Rays Scout Honored

The Topps Company has included Rays scout Fred Repke in a 2009 trading card set. A total of eight scouts are featured in the set, paired with a star player they signed. Repke will be paired with Evan Longoria.

The Durham Bulls have promoted Chris Overby: "The Durham Bulls today introduced Chris Overby as the new Director of Corporate Partnerships. Chris Overby will manage the development of the Bulls sales staff and oversee client partnerships in the sponsorship and ticket departments. "Chris has been a real asset in his five seasons with the Durham Bulls," Assistant General Manager Jon Bishop said, "The Director of Corporate Partnerships role plays to Chris' strengths of relationship development and his ability to coach and lead a sales staff.""

Finally, Jim Callis had this to say about David Price when asked to compare him to Madison Bumgarner: "Bumgarner is a tremendous prospect with huge upside, but Price is on another level. He's a once-in-a-generation pitching prospect whose stuff, polish and makeup combine to make him as can't-miss as a pitcher can be. I can't remember a lefthanded pitching prospect as good as Price in the 20 years I've been covering baseball—Brien Taylor wasn't nearly this refined—and he has to be the best going to back at least as far as Floyd Bannister, the No. 1 overall pick in the 1976 draft.

Bumgarner and Price have comparable fastballs. Both throw in the mid-90s with excellent life and command. Price, who's four years older, separates himself with his secondary pitches. The Red Sox looked helpless against Price's upper-80s slider in the playoffs, and while Bumgarner made a lot of strides with his slider last year, it's not as consistently devastating. Neither has needed to rely on a changeup much to this point in their careers, though Price's has more deception and fade.

Bumgarner has the potential to be a No. 1 starter. Price's career still has to unfold, but reaching the Hall of Fame seems like a reasonable goal."