Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Minor League Camp Videos

For me, one of the best aspects of spring training is having all of our minor leaguers in one place at the same time. Yesterday I finally had the chance to get away from big league camp and watch our two A-ball games against the Texas Rangers. These are the players that you (and I) don't get to see very often, so I thought I'd try to take some video.

This is my first attempt, so please excuse the different camera angles, the various zooms, and the shoddy editing. Just think Blair Witch.

The first video is Michael Watt, the young left-hander we received from the Dodgers in the Maddux trade last year.



This next video is left-hander Allen Harrington, our 13th round pick in 2007 out of Lamar. Allen pitched well immediately after the draft and was off to a very strong start in 2008 in Ft. Wayne - 58ip, 55 hits, 10 walks, and 53 k's with a 3.59 ERA - before elbow discomfort caused him to miss the rest of the season.



This last pitching video is Anthony Bass, our 5th round pick in the 2008 draft. Anthony put up a 2.10 ERA for Eugene last summer after signing and struck out 41 batters in 34 innings. It's too bad I didn't get him against any right-handed hitters, because that is when he can really use his slider, but I wanted to limit each video to two batters.




I didn't capture much with our hitters for two reasons: 1) I kept trying out different angles to see what might work the best, and 2) Matt Antonelli, Cliff Floyd, and Emil Brown were all hitting every inning to get in some extra work (minor league camp affords such flexibility). However, I did get this quick clip of Logan Forsythe, one of our compensation picks in 2008 and the 46th pick overall. You can't see it (nice angle, Paul), but he's facing Blake Beavan, Texas' #1 pick in 2007 and the 17th pick overall.




As you might be able to tell from the left-fielder's reaction, there wasn't much doubt about this one.

I hope you like the footage.

13 comments:

Telemachus said...

Was that giant of a man waiting to bat next Kyle Blanks?

Paul DePodesta said...

Telemachus,

No, that was Cliff Floyd. Blanks is bigger.

Unknown said...

Paul,
Would love to see you do posts with your answer on each poll after when the poll closes. If you don't want to do it on all your poll topics, can you at least give an answer to the current one?

Telemachus said...

Nice!

Steve24 said...

I like that you see them pitching inside about half the time. I think that's huge in the development of a young pitcher.

When Harrinton seemed to miss with the catcher was setting up inside (he went up & away) the catcher went right back to down & in (which is good to a righty) and he made a good pitch.

Do minor league catchers set up earlier that guys in the majors? I know this varies from catcher to catcher and wind up vs stretch. Just curious if the philosophy is different when you're trying to help teach young pitchers to hit their spots vs seasoned vets.

Just seemed to me that the catcher set up a tiny bit earlier than you'd see a big league guy set up.

Not sure if it was the camera angle but it appears that Watt throws across his body sometimes (hard to tell though with the angle).

Good stuff.

Unknown said...

One thing that's a little confusing to me is that both Harrington and Watt at times were on the verge of falling over when they finished their deliveries at times, but not all times.

Bass seemed to be in a little more "control" in that the completion of his delivery was a little more consistent.

Now, I'm not a scout and there are only 59 seconds of video on each, but is this something that happens to a lot of pitchers or are these two guys unique in this case?

Howard Lynch said...

The Logan Forsythe video is saying "not currently available" ... can you check it? I'm interested to see it!

Paul DePodesta said...

LynchMob,

I just watched the Forsythe one again, so it should be fine... I hope.

field39 said...

You have set the bar now. We are going to need minor league video, on a regular basis.

Unknown said...

Yes! Thank you so much for the updates and video of our minor league prospects, I don't get to see much of them. I would really appreciate it if you could make this a regular habit of posting these your blog. Oh and if you could get a nice HD camcorder that would be even better! Any updates on the big international prospects we signed last year? Haven't seem too much about them. Thanks again Paul, keep up the good work.

Wazzel Sport's Humor said...

A HR off Blake Beavan...nice. Although hitting ANY of TEX recent top picks at pitcher would be quite impressive

David Harris said...

I am excited about Watt. He looked like he had some great stuff. I hoping to see him in Lake Elsinore this season.

Paul DePodesta said...

matt,

Yeah, the quality of the video definitely goes down with the zoom. I'll see what I can do.

As for the big signings last year, most of them are preparing for their first professional season. The only one here in Peoria right now is Adys Portillo, who has had three outings. He's been up to 95 mph already and has looked good despite being much younger that anyone else here.