Prospect Pipeline

In their quest to remain in the American League wild-card race, the Kansas City Royals are promoting right-hander Yordano Ventura, who was ranked as the No. 33 prospect in baseball in Mike Rosenbaum's midseason top 50, to start Tuesday night's game against division rival Cleveland Indians. 

With the Double- and Triple-A playoffs nearing completion, there’s a chance there will be one final wave of call-ups before the end of the season.

The Minor League Baseball season is almost over.

For those prospects in the complex and rookie leagues, the season actually has been over for about a week. Meanwhile, the postseason schedules for the Short Season, Low- and High-A leagues have either already concluded or are entering the final round.

As for the Double- and Triple-A levels, well, each league’s respective championship round is set to unfold over the upcoming week and will inevitably feature standout performances from some of the game’s best young talent.

Giancarlo Stanton possesses the most raw power of any player in the game. However, he may have some competition at this time next season.

Already on the fast track to the major leagues, Miguel Sano is racing through the Minnesota Twins’ system and putting up big numbers along the way.

The expansion of the active roster from 25 to 40 players on September 1 means something different to every team. 

For clubs hoping to retain a lead in the standings or make one last run at the postseason, it’s essentially an opportunity to address deficiencies by handpicking the top talent from within the organization. 

Meanwhile, teams that have already thrown in the towel for the season have the freedom to experiment with the lineup and audition younger players.

September is an exciting month in Major League Baseball. There are playoff races, MVP battles, Cy Young matchups. An underrated but nonetheless important aspect of the final month is the expansion of rosters and prospects being called up. 

We have already seen a flurry of top-prospect activity in recent weeks, dating back to Tampa Bay calling up Wil Myers to the Red Sox surprising a lot of people by bringing up Xander Bogaerts for the stretch run. 

The term "untradeable" gets used too often in Major League Baseball, especially when it comes to prospects. Anyone can be dealt at any time for the right price, but how many teams are willing to pay that toll?

As much as fans like to throw out trade proposals where their favorite team sends a package of players who are decent big leaguers to a team with an elite prospect to rebuild their franchise, that's not how things work. 

With the July 31 trade deadline edging closer every day, trade talks have begun to heat up as teams prepare to address their needs for the second half of the 2013 season and beyond.

The 2013 first-year player draft signing deadline expired at 5 p.m. ET on Friday and was just as uneventful as expected.

A pair of Dodgers prospects highlights this week’s installment of the hottest pitchers in the minor leagues.