Lowell Spinners update: Manuel Margot, Ty Buttrey, Jamie Callahan

Manuel Margot, CF

Margot's bat awoke from its slumber recently, and he's torn up the short-season New York-Penn League since. In his seven August games -- Margot was placed on the disabled list in late-July with a "lower body injury" -- he has hit .469/.500/.688 with one homer, a triple, and a pair of doubles. He's up to .301/.375/.390 on the year, which doesn't sound all that impressive, but remember these two things: he's 18 years old in a league where the average position player is 21, and that same average player is batting all of .242/.314/.339.

He's drawing walks over 10 percent of the time while limiting strikeouts to around 18 percent, both figures noteworthy in general but more so given his youth and inexperience. He still has work to do, of course, but it seems he's solved short-season leagues enough to earn a jump to Low-A Greenville and full-season ball when spring rolls around.

*****

Ty Buttrey, RHP

Buttrey still isn't striking out many batters, although he did punch out five in a four-inning effort on August 10. It's hard to complain about his results to this point, though: his .282 batting average on balls in play is low for the level, sure, but he's managed quite a few starts with far more ground outs than air outs, and he entered the season without college experience and only five professional innings under his belt, too. It's hard to tell, but given the information available -- no homers allowed, the low hit rate and BABIP, the lack of strikeouts combined with the low ERA -- it seems like Buttrey is doing well locating the ball and getting hitters to chase pitches they can't do much with.

They are just short-season batters, though, so that kind of plan won't work forever, not unless he can start to back it up with some swing-and-miss. Again, though, we're talking about about 50 innings from someone who is just getting going on their pro career -- he's here to learn, both through successes and failures.

*****

Jamie Callahan, RHP

Callahan has been doing work since July started, with 44 innings and a 3.07 ERA in that stretched, powered by 43 strikeouts against just 10 free passes. He's even younger than Buttrey, but 2012's second-round pick has looked like short-season ball is no issue, leaving him, like the others in this week's update, in a position to jump to the Drive at the start of 2014.

There are slight concerns with Callahan at present, as there are with Buttrey. He's heavy on the air outs, which could be a problem in leagues where the opposition has more thump, and he's oddly been nowhere near as effective against his fellow right-handers, instead dominating lefties at the plate while striking out nearly seven times as many as he's walked. It's probably a small sample issue, but it's something to keep an eye on.

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