Eastern league visit
by SoCalSoxFan on Jul 2, 2007 2:57 PM EDT
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PrintGot back from Philly/Reading a few days ago, caught three games, one vs Binghamton and two vs Altoona. . .
My takes on some of the prospects that were there.
Mc Cutcheon-Wasn't wow'd by him, great speed, but at the plate skills weren't all that impressive. A lot of people here knock Ellsbury b/c he doesn't have a dynamic bat, and I don't see that in Cutch either, solid leadoff hitter, but not a number three type guy for me.
Neil Walker--love his bat from the left side, reminds me of Ian stewart, loading his hands quite high, great bat speed, discipline and all that. His glove will hold him back initially, very rough footwork. Much more impressed with his offensive package than McCutcheon.
Stephen Pearce--I'm predicting a 4A type guy, but i could be wrong. Kills mistakes, good bat speed, but just don't love his swing.
Yoslan Herrera--pitched at 86-88 with a nice curveball he was throwing at 70-74. Don't think too much of him b/c of the fastball, command isn't good enough to throw 86 or so. Time off could be reason for the lack of velo, if he can kick it up could be back of the rotation guy.
Carlos Carrasco--Struggled with his command, especially with his change up. Got lucky, because he was jut promoted the day we got there. Nice total package, he settled down, worked around 92-93, topped out at 94. Not many hard hit balls off of him and it didn't look like he had his best stuff. Grinded out five innings or so.
Fernando Martinez--Like him a lot, oozes tools and i think the power will come. Plays above his age, uses whole field,did everything well.
Mike Costanzo--Will play for Philly, but won't be a star, made some very nice plays in the field. Kind of a feast or famine guy, don't see a very high average coming from him.
Bobby Parnell-Good FB, back of the rotation type guy, which ain't that bad. Mainly used the fastball.
Mike Carp--Wasn't all that impressed, pretty good stick, but reminded me of a lefty Chris Shelton. Will have to watch his weight, not too athletic.
I liked this other kid on the phillies a bit,Greg Jacobs, don't have much info on him, but was like a lenny dykstra type with more pop. A gamer that can do a little of everything.
here's some pics from the games (battery died, and left charger at home 3000 miles away)
(Yes, i know the pics are huge)
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Nice pictures
Good Spot For This
Jaime Garcia was the one I was most focused on and he pitched terribly. His FB was 90-92 in the first three innings and started dropping to 88-90 toward the end of his outing. In the first two innings, he threw more strikes with his curveball than I expected but really lost everything toward the end. His changeup was pretty consistently around 84 but he didn't have much control of it. It certainly didn't look like a plus pitch to me.
I harassed a scout to see what he thought about Garcia and he said "He's got some out pitches but he is just humping it in there tonight." I guess he didn't think Garcia was trying very hard.
Rasmus looked terrible last night as well. I missed his double in the fourth as I was using the restroom (The first four innings took almost 2 hours and I couldn't help but have some adult beverages). In his other at bats, he looked overmatched to me - he didn't even swing in his at-bat in the first. In the field, he got a terrible jump on a ball in short left field that fell for a hit. He then proceeded to "big league" the ball back into the IF while a runner rounded 3rd and scored.
Unfortunately, Bryan Anderson had the night off and I did not get to see him play.
For Frisco, I was pretty impressed with their starter, Luis Mendoza (who is now 9-0 on the year!). His FB was pretty consistently in the low-90's and topped out at 94. He showed nice control and cruised all night long.
I was also impressed with John Mayberry who is quite a physical specimen. He's huge and gives off the impression that he oozes tools. The HR that he hit was absolutely crushed to LF - I didn't even see where it landed but it looked like it might have left the ballpark altogether.
Anyways, these were just my amateurish observations from the game last night. Springfield looked like a team that didn't hardly care that they were playing and I think it was clear who was going to win the game very early last night. Still, it was just one game...
Mayberry reminds me a bit of Ryan Howard
He's A Righty...
Picture of Mayberry Jr. when he was with the Blaze
by sdbaseballfan on Jul 2, 2007 5:03 PM EDT up reply actions
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The biggest problem with the comp, of course, is results. Howard basically moved up a year at a time, but he was a good hitter at each level and in fact improved upon his performance as he moved up. He doesn't really fit the profile of a late bloomer at all, something that tends to get ignored.
Mayberry just hasn't hit all that much - last year he had one outstanding month, one pretty good month, and sucked the rest of the time. He hasn't taken a step forward this year, which is discouraging.
I think there's a lot to be said for not worrying too much about a statline, but in this case I think it's warranted. On the bright side, Mayberry does hit lefties pretty well, so I imagine if nothing else he could be an interesting 1B/corner OF power bat off the bench . . .but there's a lot of guys like that.
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