Friday, July 31, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Wilmington Blue Rocks vs. Lynchburg Hillcats: 7/28&29/09
We headed down to Delaware to see the Wilmington Blue Rocks (Royals A+) face the Lynchburg Hillcats (Pirates A+). The Blue Rocks are especially prospect-laden with 1st round picks Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer anchoring a potent roster with includes 6 of The Royals top 15 Prospects.
Lynchburg:
Jose De Los Santos - The Hillcats lead-off hitter went 5-10 with a run and a stolen base over the two game
series. As a 24 year old in A+, he probably won't amount to much in the big leagues but he showed solid contact skills, and good speed.
Matt Hague - The Pirates 23rd best prospect according to Baseball America, Hague went 2-9 with a stolen base and two strikeouts. He lined out hard and just missed a homerun to dead center but the stolen base isn't really evidence of his speed; the Wilmington catcher was absolutely horrible throwing out runners.
Jeff Locke - The prize of the Nate McLouth trade, pitched a gem took a perfect ga
me into the 6th inning before giving up a homerun which ended up being his only blemish as his final line was 6 inning pitched, 7 strikeouts, 1 hit, 1 earned run, and no walks. He had an excellent 3 pitch mix highlighted by his superb changeup which he would throw in any count. His fastball had good movement but seemed to lack velocity and his curveball had sharp, almost slider-like break at the end, but thrown considerably slower. He had excellent control of all of his pitches and kept almost every hitter off balance.
Wilmington:
Eric Hosmer
- The 3rd overall pick in the 2008 draft went 0-8 with no strikeouts. It was a rough series for Hosmer who grounded out in all but one of his at-bats. On the upside, he is one of the youngest players in the league at only 19 years old, so he has plenty of time to develop into the star that he was touted to be. He made a bunch of excellent plays at first base and should be a perennial gold glove candidate.
Mike Moustakas - The Royals top prospect 3-7 with a homerun and a double. Moustakas
' most noticeable characteristic is his muscular frame, he couples his strength with a nice, compact swing which should allow him to hit for both power and average. Jeff Locke made him look silly in his first at-bat which ended with Moustakas flailing on one knee. He had a top-notch arm from third base and made a few nice defensive plays.
Danny Duffy - After being perfect through the first three innings Duffy fell apart in the fourth and left with an injury. His line ended up at 3.1 innings, 5 hits, 4 earned runs, 1 walk and three strikeouts. Over the first three innings he was absolutely dominant, his fastball sat in low 90's with good movement, his curveball was excellent and sat in the low-to-mid 70's with sharp 12-6 break, and his changeup had nice fade to it and fooled a batter so bad that his bat flew into the the dugout. As a lefty with three potential plus pitches Duffy could be a potential ace, check out the video in the post above above of him striking Matt Hague.
Videos of Moustakas and Hosmer will be available soon.
Lynchburg:
Jose De Los Santos - The Hillcats lead-off hitter went 5-10 with a run and a stolen base over the two game
series. As a 24 year old in A+, he probably won't amount to much in the big leagues but he showed solid contact skills, and good speed.Matt Hague - The Pirates 23rd best prospect according to Baseball America, Hague went 2-9 with a stolen base and two strikeouts. He lined out hard and just missed a homerun to dead center but the stolen base isn't really evidence of his speed; the Wilmington catcher was absolutely horrible throwing out runners.
Jeff Locke - The prize of the Nate McLouth trade, pitched a gem took a perfect ga
me into the 6th inning before giving up a homerun which ended up being his only blemish as his final line was 6 inning pitched, 7 strikeouts, 1 hit, 1 earned run, and no walks. He had an excellent 3 pitch mix highlighted by his superb changeup which he would throw in any count. His fastball had good movement but seemed to lack velocity and his curveball had sharp, almost slider-like break at the end, but thrown considerably slower. He had excellent control of all of his pitches and kept almost every hitter off balance.Wilmington:
Eric Hosmer
- The 3rd overall pick in the 2008 draft went 0-8 with no strikeouts. It was a rough series for Hosmer who grounded out in all but one of his at-bats. On the upside, he is one of the youngest players in the league at only 19 years old, so he has plenty of time to develop into the star that he was touted to be. He made a bunch of excellent plays at first base and should be a perennial gold glove candidate.Mike Moustakas - The Royals top prospect 3-7 with a homerun and a double. Moustakas
' most noticeable characteristic is his muscular frame, he couples his strength with a nice, compact swing which should allow him to hit for both power and average. Jeff Locke made him look silly in his first at-bat which ended with Moustakas flailing on one knee. He had a top-notch arm from third base and made a few nice defensive plays.Danny Duffy - After being perfect through the first three innings Duffy fell apart in the fourth and left with an injury. His line ended up at 3.1 innings, 5 hits, 4 earned runs, 1 walk and three strikeouts. Over the first three innings he was absolutely dominant, his fastball sat in low 90's with good movement, his curveball was excellent and sat in the low-to-mid 70's with sharp 12-6 break, and his changeup had nice fade to it and fooled a batter so bad that his bat flew into the the dugout. As a lefty with three potential plus pitches Duffy could be a potential ace, check out the video in the post above above of him striking Matt Hague.
