If you were around for BP, you got one ball pulled down the left-field line by the right-handed hitting Bryant, a clean shot well over and past the 330 mark. Good enough for me. I felt he was looser and more coordinated than when I saw him in Summer 2009 and felt his athletic actions were much smoother than they were in the summer. I also felt his hands and wrists are stronger, which is reflected in the quick, easy looseness from the BP swings. That’s why the power is there even if you don’t see it in a game on a given day – most guys don’t have what I would call “easy” power. Some raw power is generated by max-effort swings with multiple moving parts. I don’t like complexity in swings. I like loose and easy explosiveness with physical projection. I like effortless weight shifts, loading, keeping hands back, and throwing the head and bat speed. Bryant has a very simple swing that probably should keep him out of prolonged slumps throughout his career. He trusts his hands and his front side.

Bryant spent much of his BP focusing on right field, which is something guys don’t always get to do in showcase land, where I last saw him. As much as a showcase is made to be the real world, it’s not. Complete hitters use the entire field. The trick is how to bring it into the game.

I saw Bryant hit doubles to left and right field in this game, hard contact both times. The other thing I noticed was how much more confidence he has in his speed. Ultra-aggressive, he wants the extra base each time, either on his own hits or as a trailer. He’s wearing the dirt.

I saw him pop a ball up, then when it was dropped behind short, speed up and take second with a slide. One-dimensional sluggers aren’t supposed to do that. As Bryant discussed in his Q&A before the draft, that’s his ambition.

I also saw him beat out an infield hit. I’m throwing out the running time because Bryant’s aggressiveness took a bite out of his leg when he skinned his knee sliding home in the first inning. He played all nine, but the blood showed through the pants leg, he did a fine job concealing his wincing, but you could tell it was burning. It’s a step forward that he ran well enough to beat out an infield hit, but I didn’t grade that run time because I knew he wasn’t 100 percent at that moment. So it’s not fair to keep a grade on a guy when if in a game situation he’s not full strength. You can grade the effort, though, and you gotta give it to him for going hard in pain.

Playing third defensively, I thought Bryant had very soft hands. He bends his knees on ground balls and follows the ball in. His arm will be enough for third, though he got all of one routine chance in this game (and had to wait until the ninth) and there was no infield to get a full grade on the arm.

His actions defensively were also smoother than last summer, though I still don’t think I got an entirely clean read. He charged a ball, fielded with the bare hand, and made a wide throw across the body – wincing all the way. You can see the soft hands and infielder instincts. It’s a tough ball with or without a bleeding knee. My instincts would be that he will probably make this kind of play with more routine frequency in the coming years. Third base defense, generally, doesn’t come along overnight unless you were Brooks Robinson. It’s almost always a gradual improvement for most guys who become elite defenders at the position. He’s no hack at this stage – soft hands, gets down, smooth arm action, range and first step should continue to improve, arm strength. Very good foundations for someone who wants to play third base in the big leagues.

Then there’s the issue of the draft. I once knew a player who signed a baseball to his father shortly before the draft, inscribing to him that the circus was almost over. The circus is the draft. I asked Bryant what he learned from the circus, where he was a 20^th round pick by the Blue Jays, who got the label, much like Austin Wilson in Southern California, that his college commitment and 4.98 GPA made him a student more than a ballplayer.

“I learned that you have to believe in yourself and not worry about what anyone else says,” Bryant said. “If you read into all the critics and all the blogs, it just really affects you. You’re not going to perform the way you’re capable of, so I just stay out of it.”

I asked him how much he feels he has improved since last summer.

“Speed, glove, arm, bat, all of that. I think that I polished everything up this spring like I was trying to do,” he said. “Yesterday I went from first to third on a ball down the line and I thought I was flying. My arm feels a lot stronger. I don’t even have to throw as hard as I can, it just gets down to first on a line. I know I can play third because I believe in myself. Which is all that matters.”

UPDATE: As an added bonus, I got an additional look at Bryant two days later. With the knee dried up, he moved much better both out of the box and from left to right as he took ground balls before the game. With the Blue Jays scout that was stalking him two days before long gone, here’s what the Jays guy missed.

