Today was my final day down in Florida. The main purpose of this trip was to get the final information for the 2013 Prospect Guide, as well as a cover photo. There was one game today against the Detroit Tigers’ farm system. Below are some notes and pictures from the game.
2012 third round pick Jon Sandfort got the start and pitched two innings. He was mostly sitting 87-89, touching 90 MPH once. Sandfort gave up a three run homer to end one of his innings early, which is one of the benefits of playing in instructs. You can end the inning without three outs, and still go back out for the next inning.
Ludwig came on in relief of Sandfort. The 2012 10th round pick was 87-89 MPH today.
Luis Santos, one of the guys brought up from the Dominican Leagues, had the best velocity today, sitting 91-92 and touching 94. Santos also featured the makings of a nice curveball.
Dilson Herrera and Max Moroff came on to field later in the game. Earlier in the game, Carlos Ozuna (another guy up from the DSL) and Jimmy Rider played the middle infield spots. Ozuna booted one easy grounder, which was the second time I’ve seen that from him this week. However, he made a nice shovel toss to Rider to start a double play, which was followed by a quick relay to first by Rider to barely get the runner. Herrera and Moroff didn’t get many opportunities on the field today.
Eric Wood was making hard contact. He did have a few base running mistakes. He had a bad break off second on a single, and was tagged out at third on a chopper down the third base line, just inside the bag.
Jhang continues to hit well. Today he started things off with a triple to the right-center gap. In his next at-bat he came up with a man on third and no outs. He took the first pitch to deep center field, easily scoring the runner. He’s shown some pop in his bat this week, and as I mentioned the other day, he’s slimmed down over the course of the 2012 season.
Other Notes
**I saw Gerrit Cole pitch on Tuesday. Cole threw 56 pitches over five innings. I was told that he had trouble in the previous start, laboring through the start and being pulled from one inning with a high pitch count. Cole’s main focus has been the strategy of pitching with his full arsenal.
**Jin-De Jhang wasn’t the only one with a triple today. Yhonathan Barrios also hit a triple in the following inning, almost to the same spot. The fields at Pirate City are deep in center, and deep in the gaps. If you hit one to the wall in the gap, and you’ve got any speed, you’re going to make it to third.
**Speaking of speed, Candon Myles didn’t settle for a triple, and instead got an inside the park home run on a hit off the wall in right field. The ball was misplayed by the right fielder, who went back to the wall, then watched the ball bounce off the wall and back toward the infield, away from the fielder. Myles used his speed to make it home with a great slide. One scout behind home plate had him at just over 15 seconds from home to home. That’s above average, and a good time is usually in the 14-15 second frame.
**Elias Diaz has been getting a lot of time behind the plate. He hasn’t hit well in the last two years with West Virginia, but his defensive skills look great, with a strong arm, a good body, and good movements behind the plate.
**Gregory Polanco is still dealing with an ankle injury that he suffered towards the end of the season with West Virginia. Polanco is expected to resume games next week.
**I didn’t see Jameson Taillon in camp at all, and was told that he finished early. Alex Dickerson was also sent home. The first basemen was in camp for the first few weeks, worked primarily on defense, and was done.
