Minor League and College Prospects Notes

Note: As regular readers of this blog know, I have been going to college and high school games and providing scouting reports on all the players. Due to a combination of time, money, and the fact that the MLB and MILB seasons have started, I will no longer be doing this (consistently that is, I may do an occasional one). Instead, I am going to be doing posts on minor leaguers and some college players using a television and a MILB.tv subscription. I don't know how often these posts will be (Blogger has been doing its best WordPress impression and has been deleting stuff I saved, so that is why this took so long), it just depends on time and how much notes I have. What I want to do is all original work, so I won't be using stats or outside scouting reports because you can (and should) find those at other places on the Internet. I won't necessarily be doing full scouting reports on players, it will just be some general observations. I also won't be doing full team reports, it will just be players I have something interesting to say on, so not even necessarily top prospects. I am not a scouting expert by any means so I expect to be wrong at times, but I would hope consistent readers would I agree that I know at least something about baseball and would find some observations helpful. I find it interesting that this blog went from a general sports ranting/comedy blog to a sabermetrics blog to a scouting blog. By the way, I am still writing about the Mariners at Seattlesportscentral.com, and random sabermetric/fantasy stuff at fantasycpr.com. Thanks for reading.
Omar Poveda of the Jacksonville Suns has a big looping breaking ball that he can both throw for strikes and throw low to get hitters to chase (Kentrail Davis looked pretty comical trying to hit it). His fastball isn't overpowering, but it is hard enough and has good sinking action.
Josh Stinson in the Brewers system (already on the 40-man) has a 2-seamer with a ton of movement, a mediocre 4-seamer, with what looks like a slider. The slider he only threw occasionally in what I saw, and he didn't look like he had good control of it. The 2-Seamer wasn't exactly going where he wanted to either, but if he harnesses that pitch with any kind of consistency, the big pitcher could break a lot of bats and be successful.
Daniel Nava for the Pawtucket Red Sox looks absolutely silly on curveballs, while Jose Iglesias showed some plate discipline when I saw him (although he may have been too patient as he took a 1-1 fastball down the middle).
I watched Aaron Cook pitch, and he was throwing an 89 MPH 2-seamer that has some movement, but not a lot.
Pat Misch of the Phillies AAA team threw a bunch of breaking balls early on when I saw him, with a soft fastball. The lefty got a fly-ball, ground-ball, infield fly-ball, hard hit ball in the infield, ground-ball, line drive, and a strikeout on an outside fastball.
Chris Schwinder of the Buffalo Bisons (the Mets AAA affiliate) had problems getting his curve down, but it looks like his fastball has good movement and decent velocity.
Daryl Thompson of the Rochester Red Wings, the AAA affiliate of the Twins, has a slow curve that would make most Korean pitcher blush. The fastball provides some nice speed differential, but he doesn't seem to have much control of it.
For the Greenville Drive (in the Red Sox organization), Keury De La Cruz plays a good left field despite not having superior speed. His arm is very pedestrian though. Yeiper Castillo has a nice breaking ball that he can throw for strikes and get swing and misses with.
Wes Benjamin is a lefty freshman starter for the University of Kansas. He isn't even close to what you would call overpowering, but his arm angle gives him some interesting movement. He was leaving the breaking ball up, and really had control issues. He walks way too many batters, but he doesn't give them a lot of good pitches to hit. He looks like a ground-ball type pitcher.
Robbi Rea of Oklahoma State plays a decent 2nd base, and has good plate discipline with really long at-bats with fouls that lead to walks.

Dallas Beeler for Tennessee Smokies is a tall right hander that keeps the ball low for the most part, with decent velocity and some movement on fastball. He doesn't seem to have a great feel for his breaking pitch, but it is a big dropping curveball. Also throws more of a straight 4-seam fastball that has good velocity that he likes to keep away from righties. He seemed to be throwing a lot of pitches down the middle of the plate and really developed control problems as the game went along. He looks to be a good fielder of his position.

Nick Struck of the Smokies has a big looping breaking ball that breaks to the left, but he can't really throw it for strikes. If he ever gets to where he can, it will be a really nasty pitch. He also has either a splitter or slider that is sort of a weird pitch, along with a moving fastball that he can throw for backdoor strikes. His 4-seam fastball has some nice velocity. Casey Weathers had no real control at all when I saw him, with a ton of wild pitches and walks.

Alberto Cabrera of the Smokies has a hard moving sinker with a hard breaking ball that possesses a lot of break but not much control. Stuff isn't the question with Cabrera, control will be. Also has a nice little curveball he can break out for speed differential.

Rebel Ridling is listed as a first baseman for the Smokies but played left field and doesn't have the arm to play there. Mike Burgess for Tennessee Smokies can run reasonably well and drove a pitch low in the strike zone. Defensively, he has a good arm.

Wellington Castillo of the Iowa Cubs has a violent uppercut fly-ball type swing. Adrian Cardenas drove a ball really well, but he is not a great runner. Anthony Rizzo brought up questions about contact and bat speed with a big hack and miss. Ty Wright has a big swing but can make contact on offspeed pitches. He also seems to have decent speed as well.

Bobby Wahl of Ole Miss has 88-91+ MPH straight fastball. Hitters were really late on it but location wasn't always great and really faded. His 73-78 MPH curveball can be throw for strikes and get swing and misses, and he kept it away from righties. What I found concerning was that his velocity dipped rather early in the game and didn't come back. This could simply mean he doesn't have a great amount of arm strength built up, which isn't concerning at all, or he could just have to put a lot of effort to get the fastball up at its peak, which means he should be a reliever. Worst case scenario is that there is some kind of injury there.

At Ole Miss Alex Yarbrough is a great fielder at 2^nd with the arm, range, and everything you look for in a middle infielder.

Georgia Michael Palazzone: It is hard to excited about a right handed pitcher who is hitting 85 MPH on the radar gun but he has a big looping curve (sometimes under 70 MPH) he can throw for some quality strikes. Also has a change-up at 78 MPH. That pitch is not near as good.

Peter Verdin (Georgia) nice double on a breaking pitch that stayed too high. He is a pretty good runner too. Kyle Farmer for Georgia has range, but the arm isn't great. He can run okay.

