SB Nation - Alan Horne

10 Questions for Frankie Piliere

jscape2000 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:00:24 -0000

Frankie Piliere is a former MLB scout (Rangers), one time author of SaberScouting, and currently a writer for AOL Fanhouse.

He saw a lot of the Yankees' farm system over the last year while scouting for the Rangers, and he let me pepper him with questions.

Q: Yankee fans have heard so much about Austin Jackson, but we've been excited and disappointed by a long line of "the next great player" (Eric Duncan, Ruben Rivera, etc.). You wrote about Jackson's line drive ability, and we've heard about his plus tools since he was drafted.
What do you seen about AJax that you don't like?

The only thing about Jackson to have any concerns about, and this is true for most young players so it's difficult to call it a concern, is consistency. And, that's what Brian Cashman has to weight. Can he play his game consistently. I thought he was pretty consistent in 2009 in terms of making solid contact. I know people probably want to know about the power. The power is there if you see him in batting practice, and I think we'll see it in due time. Young players have to learn the difference between here's a pitch I can hit and here's a pitch I can drive. I really believe that will come through the natural maturation process with Jackson. There's a reason he's gone from a guy people called a raw athlete and had their doubts about coming out of the draft to a guy that has really developed pretty quickly. He makes adjustments very well.

Q: When you were at SaberScouting you did some interesting work regarding Pitches Toward Outs as a way to measure a pitcher's dominance of the opposition. Have you done (or plan to do) any more work in that vein?

Hey, someone remembers my little study I guess. I have toyed with it now and then but it got put on the back burner a little bit in the last year. I still think it's a pretty good overall measure of a pitcher's efficiency. It tells us things we couldn't tell without actually watching the pitcher on a day to day basis. If a guy is striking out hitters at a high rate and not using a lot of pitches that pretty much tells us all we could want to know about how dominant he's been. I'm hoping to maybe explore it further. I haven't had much demand for it but who knows I guess.

Q: What do you think of Pat Venditte?

A: If nothing else, it was a pretty cool experience getting to scout him. I mean, where else are you going to see something like that? But at the same time, he's difficult to scout because there's nothing to compare him against. So, I tried to evaluate him as two different pitchers basically. Right-handed he's 87-91, bumping 92 with a fringy breaking ball at 72-75. He's pretty straight forward from the right side. From the left he's more of a trick pitcher. 81-85 with the fastball with a big, sweeping breaking ball with some pretty good action. He's much more funky from the left and made some guys look pretty bad. He's got a real feel for pitching but still he's going to need to be pretty perfect from both sides to be a factor. I'm not sure his stuff translates. There's not really a standout pitch in there but he does command his pitches. I wouldn't look at him with much else besides curiousity, because if he was just a lefty or just a righty with that stuff you probably wouldn't know his name. But I must say he was better than I expected and he at least has a shot.

Q: Will we ever see Alan Horne in the show?

A: I hope so, he's an easy guy to root for. Of course this is kind of obvious but if he can ever stay healthy I still think so. I've always loved his stuff but it's just hard to bank on his health.

Q: Am I buying too much of the hype on Zach McAllister, or am I right to think that he can be a piece of the major league puzzle in 2010?

A: He has the sink and command to make a charge so I wouldn't rule it out. At the same time I don't think there will be a need to rush him. I guess you can never tell how things will shake out if he is dominating to start the year and even if the Yankees need some quick bullpen help. It would have to be intriguing to see how his already good stuff translated to short relief. I'm a big fan of breaking these guys in in the pen. I have no idea if it would even be discussed but I could see it if he is pitching great ball at AAA and they need another arm.

Q: The Yankees have a slew of prospects eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Who do you think the Yankees should protect?

A: Besides the no brainers like Jackson and probably Eduardo Nunez, Nova definitely needs to be added I think. Whelan has some big stuff too so I could easily see someone trying to snatch him. I can say this, I wouldn't want to be the one having to decide this because there's a lot of guys you could say may be picked up.

Q: Any guess on where Joba Chamberlain's missing velocity went?

A: I thought it was pretty clear this year with Joba. I just don't think his delivery was as explosive. It was getting back to that in the playoffs, which was promising. Whether he was just too reigned in as a starter or was too conscious of his mechanics I'm not sure. But even when he first returned to the pen the velocity wasn't the same. I think it comes down to aggression. When he's right Joba is exploding at the hitter.

Q: Compare/ contrast Mike Dunn and Wilkin de la Rosa. Is either guy someone to be excited for, and which would you rather have in your system?

A: That's a very good question. I have seen more of Dunn over the past couple of years but I think I'd take Dunn by a hair. That could change as I see what De La Rosa can do as he moves up but they are very similar in stuff. People should sleep on Dunn despite his less than dominant cup of coffee. I'll take Dunn by the slighest of margins. I think he has a tick more fastball and maybe a little better feel for pitching. But, I'll stress again it's very very close.

Q: You're Alex Anthopoulos, what pieces are you looking for out of the Yankees' system? Can you get a deal done without AJax and Montero? Where do you think the strongest final bid will be?

