Akron Aeros Prospects

Here, by way of John Sickels' ratings, are the top prospects on the Akron Aeros roster. Akron heads into the second half of the season with a 49-40 record, best in the Eastern League, and (it would naturally follow) first in the EL south. Sickels is pretty high on the Cleveland system, and Akron boasts five of his top guy, including three top-5 players.

Michael Aubrey (1B, #3, B+ rating) Hitting 283/336/462-4-20 in 28 games for Akron. He must have missed some time with injury this year. Last year he batted 261/340/425-5-22 in 38 games for the Aeros after posting a 988 OPS in single A. Power is developing as he adjusts to AA.

Franklin Gutierrez (OF, #4, B+) Batting 241/306/396-8-33 on the season. Very disappointing numbers after he hit 302/372/466-5-35 in 70 games for Akron last year (and going 10-17 in major league spring training. Gutierrez hit 24 home runs in 2003, so the power drop off is kind of mysterious.

Brad Snyder (OF, #5, B+) Snyder is hitting a fine 262/353/505-4-15 in 25 games with Akron after starting the season at single A Kinston, where he hit 278/365/431-6-28 in 58 games. Numbers were similar, but a little better, in two A ball stops last season. Has some power and can draw a walk, and he looks like he's progressing to be a useful major leaguer.

Jeremy Sowers (LHP, #8, B) also started the year at Kinston. In four starts at Akron, he's pitched very well: 22.2 IP, 1.99 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 24/6 K/BB. At Kinstone he made 13 starts, throwing 71.1 innings with a 2.78 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 75 K and 19 BB. The numbers are impressive, especially the 4:1 K:BB ratio, given that this is his first year of pro baseball after graduating from Vanderbilt last year.

Jake Dittler (RHP, #18, C+) is repeating AA, though he is still young (only 22). This year he's made 18 starts, pitching 114.2 innings with a 3.30 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 64K/39BB (1.64:1 ratio). Last year he had a 5.02 ERA and 1.48 WHIP in 107.2 innings for the Aeros, though the K/BB numbers were better (85/40). Better than last year, but the numbers are still fairly ho-hum.


The Aeros placed three players on the EL All Star team: RHP JD Martin, (10GS, 56.2 IP, 2.38 ERA with a very impressive 0.88 WHIP and 63/8 K/BB ratio), 3B Pat Osborn (282/342/392-5-40) and OF Jon Van Every (240/352/467-15-41), who has been the team's top slugger. Martin injured his elbow and was replaced on the all star roster by left handed reliever Chris Cooper (47.1 IP, 2.09 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 49/17 K/BB, 7 saves).