Baseball Beginnings: It seems like the amateur cycle is entirely about lighting up guns, yet when you walk through the glass doors, command becomes important even at the lowest pro level. It seems to me that the transition between amateur and pro, especially when you sign early, is a difficult one in that you’re told as an amateur that if you don’t throw hard you’re not a premium pick. If you grind through a tired period, trying to pitch to the corners and learn, that you get deemed as a let down. Do you see that as a disconnection between scouting and player development? How do you feel about that whole process in hindsight?
Hobgood:  Take myself. I hit 95-97 on a good day in high school and I was 91 in Bluefield. From the average fan view, they’re going to ask, ‘What the heck, why can’t he (throw 96-97).’ I just turned 19. I’m still not really in baseball shape. I still have another two or three years to grow into my man body. I think body awareness is a good term for it. I think there’s just a lot more to it than running, lifting and throwing so you can hit 96. Going from high school to the (Appalachian League) is a pretty big jump. I think everyone has a different opinion. It doesn’t mean it’s right or wrong.

Baseball Beginnings: When we talked immediately after the draft, you told me that because you wanted to sign right away and get at it that you wound up perceived as a guy who went as a first-round pick only because you wanted to sign. In other words, I had the feeling that you felt like the idea that you were a signability pick was a slap in your face as far as talent goes.
Hobgood: Yeah, I didn’t really get it. There was Matzek, Turner, Wheeler and there’s me. If it was questions about weight, I don’t know. I hit 95 in every high school outing. I know it’s from the right side, but I didn’t know what else they were looking for. I was a gamer. I had pretty good composure. But it didn’t bother me for very long. At the end of the day, I’m happy where I went and I’m happy where I’m at.

Baseball Beginnings: Tell me about the workout routine you committed yourself to this winter.
Hobgood:  I went out to Athletes Performance Institute and started there after instructs. I’ll be doing that routine through the winter. I dropped eight pounds of fat, added eight pounds of muscle and lost three percent body fat in a little over a month. The way I look at it, I’m still developing as an athlete. They always try to keep your heart rate up. You try to set the bar higher each week in terms of what you can do each week. Gradually you increase your stamina without trying to do so much that you can’t come back the next day and do it again.

Baseball Beginnings: Do you feel you are a better athletic that you are given credit for?
Hobgood: Yes.

Baseball Beginnings: Why?
Hobgood: Because of what you see on paper. If you see me on the field, you might say, ‘eh.’ If you saw me run, you might think differently. At Area Codes, I’d go up against guys who were 50-60 pounds lighter than me in the 60s and I’d still only be a stride behind them.

Baseball Beginnings: Do you think the Orioles see athletic projection in you?
Hobgood: I think they’re thinking is to get me down to really low and in really good shape and then try to maintain that for as long as possible. I think it’s good. I don’t know that I’m growing any more height wise, but I’m still putting on muscle and losing fat. I think I can get down to 240. If I go in at 260-250 and my velocity isn’t there in spring training, they’re going to say I’m out of shape. If I throw 90-94 at that weight, there won’t be questions. I really think the majority of it is a performance thing, but some isn’t. I think I have to prove that it’s not a long-term issue. 

More on Matt Hobgood:
Read Part I of Matt Hobgood interview
Watch Matt Hobgood Scouting video
Read Matt Hobgood Q&A
Read Matt Hobgood Scouting report
Catching up with Matt Hobgood
Watch Matt Hobgood vs. Jake Marisnick Video

Hobgood has always pitched with a chip on his shoulder. As an amateur, he believed he belonged in the same company as the other power arm starting pitchers in his draft class. He has heard the comments that his body is too big to allow for success over a long career. In all our conversations with Hobgood, he has made it a point to express his differing opinion.

Baseball Beginnings caught up with Hobgood recently, moments after the right-hander finished a winter workout. What we found was a young pitcher who recognizes that he wasn’t lights out in Bluefield, but on the other side of the coin, Bluefield is rookie ball for a reason.

