2013 College Baseball Notes: Volume 3

Pitt starts their home schedule next weekend by hosting the Panther Classic (Youngstown State and Manhattan coming in). Unless it really warms up this weekend, I will probably pass, but I’m not too far away from live games!

Important Note: I must stress that these notes are€” in most cases€” based on only one game of data. A player is not at his best every time out, and we need multiple viewings before we get a clear picture of the player.

Previous Volumes:

• Volume 01
• Volume 02
• Index

Player: Mark Appel
College: Stanford University
Position: Starting Pitcher
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6′-5″ / 215 lbs
Class: Senior
Draft Year: 2013
Games:

• 3/1 vs. Texas

Notes:

1. Tall; long legs; fairly well filled out frame but athleticism still present; well developed lower half
2. Rocking delivery with an easy motion; uses lower half well
3. Big, full arm circle; very fast arm; high 3/4 arm slot
4. Fastball has very easy velocity and is delivered on a downhill plane
5. Comes out of his hand easily with late arm side run
6. Fastball is lively down in the zone; ground ball inducing pitch when put in play
7. Overpowering pitch that hitters had to fight just to foul off; a lot of swing and miss
8. Slider thrown with good power and sharp 11-5 break; nice late tilt
9. Slider is tight with hard, late downward break; very sharp
10. Shows consistently good depth and tight spin
11. Uses pitch effectively as a pitch to back door for a called strike; also works well as chase pitch out of zone
12. Change up thrown with excellent arm speed, featuring late drop and some fade
13. Sells the change up well and sees hitters consistently swing over the pitch as it drops out of zone
14. Showed good command of three pitches, generally hitting target; command not as sharp when pitching from stretch
15. Will occasionally pull his fastball
16. Got ahead of hitters consistently and seemed to be pitching more aggressively than in past looks
17. Pitched off of his fastball; generally kept it down in the zone and would elevate occasionally as chase pitch
18. Very confident demeanor on the mound; cruised through the game for a dominant complete game shutout

Comment: I’ve had my share of angst over Mark Appel as a top five draft pick. The stuff has always been there — at least in flashes, the three pitches rarely seemed to come together at the same time — but his passive approach to hitters and inconsistencies from inning to inning left me wanting to see more. He showed me everything on Friday. I have not had the chance to watch Manaea pitch other than the videos from the Cape, but I am comfortable saying that I prefer Appel to Stanek right now.

Player: Tyler Beede
College: Vanderbilt University
Position: Starting Pitcher
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6′-4″ / 215 lbs
Class: Sophomore
Draft Year: 2014
Games:

• 3/2 vs. UIC

Notes:

1. Good height; wide shoulders; athletic build; fairly well filled out frame
2. Nice delivery that gets weight moving forward and uses lower half very well
3. Delivery can get a bit out of control, causing him to fall off mound and lose release point
4. 3/4 arm slot without much effort
5. Big fastball with nice late run and sink; 93 in first, 96 in fourth, 93 in fifth, 93 in sixth (via announcers)
6. Late life on the fastball; shows ground ball tendencies; blown past hitters fairly consistently; overpowering
7. Threw a few cut fastballs with a couple inches of glove side movement; decent depth
8. Curve ball is a slurvy 10-8 breaker thrown with power and late darting action
9. Breaking ball shows consistently tight spin and hard, late break; good depth
10. Back-doors pitch well for called strikes; works even better as chase pitch out of zone; got hitters to chase consistently
11. Change up thrown with conviction and late screw ball-esque action with hard, late fade and sink
12. Very good action on the change up; a bit firm at times; 85 in the fifth inning (via announcers)
13. Swing and miss pitch that he sets up very well with his fastball and sells with the arm speed
14. Lacked fastball command; challenged hitters in the middle of the zone with pitch with good results
15. Throws strikes with all of his pitches; better command of off-speed offerings than fastball
16. Attacking and pitching off of the fastball; showed aptitude for setting hitters up for off-speed
17. Control and command worsened in the mid-late innings; some release point issues caused bad misses; hitters put a few better swings on fastballs in middle of zone
18. Good, quick pick off move to first base

Comment: I saw Beede early last season, but this was a surprise. His was extremely impressive even on a cold, snowy day at Vanderbilt. The command issues will likely work themselves out, but even without good command, it was not an issue. Beede sells his offspeed pitches extremely well and had hitters guessing wrong often.

