Jason may be taking a break from Prospect Insider — but he’s still got his gig at the P-I. This week’s Farm Report discusses one of my two favorite prospects in the Mariners’ system: Adam Moore.

Here’s some food for thought — where does Adam rank amongst the M’s current catching prospects, especially now with Clement in the bigs and Johnson only finding hits when I’m shooting photos in Cheney.  Here’s Jason’s take on this in the Farm Report:

Rare in baseball is a catcher with an above-average bat. Moore’s abilities in the batter’s box could thrust him past Clement and Johnson on the Mariners depth chart, perhaps pushing both to other positions.

As much as I’m a fan of upper-tier prospects like Clement, Triunfel, Aumont, etc., I’ve always been a bigger fan of the under-the-radar prospects that don’t get a lot of press.  First it was George Sherrill, and recently it’s been Austin Bibens-Dirkx and Adam Moore.  I don’t think Adam’s going to fly under the radar much longer.

Well, dang — I’ve rambled on long enough. You don’t come here to listen to me — go read Jason’s Farm Report on Adam Moore in the P-I.

Photo by Mike Andruski

Let’s get right into this - you’ll figure out what I mean by ’speed scouting’ without much trouble.

Kyle Parker, RHP (for slack, sorry it took so long)

Parker employs solid stuff, not overpowering, but with a fastball in the 88-90 range, touching 91 or 92 on his good days, and an above-average curve ball, and his plus command is paying dividends in a tough league in which to pitch.

His heater has decent movement and he’s able to spot it on both sides of the plate, which can get a pitcher outs all by itself.

Parker, a UW product, has prototypical size at 6-3 and 205,  and brings a mature approach to the mound. His changeup is improving weekly and he’ll see time in Double-A West Tennessee at some point this season, if he’s not thrown off course.

Greg Halman, CF

Halman is the best pure athlete in the entire system, but he’s still striking out far too often (39), walking far too seldom (9) and isn’t making progress in those areas, at least statistically.

He has big time power and good bat speed, but his swing, while quick enough to the ball, is fairly busy and he has balance issues at times because of it. For me, I need to see something tangible that shows he’s improved or my regard for him as a prospect won’t remain.

But he won’t be 21 until later this summer and is otherwise having a solid season. I still think in the big leagues he ends up in a corner outfield spot, but he continues to play a decent center down in High Desert. Oh, and look, he just hit his sixth home run of the year to give the Mavs a 2-0 lead.

Austin Bibens-Dirkx, RHP

Bibens-Dirkx is recovering from a rather invasive surgical procedure (last offseason) that included removing bone spurs in his throwing elbow. Since his elbow started bothering him early last season, he’s been sitting in the upper 80s more often than he had before.

His numbers last season were solid, sans the walks, but considering he was fighting through the pain and the California League, it’s a miracle his ERA was under 10, let alone four.

This season he’s still battling some soreness, but the club has backed off most of their mechanical changes, finally, and Austin returned from the DL last week after spending that time revamping those mechanics.

Bibens-Dirkx, when healthy, will sit in the low-90s (he’ll claim he can go 92-94, touching 95, but I’ll believe it when I see it) with good movement, with a solid slider and a changeup that he loves to throw these days.

Ryan Feierabend, LHP

I’ve seen Feierabend twice this year, and half of another start (I stayed into the fourth inning), and I haven’t seen anything different about Feierabend’s stuff that he didn’t show last year in Tacoma.

The difference, according to one scout, is that he appears to have a gameplan and is executing it every time out. He’s missing bats with his curve ball and changeup and his 87-89 mph fastbal, while down from his velocity maxes from ‘06 of 90-93, is steady.

His command has been very good as well. Feierabend can pitch in the big leagues if he repeats these performances, probably as a No. 4-5 guy in the AL, and holds a little bit of trade value, specifically to an NL team, namely the Cincinnati Griffeys. (read between the lines)

This week’s farm report is on right-hander Juan Ramirez.

Ramirez has been stellar, pretty much since the first day he stepped on the field last year in Everett.

Here’s an excerpt:

Ramirez may not be in the Midwest League for long if the club’s recent track record of pushing young talent plays out again in 2008.

“Not if he pitches like he has been, no way,” the AL scout said of Ramirez’s chances of pitching most of the season with the Timber Rattlers.

Now that the Jeff Clement and Wladimir Balentien are in the big leagues, seemingly for the long haul, what should be expected of them?

Click Here for the scouting report on Clement, as seen in the 2008 Prospect Insider Handbook, and Click Here for the scouting report on Balentien.

Not stardom, at least not this year. While neither is necessarily raw, they are inexperienced at the Major League level and will need several hundred at-bats to become acclimated.

By acclimated, I really mean that both Clement and Balentien will need to go around the block a few times, be forced to make adjustments as pitchers adjust to them as hitters, and be able to sustain strong performances.

But as far as 2008 goes, I expect a lot of ups and downs from Balentien, with several multiple strikeout games to go with his good power.

He’ll play solid defense and won’t clog up the base paths. He may steal a bag on occasion, too.

Defensively, Clement is still going to show areas where he’s below average, but he’s not going to catch much anyway.

With the bat, Clement is a good fit for Safeco Field with good pull power and has been better using the rest of the field since the second half of last season. That progress may allow him to hit for a little more average than originally thought.

Clement is much more selective at the plate than is Wlad, but will also pile up his share of strikeouts.  Clement fanned just 12 times in his stay in Triple-A, perhaps serving as evidence that when he’s locked in his plate skills are good enough to produce much better contact rates than was previously scouted.

2008 Projections:

Jeff Clement - .270/.330/.450
Wladimir Balentien - .250/.300/.420

It doesn’t appear that Michael Saunders (No. 5 in the PI Handbook) is going to be promoted to replace Balentien in Tacoma’s outfield and it’s also probably too early for Adam Moore (No. 8 in the Prospect Handbook) to take Clement’s spot as Rob Johnson’s catching partner.

Erick Monzon has already arrived in Tacoma to take up one of the vacated roster spots. No word as of Wednesday night who the other catcher is going to be, but the smart money is on Moore or organizational backstop Luis Oliveros

To get more scouting reports on Saunders, Moore and the rest of the top prospects in the Mariners farm system, Download the 2008 Prospect Insider Handbook Here.