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=== Core Exercises, Dept. ===
The M's being obsessed with core strength and whatnot, you'd think they'd be giddy over stumbling into baseball's Ultimate Core Specimen with Stephen Pryor. Oh, wait. Maybe Jay-Z and Tommie Mac drafted Pyror BECAUSE he's got the core power of a Van Helsing monster?
Pryor is not fat, but his waist and abdomen are almost freakishly wide. Would be nice to hear Gordon or Dr. Grumpy or somebody explain what is occurring when a male is wider than he is tall. Is this an over-development of obliques, or is it a wide pelvis, or are all the organs proportionately larger, or what happens when a person has a shape like Pryor's?
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=== Horsepower, Dept. ===
Pryor looks scary, as much as he throws scary. Pryor was visibly hyperventilating when Wedge threw him into the fire on June 2, but after one pitch it was (we kid you not) the Chicago White Sox who were frightened. A single invisible 100-MPH from this Van Helsing monster, and Paul Konerko had his eyebrows up, blinking fast, mouth open, jittery hands, every aspect of his expression radiating genuine alarm.
That was the way with each White Sox hitter following. Even Viciedo, early in the at-bat, radiated panic. Pryor did him a favor and dialed it down to 88 MPH, but the effect was palpable.
This is going to sound funny, but even around the locker room it will take some doing for Pryor to truly fit in. You're in a closed space with somebody like that, you've got to figure out a comfort zone. That dude is seriously unnerving.