The Forgotten Man

Avila at 3rd.

Yesterday, Baseball America published it's top 20 prospects for the South Atlantic League. The West Virginia Power, a prospect-laden team, landed two players on the list. Outfielder Gregory Polanco came in at #3 and shortstop Alen Hanson came in at #6.  Other West Virginia prospects of note that did not make the list include young hitters Jose Osuna and Willy Garcia, injured bonus baby Josh Bell, and top pitching prospect Nick Kingham.

In fact, those are the six names that are almost always talked about in conversations regarding the West Virginia Power.  Eric Avila rarely gets thrown in to that list.  He's become the forgotten man.

Follow the Figure 8: The D'Arnaud Connection

Imagine a figure 8.  The path it forms is indicative of the D'Arnaud brother's paths in baseball.  At the bottom is the beginning of the figure 8, and it symbolizes the two brothers growing up together in the same household and playing baseball. Then the figure 8 diverges as Travis D'Arnaud did not follow his brother Chase to Pepperdine but instead chose to sign with the Phillies organization out of high school.  Chase was later drafted by Pittsburgh and the two paths begin to bend back in towards each other.  They converged at the center of the 8 as the two brothers had the opportunity to play on the same team as South Atlantic League Northern Division All-Stars. After that, the paths of the brothers diverged again as Travis was traded to the Toronto organization. From there, the figure 8 continued to form as Chase made the major leagues with the Pirates last year, starting the curve back towards the finished top of the figure 8.  Soon, Travis will join his brother in the major leagues and the figure 8 will be complete.