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).