DJ LeMahieu Colorado Springs AAA, late on fastball in first at-bat, but pounded a 3-1 letter high fastball for an extra base hit the other way. Tim Wheeler made a terrible throw out in right field, but drew a couple of walks. Andrew Brown seems to be having contact and pitch recognition problems.

Christian Friedrich has a decent 90-94 MPH fastball with a curveball that looks like it could be a good pitch. He was really fastball heavy when I saw him, but it seems he can locate it well other than a few he placed in the heart of the plate.

D.J. Mitchell of the Yankees AAA has quite a bit of movement on all his pitches, including a slider and a curveball. He doesn't have hardly any control at all of those pitches, but his velocity seems adequate.

Jason Bulger has a decent loop his breaking ball, but can't really locate it well from what I have seen. His fastball really isn't very good. Chris Dickerson covers a lot of ground in center field.

Jeurys Familia of the AAA Mets, has a hard fastball that he can throw both low and high. Jeremy Hefner has sinking action on some of his pitches with an occassional curveball. The tall right hander throws high fastballs and is pretty athletic.

Scott Rice of the Isotopes (Dodgers' system) is a big lefty without great velocity. He was having a lot of problems with his breaking ball command. Josh Fields has a nice looking power stroke, and he hit a ball for a homer.

For Creighton University, Kurt Spomer has decent 2-seamer velocity for a side armer. He struck out hitters from both sides of the plate when I saw him, which may suggest that he isn't strictly a platoon pitcher. Mark Winkleman has a hard moving breaking pitch that he was able to keep low to go with his curveball. Jake Peter showed off some great defense at 2^nd base.

Greg Reynolds from Round Rock has a nice breaking pitch with plate to plate movement that he can get for called strikes. Even though he broke a bat, he gave up some pretty hard contact. Tommy Mendoca struggled on a play at 3^rd base, while Julio Borbon looked awful out in centerfield (but this is something we already knew).

Casey Fien in the Twins AAA has no real control of is breaking stuff (even though it has a big drop), even though he threw one good one low and outside. His fastball was staying in the middle to high middle of the plate without much velocity.

Scouting Reports on Texas A&M Kingsville and Tarleton

On Sunday April 1st (No April Fools I promise) 2012, I watched Texas A&M Kingsville play Tarleton University.

The starting pitcher for Kingsville was Zachary Pettiford, a right handed junior listed at 6-4 220. He was throwing quite a bit harder than Tarleton's starter (more on him later), but was most likely south of 90 MPH. He also had a hard slider and a curveball, and although he threw some good ones, he had real control issues with those pitches. He hit a batter with one, but they seemed to be good complementary pitches even though he will have to live with mainly his fastball while those pitches develop. I am not sure he can do that with his fastball. He gave up lots of flyballs and it turned into lots of runs in the game.

For Kingville's lineup, Sophomore Dustin Aguilar can fly, at 5-10 165. The center fielder has a decent arm but had some trouble with the breaking ball. For the most part he wasn't chasing but he really didn't do much with pitches I thought he should have crushed. Ben Villafuerte can play in both the outfield and 2nd base (where I saw him). The small junior wasn't real fast and lacks patience at the plate. Trent Wagner has good size at 6-3 200, but the right fielder is really slow out in the field. Catcher Jake Mediola has a good arm, with a relatively quick release. Predictably, the senior is pretty slow. 1st baseman James Wallace looked awful on most breaking pitches, even though he did smack a hanging one. The junior drove the ball to the wall once but struck out the next time. The DH was listed 2nd baseman/pitcher Cameron Dullnig. The senior had some pretty lackluster swings, even with a couple of hits. He can definately run though. 3rd baseman James Black drove the ball pretty well in his at-bats. The junior stands at 6-0 185. Mario Siller is a small freshman shortstop who isn't a quick runner. He did seem pretty solid in the field,but couldn't drive the ball very well. Julian Duran had an awful drop in left field, and was chasing a bunch of breaking pitches. He does run pretty well though.

Cole Foster is a freshman right handed reliever who stands at just 5-11 179. He isn't going to blow you away with velocity, but not many pitches were in the middle of the plate. He threw mainly fastballs, with a very mediocre breaking pitch that he couldn't get down. The glove flies ahead of him in his delivery and 2 of his first 3 pitches turned into contact. He does field his position pretty well.

For Tarleton, a team I have seen 3 times now (and will see them at least one more time), the starter was Matt Buckmaster, a pitcher I have seen before (read previous posts to see more detailed scouting reports on the team). The lefty junkballer threw a lot of strikes (his first two fastballs were down the middle), and had some hard hit balls. His breaking ball stayed pretty low, but it provides very little speed differential.
Landon Thompson is a guy who I have seen with the bat and in the field but hadn't seen pitch yet. He is just 5-11 190, and has okay velocity. His plan was clearly to just throw a lot of low fastballs. They weren't fooling anyone, and just made him get behind in the count. When the fastballs crept up he was hurt and he couldn't consistently throw them low. He broke out a curve but has little to no feel for it. He threw a couple good ones finally, only to hang the next one. Even though he was awful for the most part, his fastball seemed better when he put it on the inside or the outside of the plate (and not at the low part).
Kyle Supack came in and showed a good pickoff move. He got a nice jamshot and put a lot of fastballs in the middle to middle low part of the plate. He hit 2 batters in a row and was absolutely tattooed.
Tanner Ross was throwing a lot of curveballs and looked a lot better than the last time I saw him. He had some good stuff, and was getting quite a bit of swing and misses early but then walked 2 in a row as the stuff became less deceptive.

For the lineup on a day when the ball was carrying, Garrett Hardey hit a homer on a breaking pitch. That is pretty remarkable considering he hasn't done anything on breaking balls in other at-bats I have seen him. Defensively, he looked awful with 2 really bad defensive plays.
Ryan Small hit a double on a fastball right down the middle. Andrew Jacobi DH'ed but is listed as a catcher, and is really small for a catcher. He can run though, which he has to as he is a ground-ball hitter. Andrew Wolfe made a really nice play at center field, while Noah Ringenberger looked bad out in right field. He did drive a low fastball to the wall though.

