Baseball Beginnings extensively covered Marisnick this spring. You can learn all about the former Riverside Poly outfielder, see him play, read a scouting report, and read his exclusive Baseball Beginnings interviews. Stay tuned to Baseball Beginnings as we continue to chase draft-day deadline news.

Read Jake Marisnick Q&A
Read Jake Marisnick Catchup
Watch Jake Marisnick Scouting video
Read Jake Marisnick Scouting report
Watch Matt Hobgood vs. Jake Marisnick Video
Hobgood vs. Marisnick game

Toronto took four pitchers with its first four picks, then used their second third-round pick on their first position player, taking the Riverside Poly center fielder with the 104^th overall selection.

Marisnick told Baseball Beginnings that negotiations have started with the Blue Jays, but no agreement has been reached.

“It could be anytime,” he said. “It could be early and it could be late. I’m just kind of going about my business and letting it take shape on its own. I’m doing a lot of cage work and working out. If I don’t play this summer, then I’ll just look at it as the last summer off I’ll have in a very long time.”

Marisnick is part of a strong recruiting class for George Horton at Oregon. If he should slide to Oregon, there’s a possibility he could be paired with Capistrano Valley left-hander Tyler Matzek, the no. 12 pick in the nation by the Colorado Rockies who is also unsigned. Another player, Jack Marder, drafted in the 30^th round by the Arizona Diamondbacks, is a likely candidate to play in the Pac-10. All played for Angels Elite.

When Gerrit Cole chose to pitch at UCLA rather than sign with the Yankees following the 2008 draft, it signified that just about any player has a chance to slide to the Pac-10 after the draft. Marisnick said he was surprised that Yuba City catcher Max Stassi slipped to the fourth round, 123^rd overall, to Oakland. Stassi has the option of playing at UCLA.

Marisnick said he enjoyed seeing Norco right-hander Matt Hobgood become the fifth overall pick in the draft, chosen by the Baltimore Orioles.

“That was awesome and I was excited for him,” Marisnick said. “I shot him a text draft day to tell him how happy I was for him. I’m sure he got bombarded that day.”

Read Jake Marisnick signs
Read Jake Marisnick Q&A
Watch Jake Marisnick Scouting video
Read Jake Marisnick Scouting report
Watch Matt Hobgood vs. Jake Marisnick Video
Hobgood vs. Marisnick game

 
Read Jake Marisnick signs
Read Jake Marisnick Q&A
Read Jake Marisnick Catchup
Watch Jake Marisnick Scouting video
Read Jake Marisnick Scouting report
Watch Matt Hobgood vs. Jake Marisnick Video
Hobgood vs. Marisnick game

Jake Marisnick, CF
Riverside Poly HS (2009 Draft)
6-3, 190
Bats: Right, Throws: Right
Games seen: 4, Innings: 30

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Long, lean, loose and athletic body; has yet to physicall mature. Above-average athletic actions.

STRENGTHS: Graceful athlete. Good first step, above-average speed when underway, fluid runner, stolen base threat. Closes the gaps left and right, range to go in front and behind, aggressive defender; not afraid to dive for a ball or run into a wall. Above-average arm, average accuracy, good arm action, quick release, and whippy arm. Instinctive and aggressive base runner; takes large leads; pressures defenses. Extremely fast hands with bat; should be able to get hands inside the good fastball.

WEAKNESSESS: Trying to do too much offensively in games I saw; fell out of straight-away and opposite field approach – all correctable. Power needs a few years to come in. First-inning struggler in games I saw.

SUMMARY: Smooth and graceful athlete yet to physically mature. Struggled against good pitching in spring after good summer against good pitching. Too toolsy to ignore. Likes to play. Comparable to Torii Hunter or Devon White.

GRADES
Hit          35/60
Power   30/60
Run        60/65
Arm       60/65
Field      60/65
 
Overall Future Potential:  63

What the Grades Mean

Read Jake Marisnick Q&A
Read Jake Marisnick signs
Read Jake Marisnick Catchup
Watch Jake Marisnick Scouting video
Watch Matt Hobgood vs. Jake Marisnick Video
Hobgood vs. Marisnick game
Jake Marisnick Drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays

Read Jake Marisnick Q&A
Read Jake Marisnick signs
Read Jake Marisnick Catchup
Read Jake Marisnick Scouting report
Watch Matt Hobgood vs. Jake Marisnick Video
Hobgood vs. Marisnick game
Jake Marisnick Drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays

Torii Hunter now has one more Gold Glove Award (seven) than the six years it took him to reach the big leagues. All those offensive struggles early in his career are a distant memory.

