Stony Brook played LSU in a wild game that ended up being rained out on June 8th 2011. I watched the game to see two draft prospects, Pat Cantwell and William Carmona.
Pat Cantwell was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 3rd round. The Senior catcher's best rating according to the Baseball Cube is contact at 93, while his patience sits at just 45. He has a pretty high speed rating at 75, even though he looked like a mediocre runner. In 4 seasons at Stony Brook, Cantwell was nothing special, hitting .319/.395/.432. His best year was his sophomore year, the last year before they changed the bats, suppressing offense somewhat. His OPS with the new bats was pretty poor: .769 in 2011, .820 in 2012. The right handed hitter has what almost looks like a closed stance, and was batting 2nd behind 1st round pick Travis Jankowski. Early on, he was batting against Aaron Nola, who was struggling early but righted the ship later on. He was late on the first two fastballs he saw, then took 2 breaking balls to make it 2-2 before he was jammed for a weak grounder. The bat speed question popped up again in his next at-bat, after he took a inside fastball and a inside curve. He whiffed on one fastball, and then another. Nola went to a breaking pitch, and Cantwell hit a weak pop-up. In his third at-bat, he took an outside breaking pitch, then an inside breaking pitch, then watched an inside and low strike to go to 2-1. Nola came back with basically the same pitch, and Cantwell fouled it back. A fastball on the low outside corner was hit decently well and was a fly-out to left center-field. The next time Cantwell took a fastball on the outside corner before taking a high one and a low and away breaking pitch. Nola then hung a breaking ball, but Cantwell rolled over on it for a weak grounder to 3rd. The next two at-bats started with him trying to bunt, and he was unsuccessful on the first pitch both times. The second time, he sac bunted on the second pitch. The first time he got to a 1-1 count before chasing an outside pitch and fouling it. Then another outside pitch was hit to center field for an out. His ability to handle breaking balls looked spotty, as you can see, he took some, but chased some as well.
Defensively is more of Cantwell's game than offense. He seemed to be a good receiver behind the plate, but was a particularly good pitch framer. He kind of lunged at the ball with his glove, and it cost his pitcher at least two calls pretty early on. Cantwell does have a plus arm, and he knows it. On a bunt play, where he most likely should have thrown to first, he threw to second, and it turned into an error. LSU's lone stolen base attempt against Cantwell went much better for him. Arby Fields is more of an athlete than a baseball player, and he tried to steal 2nd on a curveball thrown low. Cantwell threw a perfect strike and got him out.One ball did get by him, but it was more of the pitcher's fault than it was his.
William Carmona is the junior 3rd baseman on Stony Brook, and he was drafted in the 11th round by the Phillies in this year's draft. Carmona gets very high marks for his bat, rating 96 in batting by Baseball Cube and 97 in power. His patience is just 38 and his contact just 52. In 3 years, he had an OPS of 1.044 at Stony Brook. His ISO was .239, pretty solid, and even better his junior year at .305. As a switch hitter, his first few at-bats were from the left side. He started by taking 2 pitches to make it 1-1, but then had a check swing strike on an ugly breaking ball. He has kind of a weird swing, where he has some kind of step that gives him an abnormal stride. That would seem to affect just how fast is he able to get around on a fastball, so bat speed or power may be a question. A long at-bat with fouls and a 3-2 count ended with a ground-ball the other way. He was almost running out of the batter box when he hit it. Again, he hit for plenty of power in college, but it is really hard to see how and it is also hard to see him doing it in professional ball with that swing. It should give him a balanced spray chart, as one could see him being able to go to all fields though. His next at-bat started with two more takes around the outside part of the plate to make it 1-1. He was then late on a fastball. He took high, then fouled back a fastball. His swing was pretty violent here, he may just have a lot of problems putting together a consistent swing. Maybe his hit tool is just raw. He then chased a breaking ball out of the zone for a strikeout. The next at-bat started with him laying off a breaking ball, and then chasing one. He took inside and outside to get 3-1 before getting under the ball and flew out to LF. Against a new pitcher (Joey Bougeious), he got up 2-0 before taking a fastball on the inside part of the plate and fouling off one down the middle. At 2-2, he took a good curve and then walked on a pitch that bounced. In the next at-bat, he was batting right handed and he hit a breaking pitch on the outside corner to left field (pulled!) for a double. In the 11th, batting left again, he took 2 inside strikes, then fouled off an inside curve and an inside fastball. Then a fastball that didn't get all the way in was turned into a bloop single.
Defensively, he looks goofy running, as he is sort of a weird looking body type. That doesn't mean he can't play 3rd though, as his arm is really impressive. That shouldn't really be surprising, as he used t be a closer.
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