SB Nation User Blog: MJMars

Under Armour All-American Game

MJMars — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:09:20 -0000

The All-American game is tomorrow at Wrigley at 1:05 and it will also be broadcast on ESPNU. I will be in attendance and hope many of you will be too. It will be a great opportunity to see the top high school talent going in to next year's draft. Shoot me an email if you are going and would be interested in meeting up (I will be getting there by 11 30 or so, to assure getting close to home plate). 6 kids drafted in the first 16 picks of the 09 draft were at the game last summer.

Pitchers to watch...

Jameson Taillon, RHP- Taillon is one of the best high school arms to come around in the last 5 or 6 years. His massive 6'7", 230 lb. frame lets him throw in the mid-90's with ease and he has an already very impressive curveball that sits just above 80. Though he hasn't used a changeup frequently, Taillon has shown good feel for it.

A.J. Cole, RHP- Cole also has a big frame, standing in at 6'5" and still has plenty of room to fill that out (currently weighing in at 190 lbs). He has thrown as high as 97 and has been sitting in the mid-90's while showing a good curve and solid control.

Stetson Allie, RHP- This guy throws major gas. Hitting 99 with some frequency and sitting in the 96-98 range most of the time. He also has a decent, but inconsistent slider that he throws in the high-80's. Problem is, Allie has MAJOR difficulty throwing strikes. Will certainly be fun to watch, but likely nothing more than a future closer.

Kevin Gausman, RHP- Though not a flame-thrower, Gausman throws in the low to mid-90's with a very clean delivery. He has plenty of room before he fills out his nice, 6'4" frame. Has shown a nce curveball, but still needs some improvement.

There are only 3 LHP's on the roster and I do not really know anything about any of them and am looking forward to see how they stack up against the top right-handed talent.

Hitters to watch...

Yordy Cabrera, ss- Though listed as a short-stop, at 6'4", 190 lbs. odds of him sticking there are slim. That said, there is a good chance he can become a plus defender at 3b due to his strong arm and soft hands. He has a strong bat as well, that should lead to some impressive pop down the road.

Reggie Golden, of- The top 5-tool prospect at the game, Golden is only 5'11", but incredibly strong and very fast. Has earned Bo Jackson comps, but recently gave up football to concentrate solely on baseball. I will keep a close eye on him at the plate.

Austin Wilson, of- Probably the #2 prep outfielder heading in to next year's draft, Wilson has an excellent bat and plenty of power potential as well. Not to mention, he has hit 98 on the gun so....good luck running out him. Wilson has a much bigger frame than Golden (6'4" 200 lbs.) and is more likely to play right-field in pro ball.

Zach Alvord, ss- Maybe the only short-stop at the event that should project to stick there in pro ball. Alvord has smallish frame (5'11" 175 lbs) that should allow for solid range to go along with a very strong arm. Alvord has been playing in wood bat leagues since he was 14 and has hit well and has shown some nice power.

Click here to look at the full list of players at the event. Use this as a place to post scouting reports for those of you attending. Enjoy!

Cubs sign Brooks Raley

MJMars — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 23:51:28 -0000

Cubs sign Brooks Raley

Signed him for $750,000. Was considered a supplemental or 2nd round talent. A 2-way player out of Texas A&M playing cf and lhp. I prefer him on the mound, where he does not have major upside, but good control and 4 solid pitches. Looks like he was listed as a lefty.

Goldstein on Cubs farm system the past few years

MJMars — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:23:12 -0000

Goldstein on Cubs farm system the past few years

He rips on them for both their drafting and developing. Criticizes the org for not emphasizing plate discipline and for giving over-slot bonuses to guys who didn't deserve it. Did say that Harvey and Pawelek were not over-drafts, but Colvin certainly was and we shouldn't have given Shark anything close to $10 mil. Says there is a light at the end of the tunnel with Vitters and some of the pacific rim prospects.

Baseball Prospectus Q&A with Hendry

MJMars — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 01:58:20 -0000

Baseball Prospectus Q&A with Hendry

A little less interesting than I was hoping for, but still worth looking at.

Breaking down Soriano's struggles

MJMars — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:23:37 -0000

Breaking down Soriano's struggles

FanGraphs article that did a good job statistically breaking down why Fonzie has been awful at the plate this year. How did it take this long for pitchers to really start figuring him out?

BP on sale of the Cubs

MJMars — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:49:08 -0000

BP on sale of the Cubs

I'm pretty sure most of it is just for subscribers, but Shawn Hoffman (who wrote the article and also runs Squawkingbaseball.com) believes the deal will eventually get done with Ricketts.

