Mark Dolenc and the New Britain outfield

Mark Dolenc in
his MSU days.

Mark Dolenc, who played his college ball at Minnesota State and was drafted by the Twins in the 15th round in 2006, was released this week. He was in his third season at Double A New Britain, was hitting a mere .168/.203/.204, and had struck out 40 times in 120 plate appearances. At age 27, he simply was no longer even a marginal prospect.

He was released to make room on the roster for Oswaldo Arcia, who was moved up from High A Fort Myers having hit .307/.376/.517 in a difficult hitting environment.

Arcia just turned 21 last month, but he's already on the 40-man roster, a status Dolenc never achieved, having made his debut in the Twins system at age 17.

Oswald Arcia has
hit at each level on
his risue up the ladder.

It's an interesting collection of outfielders on the New Britain roster at the moment. On their way up are Arcia, who is clearly a good prospect and Aaron Hicks, their first-round pick from 2008, who has not developed as rapidly as hoped but still regarded as a good prospect. And there are Joe Benson (on the disabled list) and Rene Tosoni, each of whom got some major league time last year, each of whom opened the season at Triple A and got demoted to Double A after hitting under .200 at Rochester, each of whom has had injury problems. And there's Evan Bigley, who is ... not as touted as any of the other four.

The Twins are noted for their patience with prospects, so I hardly expect them to pull the plug on Benson and Tosoni. But the two outfielders clearly have not enhanced their status this season, and Arcia certainly has.