You can file this under “For Whatever It’s Worth”. Here are a few 2007 1st round high school picks, by OPS as of 4/18:
Mike Moustakas .552
Matt Dominguez .535
Jason Heyward .755
Kevin Ahrens .764
Pete Kozma .910
*All players are in class A. Moustakas, Dominguez, Kozma and Ahrens are in the Midwest League. Dominguez and Heyward are in the South Atlantic League.
Obviously it’s extremely early and I’m not trying draw any conclusions, but so far the Luhnow genius-o-meter is looking pretty strong. As for what’s going on with Moustakas, I haven’t the foggiest, but I’m sure Royals fans are getting a little nervous. I still think he will be the better player in the long term, but wow, you can’t start much worse then that. Kozma also has a .405 BABIP, which isn’t sustainable, but if you are buying his early BB/K and line drive rates so far, then he you have good reason to believe he should continue to hit for a good average.
The farm goes 3 for 4 tonight. Kozma and Hill go yard. Walters gets bombed. And the River Bandits win a wild one. It’s all in your DFR.
- Mike Parisi gave up 1 earned run on 3 hits and a walk, striking out 3.
- Mark Worrell retired just one batter, allowing a run on 2 hits and a walk. He struck out one.
- Ron Flores didn’t allow Worrell’s runners to score.
- Chris Perez threw 2 scoreless innings, allowing a hit and walking a man; striking out 3.
- Colby Rasmus went 1 for 4 with a BB.
- Brian Barden went 2 for 5 with a HR.
- David Freese and Nick Stavinoha both went 2 for 5.
- Amaury Marti went 2 for 4. The earthquake on Friday morning was one of his home runs that he hit while in Nicaragua last winter coming back to earth.
- Jarrett Hoffpauir doubled and walked.
- Backup catcher Gabe Johnson allowed 4 stolen bases.
- P.J. Walters was drilled. He allowed 4 homers, thankfully for him they were all of the solo variety. That accounted for all four of his earned runs. He gave up 9 total hits and had 4 strikeouts to 1 walk.
- Josh Dew received a rude greeting to AA, allowing 3 earned runs on 5 hits over 2 innings while striking out two.
- Jose Martinez went 3 for 4 with a double and a HR, driving in all 4 of Springfield’s runs.
- Allen Craig went 3 for 4 with a walk.
- Mark Hamilton went 2 for 5.
- Mark Shorey and A.J. Van Slyke both went 2 for 4.
- Tyler Greene went 0 for 5 with 2 K’s, dropping him to .182.
- Jon Jay also wore the collar, going 0 for 5.
- Steve Hill, the Nightmare from Nacogdoches, went yard for the 2nd time of the season, going 2 for 5 with 2 strikeouts. He’s now the proud owner of a .949 OPS, 7th overall in the league.
- Tyler Henley tripled, walked and was hit by a pitch.
- Tommy Pham was back in action after colliding with Daryl Jones in the OF. He struck out twice to drop his batting average to .130. I still think his future may be on the mound, but he’s still very young and has those tools.
- Isa Garcia hit a triple with the bases loaded and drew a walk.
- Oliver Marmol went 2 for 4 with a double.
- Arnoldi Cruz doubled for his only hit in 5 at bats. He also caught a basestealer while catching.
- Kyle Mura allowed 2 runs in 5 innings, allowing 5 hits. He walked and hit a batter while fanning 5.
- David Kopp threw 4 innings, allowing his 3 earned in his final inning of work. He allowed 4 hits, a walk and had 3 strikeouts. His ground out-to-fly out was 6-3 and for the season is nifty 2.8.
- The Bandits went yard 5 times, coming back from being down 6-0. The scored 7 runs on 7 hits.
- Charles Kingrey went 4 for 5 with a double and the aforementioned homer.
- Matt Arburr went 3 for 5 with 2 homers and 4 RBI.
- Andrew Brown went 2 for 4 with his HR and a walk. He fanned twice.
- Pete Kozma’s only hit was the HR. Don’t tell our friend Keith Law, but Pete is now slugging .500. I’m thinking Pete is the anti-Colby–he’s a fast starter.
- Jonathan Stambaugh put them in the hole to start, allowing 6 runs on 9 hits in 3 innings. He had 1 K and 1 BB.
- Shaun Garceau was solid, 4 innings, 4 hits, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K.
- Fransisco Samuel picked up the vulture win, allowing 2 runs on 1 hit, 3 walks, a balk, HBP; striking out 3.
Filed under: Daily Farm Reports
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
At least two of Rasmus’ at-bats were line drives to the outfield…
Is Hill playing straight outfield and nothing else? I was impressed with him when he first came up and still see him as an interesting bat, but the woods are full of outfielders who hit about like he does. It’d be great if he could fit behind the plate…
Has there been any word on when Luke Gregerson is coming back?