Jake Marisnick is about to embark on a similar path that he hopes will take him to similar heights. He is another skinny centerfielder gifted with above-average speed, throwing and fielding skills, the tools Marisnick accurately describes as the “tools you can’t take away and can’t teach.”

After a strong summer against good pitching, coming back to metal bats and high school pitching felt like slow motion. Marisnick began the season in a slump, trying to find his mechanics. He didn’t hit in March and early April. Some of the national scouts who came to see him against Norco’s Matt Hobgood bailed on him when the hard-throwing Hobgood controlled those outings.

One AL cross-checker believes that downgrading Marisnick because he didn’t hit Hobgood in two games when the right-hander had arguably his best stuff of an award-winning season is a bad call. “His hands are too fast not to hit,” the scout opined.

Marisnick’s advisor is Larry Reynolds, Torri Hunter’s longtime agent. As a fringe benefit of being a center fielder, Marisnick found a role model in both tools and persona. He takes pride in his defense, which always seems to be innate with the rare natural center fielders.

The day before Marisnick and Riverside Poly faced left-hander Tyler Matzek and Capistrano Valley in a Division I semifinal, Baseball Beginnings caught up with Marisnick to discuss the season, the future, and Hunter’s advice to the young center fielder whose growing pains are not unique. 

Baseball Beginnings: I’ve heard some guys grumble that you haven’t hit for them the way they want. I’m sure you have to. It doesn’t necessarily reflect on what kind of player you are in the long haul, but do you think it hurt you in the short term?
Marisnick: I think when (the season) started out, I was just pressing too much. I looked up and saw all the scouts and tried to do what they wanted for the first half of the season. I think I was hitting .200, if that. I was struggling off not great pitching. It didn’t help that going out one day seeing 74 mph and then coming back the next day seeing Hobgood throwing 94.

My mechanics and everything were all screwed up. The second half, I came out and said, ‘Screw it, I’m just going to play baseball and have some fun with it.’ That’s how I came out. I thought I did pretty good, but some guys came out for their one game and saw what they wanted. The guys who have been on me the entire season, who saw me before and after the slump, have seen me play well. They’ve brought out their guys and I think they like what they see.

Baseball Beginnings: Hobgood had such a strong season that he’s probably vaulted himself. He’ll hit 95, drop to 75 with a curveball, and he has this off-speed split. Can you describe facing him?
Marisnick: He’s a competitor and he’s not afraid. Some guys will go out and just want to ring up the radar gun. He’ll do that and then hit you with a curveball. He’s a bulldog. Nice kid off the field. On the field, he wants to win more than anyone else I’ve ever faced.

Baseball Beginnings: Was it frustrating to have a good summer, especially with Angel Elite where people loved you, and then all of a sudden get a label?
Marisnick: That’s the main thing I didn’t get. It’s baseball. People go through slumps all the time. Our high school season is 20 games. In the major leagues, that’s a regular hitting slump for any guy. I come out and I don’t hit for 20 games so I’m less of a prospect? I’m less of a player, apparently? I just came out in the second half and I thought I did great. I thought I came out and played as good as I have.

Baseball Beginnings: Let’s talk about the second half.
Marisnick: I just started relaxing more. I didn’t care about what people thought. I just went out and did my business and tried to help the team win. That ended up helping me out.

Baseball Beginnings: What kind of player do you envision yourself becoming as you grow?
Marisnick: I try to model myself after Torii Hunter in the way he gets after it. He goes out, gets it done on defense, plays hard for his team and gets it done with the stick, hitting for power and average.

Baseball Beginnings: Have you ever talked shop with Torii? He was a guy who signed as a high school centerfielder and didn’t hit as quickly as some people wanted him to. 
Marisnick: I remember one time I went over there to help with something after an 0-for-3 game or something. He pulled me aside and said, ‘Dude, you’re going to have a lot of those in baseball. So get used to it. You’ve got to learn to handle that.’ I said, ‘Yeah, it’s true.’ It’s a good person to hear that coming from.