Hobgood examined his numbers – 26 2/3 innings, 32 hits, 8 walks, 16 strikeouts, 17 runs, 14 earned, 0 home runs – and took them for what they’re worth. He doesn’t discount that it wasn’t what people wanted, but does dispute that it indicates that his ceiling has arrived.

Hobgood believes his velocity is still his main weapon, but also believes that last summer produced strides in command and off-speed. He believes he showed his competitive side by pitching through fatigue and the dead-arm period that often hits young pitchers when there is a layoff between the end of the spring season and the start of the summer season. 

Nor does he use it as an excuse. A winter conditioning program has already had results for Hobgood, who is eager to prove that he’s ready to continue growing into the workhorse major league starter the Orioles envision. 

Baseball Beginnings: You break it down for us. What was good for you when you went out, what was bad, and how did you feel you threw the ball?
Hobgood: On a small note, I think one of the things I did well was throw a lot of ground balls. I didn’t have much velocity. I think one of the best games I had was against Princeton when I threw a one-hitter in five innings. I was throwing, I think, 86-88, the whole game. I wasn’t blowing anyone away. I was just hitting corners.

Baseball Beginnings: People were worried because the velocity was down. Can you explain what factors led to that?
Hobgood: I was tired. The first time I started pitching (in 2009) was in late January at the workout at the Urban Youth Academy. That was the earliest I had ever started a high school season. I hit 96 or something there, but my arm wasn’t really ready for it. I think I caught up with myself a little bit in the high school season and got some control of the velocity. I think what hurt me most was taking off a month from the Mater Dei game to the June 6^th when I went out to Baltimore and threw a bullpen.

Baseball Beginnings: The Mater Dei game seemed to be where the power started to slip. Dead arm periods often happen to college pitchers between the end of the school year in early May and the start of summer baseball in early June. Do you think that played a role in the reduced velocity?
Hobgood: It took me a little over a month just to get back to feeling where I could actually throw good, and even then, I think I topped the whole year at Bluefield at like 91. I was trying to throw hard, but I wasn’t trying to look like I was throwing hard, if you know what I mean. I talked to (Orioles scouting director) Joe Jordan a little bit. He came down and he said somebody asked him why high school pitchers loose velocity as rookies. Joe said it’s just different. We’re not used to throwing every day.

Baseball Beginnings: What did you work on? When you say you were ‘trying not to look like you were throwing hard,’ it sounds like you were trying to let the ball come out of your hand naturally instead of going max effort and losing command.
Hobgood: I was trying not to be too herky-jerky. I changed up my motion when I first got there and we looked at video, so I was pitching through those adjustments. We slowed my motion down some so I could feel like I was in more control. I never really got in a groove, but I never felt bad about it. I felt like it was a rookie year and I learned a lot, even though it was short.

Baseball Beginnings: So now you get to develop as a professional instead of an amateur and balance your own progression against these external expectations.
Hobgood: I think that’s what gets lost. There’s so much more than lifting weights for three months, throwing and running. Some guys are different. I was in instructs and 90 percent of the guys threw as hard as they could all the time. Some have good arms and good tools, but don’t take the time to learn the game or learn to apply tools into skills. Like I said at the press conference in Baltimore, I think there’s a lot of good players who have lots of tools but don’t know how to use them. I don’t think I fully know what to do exactly, but I’m still trying to learn. If a guy isn’t afraid of 94-95, well, then I need to throw 91 and put it where he can’t pull the trigger. It’s not always about speed, but it’s what you get judged on. I do think the velocity will come back once I get the high school out of me.

Baseball Beginnings: Stuff wise, did you add anything or delete anything?
Hobgood: I started throwing a change-up for the first time. I threw it a couple of times against Riverside Poly against Jake Marisnick.

Baseball Beginnings: I remember that pitch. Was that the split-change?
Hobgood: That was the best it looked all year in high school and I used it against Marisnick and I think Blair Moore. I started playing with a circle change in Bluefield, just a straight change-up, not looking for a lot of movement but more for a miles-per-hour difference.

Come back Friday for Part II of catching up with Matt Hobgood.

