One cool thing I do have is velocities. I sat behind the scouts and had the luxury of having 20 radar guns pop up in front of my face every pitch, so I can finally post actual pitch speeds rather than just guesses as to whether a guy has "good" velocity or not. Some of my previous predictions were wrong, so that will be interesting. For what it's worth, these are all Stalker type guns.
I think I'll just post them all together into this one post, but break them up into the separate games. So here we go with game #1:
Game 1: Fire at Miners, noon
The story of this game, and probably the whole day, was Scott Sitz (Miners/Florida State) throwing a no-hitter. The ABL is definitely a pitcher's league, and there have already been a couple no-nos this year, but it's still impressive to actually be there and see one with your own eyes. I remember thinking in the ninth inning, "why is this dude still in?" and then looking at the scoreboard and seeing a whole mess of zeroes. What's more is that in nine innings, Stiz only walked one. He was one walk away from a perfect game. Anyway, Sitz had pretty good MLB-grade velocity, flirting with 90 mph and consistently hitting 89. His off-speed pitches were hitting about 73, good enough for a 16-mph spread.
A few of the Fire's position players impressed me. Kellen Bozeman showed good power at the plate, driving the ball hard. I thought he also showed great reaction time and quick hands at first base, spearing a drive that was nailed right at his noggin. Back to the pitching, I caught some video of the Fire's Matt Addis on the mound; and I thought he looked pretty good. His fastball warmed up to a solid 88 mph, his change-up was running about 75 or 76, and he had a sharp-looking curveball in the low-80's neighborhood. Addis was hitting the strike zone with all of his pitches and wasn't afraid to use them for the strike-out.
Game 2: Oilers at Bucs, 3:30
Once again, the name of this game was pitching. The Oilers brought some great pitchers to the match, starting with right-hander Kellen Moen out of the University of Oregon. Moen looked a lot like Sitz did earlier: bringing an 88-90 mph fastball and off-speed stuff that ran about 76-78. The guy seemed like he grabbed the attention of many of the scouts in attendance, and did I mention that he's an "Alaska grown" guy out of Juneau?
Mike Wolford, the Oiler out of UC Riverside, got in the game and looked pretty good to me. He brought a fastball that ran up to about 88, and settled in around 86-87 mph. He also worked with a change-up that was one of the best I've seen; he only dropped about ten miles off of it but the delivery and motion looked exactly like his fastball (that's a good thing). It also looked like he had a curve in there, running around 81 or so. He's a lanky guy so he might pick up a little more speed on his fastball, but it would be good to see him work on that curve some more since he's probably not going to make a career as a fastball pitcher with a fastball that is kind of average (by MLB standards). But I really liked the looks of what he was bringing overall.
The fastest pitcher of the day was the Oilers' Josh Corrales, the dirtbag of Long Beach State. He came in to close out the game for the Peninsula crew and preserve the shut-out. He was hitting 91 on the gun and dropping back to 83 with his change and throwing a breaking ball in the high-80's. But the pitchers weren't the only ones throwing hard for the team. I clocked their catcher Kyle Leon throwing to second in 1.91 seconds. Someone from the dugout mentioned that they had clocked him at 1.8. Believe whichever one you want, because anything under 2 seconds is fast.
On to the Bucs side of the game. I'm not sure I really get Casey Hauptman of Nebraska but I'll offer the info I have. It seems like he can run the heater up there to about 87 mph but he uses his other pitches more frequently, pitching all the way down from around 74 and settling in the neighborhood of 73. Unfortunately I don't have much to say about their other pitchers. Ty Griffith and Justin Hopper weren't in for long, and for some reason I didn't get any data on Bob Mott, although I have video on all of them so that's coming. I will say that I am glad that I finally got to see Brett Atwood out in center field; he looked really good out there, but unfortunately I didn't get a good angle on left-handed batters either. I feel like the Bucs are kind of getting the short end of the stick here but I didn't come away with much new info on them.
