craig

i really don't understand this. a difference of as little as 6 home runs is going to affect his batting average that much? I figure that each HR is worth about 10 points in OPS, all else being equal. (Which I know is often not the case...) 15 HR versus 25 HR, that can easily be about 100 points OPS difference. I'm just doing math on the fly, so pardon the ramble. I'll use 500 AB rather than 600 AB for simple calculation purposes. Extra 6 HR: = 6 extra hits = 12 extra points in batting average and in OBP. Extra 6 HR = 24 extra bases = 48 extra points in slugging. 12 extra OBP + 48 extra slugging = 60 extra points in OPS. A .275BA/15HR/.770 OPS Vitters (not very useful) becomes a .287BA/21HR/.830 OPS Vitters, average at 1B, in the top bunch at LF or 3B. At 25 HR's, .295BA/25HR/.850 OPS Vitters is bumping the top 3 even of first basemen. HR volume matters.... a lot. Obviously those are just ballpark calcs. At 600 AB, the numbers don't calculate quite so roundly. If you're selling out to add the HR's and overswinging, so that getting the extra 6 HR's means you take on 20 more K's and it costs you a dozen other doubles/singles and costs you loads in BABIP, then obviously nothing is gained. But if K-rate and BABIP is constant, adding one or two handfuls of HR's adds a non-trivial chunk of OPS. It's one of the reasons I think that projecting young hitters is so difficult. Because it's just so very difficult to project how many healthy-approach HR's a guy will be able to hit. you can kind of see whether a guy is going to be a contact hitter, or a walk-taker. Those profiles emerge pretty early. But whether Vitters is a 25 HR or a 14 HR guy, can't tell. Whether Bour is going to be a 30HR or a 13HR guy versus mlb pitching, who knows? Lemahieu a 5HR or an 11 HR or an 18 HR guy as he matures and settles in? He could end up at any of those spots, really. Same for Szczur. Golden might have the strength to hit 35 HR, but will he have the contact skills to hit more than 5? I have no idea. If Darvill grows into 18+ HR's, he might be a really good-hitting infielder. If he hits HR's like DeWitt, who'll want him? If Ha is a healthy contact hitter and hits 10 HR's, probably 4th outfielder or non-asset starter. At 18+ HR's, he might be a nice asset offense/defense combo. Flaherty with 10 HR's, probably mediocre average and not much of an asset as a hitter, and not a rangy athletic defender, probably not a very good starter. But if he's hitting up towards 20 HR's, then his average will be pretty solid, his OBP will be pretty solid, his OPS will be solid, and as a reliable low-errors defender he can be an asset regular. I just think that often a 6 and 12 HR jump can be the jump from below-average-I'd-like-to-replace to solid-average-above-average-asset to strong-asset-well-above average. Jumps of 50 or 100 OPS points, more or less, can do that. Likewise jumps of 50 or 100 OPS points can decide whether a guy's hitting is enough to justify average/sub-average defense.

Wellington Castillo is hotter than anything. I'm sure there have been hot prospects before, but other than that week Vitters had in Peoria, I'm not sure I can remember many or any as blazing as Castillo has been. He's up in the .330's now average-wise at Iowa, and has 9 HR's in 30-some games at Iowa. He'll still be 24 when next season starts, so he's not a fossil. Given his physical tools for defense and throwing, I think he's got some value if he can hit.

