[mikev]

Team Calls Up #1 Prospect

With the career ending injury suffered by Crusaders second baseman Pedro Vargas, the team has announced that #1 prospect Robinson Leyva has been promoted from Class AAA Oakland to the major leagues.



He is scheduled to make his debut on July 13th.

Leyva is a 24 year old switch hitter from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. He had an .803 OPS last season as a 23 year old in AAA, but his numbers dropped a bit this season as he was being asked to learn third base. He will switch back to second and take over as the starter for California, with incumbent third baseman Fu-quan Ng remaining at his position, as he was in danger of being relegated to the bench with Leyva switching to third base.

On the trade front, it appears that the search for a third baseman will probably continue if Ng's numbers don't pick up, but the real hole in the lineup has been catcher Carlos Becerra. He's not getting on base, he's not hitting for power, he's just about worthless. The really sad part is that the catchers in the league as a whole are so bad that Becerra's .579 OPS is only worth -1.3 VORP. That's a sad state of affairs for catchers.