By John Klima
August 2, 2010
Long and lanky body with all his physical projection in front of him, Trevor Gretzky is one of those guys who is just learning what he might be able to do with a wood bat in his hands for nine months a year.
Gretzky is a guy we’ll break down as we go further along in the draft cycle. I saw a good five high school games of his junior season last year, while I was out pounding the pavement. Nobody else works as far ahead as I do. To me, this is the classic example of scouting a player as he goes through a growth cycle. He’s not as strong as he’s going to be. He’s not going to be a standout runner or have a standout arm, but he’ll be serviceable. He’ll get better defensively as he goes. What he does have is hand speed, and just as importantly, the ability to get his hands in hitting position. He’ll learn things like pitch recognition and pitch selection as he goes. But hands are instinctive and natural. You don’t get those from anything else but from nature. I wrote earlier that I thought he was going to be able to hit bad balls for power. I’ll stand by it.
Baseball Beginnings caught up with Gretzky late last spring for this Q&A. World, meet Trevor; Trevor, meet World. I’ll break him down as we go on during the draft cycle.
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Category: '11 Meet the Player |
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By John Klima
April 30, 2010
Gifted with a major league pedigree, the right frame for the job, and a smooth and explosive delivery that is as close to the big leagues as you’ll find in college baseball, Jack Armstrong set forth lofty goals for himself. His plan was to emulate the career path of former Vanderbilt left-hander David Price, who was the 1/1 of the 2007 draft.
Here’s the road map thus far: close the Aflac game in 2007 and drafted by the Rangers in the 36th round in 2008. The Rangers have a long history of not offering market money for probable major leaguer starters, so Armstrong went to the bullpen in Vanderbilt in 2009 and the summer on the Cape, where Baseball Beginnings grabbed him for this Q&A.
In 2010, he’s a weekend starter in Vanderbilt, complete with an outing at Dodger Stadium, where he was the only guy who physically belonged. I was beyond bitter when he was pulled after four innings. His numbers indicate a young power pitcher who is still learning, but he’s a guy whose ceiling should be substantial.
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By John Klima
April 20, 2009
UCLA freshman right-hander Gerrit Cole is developing four pitches. (UCLA)
“His stuff is electric. His fastball is 97-98 with movement, his slider is devastating and he has the change-up he can throw to right-handers. Here comes an 18-year old and I feel lost in the box facing him. He definitely has the best stuff I’ve ever faced.” – UCLA junior third baseman Casey Haerther on facing teammate Gerrit Cole for the first time in Fall, 2008.
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Tags: Gerrit Cole, Grant Green, New York Yankees, UCLA, USC
