Baseball Beginnings

By John Klima
September 3, 2010

Anthony Ranaudo is a guy we ventured over the river and through the woods to get a look at. I’m on the record for my thoughts on this guy and I think the video will show why I feel the way I do. What we have here is not a fast-twitcher, in other words, we got average arm speed here that is about to be fast-tracked with a medical history already in his back pocket. Maybe the Red Sox see something I don’t, and if they’re right and I’m wrong, no worries at all, I can live with it. But I can’t see this guy profiling as anything more than a major league grunt who has enough to be there but not enough to stand out. We’ll see what happens.

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Category: '10 Videos | No Comments »
Tags: Anthony Ranaudo, Boston Red Sox, LSU

By John Klima
August 26, 2010

Cory Hahn had a memorable senior season at Mater Dei – pitching, hitting, hitting for power, playing defense, base running, throwing from the outfield – and helping his team win a Division I championship in Southern California. Hahn is a guy that if you watch as a scout, I mean, really watch and break down, you’ll find a guy who’s going to have value as a pro because he does things within the context of a ballgame that will help teams win. Arizona State knows this, and so do the San Diego Padres. The Padres aren’t a bad fit for Hahn, because they must build around speed and defense in that dungeon they play in. The other truth of the matter is that Hahn is better than a 26^th round ballplayer and if he gets to ASU, he won’t be a 26^th rounder in three years.

I believe I once wrote that Hahn would go to the Cape after his freshman season in college and people from around the country would fall in love with this guy. That’s because Hahn is a casualty of the meat-market mentality. He has the tools to play the game – they may not be off-the-chart tools, but they’re better than serviceable. He knows how to use them, which is almost just as important. Baseball is a game and not a showcase, and frankly, Hahn is a victim of bad scouting. If you’re going to bury the guy, bury him because you think he won’t hit, not because you fear he won’t be big or strong enough. That’s a cop out. Make a call.

Baseball Beginnings caught up to Hahn recently again, where we talked about the 2010 season and what comes next.

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Category: '10 Meet the Player, '13 Meet the Player | No Comments »
Tags: ASU, Cory Hahn, San Diego Padres

By John Klima
August 20, 2010

I had a look at Anthony Ranaudo in one of his five starts on the Cape. We have video we’ll run a bit later, but this is the summary and comparison to how he was when I saw him at UCLA in June. The Red Sox forked out $2.55 million for him.

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Category: '10 Scouting Updates | 1 Comment »
Tags: Anthony Ranaudo, Boston Red Sox, LSU

By John Klima
August 19, 2010

By the time this is published, we will know if Brian Ragira has signed with the Texas Rangers or is getting ready for freshman orientation at Stanford University. (The winner is Stanford.) All we know is that he’s going to hit wherever he goes. When I did my not-for-public-eyes preference list before the draft, he was in Group 1.  Baseball Beginnings talked with Ragira shortly after the draft. A shout out to Austin Wilson for helping us book that.

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Category: '10 Meet the Player | 1 Comment »
Tags: Brian Ragira, Stanford, Texas Rangers

By John Klima
August 16, 2010

California high school right-hander Dylan Covey has been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and will honor his commitment to play college baseball at the University of San Diego, bypassing signing a professional contract with the Milwaukee Brewers, who drafted him with the 14^th overall pick, Covey told Baseball Beginnings exclusively Monday night.

Covey said that college baseball would be a better fit for adjusting to his new lifestyle than would professional baseball at this point. He stressed that there were no ill feelings toward the Brewers organization, and decided for himself that college would make the transition to a diabetic lifestyle smoother.

Covey, whose late-season slump fueled speculation that he had a shoulder injury, received a clean bill of health for his arm in a pre-draft medical examination last weekend.

However, blood work showed that he has Type 1 diabetes, a condition he previously did not know he had. The diagnosis explained his late season velocity drop and threw a curveball into Covey’s future plans.

Covey said the decision became about how to manage his health in the immediate future. He said he believed that college baseball is a better option to learn how to regulate and maintain the lifestyle. Both Dylan and his father, Darrell, expressed positive feelings toward the Brewers. They both said negotiations were not acrimonious, but conducive to what was best for Covey’s future. The family declined to discuss financial specifics.

“The news was such a shock to me,” Dylan Covey told Baseball Beginnings Monday night. “It explained a lot of what went on late in the season. At this point, it’s going to take about six months to get used to the treatment cycle. I’ve got about six months till the college season begins. This is all new stuff and a lot of it is hard to remember. I just felt like it was going to be easier to get used to what this lifestyle is going to be in college than in pro ball.”

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Category: 2010 Draft, Baseball Beginnings Exclusives | No Comments »
Tags: Dylan Covey, Milwaukee Brewers, University of San Diego

By John Klima
August 11, 2010

One aspect of Cory Hahn’s game that doesn’t get discussed much is his defense, which will be the focus of this scouting update.

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Category: '10 Scouting Updates | No Comments »
Tags: ASU, Cory Hahn, San Diego Padres

By John Klima
July 30, 2010

As I mentioned in my Braves draft recap, they popped third baseman Joey Terdoslavich from Long Beach State. Here’s a look from earlier in the season.

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Tags: Atlanta Braves, Joey Terdoslavich, Long Beach State

By John Klima
July 27, 2010

The next time we see Seth Rosin on this site, chances are it will be video of him pitching for the San Jose Giants in the California League. In the meantime, this is video of what got him there in the first place.

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Category: '10 Videos | 1 Comment »
Tags: Minnesota, San Francisco Giants, Seth Rosin

By John Klima
July 23, 2010

I’ve run across Ryon Healy, formerly of Crespi High, a few times on the trail: Area Codes, Fall Ball, high school, and now summer ball with wood again. He did not get drafted, and really, most teams don’t want to spend money for Division I college players that aren’t 10 minutes away from the big leagues. In Healy’s case, he one’s of an absolute ton of guys Oregon is getting from Southern California. And whenever I see him, I’m pretty much convinced that one of these years I’m going to see legit right-handed power. I can see the signs. For me, I don’t care if it’s not 10 minutes away. I know power production potential when I see it.

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Category: '10 Scouting Updates | No Comments »
Tags: Oregon, Ryon Healy

By John Klima
July 20, 2010

Great story I love to tell about Leon Landry.

The first time I saw Landry, I didn’t see him. I heard him. I know a gunshot when I hear it. It was at Harwich in Summer 2009. Landry was fresh out of a car with his family. He was in the side cage out at that little field. And I heard the gunshot.

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Category: '10 Videos | No Comments »
Tags: Leon Landry, Los Angeles Dodgers, LSU