A: Honestly I don't think the deal is acceptable for the Jays unless Montero is in it. And it's also why I don't do it if I'm Cashman. It's a failure on the Jays part if they can't net the team they're trading with's top chip. Montero is the top chip the Yankees have. But, of course that's me. Maybe they will settle for a deal without him if they get desperate. A lot of deals with prospects hinge on the faith the team has in their scouts. The Twins trusted their scouts and went for some lower level talent in the Santana trade. Perhaps Toronto settles for the same thing. In which case, the Yankees have lots of other pieces to offer.

Q: You're Commissioner for the day. How would you revise the drafting/ international signing system?

A: I'd have to go for the international draft. And I think this has been discussed but for the draft order I think the playoff results should be considered. For the Yankees that would be moot this year since they had the best record and the World Series. But, how about other years where you had the team that won the World Series drafting before the Yankees. There's something wrong with that if you ask me. I'd probably want to change many things but those are two things that come to mind.

A huge thank you to Frankie for taking the time to talk baseball with us, and be sure to check out his columns.

The Rule 5 and the 40-man

jscape2000 — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:00:48 -0000

The Rule 5 draft is one of the odd events in baseball, a chance for rebuilding teams to steal a talented gamble from a prospect rich team. You have to keep a draftee on the 25 man roster for the entire season, or offer to sell him back to his original club (as happened to Reegie Corona last season).

It's a testament to the job Cashman has done rebuilding the franchise that the Yankees lost 6 players in the Rule 5 last season, including 5 pitchers, and still had the arms to play an effective musical chairs in the bullpen.

Chad Jennings breaks down the (relatively) high profile Rule 5 eligible players:

Pitchers: J.B. Cox, Grant Duff, Alan Horne, Zack Kroenke, Ivan Nova, Jonathan Ortiz, Romulo Sanchez, Josh Schmidt, Brett Smith, Kevin Whelan, Eric Wordekemper, Jonathan Hovis, George Kontos, Paul Patterson, Kanekoa Texeira
Catchers: Kyle Anson, P.J. Pilittere
Infielders: Reegie Corona, Chris Malec, Mitch Hilligoss, Eduardo Nunez, Luis Nunez, Kevin Russo, Kevin Smith
Outfielders: James Cooper, Colin Curtis, Seth Fortenberry, Austin Jackson

The no doubters are AJax (OF), Luis Nunez (SS), Kevin Russo (2B) and Kanekoa Texeira (the pitcher thrown into the Swisher deal to prove Cashman's brilliance).

Like Chad, I think the Yanks need to protect Sanchez, Nova, Horne, and Whelan, all of whom still have big upsides. I'm indifferent to the position players except Reegie Corona, but there are probably too many middle infielders on the 40 man already.

I also think protecting Colin Curtis is worth while. He is raking as a LF in the Arizona Fall League (which is a hitters' league, so don't get too excited), and I think that exposure will move him up the board of some teams.

Remember that you don't want to fill the 40-man, because then you have to pass your prospects through waivers when you sign free agents like Pettitte, Matsui or Damon.

Who would you protect and how?

Alan Horne and Pitcher Prospect Status

jscape2000 — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 10:00:12 -0000

At the start of last season I picked Alan Horne as the player most likely to pull a Joba- starting in the minors for most of season before solidifying the bullpen for a playoff run.

Injuries derailed both Horne and the Yankees.

Horne has been impressive at times. After collegiate Tommy John surgery, he led the University of Florida to the 2005 College World Series Finals before signing with the Yanks.

As a college arm from an elite program, he moved fast, especially considering the Yanks usually over-cautiousness with young pitchers.

He threw 123 innings at high-A Tampa in 2006, then 153.1 IP at AA Trenton in 2007, earning AA Pitcher of the Year laurels. At both levels he had fewer hits than innings pitched, he had more K's than hits, and a better than 3:1 K:BB ratio. As a starter, his stuff wasn't Phil Hughes-elite, but he looked like a potential innings-eating starter and a sure fire reliever.

He opened last season at 5th on BA's Yankee Top Ten, and at AAA Scranton.

But Horne's 2008 would see only 32 ugly innings in Scranton (22BB+35H/32IP) and 7 truly hideous rehab innings back in Tampa (6BB+22H!).

2009 will be Alan Horne's age 26 season, long in the tooth for a prospect. As he enters baseball prime, Horne is off the BA top 10 and doesn't fit among their top tools list or their projected 2012 lineup; at our SBN sister-site, minorleagueball, John Sickles ranked 21 players in his top 20, only slipping in Horne in the honorable mention category.

But I still believe in Alan Horne, and I'll be following him this season. Where he was once the subject to a ton of trade speculation, he's now obviously most useful to the Yankees if he succeeds and pushes himself back up the depth chart.

Although Horne's set to start the season on the DL, Chad Jennings reports that's basically a ploy to get him some more spring training innings before turning him loose.

And I expect big things. He's still got 3 plus pitches, his low 90's fastball, a tick slower 4 seamer with late break, and nice 3 plane curveball. His slider was more inconsistent and his change needs to take a step forward or get scrapped.

But at 26, can I still call Horne a prospect when I talk about him? Does his short pro baseball career (considering time in college+ injury recovery) reduce his "baseball age" the way some have argued Canadian players like Larry Walker and Jason Bay need longer to develop? Does his repertoire count for more than his birth date?