Brad Lincoln finally gets to kick things off with the Pirates.

To kick things off here, we have Triple-A stud Reid Brignac on a roll right now in Triple-A. Over his last ten games, the Rays’ top offensive prospect is hitting .417 with two home runs, seven RBI, six runs, and two stolen bases. If there was to be a drawback here, it is that he has struck out ten times in these ten games with no walks, and he has only eight walks all season. If Brignac is going to be able to keep up this type of performance, he is going to need to be a little choosier at the plate.

Sticking with the Rays, David Price finally made his season debut with the Vero Beach Devil Rays (why do they get to keep the Devil in their name?), and he was quite impressive. Over five innings, Price allowed just three hits, and no runs, while walking one and striking out four.

Can anyone stop Mat Gamel at this point? The Brewers’ third baseman of the future (where have we heard that one before?) is hitting .371 with ten home runs, 42 RBI, 47 runs, and three stolen bases, and, somehow, over the last ten days, he has actually raised that batting average, hitting .386, although he does only have one home run during that time.

The Phillies have to be appreciating the continued progress they see out of 21-year-old Lou Marson. Catching for the Double-A Reading Phillies, Marson is hitting .341 with 2 home runs, 31 RBI, and 21 runs scored in 138 at-bats. Over the last ten days, Marson is hitting .400 with both of those homers, 15 RBI, and 5 runs scored. Marson has also consistently drawn more walks than strikeouts throughout the season, giving him an OBP of .459 to date. It would not shock to see Marson competing for a starting spot with the Phillies in Spring Training next year.

The Rangers have seen enough out of Chris Davis in Double-A and he has moved up the ladder to the Oklahoma RedHawks. In 46 games with Frisco, Davis was hitting .333 with 13 home runs, 42 RBI, 43 runs scored, and 5 stolen bases. Davis should pop up to the majors at some point this season, with the power hitter just one more Hank Blalock injury away from assuming a start spot in the bigs.

Christopher Carter, the Oakland edition, has hit a wall at the California League. Traded twice in the offseason, first to Arizona for Carlos Quentin, then to Oakland for Dan Haren, Carter is hitting just .217 this season, although he does have 11 home runs and 29 RBI. All of those numbers came early, though, as he has no homers, and just one RBI, in his last ten games, with no RBI in the last nine. He also has just one hit in those last nine games, in 27 at-bats, a .037 batting average. Considered one of the better offensive prospects in the White Sox system last year, Carter is having a serious time replicating his Sally League success.

Tommy Hanson had been untouchable in the Carolina League, but he has been anything but so far in the Double-A Southern League since his promotion. Through three starts there, Hanson is 1-2 with a 7.71 ERA and 14:9 K/BB ratio over 14 innings. While the opposition was hitting just .116 against him in High-A, they are hitting .286 against him so far. This promotion is starting to look a little premature.

The Pirates’ first rounder in 2006, Brad Lincoln, has kicked things off with the Hickory Crawdads in the South Atlantic League after losing all of last year to Tommy John surgery. Lincoln so far has been solid, with almost identical lines from his two starts so far. In both, he has gone five innings, allowing four hits and one earned run in each. He has only walked one so far while striking out five in ten innings. The Pirates are going to be very cautious here with their young ace.

Want more proof that general manager Jim Bowden has no clue how to draft? The Nationals ‘ 2006 second round pick, Stephen Englund, has received word that he gets to go back to Vermont for another summer. Their second round pick from just two years ago is returning to the New York/Penn League, and he does so after hitting well below the Mendoza Line – just .162 – in 34 games in the Sally League.

The Royals’ Carlos Rosa had been pitching amazingly well in the Double-A Texas League, a league where an ERA of 4.00 would show brilliance – Rosa had an ERA of 1.20 there in his eight starts. His first start in Triple-A was not so pleasant, though, as he allowed eight hits and five runs in just three innings. His second start was back to what we have come to expect out of Rosa, though, as he held the Iowa Cubs to seven hits and three runs in seven innings, and he struck out two in his first Triple-A win. Rosa walked just seven in 45 Double-A innings and he has yet to surrender a free base in Triple-A.

Lastly, Jeremy Hellickson has to have one of the sickest strikeout-to-walk ratios in the minors, with 64 strikeouts and only 4 walks in 10 starts in the Florida State League. Hellickson so far is 5-0 with a 2.22 ERA, but despite the apparent readiness for a promotion, the Rays have no desire to rush Hellickson. Having lost too many arms to rushing them, the Rays have no desire to repeat past mistakes. The poor Florida State batters wish that was not the case.