I posted this in the comments at athleticsminors.com and wanted to subsequently offer it here to anyone interested in some of my (not professional scout worthy) impressions of some of the A's best prospects at play in Visalia last night.

I went to the Stockton-Visalia game last night and came away with some impressions.

Daric Barton, despite his 0 for 5, still looked like the best hitter up there. His K in the first inning was on two questionable calls 3-1 and 3-2, he hit a 380 ft out, and hit two hard ground balls at second.

He looks like he doesn't know what to do with himself when he is DHing, he kept on sneaking looks to the pen when there was warming up going on in the middle innings. During warmups when the rest of his team was playing catch, he was holding his glove and half-heartedly stretching.  He looked like a guy who couldn't find any friend to play with and always seems to be checking out our pitcher warm-ups.
He has huge thighs and a wicked swing, he'll be fine.

Suzuki is tiny. He hit his homer on a 2 strike off speed pitch, adjusting well. He fouled off a ton of nasty 2 strike pitches during the night. At least several times during the game and warm-ups he brushed off the coaching staff, wanting to be the one to be in control of communication with the pitchers. He got dinged up a couple of times and one hopes that his body wil hold up to the rigors of catching. He has great flexibility in his crouch and has great mechanics getting his throw off. he hurried it a couple of times during this game and gave up some accuracy.

Putnam can clearly hit, the ball jumped off his bat. His arm is playable but no better than that. His instincts in OF are very good, he caught some line drives at tough angles by getting good breaks. He and Robnett were inseperable the whole day and game (they have the same birthday even). He has that special swagger.

Robnett was hardest to get a read on. He loves to show off his arm. His swing looked like a work in progress, sometimes short, sometimes long. He laughs a lot, and is short but ripped out. I'll have to watch him more to have more of an impression.

other short takes:
Vasili Spanos can hit. He is huge and looks more like a mafioso than a ballplayer, but he has control of his swing. he runs the bases well enough, though he looks more like a 1B than a 3B.

Francis Gomez has a great arm, swagger (from displacing McCurdy?), and some hitting skills. Was hard to get much of a swing sense form him.

Majewski is stressed about his hitting clearly. He was practicing his swing in the outfield during warm-ups and was seemingly taking his outs harder than the other players.

McCurdy has the look of a baseball player, commanding presence with his team-mates and all, but I saw nothing in his swing to make me think he might someday turn it around.

Appert is a scrappy 2B who plays well but is instantly forgettable, even after he just scores.