MU in the Minors & Majors

• Nathan Culp (04-06)was "extremely sharp in his first taste of throwing to batters", according to MadFriars.com

First, his warm-up showed terrific movement on his fastball and bottoming out with his changeup. When he got in against the competition, Culp had very few balls hit hard.

• Kurt Calvert (04-07) is projected to begin the 2009 season in Peoria, according to The Cub Reporter.

• Evan Frey (05-07) is doing well in the Diamondbacks Major League camp this spring, sporting a .314 batting average and a .543 slugging percentage. He is expected to be sent down to the minor leagues by the beginning of the season, but he may be earning himself a higher assignment with his good performance so far. According to MLB.com, Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin has taken notice of Frey :

Because of the World Baseball Classic, Spring Training is a little longer this year, so it gives me the opportunity to see guys at length more than a typical spring. . . Getting a chance to see outfielder Evan Frey, who has really jumped out to me

• Hunter Mense (04-06) posts a rare update on his own blog, The Life and Times of Aitch, with lots of news on what's up with him:

After six months of not seeing live pitching I stepped back into the batters box with the same confidence that I had towards the end of last year. When I get in the box I look at it as a one on one battle, and no matter who you’re facing you have to think that you’re better than that other guy. It felt just like riding a bike for me. The first pitch I saw I fouled off and the following pitch I drove to the warning track in right center. The feeling of hitting a baseball on the sweet spot of a wood bat is absolutely priceless. When you hit a ball good you can’t even feel it and the sound that it makes is just as good.

• Purple Row had a detailed scouting report on Max Scherzer (04-06):

It can certainly be disappointing when a live arm gets relegated to the bullpen when he could have contributed over 200 innings as a starter. For that reason, Arizona fans hope Scherzer's arm can carry a starter's load, but I would suspect (as Lingo did) that he will eventually find his home in the bullpen. The probability of injury due to his still atypical motion and injury history is one part of it, but his repertoire as a flamethrower with increasingly developing secondary pitches and good control profiles very well for a closer.