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Mountcastle makes his debut

Fred Manfraud

By Fred Manfraud
in Minors

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Tony-OH Hangout Grand Counsel

Tony-OH

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Yeah one of those guys is wrong or just has an agenda.

Or a differing opinion based on a different day of seeing a guy. Bat speed in inherently hard to judge for the most part unless a guy has insane bat speed (read: Gary Sheffield) or very slow (most big strong guys who never make it out of A-ball).

Personally, I judge it by how they can get to certain pitches. Turn consistently on good fastballs on the inner part of the plate and you probably have a good bat speed. You can tell a batter is cheating when they totally lose balance on a breaking ball in a fastball count. That usually suggests they are cheating and guy with less than ideal bat speed usually have to cheat to get to good fastballs, especially on the inner half of the plate.

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weams Hangout Grand Counsel

weams

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Or a differing opinion based on a different day of seeing a guy. Bat speed in inherently hard to judge for the most part unless a guy has insane bat speed (read: Gary Sheffield) or very slow (most big strong guys who never make it out of A-ball).

Personally, I judge it by how they can get to certain pitches. Turn consistently on good fastballs on the inner part of the plate and you probably have a good bat speed. You can tell a batter is cheating when they totally lose balance on a breaking ball in a fastball count. That usually suggests they are cheating and guy with less than ideal bat speed usually have to cheat to get to good fastballs, especially on the inner half of the plate.

Good insight. Thanks.

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eb45 Major Leaguer Rising Star

eb45

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I'm only going off pre-draft film, but there is no way Mountcastle has "average" bat speed. Or a "long" stride (though he looks like he changed it before his senior year). He's got a tendency to show some weirdness in his load that has to be cleaned up, but overall I wouldn't call the swing long by any stretch of the imagination.

I'm more inclined to agree with the report that praised his fast hands and flexibility. That's certainly more in line with what I see when I look at his swing. Maybe he's gotten worse in the last six months or maybe the latest scout saw him on a bad day. Either way, I wouldn't sweat it too much.

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Stotle Hangout Grand Counsel

Stotle

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Or a differing opinion based on a different day of seeing a guy. Bat speed in inherently hard to judge for the most part unless a guy has insane bat speed (read: Gary Sheffield) or very slow (most big strong guys who never make it out of A-ball).

Personally, I judge it by how they can get to certain pitches. Turn consistently on good fastballs on the inner part of the plate and you probably have a good bat speed. You can tell a batter is cheating when they totally lose balance on a breaking ball in a fastball count. That usually suggests they are cheating and guy with less than ideal bat speed usually have to cheat to get to good fastballs, especially on the inner half of the plate.

Right. One was viewing Montcastle up close and on video during batting practice last August. The other was viewing from behind home during in-game pro action. I don't think a difference in opinion is that crazy.

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Frobby Hangout Grand Counsel

Frobby

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In Roch's morning post he says that Mountcastle is headed to Aberdeen. Should be interesting to see how he responds to better pitching.

That's pretty exciting. Still 2.5 weeks left in the NY-Penn League Season, enough to get some feel for how Mountcastle makes the adjustment.

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EagleOriole Major Leaguer

EagleOriole

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That's pretty exciting. Still 2.5 weeks left in the NY-Penn League Season, enough to get some feel for how Mountcastle makes the adjustment.

Hoping that he can make the jump to Delmarva. He has 10 errors playing SS this summer, wondering if he will be transitioning to a new position like so many people think is necessary.

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Stotle Hangout Grand Counsel

Stotle

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Hoping that he can make the jump to Delmarva. He has 10 errors playing SS this summer, wondering if he will be transitioning to a new position like so many people think is necessary.

Many believe it *will be* necessary, not that it *is* necessary.

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Frobby Hangout Grand Counsel

Frobby

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Hoping that he can make the jump to Delmarva. He has 10 errors playing SS this summer, wondering if he will be transitioning to a new position like so many people think is necessary.

Taking a quick look at shortstops in the GCL, 10 errors (.942 fielding %) is pretty much par for the course in that league.

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Stotle Hangout Grand Counsel

Stotle

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Yeah. It stands to reason that professional coaching will help his fielding. I'm not saying he'll turn into Ozzie Smith, but I'd expect more consistency from him over time.

Amazingly, I think people tend to give up on, and back whole-heartedly, prospects sticking at high-skill positions way too often.

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