"When Russ Adams was drafted I said he was another Mike Gallego, well Ahrens has been compared to Chipper Jones and guess what -- that may be low," said one scout, who seldom is free with praise.

"(Ahrens) has all the indicators for future offensive success. We'll start him out at short, but he probably ends up at third down the road," Lalonde said. "He has enough arm to play anywhere. We targeted him from before the season. He's a switch-hitter with power from both sides. He only has been switch-hitting a year. If you didn't know, you would think he always had hit left-handed.

"His hands are good but his footwork needs to be cleaned up," the scouting director said. "His arm strength isn't a question. At the plate he has plus-power, wood-bat power. He had a back problem so he was late getting going. That's why he didn't go earlier. If he had the year we expected, he doesn't get to 16th, let alone 21st."

Arencibia said it was his upper butt muscle, not his back which sidelined him earlier. "It hampered me at the beginning and affected the way I played. After I got healthy and had some games under my belt, the last 20 games I hit something like .440," he said. "I played the way I was capable of playing. It didn't bother me to catch."

Looking at his Tennessee profile it says that  he "hit .459 during Tennessee's final 15 games of the season."

"I know I can catch. I caught all the best pitchers on (Team U.S.A.) and they all said they always wanted to pitch to me. I think people saw me at the beginning of the year and I admit I wasn't playing that well then, but people know me and what I'm capable of. This (reports on his catching) just makes me want to work harder to prove them wrong."

Friday - McGowan vs. Penny
Saturday - Marcum vs. Lowe
Sunday - Halladay vs. Schmidt