Hot Coffey in The House

[BRob51]

Coffey is a 1st round talent. The kid is a 6'5" lefty that throws 95 and has a good change.

http://sports.espn.go.com/videohub/video/video?id=3964581

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Thanks for the video. He looks like he's got pretty good arm action and really drives off his legs, he just falls off the 3B a little much. I'm really excited about this kid.

[Shopay]

He has a kinda stutter step before some of his pitches. He is a big legged dude. Has the body of a Clemens or Hobgood. Love to see how this horse does.

Reminds me of a slightly taller John Lester.

[Duke2010]

http://masnsports.com/2009/08/joe-jordan-comments-on-the-sig.html

Lots of good info. He will report to Sarasota next week and they hope he will be able to pitch next season.

Sign Ohlman!

The most important thing I got from that article was that the Coffey signing was independent of other signees. If Coffey really was independent, then perhaps JJ has enough in his budget to sign both Ohlman and Bush. I'm happy with the overslot signings, and Jordan has really added a few nice pieces to our system in Coffey, Henry, Webb, and Martin.

[hoosiers]

The most important thing I got from that article was that the Coffey signing was independent of other signees. If Coffey really was independent, then perhaps JJ has enough in his budget to sign both Ohlman and Bush. I'm happy with the overslot signings, and Jordan has really added a few nice pieces to our system in Coffey, Henry, Webb, and Martin.

Ditto for me. Our FO appears to be really stepping up with these overslot signings - especially if Coffey was signed independent of the Givens' situation, though perhaps that quote was a little message to Givens that he can still come here.

Jordan has been working with a budget, but it sounds like a generous one.

Not sure I've read that Ohlman and Bush were first round types, but perhaps they will sign for second or third round $.

[crawdad]

The 95 is debatable. I think it's just scout-whispers. I've seen multiple reports and footage of him in the low 90's range, and I've read once about 95, but I tend to go with the masses in these cases. Not saying he's not a first round talent, but he's one of those guys that I think the hype gets a little out of control.

Have you seen him Craw? Or at least much on him?

He was someone I had heard of, but stopped paying attention when he got hurt. It is difficult to follow every potential 1st round arm. Just from looking at it . . . it looks like he has some room to fill. I don't like him throwing across his body, but everything looks relatively balanced when he does it . . . so he might be one of those guys who can do that. I imagine the Orioles will tweak some things and try to get his fast arm action and his body creating more forward momentum.

So, his mechanics look good with some tweaks. His stuff? I don't know much about his stuff. I just know his fastball sits in the low 90s and may increase a couple mph as he fills out a little and directs more energy to the plate.

Looks like a good sign.

[allstar1579]

He was someone I had heard of, but stopped paying attention when he got hurt. It is difficult to follow every potential 1st round arm. Just from looking at it . . . it looks like he has some room to fill. I don't like him throwing across his body, but everything looks relatively balanced when he does it . . . so he might be one of those guys who can do that. I imagine the Orioles will tweak some things and try to get his fast arm action and his body creating more forward momentum.

So, his mechanics look good with some tweaks. His stuff? I don't know much about his stuff. I just know his fastball sits in the low 90s and may increase a couple mph as he fills out a little and directs more energy to the plate.

Looks like a good sign.

I did the exact same thing. Same read I got though, usual room to grow, needs to add some mph and work on refining secondary stuff. Reminds me of a HS Kyle Gibson with a little more oomph.

[crawdad]

I did the exact same thing. Same read I got though, usual room to grow, needs to add some mph and work on refining secondary stuff. Reminds me of a HS Kyle Gibson with a little more oomph.

Talking with someone with a little more knowledge than I have, looks like he could be brought along as a FB/SL/CH pitcher with his FB and SL being his bread and butter. His arm action may make a CH difficult, so it is possible he could develop a splitter.

[allstar1579]

Talking with someone with a little more knowledge than I have, looks like he could be brought along as a FB/SL/CH pitcher with his FB and SL being his bread and butter. His arm action may make a CH difficult, so it is possible he could develop a splitter.

Sounds good, not a bad gamble at all, I'll be interested to see what they do, if they change his mechanics to alter that arm action or if they just tweak his pitch selection like you said. Wonder how long before someone starts calling him Starbucks.

[tywright]

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/draft/?p=1498#more-1498

"Quite frankly, when the injury happened I gave up all hope," Coffey said. "As we approached the draft, [agent] Rob [Martin] told me there were a few teams still interested, and that was a small surprise. But even when I got drafted, I still thought I’d be going to college.

"Until two weeks ago, I had no intention of signing. Then they came in at almost seven figures, and I figured it would be best to sign. It still hasn’t sunk in yet."

a few teams inquired about before the draft, and the Angels were willing to pay him $500,000 if he would sign as a 10th-rounder.

