Lesson learned

The lesson. Put 10 players on a Baseball America Top 30 prospect list on one team. There will be a Baseball America blog post on that team pretty early in the season.

Attention to the Kernels' offense typically centers on 2009 first-round picks Randal Grichuk and Mike Trout, a pair of prep outfielders who punched their tickets to the MWL with strong pro debuts last season. But don't lose sight of second baseman Jean Segura and third baseman Luis Jimenez. At ages 20 and 22, respectively, they may not be as wet behind the ears as Grichuk or Trout, but both righthanded batters have an advanced feel for hitting.

Mosiello deemed Jimenez perhaps the club's most overlooked player. "He's going to be a special hitter," he said. "He's got very strong barrel awareness, but right now he needs to be a bit more patient. He thinks he can handle every pitch out there."

With a 5-to-8 walk-to-strikeout ratio, Jimenez's play backs up his manager's assessment. Though he had yet to homer in the MWL, he led the Rookie-level Pioneer League in dingers and doubles in 2008.

In the early going, Jimenez is playing a rotation of two games at third followed by one at DH as he makes his return from shoulder surgery that wiped out his ’09 season. Through 16 games, Jimenez had batted .297/.343/.438 with seven doubles, a triple and 16 RBIs.