[BirdWatcher]

The great Justin Vargas joined Danny Salvador and Luis Gonzales as players to reach the 300 career home run mark this season, and he did so in leading his team to an easy victory over the first place Denver Brewers. Unlike Salvador and Gonzales, who are possible borderline Hall of Fame candidates, Vargas is almost a sure-thing first ballot Hall of Famer. At age 35, Vargas is having a solid season for the Portland Wild Things though certainly far from the level of play of his earlier days, when he won the SJL MVP award in both 1971 (age 23) and 1975 (age 27) as a member of the Boston Berserkers. Vargas has put up 81 WAR over his 14 plus year career with a 67.1 JAWS score and 164 Hall of Fame Monitor score. He is a 10-time All-Star, 3-time Silver Slugger, 1-time Gold Glove award winner, in addition to his 2 MVP award seasons. With 382 career stolen bases he has one of the best speed/power tools combinations of his generation in the WPK.



Yesterday Pittsburgh's 25-year old center fielder Brendan Beaver became the second man this season in the WPK to hit for the cycle and the third in Roadrunners' history (the first two being the great Trevor Leach in 1969 and Bill Lechner in 1973). After a solid rookie season in 1981 (.250/.344/.347, 3.9 WAR), Beaver missed much of the 1982 season with severe shoulder inflammation and played poorly in his 23 games played for the Roadrunners (.219/.290/.281, 0 WAR). But the hard-working and speedy center fielder is on pace for a 4.6 WAR season in 1983 and certainly got some attention with his strong showing in the 15-5 victory over Jacksonville yesterday.



We have reached mid-season and the latest Top Prospects Lists has been published. For the first time in several seasons the Brewers have a position player in the top 100, with their recent first round draft pick, Nick Mull, debuting at #58 overall. Mull, a defense and speed first second baseman out of Austin College, is off to a .385/.419/.538 start in his first 11 professional games playing for the Rookie League Greensboro Bisons. While he doesn't profile as a future star player in the WPK, he likely has a floor of big league utility infielder and a ceiling of an above average big league starting middle infielder (his somewhat weak throwing arm likely keeping him at second in spite of ample range to play shortstop).

The number 1 overall pick in the most recent draft is also now the #1 top prospect in all of the WPK. Colin Radke, a wiry (5'11", 175 lb.) right handed starting pitcher out of Indianapolis College, has a 3-pitch repertoire, but all 3 (changeup, fastball, cutter) are big-league quality already and should develop into plus plus offerings (particularly his changeup). He is expected to have plus stuff with plus plus control and above average movement, but it is his movement that has the most improvement needed to make him a legitimate big league ace. Radke overtakes fellow Phoenix farm-hand, center fielder Dan Johnson, at the top of the prospects lists, with Johnson moving to #2, giving the Phoenix Speed Devils the top 2 prospects and 3 in the top 20, making theirs the best system in the WPK, slightly above the also very impressive Chicago Fire farm system.

The Denver Brewers system ranks 7th, with 5 starting pitchers in the top 100 along with second baseman Mull.