I was in New Hampshire a couple of weeks ago to see two games and, with real life interfering, I am only now getting around to a scouting report. In addition to my scouting report I spoke with Gary Cathcart, manager of the Fisher Cats, and Tom Signore, pitching coach. I have added their comments to my own.
Pitchers
Game one was started by Marty McLeary who has since been promoted to AAA. McLeary is a 34 year-old pitcher who has major league experience with Pittsburgh and San Diego. McLeary threw a 88-92 fastball, a change-up and a curveball. McLeary looked like an average pitcher with no outstanding pitches.
Edgar Estanga followed McLeary. Estanga is 5'10" and is stocky or "rolly-polly". Estanga's fastball sits at 85-89mph and he also throws a change-up, a curve and a slider. A scout said to me that Estanga pitches well when he locates and trusts his fastball. If he loses trust in the fastball his change-up gets over-used and hitters sit on it.
Danny Farquhar was the next pitcher out of the pen. Farquhar is shorter and slighter than most pitchers, he stands around 5'10" and is listed at 170 lbs. Farquhar throws mainly from a 3/4 arm angle and his fastball sits around 93/94 mph, touching 95, with movement. Farquaher also throws a curve which needs work. Farquahar throws hard so he mainly works off his fastball. When Farquhar wants to mix it up he drops down and pitches submarine style where his fastball hits 91mph. He also throws a frisbee slider at 82-80 from down under. Video of Farquhar from over the top and from down-under can be seen here. I asked Cathcart and Signore about Farquhar's walks.
Catchcart: The walks are the only time he gets in trouble. His stuff is hard to handle and the hitters have told our catchers some amazing stuff, like "I have no chance against this guy". If he gets the ball over the plate I don't see the hitters getting many good sequences to get many runs against him. They will get a hit here and there but with that stuff he is going to be hard to put an inning together against.
Signore: He just needs innings, he was in college last year. We are asking him to pitch in AA where the normal progression would be for him to be in High A this year. And we are asking him to close, but his command issues should be solved by pitching because he does a good job of repeating his delivery.
Zach Dials finished this game and Dials has a good fastball at 91-93 mph. Dials also threw a change-up and a slider but his off-speed pitches are below average and need more work.
Game two was started by Randy Boone who throws four pitches, a 88-90 mph fastball, a slider, a change-up and a curve. All of Boone's pitches are average so he needs to mix-it up to be successful. Signore coached Boone in Lansing last season and I asked him if Boone was the same pitcher this season?
Signore: He is older and a little stronger so his stuff becomes a little firmer. But he has always been a very intelligent pitcher and the difference between him pitching on TV every night (major leagues) versus not pitching on TV is can he make the pitches? You know what he is really very good at? He can look at a hitter and say OK here is what I have to get this guy out. He can't get people out the same way as Luis Perez or Marc Rzepczynski, he does a good job of saying here is what I have to get this guy out.
Casey Janssen followed Boone. I had been told by scouts that Janssen looked good in his first appearance for New Hampshire, keeping the ball down around the knees. Janssen was not as good in this appearance as he gave up some hits on balls up.
Danny Farquhar finished up, see above.
Luis Perez didn't pitch in the games I saw but I asked Cathcart and Signore about Perez.
Cathcart: Perez is not young but he is baseball-wise. We are trying to get him to understand the finer points of the game and when to use certain pitches. Strictly on pure stuff he has plenty of stuff, he is 90-92 with his fastball, he has developed a really good change-up, his slider is a little inconsistent but when he gets it in the right position it is a really good pitch. We are working with Luis on having a gameplan and getting in sync with the catcher, controlling the running game, understanding when to pitch around a guy. He is a work-in-process, he has good stuff, he needs to learn the fine points of the game.
Signore: I think Luis could pitch in AAA now. Last night he was hit the second time through, he rolled through them the first time and in my opinion that is what he is going to be in the big leagues, I think he is going to be a relief pitcher. He could pitch in AAA now but the sooner he gets to pitch in relief the better, you know it's a different routine and I think he is going to be more effective that way. You know starting, for him, there may be too many facets he has to control. I just see him as a once through the lineup guy. You know other people have a different opinion but that's the way we have differences.
Adrian Martin has been used in various roles in both AA and AAA this season. I asked Signore about him.
Signore: You know his stuff is a lot better than people think, and his velocity is a lot better than people think. The main thing is that Adrian has had finger issues over the last three years. He gives us quality starts and he has closed and setup for us. He is around 87-92 and he keeps the ball down in the strike zone, he rarely elevates to get an out. He doesn't have the big curve to get checked swings but he gets the most out of what he has.
