It’s mid-season already. Geez, where did the time go?

As the Major League All-Star Break nears, the minor league affiliates are at the halfway point here at the end of June, which means it’s time to take a look at where the top talents in the system are now, versus at the beginning of the season - as well as everywhere in between.

If you haven’t heard by now, Adam Jones is really good and clearly Major League ready. He’s taken another step or two toward his ceiling potential, and should be roaming the outfield at Safeco Field already. Jones has proven - again - that he’s got nothing left to prove in Triple-A Tacoma.

Even after a mild slump where the 21-year-old is just two for his last 20, Jones is hitting .309/.380/.574 with 17 homers, 58 RBI, 20 doubles and four triples. What’s more, the former first round draft pick has gone more than one game without a hit just once this season, and that occurred in Sacramento last week when Jones left the second game of the drought with just two at-bats after slamming into the outfield wall.

Jones is hitting .303/.381/.564 versus RHPs, .325/.379/.600 versus lefties, .288/.351/.510 at home and .331/.410/.641 on the road.

That’s consistency, my friends, and that’s what clubs look for in prospects. His plus bat speed, baseball IQ and defensive improvement have Jones on the cusp of his destiny to become the next all-star center fielder in Seattle.

Showtime isn’t the only bat turning heads in T-town, however, as Wladimir Balentien’s prowess as power hitter has morphed into an ability to sustain a solid approach and better plate discipline than he’s ever shown.

Without going into too much detail at this point in the season, we’ll leave all that for the comments area and the offseason rankings, here are the Top Mariners Prospects, both on the mound and at the plate.

Note: Any player who does not profile with a potential Major League future will not be mentioned, though there may be a few left off the list that do have the potential to reach the big leagues and provide a useful service to the parent club. The following are not ranked in any order; position listed in projected ML defensive position.

Catcher Adam Moore and infielder Anthony Phillips are interesting players that haven’t received much pub yet, while nobody has even seen Mario Martinez play — until now. I got about 10 minutes of video on him earlier this week and I really, really like what I see. And though all reports had him as an outfielder, his days as a shortstop are not over. The Mariners think he might be able to stick. If not, he has the athleticism to play center field and the arm to play third base or right field.

His bat, well, we’ll have to wait and see, but all the tools are there. He’s got a lot of natural ability.

Moore, seen left and below at right, reminds me of Michael Barrett a bit offensively, which isn’t bad at all, and the pitchers really like working with him. Roger Hansen thinks he’s got a chance to catch at the big-league level if he continues to improve at his current rate.

The Mariners have catching depth, and let’s not forget that Rob Johnson is a legit defensive catcher and his bat is believable, despite the gap power remaining MIA for the most part. But it’s in there and he’s improved exponentially since the end of 2006.

If Greg Halman could draw a walk at a decent rate and cut the strikeouts, he’d be an elite prospect. The 20-year-old might be the best athlete in the entire system and his play in center field is promising.

On the pitching side, Kam Mickolio, all 6-9 and 260 pounds of him, has found a groove in his mechanics and his velo has risen to the low-to-mid 90s with sink and tail. He could see time in Seattle this summer, far ahead of schedule. Give the Mariners credit for pushing the right-hander to AA to start the year. he was clearly ready for the challenge.

Austin Bibens-Dirkx owns a 3.32 ERA heading into Friday night’s game. Um, hello, is anyone in Seattle listening? The dude has a 3.32 ERA in the friggin’ California League… his home park in High Desert! Anyone? Bueller?

Someone get him out of there before he asks to play shortstop so he can hit .350 with power.

Photo Credits -

Wlad Balentien: Paul Marsh at paulmphotography.com

Adam Moore x 2: Mike Andruski

When the 2007 season started the top prospects in baseball were names such as Phillips Hughes of the New York Yankees, Alex Gordon of the Kansas City Royals, Delmon Young of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Justin Upton of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

These were the elite names in minor league baseball.

Young, a five-tool rightfielder, was the only one of the above group to have tasted the major leagues prior to this past April, but two of the remaining three were expected to make their big-league debuts, as were fellow top talents such as Brandon Wood of the Los Angeles Angels, Homer Bailey of the Cincinnati Reds, Troy Tulowitzki of the Colorado Rockies, Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers and Detroit Tigers left-hander Andrew Miller.

Not enough for ya?

How about adding the likes of Lincecum, Gallardo, Pelfrey, Butler, Garza, another Miller and another Young.

How’s that? Okay, here are a few more…

Bruce, Longoria, Maybin, Breignac, Gonzalez, Martinez, LaRoche, Kershaw…

Pretty good, eh?

Yeah, that’s a fine few dozen or so talents that will surely headline the league over the next 10 years. But there’s a name missing.

Adam Jones.

Mariners center fielder Adam Jones not only belongs in that group, he belongs in the top half of the aforementioned top prospects in all of baseball. He’s polished off his skillset with fluency and strength, and is primed and ready to morph those actions into a long, all-star caliber career in Major League Baseball.

When Jones was drafted 37th overall in the 2003 draft, he was earmarked as one of two types of talents. Most scouts and crosscheckers - including two current GMs that have a great reputation for evaluating talent - saw him as a toolsy athlete with a lot of risk who might be better suited on the mound, where he’s been clocked as high as 95 miles per hour.

Even after his first season and a half in pro ball, many in the game were crooning Jones’ transition to pitching as if it were inevitable, despite a decent offensive showing as a teenager in A ball.

Nothing like the smartest people in baseball eating crow, huh? Because, yeah, that’s exactly what they’re doing right now… choking down some scavenger bird due to the development of one Adam Jones.