Videos of Moustakas and Hosmer will be available soon.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Whats New
Hey Everybody!
We are now on Twitter! you can follow us at www.twitter.com/baseballstalker. We'll be at baseball games all day tomorrow (7/29) tweeting away so make sure to check it out.
We've also redone the site a little bit--be sure to check out the prospect videos on the right-hand side.
New game summaries involving top prospects Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, Danny Duffy, Jesus Montero and more should be up by Saturday along with a few new articles next week.
Thanks!
We are now on Twitter! you can follow us at www.twitter.com/baseballstalker. We'll be at baseball games all day tomorrow (7/29) tweeting away so make sure to check it out.
We've also redone the site a little bit--be sure to check out the prospect videos on the right-hand side.
New game summaries involving top prospects Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, Danny Duffy, Jesus Montero and more should be up by Saturday along with a few new articles next week.
Thanks!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Portland Sea Dogs vs. Trenton Thunder: 7/18/09
We decided to go to the game at the last minute on Thursday and missed the first inning, but we were treated to an excellent pitching performance by Junichi Tazawa.
Trenton:
Reegie Corona - The speedy shortstop went 2-4 with a double and made a few nice defensive plays. He has excellent range and a pretty good arm, If he can continue to develop at the plate he could be a solid big leaguer.
Portland:
Junichi Tazawa - Tazawa went 5 innings giving up 5 hits and 1 run while striking out 4 and walking none. His fastball sat between 90-91 mph throughout the game and ramped it up to 93 a few times with good movement. His curve was an absolute gem, sitting around 72-75 mph with excellent depth. He also showed a pretty nice mid-80's splitter, but most impressive, was his feel for pitching, he showed excellent command of his pitches, and 3 out of his strikeouts ended with the batter flailing on one knee.
Josh Reddick - We missed Reddick when we saw Portland earlier in the year as he was on the DL. He didn't disappoint, going 1-3 with a double, two walks, and an RBI, His double banged off of the wall in left center and came excruciatingly close to being a homerun.
Trenton:
Reegie Corona - The speedy shortstop went 2-4 with a double and made a few nice defensive plays. He has excellent range and a pretty good arm, If he can continue to develop at the plate he could be a solid big leaguer.
Portland:
Junichi Tazawa - Tazawa went 5 innings giving up 5 hits and 1 run while striking out 4 and walking none. His fastball sat between 90-91 mph throughout the game and ramped it up to 93 a few times with good movement. His curve was an absolute gem, sitting around 72-75 mph with excellent depth. He also showed a pretty nice mid-80's splitter, but most impressive, was his feel for pitching, he showed excellent command of his pitches, and 3 out of his strikeouts ended with the batter flailing on one knee.
Josh Reddick - We missed Reddick when we saw Portland earlier in the year as he was on the DL. He didn't disappoint, going 1-3 with a double, two walks, and an RBI, His double banged off of the wall in left center and came excruciatingly close to being a homerun.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Eastern League All-Star Game: 7/15/09
Yesterday Clyde and I attended the Eastern League All-Star Game at Waterfront Park in Trenton. After a lackluster Homerun Derby, the actual game was delightful, The Southern Division ended up winning 4-3.
Northern Division:
Rene Tosoni - Coming off a Futures Game appearance where he was awarded MVP honors over the weekend, Tosoni a disappointing game a the plate going 0-4 with a walk a run scored, and a strikeout.
Lars Anderson - B
oston's top prospect played the second half of the game going 0-2 with a strikeout. He looked uncomfortable both in the Homerun derby (where he hit only 1 homerun) and during the game where he seemed off-balance a lot. He smoked a ball that would have been a double if not for an excellent defensive play by the center fielder.
Jesus Montero - Montero who was an injury replacement, played the second half of the game and showed that despite only being 19 years old he could handle the best that AA had
to offer, going 2-2, with one of his hits being of the infield variety. He runs very well for his size and appears athletic. Unfortunately, he still looked very poor defensively, runners were a perfect 4-4 in stolen base attempts against him in only 4 innings behind the plate.
