Going to post this separately from the game thread since I was actually behind the plate for last night's game in Asheville. First impressions...
1.) Ricardo Sanchez' breaking ball is as nasty as advertised. The problem is he's rarely able to throw it for a strike - at this point it's simply a chase pitch. Fastball sat 89-91 (stadium gun at McCormick Field hasn't been right in 20 years - I checked with the guys behind the plate that were tracking and charting pitches). Settled down a little after the first inning, but control was still spotty - especially out of the stretch. Seems to be in a hurry to throw every pitch. The bomb he gave up to Brendan Rodgers is a double in almost every other park in baseball - the RF wall is 36 feet high, but it's only 270 feet to the RF foul pole and Rodgers' liner cleared the wall by maybe 2 feet (less than 300 feet from the plate). Very much still a work in progress.
2.) Riley's Ks aren't strictly a result of getting beat on breaking balls - he missed quite a few hittable fastballs as well. Pitch recognition has a long way to go. The double he hit was an absolute rope that never got more than about 6 feet off the ground. The concerns about his ability to stay at 3B long-term are legitimate, but certainly not set in stone. His reactions and instincts are good, and he made a great play on a liner hit a couple steps to his left in the bottom of the third. The lower body is big, and he's likely going to always have to work hard on conditioning if he's going to stay on the dirt without having to move across the diamond.
3.) Ronald Acuna has a chance to be special. He knows what he’s doing with a bat in his hands. He followed his solid single in the first inning with an immediate steal of second. He doesn’t have Mallex-level speed, but he can move. Everything Acuna does is smooth. Patient at the plate (don’t think I saw him get fooled once) and uses the whole field. Not sure there’s going to be real game power, but that’s always later to develop, and he is still really young.
4.) Jonathon Morales can hit. I have no idea where he can play defensively, but he can flat-out hit. Peter Lambert (the Tourists’ SP) was a bit of a surprise to me since I definitely didn’t expect him to be so polished, but nothing he threw got Morales or Acuna off-balance at any point. Lambert’s fastball sat between 90-94 and he had a much tighter breaking ball than Sanchez, but neither hitter had trouble recognizing or catching up with either.
5.) Ray-Patrick Didder is likely going to become a numbers-victim. He played RF last night, and his reads and routes look like they’d translate in CF as well – the problem is going to be that he’s just not going to be quite as good as Mallex, Albies, or Swanson, and he’s not going to provide enough power to be an everyday corner guy. Very athletic and quick and actually reminds me of Albies, but I’m not sure whether he’s going to have Ozzie’s defensive ability (mainly since I didn’t get to see him at SS). I have no idea whether Erison Mendez is just better defensively or if last night was just his turn there, but Mendez did make a *elluva play on a looper in shallow left-center following Riley’s gem to bail Sanchez out in the third. Didder could eventually make a lot of sense as a super-utility option with his speed and flexibility if he’s not traded.
6.) Luke Dykstra could well turn into a pretty good hitter. Good approach and doesn’t try to do things he can’t, but he’s likely going to be more of a “meh” guy given the middle infield talent we already have (plus what’s yet to come). He’s solid at 2B, but really didn’t have a chance to make a spectacular play on defense. I didn’t see any tool that would rate as plus but he is a real “gamer”, and definitely more of the type of athletic player we consistently drafted in the later rounds before the Wren era – the really competitive-type that forces better players to consistently keep their effort level up because he’s capable of stepping in for them at any point.
And finally, the “find” of the night that no one’s talking about – YET…
7.) Bladimir Matos is definitely the under-the-radar arm to keep your eye on (or at least one of them). Every fastball was 93-95 (again, verified) with late movement, and he was able to locate it on both sides of the plate. Displayed much better control of his breaking ball than Sanchez on this occasion. Chilly temps are often cited as a cause for making it tough to spin it, but it was much cooler when Matos entered than it was when the game started. While it wasn’t as nasty as Sanchez’, it was much more effective. Unless I missed one, he threw EVERY pitch out of the stretch – which begs the question about whether they’re already looking at him strictly as a reliever. I didn’t get a chance to talk to Randy Ingle after the game (he happens to be my Aunt and Uncle’s neighbor during the offseason) to ask. Multiple arm angles and release points, and he's REALLY hard for hitters to pick up.
Afraid I’m probably not going to make tonight’s game but plan to do my best to be there tomorrow afternoon, and I’m hoping that I’ll get a chance to say hi to Randy – and hopefully ask him a couple questions.
