**It was just one game. As discussed with Eric Hosmer last week, you shouldn't overreact to what you see in one game, especially a game played under "non normal" conditions such as an exhibition. That said, I'll turn around and make some bullet point observations anyway.
**I didn't like Mat Latos' delivery at all. It just screamed "arm problems" to me. I also thought Brian Matusz's delivery looked a bit more awkward than I remembered from college. On the other hand, I thought Kyle Drabek looked really good. Jarrod Parker and Jhouyls Chacin also lived up to expectations for me. Ironic. . .Drabek has already blown out his elbow, while Matusz has been durable and Latos (despite injury problems) has avoided major surgery thus far.
**Leyson Septimo looked pretty impressive, good movement and velocity, enough stuff that he won't have to be confined to LOOGYdom, provided he throws enough strikes of course.
**Pedro Alvarez looked OK, but he didn't look anywhere near as good as Heyward or Lawrie, just to name two guys who really stood out to me.
**Jason Castro: Love the Glove. Yeah, he hit the home run, too, but it was a hanging breaking ball. I'm still not convinced he'll be more than average with the bat, but that will be good enough for him to be a starter nevertheless.
.**Mike Stanton....very impressive. Looks like he might have some vulnerability to outside pitches due to the way he stands in the box, but he's made such strides with his plate discipline that it is hard to complain.
**Everyone is talking about Tyson Gillies, who wowed the crowed with his tremendous speed and excellent hustle. Here is what I wrote in the book about him.
Gillies was a 25th round pick in 2006, out of high school in Vancouver, Canada. He signed as a draft-and-follow guy in the spring of 2007. His best tool is speed: he's blazing fast, and is already an excellent defensive outfielder. He is less effective with the bat; he shows some signs of controlling the strike zone, but he lacks strength and power, and he is still learning to use his speed on the bases. Unless his power develops unexpectedly, he looks like a potential reserve to me. Grade C.
He's hitting .327/.435/.472 this year for High Desert....that's .312/.427/.494 at home, ..342/.444/.450 on the road, so the home park has only helped him slightly. He's stolen 23 bases but has been caught 12 times, so he still has work to do using that speed efficiently on the bases. His Isolated Power was .108 last year, .145 this year, so he's shown more pop but it's not exactly a huge power outburst. He's controlling the strike zone very well and drawing walks with 45 in 350 plate appearances. I'd like to see what he does in Double-A before going all-out with the grade, but he's certainly a lot of fun to watch, and his makeup is reportedly outstanding. I'd move him to Grade B- right now pending more data.
Loading comments...