Roster Decisions - Minor League Hitting

Yesterday, I looked at the roster decisions regarding minor league pitching. Today, I'm focusing on minor league hitters not on the 40-man roster. There are 52 hitters in the farm system that could be either Rule 5 candidates or 6-year free agents. In my opinion, there are three guys I would view as potential Rule 5 losses (assuming they are not placed on the 40-man prior to the draft).

• Salomon Manriquez, RH CA - The 22-year old Manriquez had his best season by far in 2005 for the Potomac Nationals. He batted 287/336/479 in 119G with 43 XBH (15 HR). He is still a work in progress behind the plate. Odds are he will not be selected as teams are hesitant to roster a back-up catcher who has never played in the majors.
• Josh Whitesell, LH 1B/DH - The 23-year old Whitesell continued his way up the organizational ladder with a full season in Potomac (293/409/524). He In 113G, he had 42 XBH (18 HR). Whitesell still struggles with the strikeouts (125K) and is very streaky. He could be grabbed by an AL team as a DH.
• Rogearvin Bernadina, LH OF - The 21-year old OF would be selected for one reason, speed. He spent his third straight season with Savannah with little improvement at the plate. He could be selected to serve as a PR/late inning defensive replacement.

Additional names of note that I doubt will be selected but would be available:

• IFs: Josh Labandeira,Shawn Norris, Marco Yepez, Brad Ditter, Ofilio Castro, and Trey Webb
• OF: Francisco Plasencia

As for the 6-year free agents, the candidates are: Hector Ortiz, Juan Melo, Kevin Orie, Melvin Nieves, Juan Lorenzo, Dee Brown (not the 2005 draft pick), Henry Mateo, Ramon Castro, Scott Hodges, Billy Martin, Craig Kuzmic, Cristian Guerrero, Jason Bowers, Jesus Feliciano, Drew McMillan, Ender Chavez, Luis Apodaca, Matt Cepicky, Melvin Dorta, Richard Lane, Vince Rooi, Dan Dement, Dee Haynes, Edgar Gonzalez, Jason Belcher, John Wilson, Josh Emmerick, Lorvin Louisa, and Salomon Manriquez.