Was at Palm Beach. team is looking good but think they capitalized on an injury which slowed the game down for the JH pitcher, waiting a bit, he cooled down and then it became a hit fest for PB.
All those guys except Moose are all over a year younger than Kozma too. Justin Jackson the other highly thought of HS SS last year is also putting up great numbers, although he does have quite a bit higher BABIP. Nothing to do with the Cards, but another guy having a great year so far is Mike Stanton who went a couple spots after Kopp and is one of the youngest players in Low A. Obviously like already said, the sample size is still way too small to start getting really excited.
Also, doesn’t Vitters have an OPS of 1.000 ? Not sure where you got the .452, because he has only played in 2 games and his first game, your cutoff date, he had a huge game. Either way, I wouldn’t have used him.
Ah nevermind on the Vitters comment I see you used his 2007 stats along with Dominguez although you only included one of the two teams they played on. And you didn’t use the 2007 stats for the rest of them. Woo, three posts in a row.
Jason Heyward is off to a pretty good start. Respectable numbers across the board for a young power hitter. Plus he has 7 steals in 8 tries(for his career). Damn I wish the Cardinals had the 13th pick in last years draft so they could have taken him. Heyward is going to be a very good player.
Ah, I screwed up. It’s getting embarrassing, having all these stupid corrections to make every day. Thanks for pointing them out. Those are Vitters 2007 numbers, and I probably shouldn’t have used him. I think I’m in a DFR slump or something. Anyway, I fixed my mistakes.
where is carlos gomez? i wonder what he thinks about pete kozma’s start.
Memphis Amateur Scouting Report:
What a night. People wonder why we love baseball so much. Had seats right behinde the redbirds dugout for the Memphis/Round Rock game (12 bucks a pop - what a deal!).
On the non-scouting side highlights of the night were: (A) Being supremely embarassed when my wife told Colby “I really liked him and it was my birthday so could he throw us a ball” — he did by the way (B) Being even more embarassed when Brian Barden was walking in from warmups and my wife yelled to him “Colby we love you” ==== jeeezzzz (C) Explaining the story of Rick Ankiel to my mom when she asked if these guys would ever play in the big leagues (D) Getting a “thumbs up” sign from Amaury Cazana Marti after drunkenly yelling his name everytime the wave swept by when he was on first base —– He used his mental powers to stop the wave shortly thereafter (E) Having Gabe Johnson make a special trip after the game (he was the only one by the way) to come sign the two balls we got in the stands. As was noted above he had a brutal game airmailing three or four throws to 2B (including on a pitchout unfortunately), but it is the true measure of a man to see what he does when the chips are down and he came over was friendly (though obviously frustrated) and dealt with my wife’s comment of “great game!”. I didn’t really know what to say to him but thanks. Anyway - I am the newest lifetime Gabe Johnson fan….
Now…. On the scouting side:
Mike Parisi - He is what you thought he was. Mr. Parisi through mostly fastballs staying in the 91-93 range (never touching 94 by the way but sitting at 93 throughout the night). He followed that up with a curveball that came in about 77ish and could be described as “average to above average”. It seemed to me that the fastball and curveball combo accounted for 90+% of the pitches thrown. As is a staple throught this submission my vantage point did not allow for “viewing” lateral movement. My overall impression was that this guy is a solid #4/#5 starter type who could also be used as a 7th inning guy in an MLB bullpen. Good command - Average Major League Stuff. Seems that he would benefit from refining a third pitch (maybe slider) but wouldn’t embarass himself in the bigs now.
Mark Worrell - The funky windup is definitely there. Unlike Parisi it seemed that Worrell had variation in effort while throwing his fastball. The fastball would come in anywhere from 87-93. The funky delivery was great but the hitters seemed to be sitting on the fastball b/c Worrell was having command issues in his lone partial inning. Another surprise was that Worrell being a fastball/slider guy through an inordinate amount of chageups in his appearance. Not expected…. Don’t really feel that I can make any definitive statements about Worrell after seeing his 2/3 inning of work, but I can verify that the delivery is funky and provides a “different look” that is always fun in a MLB bullpen. Here hoping that he is a solid 7th/8th inning guy in him MLB career.
Chris Perez - First of all, in person you can definitely see the body that has Sid Fernandez potential. Here’s hoping Mr. Perez watches that closely. He was his normal dominant, if a bit wild self. His fasball was 94-95 throughout his two innings of work. The slider came in the mid 80s. He seemed to me to be working behind in the count in most of his two scoreless innings but it was easy to come away thinking he was clearly better than his competition at this level. My only beef is that I was hoping to see “a man amongst boys” so to speak. I didn’t quite see that but he was good nonetheless.