More on Matt Hobgood:
Watch Matt Hobgood Scouting video
Read Matt Hobgood Q&A
Read Matt Hobgood Scouting report
Catching up with Matt Hobgood
Watch Matt Hobgood vs. Jake Marisnick Video

Watch Matt Hobgood Scouting video
Read Matt Hobgood Q&A
Read Matt Hobgood Scouting report
Catching up with Matt Hobgood
Watch Matt Hobgood vs. Jake Marisnick Video

Baseball Beginnings covered Hobgood this spring more extensively than any other national source. Here in Southern California, the consensus was that Hobgood was not going to get out of the first 10 picks.

For example, when I spoke to the Angels a week before the draft and asked if he would be there for them at 24 and 25, the answer I got was “not a chance.” Mock drafts had him going anywhere from 15 to 70. But Orioles scouting director Joe Jordan decided that if Seattle took Dustin Ackley with the second pick, he was going to draft a staff anchor from the right side to complement 2008′s No.1  pick, left-hander Brian Matusz. Matt Wieters, another Jordan pick, will be waiting to catch. 

Jordan is going back to basics. Back in the Jim Palmer-Mike Cuellar-Dave McNally days, Baltimore was always built on pitching first.

Hobgood’s stock rose this spring because he never dropped off. He has shown in several starts the ability to pitch at 93-95 for strikes late in the game. He also has a power curveball and the makings of a change-up and a cutter. The Orioles view him as a hard-thrower with a good mechanical foundation, a great make-up, and project him as a front-end starter on a contending team.

Baseball Beginnings asked Hobgood how he would introduce himself to Baltimore fans.

“I’d tell them don’t listen to Baseball America or whatever else they read or hear,” Hobgood told Baseball Beginnings. “Don’t base it off what someone else says. Base it off what (scouting director) Joe Jordan sees in me. I don’t throw 88-90 mph; that’s obviously not what I throw. I think people are a little confused about what they’re getting in me. I’m looking forward to getting it going right away and I think if people give me a chance, I’ll show them why Joe Jordan picked me at that spot.”

The Camden Yards bullpen video of four pitches, while a scoop, is literally a drop in the bucket. It is Hobgood essentially playing catch. That last pitch, he’s fiddling with a cutter.
 
For a closer view of how he looks when he’s firing at full speed, our full video is a better indication of why he was selected where he was. Most notable is Hobgood’s arm extension and arm speed, indicators of power stuff. He should be fun to watch develop.

“You have to look at the entire kid, his character,” Hobgood said. “Look at what he’s like on and off the field, what he can do on the field and what kind of player he is.”

Hobgood’s a gamer, a reputation earned among other top players in his area.

Centerfielder Jake Marisnick, a 4th round pick of the Toronto Blue Jays considered one of the top baseball athletes in Southern California in 2009, believes Hobgood was the most competitive pitcher he faced as an amateur.

“He’s a competitor and he’s not afraid,” Marisnick said. “Some guys will go out and just want to ring up the radar gun. He’ll do that and then drop in 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.”

Hobgood built his reputation on the West Coast. Now his goal is to prove it on the East Coast

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

Read Matt Hobgood Q&A
Watch Matt Hobgood Scouting video
Read Matt Hobgood Scouting report
Watch Matt Hobgood vs. Jake Marisnick Video
Catching up with Matt Hobgood

Hobgood has a lot going for him. For starters, he is about as clean mechanically as you can find for a high school power pitcher. A lack of arm extension is the root of all evil, and while we don’t claim to be pitching coaches, we know enough to say that the kid who can get on top of the ball with some regularity before he signs has a better chance of surviving the rigors of pro ball than the slingers.

That’s one of Hobgood’s selling points and can be seen in the still photo and in his video, especially in the last sequence. Hobgood is known for getting better and throwing harder later in the game and his durability defies his body type. He’s a better athlete than it looks and still reminds me of Matt Cain.

