As Scott Lucas pointed out in this morning's NMLR report, Taylor Teagarden caught the whole game for Bakersfield last night and threw out a couple of runners trying to steal. This would suggest that he's making good progress in returning from his elbow problem, despite missing some time earlier with some residual soreness.
What has to get you fired up, though, his what he's continuing to do with the bat...
Teagarden is hitting .339/.494/.686 in the Cal League right now. He has an OPS of 1099 in April, 1199 in May, and 1300 in June. He has a 1744 OPS against lefties, and a 1039 OPS against righthanders. He is at 1215 OPS at home, 1136 OPS on the road. Every split you can find has Teagarden with an OPS over 1000.
And this is after a .281/.426/.635 line in the Northwest League in 2005. And with a guy who, coming out of college, was considered to be major-league-ready defensively, with the questions being whether he'd hit enough.
If Teagarden stays healthy, I think there's no question he cracks the top 100 lists this offseason, and I wouldn't be shocked if he shows up in some top 20 lists...