Scouting Reports on Weatherford and Ranger Colleges

On Saturday March 31st, we saw Weatherford College play Ranger College

Blaine Halencak was the starting sophomore pitcher for Ranger. He showcased a not very impressive fastball (he doesn't throw very hard at all), and he threw mostly fastballs early. The short pitcher also had a breaking ball that was outside to lefties and was nice at times, but it he did hang it for a home run (the next at-bat was a 4 pitch walk on all fastballs). He also threw a lot of what looked like a change-up. He missed over the plate a couple of times in the 2nd, and there was lots of hard contact being made off of him even on pitches out of the zone. There was a home run on a breaking ball in the dirt and he gave up lots of fly-balls. He didn't have excellent control overall, with a handful of 58 footers. He is going to have to live away with his fastball, something I thought he did pretty well to both left handers and right handers.

Marcos Dominiquez was taller and kind of lanky. He is from the Dominican Republic and was throwing harder than Halencak, possibly at 90-91 MPH. He brings his arm way behind his back and head. He had one good outside low fastball for a strikeout, and it was awesome when it is up and in. He also had a good hammer curve, that he can throw both for strikes and in the dirt. The pitch sometimes stayed in the middle of the plate. He does seem to lack swing and miss stuff, and had 4 at-bats in a row ended with reasonably hard contact. He seems to have good command of his pitches even though a couple of curves slipped out of his hand. He got absolutely no help from his defense.

Roberto Sanchez Rosa is a big right handed pitcher with okay velocity and a pedestrian breaking pitch. He was giving up lots of hard contact.
Ben Sollows is a lefty who is probably 6-1 or 6-2. He has a delivery that looks easy but he was grunting with every pitch. He was not throwing real hard, and had low fastballs with a breaking pitch he left up. He wasn't throwing a lot of strikes in his 1 inning.
Kody Peacock is a freshman big sidearming righty. As expected, he doesn't throw hard, but they weren't really meatballs either. He was having major control issues, either walking or hitting all 3 hitters he faced. He ended up leaving with injury. He didn't have much plate to plate movement at all, which is strange for a sidearmer. The movement was more downward and most everything is inside to righties and outside to lefties.
Justin Bigham was another right hander that Ranger brought out of the bullpen. He had an over the top delivery, with a reasonably hard fastball. He also threw a lot of unimpressive breaking balls, and had problems throwing strikes. The ball wasn't going where he wants to and he gave up 3 fly-balls.

For Ranger's lineup, Dustin Palmore batted leadoff. He runs okay but is not fast. The short left-fielder made some solid contact the other way. He has a .438 OBP at this point in the season. Kevin Carrasquillo is a freshman who played at second base. He is small, but made some good contact, including a nice liner on a fastball down the middle. He is not a bad runner as far as speed, but isn't a smart one. Defensively, he had problems with a hard hit ball his way. Lito Roman is the small 3rd baseman. He wasn't much of a runner, and lost a pop fly he should have caught. Offensively, he chased two breaking balls in a row, but hit a home run on a hanging breaking pitch later on. Justin Dossey is a good size listed right fielder who we saw play left field. He had some big whiffs on breaking balls, but also hit a deep fly-ball. He made a nice diving catch, even though he doesn't run very fast (it is worth noting that that he missed a play that was almost exactly the same). Andrew Williamson is a small center-fielder who was not getting good jumps out in the field. He runs really well though. He chased some awful breaking balls, but did manage to walk. Alomar Guzman played right field and showed off a really good arm. The listed utility player has good size but not a good swing on breaking balls. He did hit a hard liner right at the first baseman. Juan Carlos Parades has a nice swing with decent size and plays what looks like a quality (not great) shortstop. He runs well and is a real athlete (he skipped one throw to first so maybe there is a problem with his arm). With the bat he had a long foul ball that was almost a homer. The most amazing thing about it was that it was a breaking ball almost in the dirt. Here is some video of him batting against Justin Garcia:

Luis Del Rio was the starting catcher in the first game, and he got under the first pitch he saw. He is not a good runner and doesn't have an impressive arm. Josiah Candelaria played catcher in the second game and he is smaller than Del Rio. He runs well for a catcher but there is nothing special about his arm. Hector Corona started at 1st base, and he was really bad in the field. He has kind of a weird build and had some problems catching up with the fastball early on. He also chased breaking balls and struck out the first two times he was up. He has legit power though, with a long homer in the game, he just swings and misses too much (he did walk though). Kyle Kulczyk is a lefty hitter who DH'ed (he is listed as a first baseman) and made some solid contact. He runs pretty well, but he had some issues with the breaking ball. He pulled a ground-ball on a long at-bat where he got a good pitch to hit.

For Weatherford, we saw the same starter I had seen the weekend before, Cameron Cox. Cox didn't start well, with the fastball staying in the middle of the plate too much, and he was hit hard by the first 3 batters. He got out of the inning without a run, and was very lucky. He had some nasty breaking balls both in and outside of the zone. He had better fastball command in the 2nd and got a strikeout, and 2 ground-balls. The command left him again in the 3rd and he gave up a line drive, 2 fly-balls, and a ground-ball. He was throwing nearly exclusively fastballs, and for too many strikes. He really got better as the game went along, in the 5th he had good command of his breaking stuff and his fastball. When he is like that he is just deadly. The 4th is when he really started throwing more breaking balls, but didn't have a feel for it. It did get better as the inning went along and everything was a strikeout or on the ground that inning. He had a very good K/BB ratio for the game, but he had an awful hanger for a homer in the 6th inning.

Justin Garcia pitched in relief, and we had seen him before too. The ball was staying in the middle of the plate and his 2 seamer had less movement on it. His breaking ball still looked good though. He gave up a line drive hit, a ground-ball hit, a bizarre intentional walk, another line drive hit (for a double), a fly-ball to center-field, and a ground-ball to shortstop.

Daniel Milliman also pitched a gain, and he got a 1 pitch ground-ball to Paredas to start the game. He did give up a lead-off walk in the 2nd, but made some very nice defensive plays. He started the game with a bunch of hard fastballs and used a nice breaking ball to get 3 strikeouts. His high fastballs were getting fouled off, and his low ones were turning into ground-outs. He gave up lots of fouls, and hung a breaking ball for a homer.

