2nd round pick - Mychel Givens - SS - HS

[allstar1579]

Greg ranked this guy 48th on his list.

Interesting that he was a SS and the Orioles are drafting him as a pitcher.

Be interesting to here more about him.

He dropped a bit in the rankings because teams are split on whether he's better as a relief pitcher or a SS. No doubt that he will need some more work as a SS before he makes it up, but he's a HS kid anyway, so we won't be seeing him until 2014 anyway.

I wouldn't really call him toolsy unless you are talking about his arm, that is his one real plus tool. He's good defensively, the arm makes up for any unsure footwork, his bat I'm not entirely sold on, but could develop to above average. I think he's got a little pop in there, but when it's all said and done I think we are looking at a possible Juan Uribe.

[RustyMcNail]

I can't see the clip here at work, but it seems to me that there used to be a lot more true sidearmers. Kent Tekulve used to throw more sidearm than submarine. I'll try to think of some others, may have to go back to the Neyer/James guide tonight.

Dick Hyde is one guy who comes to mind.

[Moose Milligan]

I can't see the clip here at work, but it seems to me that there used to be a lot more true sidearmers. Kent Tekulve used to throw more sidearm than submarine. I'll try to think of some others, may have to go back to the Neyer/James guide tonight.

In addition, many, many pitchers used to vary their arm angle on a pitch-by-pitch basis. Orlando Hernandez is one of the few who've done that recently. Another side effect of professionalizing and standardizing the game to try and reduce injury and risk.

It's a clip of Walter Johnson. I always found his motion so effortless and fluid, and it amazed me that he could hurl a ball as fast as anyone.

Good call on Tekulve and El Duque. But when you get home, check out the clip, Givens almost seems to be doing an impersonation of Johnson.

[DrungoHazewood]

It's a clip of Walter Johnson. I always found his motion so effortless and fluid, and it amazed me that he could hurl a ball as fast as anyone.

Good call on Tekulve and El Duque. But when you get home, check out the clip, Givens almost seems to be doing an impersonation of Johnson.

Oh, ok. I think one of the reasons sidearming (mostly) went away is that its nearly impossible to throw as hard sidearm as you can overhand. Johnson apparently threw very hard, but I'd be stunned if he was higher than the mid-90s. If that. I have a suspicion that people thought he threw at superhuman speeds because a) pitchers generally didn't throw as hard back then, and b) almost nobody threw hard all of the time, they paced; Johnson threw hard a lot more.