Staff Report
August 22, 2008
Baseball America

Before long, we'll be putting the Prospect Hot Sheet in hibernation for the winter, but before we do that, there are a lot of new names to add to the Sheet. Sure, Madison Bumgarner takes his usual spot in the top 10, but we also see plenty of new young faces, including Jaff Decker, Andrew Romine and Josh Vitters.

Remember as always, this is not a re-ranking of our Top 100 Prospects list. Instead, it's a snapshot of who are the hottest prospects in baseball right now, with stats from the past week (Aug. 15-21) getting the most consideration. The Why He's Here line in the capsules refer to each player's stats during that time.

No. 2 MADISON BUMGARNER, LHP
GIANTS

Team: low Class A Augusta (South Atlantic)
Age: 19
Why He's Here: 2-0, 0.00, 12 1/3 IP, 8 H, 0 R, 2 BB 22 SO
The Scoop: As if Bumgarner's season wasn't already great, he has a chance to take it to historic levels if he can keep it going through the season's final week. Bumgarner has a legitimate shot at winning the South Atlantic League's triple crown, as he leads the circuit in wins (14), ERA (1.45) and strikeouts (155).

Bumgarner's 12 1/3 shutout innings this week extended his shutout streak to 34 1/3 innings, putting him only 5 1/3 innings away from equaling the SAL record for consecutive scoreless innings of 39 2/3, set by Henry Carson in 1984. And keep in mind that the only runs Bumgarner has allowed over his last seven starts came on July 22 against Lake County, when he had a shutout through seven but tried to come back for the eighth and ended up allowing three runs. That's it. Those are the only runs he's given up over his last 48 1/3 innings.

No. 4 ANGEL VILLALONA, 1B
GIANTS

Team: low Class A Augusta (South Atlantic)
Age: 18
Why He's Here: .370/.370/.704 (10-for-27), 6 2B, 1 HR, 11 RBIs, 4 R, 0 BB, 3 SO
The Scoop: After gradually getting better over the course of the season, Villalona has taken it to another level in August. He registered a pair of three-hit games this week, is on five-game hitting streak and has driven in at least one run in five straight games as well. Villalona, who just turned 18 earlier this month, is hitting .300/.347/.500 in 70 August at-bats, and has raised his season line to .258/.305/.423.

Understandably, he still more maturing to do in terms of his plate discipline, but he's certainly looking like he'll be ending the season on a high note.



NOT-SO HOT SHEET

• Chris Carter, 1b/3b/rf, Athletics. No one has had a more up and down season than the 21-year-old Carter. There have been plenty of highs��"he has 36 home runs, but he also goes into spells where the hits just aren't happening. He was 1-for-25 with 13 strikeouts in the past week, though his one hit was a home run (of course) on Wednesday.