Monthly Archives: May 2008

Josh Outman talks about his old motion

Other Stuff

Here’s a real nice interview with Josh Outman at Baseball Prospectus, with Josh focusing on his old delivery, the difficulties of changing (both mental and physical), and the challenges he’s had to overcome. This was my favorite question/answer

DL: Phillies assistant general manager Mike Arbuckle was quoted as saying that you probably would have been drafted much lower had you not changed your motion, because people would have been afraid of the injury factor. What are your thoughts on that?

JO: I think that was an assumption made under faulty information. What I was taught actually took stress off of my arm, so there wasn’t full comprehension on how my motion worked. Using a vertical arm position freed up my rotator cuff and enabled the use of the larger pectoral and abdominal muscle groups rather than the smaller deltoids and various other shoulder muscles. It used my lats to slow my arm down rather than just the posterior deltoids, and because those are larger, stronger muscles that can withstand more force it took a large workload off of my shoulder muscles. And eliminating the leg kick in lieu of a normal walking step, I was expending less energy to get the same production from my body, while sparing my throwing arm much of the wear and tear associated with pitching.

This is just another in the long line of instances where because something “doesn’t look right”, a guy is downgraded or given less attention, even though what he is doing might be working just fine. It’s good to see Josh has been able to climb the ladder and progress as a prospect while basically learning how to pitch again from scratch.

Savery? Not so Much.

Other Stuff

When Threshers fans learned that the Phillies #1 draft pick from 2007 would be part of the 2008 squad it was assumed he would be the staff ace and lead the team following their 2007 Championship run. Unfortunately Savery has not lived up to the hype as he has been less and less affective as the season has progressed.

Continue reading Savery? Not so Much. →

Mathieson has 2nd TJ surgery

Other Stuff

Found at the bottom of this article. At this point, just cross your fingers, hope for the best, and cast all expectations for Mathieson, including time tables, right out the window. All you can hope for is that the surgery is successful and he can recover. The Phillies will surely be as conservative as possible with his recovery this time, which they should done last time. Lets just hope for the best.

Lehigh Valley Week Seven Report

7. Lehigh Valley

New faces in the locker room and clearly a new attitude on the field personify this weeks Iron Pigs as they had an excellent week going 6-1. The ‘Pigs now stand at 11-31, still in last place, but improving, now 17.5 games out of first. Looking at ‘Pigs among the league leaders, Andy Tracy is 7th in homers (7) and 4th in the league in walks (21). Brian Mazone is 7th in the league in wins (4), third in the league in innings (51.2), and 8th in WHIP (1.12). He is also 5th in homers allowed (7). JA Happ is 4th in the league in innings (51.1), and leading the league in strikeouts (61). JD Durbin is 4th in the league in homers allowed (..8..) in only 28 innings.

Continue reading Lehigh Valley Week Seven Report →

Door open to land Tanner Scheppers

2008 Draft

Baseball America has the update today;

Jonathan Mayo has reported in his blog and Baseball America has confirmed with two scouts that Fresno State junior righthander Tanner Scheppers has a stress fracture in his shoulder and will not be able to throw for six weeks. This is obviously a significant blow to the draft stock of a player who had a strong chance to go in the top 10 picks in June, not to mention a crippling blow to Fresno State’s postseason aspirations.

//

There are just five college starting pitchers who are regarded as sure-fire first-round picks, so Scheppers going down figures to boost Tulane righthander Shooter Hunt’s chances to go in the top 10 and help Eastern Kentucky lefthander Christian Friedrich sneak up close to the top 10. It also could impact the back half of the first round, where clubs might reach for a college pitcher like California’s Tyson Ross if they don’t feel comfortable taking a risk on Scheppers. Whoever does land Scheppers will get a high-upside talent at a spot in the draft that would have seemed very unlikely up until this week.

So, how does this immediately impact the Phillies? Well, the Phillies were only able to land Cole Hamels because he was coming off an arm injury, and they turned the same trick last season, taking an injury risk in Joe Savery who slid down draft boards because of the uncertainty surrounding his labrum. Scheppers was being pegged as a potential Top 10 guy, I had him at 13 in yesterday’s mock draft, and this should slide him down lots of boards. The Phillies are picking lower in the first round than they have in a long time, and Scheppers will likely be the most talented guy available. Clearly they’d have to really make sure his arm is sound and he’s fully healed, but this could really work in the Phillies favor.