"Give tribute to [Orioles scouting director] Joe Jordan, Rich Morales and the Orioles’ staff. They were on Cam early and often. They saw enough of him healthy to recognize what an incredibly talented and poised pitcher he is. Then after the surgery, they stayed on him enough to track his rehab and discover what a tremendous worth ethic he possesses."

[QBsILLEST1]

Wow, $990,000!

Jordan must really, really like Coffey. In my opinion, this is more significant than giving Arrieta $1.1 million because of the round Coffey was selected in, and because of his injury. Hopefully, things will work out for him and he can become our own version of Detroit's Casey Crosby.

With just over 4 days left until the deadline, it'll be interesting to see which remaining draftees get signed. I assume that Ohlman and Bush are looking for bonuses that are similar to Coffey's, and I think we'll have to at least pony up to Bobby Bundy-type money to sign either guy.

ETA: It'll be interesting to follow Coffey's path over the next few years. I'd expect him to be in short season leagues for the next two years while he builds his arm strength. It wouldn't surprise me to see him start 2010 in the GCL, and then start 2011 in Bluefield/Aberdeen.

I feelso much more comfortable knowing we gave that money to Coffey rather than Givens. Of course every HS talent has some questions about them, and both Coffey and Givens are no different, but a player with questions about his bat and whether or not itll develop enough to be a every day MLer is too BIG a question for me.

It is very interesting how much Coffey was given, and it may very well be more significant than the Arrieta overslot bonus, but Coffey has a higher ceiling at this point than Arrieta does/did. Was Arrieta even drafted out of HS does anyone know?

I bet he'll go to GCL too for his 1st year, unless he looks really good in extended ST and go to Bluefield starting out.

Anyone have any idea how is secondary pitches are?

[QBsILLEST1]

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/draft/?p=1498#more-1498

Even though your quoted sentences didnt show up on this reply, the key to his bonus IMO is the last quotation paragraph you had. Where it says that JJ and Morales followed him after the injury and realized what an amzing work ethic he had. That IMO is the reason he got more money the offer to Givens. They had a change of heart after the draft and more recently.

Another key thing is where it says that the O's offered him nearly 7 figures 2 weeks ago. This was before the Givens decision was made, and JJ was still trying to sign Givens. I think that may mean that we were already gonna sign him regardless of Givens. So hopefully the left over Givens $$ will go to Ohlman and Bush...

And this is the type of overslot bonuses that everyone wanted the O's to do for years. I honestly do not remember the last time we took so many quality young arms from HS or JuCo. We really added a lot of high ceiling depth that may lead to a stronger system of pitching than we presently have now.....

[Jarman8675]

Not sure how I feel about this sign to be honest with you. Adenhart was at least a well established high school pitcher before his injury, reading the Baseball America blog makes it sound like he came out of nowhere to start throwing in the 90's, and shortly after hitting 90 mph he hurts his arm?? Not too comfortable with the spending $990,000 but, hey its not my money and he is only a 22nd rounder so as long as he pitches in a few games, its all success to me and he has college paid for. Don't get me wrong I hope this kid develops and makes it just like I hope everyone does, I'm just skeptical about him having success.

[hoosiers]

Often, these top HS kids add velocity between their junior and senior years and rocket up draft charts. I believe both Zach Britton and Brad Bergesen moved from upper 80s into the 90s as HS seniors.

I take a lot of comfort in knowing that Coffey was mentioned among the best HS arms (Wheeler, Purke) at the beginning of the season and the return rates from TJ surgery are strong. As important as the talent, though, Coffey appears to have the work ethic that will make him the best he can be.

[PBR Street Gang]

Time will surely tell about this Coffey fellow, but I think Jordan is going out on a limb here.

I want Coffey to evolve into the next Randy Johnson, but count me in as one of the skeptics.

If Hobgood, Henry, Tolliver, Wirsch, Cowan, Berry and Coffey all turn out to be MLB pitchers I will never doubt Jordan again.

The 2009 Baltimore Orioles draft is definitely one of the weirdest drafts I'm sure I will ever see them make that's for sure

[crawdad]

Time will surely tell about this Coffey fellow, but I think Jordan is going out on a limb here.

I want Coffey to evolve into the next Randy Johnson, but count me in as one of the skeptics.

If Hobgood, Henry, Tolliver, Wirsch, Cowan, Berry and Coffey all turn out to be MLB pitchers I will never doubt Jordan again.

The 2009 Baltimore Orioles draft is definitely one of the weirdest drafts I'm sure I will ever see them make that's for sure

Only all of them?