Friday, August 31, 2012

Grand Prairie Air Hogs Scouting Reports

I saw the Grand Prairie Air Hogs of the American Association League twice (I got stuck with two tickets basically), once against the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks (who I already wrote about) and once against the Sioux Falls Pheasants (who I will write about next). Here are the scouting reports:

Andres Rodriquez is the 1st baseman and one of the largest human beings I have ever seen take a baseball field. The monster is 6-6ish 260ish and is just intimidating at field level. He has enough athleticism to not embarrass himself. He has some power and some bat skills.

Yasutsugu Nishimoto was the shortstop in game 1. He showed patience at the plate, but the left-handed hitter has no power and a slap swing. He seemed to struggle against lefties. Defensively, he doesn't have the best range, and he really needs to have plus defense. Bryan Frichter was the shortstop in the 2nd game I saw. His defense overall is blah, with an okay but not great arm. Offensively, he was chasing breaking balls.

Brian Myrow really cranked a ball into the alley and can run pretty well too. At the plate, he shows off a decent eye. However, he really lacks range at 3rd. John Alonzo was burned on the breaking ball. Jairo Perez doesn't have great range at 2nd and you would like to see him run better for someone with his size and style. He is a contact guy, and had a nice hit the other way. He was actually taken out of the 2nd game with an injury.

Jonny Kaplan can run a little bit, but is short, which is a weird profile for left field. He does have a nice arm out there though. Alberto Espinoza showed off a big but inaccurate arm in the first game, in the 2nd game, it just wasn't very good overall. He wasn't very good at blocking pitches either. He seems to have some decent power, especially for a catcher. He chased a really horrible pitch though. Trent Lockwood is a pretty big right fielder. The lefty hitter has a decent eye and a little pop but not pretty swing mechanics. Keanon Smith had a lot of problems on fastballs, even ones that were not that good. He showed off a nice arm in center field though and runs well.

Josh Strawn is scrawny and has somewhat of a messy delivery. The right-hander was sitting at 88-90 MPH and when it stayed straight, he was in trouble. He has a breaking ball at 81-82 MPH and a curve at 74 MPH with decent downward break. His outing started really strong and was certainly better than his stuff as he gave up a few really hard outs. He fields his position really well.

Somehow, he also started the 2nd game I went to as well. He sat at 89-91 MPH with a lot of fastballs early, and showed the ability to sink it. It almost works like a splitter, and when it does, it is his best pitch. He wasn't getting many whiffs and wasn't getting grounders, and gave up a lot of hard hit line drives. His slider didn't provide much speed differential at 87-88 MPH and doesn't have great movement as it goes into lefties. The fastball has some arm side tail and he hit 92-94 MPH in the 4th and hit 93 MPH in the 6th. I didn't see the curve, but I was more impressed the 2nd time I saw him.

Adam Miller wasn't very good overall early but threw a few 89-90 MPH fastballs that exploded late. He also broke a bat with his slider at 82-83 MPH.

Ronnie Morales is a sidearming lefty out of the bullpen. He breaks low with his body, almost like a submarine pitcher, but his arm angle is straight sidearm. His fastball was just 84-86 MPH (hit 88 MPH but didn't control it) but it can't be fun for lefties. He has a sweeping slider at 76 MPH that he showed in warmups but not in the game. He struck out a righty, but it wasn't a very good hitter. He showed a 78 MPH change. His command was solid, and I could see him being useful for an organization, especially if he shows a breaking ball. 

Justin Dowdy is a lefty reliever at 89-92 MPH. He has an interesting strikeout rate but too many walks. He has starter like velocity but his mechanics may not let him be one (and his control certainly won't). He showed an overhand curve in warmups at around 72 MPH.

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