I expect Vitters will be below-average defensively no matter where he ends up, probably significantly so. So he'll need to hit better than positional average to have average positional value. To be an asset, I assume he'll need to be an .800+ guy, and if he ends up at 1B, probably at least an .840. I do think the value of anti-awful is underrated, though. It doesn't get my heart racing, but an average 1B instead of needing to go spend $10/year on Pena would have been nice. An average LF instead of spending $136 on Soriano might have helped? I think the HR's are key. He's got 7 HR's in 200 AB or so. An everyday hacking regular would get around 600 AB, so he's already homering in the neighborhood of a 20-HR. My thinking is that he'll need to be a 20+ HR guy to be an asset. As a slow, bad-fielding low-walk guy, if he's <15 HR, I think it will be hard to keep his average or his slugging high enough to give the OPS needed to justify him as a defensive liability. But if he's hitting 20+ HR, I think his average should be pretty good, .280+ and perhaps a bunch higher. He's not going to be an asset, I don't think, if he doesn't hit HR's. But I think at 21, giving his contact gifts, his bat speed, and his current HR output, I think it's plausible to project him ending up as a good HR hitter. That's my hope, at any rate. Obviously he may have simply peaked out with a hot streak, and he's due for a 6-week low, and he'll end up at .265 with 11 HR's and a .758 OPS and a brutal defender this season, and I won't be feeling as hopeful. We'll see.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/batting/split/79/sort/OPS/order/true OPS by position. Half of the teams in mlb have left-field OPS of less than .710. Only two have LF OPS over .817 (Milwaukee and Cardinals, of course). Only five teams other than the Cubs have LF OPS above .790. Sixteen big-league teams have 1B-OPS of less than .780. Only nine teams have 1B-OPS higher than .832. I think it's within the range of plausibility that Vitters will improve his power or production so that he become an asset hitter relative to LF, perhaps even relative to 1B. Other positional notes: 2B: Only 5 teams with OPS over .760. 3B: Only 4 teams have ten 3B HR's. Only two have 3B OPS over .780. 21 Teams have 3B OPS below .720! 19 Teams have 5 or fewer 3B HR's. Given the poverty of 3B hitting and power, I think it's with the range of plausibility that Lemahieu could become an asset hitter relative to 3B, even if his HR power never evolves past 8-10 per year. Obviously what's plausible and what actually happens gor Vitters and Lemahieu may differ. But I don't think their hitting potential is unsuited to LF and 3B.

W Castillo is VERY hot. 8 HR in 28 games at Iowa. He's always been a hitter who lives to strike out, but somehow he's gone six straight games without striking out. A composite season can be built pretty heavily one one or two hot weeks like the one he's having.

http://media.scout.com/Media/Image/91/917564.jpg I might be crazy. But from the pictures, it certainly looks like del Valle is certainly the guy on the left, as the caption suggests. Either those other guys are really short and dinky, or else it looks to me like del Valle seems both taller and heavier than any of them. Not sure he looks like 165 pounds in that picture.... http://images3.listindiario.com/image/article/263/460x390/0/581FD689-C0C1-4926-A487-97431E9532DB.jpeg http://media.scout.com/Media/Image/91/917564.jpg

Az Phil has a note about him today. Said he's formally on the roster, but that he's actually staying at the European baseball academy, or something like that.

Frank DelValle has signed with the Cubs, according to BA. http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/2011/06/minor-league-transactions-june-8-14/ In the note you linked, he looks to be the biggest of those four prospects in the picture (assuming the listed names are in order with the pictures players. But the translation article was kind of confusing, so maybe not even the caption is quite like I'd expect...) Cal, do you know anything about him? Young, old? I know we've signed some Cubans, but Smelly Borges and this 27-year old Valdes (?) who's roster-filling at Daytona, these weren't actually meaningful major-league prospects.

I hope so too. But I've always considered Arizona to be a pretty good place to hit, too, and every spring we hear reports about how breaking balls can't break in Arizona Cactus League, etc.. But from Az Phil's box scores, which I did not read faithfully so I may have a very coincidentally and selectively unfavorable batch, but I got the impression that Golden was kind of the Soriano/Ryan Harvey of XST, K-K-K-K-K. Maybe I just saw some box scores from a couple of his worst games, and he's ready to roll now. http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/06/16/1690851/hawks-raw-prospect-seeks-return.html Limited by a hamstring injury, Golden played just four games in rookie ball last year. He hit .333, but struck out seven times in 15 at-bats. This year, he has worked on developing a better approach at the plate, more consistency in his swing and taking better routes on fly balls in the outfield. “This year, I’ve learned more than twice as much as I had in my whole life,” Golden said. “I’m starting to feel myself when I do bad, when I do wrong. In high school, I really didn’t have an approach.” At 5-foot-10 and 210 pounds, the 19-year-old Golden has the look of a powerful running back. Instead, his combination of speed and power should play in right field. Hawks manager Mark Johnson compared him to Hall of Famer Kirby Puckettand current Chicago Cub Marlon Byrd, both outfielders with thick bodies and all-around games. “He’s going to be really fun to watch. He can do it all. He’s an exciting player,” Johnson said, while singing Golden’s praises off the field, too. “He’s a great kid with a great work ethic. I can’t say enough about how respectful and how good a kid he is. He just needs to play.” Nice to get the enthusiastic comments by the manager. The great kid, great work ethic, respectful, how good a kid he is, that's encouraging to read from the manager. AsPhil hasn't painted that picture for us previously. The article includes a picture of Golden in a Boise uniform, so I assume it's current and from this week. (He didn't play at Boise last year.) He could well have a little blubber underneath the shirt, but he certainly doesn't look fat, as Phil had described him earlier this spring. Hopefully he'll be able to hit. It would sure be refreshing if he could. Read more: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/06/16/1690851/hawks-raw-prospect-seeks-return.html#ixzz1PTVBn2ZX