Hobgood’s pitching charts read like a typical summer week in the Inland Empire, ranging from 90 to 95. His curveball has the makings of a power piece. On the mound, he’s a Dr. Frankenstein, playing around with a split-change grip or the occasional cutter.

The good scouts, those who put down the guns and the cards long enough to watch the individual, know that Hobgood is a competitor. Among the elite players in his area, he’s known as a fire-breather. For some teams, this is something they like, but you never got the feeling Hobgood was pitching for the guns. He was pitching for his teams first and the guns could come along for the ride. 

Follow the page jump to watch Hobgood video and read his Q&A, scouting report and other content.

Read Matt Hobgood Q&A
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

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

(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

(photo: Baseball Beginnings)

Trayce Thompson has basketball genes but baseball in his blood. His Dad, Mychal, was Mr. 1/1 (First pick, First round) of the 1978 NBA draft and enjoyed a long and productive career. Two of Trayce’s older brothers are Division I college basketball players. And even though Trayce grew up with Clyde Drexler coming over from a few doors down to try to get Mycheal off the couch and go to the gym with him, he still had baseball in his mind when he was out shooting with another friendly visitor, Uncle Chuck Barkley.

Here at Baseball Beginnings, we like guys who have played multiple sports prior to signing. It’s really a sentiment from Old World scouting, where the belief was that no sport requires more fine motor skills than baseball. So if you take a guy who knows how to move his feet and his hands, you got yourself an athlete. It worked for Goose Tatum, a stud member of the old Harlem Globetrotters and a pretty good baseball player in his own right.

Some of the baseball players with other sports in their pasts who we’ve covered leading up to the 2009 draft are Bonita HS shortstop Jiovanni Mier, a soccer player, and Loyola Marymount first baseman Ryan Wheeler, who used to play basketball with North Carolina’s Deon Thompson in high school. Willie Mays played everything in high school, so did Reggie Jackson. Gary Carter was a prep quarterback. John Elway, you know his deal.

In the showcase and specialization age, the multi-sport baseball player is largely a thing of the past, but a player like Thompson shows why different athletic experiences before going into baseball fulltime still has its advantages. That’s the view here, which probably runs contrary to a lot of opinions in the amateur baseball field.

At this time last year, Thompson said he was just trying to get a Division I school to take him, but athleticism helps a player come quickly into baseball. His ride is at UCLA, but signs indicate that the draft will never let him get there. Baseball Beginnings caught up with Thompson and talked about his basketball past and his baseball future.

Baseball Beginnings: When did the light go off and you decided that it was finally time to go fulltime at baseball?
Thompson: I think it was last fall. It was my brother’s last year. I knew (our basketball team was) going to be good and I knew I was going to get significant playing time. I knew we had a good chance of winning state. I knew that if we didn’t do it that I would have to hang it up anyway. It ended up going well, because we won state. It wasn’t that hard of a decision.

Baseball Beginnings: So even though it wasn’t public, while you guys were making your state run against the likes of Minnesota-bound Justin Cobbs, that was it?
Thompson: We got challenged in state, but I knew if we won it, I was done. If we didn’t win it, then it was 50-50. As far as my baseball career went, I knew basketball had to come to an end at some point. I thought I might as well go out on a high note.

Baseball Beginnings: Have you been surprised at how fast baseball has come for you?
Thompson: It’s not a surprise to me because I always knew I could do it. Playing against good competition did it. Playing on the Angels elite team this fall with guys like Tyler Matzek, Matt Hobgood and Chad Thompson, and doing good against those guys, that’s when it really showed to everyone that I could so it. But I always believed in myself and I always knew I could do it. It was a matter of time.

Baseball Beginnings: Was Angels elite a big deal for you developmentally?
Thompson: Yeah. They helped a lot with everything. Playing at Angel Stadium was an honor in itself for a high school kid. The coaches and the scouts we worked with helped a ton. Playing with the best kids around the area stepped everybody’s game up. I miss it.

