5 Tool Talk - Draft-Related Baseball Notes

College Notes 3-18-11

A pair of exciting, televised mid-week matchups allowed me to catch some intriguing draft eligible talent leading into the weekend. Fierce in-state rivals Florida State and Florida played on Tuesday in front of a packed house, while Oklahoma traveled to Arizona State to take on the Sun Devils.

Florida-Florida State

It’s easy to know and see just about everything you want from these two teams, given how much they are on television thanks to Florida’s Sun Sports Network. Alex Panteliodis, the Gators’ Friday stater a year ago, has been serving as the mid-week starter for Florida this year, and he was opposed by the Seminoles Hunter Scantling. Since I’ve covered the hitters from both teams previously this year and so much in past years, I won’t spend too much dissecting them (especially since the bigger names didn’t really stand out in this game).

Alex Panteliodis

I saw Panteliodis pitch several times that past few years, and I have never been particularly impressed. He’s a little on the soft side physically, and doesn’t help that perception by wearing big, baggy pants. That isn’t to say he’s terribly unconditioned, but it certainly is a concern moving forward. He lacks swing-and-miss stuff, with a relatively straight fastball that he needs to constantly move around the zone, hitting the corners and for the most part staying out of the meat of the zone. His breaking pitch lacks bite, and didn’t have much consistency on this day. He has an ok changeup that has a little fade, and he’s very stubborn on the mound in that he won’t give in to hitters when behind in the count and will continue to pound them away, even if it means putting them on via the free pass.

Hunter Scantling

It was nice to see Scantling start, since he has been used as a reliever, but doesn’t have nasty stuff to profile in short relief. His fastball is good, not great, and his slurvy curveball got better once he had a chance to snap off five or six of them. He does a nice job dropping this pitch in the zone, and will pitch backwards using his curve to tantalize hitters into swinging at his elevated fastball. He used a similar arm path when throwing his breaking ball as his fastball, making this one-two pnch that much more effective. He struck out Nolan Fontana swinging and Austin Maddox looking in the first inning, both with his curve. He really was snapping off some good ones in the third and fourth before he was pulled, but did seem to rely way too much on the pitch after a while. For a guy as big as he is, you would think he would have a bigger fastball.

Greg Larson

Larson came on in relief of Panteliodis in the third inning, and while he gave up a two-run shot to Justin Gonzalez, he did a nice job settling down to carry the Gators through the sixth. I really liked the natural movement, both sink and run, on his fastball, which is what he primarily throws, and he did a nice job pitching in the lower third of the zone He has a tall stature with a high waist and good strength. He brings his arm pretty far back as part of his takeaway. He hung a curve to Gonzalez on the home run, but after that went with a frisbee-type slider. It wasn’t a great pitch, as he was predominantly a sinker-baller, but it was enough to give him a second pitch to keep hitters somewhat honest.

Nick Maronde

Maronde seems to be tailoring his delivery and mechanics more and more to short relief for now and at the next level. There is a lot of effort on his arm as he lands stiff, but there is also a lot of giddy-up on his fastball. He throws mostly fastballs, but he has a decent breaking ball and I’ve even seen him throw a couple of changeups in the past. He is visibly fiery and cocky on the mound, and isn’t afraid to challenge hitters up and in with his heat. He hit Stuart Tapley with two outs and one on in the seventh with an 0-1 count in a close game in which the Gators were trailing at the time, so I highly doubt it was intentional, but Tapley took it that way. Maronde didn’t back down from the barking, and both benches were on alert for a fight to break out. He has an inconsistent release point given his max effort delivery, but I’ve seen his dominate a handful of games this year and last with his fastball alone.

Tommy Toledo

I don’t think I’ve seen Toledo for two to three years, as I know he has missed at least one full season due to injury. He has a skinny build, with sloped shoulders and strong limbs. He has a good fastball and flashed a really good changeup to strikeout Gonzalez, the only batter he faced, in the eighth. He pulled the string perfectly on this pitch, thrown with the exact same arm angle and velocity as his fastball with a little late dip to it.

Big lefty Steven Rodriguez and right-hander Anthony DeSclafani also pitched in this game, and showed an incredibly deep bullpen, which really resembles a big-league ‘pen. Kevin O’Sullivan wasn’t shy about using quite a few arms (as Mike Martin did as well) to help beat the Seminoles, as the bullpen did their job, shut down FSU’s offense and allowed their own hitters to get the team back into the game recording a win in the 10th.