Leon Boyd was another non-pitcher in the two games and again I asked Signore about Boyd's return from High A.
Signore: We made a little change in his direction to the plate, whereas normally guys are in a straight line we have him angling towards first base with the right handed hitters because he was flying open with a lot of pitches. For him to be effective he has to be deceptive. He throws from a lot of different angles, he doesn't just throw from underneath, he throws from the side, maybe a little bit lower than that. He has done a great job his last few times out there.
Hitters
Brian Jeroloman played one game and I asked Cathcart about Jeroloman's effort to be more aggressive this season.
Cathcart: He is a little more aggressive but not really with command of the strike zone like he has had. He has struck out more this season than he ever has, but his on base percentage is still good. He has been a little bit of a disappointment, we were hoping we would take another step up. He is kind of set in his ways, we would like him to make some adjustments, he is really on the plate. As a result the inner half of the plate is tough for him, we are trying to get him to move off and free up his hands a bit and not worry about that inside pitch. But it's a gradual thing , he feels comfortable with what he is doing, so it's up to the player. It's like the old saying you can lead him to water but you can't make him drink. We see what we see and we know what's causing him trouble and we hope he understands how important it is and he makes that adjustment. Because with the way he plays defense, if he could hit just a little bit he'd be a pretty good player.
David Cooper looked uncomfortable at the plate against left-handed pitchers. Cooper also looked like he had somewhat a pull oriented swing and didn't have good swings against outside pitches. A scout said to me that he thought Cooper would be fine.
Cathcart: David went back and forward with a couple of things early in the year knowing he had to make a few adjustments. He tends to get a little long with his swing and it is caused by his body moving first and his hands lagging behind. He has worked hard to shorten that up and he has a little different setup since he came off the DL and now he has a better, more consistent swing. I think his power will come, I don't think he will be a 30 home run hitter, I think we will be a 15-20 home run guy. He is more of a line drive hitter but who knows, it's only his first full season. I think he will be a consistent hitter in that .280 to .300 range.
Brad Emaus has an unusual swing, he keeps the bat on his shoulder until the pitch comes in. He does have a quick bat but as Cito would say he is not getting ready in time. He is also has a downward, inside swing, like Kevin Youkilis does before he steps into the box. Emaus did have four hits in the two games but two of them were ground balls up the middle and one was an inside pitch that he was able to pull. He did double off the right centre-field wall in his last at-bat on Sunday and that was an impressive swing but Emaus looks like he needs a batter swing.
Cathcart: He was hot early, took off from where he was in spring training because he was in spring training for a long time, maybe a bit too long for some of us. He started out well but then it started to get away from him and he couldn't stop it. We are trying to get him back to where he was last season, we have looked at a lot of tape from last year and his hands have gotten tighter to his body this year and that is causing him to be inconsistent with his timing and ability to get the bat on the ball at the right spot all the time. We are gradually working to get him back where he was. It is just amazing how hitters get away from stuff they have been successful with, without realizing it, and then getting back to where they were is as tough as making an adjustment (to the swing). We are trying to get his hands out away from his body and if he can I think you will see more consistency. His defense is OK, he is not fleet of foot, kind of a thick body guy, looks like more of a third baseman based on how he moves. But he makes the plays, you wouldn't do a video highlight of how he plays, but he makes the plays and he is getting better at turning double plays. We are working with him on improving his range, getting a cuple of extra steps to his left and up the middle. To me if he had a little more power he would be better at third base. But right now he does an adequate job for us.
Brian Dopirak had been promoted to Las Vegas by the time I got to New hampshire so I asked Gary Cathcart if Dopirak was ready for AAA?
Cathcart: He was definitely ready for AAA, he had done everything you would want in this league, he was the best hitter in the league from A to Z. He is a guy who is real consistent every day in the way he goes about his batting practice and his routine in the batting cage. He worked well with Paul Elliott here (hitting coach) and he has a couple of keys he needs to remember to do. He used to have a swing that was really going around the ball, it was real long. He struggled the first month down there because he had to rework his swing path to get it going to to centre-field and he worked real hard in batting practice to get it going to centre and right centre. I think that's what separated him from other hitters I have seen this year, his ability to hit the ball from right field foul pole to left field foul pole. He can hit the ball all over the field with authority, he hits it almost as hard to right centre as he does to left centre.
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