Info on two foreign signings

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I was able to track down some info on the two guys we signed. Thanks to e-mailer Dave V, who speaks Czech, I was able to find out that infielder Jakub Sládek is a pretty solid athlete, and won “sportsman of the year” as a junior, and also spent time playing for a German team called Regensburg. His Czech team has a rudimentary website, with a link for English translation here….make sure you click the little British flag at the top for English. I was able to find limited stats. In 16 plate appearances, his line was .727/.813/1.091. So it appears he’s the Czech Barry Bonds. But seriously, it appears he is a good athlete, and he’s spent time training with quality teams. He’s only 17 (or 18), so he probably will stay in Europe for another year and finish his schooling before coming to the GCL. Here is an article on Van Steensel, posted here by andyb. He seems to have pitched well in Australia, and the article mentions a mid 80’s fastball, with the Phillies thinking his velocity will spike up as he fills out. He’ll remain in Australia for 2008 and then come to the GCL in 2009.

Thanks again to those who e-mailed and posted info here.

11 thoughts on “Info on two foreign signings”

  1. Seems that although the Phillies are not highly ranked in the foreign signing department but when they do grab someone its normally a solid prospect!! I guess singing 5 guys and 3 of them panning out is just as good as signing 10 and only 4 panning out!!

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  4. It was reported in most of the Philadelphia area daily papers. With the short fences at Citzens Bank Park, in addition to throwing hard, we hope you have a lot of sink on your pitches. We love ground ball outs. Did not realize the Phils now have 10 Aussies under contract. Welcome aboard!

    http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/102-02012008-1480910.html

    The Phils are searching the globe for prospects and landed two 17-year-olds from far away on Thursday when they signed Czech Republic first baseman/third baseman Jakub Sladez and Australian pitcher Todd Van Steensel. Sladez, a 6-6, 220-pounder who bats left, is the Phils’ first-ever European. A hard-throwing right-hander, Van Steensel gives them 10 Aussies in their system.

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  5. I was surprised to see the latest print edition of BA even had it- pretty early for them to be picking up on low profile international deals. It may have even been before the papers here got it.

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  6. lol
    ummm ground ball outs. i lead our nationals in pitcher assists, so i think i get a fair amount of ground balls :S

    can’t wait to get over

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  7. The Phils first year pitcher Kyle Kendrick went 10-4 in 07 because he was able to get more ground ball outs than fly outs. Though he only struck out 49 in 121 innings he induced 172 ground outs compared to 133 air outs. That’s a 1.42 GO/AO ratio the best among the team’s starters. Unless you are a strike out pitchers to be effective at the Phils Park you must induce a lot of ground ball outs and rely on your infielders to make the plays. That was Kyle’s success on 07. Hopefully you can follow in his footsteps when you get over here.

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  9. Re: Jakub Sladek – I’m an American living/working in Prague, Jakub played for my club (after I hung ’em up), I coached him as a junior and have watched him develop. Trust me when I tell you that the kid has one of the sweetest swings I’ve seen and that’s after playing at D1 level in US. Short, compact, no extra movement and takes a good direct line to the ball.

    He’s just a kid but the ball absolutely explodes off his bat and he will add power as he gets older. Also has an excellent arm (90-91 off the mound), good range (played SS here) and is a good athlete. He’s very raw and will need to face better competition, but has remarkable skills for someone so young. I played with him in a fun tournament here last fall and watched him go 2-3 with two doubles against a guy throwing in high 80s/low 90s. VERY solid signing by the Phils; I’ll be watching…

    JGrant

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  10. Thanks for the info on Jakub. Do you know what position he projects to? Since he is 6’6″ I assume 3B is a better fit than SS in the U.S. It is good to hear that he has at least played against some quality competition. I assume he will have a steep learning curve, but at least he has seen a 90 mph fastball.

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  11. andy – 3B seems the most logical spot for him given his athleticism; though I don’t buy into the argument that you can stick just anyone at 1B, I think it would be a waste of Jakub’s abilities. There will be some temptation to put him at first given his height but giving him the opportunity to grow into his body while playing third seems a better path.

    Jakub will no doubt struggle at first as he has yet to see consistently good off-speed pitching. Few teams here have anyone on their staff that can throw a quality change-up (they emphasize the splitter instead) nor do you see many sliders, save those that American pitchers bring over with them. He will need to work on pitch recognition as he can no longer sit fastball and adjust as necessary. The quality of his swing, however, gives me confidence that he will be successful once he learns pitch patterns and can recognize hand position on the ball.

    My only concern with Jakub is that he’s just a really, really nice kid and may need to harden up a bit. That should come as he grows older though. That’s not to say he’s soft, just a bit young still…

    JGrant

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