'Tron Thoughts from Hickory-Greenville 4/15 and 4/16.

Let me go ahead and apologize for the length of this post.

I've got two games worth of scouting reports and thoughts, and rather than try to condense it down to make it more readable, I just threw everything in here and figured you could do with it what you want. It won't hurt my feelings one bit if you wanted to skip around and read only what interests you.

Hope you enjoy!

Wilfredo Boscan: (6ip, 0er, 2h, 2bb, 4k)
The big righty started the game on Wednesday and was mighty impressive. He's got a nice compact delivery with a little bit of a twist in it and he kind of uncoils at the end and send the ball exploding toward the plate. Normally I'd worry about a guy's control with an uncoil move like that, but his stats paint him as a good control pitcher, and he showed great control on Wednesday.

He sat at 89-91 with his fastball all game long and showed the ability to throw his off speed stuff for strikes, always a good sign in a kid this young. He was never really dominant, but he was always in control. He went right after guys and never nibbled.

Honestly there’s not that much to write about his performance, and I mean that in a good way. He kind of lulled me to sleep with his consistency. He gobbled up those innings really fast and was never in any real danger all night long.

I think his ceiling is more as a #2/3 rather than a true ace, but he’s got an advanced feel for pitching and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him move fast.

Jake Brigham: (4ip, 1er, 3h, 1bb, 5k)
Big, strong kid. Not very tall, but thick. Good pitchers body. Reminds me a lot of Scott Baker of the Twins. Worked in the 90-91 range all night and didn't seem to tire as the game went along, which is important to note given that he's still working back from TJ surgery. He worked quickly and efficiently and overpowered several guys on his way to 5k's and only 1 bb in 4 innings. Nobody hit him too hard, and he went right after guys. He seemed in complete control the entire game.

I can definitely see why some people are so high on this kid. If he's not on your watch list already, put him on it. He might not have true "ace" ceiling, but he's got #2/3 ceiling and he's much more advanced than you'd expect for guy with as little pro experience as he has.

The one problem if you feel like picking nits, is his delivery. It looks a little painful, imo. He throws across his body. If you had taken me to the game not knowing anything about the players, then told me one of the pitchers I'd see tonight had already had major arm surgery since turning pro and asked me which one it was, I would have cursed at you, cause I would have said without hesitation, "Jake Fucking Brigham". I'd love to see what someone actually knowledgeable about these kind of things has to say about his delivery.
**Paging Trip "McNeely" Somers**

Martin Perez: (4ip, 3er, 4h, 2bb, 6k)
What a treat! I didn't know they were back to the tandem starter thing they said they were gonna do with Martin this year (but then apparently abandoned in the first week), so I was very pleasantly surprised to see him come in Thursday night in relief of Jake Brigham.

Martin's a little guy (6', maybe 170 sopping wet) and he looks every bit like a kid who just turned 18 a little under two weeks ago. He's got nice clean mechanics and kind of explodes into his release at the end. It's beautiful. There's effort in his delivery, but no violence, if that makes any sense.

He worked pretty consistently at an explosive 92 with his 4-seamers all night and touched 93. He featured a big hook in the low 70's that he buried in the dirt for quite a few of his K's. Some of the guys did seem to be getting a good read on his fastball and it got hit hard a couple of times. No one touched his off speed stuff.

Unfortunately in one inning he just completely seemed to lose the ability to throw his fastball for strikes. He threw (I think) 10 straight balls. The only pitch he could get over for that stretch was his off speed stuff, and when he finally did get anywhere close to the zone with his fastball, people were sitting on it and he got hit hard.

But then something happened. Martin. Got. Mad. He finally found the plate by subtracting a little off his fastball and throwing it at 88-89 for a few pitches, but then he got back in his groove and started dialing it back up to 92 and burying that curve and the Sox hitters didn't stand a chance. You could see on his face that he was pissed, and he took it out on their hitters. As he came back in I could hear the guys in the dugout yelling things at him like, "Way to get nasty, Martin, kid!" and various meathead-y cliches like that. It was fun to watch.

It's also worth noting that he was terrible at holding runners on, to the point where the pitching coach had to come out and talk to him about it. At least that's what I'm assuming happened, cause after two uncontested steals in two attempts the coach came out and Martin proceeded to make about 5 throws over to first during the subsequent AB. Unfortunately maybe he was paying too much attention to the batter at that point since the dude at the plate then tripled.

But, you know what? I can forgive the lapses in a kid this young and talented. Martin's a long ways off, but he was without a doubt the best prospect of all the pitchers I saw this week, and that includes Boscan, Brigham and Boston's very good looking supplemental first rounder from '08 out of Rice University, Bryan Price.

Kid's gonna be special.

Matt West:
Didn't play on Wed, but looked much better on Thursday. Hit a long no-doubter home run to LCF, and hit a couple of other balls well, too. He's got some promise in that short, compact swing of his.

More important though is that he actually looked passable in the field. Only had a few plays tonight, and they were routine, but he made them and didn't look horrible doing it. After Tuesday night's Roger Dorn routine, that was a welcome development.