No, he’s not the elite, premium prospect that Ken Griffey, Jr. was in 1989, or equal to the likes of Alex Rodriguez in 1995, but the 21-year-old has blossomed into a plus offensive talent at a premium defensive position that he’s handling quite well.

In a memo to GM Bill Bavasi, manager Mike Hargrove and whoever else is required to sign off on the subsequent moves that land the club’s top prospect in the big leagues, where he’d be, at worst, the fourth best player on the roster, I steal a line from Mr. Starsky:

Do it!.

It’s time. Turn the page on the veteran leadership bull, Mike. Forget how bad your manager prefers that veteran crap, Bill. Give the front office the support they deserve, Howard Lincoln, to do the right thing and not feel the sting of your wrath, just because you don’t understand.

Adam Jones is a Major League Baseball player. But because the Seattle Mairners aren’t an intelligent organization, he’s abusing the Pacific Coast League instead of helping the parent club contend in the American League West.

It seems like it’s been a thousand days since I’ve sat here at Everett Memorial Stadium to take a look at the Everett AquaSox, even though it’s only been a year, but here I am.

I’m sure most of you have seen the roster by now, but don’t get too excited or disappointed by what you see, as the turnover for this club is going to be unbelievable over the next few days and weeks as draft picks begin to sign and get situated at a quicker pace.

As for who’s here now, there aren’t but a few interesting and legitimate prospects on the entire roster and most of them are pitchers, which is both good and bad.

The headliner is right-hander Juan Ramirez, who brings the heat in the low-to-mid 90s and showed the ability to keep the ball down with his fastball in the Venezuelan Summer League last season.  Ramirez is a native of Nicaragua and was signed two years ago.

The reward on a kid like Ramirez is pretty high and now that he’s in the states and pitching for an affiliated club, he’ll make his debut on the PI Top 10, somewhere in the middle, likely in the range of Chris Tillman, but probably behind top draft pick Phillipe Aumont.

Ramirez won’t be 19 years old until August and stands 6-3 and weighs in at about 175, according to the listings, but he looks like he’s put on a little weight - in a good way - since the day he weighed in.

Ramirez is a bit of strikeout pitcher, fanning 56 in 65 innings in the VSL in ‘06, but has had control problems that raise a red flag.  Okay, not a red flag, but a pink or something.

Doug Salinas, another 18-year-old, sits in the 88-91 mph range and has shown good mound presence in his days in the rookie league.  His future may be in the bullpen, but he has solid stuff at this stage of his development and has a prototypical pitcher’s build at 6-3, 195.

Perhaps the most compelling story on the roster, save the disasterous trek by ‘04 6th rounder Jermaine Brock, is Nick Hill, the Mariners’ 7th round pick earlier this month.  Hill is an Army cadet who was drafted a year ago by the Boston Red Sox but was not allowed to sign due to his commitment to service in the US Military.

But Hill was given special permission to pursue a career in baseball and the M’s snagged the left-hander with the 225th overall selection.  The 22-year-old sits in the high-80s with his four-seamer and also uses a decent curve and change-up.

Edward Paredes is a sleeper arm to follow, and he may not stay too long in Everett.  The left-hander is slight of build at 6-feet and 160 pounds but brings it up to 90 mph at the age of 20.  The Dominican native tossed five shutout frames in relief for Triple-A Tacoma earlier this season, fanning five and not allowing a hit.

Offensively, there isn’t much to watch prospect wise, but Pimentel Manelik is back for his second tour of duty with the Sox.  The 22-year-old led the club with 10 homers and 42 RBI last season.

Greg Halman is back, demoted after struggling so mightily in Wisconsin despite plus bat speed and tremendous athleticism.  Halman LOOKS like Chris B. Young of the D-Backs, but has the pitch recognition of a sleepy Stevie Wonder and the plate discipline of the one and only Dave Softy Mahler.

Kalian Sams is also here, a big 210-pounder with a big swing.  He may put up a nice IsoP, but the rest of his game needs work.

Edilio Colina might be the most intriguing talent that will get playing time regularly.  He’s just 18, 6-feet-2 and 170 pounds.  He’s played second, short and third but his future isn’t likely at shortstop.  If his bat does the job, he profiles best at the hot corner, but he has the athleticism to play second.

He’s a right-handed hitter and got a little experience earlier in the season with High Desert as a fill-in, hitting just .213 but drawing four walks against one strikeout.

Sandwich pick Matt Mangini is likely to join this group soon, if the Mariners don’t freak out and get uber-aggressive with him, e.g. the Cal League.

Adam Jones has done everything the Seattle Mariners could have asked him to do this season. Seriously, if Bill Bavasi, Bob Fontaine, Frank Mattox, Greg Hunter, Mike Hargrove, Alonzo Powell, Terry Pollreisz and Lee Pelekoudas all sat in a room and got greedy with what they wanted to see Jones do in 2007, that list would have check marks in every box, and some of them would have several.

The 21-year-old entered play Thursday night versus Tucson hitting .327 with 15 home runs and 52 RBI and a .997 OPS, including a .442, 6 HR, 1.367 line in June. He’s gone above and beyond what every scout and personnel executive thought he could when the Mariners drafted him four seasons ago.

He’s showing more power than I expected to see and with the exception of some strikeout totals that are somewhat worrysome, he’s covering the plate, hitting the tar out of everything - fastball, sliders, change-ups, whatever - and his defense is cruising past Major League average and toward being a plus part of his game.

So, the question is… What in the world do the Seattle Mariners do with him?

See Poll at Right to Vote.

Discuss Below.