Every Thursday, Minor Matters will unveil its Top 10 opposing players for the 2011 season. Yes, the Thunder are clearly the most interesting topic on this blog, but wouldn't be nice to hear about the next Matt Wieters, Carlos Santana or Stephen Strasburg to come through the Eastern League. Yeah, I thought so too.

No. 3 - Nick Hagadone

Bio: Hagadone was one of the pieces the Red Sox sent to the Indians in the trade for Victor Martinez. He's an imposing, hard-throwing left-hander who could be top shelf either as a starter or a closer. With his injury history though, the latter role seems more likely.

2010: Between Kinston and Akron, Hagadone went 3-5 with a 3.57 ERA in 29 appearances -- 17 starts -- spanning 85 2/3 innings. He allowed 72 hits, held opponents to a .226 batting average, but issued 63 walks against 89 strikeouts.

What People Are Saying:

"The big question for Hagadone is not about his talent. He absolutely has the stuff to succeed at the big-league level. The question is about his role. I'm believe that organizations should attempt to develop their best arms as starters because they can be moved to the bullpen at a later time if necessary. But in this case, Hagadone has the look of a potentially dominant reliever at the back of a bullpen."-- Frankie Piliere, AOL Fanhouse

"If he stays healthy, Hagadone has closer potential, with one scout calling him "Billy Wagner but with the body you'd expect from a guy with that kind of stuff."
-- Kevin Goldstein, Baseball Prospectus

When You Can See Him: Hagadone and the Aeros come in just once, from August 2nd-4th.