Zambrano suspended for 6 games

MJMars — Thu, 28 May 2009 21:18:14 -0000

Zambrano suspended for 6 games

Big Z suspended for 6. Not too happy about this, given Carlson's actions. I would expect Z to appeal.

MLB Draft thoughts/options

MJMars — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:01:06 -0000

The baseball draft means nothing to a lot of people, but it is one of my favorite days of the year. The draft will take place on June 9-10 this year.

In case you have not heard by now, Stephen Strasburg is hands down the no. 1 talent and odds are incredibly high that he goes to the Nationals with the first pick. Strasburg is a RHP out of San Diego State. Some people are saying he may be the best pitching prospect ever to come out of the draft (certainly the best since Mark Prior). He sits at 97-99 with the fastball (regularly touching 100) and his main off-speed pitch is what he calls a slider, but is really more of a curve with 2-plane break (not traditional 12-6, however). He is the hardest thrower and has the best off-speed pitch in the draft, but perhaps the most impressive thing is his ability to locate those pitches. Strasburg has walked a mere 13 hitters in 70.1 IP this season, while striking out 135! This gives him just over a 10/1 K/BB. He is also on pace to break Ryan Wagner's collegiate K/9 record of 16.8.

Some are paranoid about his mechanics, and I understand the concerns, but there is no way you pass up on this kind of a talent. The only way the Nationals might is if they are scared off by the $50 mil price tag Scott Boras has thrown out there. He will not end up getting that much, I would envision closer to $25 mil, which will still shatter the previous record.

Ok, so Strasburg is really good, but who can the Cubs get....

The Cubs pick late in the first round this year, 31st overall (Angels, Nationals and Diamondbacks pick in front of the Cubs 2 times for losing type A free agents, or, in the Nationals case, not signing last years 1st rd pick, Aaron Crow).

This will be Tim Wilken's 4th year as Cubs Scouting Director. In the previous 3, he has taken a college position player (Tyler Colvin), a prep position player (Josh Vitters) and a college pitcher (Andrew Cashner). Dating back to his days with the Blue Jays, Wilken has shown a mix of college and high school players, though he tends to lean towards position players in the first round.

This is not a good draft for college bats, but there are some decent options that could be around when the Cubs pick.

The best realistic option, in my opinion, would be A.J. Pollock, an outfielder out of Notre Dame. He is hitting .364/.457/.578 on the season as the Irish lead-off hitter. Pollock has the ability to play a decent center-field, and though he is not a burner, runs decent enough and is supposed to have excellent instincts, allowing him to get good jumps. The first thing I noticed with Pollock, was the impressive K/BB. Pollock has walked only 17 times this season (in 154 AB's) while walking 24 times. It is great to see a guy walking more than he is striking out. Players who can do this are capable of hitting .300 with solid OBP's. Pollock doesn't have a ton of upside, but is very polished and could be a very solid producer in a couple short years.

Kendal Volz, a RHP from Baylor, was a guy who was originally expected to go in the top 10 or 15, but may have pitched himself down to the bottom, or even supplemental first rd. He used to sit at 94-95 with the fastball, but has lost a decent amount of velocity this season. A friend of mine saw him pitch a couple weeks back, and he was not pitching above 91 mph. Volz does have a really good slider as well. He has had difficulty throwing strikes and I wonder if he is having some arm problems that we have not been made aware of yet. The upside is there, but this is a guy who I would like to see the Cubs stay away from.

After those 2, there appear to be a lot of intruiging HS players that I do not know a ton about, except for what I see at Baseball America. Matt Hobgood, a RHP out of a HS in California is ranked #33 on BA's mid-season list. Hobgood is a big boy, at 245 lb. and has a fastball in the low-mid 90's along a solid curve.

As I mentioned before, this is not a good year for hitters, but I like some of the college OF's and there appear to be some decent HS pitchers. As the draft gets closer, I will write more about who the Cubs could be taking and how they are playing.

Anyone here a member of SABR?

MJMars — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 02:39:26 -0000

Society for American Baseball Research. I was at their website today, trying to find out more about what they do and what a membership would entail. The price seems pretty reasonable ($45 if you are under 30) and it looks like they cool some cool stuff.

Anyone know how easy it is to get involved with their reasearch? How are their publications? Ever been to any of the chapter meetings? Any info you have would be great.

Cubs Release 3 former top picks

MJMars — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:35:18 -0000

Cubs Release 3 former top picks

Ryan Harvey, Grant Johnson (2nd round), Mark Pawelek. All 3 released this spring. Oneri Fleita needs to do better.