Benicia HS RHP Nick Altman has verbally committed to UC Davis.  Altman is a 5'9" 165 lb RHP but pitches much bigger than his size.  He attended my workout for uncommitted seniors back in January and definitely showed himself as a D1 caliber pitcher.  My report on him from that day reflected as much.  Here is that report if you don't decide to click on the highlighted link (where you will also see more reports on some very good seniors that are still uncommitted).

Nick Altman, RHP, Benicia HS – BCR = 4/4 (click here for explanation of my rating system)

GPA – 3.57 / SAT – 1480 / ACT – 21 / Registered w/NCAA clearinghouse

Peak FB – 88 / SL – 77-80 / 60 yard – 7.58

Good athlete, competitive and aggressive, good late FB movement with occasional riding action, likes to and can go inside, late sharp SL bite gets swing and misses, displayed feel of SL, going to have chance to compete right away as reliever, showed that he understands how and when to put hitters away.  Reminded me of former Cal pitcher Matt Gorgen, though with more FB movement and not as much command (yet).

Delivery: High 3/4 slot, short arm-action & takeaway, creates some sneakiness/deception, pretty minimal effort suggests there is 90+ mph in him someday soon.

A few weeks back a reader asked me if I would highlight some other D2 players other than those from struggling Sonoma State.  Speaking of which, it is an embarrassment that SSU is so bad or at the best, so average right now.  There is a lot of talent on that team.  I have deeper thoughts on why that program is not finding success on the field this year, relative to the talent, and it is not just a theory which applies to SSU.

Another D2 program in the Bay Area has some good players of note.  Cal State Easty Bay, over in Heyward, moved up to the D2 level this year (from D3) and should slowly but surely join the top D2 programs in California.  Recently one of their pitchers, RHP Paul Jinkens ('06 Wheatland HS), was named the Wilson/California Collegiate Athletic Association Baseball Pitcher of the Week.  Jinkens attended Sacramento State out of high school then transferred to Sierra College in Rocklin, before coming to the Pioneer program last fall.  He is a great example of going to a D1 before he was ready for that level, in all likelihood.  He went back to a good JC, got more development time and now has found a really good home playing ball, getting to his education, finding success on the field, and hopefully furthering his baseball career beyond college. 

During the week of April 12-18, Jinkens had 15 strikeouts in a complete game victory against Cal Poly Pomona.  The 15 strikeouts tied a CSU East Bay program record, previously held by Randy Rambis.  In the game he allowed seven hits, walked one batter and allowed one run on a solo homer.  Jinkens is a 6'0" righty, a dreaded term among the scouting community, but in his case, he is likely to get a shot at pro baseball at some point, whether it is after this year, or next year.  I received the following report on Jinkens... again, it was not my own eyes that saw him, rather an associate scout for one of the MLB area scouts sent this to me...

Fastball has been 88-92 has hit 93/94 with the 4 seam.  His two seam is showing a lot of run.  Slurve is 74 to 77 and has been his out pitch.  Change is a split finger and has been a plus when he needs it.  He is always around the plate and I think that is the diffrence from other years, he is in control of the game and fields his position well.  Has 4 complete games and was 90 in the 9th last week. 

For the season Jinkens is 4-3, with a 4.10 ERA in 68.0 innings of work.  Thus far he has struck out 57 batters and allowed 68 hits, against 22 walks.  Jinkens is the second CSU East Bay Pioneer ballplayer to earn this award, joining junior third baseman Nick McManus who earned the Player of the Week award on April 5.

Since the fantasy baseball season is off and running and I am an admitted fantasy baseball geek, I thought it would be fun to put together a team made up of players from the 11 Northern CA area programs.  The roster will be following the basic ESPN Fantasy Baseball roto league format... C/1B/2B/3B/SS/2B-SS/1B-3B/OF/OF/OF/OF/OF/UTL/P/P/P/P/P/P/P/P/P.  We can look at this again after the end of the D1 season and please, as always, your comments are welcome.

