Next wave of arms is here!

[QBsILLEST1]

Well, it is well known who are current phase of arms are, we have the Big 3 followed by many strong 2nd and 3rd tier pitching prospects which set us up for a good flow of young arms through the next few years. So who will be the next Tillman, Arrieta and Matusz? I couldnt answer that exactly BUT we are definately on pace for having another, even stronger pitcher heavy system in the next 3-5 years. Look closely because these guys are the ones who will make up the strength of our system then....

Matt Hobgood- May end up being our Chris Tillman of 2012. He has plus pitches accross the board as Mayo put it. After reading what Mayo said at the showcase, I become more and more impressed with this kid by the day. Has an Arrieta fastball, a Tillman curve, above average slider and a change up thats a work in progress....He may anchor a future top 2 or 3 system....

Bobby Bundy- One of the value picks from last year. Still coming back from injury, but has one of the highest ceilings with a plus fastball and plus to plus plus curve. Command I thought was supposed to be good, but reports are contradicting coming from extended spring training.....Another TOR guy in our system

Jesse Beal- Dont know much about him other than he throws in the low 90's and is very very projectable. He is another one who will contribute to our future....

Rick Zagone- Last year draft pick who is turning out to be a steal. He is a very crafty pitcher with fairly average stuff and major deception in his delivery. Ceiling isnt sky high, but he may end up being a #3/4 kinda guy and he will be here quickest aside from Ollie Drake....

Oliver Drake- This guy may end up being a steal of the century if he pans out. We took him in the final round of the 08 draft because of his percieved unsignability. Come to find out he was actually signable. He has an above average fastball and has a bit higher ceiling than Zagone.

Randy Henry- Did a small write up on him during the draft, he has very good stuff, with a ceiling similar to that of Hobgood. He was a projected 1st rounder who fell due to elbow injury. Has above average pitches acorss the board from his mid 90 fastball, change up and breaking ball......

Aaron Wirsh- He was ranked the 11th best at a HS showcase that all the HS draftees attend by Mayo. He has a lot of projection left as well and was picked later than he was supposed to be

Ashur Tolliver- Another good projectable HSer with a low-mid 90 fastball. Decent scondaries as well. He is our 2nd highest rated HS pitcher by BA and has major major upside. He was expected to be a 2nd rounder but fell to us later.....

As good as our pitching looks in its current wave, it may end up looking even better in a couple of years as these young arms mature and as we add more talent through the draft in the upcomign years.....

[clarence]

And just think how good it would look if Jordan hadn't screwed up the draft.

[Frobby]

There is going to come a time when we have more major league ready arms than we can possibly use. When that day arrives, we will really be in the pink. Grow the arms, buy the bats - I love that.

[Duke2010]

Well, it is well known who are current phase of arms are, we have the Big 3 followed by many strong 2nd and 3rd tier pitching prospects which set us up for a good flow of young arms through the next few years. So who will be the next Tillman, Arrieta and Matusz? I couldnt answer that exactly BUT we are definately on pace for having another, even stronger pitcher heavy system in the next 3-5 years. Look closely because these guys are the ones who will make up the strength of our system then....

Matt Hobgood- May end up being our Chris Tillman of 2012. He has plus pitches accross the board as Mayo put it. After reading what Mayo said at the showcase, I become more and more impressed with this kid by the day. Has an Arrieta fastball, a Tillman curve, above average slider and a change up thats a work in progress....He may anchor a future top 2 or 3 system....

Bobby Bundy- One of the value picks from last year. Still coming back from injury, but has one of the highest ceilings with a plus fastball and plus to plus plus curve. Command I thought was supposed to be good, but reports are contradicting coming from extended spring training.....Another TOR guy in our system

Jesse Beal- Dont know much about him other than he throws in the low 90's and is very very projectable. He is another one who will contribute to our future....

Rick Zagone- Last year draft pick who is turning out to be a steal. He is a very crafty pitcher with fairly average stuff and major deception in his delivery. Ceiling isnt sky high, but he may end up being a #3/4 kinda guy and he will be here quickest aside from Ollie Drake....

Oliver Drake- This guy may end up being a steal of the century if he pans out. We took him in the final round of the 08 draft because of his percieved unsignability. Come to find out he was actually signable. He has an above average fastball and has a bit higher ceiling than Zagone.

Randy Henry- Did a small write up on him during the draft, he has very good stuff, with a ceiling similar to that of Hobgood. He was a projected 1st rounder who fell due to elbow injury. Has above average pitches acorss the board from his mid 90 fastball, change up and breaking ball......

Aaron Wirsh- He was ranked the 11th best at a HS showcase that all the HS draftees attend by Mayo. He has a lot of projection left as well and was picked later than he was supposed to be

Ashur Tolliver- Another good projectable HSer with a low-mid 90 fastball. Decent scondaries as well. He is our 2nd highest rated HS pitcher by BA and has major major upside. He was expected to be a 2nd rounder but fell to us later.....

As good as our pitching looks in its current wave, it may end up looking even better in a couple of years as these young arms mature and as we add more talent through the draft in the upcomign years.....

Just a few things. We actually took Drake in the 43rd round, and he fell that far because many teams weren't aware of his situation with the Naval Academy. Ashur Tolliver isn't a high school guy. He went to UA-Little Rock for 2 years, and then transferred to NAIA Oklahoma City. I agree with everything else for the most part. I think your expectations of a few guys are a tad too high because we really haven't seen what they can do yet. Bundy is a high ceiling guy, but he's up in the air right now, and same goes for Beal. The upcoming SS is important for both of them.

Also, where did you see that Henry was a first round guy who fell because of injury? I respect Allstar's opinion greatly, but he's the only person that I have seen say this.