Colby Rasmus - He definitely is “seeing alot of pitches”. Unlike his dad, I see that as a good thing. He had a solid single and struck the ball OK during the night. He had a throw from the wall around the 407 sign in RR to 2B that would have nailed the runner if Hoffpauir could hold on to it. Took good routes in CF. Nothing spectacular in this game but fun to watch nonetheless.
Nick Stavinoha - Easy guy to root for. Had a few “pretty good” plays in LF which was surprising. Also, had a fantastic slide to breakup a double play mid way through the game. Good Cardinal baseball player.
Amauri Marti - A few solid singles, not much action in RF. Was wearing a baggy uniform which was very discouraging to me as I always imagine a guy in spandex who will be heading to a wrestling match afterwards.
David Freese - A few very nifty plays at 3B. Seems like he could handle the defensive aspects of the job now. You could tell that he was adjusting to AAA pitching even though he had the two hits.
Jarret Hoffpauir - Didn’t get much info on this guy - other than that his name is pronounced Hoff-Power which I found interesting as I just make up my own pronunciation in my head and that was not what I was using.
Anywho - A great time a the ballyard had by all. Here’s hoping I can finish enough work today to catch the 2:00 with the Hawk pitching….
thanks for the report
It’s nice to see Kozma off to a nice start. Lets hope he can keep it up although I feel a little bad for him because the only way his pick ends up being vindicated is if Porcello ends up with a career ending injury or maybe if Kozma became a .310 15-20 HR type guy which probably won’t happen.
I like Stavinoha too, I think he could end up being a nice 4th outfielder at some point in his career. I hope anyway.
erik has the OPS numbers for some of the high school first round picks, but how about the starts for some of the high school middle infielders taken in the first or supplemental first round.
Pete Kozma
.315/.422/.500, 4 2B, 2 HR, 0 SB, 10 BB, 12 K, 54 AB
Nick Noonan
.338/.343/.500, 7 2B, 2 3B, 2 SB, 0 BB, 15 K, 68 AB
Justin Jackson
.325/.435/.534, 5 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 5 SB, 10 BB, 18 K, 58 AB
Andrew Cumberland
.293/.339/.379, 2 2B, 1 HR, 7 SB, 3 BB, 4 K, 58 AB
Wow, Justin Jackson is looking good.
Would the Cardinals have been overdrafting if they took Jackson at 36? I thought I heard Mortensen still would’ve been there in the 2nd or 3rd round.
About Kozma: what does his batted ball data look like? I realize his BABIP is off the charts, but if he’s lacing line drives, that’s a pretty good sign.
Justin Jackson at 36 would have been a great pick(if Kozma weren’t the pick at 18, of course). I was a Josh Smoker at 18/Jackson at 36 fan last year. I’m glad Jackson is doing well so I don’t look like an idiot. Jackson was said to be very raw at the plate so I’m really surprised he’s hitting so well early on this year.
As for Mortensen, there was an article on BA that said the Giants were going to take him with one of their two picks in the supplemental 1st round. The Giants were looking for cheap signees at that point. They wound up reaching big time for a C and a SS and those two players are like a combined 7 for 80 with 1 BB this year.
Carlos Gomez was hired by the Arizona Diamondbacks as a scout. Now I know some of you don’t like him, but apparently the ‘backs do.
yeah, jackson would not have been a reach at 36. in my shadow draft last year i actually took him at 36 after taking michael main at 18. now, i don’t think we would have gotten morty if we would have gone with smoker or main at 18 and jackson at 36, and he is looking pretty good so far. it will be interesting to see how it plays out.
i don’t have any problem with gomez analyzing pitching mechanics as i seemed to agree with him on most of those, but i just think it is impossible for someone to decide what kind of a hitter a player will be by seeing 3 or 4 swings on video.
“All players are in class A. Moustakas, Dominguez, Kozma and Ahrens are in the Midwest League. Dominguez and Heyward are in the South Atlantic League.”
And the slump continues Erik. Just giving you a hard time though. Dominguez is only in the SAL and has been on the DL all season.
And Jackson wouldn’t have been an overdraft at all at 36, I personally thought he was a steal at #45 and wanted him at #36 although his debut last year gave me a scare. But I can’t complain with what Mortensen has done either.
aw frack. i hang my head in shame
[...] Daily Farm Report 4/19/08 You can file this under “For Whatever It’s Worth”. Here are a few 2007 1st round high school picks, [...] [...]
Hey, this has nothing to do with nothing, but what happenned to Ryde Rodriguez? I can’t find him on any roster. has he been released?
I too liked Justin Jackson last year, but Mortensen looked REALLY good the last time out.
For that one game, he was better than I’ve ever seen Jaime Garcia…and he was tons better than Adam Lambert, I mean Chris Ottavino, I mean…ahhh forget it.
Funny, I wasn’t happy with Kozma, Mortensen or Kopp last year, and all of them are looking good. Reason 1,452,005 why I’m sitting at my computer, and they are employed by the Cardinals…