Obviously I will want to do my best to get players that fill all five offensive categories but occasionally there will have to a pure power guy or a pure speed guy.  Here are the categories, for those that are not aware... Position players AVG/Runs/HR/RBI/SB & Pitchers Wins/Saves/Strikeouts/ERA/WHIP (Walks&Hits/IP).

C - Tommy Medica, Santa Clara - AVG .374 / R 34 / HR 7 / RBI 37 / SB 12

1B - Jordan Ribera, Fresno State - AVG .333 / R 33 / HR 15 / RBI 42 / SB 0

2B - J.B. Brown, Pacific - AVG .434 / R 24 / HR 4 / RBI 22 / SB 2

3B - Mike Walker, Pacific - AVG .343 / R 30 / HR 6 / RBI 32 / SB 1

SS - Kevin Rodland, Nevada - AVG .283 / R 38 / HR 6 / RBI 27 / SB 12

2B/SS - Danny Muno, Fresno State - AVG .345 / R 39 / HR 2 / RBI 16 / SB 9

1B/3B - Stephen Yarrow, USF - AVG .322 / R 29 / HR 12 / RBI 34 / SB 0

OF - Mark Canha, Cal - AVG .408 / R 35 / HR 5 / RBI 39 / SB 5

OF - Westley Moss, Nevada - AVG .317 / R 31 / HR 2 / RBI 14 / SB 16

OF - Bobby Coyle, Fresno State - AVG .325 / R 26 / HR 5 / RBI 37 / SB 3

OF - Brian Barnett, Nevada - AVG .349 / R 27 / HR 8 / RBI 42 / SB 3

OF - Brock Stassi, Nevada - AVG .391 / R 29 / HR 6 / RBI 24 / SB 0

UTL - Troy Channing, St. Mary's - AVG .307 / R 20 / HR 10 / RBI 32 / SB 4

P - Justin Jones, Cal - W 8 / SV 0 / K 61 / ERA 2.62 / WHIP 1.11

P - Erik Johnson, Cal - W 5 / SV 0 / K 46 / ERA 3.63 / WHIP 1.50

P - Blake Mcfarland, San Jose St. - W 5 / SV 0 / K 45 / ERA 2.61 / WHIP 1.15

P - Hunter Carnevale, Pacific - W 3 / SV 3 / K 38 / ERA 3.11 / WHIP 1.23

P - Marcus Pointer, Pacific - W 6 / SV 0 / K 40 / ERA 3.86 / WHIP 1.22

P - Dayne Quist, UC Davis - W 5 / SV 0 / K 47 / ERA 4.22 / WHIP 1.26

P - Doug Murray, USF - W 5 / SV 1 / K 46 / ERA 3.00 / WHIP 1.02

P - Matt Flemer, Cal - W 2 / SV 3 / K 14 / ERA 3.00 / WHIP 1.00

P - Andrew Galvan, Sacramento St. - W 1 / SV 5 / K 13 / ERA 3.86 / WHIP 1.39 

This post is part two of me releasing the names of seniors listed by their coaches as college caliber players.  The comments are those of the coaches, with anything I have to offer also written at the end of each comment section.  I am basically taking the comments verbatim from the coaches.  Again, I have not seen most of these players, but when I have and I have something I want to offer, I will write it.

The reason I didn't post all the names the other day is simple... it was the end of my work day and I had to go pick up my son from pre-school.  Sorry for any inconvenience.

Without further ado, here are the rest of the names given to me by HS coaches.  Good for these kids that their coaches care enough to go a little bit further trying to help them get some recognition and exposure.  All it took was responding to my email and then the names and comments get posted at a blog that is getting more and more views each day.  The schools are not in alphabetical order.  The last one, was the first one that was sent to me.  I just worked backward through my emails.  Click the read more tab for the lists. no comments

Sorry for not getting this up until Monday, the weekend tends to be family time.  Let's get right to the traits scouts are to identify in position player prospects.  I am sure most of you reading this are aware of the 5-tools scouts evaluate; arm strength, fielding ability, hitting ability, raw power, running speed.  First, a brief breakdown of the 5-tools...