At this point, I'd add Jeff Beliveau, Steve Clevenger (and say bye to Koyie Hill), Ryan Flaherty, Marwin Gonzalez, Matt Szczur and Josh Vitters. Obviously, this could change as players emerge the rest of the season. That looks like a good selection, cal. As mentioned by others, plenty of candidates on the 40-man to get derostered, so I don't see much problem. Flaherty, Szczur, Vitters, and Beliveau seem like the only sure things. But hopefully Clevenger's defense is good enough to make him worthwhile and Marwin. I suppose you never know. If they've got easy roster space, and if Lake finished well, maybe. Sometimes good-arm pitchers are surprise roster choices. Smit last year. Mateo a few years back. So it wouldn't be beyond possible that somebody like Hatley might pop in, or even Burke if he was a lefty and was throwing 95 with a promising breaking ball for two months.

Couple of thoughts: 1. Maybe the decline in range is real. Vitters goes to Camp Colvin, he matures a little bit physically and gets a bit thicker and stronger, and in the process he loses just a little bit of quickness and defensive flexibility. 2. Maybe the decline in range and defense is just a coincidental fluke of small sample size. He's gotten about 80 balls this year, maybe some grounders just happened to be a little wider than last year where he'd have had 90 fieldable balls last year; or the pitching staff isn't quite as pullable for RHP as last year so RH hitters aren't pulling as many balls his way. He's got about 4 more errors than would have been last year's pace, he just happened to flub a couple and happened to thorw an extra two away, that can happen. 1B just didn't catch a couple of the throws this year that weren't any worse than some throws last year that the 1B scooped. The AA scorekeeper is just a little stricter, and is used to more competent defense than back in A, so some balls that he's fumbled this year are listing as errors when last year the scorekeeper said they were tough plays, lets give the kid a hit. To me, though, it seems that whether or not he's actually gotten a lot worse or it's just some flukey stats, it's pretty likely that he hasn't' gotten any better. His ability to play 3B has always been iffy. Everybody understood he might not have the quickness needed right from the start, and that even if he did at first he might outgrow it. And everybody also understood that he wasn't very good at first, and that he'd need to improve a lot with practice. So it was always the hope that he'd gett better with time. But I don't see that as having happened or as happening right now. We can wonder whether he's actually significantly worse than last year, or really more or less comparably bad to last year but just small-sample fluked into looking worse. But I guess to me it seems like whether he's equally bad or actually a lot worse, either way he's not better, and he needed to get better by a lot. He's in high minors, he's almost 22 now, it's time to pull the plug on the 3B experiment. We tried and tried and tried and tried, it's not going to work, it's time to move on to the 1B/LF possibilities. He may be awful in LF too, but it's time to give it a try and give him as much 1B/LF experience as possible so that if his bat does come along, there will some position where he can play. I'm still hopeful (obviously not certain) that his bat and his HR power will come along far enough for him to be useful even at 1B or LF. So maybe I'm more willing to pull the plug on the failed 3B dream because I'm more hopeful about his bat and still think he might hit enough to make it at 1B/LF. Just staying equally bad to last year isn't sufficient. We might argue that he may not really be much worse than last year, but that's still not good enough. He needs to get better, and that doesn't appear to be happening.

