Ask me about a prospect. (Early July)

[Ruzious]

Since we're discussing a relatively soft-tossing lefty, here's a fun scouting report from 1990 on a then up and coming one:  Tom Glavine scouting report, 1990 July 03 | Digital Collection (baseballhall.org)

Notice what pitch he used when behind in the count:  a fastball away.  He and Maddux lived on (actually a little bit off) the outside corner - getting the umps to stretch the zone.  Lol at his fastball velocity.  

[Aristotelian]

1 hour ago, Ruzious said:

Since we're discussing a relatively soft-tossing lefty, here's a fun scouting report from 1990 on a then up and coming one:  Tom Glavine scouting report, 1990 July 03 | Digital Collection (baseballhall.org)

Notice what pitch he used when behind in the count:  a fastball away.  He and Maddux lived on (actually a little bit off) the outside corner - getting the umps to stretch the zone.  Lol at his fastball velocity.  

Even more LOL that 86 mph was considered 55 velocity back then!

[Pickles]

3 hours ago, Frobby said:

I am a big fan of the command/control guys.   But it’s interesting how sometimes they get to the majors and don’t exhibit the same command/control they were reputed to have in the minors. I’m not sure if it’s nerves, or just the superior ability of major league hitters to lay off pitches out of the zone.

There's a few skill sets I like to see in young players that allow them imo to often outperform their "raw" talent level.  I'm not saying become superstars, but become starting level ML players when that wasn't the label put on them in the minors. One is a young pitcher with COMMAND of multiple pitchers.  Another is a young SS who has the ability to play at the ML level NOW.  Not just a kid with a ton of range and a huge arm, but one with the polish and fundamentals to not just be a projection.

Rom obviously falls into the former category.  I'm starting to get a little excited about Grenier who falls into the latter.

This biggest problem for these command/control guys at the upper levels is they become terrified to throw strikes because they get hammered, so even with all their command, they live six inches OFF the plate, which does them no favors.  It's why physical growth can be so important for them.  E-Rod burst onto the national scene when he got stronger and threw harder.  If Rom can follow a similar path, I believe he has the ability to be a similar kind of pitcher.

[Pickles]

On 7/7/2021 at 8:21 PM, Tony-OH said:

Well I can't lie, Weiters looked like the best player in the minors at his time. His dominance then was unparalled. Erik 
Bedard had the best stuff from a starter stand point. Grayson Rodriguez probably is the best now. 

Rutschman is right up there with Wieters from a prospect stand point of having a chance to be impact in both parts of the game.

I mean to ask about this.

Bedard looked better than Bundy did in Delmarva?

[Tony-OH]

3 minutes ago, Pickles said:

I mean to ask about this.

Bedard looked better than Bundy did in Delmarva?

I'm not talking about one year because if we want to talk about domination you don't get much more dominant than Matt Riley at Delmarva in 1998.

Bundy's velocity kept falling every year in the minor leagues. He never threw as hard as he did in high school when he would sit in the high 90s. By the time he was in Bowie he was good, but not amazing. Bedard had better stuff overall.

[Pickles]

36 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

I'm not talking about one year because if we want to talk about domination you don't get much more dominant than Matt Riley at Delmarva in 1998.

Bundy's velocity kept falling every year in the minor leagues. He never threw as hard as he did in high school when he would sit in the high 90s. By the time he was in Bowie he was good, but not amazing. Bedard had better stuff overall.

Fair enough.

I still remember, and I know several others do too, Bedard's performance against Texas on 7/7/07.  That was an impressive sight.  Bedard looked like what they say Sandy Koufax did.  I can easily imagine remembering this arm.

I just went and looked at his minor league stats.  He averaged over 11 K/9 in the MiLs for the O's back when that would have meant something.

[Ruzious]

On 7/6/2021 at 4:35 PM, Tony-OH said:

Stowers has the best tools and has produced fairly well this year. He's got the most upside for me out of this group.

 

I see what you mean.  He's now hitting even better in Bowie than he did at Aberdeen.  I didn't realize he had this kind of power.  It's exciting to follow the kind of progress he's making this year.  

[Ruzious]

Stowers just gotta cut down on the SO's to be a top prospect?

[Frobby]

7 hours ago, Ruzious said:

Stowers just gotta cut down on the SO's to be a top prospect?

“Just?”

[HowAboutThat]

I looked for a Watkins thread but didn’t find one. He’s got about 11 innings so far and looks like a plugger. Nothing special but gets results. How does he look to you? Can he continue?

[Ruzious]

On 7/10/2021 at 6:39 PM, Frobby said:

“Just?”

I could have sworn I responded to this, but I don't see it.  Anyway, the gist was I'd be happy if he "just" got to the SO rate he had in his other minor league season - roughly 23% of his plate appearances - rather than the 33% rate he's at now.  And he has been showing progress over the last several games.  

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Ruzious said:

I could have sworn I responded to this, but I don't see it.  Anyway, the gist was I'd be happy if he "just" got to the SO rate he had in his other minor league season - roughly 23% of his plate appearances - rather than the 33% rate he's at now.  And he has been showing progress over the last several games.  

Well, I hope he is able to do it.   Generally, players strike out more the higher they get in the minors, as the pitching gets tougher and tougher.   

[Ruzious]

7 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Well, I hope he is able to do it.   Generally, players strike out more the higher they get in the minors, as the pitching gets tougher and tougher.   

It's a normal part of the process.  Batters get better too.  I'm not implying this is anything easy, but it's not like this is an impossible hurdle or anything even close to it.     

[seak05]

Do you have any concerns on how often Adley “barrels” the ball? He rarely swings and misses, but it sometimes seems as if he makes a lot of soft contact.

[Just Regular]

From a few days of really looking at one versus ages at the other, how would you rate Cowser's chance to approach a Markakis level of production?