Three transfers and a commit

Dickson, Newalu and Vawter-Scoggins move up from juco; Richter goes DI

Zach Vawter-Scoggins is headed to Valdosta
State for the 2011 NCAA season

 Fall semester is in full swing and the boys of college ball are already into full-on team practice and gearing up for fall scrimmages. As we try to catch up with who went where in the summertime college-ball shuffle, we've uncovered three more ABL players who will be transferring from junior college up to four-year ball, and one former prep star who will be moving into the college game.

2010 third-bagger and Glacier Pilots masher O'Koyea Dickson will be moving up from the College of San Mateo, will be a Seawolf in 2011. No, Alaska Anchorage isn't adding a baseball program; Dickson has transferred to Sonoma State of the Division II CCAA conference. Sonoma State is one of the more noteworthy DII baseball programs in the country, turning out three mid-draft picks and an indy-ball signee in 2010. Dickson was a mid-summer pickup for the Pilots in 2010 and brought a sweet power swing (scouting video) to the Anchorage club.

Another 3B, Blake Newalu of the 2008 Mat-Su Miners, is on the move. Newalu will be leaving Chipola CC behind for the University of Mississippi. "Ole Miss", of course, plays in the Division-I Southeastern Conference (SEC) and gave rise to first-round, #5 overall pick in the 2010 MLB amateur draft, Drew Pomeranz. The Rebels have also been awarded eight consecutive NCAA regional seeds, so Newalu will be in good company talent-wise and have a good opportunity to continue making a name for himself.

Scouting Video: O'Koyea Dickson

3B O'Koyea Dickson
2010 Anchorage Glacier Pilots
Height: 5'10" - Weight: 220lb
Bats: Right - Throws: Right
2010 Level: JuCo Sophomore
2010 School: College of San Mateo
2011 Transfer: Sonoma State
Draft Eligibility: 2011 (DII Junior)
Previous Draft: N/A
2010 Player Profile
Posts regarding O'Koyea Dickson

2010 Player Profile: O'Koyea Dickson

#31 O'Koyea Dickson
3B - 2010 Anchorage Glacier Pilots
Bats: R - Throws: R
Height: 5'10" - Weight: 220lb
School: College of San Mateo
Year: Sophomore
Hometown: San Francisco, California
All posts regarding O'Koyea Dickson

O'Koyea Dickson, the big, strong California masher out of the Bay Area, joined the Glacier Pilots half way through their 2010 campaign after a very successful year with the College of San Mateo. CSM has a reputable young community college baseball program which is quite adept at developing players for university and professional baseball, and I have no doubt that Dickson will soon join those ranks.  On the college season this past year, Dickson posted a -- no typo -- 1.155 (.455 + .700) OPS, .369 batting average, belted ten homers and drove in drove in 42 RBI's in 34 games (33 starts).

As a juco sophomore, Dickson has flown under the radar a little bit the last couple years as far as national media attention goes, but he should have no trouble transferring to a four-year school. He was also one of the most prolific players in the state in high school, leading California in a plethora of statistical categories, even cumulative ones, despite missing time for injury.

Reflections: Saturday at the 2010 Scout's Showcase

I just got back from the ballpark in Anchorage, where I spent the entire day watching baseball. It was the single greatest baseball experience of my life. I got tons of photos and videos, which I will share with you all eventually, but first I want to go ahead and type out some of the notes I've got. I don't have that much; by this point in the season it seems like I've seen most of the batters, anyway, so I don't have a lot of notes and the ones I do are mainly concerned with pitchers.

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: 

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.