2012 Volume #01

Ah ha! Another college baseball season has descended upon us. Even there are still patches of snow in Pennsylvania, winter is officially over. I'd like to welcome everyone back. Those that read this column last year will know the drill, let me repeat the introduction sentence that I used last year:

Through various webcasts, I was able to watch a few games this weekend and jot down notes along the way. I present them to you in a mostly unaltered form.

I hope to continue to present these to you every Monday until the end of the college season, but there will be some difficulties in doing so this year. For one, I intend to make more of an effort to see live baseball. It will mean more traveling for me since the only thing around is Pitt baseball, but I'm hoping it's worth the reward. Matt Smoral's high school is about 135 miles to the northwest, and that is a trip I must make at least once. Also, I'll be making a trip to Buffalo/Toronto for the weekend at the end of March.

Given these potential stumbling blocks, I'm changing the numbering scheme from "Weekends" to "Volumes." I plan to continue using the same index that I created last year for the sake of continuity. I've made the necessary adjustments and henceforth they'll be indexed as [year].[volume], so this will be put in as 2012.01.

With that out of the way, I think we started the 2012 season with a bang. There are some big names below!

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:

• Index

Player: Mark Appel
College: Stanford University
Position: Starting Pitcher
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6'5" / 215 lbs
Class: Junior
Draft Year: 2012
Games:

• 2/17 vs. Vanderbilt

Notes:

1. Tall, wide frame, well developed legs; room to add weight
2. Smooth low effort delivery, high 3/4 arm slot
3. Fastball comes out of his hand well and gets on hitters quickly; 96, 95, 94, 96 in the first; 92, 93 in the second; 92, 93 in the third; 93 in the fourth; 92 in the fifth (via announcer)
4. Fastball doesn't have a ton of movement, some late run but nothing significant
5. Fastball shows more life down in the zone and will straighten when elevated
6. Good, hard 12-6 breaking ball showed late break at times; pitch doesn't have significant depth
7. Breaking ball has good downward movement and a touch of horizontal break but none are devastating
8. Inconsistent throughout the night; started to look a bit better in the later innings
9. Threw a couple that looked more like true sliders; pitch had late horizontal break; 10-4ish movement
10. Change up with some downward movement; throws with good arm speed
11. Change started to feature more significant drop in the 6th inning
12. Throws all pitches for strikes but has difficulty commanding them
13. Fastball started to wander throughout the zone after the first inning
14. Gave up a lot of hard contact despite the low number of hits against; Stanford's athletic defense bailed him out on a number of occasions
15. Works best when he's in a quick rhythm; 6th inning was easily his best of the night, showing a much more consistent breaking ball and change up

Comment: The 2012 Mark Appel looked an awful lot like the 2011 Mark Appel. His offspeeds were inconsistent; his velocity dipped after the first inning of work; and his command was unimpressive. There's a lot of internal debate here at Bullpen Banter about who the best college pitcher is. Appel needs to convince me that he is that guy over the next couple of months.

Player: Tyler Beede
College: Vanderbilt University
Position: Starting Pitcher
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6'4" / 200 lbs
Class: Freshman
Draft Year: 2014
Games:

• 2/17 at Stanford

Notes:

1. Tall with room to fill out his frame
2. Smooth rhythmic delivery, overhand arm slot; repeats delivery well
3. Falls off of the mound on occasion
4. Fastball has excellent downward plane and a touch of late run
5. Fastball lacks elite velocity; 89, 89, 89, 87, 87, 91 in the first; 89, 90 in the second; 91 in the fourth (via announcer)
6. 12-5 curve ball with significant depth; 76 in the fourth (via announcer)
7. Curve has mostly vertical break with some slight horizontal as it reaches plate
8. Curve ball can break early; inconsistent: some look very good others looked unimpressive
9. Change up with good downward plane and some drop; throws with conviction
10. Action on the change improved after the first inning; late, sudden drop; 81 in the second; 80 in the third (via announcer)
11. Command, especially of the fastball, was generally good; did go through a few bouts of missing the zone
12. Change-up was easily his worst controlled pitch; most ended up in the dirt
13. Stanford hitters were able to put excellent swings on fastball
14. By the end of the outing, Beede was pitching off of his offspeed pitches; using the fastball as a change of pace pitch
15. Good athleticism: dove to catch a bunt in front of the mound

