2013 College Baseball Notes: Volume 4

Spring came to western Pennsylvania for the weekend! It is only expected to last for a few days, but it was warm enough for me to journey to Oakland and see my first live game of the year, Pitt vs. Youngstown State. I will be editing that video this week and should have them finished by the end. I’ve decided to not mix the webcast and live game notes; primarily because, I wouldn’t have been able to finish the video in time for a Monday publication.

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
• Volume 03
• Index

Player: Matt Boyd
College: Oregon State University
Position: Starting Pitcher
Bats/Throws: L/L
Height/Weight: 6′-3″ / 217 lbs
Class: Senior
Draft Year: 2013
Games:

• 3/8 vs. Texas State

Notes:

1. Good height; average, well filled out frame
2. Multi-part delivery with a very high leg kick; odd pacing; 3/4 arm slot
3. Average fastball with a touch of late run and sink; 87-88 (via announcers)
4. Moves the pitch in and out well; sets up other pitches with well spotted fastballs
5. Change up has good late action with arm-side fade and drop
6. Has the classic screwball-esque movement when thrown well; swing and miss pitch
7. Gets soft at times which adds movement but hurts his deception
8. Big breaking 1-7 curve ball that seems to fall out of the sky
9. Good shape and a lot of depth; decent sharpness; a bit soft
10. Arm-slot looks a tick higher when throwing the curve ball compared to the fastball
11. 3-9 cut fastball with a couple inches of glove side movement
12. Steady movement; located well inside to right-handed batters
13. 2-8 slider looks like the midway point between the curve ball and cutter; cutter could be a harder variation of the slider
14. Decent depth; not overly sharp; but well located, liked to backdoor against right-handed hitters
15. Consistently got ahead of hitters and pitched efficiently
16. Showed very good command of all pitches, generally hitting desired location on both sides of the plate
17. Deep arsenal that lacked a true standout pitch; showed good feel for pitching and changing speeds
18. Command was not as pinpoint by the fifth inning; OSU had a huge lead and he seemed to be pitching more to contact (which in turn caused harder contact against him)

Player: Tony Bryant
College: Oregon State University
Position: Relief Pitcher
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6′-7″ / 221 lbs
Class: Senior
Draft Year: 2013
Games:

• 3/8 vs. Texas State

Notes:

1. Very tall; thin, narrow frame; not much projection
2. Over the top arm slot
3. Fastball is delivered on a steep downward plane
4. Easy fastball velocity; seems to be playing catch and blowing the fastball by hitters
5. 12-6 curve ball with moderate depth; good late break on the pitch
6. Change up features the same downward plane as his fastball; touch of late fade
7. Good action on the change when thrown well; will occasionally slow himself and guide the pitch
8. Aggressively pounded the zone with the fastball then mixed in a few secondaries; easy couple innings of work

Player: Michael Conforto
College: Oregon State University
Position: Left Field
Bats/Throws: L/R
Height/Weight: 6′-1″ / 215 lbs
Class: Sophomore
Draft Year: 2014
Games:

• 3/8 vs. Texas State

Notes:

1. Good height; well filled out frame; looks like he’s slightly trimmer than last year
2. Advanced eye at the plate; takes pitches out of the zone, even slightly, with facility
3. Works the count well (often starts ahead) and does a good job of fouling off pitches
4. Smooth swing with very good bat speed; lets the ball travel well before committing
5. Didn’t make much loud contact in this game; two singles and two walks before being giving the rest of the day off in a blow-out win

Player: Tyler Eppler
College: Sam Houston State University
Position: Starting Pitcher
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6′-5″ / 215 lbs
Class: Sophomore
Draft Year: 2014
Games:

• 3/6 at Rice

Notes:

1. Tall; thin and lanky frame; thin thighs; some projection
2. Gets his weight moving forward and uses lower half well in delivery
3. High 3/4, nearly overhand arm slot; arm action looks slightly cut off on backside but otherwise clean
4. Fastball comes out of his hand well with steady arm-side run
5. Can miss bats with fastball; 90 in the second; 88, 88, 89 in fourth (via announcers)
6. Good downward plane when located towards the bottom of the zone
7. Straight change up has some drop and a touch of late fade
8. 11-5 curve ball with a lot of depth; threw later ones with more power and less break
9. Inconsistent offering, some show good sharpness and hard downer break; others look slower
10. Started to lose depth on pitch later in the game but still had decent shape and power; 77 in the fourth (via announcers)
11. Not consistently controlling his pitches
12. Lacked fastball command; tended to miss up in the zone with fastball
13. Heavy fastball approach to hitters; using the pitch fairly aggressively which mitigated some of the control issues
14. Quick pick off move with little wasted action

Player: Kyle Finnegan
College: Texas State University
Position: Starting Pitcher
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6′-2″ / 180 lbs
Class: Junior
Draft Year: 2013
Games:

• 3/8 at Oregon State

Notes:

1. Average height; height waist, athletic frame; thin thigh; not overly physical with some projection
2. Delivery is rough; reaches back with arm; arm circle is a bit short; pulls with lead arm and has a tendency to fly open
3. High 3/4 arm slot; fast arm with some effort in delivery
4. Big fastball with a touch of arm side run; pretty good life on pitch; 92, 93 in second, 92 in fourth (via announcers)
5. Can blow the fastball by hitters; swing and miss played down because of his (lack of) command
6. Gets downward plane low in zone; fastball looked less lively later in the game
7. 11-5 power curve ball delivered on a flat plane with hard late break
8. Very sharp pitch but has a tendency to break early into the dirt
9. Good tight spin on curve ball; frequently breaking out of zone low/glove side
10. Didn’t establish as a pitch he could throw for a strike until the fifth inning; a lot of successfully checked swings on CB out of zone
11. Straight change with a touch of sink
12. Change worked mostly as a ground ball pitch
13. Lacked command of pitches and struggled at times throwing strikes; got behind in counts frequently and went to deep counts on most hitters
14. Efficent, aggressive pick off move with little wasted motion; made a throwing error on one pick off attempt

Player: Andrew Godail
College: Sam Houston State University
Position: Relief Pitcher
Bats/Throws: L/L
Height/Weight: 6′-0″ / 185 lbs
Class: Sophomore
Draft Year: 2014
Games:

• 3/6 at Rice

Notes:

1. Average height; moderately well filled out
2. Smooth delivery with good extension; controlled follow through
3. 3/4 arm slot
4. Fastball delivered on a very flat plane with a touch of cut action; nice late glove side movement on fastball
5. Fastball has surprising velocity for how easy his motion is; 88, 89, 90 in first inning of work (via announcers)
6. Elevated the fastball with bases loaded to get a swinging strike out of zone
7. 2-8 curve ball showed good power and sharp break when thrown well
8. Frequently failed to finish the breaking ball; left many of them up/arm side
9. Struggled with command of fastball; got behind in count regularly

Player: Connor Mason
College: Rice University
Position: Starting Pitcher
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6′-3″ / 185 lbs
Class: Sophomore
Draft Year: 2013
Games:

• 3/6 vs. Sam Houston State

Notes:

1. Good height; thin, athletic frame; moderate projection
2. Slow, multi-part delivery; long arm action on back side; 3/4 arm slot
3. Arm looks a bit slow; mechanical follow through with extension but lacks fluidity; some effort
4. Fastball has steady arm side run and downward plane
5. Pitch lacked much velocity; sat low-to-mid 80s, topping out at 86 (via announcer)
6. 11-5 curve ball has decent power; shape is mediocre; low 70s, 73 in third (via announcer)
7. Inconsistent offering; some break early; some slip out of hand; some lose shape; and some show more power and sharpness than the rest
8. Seems to be very deliberate spinning the curve ball
9. Change up has steady fade and drop
10. Action on the change is OK most of the time; did seem to slow himself and telegraph pitch on a few occasions
11. Threw strikes but wasn’t truly command his stuff
12. Not afraid to pitch inside; fastball movement works well with that approach to right handed batters, busting them inside often ending up out of zone
13. Homerun came via a fastball up and in that was turned on well by the hitter
14. Pace slowed to a crawl with runners on base in the fourth; many pick off moves and excess time between pitches; was replaced soon after

Player: Taylor Starr
College: Oregon State University
Position: Relief Pitcher
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6′-2″ / 210 lbs
Class: RS Senior
Draft Year: 2013
Games:

• 3/8 vs. Texas State

Notes:

1. good height; solid frame; no projection remaining
2. Short arm action; fairly loose arm
3. Fastball has good velocity with a touch of arm side run
4. Fastball velocity is generated velocity easily; can be over powering
5. 12-6 curve ball has late downward break; sharp at times; decent amount of depth
6. First couple breaking balls had good sharpness but the later ones less so
7. Change has steady downward action
8. Didn’t show much ability to command fastball

Player: Jordan Stephens
College: Rice University
Position: Relief Pitcher
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6′-1″ / 185 lbs
Class: Sophomore
Draft Year: 2014
Games:

• 3/6 vs. Sam Houston State

Notes:

1. Average height; good wide frame
2. Slow, two-part delivery with a high leg kick; leans backward and turns towards second base
3. Deliberately takes hand out of glove; short arm action; effort in delivery
4. Fastball has good velocity and late life; 91, 92, 92, 92 in his first inning, 89 in his second (via announcer)
5. Gets good arm side on fastball; can be blown past hitter even in the middle of the zone
6. 11-5 breaking ball with sharp break
7. Good shape & depth with some showing late tilt
8. Change up has steady downward action
9. Some change ups show better than others with later downward action; got a swinging strike up in zone with change

Statistics From Around the Country

Contributing: Al Skorupa

5 Comments on "2013 College Baseball Notes: Volume 4"

1. 

   Brian Recca March 11, 2013 at 6:13 pm - Reply

   Any chance you could add D.J. Peterson to the 2013 draft eligibles list?

   • 

     Jeff Reese March 11, 2013 at 6:49 pm - Reply

     No problem, Brian! He’ll be included in the next edition.

2. 

   John March 16, 2013 at 1:05 am - Reply

   Elvin Soto? Prospect?

   • 

     Jeff Reese March 16, 2013 at 1:55 am - Reply

     Yes, not an elite prospect, but he’s interesting. Receiving needs work, but he’s a decent athlete with solid catch/throw skills. Switch hitter with a quick swing. Good day at the plate last Saturday.

      

     Here’s the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQriM0O0xXY