Inside Pitch – 2013 Archives
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Inside Pitch – 2013 Archives Skip to content • Home ← Older posts November 19, 2013 Posted on November 20, 2013 by Admin The 2013 Arizona Fall League was once again represented by a healthy number of AZ high school alums. The most notable performance was turned in by Mountain Pointe and University of Utah product CJ Cron. CJ, an LA Angels farm hand, led the league in hitting with a .413 Batting average. He was second in homers with 5 and second in RBIs with 20 in 20 games. CJs Angel teammate Taylor Lindsey (Desert Mountain) hit .270 with 10 RBI and Pinnacle grad Brett Nicholas hit .273. Agua Fria grad Sammy Solis had an excellent fall on the mound. Sammy tossed 29 innings with a 2.17 ERA and led the league in wins with 5 and strike outs with 29. Horizon product Jeff Urlaub tossed 13 innings with an ERA of 2.77 Thunderbird grad Alex Sogard threw 12 innings with an ERA of 3.65 Desert Ridge grad Jake Barrett had a couple of rough outings out of the bullpen that skewed his numbers, but he still averaged over a strikeout per inning in 8 innings pitched. Expect to see him in the DBacks pen at some point next season. Merrill Kelly (Desert Mountain/ ASU) made 9 appearances in relied in the fall with an ERA of 4.91. Aaron- Altherr- (Agua Fria) hit .200 in 45 ABs. ________________________________________________________________________________ There is a very nice piece in Baseball America on The Arizona Fall Classic Tournaments and the Heid family, who runs the events. Very well done by BA’s Clint Longenecker. http://www.baseballamerica.com/draft/heid-family-develops-arizona-fall-classic/ Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment October 15, 2013 Posted on October 16, 2013 by Admin Week one of the Arizona Fall Classic series is in the books after the normal cavalcade of college coaches and scouts descended upon the valley for the AZ Senior Classic last weekend. The 67 team showcase format event was, as always, very well attended by coaches and MLB scouts. Despite the fact that I’ve seen most of the AZ senior players multiple times throughout the spring, summer and fall, it seems like every year somebody makes a late jump in performance going into their senior season. In 2013 that player was RHP Austin Schnabel from Notre Dame, who is now at the University of Arizona. In 2014, that guy may be 2014 RHP Trenton Stoltz from Paradise Valley HS. The 6-4 190 pound Stoltz has the prototypical pitcher’s frame. When I saw him in the spring and the early summer, he was a low 80s RHP with an average high school breaking ball. Like a lot of young pitchers with his body type, he had a lot of moving parts that didn’t quite synch up. Fast forward 4 months to this weekend, and it’s a completely different story. Stoltz worked a couple of innings for the AZBC Dodgers on Thursday, and blew me away with his development. He sat comfortably at 88-89 with an easy loose arm action. The ball comes out of his hand very cleanly. The breaking ball is now a firm 76 MPH slurve with good 2 plane movement and some late life to it. He mixed in an upper 70s change up with some good arm side fade. Trenton Stoltz Most importantly, Stoltz looks much more athletic, not to mention confident, out on the hill. There’s clearly more to be seen down the road and I’m looking forward to watching his progress in the spring. Spencer Moran I saw Mesa Mountain View’s Spencer Moran on Friday for the AZ Prospects. Moran is a top notch academic guy with a real projectable 6-6 190 body. He’s developing nicely, with the velocity up to 86-87 comfortably. His performance drew the attention of at least one D1 coach who called for more info about him later that day. O’Connor LHP Cameron Ming had a good weekend. I missed him on Thursday but heard he was impressive. On Saturday he worked one inning and used a 3 pitch mix to absolutely baffle the 3 hitters he faced while striking out the side. I spent a good part of the weekend taking another look at the White Sox Scout Team from Tucson, who I had seen a few weeks ago against Gateway CC. This is, without a doubt, the most talented group that Coach Brian Huie has had in many years. It starts with the pitching. 