So hey, if I can't tell you something new about the Bucs, why not beat a dead horse? Since this is the last time I'll see him, most likely, I should inform you one last time that Zach Vincej of Pepperdine is a freaking manimal on defense (that's a man and an animal all rolled into one: a manimal). Every single time I see him he makes at least one outstanding defensive play, and at least one more insanely awesome attempt. He pulls off plays that your average shortstop wouldn't even go for.
OK, one more thing on the Bucs: I kind of liked Coley Crank (Michigan) in left field. He looks like he got hung up on one play but he also made one really good sliding catch, so I think he comes out ahead on that one. I've always felt that his throw from behind the plate is not a plus. Not bad, mind you, but not outstanding either. But he's in the lineup because he's a big stout guy who can hit the snot out of the ball. I know he's played in the outfield for Michigan, though, so it's good to see that he has some versatility.
Game 3: Goldpanners at Glacier Pilots, 7:00
Tom Harlan, the southpaw out of Fresno State, got the start on the bump for the Pilots. He was bringing a mid-80's fastball, peaking at 86 and settling in around 84-85 mph. His off-speed stuff dipped as low as 71. Gene Escat (also of Fresno State) relieved Harlan. I had stated before that his heater looked pretty fast; now that I've sat behind the Stalker gun I have to revise my position. He's got so-so velocity on his fastball, about 84 mph also, but he throws a good 70-ish change that makes his fastball look much faster than it is. Derek Speigner, the UC Riverside right-hander, came in for a relief appearance next. His pitches were all over the place, and that ultimately cost the Pilots the game. But if he can tame his pitches a little bit I think he could be a good one. He throws from a side-arm slot and has a good lively fastball that cuts in on a right-handed batter.
I have to say, I loved watching O'Koyea Dickson of the Pilots lay down a bunt. When that man walks up to the plate, you just take one look at him and say "oh yeah, swinging for the fences." It was almost comical to see him square around for the sacrifice. But all chuckles aside, that was a really great move on the part of Dickson and the Pilots coaches to show -- in front of the scouts, no less -- that the guy is more than a big brute who lumbers up to the plate to mash the ball.
Now, on the Panners side, I didn't get very much pitching data. I thought that Zach Vawter-Scoggins looked really good, but I didn't get any clock times so my apologies there. Derek Grieve from New Mexico Highlands made a relief appearance and showed some mid-80's fastballs offset by a 73, 74 mph change. Elliott Van Gaver, the southpaw from Columbia Basin junior college, was throwing mid-80's stuff, too. But he mixed that up with off-speed pitches that dropped as low as...wait for it...69 mph. He's the only one who hit the 60's on the radar gun. I don't know if that's something to brag about or what but my philosophy is that if you can't throw your fastball harder, throw your change-up slower.
One thing I want to note is that Kevin Roundtree (USC/Goldpanners) has throws that are right on the money every time. I had written that the first time I saw the Panners, but I want to say it again just to confirm my earlier observations. His throws to second base always end up exactly where they need to be.
Wrapping it all up:
I thought this was a really great opportunity and I had a blast. I woke up this morning feeling like I had been playing baseball all day rather than watching it, or maybe actually beaten with baseball bats, but spending approximately twelve hours squatting to get photos or sitting in the uncomfortable stadium seats trying to prop your knees up to use as a tripod can wear on you I guess. But I had a good opportunity to watch and learn from real scouts, take lots of photos and shoot a lot of video.
So you may be asking when you might actually see these photos and videos? The photos will be coming in the next couple days. I need to sort them out, tweak them, and upload them. I'll probably be posting one of the three games a day on various days throughout the next week or so. The videos will come later. Not only do I have a lot of footage to edit and sort out, but I'm kind of hoping that I can have several dozen videos to release periodically through the off-season so that I have something to help carry me through until next year. I may release a pitching video as a "beta" here shortly for comment, though, so stay tuned!
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