Player: Ivan De Jesus
College: University of Alabama - Birmingham
Position: Left Field
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6'0" / 180 lbs
Class: Sophomore
Draft Year: 2013
Games:

• 2/18 at Clemson

Notes:

1. Thin, athletic frame with wide shoulders
2. Shows some patience at the plate
3. Was fooled by a few breaking balls; chasing one out of the zone and frozen by another that was called a strike
4. Drove a ball to DEEP right field, opposite way, loud contact
5. Covers significant ground in LF

Player: Scott Firth
College: Clemson University
Position: Relief Pitcher
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6'0" / 165 lbs
Class: Junior
Draft Year: 2012
Games:

• 2/18 vs. UAB

Notes:

1. Average height with an athletic build
2. High 3/4 arm slot; some effort in his arm action where it lags a bit behind his body; puts himself in good a fielding position
3. Fastball has seemed to have velocity, good downward plane, some arm side run
4. Hard 12-6 curve ball with good shape, tight spin, and depth
5. Curve ball lost shape when he used it as a chase pitch
6. Shows some ability to command fastball, painted corner for K during one AB
7. Elevated fastball a few times and got hit

Player: Julius Gaines
College: Florida International University
Position: Short Stop
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6'0" / 160 lbs
Class: Freshman
Draft Year: 2014
Games:

• 2/19 at Rice

Notes:

1. Average height, athletic with an underdeveloped lower half
2. Showed some patience but did chase a few breaking balls
3. Hit one rocket line drive directly up the middle (hitting off of Stephens's glove)
4. Looked pretty smooth at short stop; misplayed one ball that took a bad hop
5. Arm looked light with a number of throws dying as they reached first base

Player: Connor Harrell
College: Vanderbilt University
Position: Center Field
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6'3" / 215 lbs
Class: Junior
Draft Year: 2012
Games:

• 2/17 at Stanford
• 2/18 at Stanford
• 2/19 at Stanford

Notes:

1. Big frame, well developed shoulders
2. Clears hips very well; generates easy power
3. Hit a pair of no-doubt home runs that jumped off of his bat during game two, one off of a Mooneyham fastball
4. Will almost certainly move to a corner spot at the next level

Player: Jose Lazaro
College: Florida International University
Position: Starting Pitcher
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6'0" / 175 lbs
Class: Freshman
Draft Year: 2014
Games:

• 2/19 at Rice

Notes:

1. Average height; thin and athletic with underdeveloped thighs; rounded shoulders, not projectable
2. 3/4 arm slot; long delivery with some moving parts; fast arm but some effort in his arm action
3. Falls off of the mound
4. Flew open and had a varying release point
5. Fastball looked like it had good velocity and late life with sink and run
6. Slider has good late 10-4 movement
7. Quality pitch with late break; not a ton of depth but short, late movement
8. Change up has some drop
9. Missing up and glove side with FB often
10. Had no feel for the strike zone; showed a little bit more control of his offspeeds than fastball
11. Recorded only one out before being removed from the game

Player: Dominic Leone
College: Clemson University
Position: Starting Pitcher
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 5'11" / 195 lbs
Class: Junior
Draft Year: 2012
Games:

• 2/18 vs. UAB

Notes:

1. Average height; rounded shoulders; no projection remaining
2. High 3/4 armslot, some effort but not drastic; puts himself in a good fielding position
3. Average fastball has good downward plane when low in the zone; fairly true with a touch of late sink at times
4. Inducing ground balls with his fastball
5. 1-7 curve ball has good shape; late fall off the table break; not a power pitch
6. Quality of the break varies, some are late, others are early; shape is fairly consistent
7. Change has some slight drop
8. Was not really commanding his stuff but can throw pitches for strikes
9. Attacks hitters with stuff and, for the most part, gets hitters to put the ball in play early in the at bat

Player: Jared Miller
College: Vanderbilt University
Position: Relief Pitcher
Bats/Throws: L/L
Height/Weight: 6'6" / 230 lbs
Class: Freshman
Draft Year: 2014
Games:

• 2/17 at Stanford

Notes:

1. Tall with a simple, repeatable motion
2. 3/4 arm slot with a quick tempo; some effort
3. Fastball has some late armside run; can be hittable
4. Gets good downward plane on fastball low in the zone
5. 11-5 Curve ball has depth and some lateness to the break
6. Spins curve ball well; threw one very sharp breaking ball to Austin Wilson
7. Around the plate throughout his outing