For Weatherford's lineup (see the previous post on Weatherford for a more in depth look at both the pitchers and the lineup), Colton Hall played center field and showed off a nice arm. Even though it looked like he was having problems with pitch recognition, he pulled a breaking pitch for a homer, and also made nice contact on a low breaking ball way out of the zone. Tyler Ervine had some contact problems but when he made contact it was usually hard Collin Zabasky had a nice other way hit an at-bat where he looked mostly bad (as he looks in the majority of his at-bats). Erik Garcia looks like he has a broken finger or something with a big wrap on his hand. He had some problems throwing but he still threw someone out. He hit a lot of balls hard, and hit another homer on a breaking ball. Tyler Cotton played left-field, and had a long at-bat where he got jammed for a ground-ball. He also grounded into a double play and hit another ground-ball. He is listed as exclusively a pitcher. Connor VanDaveer looked awful on a 3 pitch strikeout where he chased a breaking pitch. He did make a nice defensive play though. Cody Semier hit a ground-ball to pitcher and hit a line drive to center.

Thanks to Rachel for taking the video

Scouting Reports on Tarleton and West Texas A&M

On Sunday March 25th, I saw West Texas A&M play at Tarleton

Tarleton's starter was Kyle Supack, a 6-3 200 Junior right hander who went to Hill College. His fastball was probably (no radar gun) in the mid eighties with a breaking ball he didn't have a lot of feel for. A lot of them were in the dirt that weren't enticing at all. He seemed to be keeping the ball low, even when he missed, he usually missed low. He really seemed to lack swing and miss stuff. He was not throwing a lot of strikes but he had some awful luck and bad defense behind him. His pickoff move was not bad.

Kenneth Stockton was the first reliever, and he had a harder fastball but it wasn't overpowering. One of the fastballs down the middle got destroyed, and it was just getting tattooed no matter where he put the pitch. His delivery was very easy, but he didn't have much command and didn't have much stuff. He left his curve up the first time he threw it and he hit a batter with another curve.

Tanner Ross couldn't get his breaking ball over in warm-ups and had problems with it during the game, even though he threw one really good one. He was another sub 90 MPH fastball pitcher, and put it in the middle of the plate and was getting hit hard (even though he yielded softer contact later on).

David Diaz is just 5-10 180, and the junior had a deceptive delivery with a not exceptionally hard but not bad fastball. His breaking pitch wasn't awful but he seemed afraid to throw it. He didn't have a lot of command and his pickoff move is not very good.

Austin Coble was the last pitcher I saw for Tarleton. I actually saw the 5-9 175 junior hit and play in the infield last time. His fastball was probably in the low 80s and down the middle. The ball wasn't going where he wanted, and his breaking pitch was very unimpressive.

Some Tarleton Linuep Notes (these are just some scattered notes on things I didn't pickup on the first time I saw them play). Shortstop Evan Robinson doesn't have much range, Ryan Small played 2nd this time, and really is poor there. He hit a homer just over the 320 marker on a line drive but was really unimpressive in other at-bats. Jonathan Schmitz is a freshman who played catcher. He seems to have a pretty

The starter for West Texas A&M was Stephen Diaz, a 6-1 175 right handed sophomore. His first breaking pitch (his breaking pitch is a slow curve) went about 58 feet. He seemed to be throwing about 85 MPH on his fastball. He got a lot of grounders, but in reality he is facing a pretty weak lineup.

The starting shortstop for West Texas was Jordan Easom, a 6-1 205 senior. He had a walk and a weak grounder. He got 11 at-bats for Western Michigan in 2010. Jess Cooper is the big (6-2 220) 3rd baseman. He was not good, awful in fact, on defense, and as one would suspect, he didn't move well out there. He really has a 1st baseman build. There is some power though, as he crushed a pitch down the middle to the wall. He did chase a breaking ball and had a big hack and miss on a fastball. Nick Marquez is listed as an infielder,but the senior played DH. He has slow bat speed and chased breaking balls, but he pulled one down the line for a double. Kendall Boone is a senior who hit a ground-ball on a low 2-0 pitch and really wasn't doing well on the breaking ball. Parker Wood played 1st base and the junior has some power, but it doesn't appear he has the patience to compliment it. Justin Henderson played RF, and the 6-2 210 junior didn't have good timing in his first at-bat and does not have plus speed. He also swung and missed on a fastball in the zone. Eric Dorton is the senior center fielder. Offensively, he has a good eye and crushed a line drive. Jarvis Smith played in left, and doesn't have plus speed. He was having problems with the breaking ball, but he fouled off a couple in one at-bat that ended in a walk. He also had another walk, and hit a hard line drive in an at-bat that where he took a fastball down the middle. Patrick Ramirez runs well for a catcher, and the sophomore seems kind of small (he appears to be the only starter you can say that about) at 5-10 190, but his has a nice easy swing that generates some power. He chased a really ugly breaking pitch but did walk in that at-bat. He also had nice contact on a pitch down the middle.

Scouting Reports on Weatherford and Hill Colleges

On Saturday March 24th, we went and saw Hill College play at Weatherford College.

Cameron Cox was the starting pitcher for Weatherford College, and the Freshman (these are Junior Colleges, so they are all Sophomores and Freshman, and are all draft eligible) stands at 6-3 185. He seemed to be throwing pretty hard and had a 89-91 MPH fastball, that everybody seemed to be late on. He had decent speed differential on his breaking pitch, an 81 MPH slider. It had nice movement, and was just nasty at times. He can throw it for strikes, even though he had a couple really get away from him that didn't reach the plate. He hung the slider a little bit (he threw a couple pitches too much in the middle of the plate in the 3rd) for a homer, and his control left him in the 7th. However, he was getting ground-balls when he wasn't getting strikeouts, which he got a lot of. He has a nice pickoff move, and he picked someone off. He has a fluid arm motion, even if his delivery is a little tricky. He can also play in the infield and bat left handed, even though he is a righty.

Matt Daniels was the right handed sophomore starter for Hill. He threw mainly fastballs, even though it was just 84-85 MPH. It was probably telling that the scouts at the game all were paying close attention to Cox, but didn't even really have their radar guns out for Daniels (one ate skittles while he pitched). His fastball locations were pretty poor, and it was a very unimpressive pitch. He is a little shorter at 6-1, and had a successful pickoff but his move wasn't all that great. He had a 77 MPH slider and a 65-67 MPH slow curve. He was hanging the pitches (he gave up a homer on one hanger), although they weren't bad when he kept them low. He really wasn't sure where he was breaking pitches were going, and I don't know if they have enough break on them to consistently fool hitters. He did get quite a bit of swings and misses, and racked up the strikeouts, but he also walked 3 straight hitters in the 3rd. Defensively, he gets off the mound okay to field.