Except for running speed, the evaluation of each of those tools is entirely subjective to each scout.  One scout might evaluate an outfielder as having an average throwing arm and another might have that player either slightly above or slightly below average.  By and large, each scout will be close to each other in their arm strength grades.  As for fielding, there is no doubt that some scouts are better than others in evaluating the type of fielder a player will be.  For instance, it stands to reason that a former infielder and perhaps one that has actually coached infielders, will be better at evaluating which players will be the best fielders.

Raw power is simply a measure of how far a player can hit the ball, with a wood bat.  It is not a projection of how many home runs a scout thinks a player will hit as a professional, that is power production, and not the same as raw power.  A player might have "plus" raw power but he is projected to produce below average power.  Take for instance James Loney of the Dodgers.  Put him in a BP session and he can show you "plus" power but when the games take place, his swing is not tailored or suited to hitting home runs.  He produces below average power.  A scout would like to get a player in a BP with a wood bat to truly evaluate the raw power.  That might happen in the summer or fall season, or in a private workout with the scout.

Running speed is basically objective and based on a stop watch.  Scouts time hitters from out of the box, starting the clock as soon as the player makes contact, and stop the watch when the player hits the 1st base bag.  An accepted average time for a right-handed hitter is 4.3 seconds and for a left-handed hitter, 4.2 seconds.  To be honest, there really are only three types of runners when it comes right down to it.  There are "plus" runners, there are average runners (sligthly above or below is still a form of average) and slow runners.  Your eyes can tell you if a guy can run.  Furthermore, a time down the line might not be reflective of the true running speed because of the type of swing a player has.  Guys with big swings tend to get out of the box slower than guys with short swings.  Simple, right?

The MOST subjective evaluation, and I dare say the most difficult tool to evaluate is the ability of a player to hit, which means to hit for average.  Metal bats clearly make it more difficult to evaluate amateur players.  Scouts look for swing path, strength, balance, timing, ease of getting off the swing, pitch recognition, bat speed, hand-eye coordination, frequency of swings and misses, etc.  Obviously not every hitter looks the same and among all the good hitters, there are differences.  no comments

On Wednesday (April 14) RHP Robby Rowland of Cloverdale HS threw a perfect game against Clear Lake HS.  Now, Clear Lake and the the competition in Rowland's league is not strong, there is no denying that.  For the season Rowland has not yet given up a run, is 3-0 with that sparkling 0.00 ERA in 27 innings so far.  He has allowed only nine hits and four walks (all singles) while striking out 49 batters.  On Wednesday he struck out 13 and needed only 71 pitches for the CG, 53 of which were strikes.

If you have been reading this blog since January, you know how I feel about Rowland, as a kid, as a prospect, as a competitor and athlete.  He would have been the #1 high school player on my preference list had I continued scouting with the Braves, ahead of RHP A.J. Vanegas or Redwood Christian HS and RHP Eric Jaffe of Bishop O'Dowd HS.  No doubt I would have been been pushing him as a 2nd round pick because he is a PERFECT Braves pitching prospect.  I have said it before... think Adam Wainwright and Tommy Hanson... athletic, talented, competitive, plus make-up 6'6" right-handers with front of the rotation stuff and feel for the game.

I was texting with Rowland on Friday morning, asking him how many scouts were there on Wednesday.  The newspaper reported about a dozen were on hand but Rowland estimated it was more like 25.  He could very well surpass my projected first Bay Area high school player picked in the 2010 draft, Eric Jaffe.  I would take Rowland over Jaffe but to me, the industry will favor Jaffe, which was why I picked him.  We shall see. 

Trust me, I am not a Stanford groupie... far from it actually, not with my ties to USF, including a past coaching stint with the Dons, a post-grad degree from USF, not to mention my wife is also a grad from USF, and I played for Coach Giarratano at Trinidad State (CO) JC in 1993.  However, when I see the box scores and highlights each night, I can't help but see many former Stanford players.

