Just got my BA prospect handbook a few days ago.  If somebody is interested at specific player I could post his scouting report.

1. Jarrod Parker
2. Tyler Skaggs
3. Matt Davidson
4. Chris Owings
5. Marc Krauss
6. AJ Pollock
7. Bobby Borchering
8. Wade Miley
9. Pat Corbin
10. Keon Broxton
11. Paul Goldschmidt
12. Ty Linton
13. Kevin Munson
14. Eric Smith
15. Mike Belfiore
16. Ryan Wheeler
17. Kam Mickolio
18. Collin Cowgill
19. Wagner Mateo
20. Tyler Green
21. Robby Rowland
22. David Holmberg
23. JR Bradley
24. Charles Brewer
25. Raul Navarro
26. Chase Anderson
27. Bryan Shaw
28. Ronny Mejias
29. Zach Walters
30. Adam Eaton

System Ranking: 22

Could the best pitcher in japan be our saviour?

Diamondbacks preparing 6.5B yen for Yu Darvish?

According to a Sponichi report, the Arizona Diamondbacks are preparing a total 6.56B yen ($80M) to put towards Yu Darvish (that would cover both the posting fee and his salary).

An unnamed MLB source is quoted as saying that the Diamondbacks have done all the research on Darvish and should be able to prepare enough money to be serious contenders.  Diamondbacks' interim GM Jerry Dipoto was in Japan earlier this year to watch Darvish pitch and it seems both Mike Brown and Rick Short (scouts for the Dbacks) are extremely high on Darvish.

I'm not quite sure where Sponichi is getting the 6.5B yen figure from, but the article does mention that the Diamondbacks have about 4B yen coming off the books this season.

Sponichi mentions that the Diamondbacks also have their eye on Hisashi Iwakuma as well.

Incidentally, another Sponichi article mentions 5-6 teams being interesting in Darvish: in addition to the Diamondbacks, the Yanks, Mets, Mariners, Rangers, and Braves are named.

Does anyone live in Taiwan want to see the season opener?

 

San Francisco Giants considering playing 2011 season opener in Taiwan

LOS ANGELES — The Giants would open the 2011 season with a two-game series in Taiwan against the Arizona Diamondbacks if players from both teams approve a proposal from Major League Baseball, sources told the Mercury News on Wednesday.

Players union executive Gene Orza met with the Giants almost two weeks ago in Washington to outline the travel schedule, which would include two exhibitions against the Chinese Taipei national team before taking on the Diamondbacks in late March.

The Giants would return to Scottsdale, Ariz., for an additional week of spring training before resuming the regular season.

Players would receive additional compensation for competing overseas, because of the travel inconvenience and the earlier spring training reporting time. They are expected to vote on the proposal next month.

If approved, it would be the Giants' first regular-season game outside of the United States, its territories or Canada. They played a series with the Montreal Expos in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 2004.

Taiwan would be a new venue for Major League Baseball, which has staged three season-opening series in Tokyo and one in Monterrey, Mexico. The A's opened the 2008 season in Japan against the Boston Red Sox.

Taiwanese major leaguers include Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Hong-Chih Kuo and Washington Nationals right-hander Chien-Ming Wang.

According to Buster Olney:

Arizona interim GM Jerry DiPoto wouldn't discuss the word of how their No. 1 pick,Barret Loux,failed his physical exam.Tough break for Loux.

That means we are going to have two top picks in next year's draft!

Great news!

Barret Loux simply isn't a first round talent, let along a top 10 pick.

Just hope that the FO could spend more money on the oncoming draft.