First at-bat, opposite field home run to right field. This was not a cheap shot — a clean shot over and past the 330 mark in right field. Bryant’s approach is obvious. He’s a big guy who pitchers don’t want to give into, so they go fastballs away. If you looked at Bryant’s long frame, it might not look like he has the physicality to do this. But the hands don’t lie. You could raise a barn off this guy’s front leg. He trusted his hands, threw the head, and drove the ball out.

It wasn’t the only hard hit ball to right field in this game for Bryant, but if you got the impression that he was shying away from pulling an inside pitch, he dispelled that in the ninth inning with a hard-hit double down the left field line. Again, not a scout in the house, except for me.

What I wanted was the running grade. 4.35 twice. With room to get better. Understand that most big leaguers with 30-home run power are 4.4 and 4.5 runners AT BEST.

More on Kris Bryant:
Read Kris Bryant Q&A
Watch Kris Bryant Video
Watch more Kris Bryant Video
Watch more Kris Bryant Video
Read Kris Bryant Scouting Report

Read Kris Bryant Q&A
Watch more Kris Bryant Video
Watch more Kris Bryant Video
Read Kris Bryant Scouting Report

Dylan Covey

Baseball Beginnings: How are things progressing for you right now?
Covey: Pretty good. I took a few months off before the season. When I threw at Compton, that was just getting my arm back in shape. Now I’m throwing once a week and my mechanics are good. I’m surprised because last year at this time I was throwing a lot of balls and now all my pitches are working for me. I’m even starting to develop a little bit of a change-up. Everything is falling into place right now and feels pretty perfect.

Baseball Beginnings: I just saw you run poles at 10:30 at night after pitching six innings on a cold night in a game that nobody will remember in 10 minutes. There was not a single scout here to see that, unless you want to count me. That strikes me as a guy who is committed. Is there an element of wanting to maximize your ability?
Covey: Off the mound, I’m not a loud guy. I’ll sit back and watch everything develop. On the mound, Danny Ricabal taught me how to be a ferocious guy on the mound. All the other stuff, the running, that’s just my Dad and my coaches telling me that if you want to get it, you have to work for it. They told me I have a gift and it will take me somewhere, but to get above everyone else, I will have to work harder.

Baseball Beginnings: Did you lose weight over the summer?
Covey: I lost about 15 pounds.

Baseball Beginnings: For you, the separating factor is the curveball. Where did that come from?
Covey: When I was a freshman, I had no off-speed. It would either go above the catcher or straight into the dirt. One game in Florida, I couldn’t locate my fastball. So I had to work backwards. All of a sudden, I had a curveball. I have no idea where it came from. I never had an off-speed pitch before that. Ever since then, I’ve had a really good feel for it.

Baseball Beginnings: You’ve got two breaking balls. There’s the good hard 84 one, then there’s the 81 curveball with more of a loop than the hammer.
Covey: The curveball is sometimes hard breaking and sometimes it rolls off my fingers. My slider is more of like a really slow cut fastball. 

Baseball Beginnings: What things do you want to improve on in the coming years?
Covey: I think a change-up would definitely help set me above the rest. I started throwing one. I was playing around with it and found a new grip. I don’t really want to throw it in high school games because I don’t want to give somebody something they can get around on. I think that would help me in the minor leagues. Then, just consistency with mechanics. I have a tendency to fly open when I get tired.

Baseball Beginnings: You hide the ball very well and I think it helps create deception. I can see it in the bullpen. Is that something you’re aware of and is it something you intentionally worked to add?
Covey: When I was playing for the Braves scout team. I used to not be so low. It’s a slight mechanical thing and it helps me hide it.

Baseball Beginnings: It seems like part of your balance point now, too, when you swing your arms back.
Covey: Yeah. It worked for me.

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More on Dylan Covey:
Read Dylan Covey Scouting Update
Watch Dylan Covey Video – Season Debut
Read Dylan Covey Updated Report - Season Debut
Read Dylan Covey Scouting Report
Watch Dylan Covey November Scouting Video
Watch Dylan Covey October Scouting Video
Watch Dylan Covey September Scouting Video
Read about Dylan Covey at the Major League Scouting Bureau workout

Wolters has the ability to go deep to his right, maintain his balance, pick a ball on the backhand, and fire a bullet to first. It’s very difficult to find American shortstops who can do this. You don’t find college shortstops like this because the pro-side understands that you have to sign the high school kids who can do this first.