Stanford has been producing pro catchers for a number of years now and three former Cardinal catchers are currently in the big leagues... Ryan Garko, Donny Lucy, and John Hester.  Very impressive and even more so when you consider the catcher with the highest profile in pro baseball is not even in the big leagues yes, Astrols #1 prospect Jason Castro.

On Thursday night two of those catchers had big games.  In the Diamondbacks/Dodgers game, Arizona catcher John Hester went 2-4 (double) with 2 runs scored and an RBI.  Hester was a 13th round pick in the 2006 draft.  Earlier in the day, White Sox back-up catcher Donny Lucy, a 2nd round pick in teh 2004 draft, went 1-3 with his first MLB homer, though the Sox lost to the Blue Jays.  The homer was the first in the big leagues for Lucy, who is back in the big leagues after a brief eight game stint in the 2007 season.  The homer also resulted in his first MLB run scored and RBI.  Hester appeared in 15 games with Arizona last year, hitting .250 in 28 at-bats, including two doubles, a homer, and 4 RBI. 

Injuries to big league catchers resulted in Lucy and Hester being called up recently.  White Sox back Ramon Castro went on the DL before the start of the season, so the Sox recalled Lucy, bypassing slugging catching prospect Tyler Flowers because Lucy is the better defender.  For the Diamond back, the injury to starting catcher Miguel Montero resulting in Hester being called up, where he is now the back-up to Chris Snyder

Sometime later this season the Astros will call up Castro and he will be the fourth former Stanford catcher in the big leagues this season.  Very very impressive.  Garko is no longer a catcher, but he did catch for a time at the professional level.

A few weeks ago I sent an email out to over 200 high school coaches and though only a shamefully low number of them responded to me, I want to get the names out of the players mentioned by their coaches.  I have not seen most of these kids play and I hope to see some of them the remainder of the spring, so this is not me saying all these kids are legitimately D1 or four-year college caliber players.  If this list spurs some college coaches to look into a few of these kids and something comes of it for a few of them, that is the goal.  Since I had emails from a couple dozen coaches I don't want to put together a huge post, so I will list all the kids and their coach's comments over the next few days.  Here are the most recent emails I received and I will just work backward through my email inbox.  Go to the read more link below for this first list. no comments

Yesterday I shared with you the ingredients of the make-up component for a professional baseball prospect.  Sufice to say, those same attributes are also desirable at the college level and at the high school level and can be applied to any sport.  The seperator for the very best players is that they not only have the make-up (in most cases anyway) but they also have the physical talent, which is the easier part for a scout to identify.  So many times as a college coach or even as a scout I had coaches or parents mention to me how great of a kid some player was, how hard of a worker some kid was, or how the kid just played the game the right way.  All of that is GREAT and necessary, but without superior talent, well, it just doesn't mean too much at the highest levels of the game.

Without further ado, let's look at the things a scout is looking for in both pitchers as professional prospects.  There are some general traits they evaluate for all players: stamina, durability, hustle, body control, physical description, reactions, athletic ability, instincts, and eye sight.  Below are some (not all) descriptive words to get you in the frame of mind of what scouts look for.  As a matter of fact, for the Braves scouting reports there was a drop down box for arm action, delivery, fielder and the choices were Exellent, Good, Fair, Poor, which clearly leaves a lot of the description missing.

Pitchers

Arm Angle – Over the top, Hi 3/4, 3/4, Lo 3/4, Sidearm, Submarine

Arm Action – Loose, stiff, long, short, stab, clean, muscles ball, compact, etc.

Delivery – Athletic, timing, rhythm, body control, simple, complicated, etc.

Fielding – Simply, how well do they field their own position

Fastball Velocity

Fastball Life – Late, fade, sink, hop, straight, light, heavy, run, cut, etc.

Fastball Control – Around zone, fills it up, hits spots, erratic, lacks feel, has command

Curveball/Slider – Describe break/action, slurvy, late, tight, bites, loose, inconsistent

Curveball/Slider Control – Strikeout pitch, has feel, lacks feel, for strikes or for outs, etc.

