Ok, as promised, here is a little armchair scouting that I observed last night in Rome. I usually get in about 10 Rookie and 20 other Minor league games at higher levels. As mentioned, I sat in front of Braxton's dad so here are a few things of note:
Braxton - First of all, his dad said that he could hit bombs all day long, but that Braxton decided he wanted to be a higher average hitter. You can see it in his approach and he had a pretty good approach from what I saw: As a batter, he has a swing that is somewhat similar to Freddie's. Quick, short stroke, good approach to the ball. There was a high and outside pitch that he didn't catch up to, but the umpire was decidedly uneven calling him out on an inside fastball that was a foot inside. On the HR that he hit, it was an opposite field type that easily had the distance and after making two errors on one play, I said, here comes his first HR...it was nice! I even got it on film. As for his fielding, he moved from left to right after the first three innings and error(s) aside, he did ok. He's got a good enough arm, but after bobbling a hit, he threw a 5 hopper back to the infield that got away from everyone leading to his second error. I wouldn't say he's a butcher, but he's got work to do.
Max Povse - There was no radar gun from what I could see, but it "seemed" that he was sitting at around 90-93 occasionally ramping it up to mid-90's on a few batters. He was throwing some heat, but I was interested in his offspeed stuff. I thought his changeup was devastating when he set up the batters with his fastball. His curve was a little slurvy to me, but when he threw it again off of his fastball, he made a couple of hitters look foolish. Honestly, his only blemish was on a 93-ish MPH fastball that straightened out and Drew Weeks hit it to the moon. His defense let him down, but he was dealing. Tall pitcher, downward plane type of delivery and looks to be a workhorse type of pitcher. I could see a #3 pitcher on this night and he could add to an already impressive array of SP's in the system. I liked what I saw.
Ozzie Albies - Well.....at the plate, he seemed kinda unsure. I don't think he was intimidated at all, but he looked like the batboy during his first few at bats....his last at-bat that I saw he was overmatched. Now, that's the bad, I will say that he's got a great approach though. He takes what the pitcher is giving him and I can see why he did so well last year. He'll have to adjust, but I'm not worried about that sample size. THE FIELD: WOW! and then WOW some more. I was watching a shorter Andrelton at times. His arm is nowhere near as strong obviously, but it plays enough. He made one play behind second that was all quickness. The ball was hit up the middle and he fielded the ball behind the bag in the outfield, 360 spun and almost got the runner. He handled high hoppers, smoked line drives and easy plays flawlessly. Loved what I saw from that prospective. He has speed and quickness.
Tanner Murphy - I know a lot of people are high on him. Small sample size, I was OK with him, but not necessarily wowed. Defensively, Povse didn't help him and a guy stole third, but on one attempted base stealer, he double clutched. I think it was a scout next to me or something that said he's got to catch and throw. Well that's the name of the game for a catcher. I think he'll be ok. I was more looking at the offensive potential they talk about. He wasn't lost, but didn't look comfortable in the box to me. The last time up, he did and I think hit it to the second baseman. I'm hoping he'll turn it up a notch. Looks solid if nothing else.
Bryan De La Rosa - We drafted him high on hit potential. He DH'd so I don't think I saw him catch. In any case, he didn't wow me at all with his bat. He did hit one shot that the 3B had time to make a sandwich and use miracle whip and slice tomatoes and he still threw him out. But again, this was small size so I didn't take much away from what I saw. Stocky....squat..body of a catcher, runs like a catcher with a refrigerator on his back. LOL
Ok, that's a little bit of what I saw. Or rather the prospects that I paid the most attention to. Zach Quintana came on to pitch and I will only say that he was ok. I didn't discern that he would be a top 25 prospect for us in the future. He was short, quick to the plate, but nothing extraordinary.
Hope you enjoy.