Here goes:  the minor league report for the Burlington Bees hitters.  The team is off to a slow start with only 5 hitters batting above the Mendoza line.  The sluggish offense is part of the reason the team is off to 2-5 start; however, there is still lots of time to turn things around and these are small sample sizes after only one week of baseball. 

The Burlington Hitters: 

1.)    Mike Moustakas SS - He is off to a slow start to his Burlington Bees career (.185/.295/.185). 

      BP prospect guru, Kevin Goldstein, caught the home opener for the Kane County A’s team and had this to say:  “Seeing Moustakas for the first time is a bit of a surprise. You know just from reading his listed height and weight that he's not the massive slugger one would expect from a player who set California high school single-season and career home-run marks. While he's listed at six-foot even and 195 pounds, he looks downright short, thick, and stocky, and while he was never tested at shortstop during the game, all it takes is a visual to realize he has little chance of staying there, which already the overwhelming consensus among the scouting community. "Does that look like a shortstop to you?" I asked the scout. "That looks like a stocky second baseman to me," he responded. "Hell, that looks like a catcher to me," he concluded. "And he's got a 70 arm, easy, but it would take a lot of guts to try that." Getting away from the negative for a bit, while the game featured three home runs, Moustakas smote the hardest-hit ball of the game, a tomahawk single to right field that didn't have any loft but was past Cougars second baseman Matt Ray before he even had a chance to react. He also struck out twice, including once looking on an outstanding curveball that came back to catch the outer edge of the plate and had one scout joking, "I’m guessing he never saw that pitch in high school." 

Using Moustakas as a catcher, now that is an interesting idea.  I think 2B or the OF is his eventual destination, but that would be creative and bold. 

2.)    Adrian Ortiz CF– is off to a hot start batting .357/.400/.464.  As the Bees leadoff hitter/CF, he is showing the speed and OBP skills that had him picked in the 5th round of the 2007 draft. 

3.)    Jason Taylor 3B – Taken in the 2nd Round of the 2006 Draft, he is another Bee struggling with the bat, hitting a mere .150/.320/.200. 

4.)    Clint Robinson 1B – The team slugger has already hit 3 HR’s in one week of action and is batting a robust .273/.360/.773 with 3BB’s to only 1 K. 

5.)    Alwin Perez 2B - .000/.143/.000

6.)    WilsonTucker RF - .200/.294/.400 with one home run. 

7.)    David Lough LF - .259/.333/.296

8.)    Ryan Eigisti C - .125/.167/.125

Overall, this is a team with a somewhat limited offense and outside of Moustakas, Ortiz, and Taylor there is not much in the way of prospects, though Robinson looks intriguing and should be interesting to follow this season.  **NOTE** The players covered are the starters for the team.  I’ll cover the others if someone emerges or goes on a hot streak.