Baseball Beginnings: Let’s say you go in the first round or the top 100 players in the country. Would you have expected you go that high at this time last year, when you were just walking away from basketball?
Thompson: Last year, I was pretty much only focused on just getting a college to want me instead of pro scouts. It’s an honor to have pro scouts at your game. We had Tommy Lasorda at one of our games. If that doesn’t shock you, I don’t know what does.

Baseball Beginnings: Did he do his schtick?
Thompson: He talked to my Dad during the whole game. I guess they know each other somewhat.

Baseball Beginnings: Was it hard walking away from basketball emotionally, like walking away from an old friend?
Thompson: When the team was in the playoffs, that’s when it felt tough. You see these good teams and the whole entire school goes to the game. You want to be out on the court in those close games. But it’s definitely worth giving it up. I love basketball, but I love baseball even more.

Baseball Beginnings: What basketball traits apply to baseball for you?
Thompson: I always think that you can tell what kind of an athlete someone is by watching them play basketball. Basketball involves speed and jumping ability. Many scouts have told me a good basketball athlete is a phenomenal baseball athlete. It works to your advantage athletically for sure.

Baseball Beginnings: Do you think you have started to tap into that athleticism as a baseball player or are you just becoming aware of what you can do with that athleticism as a baseball player?
Thompson: It shows up on the base paths because of the way you change speeds. You get quick jumps. When you’re playing defense in basketball, it’s all working from a still start. When we played, we played against some of the best and fastest kids around. We played against a guy like (UCLA’s) Jrue Holiday, which alone speaks for itself. He’s going to be a lottery pick.

Baseball Beginnings: Yes, you do play better athletes in basketball than you do in baseball, at least in this era. It wasn’t always that way, but it has been for a while. 
Thompson: The guys we played (in the basketball playoffs) last year were off the scale athletically.

Baseball Beginnings: Describe your Dad’s influence on you and how he has helped you along.
Thompson: He’s been everything I could ever want from a Dad. He supports me in every single way. He tries to come out to every single game even though he has one of the busiest schedules around. He supports me with everything I do. He’s kind of not your typical Orange County dad. Sports wise, he let us choose our own path. You see kids where the Dad wants to live his dream through the kid. My path was baseball. He had a brother who played professional baseball. He respects the game a lot and understood completely.

Baseball Beginnings: Did you see baseball as a way to make your own mark, especially in Southern California, where your Dad is so closely associated with the Lakers?
Thompson: It mattered to me, especially after last year. I have two Division I basketball brothers who made their marks at this school. Everyone thought I was going to be a basketball player. As soon as I gave it up, people asked, ‘Are you not going to play sports anymore, what’s the deal?’ I knew I had to prove something through baseball and I never really did until this year.

Baseball Beginnings: Do you get tired of people saying, ‘Your Dad was this,’ or ‘Your brothers are this’?
Thompson: Oh, no, not at all. You have scouts talk about it. But my Dad is a super-easy going guy. I don’t mind talking about my Dad because there’s so much funny stuff to talk about with my Dad. He’s like the opposite of what you think a basketball Dad is. He never moves around the house. He just sits there. My Dad has his friends he played with and they still try to keep in shape. One of my Dad’s good friends is Charles Barkley and he’s the most out of shape man I have ever seen. We grew up down the street from Clyde Drexler. I think he could still play today because he works out so much. My Dad likes to watch Roger Federer and Tiger Woods and just sit around the house.

Baseball Beginnings: Does Uncle Chuck ever slum around the house?
Thompson: Not too much.

Baseball Beginnings:  Occasionally?
Thompson: Occasionally.

Baseball Beginnings: What to you, right now, is your best tool as a baseball player?
Thompson: I think it’s my athleticism. Everyone talks about power, but I truly feel it’s my athletic ability. I see baseball players around the field and they struggle with certain things. Athletic ability will get you many places. You can turn an athlete into a baseball player. You see some scouts who draft athletes just because it comes easier for them. I just think that my athleticism stands out among the ordinary.

Read Trayce Thompson report
Watch Trayce Thompson video
Watch Trayce Thompson video Part 2
Trayce Thompson Drafted by the Chicago White Sox
Catching up with Trayce Thompson

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