1.) Ricardo Sanchez' breaking ball is as nasty as advertised. The problem is he's rarely able to throw it for a strike - at this point it's simply a chase pitch. Fastball sat 89-91 (stadium gun at McCormick Field hasn't been right in 20 years - I checked with the guys behind the plate that were tracking and charting pitches). Settled down a little after the first inning, but control was still spotty - especially out of the stretch. Seems to be in a hurry to throw every pitch. The bomb he gave up to Brendan Rodgers is a double in almost every other park in baseball - the RF wall is 36 feet high, but it's only 270 feet to the RF foul pole and Rodgers' liner cleared the wall by maybe 2 feet (less than 300 feet from the plate). Very much still a work in progress.
2.) Riley's Ks aren't strictly a result of getting beat on breaking balls - he missed quite a few hittable fastballs as well. Pitch recognition has a long way to go. The double he hit was an absolute rope that never got more than about 6 feet off the ground. The concerns about his ability to stay at 3B long-term are legitimate, but certainly not set in stone. His reactions and instincts are good, and he made a great play on a liner hit a couple steps to his left in the bottom of the third. The lower body is big, and he's likely going to always have to work hard on conditioning if he's going to stay on the dirt without having to move across the diamond.
3.) Ronald Acuna has a chance to be special. He knows what he’s doing with a bat in his hands. He followed his solid single in the first inning with an immediate steal of second. He doesn’t have Mallex-level speed, but he can move. Everything Acuna does is smooth. Patient at the plate (don’t think I saw him get fooled once) and uses the whole field. Not sure there’s going to be real game power, but that’s always later to develop, and he is still really young.
4.) Jonathon Morales can hit. I have no idea where he can play defensively, but he can flat-out hit. Peter Lambert (the Tourists’ SP) was a bit of a surprise to me since I definitely didn’t expect him to be so polished, but nothing he threw got Morales or Acuna off-balance at any point. Lambert’s fastball sat between 90-94 and he had a much tighter breaking ball than Sanchez, but neither hitter had trouble recognizing or catching up with either.
5.) Ray-Patrick Didder is likely going to become a numbers-victim. He played RF last night, and his reads and routes look like they’d translate in CF as well – the problem is going to be that he’s just not going to be quite as good as Mallex, Albies, or Swanson, and he’s not going to provide enough power to be an everyday corner guy. Very athletic and quick and actually reminds me of Albies, but I’m not sure whether he’s going to have Ozzie’s defensive ability (mainly since I didn’t get to see him at SS). I have no idea whether Erison Mendez is just better defensively or if last night was just his turn there, but Mendez did make a *elluva play on a looper in shallow left-center following Riley’s gem to bail Sanchez out in the third. Didder could eventually make a lot of sense as a super-utility option with his speed and flexibility if he’s not traded.
6.) Luke Dykstra could well turn into a pretty good hitter. Good approach and doesn’t try to do things he can’t, but he’s likely going to be more of a “meh” guy given the middle infield talent we already have (plus what’s yet to come). He’s solid at 2B, but really didn’t have a chance to make a spectacular play on defense. I didn’t see any tool that would rate as plus but he is a real “gamer”, and definitely more of the type of athletic player we consistently drafted in the later rounds before the Wren era – the really competitive-type that forces better players to consistently keep their effort level up because he’s capable of stepping in for them at any point.
And finally, the “find” of the night that no one’s talking about – YET…
7.) Bladimir Matos is definitely the under-the-radar arm to keep your eye on (or at least one of them). Every fastball was 93-95 (again, verified) with late movement, and he was able to locate it on both sides of the plate. Displayed much better control of his breaking ball than Sanchez on this occasion. Chilly temps are often cited as a cause for making it tough to spin it, but it was much cooler when Matos entered than it was when the game started. While it wasn’t as nasty as Sanchez’, it was much more effective. Unless I missed one, he threw EVERY pitch out of the stretch – which begs the question about whether they’re already looking at him strictly as a reliever. I didn’t get a chance to talk to Randy Ingle after the game (he happens to be my Aunt and Uncle’s neighbor during the offseason) to ask. Multiple arm angles and release points, and he's REALLY hard for hitters to pick up.
Afraid I’m probably not going to make tonight’s game but plan to do my best to be there tomorrow afternoon, and I’m hoping that I’ll get a chance to say hi to Randy – and hopefully ask him a couple questions.
