Reflections: Bucs @ Miners, 7/1/2010

The Bucs' Eddie Rohan has a strong upper body
and a compact, crouched batting stance.

After a long break from the park, I finally got down to Hermon Brothers to see the Bucs take on the Miners tonight. I didn't get any photos; my main focus tonight was to flesh out some of my scouting reports, which I accomplished, and to keep my assistant/four-year-old from throwing rocks on the field or knocking her head on the ground, which I had more mixed success with. In any event, I feel like I got a good look at some guys I hadn't seen before, and some more bits to flesh out the reports on some that I have.

First, a preliminary note. Miner Quinn Pippin was a late scratch from this game; word is that he rolled his ankle in batting practice and took the game off as a precaution. Apparently it's not a big deal, though, and he should be good to go tomorrow (thanks to Troy for the tip).

Now, on to the players. Casey Hauptman took the hill for the Bucs. He's one of the more well-known players on the club, the big right-hander out of Nebraska. He came into the first inning and established himself immediately. It looked like he was throwing a good, hard fastball mixed in with a change and a curveball with late break. (Edit: I should also note that he displayed good defensive reaction, knocking down a comebacker with his bare hand, although in hindsight that might not have been the smartest thing to do.) He seemed like he cruised through the first four innings, but in the fifth inning things changed for him. It looked like he was out of gas and I could see a noticeable drop in velocity. I don't have access to a radar gun, or box seats to sit behind the people who do, so I have no empirical evidence to support this, but it just didn't look like he had a good crisp fastball after the fourth and that he was relying more on his other pitches to get outs. Still, he went strong through three more innings, pitching 7.0 and giving up 3 R (2 ER).

Reflections: Oilers @ Bucs 6/9/2010

Naturally, I was very excited when the Oilers came up to Anchor-Town to take on the Bucs for the first league game of the season. It's the official opening day, who wouldn't be excited? But when they announced the starting pitchers -- Casey Hauptman for the Bucs and Cody Kendall for the Oilers -- I was super stoked. I knew it was going to be a pitching duel, and I love a good pitching duel. I turned out to be right with a final score of 2-1, in a game that was scoreless until the fifth. The only bummer part for me is that I'm still in Oregon, so I had to catch the audio, and as I give you my reactions keep that in mind and I'll try not to over-imagine what happened.

Hauptman is the ace of the Nebraska staff and one of its best prospects. And man was he dialed in tonight. Right from the get-go, he seemed like he was on top of his game. He mixed his pitches well and used his curve and change-up effectively for strikeout pitches. Though he plunked one guy, it seems like overall he was hitting his spots and showing really good control. His line for the evening: 5.0 IP 1ER 3H 5K 0BB 1HB. Besides the hit batter, there's nothing wrong with that.


Cody Kendall looked pretty good as well; he didn't seem like he was locked in as much as Hauptman, especially during the first inning; he was missing the zone a lot, especially with his breaking ball. But when it counted, he managed to induce the outs and get himself out of a jam. He also showed a nice pick-off move to second to nab Sean Sullivan. Kendall left the game after four even frames, but surrendered only one hit and two walks. A very effective performance.