Justin Garcia for Weatherford is a 6-1 (or 6-0, the official roster and game program disagrees) freshman reliever. The righty had 100 strikeouts as a senior and 112 strikeouts as a junior at Rowlett High School. He has a long leg kick and throws a 2 seam 84 MPH fastball that has pretty solid movement. He throws a 73 MPH breaking ball, and then another almost screwball pitch at 76 MPH that I saw a couple of times. That is not a lot of velocity and not a lot of speed differential.

Albert Aranda is a Freshman right handed reliever for Hill. He is not very big at all, listed at 5-10. He was 85-86 MPH on his fastball with a 72-74 curve. He can throw the curve for strikes and its a decent pitch with plate to plate movement. He fields his position pretty well.

Daniel Milliman is a starting pitcher for Weatherford, with an 86 MPH fastball with movement (actually better movement than his breaking stuff). His breaking pitch was about 78 MPH and stayed high the first time, and then he threw 3 low ones for a walk. It really doesn't have much break, and he hung one to give up a single. He was really struggling to throw strikes early, and he was stiff off the mound. The 6-3 200 Right Handed Sophomore had a 2.24 ERA as a senior and 1.6 ERA as a junior in high school.


Offensively for Weatherford, Connor VanDaveer was the lead-off hitter and 2nd baseman. The 5-10 160 freshman runs pretty well, and had some long at-bats with a walk, but also swung and missed on a breaking pitch. Defensively, he didn't have much range. Cody Semier played in left field, even though the freshman is listed as a 2nd baseman/shortstop. He has very little plate discipline and had an awful chase on a breaking ball. Peter Cuomo was the starting shortstop, and was about 20 pounds heavier but the same height. He is not very fast, but showed some nice range but a not very good arm. With the bat, he had a crouched stance and chased a curveball in the dirt (he also flew out on a 3-1 breaking ball). Dean Redden played some catcher, and the freshman has a nice arm but a bad passed ball. The well sized catcher hit almost .500 last year at Llano High School. Brandon Vineyard started in right field, and showcased an extremely weak arm. The sophomore showed some power potential and did hit a ball hard, but he was fooled by breaking pitches. Cameron Allerheiligen played 3rd base, and it is listed that the big 6-3 215 pound freshman can play both the infield and the outfield. One hopes he plays those other positions better than he plays 3rd, as he was not a good glove out there for the most part and is a slow runner. He walked a couple times, batting 3rd in the lineup, but they also had him trying to bunt for some odd reason. Erik Garcia was the main catcher for Weatherford, and the 5-11 190 freshman didn't have a bad arm but it wasn't a plus arm. He wasn't a good pitch blocker, and he DH'ed in the 2nd game of the double header. Offensively, he hit a hanging breaking ball for a home run at least 380 feet. He got under a breaking ball for a decent fly-ball, made good contact on a fastball, chased a low fastball, and hit an infield fly-ball on a hanging curveball. Collin Zabasky plays 1st base, but DH'ed when we saw him. He had bad plate discipline and a poor swing and swung and missed at a high bad fastball. He is really slow, which is not surprising since he is 6-0 but 230 pounds. Tyler Ervine was the actual first baseman, and he is slow with not much range. He has a pretty good swing, and the 6-4 230 made some nice contact on breaking pitch (even though he got under another one). Colton Hall played center field, and the freshman runs okay but is not fast (and was picked of). He took some close pitches and walked, and he also fouled off some 2 strike breaking balls. He also had an ugly check swing.

For Hill College, Boone Weiss is a sophomore 3rd baseman with slow bat speed and slow actual speed. He was really struggling with the breaking ball, and he is not a good defender at all. Dustin Russell is maybe a little skinny for catcher, as he is not real big at all. He has a nice arm and made some good contact. He seems to be a passive hitter, as in one of his at-bats he had a long at-bat that ended in a ground-ball. He did chase a pretty bad looking pitch though. Kyle Kern has a pretty wild swing that resulted in a single up the middle, but he really chased breaking balls. The sophomore does not have a good arm in the outfield, which is surprising since he also pitches. Seth Harrison is a pitcher/outfielder with decent size, but he too had problems with the breaking ball. He also struck out looking on an outside fastball. He did get decent contact on a hanging breaking pitch. We also saw him pitch, and he was throwing a 85-87 MPH fastball, with an over the top delivery that makes it look like he is throwing harder than he actually is. He has a 74-77 MPH breaking pitch (that hit 79 MPH once) that he didn't have a real good feel for. He would much rather throw a fastball and doesn't have much control at all. Adonis Askew played some catcher, and the freshman has a good catcher body with a decent swing and contact. Dylan Inkman was a freshman outfielder who again struggled with breaking balls and struckout and hit a ground-ball. Keaton Miller is a freshman shortstop with a good swing, and even though he doesn't have plus speed, he stole a base. Keith Carney is not real fast for a freshman 3rd baseman, and he struckout swinging on 3 straight fastballs. Nick Marti is not a burner at 2nd base, but he made solid contact 3 times. He also walked, even though he chased some breaking balls. Tyler Creek is a big (and good big) 1st baseman who is listed as a pitcher/outfielder. He looked really ugly on breaking balls and doesn't have a good swing either. He hit a home run which looked like was on size alone. He made a nice stretch play on defense and seems to be pretty good defensively.

Thanks to My brother Daniel, as he did the Cameron Cox video.

Scouting Reports on Howard Payne, Schriener, and Southwestern Assemblies

On Wednesday March 21st 2012 I went and watched Southwestern Assemblies of God at Howard Payne University. On Friday March 23rd I saw Howard Payne play Schriener University.