To be honest, Wolters grew on me. The size scared me at first and I saw some infields that were not full-speed. What changed my mind about him was the Compton workout, where he showed me how good defensively he can be when he’s going full-speed. The body control he showed in spring was stronger and more consistent than the summer. Taken all together, you see a player that should have multiple layers of value as a pro.

Watch more Tony Wolters Video
Read Tony Wolters Scouting Report

If the first start of Dylan Covey’s 2010 season was about pure power stuff, his second start Friday afternoon was about showing he can compete with whatever works best on a given day. In six innings, Covey probably had two innings – the first and the fifth – where the stuff was as sharp as it was in the previous week. The best pitches of both innings were the harder curveball at 84, one that projects as his separating major league weapon. He pitched at 92-94 in the first three innings, and by the sixth, was still throwing 92-93.

Covey’s bullpen session produced a few more fastballs in the dirt than he would have probably liked, but he adjusted in game and consistently stayed in the lower half and battled to stay around the plate. He bumped 95 on the faster hair-dryer guns and 94 on the boxy Stalkers. It doesn’t really matter which gun. We’re not handing out speeding tickets here. The important thing is that the velocity was 91-95, averaged 92-93, and his best fastballs have either a little cut action or tail.

He frequently used a second, slower curveball at 81. This is a pitch he later described as one that just “rolls off” his fingers. The pitch has shape and basically served as a change-up in this outing. It was a pitch Covey went to frequently and with confidence.

There were a few other good scouting moments for Covey in this outing. One was a pick-off in which he came off the mound, trapped a runner, and threw him out at first. He became a shortstop for a split second right there.

There was nothing wrong with his power in this outing. For Covey, his fastball command was probably below his average, but not enough to hurt him as a prospect.

The truth is, outings like this make the difference between perceptive scouts and radar-gun readers. You need to evaluate a guy when he has to battle because he will often show you more about depth of stuff and confidence in secondary pitches than he needs to when the best two pitches do exactly what they are supposed to do 90 percent of the time.

In this case, Covey pitched with everything off his fastball, and showed he can make it work even when a fastball goes in the dirt, a hard curve occasionally stays up, and a change is the secondary curveball many college pitchers would call their primary curveball.

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More on Dylan Covey:
Watch Dylan Covey Video – Season Debut
Read Dylan Covey Updated Report - Season Debut
Read Dylan Covey Scouting Report
Watch Dylan Covey November Scouting Video
Watch Dylan Covey October Scouting Video
Watch Dylan Covey September Scouting Video
Read about Dylan Covey at the Major League Scouting Bureau workout

Visit Dylan Covey Photo Store

More on Dylan Covey:
Read Dylan Covey Updated Report - Season Debut
Read Dylan Covey Scouting Report
Watch Dylan Covey November Scouting Video
Watch Dylan Covey October Scouting Video
Watch Dylan Covey September Scouting Video
Read about Dylan Covey at the Major League Scouting Bureau workout

Covey, who played catch with his fastball at 91-92 in February at the Scouting Bureau workout, ramped up his power on a cool and damp night. He pitched with his fastball at 93-94, generating power and pounding the strike zone’s lower half. Covey’s first pitch of the game was a 93 mph fastball. His last pitch of the game, in the fifth inning, was 94.

Covey’s fastball projection is by no means finished. His easy and loose arm action will likely allow him to throw strikes at 94-96 in the coming years.

Covey threw his curveball, also a premium weapon, at 81-83 with tight rotation. It’s a harder breaking ball than most amateur prospects throw. This pitch also has projection for Covey, which means it should develop more depth and power as he ages and gains strength. He sometimes throws a softer version of it for an alternative look, at 79-81, but it’s evident that he’s differentiating the two and not hanging the harder breaking ball. He used one of the slower breaking balls for a strikeout in the second inning.

Covey’s slider at 82-83 with hard tilt is also a weapon. In one third inning at-bat, he set up with four consecutive fastballs at 92-94-93-93 before a hard 82 slider swept down and away from a right-handed hitter. From a right-handed hitter’s perspective, the pitch comes out of left-center field and finishes past first base.

He mixed in a change-up sparingly at 83-84, creating deception mainly because he does not commonly tip the pitch by slowing his arm down.