Player: Parker French
College: University of Texas
Position: Starting Pitcher
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6′-2″ / 210 lbs
Class: Sophomore
Draft Year: 2014
Games:

• 3/1 at Stanford

Notes:

1. Average height; fairly well filled out; strong lower half
2. Full arm circle; high 3/4 arm slot
3. Arm action looks a bit rough; delivery features some head violence
4. Fastball has significant arm side run and sink; velocity looks average
5. A lot of movement on the fastball makes it difficult to square; generating a lot of ground ball outs
6. Hitters got a good look at the fastball in the first inning, but movement and locating improved by the second and he was very effective from that point on
7. Change up looks a bit too slow; features significant drop and a touch of fade
8. Action is inconsistent; threw a couple with good, late movement but rest were mediocre
9. Slows arm speed a bit on the change
10. 11-5 slider with a decent amount of depth
11. Break on the slider is not overly sharp; more gentle, steady break
12. Generated a few swinging strikes with offspeed stuff, but relied heavily on fastball and getting easy ground outs
13. Command was poor in the first inning but improved by the second; showed ability to throw fastball to different regions of the plate
14. Threw strikes consistently, especially with the fastball from that point on; frequently worked efficient innings with quick, easy outs
15. Showed a gingerly thrown show-me pick off move and then came back back with a much quicker, more aggressive move
16. Gets off the mound well and, barehanded, fields a bunt towards the third line to get batter-runner

Comment: Stanford scored two runs off of Parker French in the first inning and could do little from that point. He threw a tremendous game, needing only 81 pitches over 7 innings of work. He just happened to be facing a Mark Appel who brought his ‘A’ game.

Player: Daniel Gossett
College: Clemson University
Position: Starting Pitcher
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6′-0″ / 180 lbs
Class: Sophomore
Draft Year: 2014
Games:

• 3/1 vs. South Carolina

Notes:

1. Average height; thin with lankiness; moderate projection in frame
2. High waist; thin thighs; good athleticism
3. Mechanical, multi-part delivery; short arm circle with cut off extension on backside; delivery even more herky-jerky from stretch
4. Fast arm; nearly over-the-top arm slot
5. Fastball has good velocity with downhill plane low in the zone
6. Movement is fairly straight but it jumps out of his hand and gets on hitters quickly
7. Got a few hitters to chase fastball up and out of the zone for swinging strikes
8. 12-6 Curve ball thrown with good tight spin and power; moderate depth
9. Looked mediocre at times early in the game; threw with more power, tigher spin, and better shape in later innings
10. Sharpness on curve ball varies; inconsistent pitch overall
11. Curve ball worked well as a chase pitch out of the zone with less of a hump and hard downer break into the dirt
12. Straight change up with some late dropping action
13. Gets consistent action on the change up; swing and miss pitch
14. Worked very quickly and challenged hitters in the zone with his arsenal
15. Control and command are solid from the delivery; both worsened considerably from the stretch (missing consistently low, in the dirt with fastball)
16. Got off of the mound very quickly to field a sac bunt to his right

Player: Conrad Gregor
College: Vanderbilt University
Position: First Base
Bats/Throws: L/R
Height/Weight: 6′-3″ / 215 lbs
Class: Junior
Draft Year: 2013
Games:

• 3/2 vs. UIC

Notes:

1. Tall, wide shoulders; thick lower half; filled out; no projection
2. Patient approach at the plate; showed ability to work his way back into counts
3. Quick, short swing; power in frame but showed a more contact oriented approach
4. Often takes a reserved swing and will just throw bat head at pitches; ball does jump off of his bat
5. Pulled his head off pitches a few times; bailing out a bit to first base

Player: Grayson Greiner
College: University of South Carolina
Position: Catcher
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6′-5″ / 210 lbs
Class: Sophomore
Draft Year: 2014
Games:

• 3/1 at Clemson

Notes:

1. Tall; lanky; long limbs; projection still in frame
2. Aggressive approach and swing at the plate; shows very good bat speed
3. Smooth, effortless swing; Quick bat; fairly short to ball for size
4. Pull-oriented – flew out to LF, singled through SS/3B hole; and grounded out to SS on a slower swing where he seemed to guide his bat to contact point

Player: CJ Hinojosa
College: University of Texas
Position: Short Stop
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 5′-11″ / 190 lbs
Class: Freshman
Draft Year: 2015
Games:

• 3/1 at Stanford

Notes:

1. Average height; good athleticism; not overly physical
2. Patient approach at the plate; took pitches early in the count and managed to lay off of Appel’s off-speeds out of zone
3. Kept hands close to body and put a good swing on an inside fastball to line out to center field
4. Looked comfortable at short stop; made a number of plays on hard hit balls with facilities; very easy actions
5. Charged slow ground balls well on a couple of occasions with smooth transitions; did make one throwing error charging slow chopper around the mound
6. Takes charge in the infield; covered for Erich Weiss (who had fallen down) on a pop up to the second base side of the infield
7. Smooth transition and flip to initiate a double play