Data from inside-edge.com (Covers games from 4/5/2009 to 11/4/2009)

 

Dan Haren:

1st pitch strike     61%

1 of first 2 pitches for strike     91%

2 of first 3 pitches for strikes     65%

0-1 counts that become 0-2 counts    46%

 

1-1 counts that become 1-2 counts    53%

123 innings      41%

4 or less pitch PA's      65%

 

Max Scherzer:

1st pitch strike        61%

1 of first 2 pitches for strike      88%

2 of first 3 pitches for strikes      65%

0-1 counts that become 0-2 counts      53%

1-1 counts that become 1-2 counts      58%

 

123 innings       31%

4 or less pitch PA's      58%

 

Edwin Jackson:

1st pitch strike         54%

1 of first 2 pitches for strike      83%

2 of first 3 pitches for strikes      61%

0-1 counts that become 0-2 counts      52%

1-1 counts that become 1-2 counts      60%

 

123 innings      37%

4 or less pitch PA's      63%

 

Doug Davis:

1st pitch strike         56%

1 of first 2 pitches for strike      82%

2 of first 3 pitches for strikes      54%

0-1 counts that become 0-2 counts      43%

1-1 counts that become 1-2 counts      51%

 

123 innings      25%

4 or less pitch PA's      61%

 

Chad Qualls:

1st pitch strike         68%

1 of first 2 pitches for strike      89%

2 of first 3 pitches for strikes      73%

0-1 counts that become 0-2 counts      57%

1-1 counts that become 1-2 counts      67%

 

123 innings      37%

4 or less pitch PA's      71%

 

Clay Zavada:

1st pitch strike         56%

1 of first 2 pitches for strike      83%

2 of first 3 pitches for strikes      59%

0-1 counts that become 0-2 counts      46%

1-1 counts that become 1-2 counts      61%

 

123 innings      43%

4 or less pitch PA's      62%

 

Billy Buckner:

1st pitch strike         58%

1 of first 2 pitches for strike      84%

2 of first 3 pitches for strikes      56%

0-1 counts that become 0-2 counts      48%

1-1 counts that become 1-2 counts      50%

 

123 innings      32%

4 or less pitch PA's      66%

Data from inside-edge (Covering games from 2008 to Present)

 

Bryan Augenstein: (total pitches: 267)                                                                                                                                     

Fastballs:              53%     0.381                  

Curves:                    5%     0.500     

Sliders:                  30%     0.200           

Changeups:         10%     0.400

 

Blaine Boyer: (total pitches: 2090)

Fastballs:              73%     0.281             

Curves:                  14%     0.212   

Sliders:                    7%     0.103    

Changeups:           6%     0.321

 

Billy Buckner: (total pitches: 1539)

Fastballs:              57%     0.375       

Curves:                  26%     0.181    

Sliders:                    4%     0.091      

Changeups:         13%     0.353

 

Doug Davis: (total pitches: 5947)

Fastballs:              65%     0.269   

Curves:                  17%     0.245  

Sliders:                    7%     0.323   

Changeups:         10%     0.314

 

Juan Gutierrez: (total pitches: 1170)

Fastballs:              60%     0.288   

Curves:                  14%     0.171 

Sliders:                  20%     0.200       

Changeups:            5%     0.200

 

Dan Haren: (total pitches: 6799)

Fastballs:              58%     0.256   

Curves:                  11%     0.281  

Sliders:                  17%     0.208

5th Pitch:               13%     0.173

 

Chad Qualls: (total pitches: 1817)

Fastballs:              66%     0.269     

Sliders:                  32%     0.193

 

Max Scherzer: (total pitches: 4003)

Fastballs:              71%     0.252    

Sliders:                  14%     0.216    

Changeups:         15%     0.253

 

Clay Zavada: (total pitches: 872)

Fastballs:              57%     0.321    

Curves:                    7%     0.067        

Sliders:                  14%     0.167 

Changeups:         21%     0.130

 

Jon Garland: (total pitches: 6441)

Fastballs:              67%     0.306 

Curves:                    6%     0.191  

Sliders:                  12%     0.302   

Changeups:         15%     0.274

Which I found them at inside-edge.com

Opponents' BA against Webb's changeups:       0.103

Opponents' BA against Webb's curveballs:         0.212

Opponents' BA against Haren's sliders:              0.175

Opponents' BA against Haren's splitters:            0.199

Opponents' BA against Johnson's sliders:         0.286

Opponents' BA against Davis's curveballs:         0.275

Opponents' BA against Scherzer's sliders:         0.152

 

Opponents' BA against Santana's changeups:  0.164

Opponents' BA against Volquez's changeups:   0.199 

Opponents' BA against Oswalt's curveballs:       0.221

 

It seems like Webby has one of the best and the most underrated changeup in baseball !!!