[農場]Tampa Bay Rays Top-15 Prospects of 2009, No’s 1 - 5
http://www.baseball-intellect.com/tampa-bay-rays-top-prospects/
Tampa Bay Rays Top-15 Prospects of 2009, No’s 1 - 5
1. David Price | LHP | MLB | Age - 23 | Drafted - Round 1 (1), 2007
Player Grades
Fastball - 60 Now | 60 Future
Slider - 60 | 65
Change-Up - 45 | 50
Control - 50 | 55
Command - 50 | 60
Pitchability - 55 | 60
ETA - 2009
Final Grade - A
Body Type - durable, athletic build
Stuff
Fastball - 93 - 96 with movement and keeps it down in the zone. When it does
get hit, it’s because Price leaves the pitch up. He still needs to work on
commanding the pitch.
Slider - a late, 2-plane break that brings about a lot of swings and misses.
The pitch is deadly to left-handers, while right handers will swing over top
of it.
Change-Up - lags behind his other pitches and he doesn’t throw it all that
much, but he shows a good feel for throwing it and has a solid fading action.
He’ll need it to give hitters a look at something that’s not hard.
Scouting Report
The complete package with the numbers, stuff, and mental acumen to be a top
of the line starter. He misses bats, induces ground balls, and he does it
with a lot more than just deception. Overall, it’s tough to complain about
anything in regards to Price. His K% wasn’t exceptional in Triple-A, but
that was more due to Price adjusting to a higher level of competition than
anything else. Historically, he’s missed more than enough bats. There are
instances where Price will lose the strike zone but his overall control is
solid and should improve in the future. He’ll often flash his ability to
place pitches on the corner of th e plate, where the best a hitter can do is
foul it off.
Mechanics
The below clip of Price was shot while he was a pitcher at Vanderbilt. He’s
hardly changed his mechanics since college and I think the clip displays
everything you need to know about Price. I’ll start with the best attributes
of Price mechanically–the long stride, the intent in which he throws with,
the tremendous finish, as well as the passion and fire you see once the pitch
is delivered and the desired result is fulfilled.
The stride and intent are both factors in velocity and deception. The finish
is somewhat related to intent, but also note he’s not cutting his follow
through short. He’s giving his arm a long arc to decelerate and the upper
body is achieving excellent extension and tilt forward, allowing him to
release the ball just a little closer to home plate. The ball gets on hitters
that much quicker.
Other factors to take note of: the fast tempo, how he leads with the hips,
and how lets the elbow pick up the ball. By this I mean you can draw a
straight line from elbow to ball…when the wrist hooks up, the ball is then
pick up the elbow.
Price also displays a tilting of the shoulders to maintain balance as he
leads with his hips.
Best Case Outcome - No. 1 starter
More Likely Outcome - Strong No. 2 starter–sorry, but achieving No. 1 status
is difficult. However, Price is very close to his upside as it is.
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2. Tim Beckham | SS | Princeton (Rookie) | Age - 19 | Drafted - Round 1 (1),
2008
Player Grades
Contact - 35 Now | 55 Future
Power - 30 | 50
Discipline - 35 | 50
Speed - 55 | 55
Defense - 50 | 60
Arm - 50 | 55
Instincts - 45 | 60
ETA - 2013
Final Grade - B+
I compiled a scouting report on Beckham before last year’s draft. I noted my
concerns with his swing and not too surprisingly, he struggled. His plate
discipline and patience were not as good as advertised. His tools are still
excellent and his upside remains tremendous, but he’s a very raw player with
a bevy of things to work on: his plate discipline, his patience, his swing
mechanics, and his power development. While I am concerned about last season’
s production, I wouldn’t be surprised if much of that was due to simply
adjusting to a new lifestyle as a professional player. I’m probably not as
high on him as others and I’m not expecting a huge year next season, but I
would like to see more production, especially in regards to his approach at
the plate along with some reworked mechanics. Remember, as a shortstop (and a
good defensive one at that) he doesn’t have to be all that great offensively
to be a valuable major leaguer.
Best Case Outcome - Top-5 shortstop
More Likely Outcome - Too soon to say
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3. Desmond Jennings | CF | B - R | A+ Vero Beach | Age - 22 | Drafted - Round
10, 2006
Player Grades
Contact - 45 Now | 55 Future
Power - 40 | 45
Discipline - 50 | 60
Speed - 65 | 65
Defense - 55 | 60
Arm - 50 | 50
Instincts - 55 | 60
ETA - Mid - Late 2010
Final Grade - B+
Body Type - lean, athletic, and projectable
Scouting Report
A tremendous athlete with an intriguing combination of defense, speed,
instincts, and discipline at the plate. Uses terrific hand-eye to make
consistent contact and recognize pitch types. Jennings understands the
importance of actually having a patient approach at the plate.
Problem is, Jennings has proven to be very fragile so far in his young
career. In 2007, he tore his meniscus in his knee. In spring training of
2008, Jennings battled both back and shoulder injuries and in July he had
surgery to repair that shoulder. He did return in time to play in the AFL,
but he’s losing precious time to get at bats and develop as a player.