I think you're probably right, that he's bad across the board, his throwing is bad, his footwork is bad, and his hands are bad too. Other than that, he's probably fine. :) 13 errors in 42 games, that's pretty bad. project to a big-league 162 and we're talking 50 errors at 3B? Most big-league 3B's don't make more than 10-15, and the good ones don't reach double figures in a good season. Ramirez is not a good defensive 3B, but he was 24 when he last started a season in which he reached 20 errors. Aram is not a high-efficiency 3B, but his career fielding percentage is .949, and the league average over his career has been .955. Vitters is at .855 this season (at 3B)! That's incredible. Although his career fielding percentage is a lusty .901 at 3B. His range factor is 1.88. Over Aram's career the NL league average range factor has been 2.65. Look at the Cubs system (http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CHC/2011-organization-batting.shtml?redir), then go to the section with infielders and sort by positions. There Vitters sits with 15 errors, while the next highest is Scott Moore with 8, and guys like Marques smith, DJ Lemahieu, Aram are sitting with 3, 4, and 5. (I realize that Aram is the only one who's played only 3B.) But the point, I think, is pretty obvious. Vitters is a couple of echelons in a different world than the other full-season 3B, and grossly for the worse. He's got horrible range; he's got a terrible fielding percentage; he doesn't make plays on balls that don't score as errors because his range stinks, and even what he can reach he's still incredibly errorific. This probably sounds really negative, and in terms of his 3B defense I guess it is. But it's just reality, the facts, I think. He's horrible at 3B. I think he's got a chance to be a very meaningful and useful hitter. And I know we hoped he'd do it at 3B. But I just don't think that's at all realistic, and he'll be turning 22 this season. It's probably time to get him ready to play some position where hopefully he'll be merely bad but not awful. Like I say, I think he's got a chance to be a big-league hitter. Maybe as a utility player, but perhaps as a starter at some corner spot or someday as an AL DH. But I think we're just kind of wasting time dreaming that at age 22 or 23 he'll suddenly turn into a big-league defensive 3B. I think being a decent (but not perfect) hitter is undervalued on this board. It seems we sometimes act like anybody who isn't an .850 or .900-OPS is useless at 1B or LF or RF. But if you look at the league positional stats, how many of the 1B's, LF's, and RF's really are above .840 OPS? I wouldn't dismiss the possibilities of Vitters ending up somewhere as a .780-.850 type hitter in due time. If he hits .290 and in time blossoms into a 15-25 HR type guy, with an .800-.820 type OPS, I think there's a pretty good chance that we won't always have three better 1B/LF/RF bats on the team. I hope we do, but I think there may well be value for an .800-OPS guy at one of those corners. But if he spends all his time making errors at 3B, he'll never get adequate to play any of the other spots as well as he might be able to (probably little chance to be average at any of them, but his chance of being almost average is better if he gets some experience than if he just keeps embarrassing himself at 3B. I guess I think Vitters to 3B was like Fox at catcher or Kelton at 3B.

Nice presentation. When he's not been in his rushed slump sessions, he's been able to fairly consistently walk up somewhere near or above the .800-OPS level: Boise: .863 Peoria: .886 Daytona: .795 Tennessee: .780 Like you say, hardly get-excited numbers, but not write-him-off-as-bust numbers either. I think Jersey's point is very well taken, though, as questionable as is his offense, his defense is as much so. As a future DH, those numbers aren't too hot. His 3B defense is reputed to he horrific. Poster on my other board is very positive type fan, not a cynic at all, he goes to tons of Tennessee games, and he likes Vitters. I was pleasantly surprised when he said recently says that Vitters has looked pretty good at 1B. But he says that Vitters is really bad at 3B, ant that you're putting your life somewhat at risk to sit on the 1B side when Vitters is at 3rd. The reports are pretty similar only worse to the kind of feedback we got when Kelton was at AA. But it's interesting to envision Vitters perhaps blossoming into a capable defender at 1B. I'd like to see him get some outfield action pretty soon. If big-league managers are never going to use him at 3B, his chances are a lot better as a 1B/LF/RF than as a 1B/DH only. Both as a utility player (not a lot of bench guys get carried who can only play 1B). And as a starter. If he's a .780-.840 OPS guy, some teams that would get regular playing time for a solid-fielding 1B. But quite a few teams will have somebody better than that at 1B. Ideally you'd have all three of 1B, LF, and RF occupied by somebody who hits better than that and will field better than Vitters too. But at least currently, I don't think there are very many teams who actually do have .800+ guys at all three of 1B/LF/RF. May be a reach to envision Vitters blossoming into an adequate LFer, though. We know he's not fast, and his infield throwing is really wild. Although sometimes outfielders set up and throw differently and a wild infielder ends up being not that bad an outfield thrower. But who knows if he can catch a fly ball, or track a fly ball, or get any kind of a jump on a fly ball. It may be that they haven't even tried him out there in games because they have looked at him and he has no aptitude. But I'd sure like to see him get that chance. One other Vitters comment. The rushed-struggled-adjusts paradigm seems to work. But I wonder is some of that isn't as much just coincidence. Guys get hot and then they get cold, everybody has his ups and downs. But since Fleita has promoted him anytime he got hot in the past, the perception is that he's mastered, and that at each level he's progressing through adjustment to mastery. But maybe not. Case 1: Peoria. The season he started at Peoria, he was pretty poor for a while, then he caught fire and went crazy. But he had actually relapsed back to his slump mode even before the promotion to Daytona. Not sure Daytona caused the trough, he'd already fallen off the peak and was in or heading to the trough before he hit Daytona. Where he snugly stayed in that trough for the rest of the season. Cast 2: Tennessee. IIRC, he started out quite hot at Tennessee. He was on the crest when he got promoted and he stayed there for a week or so, then he fell off and went into trough. Scotti has repeatedly noted that he was back up towards a crest when he got injured and his season ended. This year he started off on a crest, he was hitting up towards .400 with a .900-OPS n April, then he fell into a trough and dropped down to .240 BA and the .700 OPS bubble, now he's found a crest again and has gotten up to .280's and .780 OPS. My expectation is that he's a wavy hitter, he'll have his peaks and he'll have his troughs, somewhat regardless of league level. Of course that applies for every hitter, we all know that. But Vitters has seemed a bit more wavy than some. I'd like to leave him be, and see how well he can ride the wave at it's crest. All hitters have their ups and downs, but the better ones are better able to extend their times on the crest and both shorten their times in the troughs and make the troughs less low. Let's let him be for a while. Hopefully he'll stay hot and burn his average up over .300 and his OPS over .800, and keep them there. But it may also be that he's due for another drop and two weeks from now he'll be back at .260 with a .740 OPS. Just let him ride things and learn what he can. I don't think he's anywhere close to being big-league ready, at any position defensively, or as a hitter. Just let him work things through at Tenn for a while.

