Welcome to Professional Baseball . . .
Stephen Pryor
Having just acquired two more in the Lee trade (6-7, 250 Beavan and 6-5, 220 Lueke), it is safe to say that the Z regime likes their big, tall pitchers.
In the draft, the first pick was 6-4, 195 streetballer Taijuan Walker (more on him below); then in the 3rd round 6-4 Ryne Stanek (though a skinny 180); then 6-3, 210 James Paxton.
In the fifth round came 6-6, 225 Stephen Pryor, who signed on the dotted line in a hurry and went directly to Everett.
Pryor finished his college career at Tennessee Tech in the Ohio Valley, which is decidedly not the SEC, but despite a couple of wobbly outings he finished with the ridiculous total of 75 K in 41.0 IP.
So far, professional baseball has been a joy ride for the 95-mph fireballer, who is a reliever all the way:
6 G, 11.0 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 HR, 6 BB, 15 K, 0.82 ERA.
Walks were kind of high in college, too, but he also kept H and HR down as he's been doing in Everett.
Anyway, it's the kind of flashy Everett launch that we saw from Dennis Raben two years ago, so he'll be fun to watch.
Taijuan himself
We all want to know: can he leave hitters in his wake the way he did to the Fighting Scots (as seen here: http://www.maxpreps.com/photo/gallery.aspx?athleteid=ac4548f8-7b19-491b-885a-e97f0e5485de&imageid=818697aa-200a-4968-a5be-ab221ee17331&ssid=61c3c85c-e2fb-45d7-841a-0573891bad91#imageid=818697aa-200a-4968-a5be-ab221ee17331) I feel like one of the Fighting Scots on most days :)
So far, so good. Walker made his pro debut on July 10 in rookie ball, pitching the 5th and 6th frames against the AZL Royals:
2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
Can't argue with that.
Seon Gi Kim
I know absolutely nothing about this guy, except that he's 18 years old and from South Korea.
All he's done in 5 appearances in rookie ball is strike out 29 in 25.1 IP and walk only 3. Oh, sure, he's given up 36 H and 18 ER, but it's the peripherals that count, right? 0.7 HR/9, 1.1 BB/9, 10.3 K/9.
It's a start, anyway.
Ji-Man Choi
Finally, another Korean. 19-yr-old catcher and 1b is almost certainly just on an amazing lucky streak, but it's a good way to start your pro career.
47 AB, 24 H, 4 xbh (all dbls), 5 BB, 7 K -- .511/.556/.596
Everything is falling in for this kid, who has played 8 games at first and 6 at catcher. Won't continue, but a promising start.