Reed Klose was the starting pitcher for Howard Payne, and (as I arrived an inning after the start) he gave up 3 runs in the first inning. He had unimpressive velocity, movement, and location on his fastball. The 6-1 230 (he definitely looked big) Junior right hander should get plenty of ground-balls when he is on. I liked his curveball when I saw it in warm-ups, it almost knuckled a bit (he did throw one about 56 feet).
Ryan Klose is apparently his brother, and he is even bigger at 6-4 235 and he played some first base. He is slow of course, and his swing was slow and not good, but the ball did jump off his bat. Alan Sailors is a junior catcher with a good build but a poor swing and poor speed. He really wasn't recognizing pitches and didn't have good patience at the plate. He did pull a ball that was low and in for a hit. Defensively, he had an erratic arm.
Dustin Kelver is a freshman 6-2 180 freshman relief pitcher. He had a very violent over the top delivery with not great command (he did hit a batter). He wasn't throwing exceptionally hard, but did break out a nice breaking pitch (but he did hang it for a single). He gave up a pretty hard ground-ball that turned into a double play. Defensively, he was a nice fielder with a good throw over to first (you would be shocked at how many pitchers can't throw to first, I'm looking at you Cliff Lee).
Jordan Hammontree is an awful defender in right field. He doesn't have a real good swing, but he took some pitches for a walk (and had another walk as well). He struckout on the knuckleball, and had some big swing and misses. He did hit a sharp foul, and with Hammondtree, you do see some potential in his bat, but he doesn't recognize pitches. He did walk and steal a base, even though he doesn't have plus speed. The senior does possess decent size at 6-1 190. Kristopher Kloc is another senior outfielder who is smaller and slow, but he has a good arm. He struck out chasing out of the zone offensively. Dustin Cole had a hard time at 2nd base with an easy ground-ball, and is not a very good fielder even though he made one good defensive play. He doesn't run real well either and doesn't have much plate discipline. The 150 pound (but 5-11) sophomore had a long at-bat where he lined a fastball that was placed down the middle. Houston Holmes is a 3rd baseman who is listed at 5-8 160 but is much bigger and appears too big for 3rd. However, he was good with the bat, walking and hitting a home run in the first game I saw him. The second time was very unimpressive, as he had some really weak swings and hit 3 ground-balls. Tyler Payne is listed as both an infielder and a left handed pitcher, but all I saw him play was the infield. He must be a switch hitter as I saw him hit right handed. He is 6-4 and yet 190 as a freshman, so one can expect him to fill out. At first, he had an ugly drop and was taken out the next inning. Offensively, he had bad pitch recognition, missing a breaking ball and had a soft pop up. Sam Dollahite is the lead-off hitting shortstop. At 5-9 160, the junior hit a double, hit 3 soft ground-balls (one off the end of the bat on the first pitch), a harder ground-ball, and struck out on a breaking ball. He really wasn't fast, which is not good for his size, and didn't have much range defensively and booted a pretty easy ball.
Ben Butler played 1st base, and he chased a breaking ball for a strikeout twice and it was a consistent problem for him. At 6-0 240, the junior is listed as an infielder but there is no way he could play any other position in the infield. Colton Buzzard played centerfield and really covers some ground out there. He is a 5-9 165 junior who doesn't do anything impressive with his bat.

Garrett Sosa is a 5-9 190 relief right handed pitcher. He moved okay defensively, but didn't have an overwhelming pickoff move. He was throwing a little harder than the previous pitchers, with a little sink. This pitch was best when it was high and in. He had a nice curveball with a good break that drops off the plate. He could throw it for quality strikes, but lost control of it and struggled with control  as a whole, walking 4 batters. He tried a pitch out that nearly ended up being a strike. He did get a 1 pitch ground-ball after a mound visit.


For Southwestern, Dustin Jett played center field, but didn't show much range there. The senior singled off a hanging braking ball and seemed to make solid contact. Donavan Vess is a freshman second baseman who pulled a curve for a weak line drive single and then was promptly picked off. Mario Mendoza played DH and RF, and had good size and build at 5-11. He batted lead-off and ran pretty well. He had a pretty good eye with a walk, but also chased a 3-1 curveball. He drove a low curveball pretty well with some help from the wind as well. He is a senior, and he is also a pitcher according to their roster. Robert Elles is another pitcher/fielder and he played first base, even though he looked small for that position. One wonders if he can field elsewhere, even though he is a lefty. The freshman has a big cut, and hit a deep liner to the wall, a hard groundball, and an infield pop. On the basepaths, I thought he had pretty good instincts. Jared Denton is the sophomore catcher, who gave up a passed ball and had problems throwing back to the pitcher, but he threw out a runner easily. His bat was nothing worth writing about. Enrique Rodriquez is another freshman first baseman who is really slow but had a nice liner. Jacob Spivey is a 5-9 freshman shortstop who had an  awful fielding play. Zack Worrell is a pitcher/outfielder who I got to see play both. He is extremely small, but did draw a walk. The lefty sophomore started the 2nd game of the doubleheader for Southwestern. He has a short stop in his delivery, and was throwing pretty hard for his size. It wasn't without effort though, with some very loud grunts. He also seemed to be rattled and uncomfortable out on the mound. He had some command issues with his fastball, but when it was low it was solid. I liked the way he hides the ball, and the hitters seemed to have some trouble with it. His slow delivery to the plate allowed for some easy steals. He had a low breaking pitch that hitters kept getting under, and it was nice when he threw it. However, he was very fastball happy. Worrell missed bats, getting 3 strikeouts in a row. Taylor Froelich was another guy who played some catcher, and the sophomore seemed kind of small for the position (he is listed at 5-11). He also didn't run well and didn't have much of an arm. He hit a ground-ball in the at-bat I watched him.

Some other Pitchers:

Tyler Gaddis is a 6-4 215 junior pitcher with a Josh Collmenter type delivery:

The delivery really doesn't seem to take advantage of his size. He had huge control problems, as his first pitch was 8 feet high and then he threw 2 straight pitches 55 feet to the 2nd hitter. He induced a weak fly-ball to first base to the first batter he faced, and these weak fly-balls were a pattern for Gaddis. He wasn't throwing very hard and he wasn't getting any kind of help from his defense. His defense was pretty good, and he moved pretty well. He gave up a 4 pitch walk, but also threw a nice pitch on a low corner for a looking strikeout.

Michael Reeves was brought in to "close" the first game, but didn't last long. He was taken out after a walk and a wild pitch, as he had control and command issues. He threw a fastball down the middle of the plate for a hard line drive. His fastball seemed to have decent velocity, but it wasn't overwhelming. He had a high leg kick with a slight back turn, keeping his fastball low early on. The 6-1 sophomore had a poor pickoff throw for an error.