The hitters are who I thought they were. Nolan Fontana has a patient eye but questionable power but a rock solid glove; Preston Tucker also has a nice approach with a natural left-handed swing and good power potential but questionable conditioning; Austin Maddox is so big that he’s almost too tightly wound, but he showed off his impressive arm strength playing third base in the middle innings; Brian Johnson hits like a contact hitter, thinking the other way and up the middle for such a big guy; And Mike Zunino lunges at pitches, although had a good at-bat versus Scantling in the fourth, fouling off several pitches until he got a hanging curveball to drive.

Daniel Pigott

Daniel Pigott on the other hand is having a huge season for the Gators so far, and a had a huge game at the plate. He’s hitting .483 so far this year with 10 doubles, and went 3-for-4 in this game with a pair of walks and four RBI. He put the Gators on the board with a RBI double in the third (although it was poorly misplayed by the FSU left fielder), hit a two-run single in the eighth that tied the game and force extra innings, and had the walk off hit in the bottom of the 10th. He’s not an imposing athlete, but he’s well proportioned with sloped shoulders. His swing is made for line drives, and he doesn’t appear to be fast enough (although he did a good job tracking down a couple of fly balls in left) to play center.

I would challenge anyone to find a better Head Coach in the nation than Mike Martin. He pushes buttons and recruits players that fit perfectly within his system better than any other coach I can think of. He has shown great natural in-game awareness, knowing when to approach the mound and his players in the batters box (when he can) just to upset the opposing team’s timing. O’Sullivan is doing a great job recruiting likely pro talent, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him coaching in some form at the pro level in the near future, but at the college level, none is better than Martin.

Oklahoma-Arizona State

Arizona State hosted Oklahoma for a two game, mid-week series between a pair of nationally ranked programs. Arizona welcomed Brady Rodgers back to the rotation Tuesday, and decided to bump up their Friday ace, Jake Barrett, to Wednesday night to face the Sooners. The move paid off, as the Sun Devils took both games, and viewers nationally were able to watch one of the best draft-eligible pitchers for 2012.

Unfortunately I didn't have a good opportunity to catch Garrett Buechele at-bats due to technical difficulties thanks to my cable service. I did see him make a couple of plays at third base, where he looks an awful lot like his father. He has the same sloped shoulders and long neck, with soft hands, smooth actions and easy arm strength at the hot corner, and I like his chances for success almost for that aspect alone. Buechele has been red-hot this season, and added another pair of hits, including a double, in this game.

Jake Barrett

I was excited to catch Barrett in a mid-week game, even though he's not draft-eligible until next season. He has electric stuff, and can be effectively wild. For the most part he was always around the zone, and at times he did a nice job hitting the corners on both sides of the plate. There is somewhat of a wildness to the way he pitches, and he certainly is aggressive and fearless and trusts his stuff as he challenges hitters. His fastball was difficult for almost all of the Sooners lineup to catch up with, although he did give up four runs (three earned) in this game. He settled down in the fifth and sixth, and in the sixth inning in particular, his last inning of work, he dialed it up a notch (likely knowing it was his last inning of work as he approached 100 pitches).

His fastball can have some boring action on it at times, a pitch he threw almost predominantly in this game. He did throw a slider, which at times showed the potential to be a nasty pitch, coming in on hitters similar to his fastball before darting low and away from right-handed batters. He also threw a couple of fading changeups that profiles as an average pitch, and enough to give him a full three-pitch repertoire. He showed the ability to take a little off of his slider for more of a curveball break. He got away with one hanging slider that Cameron Seitzer lifted to right field for a fly out, as I'm sure Seitzer was kicking himself after missing that pitch.

He falls off the mound hard to the first base side, although he does quickly put himself back in position to field the ball. That somewhat max effort though will be something to watch moving forward as far as throwing across his body is concerned. He has an athletic build with a sturdy lower half, and seemed to be throwing his hardest in the sixth inning. He employs a big leg kick and can be animated at times on the mound. If all else fails starting, I could see him being a potentially dominant closer down the road, but that isn't something to entertain at this point in time. He reminded me a little of Jake Peavy.

Mitchell Lambson came in to finish the game as he has been doing the past two years, but unfortunately the beginning and end of the game were lost due to the aforementioned lousy cable service.

