On Wednesday, August 17th and Saturday August 20th I was able to attend games between the Mobile Bay Bears (AA Affiliate of Arizona Diamondbacks) and the Jacksonville Suns (AA Affiliate of Florida Marlins). Both games featured top prospect starting pitchers for Mobile as RHP Jarrod Parker and RHP Trevor Bauer took the mound on the 17th and 20th respectively. Parker was a first-round draft pick in 2007, but missed all of 2010 due to an arm injury. Trevor Bauer was the third overall pick in this past May’s draft out of UCLA. Both pitchers earned the win and had relatively solid outings statistically speaking as Parker’s line read 6 IP, 3H, 3 BB, 0 ER, and 6 K while Bauer’s read 5 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 3 ER (1 HR), and 8 K.
Parker’s fastball sat at 90-94 throughout his six innings of work and hit 95 on a couple different occasions. His best secondary pitch was his slider which sat around 83-84 mph and featured a sharp, two-plane break. Parker was able to throw the slider very effectively to lefties as he was able to both backdoor it and bury underneath their hands and at their feet. I did not pick up on many changeups or curveballs by Parker, but it was more difficult to pick up on the subtleties of his performance as I was located in the bleachers in right center field. However, Parker looked to have a very smooth and athletic throwing motion as he was able to consistently repeat his high-3/4 delivery from both the full windup and the stretch. Parker scattered 3 hits, worked around 3 BB’s effectively, and was able to finish six innings without allowing a run. Overall, Parker’s outing was not overly impressive but successful and solid in its own right.
Although Jarrod Parker is widely considered a top prospect in all of baseball, I was more excited to watch Trevor Bauer, the third overall pick in the 2011 MLB First-Year Player Draft, pitch as it was his second career start in AA. There has been much written about Bauer’s dominating career at UCLA, his slight frame and unique delivery, and the possibility of him pitching in the big leagues sometime this year. Scouts and many people within the blogosphere have been wondering whether or not Bauer should even be pitching at this pointbecause of his heavy workload (both innings and pitch count wise) this past spring/summer at UCLA. Bauer’s outing was not as consistent as Parker’s was, yet his pure stuff seemed more impressive (It should be noted that for Bauer’s outing I was in the scouting section behind home plate, whereas for Parker’s outing I was in the outfield bleachers). Bauer’s windup and delivery often draw comparisons to Tim Lincecum’s and it does seem similar in some regards, but some of this comparison is also undoubtedly due to the fact that both are smaller in stature yet have excellent fastball velocity and sharp breaking pitches. Bauer’s delivery is a bit complicated but he manages it well and is able to repeat his delivery at a pretty consistent rate. However, there were times within this specific outing that it looked like he was laboring and fighting against himself (but this could be due to a number of other factors—fatigue, loss of concentration, etc.) Bauer’s fastball ranged from 91-95 mph and featured some arm-side run to it. He flashed a sharp slider and 12-6 curveball that was absolutely devastating at times and completely fell off the table. His changeup featured some arm-side run and sink to it but his command of the pitch was spotty. As I mentioned earlier, Bauer walked three in his five innings and went to two and three ball counts many times so it was clear that Bauer was not working with his best stuff or command. However, he still managed to strike out eight batters and shatter a few bats in only five innings of work. The homerun that he allowed was to Kyle Skipworth, a struggling prospect of which I have touched upon before, on a changeup that appeared to be a case of poor location as it was belt high and inside to the left-hander. All in all, Bauer’s performance was very impressive and it is easy to see why there have been talks about him pitching in the majors later this year (although whether he should or shouldn’t is still up for debate).
I have covered many of the Jacksonville Suns’ position players in previous posts, but there were a few new players that briefly caught my eye. SS Jeff Dominguez made a few nice plays in the field for the Suns including a great play up the middle that demonstrated his range and arm strength as his throw was able to beat Mobile’s leadoff hitter and RF Adam Eaton. Dominguez, 26, had been called up to fill in for Chris Gutierrez, but has since been sent back down to the Marlin’s Florida State League (High-A) and appears to be an organizational player more than anything else, as his bat has been nothing throughout the minors. The Suns’ RF Kyle Jensen was pretty impressive in both games that I saw (again limited sample size) as he showed the ability to barrel balls the other way (off Jarrod Parker) and flashed nice range in right field.
Another player that I got a quick look at was Suns’ reliever LHP Ramon Benjamin. I had seen Benjamin before and was able to get a better sense of what kind of pitcher he was this time around because of my seats behind homeplate. Bejamin has a very complicated delivery that does not seem very conducive to a long, healthy career because it looks to put a lot of stress on his elbow, but he really only profiles a reliever and lefty-specialist anyway so it may not be a major issue. Benjamin was effectively wild in his appearance and was able to strike out (left-handed hitting) Mobile 3B Ryan Wheeler (who is having a great year at the plate) with a series of sliders in the dirt that were clocked at 85 mph and fastballs that were clocked between 90 and 95 mph. Bejamin was also able to effectively work against right-handed hitters, although from my perspective it seems as if he would be only be suitable/effective as a lefty-specialist role at the major-league level.
A player that I profiled previously, RHP Bryan Evans started opposite Trevor Bauer but had a very poor evening, as he struggled to find the strike zone (walked opposing SP Bauer twice) and his line read 3.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 5 BB, 4 K. Evans’ was not very consistent with any of his pitches, but especially his slider which seemed to be much more flat than the previous outing that I was able to see (IMO his curveball still seems to be the sharper breaking ball and a better option than the slider, even though he throws it only around 74-75 mph). His FB velocity was still between 85-91 mph but again his command was sharp enough and he paid it, after being pulled early.
Mobile’s lineup had two position players that particularly intrigued me, CF AJ Pollock and 3B Ryan Wheeler. Both Pollock and Wheeler were high draft picks out of their respective colleges, Notre Dame and Loyola Marymount (CA). Pollock flashed good speed throughout both of the games that I was able to attend, beating out a groundball to the 2nd baseman. He also flashed good range in CF and appeared to make good reads off the bat after the ball was put into play. Ryan Wheeler, who I alluded to earlier when writing about Ramon Benjamin has had a solid year thus far and flashed his hit tool in both games that I attended. Wheeler has a nice level swing plane and appeared to be very comfortable in the batter’s box as he was able to consistently repeat his swing mechanics and track balls out of the pitchers hand. The one exception to this was his at-bat against Benjamin (also the only lefty that I remember seeing him face) where he looked all out of sorts. It was hard to get a read on his work in the field because of limited opportunities, but he did not look to be very fluid when he allowed a foul pop-up to drop that probably should have been caught. It would be foolish to draw any conclusions from one single play (and I’m sure numerous scouts could provide much more insight on Wheeler’s proficiency in the field), but it will be interesting to see how Wheeler develops in the field and if he can and will stick at 3B.
Updates
- Montgomery SP Chris Archer won Southern League Pitcher of the Week Award after allowing just 1 hit (albeit with 5 BB) in 7 innings of work. Archer was also just called up to AAA Durham.
- Montgomery SS Tim Beckham who was called up to AAA Durham over a week ago has continued to hit well at the next level as he has hit .291 with 3 HR in 55 AB.
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