Daniel Reinhardt is a 6-1 sophomore who also plays 1st base. There is no listed weight, but it looks like he weighs at least 230 pounds. He had a weird arm action and was throwing a knuckleball with a slow curveball to compliment it. He also mixed in a fastball, and I found it interesting that he threw it in a 3-0 count, meaning he probably doesn't trust his knuckle. The ball was staying low most of the time, which is desirable, especially for a knuckler. He got 2 strikeouts, one on the knuckle and another on the curve. He had some problems with control, walking one and hitting a batter, and he gave up a hard liner and a ground-ball. He was pretty effective, especially since Howard Payne gifted him some free outs. Despite being big, he was a good enough fielder of his position.

Carlton Brown is listed as an outfielder, but I saw him play as a pitcher and a DH. has okay velocity and got a swing and miss on a fastball early. The pitch wasn't bad when it was low. His breaking ball tails away from righties and floats and flutters a little with consistent location. He wasn't real sure where his fastball was going, and when it was in the middle of the low part of the plate it got smoked. He didn't get off the mound to field his position, but did made a nice snag on a comebacker. With the bat, he had a decent line drive to left center, a nice liner to center, but he chased a 3-1 pitch for a ground-ball.

Corey Howie is a 6-0 155 sophomore who is listed as an infielder/shortstop. However, he is a starter for Howard Payne. In a game with a big strikezone, the small pitcher threw mainly fastballs to begin the game, and then threw mainly curveballs. He had an okay fastball that stayed way outside to start the game. It appeared he wanted to just pound the strikezone and overpower hitters with the fastball. He threw several down the middle, but also missed badly with some. His fastball is not good enough to be in the middle of the zone, but he did throw a couple pretty hard fastballs that were clearly harder than the majority of them. His curveball was a slow curve, and he couldn't get it over the first try. He was pretty wild, with poor pitch locations early on, even though they got a lot better later on. He threw some nice low strikes with the curve, but also hung it at times. The pitch had some break but he clearly gave away what pitch he was throwing with his delivery. When he was throwing a fastball, it looked like he was trying to throw it hard, but with his curve his delivery didn't seem as hard. He fields his position pretty well, and he picked a runner off.

Barrett Houser is a starting pitcher for Schreiner, who is a 6-0 175 junior. He tries to hide the ball behind his chest in the windup, and I didn't think it was that effective. Most everything, in fact basically everything, was down in the zone, but he really wasn't his spots at all. His fastball is not overpowering to say the least, but it has moving and sinking action (and stays low). He did throw one down the middle and got away with it, but I don't think he will be able to do that at a higher level. His breaking pitch looked like a slider with a slight break, tailing away from righties. It was basically never a strike (he was in trouble when it was), but it fooled hitters. His pickoff move wasn't bad.

Ethan Catalani was their reliever, and had nice size at 6-4 200, where one would think he would be able to get on top of the ball. The sophomore is also listed as an infielder, but with his size and the fact that he is left-handed, one has to assume he only plays 1st base. He has a 3/4ths delivery where he tosses his body around. He had some control problems and was very change-up happy. The pitch absolutely has to stay down, but he wasn't always keeping it low. It was a decent pitch but it didn't have a ton of break. If he can keep the ball low, it might make up for his apparent lack of velocity. His fastball was largely absent, and I mainly saw it in warm-ups and it was very unimpressive. In the game, he threw some very high "fastballs".

Reagan Reed is listed as a pitcher/infielder, but played DH when I saw him. In his first at-bat, he had a big whiff on a 2-0 breaking pitch, then hit a weak foul on another, then took a called strike 3 on a foul pitch. He also chased an inside fastball for some reason in another at-bat. He appeared short, but has decent build, as the freshman is listed at 6-0 170. He is pretty slow as well. Brad Thomas is listed as an outfielder, but played 1st. He is taller than Reed at 6-3, but he is not big (215 is not large for that height). I am pretty skeptical of his outfield abilities, as he showed some awful range at first. Offensively, he got jammed for a weak fly-ball to center on an inside fastball. He didn't really show a good swing, and wasn't hitting the ball hard. Curt Jaeger batted lead-off and played an awful left field. He is also listed as a pitcher, even though he is really small at 5-10 165. He hit a line drive the other way on a 3-2 count in his first at-bat. He also made nice contact on a low breaking pitch, but looked not great on low curves with some bad cuts and it looks like he is struggling with that pitch. Jesse Paredes played center, and has a poor arm and looked absolutely terrible out there. There was nothing really good to write about his at-bats either. Pete Trevino is a junior infielder who was chasing breaking pitches and late on the fastball (he had a good liner on another fastball right down the middle. Justin Martinez is an outfielder/pitcher, so it wasn't surprising that he had a nice arm out in right field. He is a slow senior with really little to no power but had a hard ground-ball. Eric Bukowski played 3rd base and is another pitcher/fielder hybrid. He had really poor range at 3rd base and is slow (things that don't always go hand in hand, but do many times). He had a really long at-bat before chasing a breaking ball to strikeout, and he really has a ground-ball swing. Ryan Pisseri is a freshman infielder/pitcher, who played a very range-less 2nd base. He struck-out looking on a breaking ball and also chased a 59 feet breaking ball. Chris Whitehad is the junior catcher who doesn't have a good arm. He had a decent line drive after 2 very forgettable at-bats. Freshman Caleb Veteto pinch hit, and didn't swing, striking out looking.

Scouting Reports on Texas Wesleyan and Texas College

On Saturday March 17th 2012, I saw Texas Wesleyan play against Texas College at Legrave Field.

Derek Vaughn started for Texas Wesleyan. The junior right hander is not real big at 6-0 190, and was drafted by the Rays in the 47th round last year. He spent his freshman year at Arkansas-Fort Smith, where he struck out 10.71 batters per 9 innings and had an ERA of 2.87. He then went to Oklahoma where he was redshirted and never played. He seemed to have a pretty hard fastball and it was about 89-90 MPH (although I have read reports where he has thrown 93-94 MPH). He worked his fast-ball both inside and outside, mostly middle height (although he threw a very nice low fastball, but I really only counted one). The pitch was a nice pitch when it was on the high outside corner. He really seemed very happy for the most part, like he wanted to be a power pitcher. He did show a 73 MPH breaking pitch, but for the most part it was staying too high. He hung the pitch for a hard liner, and really seemed to be having problems with it. He threw a nice harder breaking pitch, most likely a slider, for a swinging strikeout. He showcased this pitch a little, but it wasn't a pitch he had much control or feel for it seemed. His best breaking pitches actually seemed to come in warm-ups. Overall, he had no location on his breaking pitches, and really lacked control overall. In the 2nd he had a walk and a hit by pitch back to back. He ended up throwing 114 pitches overall, and was really laboring from the 5th on it seemed.