David "The Latin Wind" Paisano:
Remember the Simpsons episode where Lisa and Marge go to see the movie, Tango de la Muerte? (From the famous “Tappa-Tappa-Tappa” episode.) I picture Paisano as the protagonist from that movie. He just kind of glides under the ball in CF and then I imagine him turning to the ball and saying, “You are now carrying my child.”
Ball: “But how!?”
Paisano: “It is the mystery of my super plussy-plus center field defense.”

Looked much better at the plate on Wednesday and Thursday, which was great to see. His elaborate set up at the plate still needs work, but at least it looked like maybe there could be some hope.

And, yes, “the Latin Wind” is his new nickname. After watching him play, it just is.

Leonel de los Santos:
Little, tiny dude. I’ll give him 5’8” 170, and that might be generous on the weight. Not your prototypical catcher at all, obviously. But he’s an absolutely fantastic athlete. He’s wiry-strong and very quick. He’s a little bit bow-legged. Looks like a college wrestler in terms of build. He handled the defensive duties wonderfully, showing off great lateral movement on pitches in the dirt, and showcasing a rocket arm behind the plate. The ball sometimes seemed like it went out faster than it came in. Very fun to watch. He’s the total package behind the plate.

Unfortunately I only got see him play one game as they’re obviously trying to keep him well rested. (He played in the AZL last year, skipping Spokane completely.)

At the plate he had a really great game. He squared up on a fastball and hit a line drive up the middle that was probably the hardest hit ball I saw all series. An absolute rope. And then later on he got into one and hit it over the mini-monster 20-foot fence in LF for a home run. Basically, I couldn’t have been more impressed by his one game of action. He won’t turn 20 until after the season, so (Yay!) he’s yet another catcher to watch.

Eric Fry:
At the plate he’s a fun guy to watch. He’s got some sock in his bat (triple and a homer this series) and has a patient approach at the plate. He hustles down the line on everything and can turn on the wheels a bit when he wants to.

Unfortunately after DH’ing the first two nights he played LF on Thursday, and, ummm… Yah. The bat is gonna have to carry this kid, which is a shame. He’s not slow, but he takes interesting routes on balls and his arm is fringy at best even for LF, though he showed good accuracy with it. He kind of side arm shot puts the ball when he throws it. It’s kind of awkward to watch. He’s really gonna have to work on his defense, cause, though his bat makes him interesting, I don’t know that it’ll be enough to carry him to the bigs if he can’t be at least above-average in a corner. 

Mike Bianucci:
(By request for Tricer.)
Strong, short-limbed dude who reminded a little of Brian Giles a little bit in terms of his build. Thick dude. I wouldn’t want to mess with him. Looks like an extra on Oz.

Was an adventure in the field. Had to make a last second “Oh Shit!” stab on a flyball he’d misjudged (though, to be fair, the wind was blowing really, really hard at that point), and then later he made a bad mistake throwing all the way to third on the fly trying to get a guy advancing from 1st to 3rd on a single… allowing the batter to take second o the throw. It was a strong throw, but he was obviously mad at himself for making such a dumb mistake as he took his glove off and slammed it against his leg in obvious disgust.

Squared a couple of balls up pretty nicely at the plate, though. And he made a hard-nosed play barreling over the catcher on a close play at the plate late in the game. Knocked the guy clean on his ass, though he held on to the ball and the Nooch was out.

Wilmer Font, Fabio Castillo and Wee Joe Ortiz:
Unfortunately I attended these games with family members and the first game I went to 15 innings and I missed Joe Ortiz’s late appearance after my Dad’s back told him he’d had enough of those unforgiving minor league seats, and then I missed both Font and Castillo on Wednesday after my Mom and Sister decided it was too cold on to stay past the 7th.  Apparently women don’t accept “But we might miss seeing Wilmer Font!” as an acceptable reason to continue to shiver their asses off at a minor league baseball game. Women suck.

I’m still pissed I missed Font. I’m like Miles angry. I was too pissed to do a write up last night. I mean… it’s Wilmer f’ing Font. F me. F me in the a. F me in the a with a baseball b. F me in the a with a baseball b until I c out in p.

Random Bits:
* 18 year-old Red Sox prospect Micheal Almanzar could play plus 3b defense in the pros right now. He's that smooth and effortless in the field.
* 18 year-old Red Sox prospect Micheal Almanzar can barely hit his weight in low-A right now. He's that raw at the plate.
* Somebody needs to get Martin Perez and Wilmer Font matching BFF pendants. They never go anywhere without each other during warmups. It's cute.
* Wee Joe Ortiz. Oh. My. God. He's so small. I went in fully prepared to see a short little dude, but I was still blown away by how short he is.5'3"? 5'2", maybe? He's freaking tiny.
* Jason Ogata is solid. He always seems to see a ton of pitches up there. Love his approach. Don't know if he has the tools to be anything other than strictly org fodder, though.
* Jared Bolden is fast.
* I have now officially written way too much. Sorry.