2008 Mock Draft, version 2.1

2008 Draft

Three weeks ago, I rolled out version 1.1 of my mock draft, so I figured it was time to do a bit more digging, try and find some more info that might make the pick a bit more clear, and then make a few necessary updates. To be clear, I have no inside information here, its based strictly on looking at players available and then the team’s past drafting history. I’ve compiled first and supplemental first round data for all 30 teams from 2003-2007, in hopes of finding patterns which might make this a bit easier. Of course, teams can always throw a curveball and do something unexpected, and even the most detailed mock drafts done days before will have things out of place. But thats part of the fun. So, for each pick, I’ll give my updated pick, my last pick for the team, and the under each team a brief analysis of past drafts. If you’ve found my site and you support another team, please chime in if I’ve missed anything, if you have some info on who the team is leaning towards, etc etc. So, lets get going

Continue reading 2008 Mock Draft, version 2.1 →

Clearwater Threshers Weekly Report

02. Org Reports, 5. Clearwater, Savery, Joe

Welcome Back Adrian Cardenas!

The Threshers had a pretty good week this week despite going just 3-3 in the process with Sunday as an off-day for Mother’s Day. The week began with the Threshers picking up two wins to extend their streak to four wins-in-a-row for the first time this year; they then lost two tightly contested games on Friday & Saturday.

The team was shut out by their cross-county rivals the Dunedin Bluejays on Monday with Tuffy Gosewisch picking up the team’s only hit in the game, and then they ended the week with a come-from-behind win over the Bluejays thanks to a seventh inning home run from Adrian Cardenas in his first game back since April the 17th. Continue reading Clearwater Threshers Weekly Report →

Mathieson to have 2nd surgery?

Other Stuff

The news on Mathieson isn’t good.

He’ll visit Dr. James Andrews for an arthroscopic procedure Thursday in Birmingham, Ala., though there’s a good chance Mathieson will need another ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction.

Mathieson said he was told by Andrews that a scope might solve the issue, which would keep him out for a shorter time frame. He’s not ready to concede his season, yet.

“I’ll wake up [Thursday] and I’ll either be out four to six weeks or a year,” Mathieson said by phone.

There really isn’t a lot else to say. Its a shame to see a promising arm struggle with injuries, especially right after he reached the big leagues. We can just hope that he doesn’t need a second TJ, and if he does, that he can recover quickly.

Lakewood BlueClaws Report

4. Lakewood

Up to this point, this has been an up-and-down season for the Lakewood BlueClaws. Plagued by inconsistencies, both by pitchers and position players, they entered the week with a record of 15-16. Boosted by five solid starts by their rotation, the BlueClaws managed to eclipse the .500 mark this week, and they certainly hope to stay there for the foreseeable future.

Tuesday saw the BlueClaws finishing off a four-game series against the Lexington Legends. Behind a strong showing from Julian Sampson (6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 4 K), the BlueClaws not only won the game 5-1, but the series. The offensive production came from homeruns from two of the BlueClaws’ more intriguing prospects, Michael Taylor and Dominic Brown, Taylor’s driving in three of the five runs on the night.

Continue reading Lakewood BlueClaws Report →

Naylor, Taylor Make Ten Pack

Ten Pack/Hot Sheet

Kevin Goldstein highlights two Phillies prospects in his latest Ten pack;

Drew Naylor, rhp, Low-A Lakewood (Phillies)
Don’t know the name? Maybe you should, because he’s suddenly the new minor league strikeout leader. A 22-year-old Australian, Naylor entered the season a bit of an unknown, but he’s putting himself on the map with six straight quality starts, including an 11-strikeout performance last week, and then his best start of the year on Saturday night–-a complete-game two-hitter with 12 strikeouts against just one walk–-lowering his ERA to 2.04 in 53 innings with 62 strikeouts and just 34 hits allowed. Naylor is an interesting player from a scouting level, as he has no dominant offering, but plenty of good ones. His fastball has average velocity and good movement, his curveball and change are both above average, and all of his pitches play up because of excellent command. His relative baseball inexperience makes him a little old for the level, but he should be in the Florida State League soon.

and

Michael Taylor, OF, Low-A Lakewood (Phillies)
During his high school days at Florida, Taylor was a monster, standing six-foot-six and 250 pounds and featuring plenty of athleticism for his size; only a firm commitment to Stanford prevented him from being drafted. His college career was disappointing, but many in the scouting industry didn’t put the majority of blame on Taylor, they put it on a Stanford program that has a reputation for creating hitting clones, forcing most players into a quick, single-plane hitting mechanic that frankly just doesn’t work for everyone. Still in love with his potential, the Phillies made him a fifth-round pick last year, and allowed him to return to his natural swing. So far that’s more than paying off, as the monstrous right fielder has homered in four straight games to raise his averages to .333/.410/.524 in 33 games for the BlueClaws. When you are looking for sleepers in the minors, you’d be best served by betting on tools, so put some chips down on Taylor.