It's opening night in the minor leagues and the Columbus Clippers will have good enough weather in Des Moines (not always a given in March) to play the Iowa Cubs. In fact, weather this entire 3 game series will trend upward.
So, let's take a look at the opening day roster for the Clippers:
Hitters - In short, they currently have 11 hitters on their roster. I think this number may increase over the weekend but right now, with 3 of those 11 being catchers, I think you'll see everyone play a lot and the catchers who are not catching that day may play 1B or DH. A probable lineup looks like:
C - Ingle
1B - Brito
2B - Bazzana
SS - Tolentino
3B - Frias
LF - Halpin
CF - Watson
RF - Fairchild
DH - Jones
Bench: Huff, Nunez
There is no AAAA filler in this lineup outside of Fairchild and even he is interesting. The lineup begins and ends with Bazzana but I could see that Bazzana and maybe 6 other guys among the hitters could play in the major leagues this year. However, as long as this hitter list remains this thin, these guys will get a lot of runway, so to speak which is exciting since the fewer AAAA guys the better for me
Pitchers - Unlike the hitters, there is an excess of pitchers with that number likely being thinned by injury.
The Bazzana of the pitchers is clearly Daniel Espino as he is the pitcher to watch here. The rotation will likely be guys who were SP at either Columbus or Akron last year, with Logan Allen (if he isn't called up replace Tanner Bibee), Webb, Dion, Yorman Gomez, Tommy Mace and even Rorik Maltrud being candidates. Given how pitchers get hurt, guys like Webb, Gomez and Dion might see major league time this year. Among the relievers there are some interesting names, many of whom had cameos in ML spring training this year and, while not considered top prospects, might see ML time this year as fungible assets. That is, guys who we wouldn't be afraid to lose if we had to DFA them to clear a ML roster spot. If just 1-2 of those relievers leap forward this year it will be a big boost to the ML bullpen depth during the season.
Summary
All-in-all, this will be a very interesting set of hitters to watch during the year and, knowing how injuries happen a lot to pitchers, which guys will step forward if a need is felt on the ML team. If you are looking at W-L record, this team could go either way as there are lots of pitchers with a lot of experience and a lot of hitters who might shine. That combination could, possibly, be a real winning one at AAA.