Good question. I think it depends on what Maples will settle for. One of the early posts said he ws demanding $3M. We've seen the kind of talent you can get for $0.15-.20 on guys like Struck, Beeler, McNutt, Kurcz, and Reed in recent drafts. If it's 15 overslot guys in that price range versus one Maples, I'm going for the fifteen projectable overslots. One of the concerns with Maples was that he has a worrisome delivery. So the odds are pretty strong that even if you sign him, he'll go the same way as Rhee, Brownlie, Blasko, Hagerty, and Christensen. So I'd lean towards the volume of good prospects over Maples, if he's really going $3. At $1.5, different story.

Thanks, cal. Sounds like both sides have some interest. I suspect most superslot prospects in the draft can say they'll likely sign if they get their money. But when "their money" is set so high that nobody drafts you until the 39th round, it may be that there isn't much belief that you're actual potential justifies your money. The curious thing here was the bit about how the Cubs want him to increase his velocity. Even though reports keep talking about 94 and 96 and velocities like that. Are the Cubs expecting him to throw 99-101? I suspect this suggests that he doesn't really often throw these Wow velocities, and the 94's and 96's aren't really any more valuable than Kirk's 95's and 96's from HS. But we'll see as always. Encouraging read for sure, though. If he really looks as good this summer as some of these gaga scouting reports, and as fast, maybe the Cubs will pay and be glad they did.

I hope so too. But I've always considered Arizona to be a pretty good place to hit, too, and every spring we hear reports about how breaking balls can't break in Arizona Cactus League, etc.. But from Az Phil's box scores, which I did not read faithfully so I may have a very coincidentally and selectively unfavorable batch, but I got the impression that Golden was kind of the Soriano/Ryan Harvey of XST, K-K-K-K-K. Maybe I just saw some box scores from a couple of his worst games, and he's ready to roll now.

I was told that the Cubs brought in about a dozen international kids to Arizona when they were scouting for the draft. (The same viewing where Springer, Vogelbach, Tayler Scott, and Gretzky all participated.) They had about 40 kids in, but about a dozen were internationals, mostly DR but some from Korea. A whole army of scouts to watch and make recommendations. I thought that was interesting, because I usually assume DR guys are scouted in DR and Koreans in Korea, and I usually assume these pre-draft things at Mesa are all draft prospects only. I'd imagine you could assemble a pretty good crowd of talent, kind of like one of these HS showcase events I suppose.