Player: Andrew Mitchell
College: Texas Christian University
Position: Starting Pitcher
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6'3" / 220 lbs
Class: Sophomore
Draft Year: 2013
Games:

• 2/17 vs. Ole Miss (first 3 innings)

Notes:

1. Tall; big shoulders; athletic build; not much projection left
2. High 3/4 arm slot; not much effort; long, smooth windup
3. Throws with more effort when working out of the stretch
4. Fastball has premium velocity and a touch of arm side run; 94 in the first; 94, 94 in the second (via announcers)
5. Fastball has good downward plane, especially low in the zone
6. Hard 12-6 curve ball with good depth
7. Can subtract from his curve ball and add depth; a big fall out of the sky offering
8. Hitters will chase his curve ball out of the zone
9. Commanded his fastball and curve ball to both sides of the plate
10. Command suffer when pitching out of the stretch
11. Works quickly

Comment: Had to cut my viewing of Mitchell/Wahl short in order to watch the first game of the Stanford/Vanderbilt series. I should get a number of looks at both throughout the spring.

Player: Brett Mooneyham
College: Stanford University
Position: Starting Pitcher
Bats/Throws: L/L
Height/Weight: 6'5" / 215 lbs
Class: RS Junior
Draft Year: 2012
Games:

• 2/18 vs. Vanderbilt

Notes:

1. Tall, athletic frame with broad shoulders
2. 3/4 arm slot, slight hitch in his arm action, some moving parts
3. Fastball comes out of his hand well with some late sink and run; 92, 92, 92, 89, 91, 91, 91, 91, 89 in the first; 91, 91 in the second; 91 in the third; 91, 89 in the fifth; 88, 89, 90 in the sixth (via announcer)
4. Fastball can miss bats and features more life down in the zone
5. Generally inducing fly ball contact
6. Sharp 2-8 slider; 79 in the first (via announcer)
7. Slider has good late break and significant depth
8. When he finishes the pitch it is really nice, late break; can miss bats within the zone
9. Change-up has good late action with drop and some fade; 84 in the first; 79, 81 in the second (via announcer)
10. Showed the ability to throw all of his pitches for strikes; controlled his stuff better as the game progressed
11. Continues to struggle with commanding his stuff, but no longer shows the complete wildness that plagued him a few years ago
12. Throws to the general intended region and was around the zone for the entire outing

Comment: A few years ago when I first watched Brett Mooneyham pitch, he had one of the most electric left handed arms that I had ever seen as an amateur. The fastball exploded out of his hand and his curve ball showed absolutely devastating break. Unfortunately, he had no idea where it was going, and he was just as likely paint the corner as he was to throw it 2 feet behind the batter. The curve ball would often just spin and show no break at all. His stuff is not at the same level as it was two years ago, but it is still good and can miss bats. Mooneyham's boxscore points to a continued difficulty locating, but there has been significant improvement here. Don't be surprised if he works himself back into first round consideration.

Player: Philip Pfeifer
College: Vanderbilt University
Position: Relief Pitcher
Bats/Throws: L/L
Height/Weight: 6'0" / 195 lbs
Class: Freshman
Draft Year: 2014
Games:

• 2/18 at Stanford

Notes:

1. Average height; average build; not projectable
2. Herky jerky delivery with violence; does not seem to be in sync; fast tempo with a lot of moving parts
3. Arm looks fairly clean; 3/4 armslot
4. Fastball has some late sink; 88, 89, 91 (via announcer)
5. 11-5 breaking ball with some depth; most lacked shape; 76, 73 (via announcer)
6. Change-up has hard, late fade; 84 (via announcer)
7. Lacked control; missing with all of his pitches; fastball often low and glove side in the dirt

Player: Stephen Piscotty
College: Stanford University
Position: Third Base
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6'3" / 215 lbs
Class: Junior
Draft Year: 2012
Games:

• 2/17 vs. Vanderbilt
• 2/18 vs. Vanderbilt
• 2/19 vs. Vanderbilt

Notes:

1. Tall, athletic build; speed plays fairly well on the bases
2. Nicely balanced swing; clears his hips and can turn on pitches
3. Drove balls to all fields, including a pair of homeruns over the left field fence; a lot of hard contact in the series
4. Made a couple of nice stops at third base; excellent arm strength; can get in trouble by trying to do too much

Player: Brian Ragira
College: Stanford University
Position: First Base
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6'2" / 200 lbs
Class: Sophomore
Draft Year: 2013
Games:

• 2/17 vs. Vanderbilt
• 2/18 vs. Vanderbilt
• 2/19 vs. Vanderbilt

Notes:

1. Wide frame; looks to have added some to frame over winter; still plenty of room to fill out
2. Nicely balanced swing
3. Squared up pitches regularly; hard line drive contact throughout the series
4. Looks to drive the ball opposite field; wears out the right center field gap with line drives
5. Good diving stop at first base in the first game.

Player: David Schmidt
College: Stanford University
Position: Relief Pitcher
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6'0" / 175 lbs
Class: Freshman
Draft Year: 2014
Games:

• 2/17 vs. Vanderbilt

Notes:

1. Lacks size, well filled out upper half
2. Simple delivery that he repeats well; high 3/4 arm slot
3. Hooks his wrist in his delivery
4. Generated fastball velocity easily; 94, 92, 91, 90, 92 in his first inning of work; 92, 94 in his second (via announcer)
5. Fastball has some late sink but uneventful life
6. Showed good command of his fastball through his two innings of work to all regions of the zone
7. Didn't throw many offspeed pitches

Player: Sam Selman
College: Vanderbilt University
Position: Starting Pitcher
Bats/Throws: R/L
Height/Weight: 6'3" / 190 lbs
Class: Junior
Draft Year: 2012
Games:

• 2/19 at Stanford

Notes:

1. Good height; thin thighs; plenty of projection remaining
2. Live, fast arm; clean 3/4 arm slot; Quick tempo'd, slightly complicated delivery
3. Fastball has power and comes at a good angle; 95, 93 in the second; 88, 93 in the third; 88 in the fourth; 91, 91, 90, 92 in the fifth
4. Fastball doesn't have a lot of movement but can miss bats
5. Hitters were able to sit on the pitch when he had difficult locating his offspeeds
6. Rolling 10-4 curve ball; more depth than sharpness
7. Threw one sharp breaking ball low and in to a right handed batter
8. Change up has immediate fade/dying action; 78 in the fourth (via announcer
9. Action takes effect too early and was easily picked up by hitters, especially in the early stages of his outing
10. Change improved a bit later in the game and was able to throw a few for strikes
11. Generally around the zone with his fastball, but did not have much command of the pitch
12. Control issues with his secondaries, especially during the first two or three innings; most of his change ups missed low and to his arm side
13. Battled through the outing after a rough second inning in which Vandy's defense abandoned him; ate up innings when he could have folded early

Player: Richie Shaffer
College: Clemson University
Position: Third Base
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6'3" / 205 lbs
Class: Junior
Draft Year: 2012
Games:

• 2/18 vs. UAB

Notes:

1. Tall, well proportioned athlete with developed shoulders; thin waist; lean thighs
2. Balanced swing that creates good bat speed; extends arms well
3. Patient approach; showed ability to protect plate with two strikes and work back when behind in the count
4. Made hard contact and drove three pitches during the game; one cleared the left field fence easily; one was a screaming fliner to the left fielder; and the third was a low/away fastball that he drove to the top of the center field wall
5. Made a nice play ranging to his left, spun around, and fired a bullet to first
6. Impressive arm strength

Player: John Simms
College: Rice University
Position: Relief Pitcher
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6'3" / 210 lbs
Class: Sophomore
Draft Year: 2013
Games:

• 2/19 vs. FIU

Notes:

1. Tall with a well developed upper half; no projection remaining
2. 3/4 arm slot; doesn't use his size well, ball lacks great plane; some effort involved
3. Fastball comes out of his hand well; big pitch that can miss bats in the zone
4. Fastball overpowers hitters with the raw velocity rather than good movement
5. 11-5 Curve ball with late, deep break; some show two-plane break
6. Straight change with some late drop; not drastic action
7. Throws it fairly confidently; nice late action; not much more than a change of pace pitch yet
8. Change and curve were both inconsistent; fastball was his primary pitch for the day
9. Controlling his stuff well enough but poorly commanded; fastball command improved a bit during third inning of work

