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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmPD9IM0arc
Heavy on chain link fence, but you take what you can get.
Quick spotlight: LOOGY-in-training
Haven't had time for full-bore minors reports, but trying to pop in with things that I find interesting or fun.
First one: Brian Moran.
How far can a guy get with nothing but a funky left-handed delivery and a located high-80s fastball?
Guess we'll find out. If nothing else, Brian Moran LOOKS like he should be the LOOGY.
Here's what we know. Skinny 6-3, 185 dude got his UNC invite as a favor to his uncle B.J. Surhoff (hey, it worked for Mike Piazza), but parlayed that into tiny ERAs, College World Series appearances with Ackley, Seager & co., and an 88:8 K:BB ratio on 65 IP. Despite apparent "lack of quality off-speed pitch," the Ms bit and took him in the 7th round.
Scouting report here (scroll down to #203): http://www.pgcrosschecker.com/Articles/DisplayArticle.aspx?article=1580
First stop post draft: Pulaski rookie ball where they had no chance -- 6 G, 9.2 IP, 14 K, 2 BB
Promotion to Clinton in 09 -- 12 G, 18.2 IP, 17 K, 7 BB
Now he's off and running in 2010 -- 2 G, 5.0 IP, 8 K, 0 BB
Yet to give up a professional home run.
Here's the fun thing: he's faced 7 LH hitters so far this year -- 5 Ks and 2 non-K outs.
Who knows where he ends up as he climbs the ladder, but we don't have a "death-to-lefties" guy in the pen right now, so he's one to watch.
Comments
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Checked out some of his prior splits:
Junior year at UNC vs. LH -- 95 AB, 44 K, 2 BB (that's in the ACC -- striking out half the lefties he faced and only walking 2)
Last year (combined rookie & low-A) vs. LH -- 30 PA, 14 K, 2 BB, 0 XBH and, according to minorleaguesplits.com, 0.0 LD%
Back to real work now.
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Love Moran.
He's a very interesting Sherrill-like pitcher. My favorite thing about scouting profiles is stuff like "lack of a quality off-speed pitch further compromises his prospect status. Still, a statistics-based organization may look at Moran's gaudy numbers and overdraft him in a round not befitting his inferior stuff"
It just makes me laugh. A guy strikes out 12.6 batters per 9 over 2 full seasons with ridiculous control (meaning it's ALWAYS in the zone, guys just can't hit it), makes top prospects look stupid, and the hangup is that he's doing it all with basically one pitch? In college, where guys swing bunt for basehits with those stupid metal bats? That's not "inferior stuff." That's one hellacious pitch looking for a mate to take to the major leagues.
Guys pick up new pitches all the time. JJ Putz picked up a forkball in 48 hours from Eddie.
You don't want to bet that a guy with 4 mediocre-minus pitches will suddenly figure it out, but the strange moonball look of Moran's fastball makes it a plus weapon. Guys are swinging through that all over the place. In that sense, it's a lot like Sherrill's short-armed, where-did-that-come-from deception.
Now, having great control and striking out a lot of kids doesn't mean instant success. There was a kid that I liked as a starter a few years ago named Wes Roemer. You wanna see a starting pitcher with control, that was the kid. 145K/7BB as a sophomore. He's been good but not stellar in the minors, and his walks have gone up. They kinda HAVE to go up when you face better hitters all the time.
But there's a place for that sort of prospect. I'm looking forward to moving Brian Moran up the minors pretty rapidly. He should be at High Desert before too long, and that's gonna be tough for him. I think he'll pass the test just fine.
He may only have one pitch right now, but Rafael Soriano has done pretty well with 73% fastballs and 21% sliders. He only throws 2 pitches, basically, and 3 out of 4 of em are fastballs. Guys know what he's throwing. They just can't hit it.
Find Moran a serviceable breaker and watch out, because his fastball is already a handful - 88 mph or not.
~G
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Yours and Gordon's thoughts here are great.
...............
Have to grudgingly admit that, based just on the vid, I sympathize with the scouts here.... funky little cut-type fastball seems to have a unique trajectory to it. He steps about 12 inches across the centerline, comes around the corner, gets a hard-slider trajectory and inexperienced hitters just don't seem to pick up the ball.
Would also wonder how he's supposed to use that to get high-minors hitters out.
But, hey: he has been doing nothing but wiping out one league after another. Just 'cause I don't understand how, doesn't mean he hasn't been doing it :- )
Great read.
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Not measuring him for his Cooperstown plaque, just adding him to my "fun to follow" list. Actually, just the goofy grin and the funky gangly body language would do that, but G_Money's hearty endorsement ratchets him several levels upward to real prospect possibility.
I'm just an amateur, of course, but even I can see that his stuff won't scare the best righties. But lefties, so far, are just helpless against that pitch. They take it and it's called a strike, they swing and miss, or they make contact and get ZERO homers, ZERO extra base hits and ZERO line drives. It seems to come in both faster than they expect and in a different spot than they expect. It'll be interesting to see how far it will take him or if he can add an offspeed dimension.
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Keep it comin' Spec. When we see your byline in the morning, we know we're in for a fun read.