Sunday, June 9, 2013

Oregon State Draft Prospects: Blue Jays, White Sox, Phillies and Astros

Oregon State had several players drafted in the 2013 MLB draft, and I was able to see 5 of them play on television against Kansas State in the Super Regionals.

Matt Boyd P Blue Jays (175 overall):

Boyd has always had nice numbers in college, but before 2013, the now senior was a reliever. The ESPN U scouting report said he threw a slider, changeup, curveball along with his fastball, but I didn't see the slider. I charted the pitches according to the ESPN U gun and he had an average fastball of 87.24 MPH, which is closest to Pedro Feliciano in the Pitch F/X era. He threw it 68 percent of the time. His curveball averaged 72.43 and his changeup averaged 74 MPH.

Boyd has a really high leg kick in which he straightens out his leg. It seems like he has a lot going on mechanically. He's got good size on the mound, listed at 6-3 and over 200 pounds. Boyd had a lot of problems missing glove side early on, pulling the ball.

His fastball doesn't look like quite like a sinker, but he keeps the fastball low for the most part. The curve doesn't have much vertical depth, and though he used it first, his change was more prevalent. He wasn't afraid to work fastball on hands of righties and was fastball heavy to begin the game, very traditional usage. He has the really soft college change, which won't work in Majors. I could only really tell the difference from it and the curve by vertical movement as it obviously had less. He would use change against lefties as well as righties.
He isn't a strikeout pitcher, but he got whiffs against lefties on fastball. He seems to be the kind of pitcher that likes working inside, throwing glove side to righties, and arm side to lefties. Relatively athletic in field, not bad, not great. There were a few pitches where he flat didn't finish his delivery. Slow pace, especially with runners on, lot of pickoff throws, move seemed decent. Overall, he got plenty of infield fly-balls.

I think maybe he has a future as a lefty specialist. The stuff won't cut it in a traditional relief role and he isn't a starter professionally in my opinion.

Daniel (or Danny) Hayes 1B White Sox (393 overall):

Despite his position, he batted towards the bottom of the order. Another senior, will probably be an easy and cheap sign to help them sign other draft picks. Doesn't look like a 1st baseman, a tall, but lanky, left-handed hitter. He's got a lot to his swing, as it looks quick, but he has to get it started soon to get all of the wiggle out of it. Because of this, up and in is a problem for him. He had to face a left-hander with a bit of an arm drop in his release point, which made it a little tough on him. He did see fastballs out of the zone well, didn't even flinch. On the other hand, he had problems with the breaking ball.

Defensively just saw routine plays other than a decent pick. Most likely organizational filler. Positional value is low to non existent, obvious holes in swing.

Scott Shultz P Marlins (502)

A somewhat funky delivery, as he has somewhat of a pause when his leg gets all the way up. He gets on top of the ball, can throw it low, fastball is a little straight. Short outing, just threw 4 fastballs that averaged 88.5 MPH, can get up to 94MPH according to reports. Tough to tell, depends on where his fastball velocity sits as a professional, was a successful college pitcher, mainly because he didn't walk hardly anyone.

Daniel Child P Phillies (541)

Another guy with good numbers because of a low walk rate and okay strikeout rate. Tall (listed at 6-5), but probably not going to add much more weight. Really aesthetically ugly mechanics .He brings a high leg kick and a body rock backwards with an arm action that almost looks like a shot put. With that said, he brought better velocity than the above pitchers, throwing 92-94 MPH on his fastball. He also threw one 79 MPH change (?) without real command. He's a fastball pitcher. Everything moves arm side for himand he threw the fastball low quite a bit.

There is MLB velocity there, I guess how you rate him depends on whether you think his mechanics will impede him from throwing strikes or not allow him to stay healthy. He didn't have a good outing and gave up some groundball hits, I don't think it means much as he has had good numbers for the past two seasons, serving mostly as a starter.

Jake Rodriguez C Astros (557)

Batted 8th, very mediocre numbers. Short at 5-9, Rodriguez is stout, without real growth potential. His receiving seemed good, and his arm looked strong, and he blocked well.

At the plate, he had a clear otherway swing, but seems to get it started quick with relatively good speed. He is not going to hit for much power it appears, but the bat control might be good enough to have him hit for a decent average. Predictably has little to no foot speed.

He was a little too aggressive, and does not have good plate discipline. Defense will carry him in the organization and he has the potential to be one of those guys that hang around organized baseball for a long time and could get a cup of coffee in the Majors.

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