemen, while Logan Forsythe's performance is measured against other Cal League (now Texas League) third basemen. So even though Kevin is farther along and (probably) a better big league third basemen than Logan, Logan's likely going to be the one to make this team at the Hot Corner.

So without further ado:

1. CF - Brad Chalk .305 1 37 .359 (20 bags) - Probably should go Scotty Bombs here but I wanted a prototypical leadoff man and I'm not putting Ced Hunter or Tony Gwynn, Jr. in this lineup.

2. 2B - Lance Zawadzki .316 13 55 .402 - I'm moving Lance to 2B because of the dismal performance by Padres 2B this season. Actually, Eckstein and Sogard have been okay, but I'm looking for some pop here.

3. 3B - Logan Forsythe .332 8 32 .480 - This is the toughest call in the entire system because you have Darnell in High A and Kouz has started to hit. I should probably put Darnell at third, move Logan to second and put Lance at short, but I really want the SS I have here (see below).

4. 1B - Adrian Gonzalez .269 24 47 .414 - The Franchise. Craig "Craigers" Cooper is having a season, but no way Adrian doesn't make this squad.

5. LF - Kyle Blanks .283 12 38 .393 - I feel like I'm selling out putting Kyle here because he hasn't dominated this season, but he looked good last week with the Padres and his numbers are pretty solid for AAA. If Luis Durango was still hitting in the .340s he'd probably have left field locked down.

6. RF - Mike Baxter .352 5 54 .424 - Very excited to see what Mike is going to do this September in San Diego.

7. SS - Beamer Weems .301 2 26 .476 - Go ahead, you make the case to keep him off this team. I just couldn't. He reportedly has the best glove of any SS in the Padres system and, for Heaven's sake, his OBP is out of this world. Until Beamer somehow shows me he can't hit higher level pitching, he's on my team.

8. C - Mitch Canham .271 2 31 .353 - Finding a catcher must be difficult because the Padres don't have one at any level this season who is dominating. Canham is holding his own at AA and that is respectable.

9. SP - Mat Latos 7-1 1.28 38/9 K/BB ratio - A few candidates here but Latos gets the call. I'd probably go Anthony Bass as my #2 and Cory Luebke as my #3, with Peavy and Nick Schmidt rounding out the starting five.

Closer - Heath Bell 3-1 1.39 36/12 22 saves - What a beast. Bryan Oland made it marginally interesting.

And there you have it.

Disagree? Let me know in the comments.