Some Overlooked Infielders on the Farm

If you haven't seen our series looking at the farm system roughly halfway through the season, you can check out part one here and part two here. It was brought to my attention that there were a few oversights in Wednesday's article on the infielders in the system, so here are the overlooked:

Second basemen Eric Farris of West Virginia was the Brewers 4th round pick in 2007 and was off to a slow start to the season before getting going recently. His season line is up to (.263/.302/.323/.625), which isn't all that good but is an improvement from where he was a few weeks ago. As a 22 year old playing in low A, he'll need to continue to improve quickly to put himself on the prospect map. In retrospect, we should have mentioned AA keystoner Mike Bell if for no other reason than we mentioned the 7 other regular starters on that team. Bell is clearly not on the level of those around him, but he has solid pop (19 2B, 3 3B, 8 HR) for a middle infielder even if his OBP (.306) is way too low.

Moving on up to AAA, there are several other players worthy of at least a mention. Second Basemen Callix Crabbe was selected by the Padres in last winter's rule 5 draft, but had to be returned to the Brewers when the Padres decided to no longer carry him on their 25 man roster. The fact that he is 25 years old and posting a .658 OPS in AAA doesn't bode well for him getting another shot as good as the one he got with the Padres this year again. Though he hasn't played much in the infield this year, Hernan Iribarren still has value as an infielder. Sand-witched around a couple of brief callups to the majors this year, The Hurricane has managed to post a (.279/.338/.328/.666) line. The fact that he has speed, good contact skills and the ability to play in the infield and outfield gives him a solid shot to stick around for a while as a utility guy.

Look for part three featuring starting pitchers on Thursday and part four on relievers Friday.

Thanks to Mr. Breen for pointing out a few oversights over on the message board.

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