Player: Lonnie Kauppila
College: Stanford University
Position: Short Stop
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6′-0″ / 175 lbs
Class: Junior
Draft Year: 2013
Games:

• 2/17 at Rice
• 3/1 vs. Texas

Notes:

1. Average height; thin, athletic frame
2. Takes hard aggressive swings; fairly short; knack for hard, square contact
3. Fairly patient at the plate but will jump on early fastballs, particularly inside
4. Ranges well at short stop and makes all of the plays
5. Made tremendous sliding play on a rocket ground ball to his left; pop up slider and throws over to first base to get runner
6. Arm looks light for the position; works at this level

Comment: Lonnie Kauppila is a hell of a college short stop but probably fits best at second in pro ball. He always seems to do something that impresses me when I watch Stanford games.

Player: Tony Kemp
College: Vanderbilt University
Position: Second Base
Bats/Throws: L/R
Height/Weight: 5′-6″ / 160 lbs
Class: Junior
Draft Year: 2013
Games:

• 3/2 vs. UIC

Notes:

1. Short, undersized frame; very athletic
2. Shows ability to be patient and work the count
3. Takes big swings for his size but seems to step toward first base and bail out a bit
4. Athleticism works well at 2B; nice reactions on big, unexpected hop
5. Made a great leaping catch on a throw down to second base that sailed on the catcher; quickly brought the ball back down to get the runner over-sliding second base

Player: Jordan Montgomery
College: University of South Carolina
Position: Starting Pitcher
Bats/Throws: L/L
Height/Weight: 6′-4″ / 225 lbs
Class: Sophomore
Draft Year: 2014
Games:

• 3/1 at Clemson

Notes:

1. Tall; wide shoulders; well developed upper half that’s a touch on the soft side; durable frame
2. Delivery lacks fluidity; doesn’t complete arm circle; reaches back and just stops before coming up to cocked position
3. 3/4 arm slot; deliberate follow through where the arm hangs on finish; not a high effort delivery
4. Fastball has pretty good velocity and some life down in the zone; 88 & 89 in the first (via announcers who felt that the reading from the gun were slow)
5. Slight sink and run on the fastball; good arm speed
6. Fastball seems to catch hitters by surprise; a lot of late, awkward swings and watched strikes
7. Cut fastball with late 2-8 movement; decent depth and darting action to his glove side
8. Effective pitch with nice late movement
9. Slider with bigger 2-8 break than cutter
10. Some sliders show nice late break; others lack sharpness and can get a bit slurvy, just running away from left-handed batters out of the zone
11. Change up shows a touch of arm side fade; not a ton of movement on pitch
12. Slows motion when throwing change up; still generated a couple swinging strikes
13. Arm speed is much better on fastball than offspeeds
14. Moves fastball around the zone very well; hitting general intended vicinity
15. Stays out of the heart of the plate; throws to corners with misses occurring out of the zone
16. Command improved as the game went on; hitting corners that he was merely aiming at before
17. Worked very quickly on the mound

Player: Brian Ragira
College: Stanford University
Position: First Base
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6′-2″ / 210 lbs
Class: Junior
Draft Year: 2013
Games:

• 2/17 at Rice
• 3/1 vs. Texas

Notes:

1. Good height; starting to fill out his once lanky, athletic frame
2. Takes early in the count and typically puts himself in a favorable position
3. Lets fastball travel deep and puts good, short swing on ball
4. Swings bat with authority, but it’s compact and generally opposite field oriented
5. Showed ability to turn on an inside fastball, lining the pitch off of the top of the wall for a double
6. Hits the ball where it’s pitched; showing more ability to turn on inside pitches and driving outside ones opposite field

Player: Max Schrock
College: University of South Carolina
Position: Second Base
Bats/Throws: L/R
Height/Weight: 5′-9″ / 175 lbs
Class: Freshman
Draft Year: 2015
Games:

• 3/1 at Clemson

Notes:

1. Short; thick lower half; well developed frame; mature body
2. Open stance with an active bat pre-swing
3. Takes powerful, aggressive, full-bodied swings
4. Easy bat speed and good extension; very quick bat
5. Does a good job fouling off secondaries when he seems to be looking for fastball
6. Hardest contact came on a ball smoked to second base that resulted in him reaching base via error
7. Looked solid in his left-on-left at bat sequence:
   1. took first two pitches to 1-1
   2. Pulled head on a big swinging strike on fastball low/away
   3. Checked his swing on a chase pitch out of the zone
   4. Took a fastball low/away (same pitch he chased earlier in count) for ball
   5. Waited on a fastball middle/away and drove to center field for line out; put good swing on pitch

Statistics From Around the Country

Contributing: Al Skorupa

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