Baseball America top 20s

Baseball America is rolling out its annual top 20 prospect lists for each minor league. The Tigers were shut out at the lower levels - Gulf Coast League (Tigers), New York Penn League (Oneonta) and Midwest League (West Michigan). However, further discussion over at at Motownsports reveals that pitcher Rick Porcello of Lakeland was named the number one prospect of the Florida State League. Shortstop Cale Iorg was the number 17 prospect in the same league. In the International League, Matt Joyce was number 13.

Pitching in Lakeland at the age of 19, Porcello has a 2.66 ERA and a 72/33 strikeout/walk ratio in 125 innings. While he can reach the high 90s if he needs to, he considers himself more of a sinker ball pitcher who pitches best in the low 90s. Even a sinker baller should get more strikeouts in A ball but he's too young for it to be a big concern yet.

Cale Iorg completed his first year of professional ball after two years of missionary work in Portugal. The 23 year old son of former major leaguer Garth Iorg batted .251/.329/.405 as a shortstop for Lakeland. He is still likely a couple of years from the big leagues.