Scouting Report: Joe Kelly, RHP, UC Riverside (2009 Draft)
John Klima | May 31, 2009
(photo: Baseball Beginnings)
Joe Kelly, RHP
UC Riverside (2009 Draft)
Games Seen: 1, Innings Pitched: 2
Baseball Beginnings
Scouting professional prospects and identifying future major leaguers
Scouting video: Joe Kelly, RHP, UC Riverside (2009 Draft)
John Klima | May 31, 2009
If you read Joe Kelly’s Q&A, you know that the guy took his first steps as a pitcher wearing VANS. Thankfully he’s wearing cleats here in the bullpen. Perhaps a lucrative endorsement deal awaits. Nike can have Michael Jordan. VANS has Joe Kelly. (Let it be noted that I returned to my old catcher’s crouch to film those last few pitches.)
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Read Joe Kelly Q&A
Read Joe Kelly Scouting report
Joe Kelly Drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals
Hobgood Doesn’t Get the Finale He Hoped For
John Klima | May 29, 2009
(photo: Baseball Beginnings)
Right-hander Matt Hobgood’s final high school start before the 2009 MLB draft wasn’t the conclusion that the Norco (Calif.) pitcher and probable first-round pick envisioned. On the other hand, when a bad day constitutes reaching 95 mph and throwing the occasional hard 12-6 curveball at 75 for strikes, the game may be lost but the prospect status is not.
Q&A with Joe Kelly, RHP, UC Riverside (2009 Draft)
John Klima | May 29, 2009
(photo: Baseball Beginnings)
Joe Kelly never threw a meaningful pitch in high school and thought he never would in college, but sometimes one pitcher’s bad luck is another’s lucky break.
When he arrived at UC Riverside, Kelly expected to play center field and hit every day. He had a hotly competitive streak and a self-described short memory. His coaches were smart enough to recognize his smooth arm action from the outfield. When Riverside’s closer got hurt during the fall, Kelly was asked to come to the mound. He went up the hill in street shoes and promptly started throwing gas.
Three years later, Kelly has transformed himself from an unknown high school hitter to a potential big league closer enabled with a closer’s tools: power fastball, power slider. He also has a closer’s mentality and a football player’s genetics. If it sounds too good to be true, read the Baseball Beginnings interview, and remember that you never know where you might find a ballplayer.
Scouting Report: Brett Jackson, CF, Cal (2009 Draft)
John Klima | May 28, 2009
Brett Jackson, CF
Cal (2009 Draft)
6-2, 210
Bats: Left, Throws: Right
Games seen: 1, Innings 9
Scouting video: Brett Jackson, CF, Cal (2009 Draft)
John Klima | May 28, 2009
Thanks to a bad battery, all I have is two BP swings of Jackson. The other guy with the coiled up left-handed swing is Blake Smith. My apologies. The camera has been placed on NCAA probation for ruining my day.
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Read Brett Jackson Q&A
Read Brett Jackson Scouting report
Brett Jackson Drafted by the Chicago Cubs
Q&A with Brett Jackson, CF, Cal, (2009 Draft)
John Klima | May 27, 2009
(photo: Cal)
I was sitting behind two national-level scouts who were watching Cal centerfielder Brett Jackson face UCLA right-hander Gerrit Cole. This was a game when Cole was around the plate and had pretty good stuff.
In his first at-bat, Jackson struck out. His swing looked long. In his next two at-bats, I noticed in the cuts he was taking that he was shortening his swing and speeding his bat up against Cole. He was the only guy in that Cal lineup I saw make this adjustment. That meant something to me. Jackson drew walks in the those two at-bats.
In the ninth inning of a 1-1 game, Jackson had Cole timed. He had again shortened his swing and was pacing the fastball. Cole was still throwing hard. But Jackson worked him for a long at-bat. The first fastball he got, he fouled right back into the screen. He just missed it. He fouled back several other pitches. At this point, Jackson wasn’t being overmatched. For a guy to time a 95-mph fastball, he has to have bat speed, which means he needs strong hands. Jackson ended up drawing a walk, starting a rally that led to a Cal victory.
