7/3 Montgomery v. Mobile Scouting Report

I am by no means a professional scout.  These are just my opinions and observations I made from one game.  So, here you go.

Going into the game, I was excited to watch Paul Goldschmidt.  Afterwards, I was more impressed with A.J. Pollock.  Don't get me wrong, Goldy was impressive.  He is all of 6-3, 245.  As you can see in the video, he has a wide batting stance and generates all of his power from his hips.  He was patient in most of his at bats, including drawing a walk.  I can see him hitting .285/.375/.575 in the bigs.  Goldy has some speed for a 1B.  He made it to third on an terrible fielding error (should have been a single) by the CF.  Overall, I was happy with what I saw in him and his numbers are legit.

Now, the guy who stole the show for me, A.J. Pollock.  I absolutely loved his glove and arm.  He made a long run to catch a fly at the wall that he only got to because he had an incredible jump on it.  Every ball hit to him was made with ease.  In the second inning, Pollock showed off a plus, fringe plus-plus arm.  With Nevin Ashley on second, the Biscuits batter flied out to center (330-360 ft) and Pollock threw a bullet to the cut-off man.  He was positioned where the SS is usually at for double play depth.  The SS never moved an inch and Ashley would have been out by 10-15 ft.  I liked Pollock's contact skills but don't see him ever hitting more than 10 HRs in a season.  He looks be a leadoff or number two hitter at the big league level.

And then there's Tim Beckham.  I am a Rays fan as you can see by my avatar so I was interested in seeing one of minorleagueball's more scrutinized prospects.  Tim could have been the best player on the field but I never would have noticed his skills.  What I did notice was his lack of care/interest/heart.  What I saw was a 21 year old, less talented B.J. Upton.  It looked like the only thing that matter to Tim Beckham was Tim Beckham.  Every time I saw Tim take grounders in between innings, he was walking into the outfield to pick up the ball that just went under his glove.  He was also the only player I heard screaming expletives on their way to the dugout after striking out.  Granted, I understand you are allowed to be frustrated and these are men playing ball but I felt like it was to draw attention to himself.  One aspect of his game that I did notice was his fielding.  There was a hard hit grounder hit near second that I thought he could get to but he was late reacting to the hit.  I don't see him as a SS but more of a 2B or CF.  Didn't BJ Upton take that path?  Just a side note, I'm not a fan of B.J. and would love to see the Nats take him away from the Rays.

Last but not least, there's Nick Barnese.  First, the stadium's speed gun wasn't working so I don't have any speed readings.  Nick did display an ability to throw his fastball past many batters.  Sometimes he threw a chest high fastball for strike three.  Barnese maintained his velocity well into the 6th.  He also displayed an above average curve that had a couple of batters way out in front of the pitch.  His command was pretty good.  The last pitch in the video, where he spins after his release, he hit the batter high on the shoulder.  To me, it doesn't look like Nick uses much legs but relies mostly on his arm and wrist.  His arm action and 3/4 arm slot just looked unconventional to me.  I can see #3 potential but seems to be more of #4 or #5 quality innings eater.

Feel free to ask me any questions you have and I'll try my best to answer them over the next day or two.