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.

Random player notes from the past few days

The Goldpanners' DJ Crumlich, out of UC
Irvine, made some heads-up team plays.

I'm taking a little bit of time away from the ballpark, what with the Anchorage area being nearly deserted all weekend and for the next couple days, but I've been listening to the audio feeds and watching me some PannerVision when I can. Most of it has come in bits and pieces, though, so I haven't really had enough good stuff to put together a whole reflections post on an entire game. So instead of struggling through that, here's some quick notes about what I've managed to catch from the games, Saturday through Monday...

DJ Crumlich looked pretty good for the Goldpanners. He displayed some good heads-up base running early on, faking the steal home to distract the pitcher while Sikorski swiped second. He also made a pretty solid leaping catch. Tack on a hit and a run and he had himself a pretty good game.

I think Liam Baron (Panners) is a pretty cool cat. In fact, I think I've called him that before. Something about his demeanor says "cool cat" to me, I guess. Anyway, he's got a unique style, throwing lots of curveballs. My first thought was, "how many curves is this guy going to throw?" But there's some subtle differences in his, though, as he throws variations of his breaking ball from different arm slots to keep the batter off guard, mixing fastballs in for good measure. Three strikeouts on 2.1 IP and no earned runs on the evening to pick up the win last night. Whatever he's doing, he's doing it pretty well. I'm curious as to whether that's a strategy that a player can take very far into the pro ranks, but until someone proves him wrong, what the heck.

We already learned about Eddie Orozco (Oilers) and his no-hitter, but getting down to some of the nuts and bolts, he's pretty effective with mixing his pitches. He's got a good feel for his curveball and last night he was using it effectively, combined with his fastball, to get ahead in the count. It seemed like his strategy was to get way ahead of the hitter and then try and get him to chase junk, and it worked pretty well, obviously.

2010 Players to Watch: Anchorage Glacier Pilots

The Anchorage Glacer Pilots' roster has been out for a couple weeks now, and I've been chomping at the bit to dig into it and see who grabs my interest. With the draft looming large, we've been pumping out draft previews for each team, but I figured it's time to switch gears and stop neglecting the historic Anchorage team's squad.


The following is a list of players who I have designated "players to watch". Those eligible to be on this list are not necessarily the best players, but rather those who have a combination of talent, web buzz, good stats, or interesting background. There are also a few "peripheral vision" picks afterward, these are just a few guys who also caught my eye but, for one reason or another, I didn't have as much to say about. So here goes nothing...


RHP Chris Garrison
Oregon
Sophomore - 6'4" 180lb

There's a lot of stuff that I like about Garrison. For one, he played in the Northwoods League last season and did pretty good -- 2.03 ERA, .193 BAA -- and I always love to see guys from other summer leagues come up and see how they stack up. Second, he apparently sat out all of 2010, which introduces some variables. Will he be too rusty to be effective? Or will he be well rehearsed and ready to get back on the hill? Third, he was a draft pick of the Baltimore Orioles in 2008, so someone has already felt that he's had pro potential. There are lots of questions and lots of upside with this kid, so it'll be fun to see how he handles the great white north.