A couple of weeks back you gave me the names of a bunch of players that interested you in short season Hudson Valley.  I had a chance to take in two games while I was out there.  Here’s a rough scouting report.

First of all, they need to figure out a better way to sell tickets.  They have two ticket windows.  The line moves at a snail’s pace.  When you get to the front of the line, they ask you if you have ever purchased tickets with them before.  If you say, "Yes," they ask you your last name, first name, and zip code.  If you say, "No," they ask you your last name, first name and zip code.  If you give the kid a credit card he walks away from the ticket window and disappears with it for about five minutes.  So, if you ever go to a game, and you don’t have tickets in advance, get there at least 45 minutes early to see the first pitch.

My impressions were bad, "meh," good, and very impressive.  We’ll start with the bad and work up to the impressive.

Somebody mentioned Burt Reynolds.  He started at 3B both games I attended.  He struck out 3 of his 6 ABs, and hit into 1 DP.  He likes to swing early and often.  I saw him go after the first pitch several times.  His Ks were swinging on off-speed pitches.  He has a hard time laying off sliders and curves that break down and out of the zone.  He’s powerfully built and did jerk a long foul ball over the left field fence.  Right now, he lacks patience and has trouble making contact—a bad combination.  He showed good hands, decent range, and a strong arm in the field.  He made one very nice play going to the line.  On the other hand, he choked on a couple of what should have been routine throws.  He fields the ball cleanly, but pounds it in and out of his glove a couple of times while he tries to get his feet set.  He led his rookie league in errors last year.  My guess is that a lot of them were throwing errors.  Bad.

Luis Otero started at 2B both games.  He bats from a deep crouch.  His approach is a contact-hitter’s approach.  He takes short swings and tries to get out of the box quickly.  He struck out swinging on off speed pitches a couple of times.  He likes to go after the first pitch.  He doesn’t look like he’s going to develop power.  He doesn’t show much patience.  And he really struggles with breaking balls.  He generally looked solid in the field.  His hands are good.  He didn’t get a chance to demonstrate range.  He made a throwing error on a ball hit back toward the middle.  Not too good.

One of you called DJ Jones and Dustin Biell "toolsy outfielders" who had yet to produce results.  Jones started in RF the first night I attended.  He demonstrates patience at the plate, working deep into the count in 2 of his 3 ABs.  Other than that, I can’t give much info on his hitting.  He was very rangy in RF and his arm was strong and accurate.  He made two very nice plays going toward the line on base hits to hold runners to singles.  He also ran a fliner down in the right center field gap. Biell started in LF the second game.  I missed his first AB (see the gripe about the ticket window above) and he got hit on the first pitch in his 3rd AB, so I have nothing to say about his hitting.  Like Jones, he showed good range, making a very nice play coming in on a ball to take a hit away and going back well on a couple of balls.  His arm doesn’t look quite as strong as Jones’s.  I didn’t see that much of either of them, but I also didn’t see much to make me want more.  Meh. 

Brett Nommenson.  I can see how he slugged 1.000 his senior year.  I can also see why that was at Eastern Illinois.  He’s short and thick.  They list him at 5’11".  I think that’s very generous.  You don’t look at him and think "ball player." I suspect that hurt him with college recruiters.  Then he steps up to the plate.  He’s got that classic, smooth, lefty swing with the slight upper cut.  He had very patient ABs that I saw.  He hit the ball sharply a number of times to all fields—a long flyball out to left, a groundball single through the 5-6 hole, a line-drive up the middle, and a sharply hit groundout to the 1st baseman.  He makes consistent contact, and the ball jumps off his bat very well.  He ran a lot when he got on base.  He looks like he would be slow, but seems to move pretty well, and they certainly seem to be trying to run him.  He took of from 1st on a three ball count.  The catcher threw down, and he beat the throw.  He didn’t get the SB because it was ball four.  He then stole third the same inning, getting a huge jump.  On another occasion he had second base stolen, again with a very good jump, but the hitter fouled the pitch off.  He started in LF one night and RF the other.  He wasn’t tested at all in the field either night.  Overall, I thought he looked very good.

I was really impressed by Alexander Calome.  He’s not listed as being big, but he’s very solidly built, especially for his age.  He started the second game I attended and looked fantastic.  He’s got an easy, compact motion and throws from over the top.  He worked high with his fastball, particularly early in the game and early in the count.  He threw hard enough to get the ball past the hitters.  There was no radar gun, but he was probably in the low 90s.  I had a terrible seat behind the most obnoxious family in the Hudson Valley, so I had trouble making out his other pitches.  It looked like he was throwing a slider and possibly a change-up, but I’m really not sure.  Whatever he was throwing it was good enough to consistently fool the hitters.  The bulk of his Ks were swinging strikes on off speed stuff; however, he did get two swinging strikeouts on high fastballs.  His control and command were outstanding.  He didn’t walk anyone.  The only flaw was two HBPs.  The first was a ball that clearly got away from him.   The second was a retaliation pitch for the retaliation pitch the other team threw after his first HBP.  He got ejected with 2 outs in the sixth, along with his manager, for the HBP.  It was bad inning for the Renegades, as Reynolds injured his ankle on a tag play at third and had to leave the game.  All in all, Calome looked dominant.  He gave up one ground ball double and struck out more than a hitter per inning--and looks like he probably consistently strikes out more than one per inning.  I was really impressed, and would like to see how this guy comes along.

Thanks a lot for the recommendations.  I had fun watching these guys. I hope you appreciate what I’ve been able to tell you.  From what I saw, I’m going to watch Nommenson and Calome to see if they move up through the system. 

I'm not a Nationals fan, but I'm a savvy baseball fan.  I'm travelling, and I'll be getting a chance to see a Vermont Lake Monsters game next week--short season affiliate for the Nats.  Who are the prospects on the Lake Monsters roster?  If any of you tell me who to watch for, I'd be happy to post a scouting report on this site next week.  And that makes 75.

Here are 10 facts about the Brewers 2008 season.

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I'm afraid the Brewers not only lost their chance at the playoffs this past weekend, but also the MVP and ROY for Prince and Ryan.  In fact, last night probably closed the deal--Holliday keeps the BA lead, grabs the RBI title, and comes up with a bloody chin on the season's final wild-card clinching play.  If Prince had a shot for the MVP at the beginning of last night's game, I'm pretty sure it slipped away when Holliday's hand (almost) scraped homeplate.  A writer over at The Hardball Times has developed an interesting calculator.  His calculator puts Prince behind Holliday, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard, although he thinks Prince will probably place third.  I'm not weighing in on the debate over which individual and team stats should count toward MVP voting.  I'm simply stating that the individual stats, team performance, and "intangibles" that voters count, all shifted in favor of Holliday last night.  To be honest, although I wanted Prince to win, I think you can make a solid argument for Holliday.

On the other hand, I have no doubt that Ryan Braun was the rookie of the year in the National League.  He set the all-time record for rookie slugging percentage.  Although he end up 10 PAs short of qualifying for rate stats, if you added 10 hitless ABs to his total, he would still hold the rooking slugging record.  Tulowitzki had been closing the gap over the past couple of weeks.  I think last night's 4-hit game, along with Braun's defensive struggles, get Tulowitzki the award.

Oh well, if we get out and vote, maybe Jeff Suppan will grab the Clemente award.