Most of his throwing problems seem to stem from a varying arm angle, sometimes he correctly cocks his arm behind his head before releasing the ball, generally resulting in a good throw. Other times he almost seems to wind-mill the ball to second base, usually resulting in the ball bouncing before it reaches the second baseman or flying into the outfield. I don't think his throwing troubles are due to lack of talent, just inconsistency.
Zach McAllister - The starter for the North, McAllister pitched 1 inning and gave up 1 hit. He seemed to command his pitches well, and breezed through the inning.
Southern Division:
Miguel Abreu - The All-Star Game MVP went 2-4 with 2 stolen bases and 2 runs. He ran very well and also got excellent jumps on his stolen bases He also made two nice defensive plays at second base. There have been some questions about his plate discipline and he's old for his level at age 24 but contact skills and speed could get him to the big leagues.
Carlos Santana - Santana went 0-1 and got hit by a pitch in his only two plate appearances of the game. He showed off some pop in the homerun derby hitting his only two homeruns well out of the stadium.
Nick Weglarz - Weglarz went 0-2 with a stolen base and fielder's choice. He showed off better speed than I expected; he will never much of a regular base stealing threat but he's certainly not a base-clogger.
Michael Taylor - The first thing I noticed about Taylor is that he's absolutely jacked, but despite all of his muscle mass, he still runs well--similar to Elijah Dukes. Taylor went 1-4 with a walk and a strikeout. He hit a long fly ball his first time up which brought the left fielder all the way back to the warning track.
Beau Mills - Of all of the players, I was most excited to see Mills who hit a monster shot last time he was in Trenton. It's a shame he wasn't in the Homerun Derby as I believe he would have won easily. Mills ended up going 1-4 with a walk and a strikeout, he was also caught stealing.
Joe Savery - The Southern Division starter matched his counterpart in McAllister giving up 1 hit over 1 inning. Unlike McAllister, Savery flashed a disgusting changeup a few difference times. His commanded appeared to be solid and his fastball looked strong.
Northern Division:
Rene Tosoni - Coming off a Futures Game appearance where he was awarded MVP honors over the weekend, Tosoni a disappointing game a the plate going 0-4 with a walk a run scored, and a strikeout.
Lars Anderson - B
oston's top prospect played the second half of the game going 0-2 with a strikeout. He looked uncomfortable both in the Homerun derby (where he hit only 1 homerun) and during the game where he seemed off-balance a lot. He smoked a ball that would have been a double if not for an excellent defensive play by the center fielder.Jesus Montero - Montero who was an injury replacement, played the second half of the game and showed that despite only being 19 years old he could handle the best that AA had
to offer, going 2-2, with one of his hits being of the infield variety. He runs very well for his size and appears athletic. Unfortunately, he still looked very poor defensively, runners were a perfect 4-4 in stolen base attempts against him in only 4 innings behind the plate.Most of his throwing problems seem to stem from a varying arm angle, sometimes he correctly cocks his arm behind his head before releasing the ball, generally resulting in a good throw. Other times he almost seems to wind-mill the ball to second base, usually resulting in the ball bouncing before it reaches the second baseman or flying into the outfield. I don't think his throwing troubles are due to lack of talent, just inconsistency.
Zach McAllister - The starter for the North, McAllister pitched 1 inning and gave up 1 hit. He seemed to command his pitches well, and breezed through the inning.
Southern Division:
Miguel Abreu - The All-Star Game MVP went 2-4 with 2 stolen bases and 2 runs. He ran very well and also got excellent jumps on his stolen bases He also made two nice defensive plays at second base. There have been some questions about his plate discipline and he's old for his level at age 24 but contact skills and speed could get him to the big leagues.
Carlos Santana - Santana went 0-1 and got hit by a pitch in his only two plate appearances of the game. He showed off some pop in the homerun derby hitting his only two homeruns well out of the stadium.
Nick Weglarz - Weglarz went 0-2 with a stolen base and fielder's choice. He showed off better speed than I expected; he will never much of a regular base stealing threat but he's certainly not a base-clogger.
Michael Taylor - The first thing I noticed about Taylor is that he's absolutely jacked, but despite all of his muscle mass, he still runs well--similar to Elijah Dukes. Taylor went 1-4 with a walk and a strikeout. He hit a long fly ball his first time up which brought the left fielder all the way back to the warning track.
Beau Mills - Of all of the players, I was most excited to see Mills who hit a monster shot last time he was in Trenton. It's a shame he wasn't in the Homerun Derby as I believe he would have won easily. Mills ended up going 1-4 with a walk and a strikeout, he was also caught stealing.
Joe Savery - The Southern Division starter matched his counterpart in McAllister giving up 1 hit over 1 inning. Unlike McAllister, Savery flashed a disgusting changeup a few difference times. His commanded appeared to be solid and his fastball looked strong.
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