Category Archives: Scouting Reports

Peter Lavin Deserves Some Love

Scouting Reports

I’ve been around the Phillies complex regularly for almost four years now and have a pretty solid grasp of their system, especially their rookie ball team in the Gulf Coast League. That’s where I first got eyes on Peter Lavin back in 2011.

Before you get too excited, Lavin is not a kid that is going to shoot up prospect lists and become a saving grace for this farm system. He is a kid who plays the game hard everyday, is easy to root for and deserves a little fanfare. Too often people get all caught up in what a player can’t do instead of looking at what he can do, so let’s take a look at what Lavin CAN do. Continue reading Peter Lavin Deserves Some Love →

Julio Rodriguez Scouting Report (with video): 5/19/12

** My Top 30 Prospects, Scouting Reports

Well, this was fun. I had the chance to see Julio Rodriguez pitch on Saturday night in Reading against the New Britain Rock Cats. Yes, it’s the Eastern League, and yes, some of these guys probably will never make it to the Major Leagues, but let’s go ahead and commend both teams on the fact that they are currently one and two atop the E.L.’s Eastern Division.

OK, and now for the reason I was there: Julio Rodriguez. Obviously we knew going into this season who the big three would be in Reading: Trevor May, Jonathan Pettibone, and Rodriguez. May has obviously been fantastic so far and Pettibone has been pretty solid as well, but Rodriguez is beginning to make his name known. Saturday night at FirstEnergy Stadium certainly didn’t hurt. Continue reading Julio Rodriguez Scouting Report (with video): 5/19/12 →

First Person Scouting Report – Reading Phillies – 24 April 2012

6. Reading, Scouting Reports

Loyal reader Warren was able to attend Tuesday’s Reading Phillies game and provided a well-structured, detailed report. I will provide that report to you here. Thank you Warren for the time and your opinions.

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AA Game Review: Reading Phillies vs Richmond Flying Squirrels (SF Giants) – 4-24-12
Reading improved to an impressive 12-5 on a chilly Tuesday evening at First Energy Stadium, beating San Francisco’s AA affiliate 6-0. The big story here was Tyler Cloyd, who easily handled Richmond’s prospect laden lineup which includes top farmhands Gary Brown , OF, and Tommy Joseph, C / 1b. Reading’s own talented offense provided plenty of support, breaking things open with a four run seventh inning.

Continue reading First Person Scouting Report – Reading Phillies – 24 April 2012 →

First Hand Report, 18 March 2012

Scouting Reports, Spring Training 2012

Thanks to Murray for this quick first hand summary. Enjoy.

Good time at the minor league complex today. In the CWater game, Colvin pitched very well, allowing one run but threw a good fastball and a very good curve. He is definitely in much better shape than last year, having dropped some weight. Their lineup was Myers 8, Eldemire 9, Thome 3, Franco 5, Altherr 7, Rupp 2, Pointer dh (he was originally batting 3rd before Thome came), T Greene 6, Ford 4. Noteworthy: Eldemire said he feels great, swung the bat well, and is much faster than I thought. T Greene looked good but is young and very thin. Franco had two hits (batting 4th!) and looked very good at 3rd. Malcolm played 2nd for half the game and looked good to me. Morgado did fine. Pettis closed and looked very good. In the LWood game, Lino started and looked just ok with some control issues. Lineup was Quinn 6 (looks 16! he’s very fast but didn’t do much), Hudson 8 (looked ok), Walding 5 (batted 3rd and looked very good with a couple hits), L Greene dh (he’s huge – hit some balls hard and ran ok), Duffy 3 (in MUCH better shape than last year and hit the ball very well), Logan Moore 2, Numata dh (looked over matched), Amaro 7, Cardozzo 4. Musser pitched 2 good innings but gave up a long homer. Best was ok. Nick Hernandez told me he’s hoping to pitch in CWater by the all star break. As in previous years, the size of the pitchers is amazing.

First Person Scouting Report – Lehigh Valley 5 August 2011

Scouting Reports

Evan, a loyal reader, provided me with a first person report from Friday’s LHV/Durham Bulls game. Here it is, and thanks to Evan