The power has come along slowly for Jennings and is probably his biggest
question mark as a prospect. He’s had ISO-powers in the .150’s in each of
the past two seasons, but last year’s was pretty meaningless given the
sample size. It was .113 in 2006. The biggest difference between the two
seasons was his improved ability to apply some lift to the ball at contact.
Jennings has the tools to hit for more power and the body to add more muscle
to his frame, but I’m not sure he has the swing type or approach to do so on
much more than an average basis.
Jennings has both a small stride and a very small load–it’s just a slight
movement of the hands. His wrists are both quick and strong, which helps him
generate a good combination of bat speed and quickness. I’ve made note of
players moving their elbow behind their back as they load up, but you don’t
see much of that with Jennings. The swing below shows Jennings adjusting to
an off-speed pitch, which he fouls off.
His hands are quick enough to generate sufficient power to the pull side, but
Jennings is a player that takes what you give him. Pitch him away and he’ll
serve it into the gap between center and right. Pitch him up the middle and he
’ll take the pitch into center field. This approach will allow Jennings to
hit for high averages all over the field, but it limits his power output in
center to right field.
Best Case Outcome - High average and OBP player that makes consistent contact
to go along with better than expected power and excellent defense in center
field…a top-7 player at his position
More Likely Outcome - All of the above, but with just average power for a
center fielder…a top-10 player at his position. Of course, he has to prove
he can remain healthy over the course of a full year. If he moves to left
field because of B.J. Upton, he does lose value as he’ll be closer to
average with the bat at the position though he’ll make up for a lot of that
with his defense. He’s more of a B prospect as a left fielder.
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4. Wade Davis | RHP | Triple-A Durham | Age - 23 | Drafted - Round 3, 2004
Player Grades
2-Seam - 50 Now | 50 Future
4-Seam - 55 | 60
Curveball - 55 | 60
Cutter - 40 | 45
Change-Up - 35 | 40
Control - 45 | 50
Command - 45 | 50
Pitchability - 55 | 55
ETA - Mid-2009
Final Grade - B+/B
Body Type - tall with a strong pitcher’s frame
Stuff
Fastball - throws both a two and four-seamer…the 2-seamer comes in between
89 and 92 mph with a solid downward break. It doesn’t miss bats but hitters
put it on the ground…the 4-seamer is clocked between 93 and 97 with the
pitching becoming more true the harder he throws it
Curveball - big breaking, sometimes loopy 12-to-6 curve….good enough at
times to buckle knees, but doesn’t always have the spin to really snap the
pitch downward…has the ability to throw it for strikes or spike it in the
dirt. Below is a shot of a 94 mph 4-seam fastball (left) and curveball
(right):
Change-Up - pitch has improved, but still needs a lot of work…he’ll have a
much easier time against lefties should he get down this pitch
Cutter - runs away from right handers, flashes useable potential, but hasn’t
grasped the command of the pitch
Scouting Report
Davis is a pitcher with good stuff all around, but his fate will be
determined by the development of his change-up and whether he can maintain
his control/command on a more consistent basis.
A lefty/righty split shows up in Davis’ numbers. His control wavers when
facing lefties and part of the problem is the lack of a quality change-up to
keep hitters off his fastball.
Davis has gradually improved his stamina as a professional and now gets into
the 6th inning with relative ease.
Mechanically, Davis is simple with relatively little wasted motion and his
arm speed is excellent, which is his biggest factor in producing velocity.
Davis doesn’t have much of a stride and I wonder if that makes it easier for
hitters to pick him up.
Best Case Outcome - No. 2 starter
More Likely Outcome - No. 3 starter…worst case is he’s a fourth starter or
put in the bullpen.
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5. Jeremy Hellickson | RHP | Double-A Montgomery | Age - 22 | Drafted - Round
4, 2005
Player Grades
Fastball - 50 Now | 50 Future
Curveball - 55 | 55
Change-Up - 50 | 55
Control - 60 | 65
Command - 55 | 65
Pitchability - 55 | 60
Final Grade - B+/B
Body Type - fairly short with a small frame, but an athletic build
Hellickson was one of my pitching prospects to watch heading into the 2008
and he ended up breaking out in a big way. Hitters were overmatched in A+
Vero Beach and he performed very well once promoted to Double-A Montgomery.
Now, at first glance, that doesn’t appear to be the case–his ERA was 5.59,
gave up 10 H/9, and had a HR/9 of 1.8. However, he kept the walks to a
minimum and still missed many bats. After his disastrous first start (in
which he gave up five home runs), Hellickson performed well for the rest of
the season. I’m not too concerned about his hittability in Double-A since he
typically hasn’t been very hittable or homer-prone until that promotion.
All three of his pitches (fastball, curveball, change-up) come in on similar
planes and he commands all three of them well. Hellickson will obviously need
to work on keeping his fastball out of the middle of the plate.
Best Case Outcome - Borderline No. 2 starter
More Likely Outcome - No. 3 starter
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