Midway through this game, I heard the cross-checker say he didn’t like Jackson. That’s fine, everybody is entitled to an opinion. But here’s the thing. Sometimes a guy shows you other skills that if you’re only looking for what you want to see, you can miss.
Jackson is a first-round pick as a center fielder, and to be honest, the team that bonked him could use him more than the guy they have out there at the big league level right now.
The Cal centerfielder has three above-average tools that probably grade out in the 60 range depending on how much a team likes and wants him: hitting, running and throwing. His arm, though you might not see it in a game, is above average, probably in the 55-60 range. Again, you have to wait for it, but he’ll give throws from the left-center gap to the right-field line when he’s warming up, two hours before the game, and he’ll give you a nice, loose arm action.
The lesson here is that Jackson can play, and that sometimes a player doesn’t show you everything he has, or that you want to see, or when you want to see it in one neat and tidy package. As Grady Little used to always drawl about anything and everything, you have to “watch him closely.” Now you can read Jackson’s Q&A. (more…)
Matzek reaches 97 Tuesday night
John Klima | May 27, 2009
(photo: Baseball Beginnings)
Tyler Matzek’s outing Tuesday night resulted in a consensus opinion among attending scouts that the Capistrano Valley High left-hander’s stuff was the sharpest it has been this season. His first two pitches of the game were at 94 mph. By the second inning, he was hitting 97 a few times. This was the best breaking ball he has had and his cutters to right-handed hitters were hard and down. He pitched six innings, struck out seven and gave up three metal-bat singles in a playoff game victory.
Baseball Beginnings first caught up with Matzek in early April. At that time, some scouts grumbled that he hadn’t been very good early in the spring. He never fell off the charts and was going to go good either way, but he helped himself Tuesday. We caught up with him after the game for a follow-up Q&A to our earlier effort.
Tyler Matzek pitching tonight
Jen Marder | May 26, 2009
John is watching Tyler Matzek of Capistrano Valley HS pitching in the playoffs tonight. He is doing Twitter updates live from the game. Check us out on Twitter at @BBBeginnings. Or just click here.
Read Tyler Matzek Q&A
Read Matzek’s first interview after he signs with Rockies
Matzek hits 97
Watch Tyler Matzek Scouting video
Watch Tyler Matzek April Scouting video
Read Tyler Matzek Scouting report
Matzek Makes Final Start One to Savor
Colorado Rockies Select Tyler Matzek
Q&A with Jason Kipnis, CF, ASU (2009 Draft)
John Klima | May 26, 2009
(photo: ASU)
Jason Kipnis grew up in Chicago Bears country, spending his fall Friday nights in high school catching an obscene amount of passes.
When you happen to be a baseball player and have a lot of linebacker Brian Urlacher’s characteristics in you, sometimes adjusting the football mentality to the pace-yourself-flow of baseball is easier said than done.
Fortunately, Kipnis met just the right guy for the job. That would be Arizona State baseball coach Pat Murphy, who pretty much likes to tell you the way it is and has no problems with how that might sit with you.
Kipnis is an athletic ball hawk, not the biggest or the most physically imposing guy, but a solid player who has learned how to play the game and is ready for the next level.
He produced in 104 at-bats as a redshirt freshman at Kentucky in 2007 and then transferred to Arizona State in 2008. He hit .371 with 14 home runs and 24 stolen bases in his first season as a Sun Devil. He turned down the San Diego Padres, who drafted him in the fourth round with the 135th overall pick in 2008.
Kipnis played last summer in the Cape Cod League, where he said the numbers he put up there don’t adequately represent the progress he made. He returned to play at Arizona State this year, willing to push himself a little further and see what he else he could do.
The results have been there for Arizona State’s leading offensive threat. He enters host Arizona State’s Tempe regional hitting .380 with 14 home runs and 21 stolen bases. He has not made an error in 54 games.
The former football player with the ultra-aggressive mentality has an ultra-aggressive coach in Murphy, who has helped him learn how to channel the desire to run over the next guy in a fashion is better suited for professional baseball. Baseball Beginnings caught up with Kipnis by phone a few days before his Sun Devils took the field for their Tempe Regional.