1. I assume you're speculating as to who will start? I'd guess the same names, I think. 2. I think the OF could be pretty productive for the league, regardless of how they project as major leaguer. I think that Ping-Chieh Chen could be a pretty high-average hitter, and I assume that Klafczynski should be quite productive relative to that league. I wouldn't be surprised if Golden was a .230 hitter, but if he hits too, the OF could be effective. Will be fun to see how they actually produce in box-score games.

Thanks, Claw. I think you make a good point that "filler" is a vague and general term, and may not apply. "Filler" is probably more appropriate for a 42nd rounder like Zapenas than for a 20th rounder like Klafczynski. Given how many real and meaningful prospects they drafted later than round 20, it stands to reason that if he doesn't have some big-league potential, they'd not have spent a pick on him that high. Likewise I think that Hoilman, 19th round, is more than just filler. When a guy is that big and has that kind of power and has put up the kinds of numbers he did in college, there's at least a chance that he'll make it work in the pros, too. Cal, the fact that Maxwell is a 5th year senior, and will turn 24 before the summer is done, is why I'm puzzled that he hasn't signed yet and makes me curious to see what his story is. Is he injured? Is he going to seminary or medical school instead of pro baseball? Is he in some kind of rehab? It seems odd that a guy who was a weekend starter for quite some time at a power like TCU, and was pitcher of the year in his non-trivial conference, is sitting around in the 37th round and not signing right away at his age. There's got to be some story involved with him. I'll be interested to hear what it is once somebody digs it up.

Those are basically the 22-year-olds, mosty roster fillers. Only three 22-year-olds remain unsigned, the two Florida State guys who can't and Steven Maxwell of TCU. I wonder what his situation is.

18.Pugliese, James Mercer County CC RHP R/R 6'03" 195 1992-08-12 18 J1 Pugleise is 18, so who knows what projection remains for him in terms of adding strength and velocity. http://www.nj.com/times-sports/index.ssf/2011/06/mercers_james_pugliese_leads_t.html

That said, not that many NFL prospects run at less than 4.5. Guys under 4.4 are immediately viewed as having elite straight-line speed. Second, NFL wide receivers are a rather extraordinary frame of reference compared to baseball players, aren't they? To have "average" NFL-WR speed I would think would immediately make you "elite" relative to major leaguers. I'd think that if you can keep up with an average NFL WR or CB, that there won't be more than a handful or two of major league guys who can run with you, much less faster? Or maybe I'm way off.

That's interesting, if true. Although I'm not sure it's true if/when Szczur is at full health. Since speed has been the one top tool that every scouting report I've ever read on Szczur has mentioned. I think speed has been the first virtue in 100% of the reports. I wonder where info like this comes from. When he started out 12-0 in SB, and stole half of those in a week, I was starting to hope that he had both the speed and instincts to be a premium base stealer, with the thinking that he didn't steal much at first because of injuries. But now that he's gotten thrown out on 4 of his last 5 or 6 tries, my enthusiasm in his base-stealing future has dimmed a bit.

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110608&content_id=20203006&vkey=news_chc&c_id=chc ... A bleacher bums poster posted the following, based on comments by randy bush in a pregame radio interview: http://bbf.createaforum.com/general-discussion/2011-draft-52/525/ Seems to confirm/reinforce what Wilken said. Pretty exciting and encouraging. I also think that Ricketts having enough interest to sit in for all three days is encouraging. I imagine that as a fan it would be fun, and as a boss trying to get to understand the process and to get to see a bunch of his important employees in action also smart. The three days of draft and the half-week of organizational meetings in October are perhaps the best opportunities to see a lot of the personnel in action. We'll see how that encouragement plays out in terms of actual signings. But I'm pretty encouraged. Really encouraged.

How fast is his fastball, what movement does it have, and what is he throwing breaking-ball-wise, and how good is it? Has his mix changed this year? You deserve credit for leading his bandwagon, toonster. I had my doubts about promoting him so soon, and was uncertain that he'd done enough at A+ to deserve any such promotion already. But he's certainly handled the transition smoothly, and has actually been better since the move up. I just don't have a good feel for what he throws and how it projects. Last year a friend saw him and reported on him twice, and pretty much said he was totally fastball-fastball-fastball, that he didn't mix in much offspeed stuff at all. I take it you think that's not a good picture, and that his breaking stuff is coming along favorably?