[sangar]

And just think how good it would look if Jordan hadn't screwed up the draft.

Thats kind of an odd statement. What makes you think he screwed it up?

[sangar]

There is going to come a time when we have more major league ready arms than we can possibly use. When that day arrives, we will really be in the pink. Grow the arms, buy the bats - I love that.

Nope - couldn't agree more.

Question; I too love this strategy but I'm wondering if there has been coaching changes to go along with this. It seems like we are not loosing pitchers to injury with our former frequency and that our young pitchers are beginning to live up to their potential. Is it strictly Jordan's drafting or is AM bringing a higher level of skill to our coaching staffs to augment his strategy?

[QBsILLEST1]

Just a few things. We actually took Drake in the 43rd round, and he fell that far because many teams weren't aware of his situation with the Naval Academy. Ashur Tolliver isn't a high school guy. He went to UA-Little Rock for 2 years, and then transferred to NAIA Oklahoma City. I agree with everything else for the most part. I think your expectations of a few guys are a tad too high because we really haven't seen what they can do yet. Bundy is a high ceiling guy, but he's up in the air right now, and same goes for Beal. The upcoming SS is important for both of them.

Also, where did you see that Henry was a first round guy who fell because of injury? I respect Allstar's opinion greatly, but he's the only person that I have seen say this.

"Given the injury, Henry might have been underappreciated by some teams. If he's healthy and just needs to work his way back to where he was with his control, velocity, and ability to throw the curve (which did indeed look good in video clips), then this would have been a potential steal in a later round. As is, it's a fine risk to take in the fourth."

From the sounds of it he has 3 above average - plus pitches and good command, that is 1st rounder stuff. This quote tells me exactly what he is, a value pick in the 4th. I dont remember where else, but I read that he was a late 1st rounder-2nd rounder......

[QBsILLEST1]

Nope - couldn't agree more.

Question; I too love this strategy but I'm wondering if there has been coaching changes to go along with this. It seems like we are not loosing pitchers to injury with our former frequency and that our young pitchers are beginning to live up to their potential. Is it strictly Jordan's drafting or is AM bringing a higher level of skill to our coaching staffs to augment his strategy?

From what I remember, AM changed a lot of the coachign staff around here when he took over.

[WebLink21]

Thats kind of an odd statement. What makes you think he screwed it up?

He was kidding. A lot of people jumped right into panic mode after each pick even though they knew nothing about them.

[Greg Pappas]

....

Bobby Bundy- One of the value picks from last year. Still coming back from injury, but has one of the highest ceilings with a plus fastball and plus to plus plus curve. Command I thought was supposed to be good, but reports are contradicting coming from extended spring training.....Another TOR guy in our system

TOR=? A little help? Top of range?

[WebLink21]

TOR=? A little help?

Top of Rotation?

[Pruke]

Matt Hobgood- Has an Arrieta fastball

Really? If that's the case, I like the pick even better. I didn't realize he could dial it up...

[Duke2010]

"Given the injury, Henry might have been underappreciated by some teams. If he's healthy and just needs to work his way back to where he was with his control, velocity, and ability to throw the curve (which did indeed look good in video clips), then this would have been a potential steal in a later round. As is, it's a fine risk to take in the fourth."

From the sounds of it he has 3 above average - plus pitches and good command, that is 1st rounder stuff. This quote tells me exactly what he is, a value pick in the 4th. I dont remember where else, but I read that he was a late 1st rounder-2nd rounder......

Oh I agree about the value part, he could potentially be a very good value. However, I doubt he has anything close to 3 above-average to plus pitches right now. Remember, he's only pitched 11 innings since his junior year of high school, so I'd imagine he's pretty raw. I love the fastball velocity, and that's a good sign, but his other offerings are probably somewhat underdeveloped. I need to see more of him when he's fully healthy, so next year should be an interesting year for him. I love your enthusiasm for these guys, and I'm very excited too,but I think we may be jumping the gun on some of these guys. They all have risks and flaws. Henry has to regain confidence in his pitches and get stronger, Tolliver struggled in D1 his sophomore before dominating lesser competition in NAIA, etc....it should be fun to track their progress though, and there's a lot to like with these picks.

[Greg Pappas]

Top of Rotation?

Ahhhh, that makes sense... thanks Mike.

[QBsILLEST1]

Oh I agree about the value part, he could potentially be a very good value. However, I doubt he has anything close to 3 above-average to plus pitches right now. Remember, he's only pitched 11 innings since his junior year of high school, so I'd imagine he's pretty raw. I love the fastball velocity, and that's a good sign, but his other offerings are probably somewhat underdeveloped. I need to see more of him when he's fully healthy, so next year should be an interesting year for him. I love your enthusiasm for these guys, and I'm very excited too,but I think we may be jumping the gun on some of these guys. They all have risks and flaws. Henry has to regain confidence in his pitches and get stronger, Tolliver struggled in D1 his sophomore before dominating lesser competition in NAIA, etc....it should be fun to track their progress though, and there's a lot to like with these picks.

The idea with HS arms IS that they are very raw. If they have good stuff, which it seems Henry has and with good command, it just takes good coaching to continue their development. The tools are there for him to become a TOR starter, he just needs to continue toward his projection.

I am very excited about all these young arms we just got, but I dont think I am jumping the gun. I know they arent finished products or even legit top prospects yet, but these pitchers have the talent needed to become a top prospect. They all may have questions, but most HS kids do, and if they didnt have these questions(mostly injuries) then we wouldnt have had a chance to draft them when we did. As long as they recover from injury which they should because JJ strayed away from serious reoccuring injury plagues players, we will be thanking JJ in a few years for taking the chances he did.....