PITCHING: RHP Nate Bump opposed RHP Ryan Reid. Bump went 5.0 innings he pitched well, he had zero strikeouts two walks and six hits allowed. Nate let up two runs (all earned) in a two-run bottom of the third on a DH Stephen Vogt double to left. The Vogt double was a sinking line drive that Domonic Brown should have fielded on a hop, Brown made a last second dive and missed the ball by about three feet. Dom had a rough game in left, he misplayed three balls off of the 30 foot high wall in left. Before the game during batting practice roving coach Steve Henderson was working with Brown in left, it shouldn’t be problem with him in left in 2012. Back to pitching Bump topped out a 93 MPH with LHP Joe Savery following in relief, Joe allowed a infield base hit to 3B Daniel Mayora, Mayora moved to second on a groundout. Mayora stole third on the next pitch and ended up scoring on a throwing error from Catcher Dane Sardinha. Joe surrendered one unearned run and finished the inning with a strikeout. BIG Mike Zagurski (225 lbs. on a good day) followed Savery, Mike threw a perfect seventh inning and followed it up by striking out 1B Dan Johnson to record the first out of the eighth. Aaron Heilman finished the eighth, Heilman had a good changeup and slider that he used with two strikes, the pitches varied from 78-84 MPH. Phillippe Aumont was impressive in the ninth, he threw a 1 hit inning for his second save. Aumont hit 96 MPH with his fastball and consistently hit 78 MPH with his breaking ball. Aumont got two fly outs to centerfield before allowing a SS Reid Brignac single followed by a CF John Matulia K.

check below for the rest

Continue reading First Person Scouting Report – Lehigh Valley 5 August 2011 →

First Person Scouting Report: Reading (7/27) and LHV (7/28)

Scouting Reports

I wanted to thank loyal reader Dave for providing two more first person reports. I held these back because I didn’t want them to get lost in the trade shuffle. But here they are, take a look. The first report is from the Reading game on July 27th and the second report is the Lehigh Valley game on July 28th. Enjoy

Continue reading First Person Scouting Report: Reading (7/27) and LHV (7/28) →

A few quick links + a FPSR from Reading

Scouting Reports

The folks over at stadiumjourney.com have posted their review of Bowman Field, home of the Williamsport Crosscutters, so take a look at that here. Additionally, I did a Q/A for the Baseball Junkies blog. They are splitting it into 2 parts, and Part 1 is posted. I can’t access a direct link here, but click through and you should be able to find it.

Also, check below the fold for a few thoughts from reader “KPhilly” who attended the Reading Phillies game on 17 July 2011.

Continue reading A few quick links + a FPSR from Reading →

First Person Report: Williamsport

3. Williamsport, Scouting Reports

A source of mine was able to recently see a Williamsport series, and he passed along some tidbits on a few of our prospects, so I figured I would share it here. Just a note, the radar readings come from a legit radar gun.

* He thought Aaron Altherr was the best player on the field, noting his athleticism and also his plate coverage.
* Kyrell Hudson was also praised for his athleticism, but he often made mental errors, such as throwing to the wrong base, and it appears to be a persistent issue.
* Harold Martinez is very aggressive at the plate. (note from me. This is an interesting observation, because he’s drawn his share of walks)
* Asche has great control of the strikezone, and this person had seen him before this season and praised him for his approach at the plate.
* Kelly Dugan can crush a mistake, but wasn’t handling the quality offerings quite as well.
* Austin Wright got a fairly nice mention. The gun had him at 90-91 consistently.
* Kleven was throwing 95 in his first inning, then settled in at 91-93.
* Bryan Morgado was consistently 92-93 and very impressive.
* Jesus Pirela was throwing 92-94 but with very little idea where the ball was going.

There ya go. Positive news for the Altherr fans here, and we can only hope Morgado can finish strong and then hop on the fast track.

First Person Scouting Report: Reading 11 July 2011

Scouting Reports

Reader “NYPHILSMANIAC” was kind enough to send me a detailed writeup, which I will post here. Thanks again!

I attended yesterday’s matinee at Reading and saw a barnburner in some serious heat (thought I was in Clearwater). As you already know, Rizz ended it with a bomb off Pat Venditte (the Switch-Pitcher) from Trenton. Anyway, here are my individual reports:

ROSENBERG: It was a strange outing to say the least. This is going to seem like a contradiction but he had trouble putting guys away even though he struck out the side in the first inning (sandwiched around 2 HR’s). The first batter of the game (Kruml) had a 1-2 count and fouled off 4-5 pitched before homering. The second batter had two strikes and fouled off some before K’ing, third batter had 2 strikes and then homered. The 4th batter struck out on a high fastball and 5th batter on a curveball. He could not put away the better hitters because he didn’t seem to have an out pitch yet somehow he fanned 7 in the game. He topped out at 93 and most fastballs were in the low 90’s. BJ settled down in the 2nd and got them 1-2-3. In the 3rd inning, he K’d the #9 hitter but then Kruml got a lucky hit that looped over Rivero at 3B- he jumped and it nicked off his glove. After striking out the next guy on a nice 76 mph change, he gave up a rip off the CF fence that plated the run. The 4th inning started with a HBP on the first pitch was probably intentional- Spidale was hit his first two times up and had rammed the catcher hard in the 1st inning so it may have been a retaliation from Parent. The ump warned both teams but nothing developed from there. The rest of the 4th went smoothly- Pop up, Tuffy CS, Fly Out. In the 5th, he gave up two baserunners but got out of it with a DP. He did leave with the lead but did not get a win.

Continue reading First Person Scouting Report: Reading 11 July 2011 →