John Klima | March 8, 2010
This was a meeting of Friday night starters at different stages of their pitching lives. In San Diego State’s Addison Reed, you have a junior who is learning to stretch himself out from closing to starting and showing he knows how to pitch in the process. In Kentucky’s Alex Meyer, you have a young right-hander with a big arm who is chucking and ducking at this stage of his.
John Klima | February 26, 2010
Gerrit Cole threw three bad pitches in the first inning and two very good ones. He hit three Vanderbilt batters in the opening minutes, each with fastballs, and you have to give Cole credit for one thing. Not many pitchers can say they drilled the bases loaded. And not many pitchers can get out of a jam the way he did Friday night against Sonny Gray and Vanderbilt.
John Klima | November 26, 2009
Today concludes our two-part look at the 2009 Angel Elite season with our player summaries. As we mentioned Wednesday, this list does not represent rankings and follows the professional scouting model, where at this time of the year you are simply following players between summer and spring.
John Klima | November 25, 2009
Today begins our two-part series on player summaries from the 2009 Angels Elite Fall Season. These are not player rankings and we have not listed the players in any preference or order. This follows the professional scouting model, where at this time of the year, the scout is in follow mode and letting the players dictate which players are on the rise entering the spring.
These summaries have been compiled from personal scouting done this fall. In each case, the players have been seen multiple times.
Be sure to come back Thanksgiving Thursday for the completion of the list.
John Klima | November 13, 2009
Jackie Bradley Jr. held his own as a true freshman from South Carolina playing last summer for Hyannis in the Cape Cod League. He made our list of prospects to watch from the 2009 Hyannis club, and though he’s a 2011 draft class player, it’s never too early to look into the future here at Baseball Beginnings.
John Klima | November 5, 2009
The feeling here is that if Jack Armstrong was in the 2010 MLB draft, we’d be talking about him as a solid 1/1 candidate.
ESPN and MLB PR types would shoot me, but Armstrong is better than Strasburg, and it ain’t even close. Armstrong hits 96 in this video (twice) with a power curveball, and a great body. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I read that line about not caring about if the guy looks good in blue jeans, too, assuming it was really spoken. But let’s get something clear. This guy is as close to big league ready as there is in the SEC right now. I’m not saying he won’t have some refinements to make, but I’m willing to bet he’s going to be making them in the big leagues. I saw Prior, too, and Armstrong’s arm action, slot, and extension are all achieved with less stress on his elbow. Freelance pitching coaches can pan me all they want, but if I was sitting in a front office, I’d be telling the owner that if he doesn’t sign this guy, he may as well go back to whatever business he came from.
John Klima | October 29, 2009
Looking ahead to the 2011 draft, Valencia infielder Christian Lopes has been on the radar for a few years already. Here’s a look at some BP footage of Lopes assembled from the Area Code Games in August and a few swings from rounds with the Brewers scout team at USC. If you listen closely, you can hear USC coach Pete Carroll blowing his whistle during football practice on the field next door. I had to make sure my camera was aimed in the right direction, otherwise I’d be in deep trouble, being an Alabama fan and all. (more…)
John Klima | October 26, 2009
Wednesday’s Angels Elite Fall Ball game against Orange Coast College at Mazmanian Field at Mt. Sac was a bit of a skeleton crew because many 2010 draft prospects were in Florida participating in a nine-field beauty pageant of a showcase. Safe to say, there were no scouts and agents tripping over themselves in golf carts begging for atta-boys from BA and PG here. Folks, we’re not lobbyists for certain players. We see, we report, we film, we write, and the KID decides what kind of player he becomes, not us. This is the way it works in professional baseball (or at least it should if politics and favortism doesn’t interfere). Pure and simple.
What was left on Angels Elite was an opportunity to get prolonged looks at some guys you might not otherwise get to see. (more…)
John Klima | October 20, 2009
Trevor Bauer had a great freshman season but didn’t get the results he hoped for last summer with Team USA. This is our first look at Bauer since last spring at USC. Keep in mind this guy skipped his senior year of high school to speed up the draft process. Having not seen Bauer last summer, I can’t confirm reports that his velocity had slipped. That said, I wouldn’t be terribly concerned about any young pitcher’s dead-arm period. It would be a different story if he were further down the line. Last week at UCLA, Bauer was back to 91-93 and his change-up was 81-82. His command wasn’t as sharp as it was last spring, but it’s also October, so it’s not quite time to push the panic button. Bauer is still going to be a guy many scouts love and will watch in 2011. He did drop down a few times with a lower slot that I had never seen before, sort of a Jeff Weaver look. He looked a little rusty and gave up some hard contact against wood. (more…)
John Klima | October 15, 2009
Love that drive to Wareham, especially on a Saturday. I’m from Los Angeles and the traffic jam there wanted to make me cry. Good thing I got there and there were some good players. We enjoyed our PB&Js in the parking lot five hours before the game. (more…)
