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 | October 22, 2009
Matt Grace and Baseball Beginnings have known each other since before Baseball Beginnings was known as Baseball Beginnings. I’ll admit the PV kid is a bit of a sentimental favorite around here, if for nothing else than I really hope each kid we cover here gets the most out of what he’s got. Grace didn’t get a ton of innings last summer on the Cape and I’ll be PC enough to keep my feelings about that to myself. Grace last week looked a little rusty, but hey, it’s October. Grace has always had a durable innings-eating body and he’s popped 92 from the left-side in the past. His fastball in this outing was 87-89 and his change-up was 78-81. Grace is a competitive guy beneath that quiet exterior. He’s got more to come. We’ll follow him. He’s got some arm speed to work with.
John Klima | October 21, 2009
Here’s a fresh look at UCLA’s LHP Rob Rasmussen working in an inter-squad game recently at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Coming off his strong summer in the Cape Cod League, where Baseball Beginnings caught up to him for this Q&A and obtained this video of him pitching in the All-Star game a Fenway Park, Rasmussen looks like he has kept the ball rolling in the Fall. This was fastballs and change-ups only in these two innings. His fastball was 90-93 with plenty of 91s and pretty consistent command and life for this early in the season. The change-up worked at 81 with decent command. Rasmussen didn’t use his curveball, his main weapon. Good outing here for a guy with a chance to be a first rounder in 2010.
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 | August 13, 2009
If the 2010 draft were today, UCLA left-hander Rob Rasmussen would most likely be considered a first-round talent based on his strong summer pitching for Orleans in the Cape Cod League. Rasmussen needed to reassert himself as a starting pitcher this summer, a goal he fulfilled statistically, and evidenced by this brief look. Rasmussen threw a good, hard rotation 12-6 curveball, then pushed the guy back with a 93 MPH fastball.
In our Q&A with Rasmussen, he discussed how he realized that his slider was taking away from his curveball, which even in the day and age of the power slider, is still the difference maker between a major league left-handed starting pitcher and an organizational filler. As the game continues to come clean and we see more and more ordinary right-handed pitchers throwing 88-91, a left-hander who can pop a 93, pitch at 90-91, and show a plus curveball is what we call a premium prospect.
Watch Rob Rasmussen October Video
Read Rob Rasmussen Q&A
John Klima | August 12, 2009
Rob Rasmussen’s uncle, Neil, was the 12th overall pick in the nation in 1971. The next pick was high school left-hander Frank Tanana. At no. 15, the Red Sox drafted Jim Rice. Mike Schmidt and George Brett were drafted in the second round. You get the point.
(photo: UCLA)
Neil Rasmussen’s final pro season was at Double-A Holyoke in 1978, in the fine state of Massachusetts where his nephew, the UCLA left-hander, has spent his two college summers pitching for venerable Orleans in the Cape Cod League. One of the lessons from Neil’s career imparted on Rob was that going to college should come before going pro.
Rob Rasmussen’s stuff has always opened eyes, but if you were to paper scout the numbers in 2008 and 2009, you might miss him. No career is without its bumps in the road, but just about every career is better in the long run if those bumps come before the paychecks. Plus, there’s that degree to fall back on.
When Rasmussen finally does arrive in the major leagues, he’ll be one of the more educated players in multiple respects. His curveball, deviously hard when working, suggests that he pitches bigger than his small high school pedigree or average physical presence.
Rasmussen is listed at 5-11 and 170 pounds, but when he’s on, he gets so much downhill plane that he may well be pitching from the top step of a ladder. Yet in his two years at UCLA, Rasmussen has taken a few tumbles. In his debut as a freshman, he took a line drive off his foot and missed a month. As a sophomore, he pitched well in the fall, got hit early in the spring, and was banished to the bullpen.
This summer, Rasmussen returned to Orleans to prove that he is a starting pitcher and a definite major league prospect. One respected scout compares Rasmussen to All-Star left-hander Ted Lilly for body type, competitiveness and stuff.
Rasmussen was a Cape All-Star in 2009, getting the ball for the start at Fenway Park. Through five starts at the end of July, Rasmussen was 3-0, 1.91. He said he needed to throw more strikes this summer. Eight walks and 37 strikeouts in 28 innings suggest he’s accomplished that. He’ll enter the fall at UCLA with a running start toward the big college season he’s been looking for, one that shows why he once struck out 20 guys in a high school game and why the Dodgers took a 27th round flyer in 2007 on a pitcher they knew was virtually impossible to dissuade from college.
Baseball Beginnings caught up to Rasmussen recently.
John Klima | June 19, 2009
UCLA left-hander Rob Rasmussen, a 2010 draft prospect whose first half of the 2009 college season found him buried on the depth chart, pitched six innings Thursday night for Orleans, recording 10 strikeouts, one walk, one hit, and one unearned run. Rasmussen’s best weapon is a hard curveball that, when working right, profiles as his major league out pitch. Across the diamond for Cotuit in the same game, left-hander Matt Grace pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings, hitting 92 mph. He walked two and struck out four. Grace is also a 2010 draft prospect, who has gradually added power during his college career.
John Klima | June 11, 2009
(photo: Baseball Beginnings)
Trayce Thompson was a highly sought-after Southern California center fielder. He said that he was aware of the Mariners, Angels, Astros, Dodgers, Phillies, Rays, Cubs, Orioles and A’s interest. Thompson, who did workouts at Angel Stadium, Dodger Stadium and Minute Maid Park, thought that the Angels were a likely fit because of the team’s reputation for taking high school players and for drafting in Southern California. The Angels have used their first pick on a Southern California high school player in three of the last four years, taking Trevor Bell in 2005, Hank Conger in 2006 and Tyler Chatwood in 2008.
“I initially thought that too,” Thompson said. “I’m not mad that they didn’t take me or anything like that, but there were two high school center fielders (Thompson and Jake Marisnick) they could have gone with. I sometimes wondered if one or both of us would end up there. It’s all worked out and I’m happy they considered me. I loved playing on Angels Elite. I can’t wait to get started with the White Sox. You can’t argue with the situation.”
Thompson said that he gradually became aware that the White Sox were on him. When he fell to the 61st overall pick, the White Sox pounced on a player whose above-average athletic ability and home run potential in center field project him to be a quality starter on a first-division team.
“The White Sox were really diligent with me,” said Thompson, who has a commitment to play college baseball at UCLA.
Read Trayce Thompson Q&A
Read Trayce Thompson report
Watch Trayce Thompson video
Watch Trayce Thompson video Part 2
Trayce Thompson Drafted by the Chicago White Sox
John Klima | June 10, 2009
UCLA third baseman Casey Haerther (photo: UCLA)
Today, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim selected Casey Haerther in the 5th round (171st overall) in the draft. Follow the links below for Baseball Beginnings content on Haerther.
Read Casey Haerther Q&A
Read Casey Haerther Scouting report
Watch Casey Haerther Scouting video
John Klima | May 25, 2009
(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.
