2010 Projected Roster: West Michigan Whitecaps (A)

Each day this week (through Thursday), I will post my 2010 projected rosters for the Detroit Tigers and their full-season minor league affiliates, along with some commentary.  Of course, this is all mere speculation on my part; it is mostly an exercise intended to enhance my knowledge (and hopefully the reader's) of the Tigers' prospects and farm system.  In doing this, I have been heavily reliant on both baseball-reference and Matt Wallace's Take 75 North (which you should subscribe to, if you don't already), as well as demondeaconsbaseball's previous depth chart posts.

I was in Florida for Spring Training over the weekend, and thus I am only now getting to the final installment of my projected roster series.  Here we go, your 2010 West Michigan Whitecaps (maybe):

C            John Murrian

1B          Rawley Bishop

2B          Alexander Nunez

3B          Wade Gaynor

SS          Edwin Gomez

RF          Avisail Garcia

CF          Daniel Fields

LF           Alexis Espinoza

DH/OF    Chao-Ting Tang

C            Keith Hernandez

IF           Luis Palacios

IF           Chris Sedon

OF         Jordan Cruz

OF         Luis Salas

OF         Brent Wyatt

SP         Jacob Turner

SP         Ramon Lebron

SP         Luis Angel Sanz

SP         Giovanni Soto

SP         Nate Newman

SP/RP    Brandon Hamilton

RP         Melvin Mercedes

RP         Jade Todd

RP         Austin Wood

RP         Kenny Faulk

RP         Nick Cassavechia

RP         Gary Perinar

RP         Mike LaLuna

RP         Michael Torrealba

Commentary after the jump:

The Lineup: B

There is some good talent on this roster, most of whom are either college hitters who might be a bit old for the league (Murrian, Bishop, Gaynor) or are raw and/or untested youngsters (Fields, Espinoza, Garcia).  Everyone in the lineup does have some upside, and some have considerable upside--particularly Fields and Garcia.

The Bench: C+

Probably a slightly above average bench, but there really isn't anyone to be too excited about.  Palacios, Sedon, and Salas are all pretty young, but none of them have shown much in their past professional experience.

The Rotation: B+

There are some exciting arms in the rotation, including top prospect Jacob Turner.  Soto, Lebron, and Sanz have all shown some good stuff and results in the short season leagues, so it will be interesting to see what they do in full season ball.  Hamilton was a first round pick (supplemental) who hasn't lived up to his potential, but he is only entering his age 21 season.

The Bullpen: C+

Mercedes and Wood will probably be the most interesting names here, though there will probably be some surprises from the other guys.  Most of the bullpen arms will be nothing more than minor league filler, but who knows?

Conclusion:

There should be plenty of exciting story lines in West MI this summer.  Turner is the obvious headliner, with Fields and Garcia also providing plenty of reason to be interested.  In one year, the Tigers' farm system could either be really good or really bad, depending on the performance of the young Whitecaps players.