2015 RHPs Jio Orozco (Salpointe) and Sati Santa Cruz (Sahuarita) are both front line arms. Orozco, an ASU commit, worked at 90-91 on Saturday with very good feel of a change up and a a12-6 curveball. Santa Cruz was up to 92 and has a 75-76 MPH slider with some bite to it. I mentioned 2015 Catcher Cesar Salazar from Sahuaro, and he’s quite simply the best defensive catcher in the state. He routinely shows pop times around 1.8 in pre game and has a lightning quick transfer. 2015 Canyon del Oro outfielder Erick Migueles continues to impress me with the bat. He swings it from the left side and has a flat plane that keeps the barrel in the zone a long time. He will also jump on the mound and show 87-88 MPH. 2014 OF/RHP Andre Jackson had a couple of hits for the Sox as well, and Salpointe shortsop Ryan Ramsower had a nice weekend defensively and with the bat. Saguaro RHP Stephen Wright threw a couple of innings for All Star Baseball Academy on Sunday and looked impressive. He was up to 89 with the fastball and showed a good slider at 79-80. When he throws strikes he’s one of the livest arms in the class of 2014. All in all it was another great weekend hosted by Ted and Tracy Heid and family. I’m looking forward to the AZ Junior Classic this weekend. Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment September 25, 2013 Posted on September 25, 2013 by Admin The sheer number of summer and fall Club/Travel/Scout/Academy or whatever you want to call them teams that are popping up all around the valley and the state as a whole are making it very difficult to separate the players from the impostors. It was only a few years ago that the talent was clustered in 5 or less teams. Unfortunately, the number of teams has exploded, and a lot of players are participating in these so called elite events that are no more than run of the mill high school players. Need proof? 29 Arizona teams were entered in the Perfect Game events over the last 2 weekends. Not a single AZ team won their pool and advanced to the championship round. We can and should represent better than that. But when the talent is diluted like it is right now it isn’t going to happen. Of course, in fairness some of the better AZ teams did not participate in these events. I’m all for kids playing the game (obviously), but this showcasing/exposure industry has, quite frankly, watered down the talent so bad that it has almost become a waste of time for colleges. More so than ever before, if college coaches do not know who you are before they get to the event, you are flat out wasting your time if you hope to get attention from schools. __________________________________________________________________ A number of players were selected to the ginormous All Tournament team from last weekend’s PG Evoshield Upper-class tourney Tommy McCarty- All Star BB 17 -Mingus HS Alan Vega- Watsonville Aggies- Cibola HS Dallas Riggs- AZ Pilots- Bradshaw Mtn HS Jacob Weiss- Warriors- Pinnacle HS Najee Gaskins- Tucson Bobcats- Cienega HS Kobie Foppe-Watsonville Aggies-Notre Dame Prep Alex Verdugo-Prospects National-Sahuaro HS Alejo Lopez- Athletics- Greenway HS Alfredo Villa II-Tucson Bobcats-Rincon HS Luis Valenzuela- Tucson Cowboys-Salpointe Devin Young-All Star BB-Notre Dame Prep Chris Romero-AZ Wildfire-Coolidge HS Tyler Frost-AZ Athletics-Greenway HS Dimitri Johnson- Warriors- Kellis HS Chaz Montoya- AZ Prowlers- Centennial HS Matt Contreras- AZ Wildfire-Campo Verde HS Taylor Graff- P2 Pirates- Basha HS Spiro Valasakos- AZ Prowlers-Liberty HS Stephen Wright-All Star BB-Saguaro HS Adan Vega-Watsonville Aggies- Cibola HS Tyler Weninger- Mountain West-Hamilton HS _____________________________________________________________________________ I had a chance to see the AZ Athletics 18U team scrimmage Phoenix College at Grand Canyon last week. There really wasn’t much new to see, but the A’s have one of the more solid groups of talent in the area. Tyler Frost was on the hill to start and if I have to win a game he’s probably the AZ RH pitcher that I want with the rock. He was 86-88 and I’ve seen him up to 91 in the past. His slider is a plus pitch that is too much for the majority of high school hitters. He’s very polished, works fast and pounds the zone. Degan Harte from O’Connor is with the A’s this fall as well. The big righty was 86-87 with a mid 70’s 2 plane slurvish breaker that shows some promise. He mixed in a change up at 77-78. I like lefty Brandon Browne from Boulder Creek. He was solid in the summer and will be a good college pitcher. The velo is low 80s and he’s a bit of a slinger that’s hard to pick up.