Change-up – Arm action, ball action, deception, type (split, fork, palm, circle, etc)

Change-up Control – Feel, around zone, bounces it, gets swings/misses, puts ball in play

Other Pitch – Split, Cutter, Forkball, Knuckleball, Screwball

Other Pitch Control 

That pretty much covers the categories that need to be filled out on a scout’s evaluation report of a pitcher.  All of that paints a picture but ultimately the part where a scout discusses the strengths and weaknesses of a pitcher, combined with make-up, is where all the above information comes into play.   

Obviously the velocity of the fastball is a big factor for a pitcher.  There is also the term “projectability” which plays heavily into how a scout sees a pitcher developing over the long haul.  Present day body type and arm action, as well as arm speed, are the factors that by and large are used as predictors for projectability of a pitcher.  Meaning, when a scout sees a 6’3” 175 lb 18 year old with a clean quick arm and a frame that looks to be able to hold more size and strength, perhaps throwing 86-88 mph, it is likely that he will project that young man’s future development in a positive way.    

Obvisously scouts want to see as much present day velocity as possible, it allows for more projection.  Now, that does not mean all the projections are going to come to fruition and to be truthful, most do not happen in the way a scout envisions them happening.  Like my former farm dirctor with the Braves told, "Scouting is optimism and player development is realism."

It seems that Cal consistently plays a second fiddle to Stanford in baseball and with the Bears lack of NCAA playoff apperances lately, well, it is easy to understand why.  Tonight in the big leagues, Stanford once again got the best of Cal when White Sox OF Carlos Quentin (Stanford) hit a grand slam off Blue Jays RHP Brandon Morrow (Cal).  Quentin finished with 6 RBI tonight as the White Sox beat Toronto, 11-1.  However, this blog really isn't just about tonight's game and Quentin's big game.  It is about scouting and the decisions organizations make, in the draft and within their own organization.

Quentin had a MVP quality season in 2008 but battled injuries all of last year.  He was a first round pick of the Diamondbacks in 2003 (29th overall) and until he was sent to the White Sox, he was pretty much a first round bust.  The D-backs chose to stick with former Cal star Conor Jackson instead of Quentin.  Hindsight is 20/20 but it has to be said, that was a mistake.  Jackson is a nice hitter but not a power guy.  He was not an intimidating hitting in college and he isn't now.  Quentin was an intimidating presence in college and still is.  I speak from experience as a pitching coach that had to call pitches against both Quentin and Jackson.  We always felt we could get in on Jackson... then again, if we missed (and in 2002 at USF we missed a ton!), he hurt us.  Quentin was strictly a guy we avoided if at all possible.  So it looks like Stanford gets the best of Cal again, this time at the expense of the D-backs when they chose to stick with Jackson over Quentin. 

Morrow was also a first round pick, by the Mariners with the 5th overall pick in 2006.  Mariners fans will probably never forgive their former GM for not taking Tim Lincecum that year.  The Giants fortunes were turned around when Lincecum fell right into their laps.  Weird, the Seattle team took the Bay Area kid and the Giants got to take the Seattle area native.  To this point, Morrow is not a bust, but certainly has not lived up to being the 5th overall pick, especially when looking at Lincecum being picked four picks after him.  Whoops.

The choice by the Mariners to take Morrow is an example of where scouts, in particular scouting directors and GMs, outsmart themselves.  The top 5 picks in a draft should be slam dunk, no brainer impact big leaguers.  No doubt the Mariners saw Morrow as such because of a fastball that regularly was seen at 99 mph in college and a loose fast arm on a nice, lean, trim and athletic build.  The Lincecum story and background is well chronicled... you know, little guy (really little), "weird" delivery, etc.  Nevermind the fact that he was a DOMINANT pitcher at every level he played, especially at Washington where he won the Golden Spikes award as the top player in the nation in 2006.  no comments