Johnny Ruettiger

There isn't much power to Ruettiger's swing, who uses a slightly closed and crouched stance and a level swing to slash line drives to all parts of the field. He showed the ability to keep his hands back to drop a single into shallow left field as a left-handed hitter, and he has good speed to stretch extra base hits. He is a good, well proportioned athlete that shows a good eye at the plate, taking a lot of pitches and not afraid to work deep into the count. I could see him drawing a lot of walks and limiting his strikeouts, but I just don't see him being much of a power threat, and not much more than a singles hitters. I've felt the same way seeing him play the last two years and last summer on the Cape, where he led the league in batting. While he has good speed, he's not a true burner, but does show good baseball instincts.

Zack MacPhee

MacPhee is well put together for a shorter player, with good strength in his upper body and his forearms. He has an upright stance and isn't afraid to take some big hacks at the plate, and muscled one ball up the middle in this game, going 2-for-2 with a pair of walks. The walks are an indication of his patience, as he's a scrappy little bugger that is a nuisance for opposing teams. He works the count, and can swipe some bases for you when he's on. He stole home in this game as part of a double steal, with Riccio Torrez getting tagged out on a pickoff play between first and second. He was the Pac 10 player of the year last season as a sophomore, and while his upside is limited, he has enough tools and the mindset to enjoy some success at the next level.

Riccio Torrez

I didn't get a great look at Torrez, who went 1-for-4 in this game. His body is a tad on the soft side, and while he plays third base currently, I'm not so sure he stays there at the next level. He could slide across to first or even to the outfield. He too does a good job working the count, a trait most ASU hitters possess. He has sloped shoulders and good bat speed, giving him the ability to hit, and he has solid power to the gaps.

Zach Wilson

Wilson didn't do much in this game (0-for-4), but I've seen him a few times before. He is a good, not great athlete that has some Phil Nevin to him in that he is a hit-first type of player that isn't going to provide much value defensively. He's likely limited to first base, where he currently plays, or left field, but I think his days at third are behind him. I saw some clips of him from the Cape last summer where he showed the ability to drive the ball hard using a wood bat.

Deven Marrero

I've never seen Marrero at his best since his high school days, and if I had to base an opinion off of my limited exposure to watching him play, I wouldn't guess that he's a potential top 10 overall pick for the 2012 draft. Athletically he just looks ok, although he makes all of the routine plays at shortstop and will mix in a web gem from time to time. At the plate he takes some aggressive hacks, and is probably the least discplined of the bigger names in the ASU lineup. He can put a charge in the ball when he connects, but he needs to round out some rough edges.

Andrew Aplin didn't show much in this game, but I like the strength he has for a smaller guy, similar to MacPhee. I covered Aplin last summer in the Northwoods League where he got strong support as one of the best pure athletes in the league. He's not draft eligible until 2012, and while he doesn't profile as a premium draftee, I could see him progresses as a fourth outfielder at the next level as long as he continues to progress as a hitter.

Cameron Seitzer

Seitzer is another play I had the chance to see some clips of his play from his Cape experience last summer, and I continue to be impressed with his tall, lean, angular frame. He's a left-handed hitter with a natural uppercut to his swing, has good bat speed and extension and I could see him driving the ball more consistently at he continues to mature and progress as a hitter. I didn't get a good look at him defensively, but I have in my notes from past viewings that he has been pretty smooth around the first base bag. He has played third in the past, but I don't think he has that kind of quickness to him.

HTML Comment Box is loading comments...

Dandy Dozen

SP	Andrew Gagnon	Well rounded RHP w/ good size, repertoire
SP	Erik Johnson	Big bodied RHP with good FB/CB combo
SP	Deshorn Lake	Live-armed RHP with sharp breaking ball
CL	Nick Maronde	Lived-armed LHP tough to catch up to
C	Nick Delmonico	May not be C long-term, big body, LH bat
1B	Zach Wilson	Aggressive hitter can put sting in ball
IF	Sean Trent	Well built hitter with pop, speed, arm
3B	Dante Bichette, Jr.	Clone of father with big build, power
SS	Austin Nola	Steady D' at shortstop, improving strength
OF	Nick Martini	Good all around player with patient eye
OF	Shon Carson	Shorter, well built 2-sport speedster
OF	Granden Goetzman	Fast riser w/ exciting power/speed combo

more

Analyzing Amateur Baseball Talent as it pertains to the MLB Draft