Baseball Beginnings: What do you think are your best tools right now and what do you think you will have to work on?
Marisnick: The tools I’ll carry with me are the speed and the arm, the tools you can’t take away and you can’t teach. That’s going to be my best quality. Obviously going out my first year in pro ball, a lot of guys struggle. You’re getting used to everything. I think my speed will help me out there. Defensively, I’ll be able to make plays. It’ll be all about getting used to playing every day and seeing a good pitcher every day.

Baseball Beginnings: How far along do you think you are as a hitter, not out here, but in the real world?
Marisnick: I feel confident in myself, but one thing I have lacked this year is using the whole field.  That’s something that when I’m going right, I tend to do a lot of.

Baseball Beginnings: You guys will probably be facing Matzek on Tuesday. Do you have any history against him?
Marisnick: Not much of a history, but we know he’s good and can be a tough kid to face.

Read Jake Marisnick signs
Read Jake Marisnick Catchup
Watch Jake Marisnick Scouting video
Read Jake Marisnick Scouting report
Watch Matt Hobgood vs. Jake Marisnick Video
Hobgood vs. Marisnick game
Jake Marisnick Drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays

Read Matzek’s first interview after he signs with Rockies
Read Tyler Matzek Q&A
Matzek hits 97
Watch Tyler Matzek April Scouting video
Read Tyler Matzek Scouting report
Matzek Makes Final Start One to Savor
Colorado Rockies Select Tyler Matzek

(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.

Hobgood was the most hittable he has been in a high school season in which he finished 11-1 and hit 21 home runs. The Gatorade California State Player of the Year, who is a strong candidate for the National Player of the Year Award, had his typical power but not his typical command. He allowed nine hits in six innings of a 7-4 loss at Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.)

Hobgood said after the game that he felt like it wasn’t a matter of command, but stuff.

“I didn’t think I had my best stuff, not to take anything way from Mater Dei,” he said. “I would have liked to have been better. My stuff just was just going across the plate.”

In terms of pure power, Hobgood still gave the radar guns a workout. He hit 94 in the first inning and later pitched at 94, mixing in a few change-ups at 77 mph. His best inning was the second, when he threw 11 pitches. All seven fastballs were 91 or better. He threw a number of hard 93 mph fastballs with downhill life, but Hobgood spent more time out of a comfortable flow than he spent in it for the duration of the game.

“I was trying to keep good tempo but I was in and out of rhythm all day,” he said. “I was trying to go too fast and ended up not extending out. I wasn’t getting on top of the ball like I can.”

That was most evident as Hobgood struggled to find his curveball. In an outing where he wasn’t consistently locating his fastball, the lack of a consistent second pitch for strikes was glaring. He didn’t help himself with a throwing error, his infield didn’t help him early in the game with an error, and Hobgood bounced pitches in the dirt in the third inning.

Hobgood didn’t pitch himself out of the first round, but for fair weather teams going purely on results, he could have slipped a pick or two. Physically, Hobgood still showed all the reasons he’s wanted: pure power, a workhorse body, room to improve.

The best starts Baseball Beginnings saw Hobgood pitch were against Riverside Poly and Jake Marisnick. Most notably in the start at Riverside Poly, Hobgood commanded both pitches with above-average frequency, showed his split-fingered change-up hybrid, and threw harder in the seventh inning than he did in the first. Historically a better pitcher as the game progresses, Hobgood didn’t get deep enough into this game to settle down.

Mater Dei junior outfielder Cory Hahn helped himself in front of scouts, hitting a grand slam and a solo home run off Hobgood. Both times, Hobgood fell behind in the count and had to come in with fastballs. The left-handed hitting Hahn, a slightly-built center fielder who stands about 5-10, hit both balls out to right field.

“I was uncomfortable and he was working quick,” Hahn said. “I faced him two years ago when he was nowhere near the prospect he is now. He was throwing 88 then, he hits 95 now. I haven’t faced him since then. He came a long way in a few years. When he was a sophomore, he was the same size but he had a little bit of baby fat. He’s slimmed up now and he’s turned that baby fat into solid muscle. You can see in his legs and his arms and the velocity he has. He’s progressed so much. You can’t help but respect the guy.”