There were a few pitches in this outing he probably would have liked to have had back – a curveball that hit a batter, a change-up in the dirt and a slider in the dirt. He powered up to strike out the first three hitters he faced and the last three he faced. He gave up one piece of hard contact to the best hitter in Newbury Park’s lineup, sophomore Nick Lovullo. Lovullo struck out on a 94 fastball in his first at-bat and lined a 93 fastball to center field in his next at-bat.

Readers familiar with this site know by now that I like pitchers more than throwers. The reason is because pitchers with only power and no concept of consistent fastball command, no consistent breaking ball, no consistent change-up, and who fear pitching with their fastballs have absolutely no chance of surviving in professional baseball. I’ve said it before: radar gun readings don’t scare big league hitters. A guy has to combine power with the ability to put multiple pitches where they cannot pull the trigger. What separates Covey is the collection of weapons, the overall command, movement, and rotation of these pitches, the arm speed, the looseness, the power in his upper body and trunk. Covey is poised and sure of himself, with mannerisms that show you he believes he belongs. 

Visit Dylan Covey Photo Store

More on Dylan Covey:
Read Dylan Covey Scouting Report
Watch Dylan Covey November Scouting Video
Watch Dylan Covey October Scouting Video
Watch Dylan Covey September Scouting Video
Read about Dylan Covey at the Major League Scouting Bureau workout

Kris Bryant
6-5, 190
Bats: R, Throws: R
Bonanza HS, Las Vegas, NV
Games Seen: 6, Innings: 30

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Tall, lean and rangy, still growing into his frame. Loose hands and forearms, power in his hands.

STRENGTHS: Plus, plus, raw right-handed power. Lanky and loose for large guy, explosive extension, easy stroke. Physical presence on field and in middle of order; still possesses physical projection.

WEAKNESSES: Armsy swing, will need to adjust and cover inner-half as pro. Hands should be good enough to do so. Will need to translate raw power into power frequency as pro. Adequate defender when I saw him, adds value if he can stay at 3B, otherwise likely LF, 1B or RF.

SUMMARY: Should be middle of the order hitter on a good club with top flight power. Won’t have another tool that comes close to his power, but will be athletic enough to play every day and contribute elsewhere. Good athlete and actions for large kid; should grow into durable athlete built for long haul.

GRADES (Present/Future): 
Hit         30/50
Power  40/80
Run       50/50
Throw  50/50
Field     30/50

Adjusted Overall Future Potential: 56

What the Grades Mean

More on Kris Bryant:
Read Kris Bryant Q&A
Watch Kris Bryant Video
Watch more Kris Bryant Video
Watch more Kris Bryant Video

Murphy pitched at 84-89 with his fastball over the summer, with a breaking ball at 75-76. He’s an interesting case for a few reasons. One, being left-handed is an obvious long-term advantage. Two, his frame is beneficial for being durable over a long period of time. He is listed at 6-3, 200, entering his draft year at Redlands East Valley in Highland, Calif.

Based on my own experience, I would suspect that the perception Murphy likely created in the summer was that he might not yet have the power to go pro out of high school, and, were he to get to San Diego, would have a chance to become a very good starting pitcher and increase his national visibility. Based on what I saw over the summer, that would be my conclusion. Yes, but here in Southern California, we have the dry climate, which means we can check in on Murphy and see where he’s pitching at this spring. The guy certainly has the body and frame to get more out of his arm than 84-89. The only question is when and under what circumstances. It’s different for every guy, but I wouldn’t be surprised to run into this guy down the road popping 90-92 once he harnesses mechanics and consistency.

Tony Wolters, SS
5-10, 165
Bat: L, Throw: R
Rancho Buena Vista HS, Vista, CA
Games Seen: 5, Innings: 40

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTON: Modest height with loose athletic actions. Strong player, good athlete. 

STRENGTHS: Above-average speed, fast hands and puts ball in play with authority. Fast hands and release, arm strength for 2B or SS. 

WEAKNESSES: Below-average power, inconsistent defensively at times. 

SUMMARY: Should be very good middle infielder with contact, speed and arm as top skills.

GRADES (Present/Future):
Hit        30/50
Power  30/50
Run      60/60
Arm     50/50
Field    50/50

Overall Future Potential: 52

What the Grades Mean

More on Tony Wolters:
Watch Tony Wolters Scouting Video