The starter for Texas College was Chris Blackmon who ended up throwing a complete game. Even though the fences were way in at Legrave Field compared to other college stadiums, there was only one home run in the 11 innings I saw (it was a double-header and I watched the first game and the first two innings of the second game) and it was Alex Padilla homering off Blackmon off of a hanging breaking ball. Blackmon is a 6'4" senior, but threw a very soft fastball at about 81-82. However, he threw more breaking pitches than fastballs, showcasing mainly a 71 MPH looping curveball (he threw a 64 MPH breaking ball once, but it seemed to be just an even slower curve) that he was throwing both inside and outside. His location really isn't as precise as it needs to be for such a finesse pitcher, as his curveball was really staying high in the 5th on. He really lost effectiveness in the middle of the game and the manager kept him out there. If nothing else, the hitters were falling for that breaking ball and were having all kinds of problems with timing. It seemed that it says more about the hitters than the pitcher. He really seemed to be a right-handed Barry Zito (the Giants version of course), as I saw Zito pitch a few days before with a 70 MPH curveball that was staying up and an 83-85 MPH fastball. We have seen how many problems Zito has had the past few years.

Patrick Stanley was the only reliever I saw pitch, and he is a right handed side armer. He was throwing 82-85 MPH with not a ton of movement and not much low. In warm-ups, everything was on the right side of the plate, but his first pitch was inside to a right hander. In other words, it appears he can work both sides of the plate. When he threw the ball in the middle of the plate low, it turned into a line drive single, and the ball was staying in the middle of the plate too much. He also sailed a pickoff throw, but had a very nice 9th with a ground-ball, infield foul fly-out, and a strikeout looking.

In the 2nd game, the starter for Texas Wesleyan was Dillon Wilson, a 6-7 225 lefty. The senior clearly has much bigger size than you see in most lefties, and he was throwing about 88-90 MPH (he hit 91 MPH, and I am told this is a little bit harder than he usually throws). He got two nice looking strikeouts with the fastball on the outside corner (he tended to like to throw the ball in the dirt). He also broke out a 71 MPH curve on the 3rd batter, and it was a pretty solid pitch (with definite speed differential). 

David Kipp was the starter for Texas College in the second game. He is not real big at 6 feet even 205 pounds. He was throwing about 84-86 MPH on his fastball with a 74 MPH breaking pitch. The breaking ball wasn't all that impressive, and ended up getting creamed by Justin Barnes.

Texas Wesleyan's lineup:

Brian White was the starting catcher, and the Junior had a nice arm behind the plate. However, the rather small catcher didn't look good at the plate, falling for breaking balls, and striking out looking in his final at-bat in the first game. Christian Soberanes started at shortstop and the senior didn't have very good pitch recognition, and swung at the first breaking ball he saw for an infield pop-up. He did pull a nice double, but didn't have much range at shortstop. Taylor Jockers was the senior center-fielder, who had a nice arm. Offensively, he showed a little power potential, and had a long at-bat. However, he also struck out swinging on a high fastball.Alex Padilla played 3rd base, even though the junior is listed as a catcher. I mentioned his homer earlier, but he also hit a ground-ball on a breaking pitch that was hung in the strike zone that I thought he should have really hit hard. Joseph Lassiter played 2nd base, although it is listed he can play in the outfield. He didn't show much range out in the field, but he hit a low breaking ball pretty nicely. Jake Howeth played in right field, and the freshman has a nice arm and gunned a runner down at the plate. He also hit a fastball to the wall. Vincent Winter made a nice play in left field, and the junior struck out swinging on a fastball and fell for a breaking pitch for an infield pop-up. Stephen Niedwiecki DH'ed and was really slow and didn't look his listed size of 6-2 200. Andrew Coleman came in the game as a pinch-runner.
Justin Barners played 1st base (he is listed as a 1B/OF, but I can't imagine him playing in the outfield with his 6-3 240 build), and definitely has power potential. He isn't slow, but he is an awful base-runner and doesn't move that well in the infield. The senior has to recognize breaking balls better, and with his age, he should be more advanced than he is.

For Texas College, Agustin Enriquez played shortstop. He looked good in the field, and at the plate he went the other way on a breaking ball for a hit. He also chased another breaking ball. D.J. Fisher played DH as a freshman, and is a real bad body type at 5-11 220. To add that, he is slow on the base paths. Offensively, he cut late on a fastball, and while he looked like he may have some power but I didn't see it. Corey Heidebrecht started at second base, and the sophomore showed some pop and drove a breaking ball pretty well. Jose Hernandez had a nice arm out in left-field (he is listed as a center-field), but the freshman is just 5-8 155. With the bat, he wasn't ready for the fastball. Tristen Neal played in center-field and the senior had all kinds of problems with the bat. He was late and having problems with the fastball, and he chased breaking pitches. He did have a long at-bat in which he grounded out to pitcher. Matthew McEuen played a good 3rd base, and the small junior didn't show an impressive bat (seemed to be a ground-ball hitter) but did hit a hard liner. Jared Seal started in right field as a sophomore, and walked but didn't have any hard contact in the game. He had a couple swing and misses on outside fastballs. He is a pretty slow runner. Jose Serna is the super slow junior catcher. I think there was something wrong with his arm as he wouldn't throw the ball.

Kasey Vogel started at first and the 6-0 200 junior hit a hard line drive on a hanger:

He did have an ugly hack though, even though he walked twice.

Blaine Shackelford made a nice play at catcher, even though he is listed as a pitcher. Tanner Shaffer was brought in as a pinch hitter to bunt. Cody Stifle was the courtesy runner for the catcher, and he is a nice baserunner. Artie Lopez pinch hit, and the listed 1st baseman looked like a bad build (6-1 230) power hitter. The junior is the only switch hitter on the team but wasn't starting, and I can only speculate that he isn't a good defender.