Player: Jordan Stephens
College: Rice University
Position: Starting Pitcher
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6'1" / 185 lbs
Class: Freshman
Draft Year: 2014
Games:

• 2/19 vs. FIU

Notes:

1. Wide shoulders; room to add weight to frame
2. 3/4 arm slot; some effort in his delivery; seems to really try to power up out of stretch
3. Arm action is a bit short on back end
4. Fastball was big with some late sink
5. Good late life on fastball; can miss bats when well located
6. Hard 11-5 power curve ball, good shape with late 'fall off the table' break
7. Curve ball was fairly consistent
8. 10-4 late breaking slider with good shape; late horizontal break
9. Change-up mirrors the fastball with a touch of late fade
10. Around the zone throughout the outing; showing enough control to get by on his raw stuff
11. Tendency to let the fastball fly up and away to his arm side
12. Showed little ability to command his pitches; missed up in the zone often

Player: Jason Stolz
College: Clemson University
Position: Short Stop
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6'2" / 205 lbs
Class: Senior
Draft Year: 2012
Games:

• 2/18 vs. UAB

Notes:

1. Fairly quick bat; extends arms well
2. Takes big aggressive swings and can get off balanced
3. Aggressive at the plate and on the bases; looked to take another base at every opporunity
4. Fairly smooth actions at SS; charges ball well and has a quick transfer
5. Showed good arm strength on high chopper to SS
6. Ranged well to both his left and right; showed he could make strong throws in various situations: off balance, on the run, et cetera

Player: A.J. Vanegas
College: Stanford University
Position: Starting Pitcher
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6'3" / 215 lbs
Class: Sophomore
Draft Year: 2013
Games:

• 2/19 vs. Vanderbilt

Notes:

1. Tall; wide, well developed shoulders; thick thighs; long arms; not much projection
2. Fairly smooth delivery; simple and repeatable without much effort; hooks his wrist a little bit; high 3/4 arm slot
3. Fastball has decent velocity and got on hitters quickly in first inning
4. Fastball lacks movement and downward plane
5. Hitters were putting good swing on the fastball in the second
6. Hard 12-6 curve ball with tight spin; 83, 80 in the second (via announcer)
7. Curve ball has good downward action and consistent shape; quality pitch
8. Slider with late 11-5 break; short break
9. Change up has gradual fade
10. Showed excellent control and good command, especially of his fastball

Player: Bobby Wahl
College: University of Mississippi
Position: Starting Pitcher
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6'3" / 200 lbs
Class: Sophomore
Draft Year: 2013
Games:

• 2/17 at TCU (first 3 innings)

Notes:

1. Tall with well developed shoulders; high waist; not projectable
2. Turns his body a bit and has some cross fire in his delivery, 3/4 arm slot
3. Fastball has significant arm side run; 92 in the first (via announcer)
4. Can blow the fastball by hitters
5. 1-7 curve ball with big 2 plane break
6. Curve ball lacks power but features nasty movement; 72 in the second (via announcer)
7. Straight change with some gentle drop
8. Pitching primarily away with his fastball
9. Struggled with command, leaving a lot of pitches up in the zone

Comment: Had to cut my viewing of Mitchell/Wahl short in order to watch the first game of the Stanford/Vanderbilt series. I should get a number of looks at both throughout the spring.

Player: Kevin Ziomek
College: Vanderbilt University
Position: Starting Pitcher
Bats/Throws: R/L
Height/Weight: 6'3" / 200 lbs
Class: Sophomore
Draft Year: 2013
Games:

• 2/17 at Stanford

Notes:

1. Odd, quick tempo'd, herky jerky windup; slight hitch in his arm action on the back end
2. Low 3/4 arm slot; works quickly
3. 4-seam fastball is fairly true; 93, 91 in the first; topping out at 88 in the fourth (via announcer)
4. 2-seam fastball has good late run and can miss bats
5. Sweeping 10-4 slider; doesn't have great depth nor sharp break
6. A few sliders showed sharper break
7. Change-up has good late fade and drop
8. Change-up has the action where it seems to die as it reaches the plate
9. Command issues throughout the night
10. Stanford hitters were picking up his stuff fairly easily; a lot of hard contact, including two homeruns
11. Excellent deception on his pickoff move