The best look scouts got at Hobgood’s pure physicality came immediately after Hahn’s grand slam.  He came back with three fastballs for strikes at 96, 94 and 93. Later, he threw what were probably his best two curveballs of the game, a pair of 75-mph power drivers at the knees. At that point, the game was lost, but scouting-wise, he still showed way above-average raw physical tools.

“I felt breaking balls were alright,” Hobgood said. “I felt like I was getting good bite. I left pitches I normally leave down up. I was out of my game.”

Hahn said Mater Dei hitters knew Hobgood was struggling to locate from his encounter with the leadoff batter in the first inning.

“(Shortstop Derek) Campbell was 0-2 and worked a walk out of it,” Hahn said. “We knew that he likes to throw the high fastball and can be a wild kid. Once we realized he was wild today we wanted to be selective. We knew he would groove a fastball. That’s what I went up to do. Every time I went up, he was behind in the count. It made him have to groove.”

Hahn may have helped perceptions of his own upside.  

“I think it helped me tremendously,” he said. “I can be quick enough with my hands to get inside a pro fastball. My size is a factor for some people, I know that. If I have to go to college, I have absolutely no problem with that. But I think I helped myself in front of scouts.”

Mater Dei right-hander Aaron Northcraft (10-2) topped at 91 mph in the first inning and pitched the first few innings at 89-90. A big-bodied right-hander who throws from a ¾ arm slot, he showed a slider and a change-up both at 79 and looks like he should be a solid Division I college starter.

Campbell, a junior shortstop, shares some physical characteristics with Bonita HS shortstop Jiovanni Mier, a probable 2009 first-rounder whose team was also eliminated Friday. Campbell’s wiry body has much maturity ahead. He is a rangy defender with a fast release and average arm. Athletic, he runs with long, graceful strides and with above-average speed. Offensively, he’s shown metal-bat power this spring and has played his way onto several scouting follow lists.

Read Matt Hobgood Q&A
Watch Matt Hobgood Scouting video
Read Matt Hobgood Scouting report
Watch Matt Hobgood vs. Jake Marisnick Video
Watch Matt Hobgood’s Camden Yards bullpen session
Catching up with Matt Hobgood

You could jot your scouting notes down on the inside of a matchbook cover. Hobgood: above-average fastball and curveball, workhorse, should be mainstay on a contendor. Marisnick: above-average runner, thrower and fielder right now. Graceful athlete, a lot of potential in front of him.  

Read Matt Hobgood Q&A
Watch Matt Hobgood Scouting video
Read Matt Hobgood Scouting report
Watch Matt Hobgood’s Camden Yards bullpen session
Catching up with Matt Hobgood
Read Jake Marisnick Q&A
Read Jake Marisnick signs
Read Jake Marisnick Catchup
Watch Jake Marisnick Scouting video
Read Jake Marisnick Scouting report
Hobgood vs. Marisnick game
Jake Marisnick Drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays

Update: Second at-bat

Hobgood strikes out Marisnick. Hobgood looks looser and stronger as the game enters the middle innings.

Update: Third at-bat

Hobgood threw a first-pitch fastball at 94 mph, and on the third pitch left a 77 mph off-speed pitch over the plate for Marisnick, who chopped it through the left side for his first hit of the game. Marisnick again showed his speed and quick first step when he advanced to third base on a sacrifice fly. Hobgood has touched 96 in this game.

Final Update: Hobgood pitched another complete game, getting stronger, more fluid and found more extension later in the game. This was probably the last time these guys will face each other until pro ball.

“He’s too good of a hitter,” Hobgood said. “I tried to jam him inside during the first at-bat and a two-seamer ran too far inside. I think he has good hands, and with a good fastball properly located, you can get him out. But he can hit the gaps and he has legitimite power.”

Read Matt Hobgood Q&A
Watch Matt Hobgood Scouting video
Read Matt Hobgood Scouting report
Watch Matt Hobgood vs. Jake Marisnick Video
Watch Matt Hobgood’s Camden Yards bullpen session
Catching up with Matt Hobgood
Read Jake Marisnick Q&A
Read Jake Marisnick signs
Read Jake Marisnick Catchup
Watch Jake Marisnick Scouting video
Read Jake Marisnick Scouting report
Hobgood vs. Marisnick game
Jake Marisnick Drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays