Fastest Guns in the ABL

Six of the quickest catchers of the 2010 ABL at a glance

As someone who's just kind of dabbling into the scouting world, one thing I really liked to take to the park with me this season was the stopwatch. A lot of other scouting info can only be gained only through experience and judgment, and while I think my talents in those areas are developing, there's nothing like empirical evidence. And one area in which I managed to gather data was catchers' moves from home to second base.

This can be accurately defined as a "glove to glove" time; that is, from the time the pitch hits the catcher's mitt until the ball hits the glove of whoever is covering the bag. Therefor it includes not only the strength of the catcher's arm but the quickness of his hands.

Below I've included all the catchers who've shown what I consider to be above average moves to second in 2010. And since we're prospecting here, I'm going to by MLB standards. Obviously this is significantly higher than college standards, so the handful of guys listed below are exceptional in this category. Sometimes a catcher will also make a "lazy" throw down to second, or maybe they juggle the ball a bit, so I've thrown out any obvious statistical outliers and averaged what was left.

But first, I'd like to make a few caveats. First off, these are all based on a small sample size so there may be a significant margin of error. Second, just because a guy didn't make this list below doesn't necessarily mean that his arm sucks. There could be plenty of other reasons why so-and-so didn't make the cut, up to and including the fact that I never got a time for some catchers in the league. so with that out of the way, here's the data:

2010 Player Profile: Jimmie Pharr

 #4 Jimmie Pharr
C/LF - Anchorage Glacier Pilots
Bats: Right - Throws: Right
Height: 5'11" - Weight: 185lb
School: Texas Christian
Year: Senior
Hometown: Flower Mound, Texas
All posts regarding Jimmie Pharr

Pharr was a late arrival to Alaska for the Pilots, since he was tied up with his TCU squad in a little thing called the College World Series. The Horned Frogs came within a breath of the championship game, dropping their final match-up before the championship round to UCLA.

Upon arrival with the Pilots, Pharr helped solidify some fielding positions that had kind of been in limbo up until that point. He provided a much-needed backup to Trent Garrison behind the plate and got regular playing time as a starter in left field. He also brought his bat. He didn't hit for a high average, but he did tie with O'Koyea Dickson for a team-best three homers.

Reflections/Photo Post: Miners @ Pilots, 7/6/2010

Gene Escat: The Smaller Unit

Hello again, friends. I promised some scouting notes on last night's Miners at Pilots match-up, and here they are. I also said that I wouldn't take many photos...well, I took a few. I'm running a little behind though, so I'm going to forego the typical introduction and cut straight to the notes.

- Gene Escat (Pilots) reminds me of Randy Johnson in so many ways. It was like hopping into a time machine and going way way back. He doesn't throw sidearm like The Big Unit but geez. Tall, skinny, a little bit of a wild man (from his control to the mop of hair sticking out the back of his hat), all wrapped up in the same Glacier Pilots uniform. He's listed as 6'3" 175lb; but he looks taller than that, probably due to his lankiness. Maybe we should call him the Smaller Unit? Anyway, Escat threw a lot of pitches and looked like he had trouble finding the zone, and the Miners hammered him early on. After a bad first inning, though, he looked like he settled down a bit and looked pretty decent in innings 2-4. By that point, though, he was just out of gas and had to get the hook.

- Pablo Bermudez (Miners) showed us some of that power when he took Escat yard. There are several things that I noted watching Pablo. First of all, he drove that homer to the opposite field and sent it sailing over the right field wall. It's great to see a guy hit a ball the other way with authority. Second, he got way ahead in the count and jumped on a good pitch. Last year he played in the Valley League and his strikeout rate was atrocious. I don't remember what it was, and I don't care to look it up, because I would hardly believe it if I did. His rate in Alaska this season is far better; still not fabulous or anything but within an acceptable range. In any event, it seems like he may be working on his plate discipline and in this case it paid off. Third, I observed his stance and compared to the other guys around the league these days, and he's got some different swing mechanics. Other players (Matt Ozanne is a good example) take a batting stance with their legs spread wide, and when they load up they barely go up on their front toe before shifting forward. Bermudez starts with a narrow-legged stance and takes a big stride forward. There are various reasons why players would choose not to take this stance (it can jolt the batter's eyes off the pitch for one) but he makes it work for him and it seems intuitive that it might generate more power.